Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

I would like to wish all my clients a Merry Christmas and a very prosperous New Year! Thank you so much for allowing me to capture those beautiful children of yours this year. Thank you for trusting me to capture their spirit and personality forever in a portrait.

After an extremely busy Fall, it is time for a break! We will be "closed" from Friday December 22 until January 2nd. During this time I will fill orders that have already been placed, print up the missing prints a few of you had, and overhaul my portfolio with all the stunning images from this year.

As always if you have a question, please email or call me! I may not get to it as quickly as I have, but they will be answered.

Just for you, S.

I am sure everyone knows how it is. You have dreams for your photo session, getting that perfect photo of your child. But, then, those dreams are shattered when you go through the session. Why? Because you feel like everything did not go well at all. You wonder if I even got anything. Most of the time I do, and I love surprising the families with their session galleries. I love hearing how much you love the images, how moved you were by what I have captured, and how I managed to get an image of your child and those expressions you see daily.

Well, S, here is one of the images I captured this past weekend. M is a wonderful little girl, and I hope this is the smile you were wanting.



This one is for the rest of you. I think her Mom will agree, this is the true M. I love her so much, she is just a joy to be around.

Taking a moment to catch a breath

Pausing a moment in the midst of proofing my final two sessions of the year. Thanks to all who have made 2006 a wonderful year for my business. I am truly appreciative of the ability to do something I truly love while still staying true to who I am. As all my clients know, I am a Mom. But photography feeds my creative soul, it gives me new challenges, and lets me explore areas that are just not found in a young child's life. At the same time I am able to capture so many images of my own children, in ways that truly show who they are. Yes, that means I have photos where I have scrapes, missing teeth, chapped lips, and dirty mouths. I have photos with mis-matched clothing, with grass stains on the knees, and some are even stained with mud, paint, or spaghetti-o sauce.

I hope, that through my photography, you as a parent have been able to see both the angelic looking child you fleetingly see and the real child you see on a daily basis. In preparing for 2007, I am sifting through all the images from this year to update my website. I am amazed at all the people I have met and gotten to know this year. My hope is that I continue to see all of you in the future. Each of you hold a special place in my heart. Each of your children are wonderful. Thanks so much for trusting me with their portraits, for trusting me to capture them, their personalities, and their spirits!

Here are a few from recent sessions (well in the past month). Enjoy!











I'll get others on the blog soon!

A photo from my extended family!

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I've got so many "sneak peeks" and "pre-views" that I saved for showing on the blog, only to get so busy that I got the full sessions up for viewing before I could get them on the blog. Look for their images on the updated website in January. Yes, I'm going to finally get all those empty spots filled, and all the galleries updated with images from this year.

But, here's one of my extended family (mainly my boys, my nephews, and my brother) that we did for my Mom's Christmas cards. Yes, we're silly like this quite a bit of the time.



The last day for orders that will make it back by Christmas is fast approaching! If you were wanting images for gifts, then please order soon or I may not be able to get them to you. For those procrastinators out there (like myself), that day is December 12th, and that is even cutting it close.

M & S you are just BEAUTIFUL!

These girls were so much fun at their recent session. In the rush to get their gallery online for viewing, I forgot to add this one in. Why? Because I had pre-edited it and intended in showing them on the blog. So Mom, here's the one missing from your gallery that I just loved. I hope you love your portraits!

Aren't these ladies just gorgeous?

I met this family up on Monte Sano Mountain very early in the morning recently, and as you know it has been COLD! They were troopers though, and shrugged off their nice warm coats for a few portraits. I am not sure how they did it, as I was trying very hard not to have my teeth chatter. As you see, I did let them keep their coats on for some portraits.

I had a great time despite the cold. I hope they did as well.

I wonder what he was thinking?

Just one of many out-takes from a session with my own children.

tis the Season!

I was excited when this family contacted me because I was curious how much they have changed since their last session. It is so fun to see the kids grow each year, and this was no exception. B and M are the sweetest kids, and participated so well. This was one of the mini-sessions I have been offering that is basically only to get that Christmas card photo to mail out.

Having fun with families this fall!

Having the honor to meet so many families and get a glimpse into the lives of those families is one of the perks of my job. Sometimes during a session I capture an outtake, something funny that happened, or something that happened by accident. This session, I was photographing a family (Grandparents down to the little granddaughter), and toward the end of the session I had the Aunt and Uncle of the little girl off posing romantically. The little girl was eating a snack, and I happened to see her through the lens and focused on her with the Aunt and Uncle out of focus in the background. The expression I captured, was total accident, but to me it looks like little A is saying "Uh-OH look what I saw them doing!"

So here's the "romatically posed Aunt and Uncle" and A's "Uh-oh" expression. Enjoy! Yes, I proofed the one of A solely to share with you on this blog!




