Porter Family - Family Session

For as long as I can remember, I have always had the best of luck photographing young kiddos. I might need to give my nieces and nephews credit for that because I practiced on their cute-as-a-button faces whenever I had the opportunity. I have been taking photos professionally for probably 5 or 6 years now, and I always enjoy whenever kiddos are a part of my photoshoot. They are spontaneous and unfiltered. They are themselves. What’s not to love?

My friend hired me to take her family’s photos, and once again, I got to meet some pretty awesome kids with amazing, unique personalities. They were just cool kids that I’d hang out with and have a Harry Potter marathon. It was my absolute pleasure to take their photographs.

Heath - Portrait Session

After delays due to weather and illness, I was finally able to take my friend’s son’s senior photos. Mother Nature hasn’t necessarily been my friend lately. Even on Sunday, we had to battle some high winds during the photo shoot. Nevertheless, we powered through and created some magic! Heath, you were an absolute pleasure.

Amy - Portrait Session

Over the weekend, I had the pleasure of helping my friend update her professional headshot. When I got there, the weather was not really on our side. Luckily, we didn’t need much in way of location to make magic happen.

Carissa - Portrait Session

This past weekend, I had the absolute pleasure of photographing a coworker of mine at North Park. I initially thought I wanted to take pictures by the North Park Boathouse, or around the lake. At the last minute, I decided to meet Carissa at the Wetlands. The weather was perfect, and the surroundings were ideal.

Statement Necklaces

One of the items that I inherited from my mother after she died was her jewelry box. When I was a kid, I would periodically go through her jewelry box and admire her necklaces and earrings. I’d lightly touch them and feel a mother-daughter bond. These were items that my mother wore, and now they were mine. I could put them on and feel a piece of her with me.

In recent years, I have grown a collection of statement necklaces, thanks to second-hand stores, thrift shops and clearance rack. I probably haven’t paid full price for a necklace in…. forever?

Whenever I add something new to my collection (aka my Nieces are never inheriting actual money from me), I feel joy. It makes me feel giddy. While I’m not the girliest of girls, I love necklaces like I love chocolate. Ever since my double-mastectomy in 2012, I gravitate toward clothes that hide my scars and pretty much the work of Dr. Heckler.

I bought this yellow necklace from a clearance rack. I like to wear it with solid color shirts or in this case, a black and white striped shirt. Instead of wearing clothes that hide my mastectomy and discourage people from looking at my chest, I’ll wear clothes that hide my mastectomy but encourage people to check out my upper half.

I bought this Kate Spade necklace from Style Encore. I was drawn to two things on this necklace: it’s shiny and blue is my favorite color! Additionally, the shiny ball spins around, so it’s almost like a fidget spinner for adults. I love wearing this one with long sweaters, as it makes me feel so fancy.

Instead of hiding completely, I can play up what I like about myself and still camouflage what I don’t. I go out with confidence and some swagger to my step. I wonder if this is how my mom felt when she wore her costume jewelry.

Senior Pet & Animal Rescue

Recently, I had the absolute pleasure and honor of taking pictures for a charity calendar to benefit the Senior Pet & Animal Rescue. I’ve taken pictures for the charity before, but in a different capacity. I took pictures of several doggos in foster homes in the hopes a future adopter would be drawn to their picture/profile.

This calendar was a different project, but the end goal was the same: help senior pets. All the proceeds from the calendar go toward the Senior Pet & Animal Rescue organization, and I didn’t accept a dime.

Take a look at some of my favorite pictures from the handful of shoots I had for this project! So far, we have sold out the initial order of calendars, and I believe the organization is ordering more. This will be one of the most successful fundraisers for Senior Pet & Animal Rescue - how amazing is that?!?

Chippy

I have had the absolute pleasure of taking pictures of dog, cats and recently, chickens. Well, I can now add an adorable DONKEY to this list. How incredibly lucky am I? 

Y'all, meet Chippy. Her full name is Mocha Chocolate Chip Frappucino, but they call her Chippy. Squee. She is so adorable and loving. When the family photo shoot was over, she even posed for some selfies with me. While I am still a crazy dog lady, I'm pretty sweet on donkeys now. They are cute! 

Look at that face! <3

Chippy!

Viva la Chippy!

Chicks, Man. Chicks.

Recently, I had the pleasure of taking family photographs for Sylvia and Brian, runner friends of mine. I have long said that my favorite things to photograph are children and dogs. Well, let's add chickens to that list now! 

While I have a bit of a bird phobia (don't judge me), I can't say that also applies to chickens. They are beautiful and unique creatures. I am glad Sylvia and Brian gave me the opportunity to take pictures of their beloved chickens. They were a blast! (The humans weren't bad, either.)

Better Late than Never, huh?

