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January 13, 2010
January in northern IL is just stinkin’ cold. I think I’ve been chilled since Thanksgiving and probably won’t feel completely warm again until well into April (and that might be optimistic). The first few weeks of January are usually bitterly cold and snowy and this year has been typical. The first week of January we woke up to negative numbers and didn’t climb into the teens for almost a week. It snowed last week, but I wasn’t brave enough to take the kids outside in the frigid temperatures.
Today it reached 33 degrees — above freezing!! HEAT WAVE! I decided that if the kids were going to get any guaranteed play time out in the snow this winter, today was going to be the day. So we bundled up and went outside. I think we ended up outside for a total of 2 hours (with a break in the middle to warm up). The upside to two weeks of really cold temperatures is that when it finally gets up into the 20s and 30s you can be outside for a fairly long time and not really feel all that uncomfortably cold.
Brennan wanted to “shovel” the snow.
He looks like he has a plan with that snowball…
This kid has about 50 million different expressions.
As if he wasn’t cute enought, this hat is just GREAT!
Ambushing his big brother…
The problem with putting snow on your big brother’s head — PAYBACK!
January 7, 2010
Here’s some portraits from a family that I was able to photography a few days before Halloween. Their kids are gorgeous and the weather was cooperative, which was fairly unusual this past fall. Well, I mean that cooperative weather was unusual, not gorgeous kiddos 
I really wish we had leaves to throw around and jump in all year round, though I think my husband would disagree with that longing since he’s the one that tends to rake all the fallen leaves.
December 24, 2009
Back to the Manger Book Signing
Posted by Kim under General stuff about Kim Johnson Photography, PartiesLeave a Comment
In early December I had the pleasure of documenting a book signing by Margaret Philbrick and Sarah McGreevy for their new book titled “Back to the Manger.” This book has deep roots in the culture and life of Geneva, IL. To learn more about the story behind “Back to the Manger” read this article from mysuburbanlife.com
The book signing was at the Geneva History Center and took place during the Geneva Christmas Walk and Christmas tree lighting.
The nativity scene from “Back to the Manger” is historic. The figures were brought over from Italy in the early 1900s and it was displayed for years in The Little Traveler store in downtown Geneva. Many of the pieces were damaged by flood water in the 1960s and are currently undergoing restoration. Here is the baby Jesus
Surrounded by angels
My younger children admired the nativity during the Christmas walk.
More children enjoying the intricate nativity scene.
Margaret and Sarah’s book
This is the last page of the book, which has one of Sarah’s favorite paintings of a small angel.
Margaret (left) and Sarah (right), getting ready to sign “Back to the Manger”
Margaret signing
Busy signing more books
Checking out the intricate oil paintings that Sarah painted for the book
I took some time during the Christmas walk to photograph some of the buildings in downtown Geneva that are mentioned in the book. This is St. Mark’s Episcopal Church
The Little Traveler Store where the nativity was displayed for many years
Sarah’s oil painting of The Little Traveler (from the book)
Here is a photograph of one of the festivities during the Geneva Christmas walk. It really was a fun occasion, though the coldest night that we’d yet experienced this winter with temperatures in the low teens.
These Christmas trees were displayed in the History Center. Different Geneva charities put together these Christmas trees with themes from their charities. Visitors could buy tickets and use the tickets to vote on which tree was their favorite.
Margaret asked me to get some photos of her son with his girlfriend. This was one of the more silly ones but seems to capture his fun personality.
The Geneva Christmas tree was lit earlier in the evening and provided a beautiful centerpiece in downtown.
