Mr B, a big brother soon.

One of my buddy's came to see me today to show off his new baby sister who's on the way. We had so much fun that he didn't want to leave.

Christmas Break

“Love came down at Christmas; love all lovely, love divine; love was born at Christmas, stars and angels gave the sign.”

~Christina G. Rossetti

We are almost on Christmas break here at the Studio so I wanted to take a minute to wish you a Christmas filled with the warmth and love of those you hold dear.

Blessings this Christmas and all year through,

Julie

Newborn photography Session

Are you expecting a baby? Don't wait to schedule your session. It is best to photograph your newborn in the first week or two after birth. Baby will grow and change more quickly than you can imagine.

Sleeping Baby

Shhh, she just settled down for her long winter's nap.

Catch Santa in the Act

Would you like a cute surprise for your little ones this Christmas. Here's a website I came across where you can get a photo of Santa in YOUR house on Christmas eve. Let me know if you try it!

http://www.capturethemagic.com/

Christmas Mini Sessions

We have 2 more dates available for Christmas mini sessions. Please email or call the studio for a 30 minute kids session on November 19th or December 3rd.

Go to www.mettlerportraits.com and click the "for appointments" button.

Christmas Mini Sessions

Family Photographer

First Birthday

Oswego Baby Photographer

Mommy and me

Just a few spots left

Would you love a free 4x6 professional portrait of your little trick or treater? We still have a few spots open for our 3rd annual Halloween Charity Bash benefiting the Kendall County Food Pantry. Check out our list of most needed items and come on by for the fun. If you want a time slot for a free picture please email me at metro_jm@sbcglobal.net

click on the image to view larger.

Halloween Fun

Are you coming to our Halloween Bash for your free picture? Make sure you get your time slot.

I saw this on Martha Stewart and just had to share. Happy Halloween!

http://www.marthastewart.com/852771/fanged-pumpkins

Fall Fairy Portraits

We are gearing up for fairy portraits at the studio. Does your little girl dream of being a fairy?

Please contact me through my website if you would like more information.

www.mettlerportraits.com

More Love

He was the second baby boy in our newborn line up. More Boys to come.

Family Love

I am so happy to share with you some photo's of my new nephew.

Oswego Family Photographer

From time to time you will see some of the same faces here on the blog or on my website. No, your not going crazy. I am honored that many of my clients become regular Mettler Portrait families.

Want to know a secret? Okay it's not a secret, on October 22 we will be hosting our 3rd annual Halloween Bash. The 15 minute session is free. There will be nothing to order and there is a 4x6 on me. That's right, free! The only thing I ask is that you help us stock the Kendall County Food Pantry. Every year at this time we have a food drive. Contact me to get your time slot. The first time I photographed these kids was at one of my halloween bashes. If they look familiar, you must be on my mailing list. They were in it to advertise last years bash.

We Remember

Before church this morning My children and I attended the Oswego Fire Department's remembrance and dedication ceremony. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey sent a section of steel beam from the World Trade center. It will be on permanent display.

Oswego Football Pictures

Is your child playing Youth Football? Make him feel like he could be in ESPN magazine.

Family Photographer

I am so blessed to be a family photographer. Here are a couple of my favorites from a session I had last month. I've photographed the girls before but this was the first time I got to meet their terrific big brother.

You can feel the love can't you?

Halloween Charity Bash

It's that time of year again. It's our 3rd annual Halloween Charity Bash. Get your costumes ready, grab your donation and help us fill up the Kendall County Food Pantry. This session is free with a donation and includes a 4x6. Contact the studio ASAP for your time slot. We will be booking session on Oct. 22nd from 10am to 4pm.

Football Pictures

It was almost love at first sight. I met this boy about three years ago when his mom came for maternity pictures. We did some images of her with both of her boys and some of them alone. After they left I sat down to edit and I looked into his eyes and started to cry. He is a beautiful soul. He's growing up now and looking more tough than angelic but I love him just the same you can see why can't you?

High School Senior Pictures

As much as I would like to blog about every session that I do, there just aren't enough hours in the day. Over the summer I had the opportunity to meet a wonderful family from Michigan and Tennessee, and you thought you had a long drive! Victoria came for our deluxe 2 day senior session with her mother, brother and grandmother. Not only did we spend some time in the studio but we showed her the town as well, Chi town that is.

I was so excited today when I opened the 8x10 coffee table book that she ordered, I just had to share some pictures with you.