When I was in my 20s, I didn't care much for fashion. My self-esteem was pretty much non-existent in my teens and 20s, and boy oh boy, did it show. I dressed like I wanted to hide my body, which is because I wanted to hide.  My idea of fashion consisted mostly of jeans and novelty T-shirts, and whenever I "dressed up," I would wear a dress which probably showed too much cleavage. I didn't know who I was, and my clothing reflected that. In my teens, I wore ill-fitting pants and shirts two sizes too big.

I'm 18 years old. There's a body hiding under all of those clothes.

I didn't start becoming interested in fashion until all of my hair fell out due to chemotherapy, and I felt like everyone was staring at me with pity. I felt determined if people were going to stare at me, I would make it worth their while and look my best. I have spent most of my 30s actually becoming interested in clothing and fashion. 

My relationship with clothes and fashion changed after I had a double mastectomy 2012. I have never been pleased with my reconstruction, so I had to modify how I dressed. I get super self-conscious when I feel like my scars on full display, so I do whatever I can to hide that... all while looking fantastic. 

I love statement necklaces like you cannot believe.  I'm not even exaggerating - I am slightly obsessed with my collection of statement necklaces, aka costume jewelry. The pictures above don't even come close to representing all that is in my collection.  None of these pieces are what anyone would call... valuable, but they are to me. 

Onto the clothing you see at top, I have been on the fence for the first shirt because of the poofy sleeves. I own quite a bit of black shirts, which has basically become my go-to after my double-mastectomy.  Since I am a very pale lady, black works the best for my skin. More importantly, you cannot really see my reconstructed chest at all.

The second picture, I am absolutely in love with this blouse. It's incredibly soft and comfortable, and I like pairing it with a large, solid statement necklace to really give it interest. The third pictures - it's a typical work outfit for me: conservative top and Ann Taylor slacks. As soon as I put on the necklace, I went, "Yep, that's it." It went from a boring conservative outfit to a conservative outfit with a little bit of flair.

The last picture, my stars, I love this $40 dress from H&M. It looks like it came straight from the 50s, and I absolutely love it. This is the type of style I gravitate toward, and I feel the most sexy and confident wearing.

The current trends in fashion right now make me want to roll my eyes so hard that I fear they will get permanently stuck, but I'm crossing my fingers the "Mad Men" trend comes back soon. Please please, come back soon. As someone who has had a double mastectomy and someone approaching middle age on the express trend, I want to burn every sheer top until I never see them again.

Even though I had to completely change how I dressed, truth be told, I am happy with how far I have come since my jeans and novelty t-shirt days. I feel much more confident and happy in how I feel and look. Maybe it's getting older, or maybe it's learning to accept this new-ish body of mine and working with it, not against it, but I'm okay with how I present myself.

My self-esteem was the biggest obstacle for me when it came to dressing myself, and much to my surprise, my double mastectomy was just an obstacle... one that I have seemingly (I think) overcome.

Tammy & Steve

Animal Rescue League

Once again, I had the opportunity to take photographs of dogs who need forever homes at Animal Rescue League this week.  I wish my schedule allowed me to do this every week, but I will take any chance I can get.  Here are my two favorite shots from the night.  

Rudette is a shy GSD, but once she warmed up to you, then you are golden.

This fella has striking eyes.  It was impossible to take a bad picture of my boy, Bruce.

Sweet, sweet baby

It is a special moment when you can capture a dear friend from college radiate love to her newborn.  Little Baby C is a sweet baby boy, and I selfishly wish his parents decide to move back to Pittsburgh.

Animal Rescue League

Several weeks ago, I had the extreme pleasure to take my trusty camera with me to Pittsburgh's Animal Rescue League.   This particular has a special place in my heart because that's where I adopted my Mal pup in 2012.  

A good friend of mine, who is as dog-crazy as me, volunteers at the Animal Rescue League every Wednesday.  I had my camera with me at work on this particular Wednesday, so after I clocked out, I marched on over to the shelter.  I wanted to take pictures of shelter dogs who needed a picture for their Petfinder profile.  People are more likely to inquire about a pet if they have a nice, professionally-done photograph, than one depicting them as scared and sad (read more).

In a period of one hour, I was able to take pictures of five dogs with the assistance of my friend and another Animal Rescue League volunteer.

All images copyright 2015 Lara K Huffman Photography. 

All images copyright 2015 Lara Huffman Photography. 

All images copyright 2015 Lara Huffman Photography. 

All images copyright 2015 Lara K. Huffman Photography. 

All images copyright 2015 Lara K. Huffman Photography. 

I am happy to say that all the dogs you see here have since been adopted.  I don't know if my photos played a part.  If they did, then that's awesome.  All that matters, though, is that they all have found their furever homes.

Welcome to the new LaraHuffman.com

I am very excited for a complete overhaul of my new website.  I've switched over to Squarespace, and the templates are absolutely amazing.  I cannot wait to keep creating and sharing the photographs I have taken and have yet to take.

I appreciate you taking the time to take a look at my work and gain some insight into the woman behind the camera, yours truly.