I'm Thankful for...

I'm thankful for so much!

...my two boys, a pilgrim and an indian who fight and whine and make messes and who fill my heart with joy and my file box weekly with beautiful art - much of it created just for me! You can always find pieces art from my boys in my office and around our house. My oldest son is amazingly sweet. Many times he'll cut a flower from our garden on put it on my nightstand and place a picture he drew on my pillow. My youngest loves to trace his hand and it makes me smile when I see that tiny little hand all colored and cut out sitting on my counter. He said "mom you can always remember I was this size". If those two boys aren't enough to be thankful for I don't know what is... but I'm also so thankful for my husband who's an amazing father, coach and person. For health, family, friends and to enjoy each day home with my boys doing what I love to do.

Baby L - 5 days old

I have a soft spot for newborns. I love the relationship between parent and baby and this couple was so sweet and in love with this little guy. Doesn't dad look so proud of his family. I just love it!

Sweet Baby L was just 5 days old when he came to me. He was such a good baby and let us fuss with him for quite a while while he napped. He's on my baby plan so I can't wait to see him again in a few short months!

Gorgeous Eyes

These little ones were so sweet and oh my gosh, look at those eyes!




I love these sample wall arrangements! They are a great way to plan your portrait selections and give you ideas how you can display your portraits as art in your home. You can view all of the wall gallery samples on my website at www.christilongphotography.com under Client proofs enter password "galleries"

Email is down today

My email is down today and we're working on it. If you are trying to place an order or have questions regarding your proofs or order please call me. I'm working all weekend to get proofs and orders placed.

I hope to be back online later this afternoon.

Thanks for your patience.

Little Skater

I've been photographing this little guy since he was in his mama's tummy. He's now 2 years old and boy how time flies! His parents are fun and brought him to his session with 2 pairs of Vans, fun clothes and his skateboard!

Thanks mom for the opportunity to watch your sweet boy grow up and for all of your referrals.

Holiday Orders

Holiday Orders

Thank you to my wonderful clients for your patience. Not only is this the busiest time of the year, but I injured my back almost 2 weeks ago which literally took me off my feet! A herniated disc is never fun and while I'm still recovering I have resumed sessions and I'm editing as quickly as my body allows. Thank you, Thank you for your patience!!

Holiday Deadlines - I've extended them due to the time I was out with my back. These are final dates as I'm out most of December and will have limited communications.

ALL orders must be placed BY NOVEMBER 26th to receive them by Christmas!!
Orders will be delivered by December 10th. Orders placed after November 26 will be delivered in January.

Look who's 2!

I've photographed this cutie pie since he was 4 months old! I'm so thrilled and honored to watch him grow into such a big boy and I just love that he called me Aunt Christi during his 2 yr session.

Sweet Siblings

I had so much fun photographing these siblings. They are not only adorable, but very sweet!

It's been awhile....

... since I've blogged. I had a wonderful summer and enjoyed my sweet boys and family. I sent my oldest off to Kindergarten just over 3 weeks ago and it's amazing to see how much they change and grow just in a summer!

I've had numerous calls lately from clients wanting to schedule sessions ASAP for various reasons - "my son's tooth is loose and I want to photograph him before it falls out", "my daughter's about to have her first tooth come in and I want to photograph her before it does", "my children are without scrapes and have good haircuts".

There are so many things that inspire people to photograph their children. I think it's important to record the above milestones. In fact, my son's bottom teeth are loose and I've already instructed him that NO ONE can pull your tooth unless they have permission from your mom! I want that last photograph of my big boy before he loses his first tooth too.

I also think that the most simple, every day moments are wonderful opportunities to photograph children. My favorite images of my own children were taken of them playing, eating watermelon or ice cream, swimming, catching bugs and just being kids. Being a perfectionist, I had an expectation of what an image needed to look like to be perfect .. by the way what is perfect?, but after soul searching over the last few years, after attending a few soulful photography workshops where I discovered what type of images envoke emotion in me, I realized that each image is beautiful in it's own unique way. I began to look at my personal photographs of my own children differently. In finding my style, I realized that I am most moved by photographs with emotion and interaction. The photographs of my children eating watermelon or enjoying ice cream, laughing, running around in their silly batman outfit expresses who they are today, the rain boots, shorts and mismatched shirt with sunglasses (yes my son really wears this) remind me of my son's independence and strong will. Don't get me wrong, I am a GAP junkie and love photographing kids in fun, cute clothes, but their clothes don't always need to be ironed and perfectly matched for a photograph to be wonderful and meaningful to me. I love the interaction, the expression and the moment more than the expectation of a staged photograph. I love capturing the laughing, tickling, jumping on the bed moments.

