I had the pleasure of photographing this cute little guy and his adorable big brother and sister. You may recognize his siblings as they have been on my blog several times before. I love seeing families grow!

Congratulations, D Family! He is just so precious!

Jaidean Baker Photography | Spokane Newborn Photographer

I have been photographing sweet Aria since she was a newborn. It is so so fun to watch her grow – I couldn’t believe how much she was talking this time and her little playful personality is just too cute!

Just a quick sneak peek as I’m finishing up her gallery.

Spokane Family Photographer | Jaidean Baker Photography

Spokane Family Photographer | Jaidean Baker Photography

Thank you all so much for participating in my 2011 Photo of the Year Contest! It ended with over 500 votes and it was very close all week!

And the winners are…

#1 – With the most votes, the 2011 Photo of the year is Hadley! Congratulations – you have won an 11×14 gallery mount of the image posted or of an image of your choice from a session in 2012.

#2 in 2nd place and the winner of a $100 credit to put towards a 2012 session is Shoulder Ride!

#3 Using random.org, the winner of the mini-session is comment #34 – Meghan! You have won a mini session for yourself or to gift to a friend! The mini session must take place between now and April 30th, 2012. A Mini Session is a 20 minute session at a location of your choice and you will receive a gallery of approximately 10 images and can choose 5 digital images to put on a CD. (Limit of 4 immediate family members and cannot be used for a newborn session).

Please contact me to claim your prizes/book your sessions! Thank you so much!!!

Spokane Newborn and Family Photographer | Jaidean Baker Photography

It’s time for the Photo of the Year Contest!

Thank you to all my 2011 clients! I am so honored that you chose me to photo your family! I truly appreciate it!

There will be THREE winners!

(1) The client whose image has the most votes will receive a complimentary 11 x 14 gallery mount of either the image from this contest or an image of their choice from an upcoming 2012 session they have with me.

(2) The 2nd place winner will receive a $100 credit to put towards a session in 2012.

(3) Leave a comment on this blog post (scroll down under the 20 images). A comment will be selected at random and the person who submitted the comment will receive a FREE Mini Session!! The winner may either keep the prize for themselves or gift to a friend. A Mini Session is a 20 minute session at a location of your choice in the Spokane city limits and must take place between January and April 30, 2012. You will receive a gallery of approximately 10 images and can choose 5 digital images to put on a CD. (Limit of 4 immediate family members and cannot be used for a newborn session).

For winner #3, only one comment per person but you can earn an extra entry by posting about the contest on your Facebook wall (let me know you’ve done so by posting on my Facebook Fan Page and then coming back here and leaving a second comment).

Voting will begin NOW and end on January 8th at 8pm PST.
IP addresses will be monitored – only 1 vote per person
Results will not be visible on the poll and I will announce the winners soon after the contest ends.

Scroll down to cast your vote after the 20th image

1. The O Family

2. Liam

3. The H Family

4. The P Family

5. Hollendyr

6. The W Family

7. Sunset Maternity

8. Brendan

9. Baby + Mommy

10. Finley

11. Nolan

12. Soon-to-be Big Sister

13. Macie

14. Hadley

15. Virginia

16. Collin

17. Garrett

18. Aria

19. Lily

20. Shoulder Ride

The last night in Bora Bora we walked around the resort and took some family photos.

Kids with Grandma Mary

Trevor with his mom and sister

bwaaahaaaaahaaaa! They crack me up!

And one last one while we waiting for the boat to take us to the airport. Good bye Bora Bora! Thank you for the fabulous time and great memories!

Jaidean Baker Photography | Spokane Photographer

We had to take advantage of the gorgeous sunset and background in Bora Bora to get some silhouette shots (thank you to my sister-in-law for taking the family and ones of me and Trevor).

We have a similar wedding photo we were trying to recreate here.

Spokane Photographer | Jaidean Baker Photography

Spokane Family Photographer | Jaidean Baker Photography

We also did a couple excursions while on Bora Bora.

One excursion we did was go to the Lagoonarium (it got good reviews for a good family activity…it was kid friendly, but not sure I’d recommend it). We saw turtles, fed the sting-rays, snorkeled, fed the fish and swam with the sharks.

Trevor and I went on a bike ride around the island of Bora Bora with his sister and her husband. Is is only 18 miles…and I say only very sarcastically. I thought we were either renting scooters or going on an electric bike. Only when we got over there we found out neither were available, so we decided pedal bikes would be a good alternative. Unless you are a spin instructor (like my sister-in-law) or maybe if you have rode a bike (that wasn’t totally falling apart like the ones we rented were) in the last 15 years more than a block, it might be ok. I (kind of) laugh about it now, but it was miserable at the time (so HOT)…lol. I have very few pictures from this endeavor…and you can probably tell from my description why! It was a good way to get a good close look at the island though.

And then we also did a jet ski tour around the island which was a lot of fun!

And just a few other random pictures

Ahhh…Bora Bora.  I am seriously infatuated with Bora Bora.  I have always wanted to go there just from seeing pictures and being there in person didn’t help it any.  It is BEAUTIFUL!  Seriously, I would just look around constantly think the water couldn’t really be that color and I hoped that the pictures I was taking would actually depict what I was seeing in person.  It really is as pretty in person as you see in pictures.  I would go back there tomorrow for another vacation (awful red-eye flight and all) if I could.  The weather was perfect while we were here.  HOT, sunny and no rain!  I think I could show you pictures from here for the next 2 weeks, but I’ll spare you to just a few days!  ;) We did a TON of swimming and just relaxing while in Bora Bora.

Bora Bora from the airplane

Our resort from the plane.  It was on a motu (the wishbone looking huts in the water) – not really sure what motu means, but my guess would  be small island??

Our Hut over the water

This was taken sitting on the bed – awesome view to look at every morning!

The coffee table inside the hut was glass bottomed

Sitting on the desk

swimming in the ocean off our deck

Fun at the pool

Part IV will be up tomorrow!