aileen reilly photography | 703.599.3046

LIFE.STORIES.GENERATIONS.

Céad Míle Fáilte.

That's Irish for "a hundred thousand welcomes."

I'm so happy to have you here, peeking into what I see. Looking through my lens.

I've been capturing the little moments with my camera for as long as I can remember. I'm the one hovering around the edges, watching and catching the little glances, the slight touch, the sparkling eyes, the hands, the smiles, the laughs. With a click of my shutter, those moments are preserved, remembered years down the road when memory fails or when the little things can no longer be pictured in the mind's eye. My camera is my life (you know, right after my four kids and husband...).

This blog will be for many things. It is another creative outlet for me. I love to write. Writing and photography, for me, are the perfect combination. Here will be my many musings on life, photography, parenting, and more. I will also preview my client shoots here. You will get a taste of what our sessions looked like - the fun we had and the laughs we shared.

So, come in. Take a look through my lens.

A hundred thousand welcomes to you.

Note: The top shot is five generations in our family, ages 9 months to 93 years. Although our great-great grandfather is no longer with us, we have this moment and those memories preserved. A family's hands through time.

Inspiration | Generations

01.31.2010 12:18 am

The question was asked, “Where do you find your inspiration?”

Inspiration.

I pondered it for a long time. The truth is, I find inspiration in so many places. Curves, lines, colors, lighting, people, expressions, relationships. So, I went about my life with this question hanging in the back of my head. And a couple weeks ago, I worked an 80th birthday party of a dear friend of mine. She is the mother of my neighbor. My neighbor is the youngest of 7 and has 2 young daughters herself. Those little girls are almost like my own. I have been photographing them practically since each of their births. That 80 year old woman has LIVED her life. She had 5 children in her first marriage, and at a young age, fled a bad situation with all 5 children in tow. Eventually, she met and married her husband and had two more children. They have been married 39 years now. Her youngest son was involved in a tragic car accident leaving him with a serious brain injury. He hovered near death for a long time. He is married (and was at the time), and is a father to an 8 year old autistic son. This grandmother, this woman is full of peace, despite all the hurdles and struggles along the way, and there is no other way to describe it ~ inner peace with herself and a desire for peace for the world. Her heroes include Thomas Merton and Mother Theresa. Her home is decorated with her beliefs (Tibetan prayer flags), crosses of all styles, campaign signs (Obama), anti-war signs. Her home is filled with love with family photos everywhere, in every nook and cranny. Knick-knacks from around the world decorate everywhere. Her home has been lived in and loved in. And yesterday that dear sweet woman turned 80. What a life. In editing some photos from the birthday party, I kept coming back to this one. It is the 80 year old birthday girl and her two year old granddaughter (my neighbor’s daughter). I look at this image, and I see the spectrum of life, from one stage to another, generations holding onto each other and helping each other along the way. Both gingerly in their steps, but moving forward together. One life passing on to another. Continuity in this universe.

It is these connections that inspire me the most. When I capture an image like this, I consider myself so grateful to be a witness to this absolute beauty, this absolute love. There is no greater inspiration.

Peace,

Aileen

Posted in: generations. lifestyle photography.. portraits.

by Aileen

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Capture It Now | Oakton Portrait Photography

01.26.2010 3:05 pm

Right before Christmas, I got a call from a mom I know. “Hey,” she says, “my kids are getting braces in the next month or so, can you do a shoot with them before the braces go on? I don’t want to forget this. The way they are now.” And sure, she takes pictures of them every day, but there is something about getting professional portraits done to capture the spirit and the being of the kids, just so. And isn’t it true that kids behave better when someone else wants to take their photo than when MOM wants to take their picture?!

So one morning, I took her kids off her hands for a couple hours. We went for a walk. We talked. We explored. We made silly faces. We hung out. And I got to know those kids in a way I hadn’t before. And these are kids I’ve known for years. Let me introduce you to their spirit.

Here they are, just the two of them, older sister and younger brother. Gorgeous brown eyes.

The girl, L, is a friend of my oldest daughter. In fifth grade, she’s at that “tween” age. That’s what they call it now. Somewhere “in between” the younger kids and the teenagers. In that “in between” of trying to figure out who she is, what she likes, what’s important to her, how she wants to dress, a whole world ahead of her.

You can look at her and almost see the beautiful teenager and further on, the woman, she will become.

But, she’s still young. And you can’t forget that at this age. She couldn’t wait to wear some of her new stuff from Christmas.

She was loving her new black boots! I remember at that age, I wanted heels so badly. And when I finally got them, I’m pretty sure I wore them everywhere, whether appropriate or not. But, L here, she was rockin’ the boots.

And her new nails!

Soon she will leave the “tween” phase and move on to a bigger world. Where there are bigger decisions to make. Until then, capture the beauty, the innocence, the way they are, as they move forward and onward….

And then there is the little brother. This guy, like most boys I know, was a spirit in motion. Here, there, and everywhere.

Climbing, jumping, running, picking up sticks, playing with sticks, throwing sticks.

What an imagination too! The sticks were guitars, swords, baseball bats, you name it. Active, active, active!

I did catch him unawares in one quiet moment of reflection. But, believe me, this only happened for a brief nanosecond.

After we took some shots, we headed back to their house where their cousins had arrived from Pittsburgh. It was fun watching them all together and reuniting.

The sun started to set and it was time for me to go home and make dinner for my kiddos.

The boy, well he just hopped onto his pogo stick and continued moving ~ everywhere.

Capture it now, I tell you. Capture it now.

xo

A

Posted in: cousins. families.. family photography.. lifestyle photography.. oakton photography. portraits.. siblings.

by Aileen

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Siblings and Cousins | Oakton Family Photographer

01.25.2010 2:02 am

Over the Christmas holiday, I was lucky to spend a morning with four great kids. We went hiking. Through snow, sleet, wind, mud, muck, yuck, the photographer just keeps on trudging….

Two of the kids are local to my area, and the other two girls are cousins, visiting from Atlanta. It was amazing to me how much they were all like one big family, more like brothers and sisters than cousins.

Most of my time was spent chasing after them as they ran on ahead. They kept trying to convince me to follow the trail to the end, though no one seemed all that positive about where it ended. When we got to this, I told them it was a sign.

Time to turn around!

He is the lone boy in the sea of girls. Seems to hold his own though.

His sister. They get along as you would expect brothers and sisters to get along.

And this little girl had a tooth I was just dying to pull out. It was the mom in me.

She and her sister were buds.

But, together, the four of them were like the three musketeers. Or like the four musketeers, if there were such a thing.

Do you like the nails?! They did that in the morning before I arrived. They were completely loving their nails. Well, the girls that is.

Is there a cuter crew? It was so cold that morning, and the kids were having a blast blowing steam. When I asked them to do it on camera, the boy held his composure. The girls were all over it.