December 23, 2009
December 23, 2009
I know it’s been a horribly long time since I’ve updated my blog. It’s been a difficult fall for our family and I let the blog fall to the bottom of my priority list. My 7 year old nephew was hit by a car on October 14th and was flown by helicopter to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (my brother’s family lives outside Philly). They immediately put him into an induced coma and started the crucial fight to keep his brain swelling under control. He made it through the first critical 72 hours without too many complications but developed H1N1 within a few days of the accident. Ten days after the accident we came very close to losing him to respiratory failure (complications from the “swine” flu). Thankfully he pulled through and stabilized. He ended up being under sedation for a full month after the accident. In mid-November he was able to be brought out of sedation and started the process of rehabilitation. We had no idea what to expect from his brain injuries. An MRI taken shortly after his accident showed some generalized brain injury (particularly to his front lobe) which they termed DAI. The main part of his brain that suffered damage doesn’t develop fully until the teen years, so it’s impossible to say at this point if he will suffer any significant difficulties from the brain injury, but at this point he seems to be back to where he was before the accident. I’m so thankful to say that he’s had an amazing, and in many ways miraculous, recovery and finished up his rehab at the hospital a few days ago. He’s back at home with his family. Our family is thrilled and thankful that Ethan’s life was spared and that his brain injury appears to be mild.
I ended up spending a few different blocks of time out in PA helping my brother’s family while Ethan was in the hospital. Thanks so much to everyone that gave me extra grace and patience during this difficult period and for those who prayed for our family.
October 5, 2009
One of the advantages of being a photographer is that I’m able to hang new artwork of my kids fairly regularly. These are the 3 individual portraits of the kids that are going up in my Dining Room.
September 9, 2009
For a number of various reasons — from seemingly continual rain to a scratched cornea, this session had to be rescheduled numerous times. We finally got out on a beautiful Tuesday evening and had a fun and action packed time.
I think the best way to get a 2 year old to cooperate is to swing them!! It’s sure to get a smile and since you’ve got a hold of both hands, and their feet are off the ground, they have a harder time escaping!!
Lots of kissing. It’s that moment where Sam is still enjoying it, but he’s just about to give both his siblings a firm shove away!
Sweet moments with Mommy. As we were starting our session, Emily remarked that she wanted to make sure I took some pictures with her Mommy, cause she wants to be able to look at them when she’s older. Wow, I thought, that’s one perceptive 8 year old.
Pay attention Mommies!! Your kids want photos with YOU in them!!
Being thrown in the air by Daddy is always a BIG hit
This may be one of my favorites from the session — look at those eyes!
August 28, 2009
So my niece is heading into her senior year of high school. Isn’t she gorgeous? Smart too and a pretty darn good golfer! She’s the middle of five nieces on my husband’s side of the family (not counting our own children). It’s so hard to believe how fast they grow up, I think she was about 3 at our wedding – yikes!
She’s definitely grown up into a beautiful, smart young woman.
This spot turned out to be our favorite — I love all the reds with the yellow.
My sister-in-law is a photographer also. We had a lot of fun talking shop together. She found this next spot, which turned out to be down a basement stairwell. Jacki was a really good sport — we brushed away quite a few leaves and spider webs. But there was beautiful light coming in from above her and I didn’t have to risk life and limb to get this cool angle.
Jacki found this alley at the end of our shoot. She’s got a great artistic eye and an amazing sense of light. I thought she had to be tired of shooting but she jumped in there (literally) and started messing around and we got some awesome and really fun moments.
Thanks, Jacki, for trusting your old aunt with your senior portraits!!
June 24, 2009
We’ve had a really variable spring this year. Late May through early June is often unpredictable. This June seemed particularly rainy and cool, though as I write this post we’re in the middle of a heat advisory. It seemed that daily the 10 day forecast looked the same — chance of thunderstorms. The day before this shoot, it poured all day. So we kept a close eye on the weather and were lucky enough to have dry weather for 24 hours and partly cloudy skies, which is about perfect for portraits.
These kids were so much fun to photograph. They were really cooperative and ready to have a good time. We did the more serious portraiture at the beginning and then loosened up and played at the end.
I love getting action shots of the kids playing with Dad — I’m guaranteed to get great interactions and the kids are always into it!
Pile on top of Daddy is also a guaranteed hit!
Snuggling around Mom — awesome!