We'd love to do your senior pictures too.

Oswego Illinois, Baby Photographer

Look at this little Sweet Pea! She's grown so much since I met her. I had so much fun with this session. She's not crawling yet and may just skip right to walking. Things to do, places to go!!

Prairie Point Elementary School, Oswego Il

I've had the chance to work with many families from a few of our local schools this year and this one was a lot of fun because Mom is a teacher where two of my kids went to school. Here are her two young thespians. I'm off to a seminar today but I'll try and post a few more later this week. There were so many great ones!

Girls, Girls, Girls

Sometimes I am amazed by the way babies seem to be born in clusters of the same sex. Since December I have not had one baby boy born into the Mettler Portrait Family. Here is one of my little girlies from a session last month and Baby V. will be here fresh and new next week. Will that be the end of the little girl run? We shall see, two new boys coming up starting in Aug. :)

Mama Likes to Rock it

Oh if you only knew her! This Mama Rocks it like no other.

My Old Friend Ralph

Before I rediscovered my love for photography and let it seep into every waking hour, I used to spend my leisure time reading. This morning I came across a quote that I had to share. I love Emerson. He feels like a soul mate.

" Life is a train of moods like a string of beads; and as we pass through them they prove to be many colored lenses, which paint the world their own hue, and each shows us only what lies in its own focus."

My wish for you is that wherever you go, you paint your own hue.

Blessings,

J.

Oswego Illinois, Children's Photographer

Do you want to come in for pictures but just can't find the time? Do you need a reason to make it a priority? How about this one?

Wisconsin Baby Photographer

I have been fortunate enough to photograph this sweet little Wisconsin baby twice. She came to see me shortly after she was born and now again for her first birthday. Couldn't you just fall into those blue eyes? We weren't sure what she would wear and when she arrived this was the backdrop I had up. It couldn't have worked out better.

The Home of the Brave

I hope you all had a chance to spend some time with the people who matter yesterday. I would like to share with you a speech that was given by Adm. James Stavridis in honor of our troops. My humble thanks to the military and their families for the great sacrifices they make for us and our country.

I want to spend my few minutes tonight with you giving voice to those who cannot be with us. I want to share with you the voices of the fallen and their families.

I want to give voice to the men and women who have given their lives for this nation.

Together, across the years of our nation’s history, they answered the call.

They stood the watch.

They looked neither left nor right.

They did not search for an exit.

They walked steadily and unafraid into mortal danger, knowing all the risks and all the costs.

On rolling ships at sea … on dusty streets under a burning sun …in the high mountain passes … and in the stormy skies … they said simply and bravely, “I will go.”

So many … too many … were lost to us forever.

But in their letters, and those of their loved ones, written in the last days of their lives, there is majesty and honesty and humility that deserve our attention as we approach this Memorial Day.

So tonight, I’d simply like to share with you excerpts from several timeless letters—words written by our nation’s military heroes and their families…who have borne this great country through times of peril and darkness – who have sacrificed so much…so that we could be here tonight rendering our own salute to freedom.

These are beautiful and sad letters … some of them from grieving parents talking about their lost sons and daughters … others, the “last” letter home that begins with the heart-breaking phrase, “If you are reading this letter, it is because I am gone …”

Let me begin with the Civil War, and a letter written by Major Sullivan Ballou, a 32-year old member of the Second Regiment of Rhode Island Volunteers, who died in the Battle of Bull Run.

He wrote to his wife, Sarah, just five days before the battle that would cost his life:

“My very dear Sarah, the indications are very strong that we shall move in a few days—perhaps tomorrow. Lest I should not be able to write you again, I feel impelled to write lines that may fall under your eye when I shall be no more … Sarah: my love for you is deathless.

It seems to bind me to you with mighty cables that nothing but omnipotence could break: and yet my love of country comes over me like a strong wind and bears me irresistibly on with all these chains to the battlefield. Never forget how much I love you, and when my last breath escapes me on the battlefield, it will whisper your name. Do not mourn me dead; think I am gone and wait for thee, for we shall meet again.”

The second letter comes from World War I. A grieving father from this very city writes the following about the loss of his son. “It is hard to open the letters from those you love who are dead; but Quentin’s last letters, written during his three weeks at the front, when of his squadron, on average, a man was killed every day, are written with real joy in the ‘great adventure.’ He was engaged to a very beautiful girl, of very fine and high character; it is heartbreaking for her, as well as for his mother. He had his crowded hour, he died at the crest of life, in the glory of the dawn.”