Enough chit chat from me, here's a few photographs...

Summer Sessions

I am currently booked through July. If you are interested in scheduling a session, please do contact me and I will add you to the wait list. I will contact you with openings. Also if you are pregnant and want to schedule a newborn session, please call ASAP so I can schedule your session.

If we have talked about a summer session in June and July but haven't yet confimed a date/time, I have your spot reserved so call me to confirm.

My kids will be out of school in a week and I am looking forward to a fun summer with my boys. My oldest goes to Kindergarten in August so my August sessions will be very limited.

It's not too early to start thinking about the holiday! Yep I'm talking about Christmas. I will start scheduling sessions for Christmas in September through October. These sessions will fill fast so if you want a session we should talk by the end of summer. I will not be scheduling sessions in December and the deadline for all holiday orders is mid November.

Meet Aidan

I honestly feel so blessed to meet such amazing families and to capture their lives in print. This mom and son was so much fun. We met at the Nature Science Center and let Aidan do what he loves to do... dig and discover dinosaurs. He knew about every fact on every dinosaur and was such a sweet boy. As I was leaving Aidan sat on mom's lap and I captured these sweet moments. As a mom it just speaks to me of the tender moments between a parent and child.. the ones when no one is watching... (well, I was).




I'll have proofs to you soon.
Thanks for a fun morning!

Dad's in the Hood

This is so cool I had to blog about it.

Our neighborhood in Austin, TX has an annual camping trip for dad's and kids at our park. Dad's start staking their place as early as 7am Saturday morning and by the evening there is hardly a place to pitch a tent. They have music, BBQ, crafts, climbing wall and all kinds of fun stuff for the kids. Oh yeah and donuts on Sunday (my boys favorite thing). It's such a neat time for the dad's and kids. Storms were in the forecast and blew in about 3:30 AM so my husband packed up and brought our boys home, but they had a blast!!

I couldn't resist posting a few photographs.

Warning... some of the images clearly describe how much these dad's are roughing it!




Oh and did I mention that they are IN the neighborhood? Yep, that was connected to a generator. (The above photograph was taken last year)



"Smile Mom"




I love those shirts!

Meet C

This little guy was so sweet. We instantly bonded and while he was on the go most of our session, we had a good time. 14 months can be a challenging age to photograph because new walkers are so curious, but that's the same reason that I love this age - the discovery.

He loved the cars and planes, but what boy doesn't?

a visit, a birthday & a bug

It's been a crazy few weeks. My in-laws came to visit for a week and the day they left I came down with a stomach bug (and not a 24 hour bug) and during this time I turned the big "40". God blessed me on my day with a day of health and it was a great day with friends and family. My kids were so excited about my birthday and I woke to drawings, balloons, cards and our ritual pancake breakfast. Isn't it great to see life through the eyes of a child? They were so ready for mommy's birthday party!

Do you ever remember thinking your aunts and uncles were so old? Well, now "I" am THAT old! How does that happen? I really do think that age is in your head and I hear 40 is the new 30. :) At least that makes me feel better about being 40.

Thanks to my clients who have been so understanding that I am running behind on edits. I am almost back to normal and I'm working this week to get proofs and orders processed without sacraficing quality.

B is for...

...Brother
...Beautiful
...Blue eyes
...Boys

These brother's were not only so sweet, but amazingly handsome. I've known their mom for years, but hadn't seen the boys in a while. Wow are they gorgeous!

Sweet, Sweet Baby

I met this sweet girl when she was 3 weeks old. She is precious! A month after meeting baby Addison, I had the honor of photographing her again capturing 4 generations of women in her family; her great-grandmother, grandmother, mother and her aunts and cousin(I'll post those soon). What an awesome group of women. She's a lucky girl.

2 weeks old....

It was an honor to photograph this little guy, his big sister and parents. We've had a lot of baby girls lately and it was fun to have this little guy come visit the studio. This family is so neat. Here is a peek of sweet Micah's session.

I couldn't resist...

Here are just a few more from Baby Kinsleigh's session. She's very sweet!