I was recently in Utah in Promontory Ranch (near Park City) on vacation with my family. We brought the kids (my two and my two nephews) to see the horses at the Equestrian Center one morning. This is a MUST DO while visiting Promontory. The staff there are unbelievably nice, especially Jose, who told us about so many of the horses while he was cleaning out their stables.
We got a visual treat as well, Nabisco was due for new shoes. The process was really fun to watch, and Nabisco just stood there the whole time without any sign of pain or discomfort. He’s such a trooper. Later we were told by his owner that he’s a “candy man”. He loves his peppermints! I hope they gave him a lot of treats after this!
We actually went BACK to the center the day after this to show the family members the horses since they were golfing the day before. We were able to give Nabisco some peppermints, which he loved, of course. He made us laugh… after we’d give him a mint, he’d start throwing his head up and down in protest that we weren’t continually feeding him. It was hilarious!
I hope you enjoy these photos as much as I do. I don’t know much about horses, but after visiting them here at the Equestrian Center, I fell in LOVE.

Something strange is going on with my blog. Every time I go to the address (www.meredithwilcke.com) the first published blog is about my nephews, but it’s showing Chloe’s site. Clearly my nephews aren’t infants wearing pink tutus. SO… until I’m able to figure this out, please CLICK ON THE TITLE of the post to bring up the correct imagery.
Harumph!!!

AGH! I think I’ve finally fixed the bug. Hooray!

We took a family vacation to Utah a few weeks ago and I got to photograph my nephews, Harrison (5) and Bennett (3).  I love these boys, and it’s always a ton of fun to get our kids together with them since they are the same ages.

Bennett is a shy boy….  This shoot was towards the end of our visit, so I had been around him for about 5 or 6 days by this point.  He still didn’t want anything to do with me.  It didn’t help that he had been sick, either.  He loves his Mommy, his daddy, and especially loves his “dampa”.  He’ll sit with Grandpa Wilcke every chance he gets.

His mom, Beth, and I took the boys to the Outfitter’s cabin in  Promontory Ranch.  It’s a very neat building, as you will see, and it’s surrounded by beautiful trees, flowers and amazing light.  I even saw a few deer there when I had first gone over there to scope out a location.

Harrison was totally up for cooperating with his Aunt Meredith, but Bennett was a different story.  Beth would put him down in the flowers and he would CRY huge tears and look at me like I was going to take him away forever.  Poor kid.  We decided to implement “Operation Hide Mommy” which is a wonderful tool I use when photographing kids that are dealing with such things as separation anxiety.  Within two minutes of Beth “going to the car to get something” and staying away, he was perfectly fine.  Such a silly boy!

Anyway, I’m just delighted to have captured Bennett’s true personality and Harrison’s zest for “dancing”.   Take a look!

Below is a fully functional flash website within the blog. Please be sure to click on Gallery to view the individual photographs.

There is just something so special about shooting on location in someone’s home. It presents a great challenge… where do you find the light? Will there be enough light? How on EARTH am I going to fit my backdrop in there? Ha.
However, in this case, all was easy! Tommy and Amy had the most beautiful nursery set up for baby Chloe. It is all decked out in (whadda-ya-know, my favorite store ever) Pottery Barn Kids stuff. PLUS, the biggest most awesome part of it all, is that it’s the brightest room in the house! Perfect!
We shot one way, in the chair, and then I flipped directions and hung my backdrop on the other wall. They had the awesome antique settee and it worked perfectly with my backdrop! Score!
Thanks to Amy and Tommy for allowing me to photograph and capture this time in Chloe’s life… and thank you, Chloe, for being such a pleasant model!

Below is a fully functional flash website within the blog. Please be sure to click on Gallery to view the individual photographs.

Isn’t she ADORABLE???

The Lang twins are a few of my favorite subjects! Although Jackson didn’t want anything to do with me the first time we attempted this shoot (he was suffering from slight separation anxiety), at least I got this amazing shot of Isabella!  LOOK at the EYES on these kids!  Amazing!

It’s been so fun to see them grow over the last year!

The second time around, we got great shots of both of the twins, but none of them together!  By the time we tried to do that, it was Isabella’s turn to not want anything to do with me!

Hi friends,

About a year ago my cousin Maureen passed away from ovarian cancer, and our family has taken on the mission of spreading awareness of BRCA, a genetic mutation that is closely linked to ovarian cancer. They now have a simple blood test which can let people know if they have the BRCA gene (which increases your chance of ovarian cancer by 50%), but not many people – including my cousin – even knew/know that such a test exists. Ovarian cancer is called a “silent killer” because of the lack of symptoms. When Maureen was diagnosed, she was already at stage 3. If she had had the test done, she would have been able to prevent the cancer from even having a chance to harm her.
Maureen’s husband Mike and his oldest son, Joe recently completed this incredibly powerful video which you can now find on YouTube, and Joe told their story at the National Ovarian Cancer Conference this week in Washington DC. I encourage you to watch it and please spread the word to all the women in your lives. We can’t have Maureen back, but by spreading the word and educating people we may be able to help other families avoid such senseless tragedy.
The photos below were taken in Phoenix in January of 2009, 5 months before Maureen passed away. She is photographed with her first grandson, Aiden. I love you Casey family!

PLEASE WATCH AND SHARE THIS VIDEO!

Of course there are no words to express how much you love your own children. Hopefully you can see my love through this project. Thanks, Nathan, for being my assistant… twice.

The Wilcke Kids

These three beautiful children belong to one of my most favorite people, Jeanie! She is such a beautiful person, my style guru, and someone I absolutely try to emulate.