Quentin was a pilot who was shot down and died behind German lines just months before the end of World War I in 1918. The dead son’s full name was Quentin Roosevelt, the youngest son of former President Theodore Roosevelt, a New York father who lost his beloved son.

Memorial Day, here in this wonderful setting in New York City, would be incomplete without honoring and remembering those who are serving and sacrificing right now: our nation’s youth, America’s sons and daughters, who are fighting yet another battle—struggling to bring peace and freedom to Iraq and Afghanistan—while keeping us all safe from those that would do us harm.

“Whether I make it or not, it’s all part of the plan. It can’t be changed, only completed. “Mother” will be the last word I’ll say. Your face will be the last picture that goes through my eyes. I just hope that you’re proud of what I am doing and have faith in my decisions. I will try hard and not give up. I just want to say sorry for anything I have ever done wrong. And I’m doing it all for you, Mom. I love you.”

Another letter from Iraq, this one from US Army Captain Michael MacKinnon, to his young daughter Madison:

“Madison, I’m sorry I broke my promise to you when I said I was coming back. You were the jewel of my life. I don’t think anyone would ever be good enough for you. Stay beautiful, stay sweet. You will always be daddy’s little girl.”

Captain Michael MacKinnon died in October, 2005, in Iraq.

More recently, another father gave voice and image to his son—a Marine Lieutenant lost in today’s conflict in Afghanistan.

“Robert was killed protecting our country, its people, and its values from a terrible and relentless enemy in Afghanistan. We are a broken-hearted but proud family. He was a wonderful and precious boy living a meaningful life. He was in exactly the place he wanted to be, doing exactly what he wanted to do, surrounded by the best men on this earth—his Marines and a Navy Doc.”

This letter was written by a cherished friend of mine, Marine Lieutenant General John Kelly.

* * *

What can we learn from these powerful letters?

To answer that, let me close with excerpts from just one more letter. It was written from Iraq as a “just in case” letter by Private First Class Jesse A. Givens, a letter to be delivered to his wife and children only in the event of his death.

“My family,” he writes, “I never thought that I would be writing a letter like this. I really don’t know where to start. The happiest moments in my life all deal with my little family. I will always have with me the small moments we all shared. The moments when we quit taking life so serious and smiled. The sounds of a beautiful boy’s laughter or the simple nudge of a baby unborn. You will never know how complete you have made me…I did not want to have to write this letter. There is so much more I need to say, so much more I need to share…Please keep my babies safe. Please find it in your heart to forgive me for leaving you alone. . . Teach our babies to live life to the fullest, tell yourself to do the same.

I will always be there with you…Do me a favor, after you tuck the children in, give them hugs and kisses from me. Go outside and look at the stars and count them. Don’t forget to smile.

Love Always, Your husband, Jess.”

The letter was delivered in May 2003, two weeks before the birth of their son and just after his death in combat …

* * *

So again, I ask, what can we take from these letters, so sweet and sad and powerful in their simplicity and honesty?

First, and most importantly, that we are a lucky nation indeed to have such men and women, who say to us, “I will go.”

Second, that their words matter. Their lives had weight and importance. That we read their letters and in events like this, respect them and grieve with their families for their loss. And perhaps most importantly, that we support their families. That is what INTREPID is all about.

Third, a lesson for all of us who go on in this world, safe and protected due to the sacrifice of others: we should live our lives to the fullest.

To that end, I’d like to close on this magical night on board this historic ship by repeating the words of young Private First Class Jess Givens—who will be forever young in our hearts and our prayers. What he has to tell is us far more profound than anything this aging Admiral has to say:

He said:

Hug and kiss your children

Go outside and look at the stars

Don’t forget to smile

That is pretty good advice for a Memorial Day … or any day.

In the end, what else really matters?

So let us remember our heroes—those of our past and those of our present who walk among us right now.

Again, this is THEIR award. I am proud only to give voice to them tonight.

God Bless you all and God Bless America.

Adm. James Stavridis
Commander, U.S. European Command and
Supreme Allied Commander, Europe

Pear Blossoms

We had a tough spring this year with lots of bad weather but we still manage to get outside for some pictures in the pear blossoms. We snuck this session in before this beauty left for Italy!

Everywhere a Chick, Chick

I still haven't finish proofing all of my baby chick sessions but here's a little peek. We had unimaginable fun. If you missed it be sure and get on the waiting list for next year.