But perhaps, little A's expression should have been when she caught her Aunt and Uncle acting up. Yes, she was watching intently as well (but she was concerned for her beloved Aunt mostly).

In honor of Halloween, a comic strip for you!

If you've ever seen me look panicked at your session, then you can pretty much guarantee that I saw that "Err 99" message. Talk about stopping your heart in the middle of a session. The fix is fairly easy, take out the battery and restart the camera. But I've heard, every once in a while that doesn't help and the camera is just dead. That is why I carry a backup camera! I'm sure you thought my 2nd camera was so you could laugh at me when I accidentally choke myself on the 2 straps hanging around my neck.

WhatTheDuck.net has some rather funny (and a few off color) photography jokes. This one though I thought I would share with you. Hope you enjoyed it!

What the Duck is an online comic strip. Viewers are welcome to link, post, copy/paste, or save the strips to their own sites, blogs, forums, newsletters, etc.

What the Duck comics and whattheduck.net are © 2006 Aaron Johnson All rights reserved.

Meet Miss H

She is the 4 year old daughter of my best friend, and when my best friend came over I had the pleasure of photographing Miss H at her tea party (with her little brother). Having 2 boys myself, I am not typically invited to tea parties, so this was a special treat for me.

Thanks Miss H for the M&Ms and for the photo opportunities!

Just a peek!

Just 2 sweet siblings, all dressed up and ready for Christmas! I've delivered the proof gallery to their parents, but I wanted to show them off to the rest of you!

Also, I still have a few openings for Christmas card photos. These are more of a mini-session and dedicated solely to getting that great Christmas card photo! This is just one design of many that I have. If I took your photo earlier this year and are interested in using one of those images, then I can do that as well. Just contact me for more details!

October and Autumn

I love this time of year. The crisp air outside, the changing leaves, the pumpkin patch trips, the putting away of summer clothes and pulling out favorite fall clothes, wearing a lightweight jacket to a ball game, high school football games, band competitions, and starting Christmas shopping. What is your favorite fall activity? What do you love about October?

I've been taking appointments for fall sessions lately, and for Christmas card photos. If you are interested in a session this fall, please be aware that my calendar is almost full. I am working on being able to add in a few more dates, but it is going to depend on childcare arrangements.

Grandma's Flowers

I remember, as a child, visiting my grandmother and playing hide and seek in her garden. I remember running barefoot in the grass and mud. I remember learning to hang upside down on their little swingset (which looked so big when I was little and ever so tiny this last trip). I remember rolling down the hill with my cousins. But, especially, I remember all the flowers my grandmother always planted. Flowers everywhere. I love those special memories, and I hope that my children have similar ones of visiting their grandparents.

I'm working on getting better at taking photos of flowers, and working on doing different effects with them in photoshop. But, here are 3 of the flowers in my grandmother's garden this year.

Thanks for the good time in the Gardens!

I had a great time in the Botanical gardens with these 2 children. I have taken their portraits before, and each time I have not connected to this little guy. This time, however, he let me play chase in the field with him, he took my hand and showed me some fish, he pointed out a frog, and he smiled for me. Thanks Lisa for letting me photograph your precious children, they truly are a delight!

Family.

Everyone has family, and I loved getting to see some of mine during August (well through Labor Day weekend). The following are just a few of them. My two grandmothers, my cousin (who is close in age to me and I count her as one of my best friends), and then the baby of one of other cousins (not the Dad holding her...but isn't it so sweet to see a Dad so in love with his daughter?).

I had so much fun seeing everyone, taking thier portraits (when they let me), and that little baby is so sweet! I can not wait until my other cousin has her baby!!! I hope to be able to continue to do some sessions for my family, and I was thrilled to get portraits of my grandmothers to preserve for my children.







Now...to work on the photos I took of my grandmother's flowers and garden. She has the most amazing blueberry bushes, they are over 6 feet tall and loaded with blueberries. I would show them to you, but my own mother and aunt would not speak to me for months if I did as they are in them picking those blueberries.

Sports Site up and running!

Finally, after months of waiting, I have my sports site up and running with major thanks to my husband and business manager. I am currently working on the main site splash page adding links and updating the photos. I am also going to be updating the photos on the portrait side with some from this year! Exciting times indeed.

As for sneak peeks, I have 3 Moms from this past weekend wanting to see some from their sessions. I am hoping to have those proofed by the end of week and give everyone a sneak peek at their sessions - a beautiful 3 month old, a fun 5 year old, and a stunning woman that I am happy to call my cousin. My Aunt is anxious to see those shots, almost as anxious as I am to proof them.

Childhood Fantasy Sessions

I took the boys out to play, because quite frankly I do not seem to do enough of that with them. We had a great time just playing. The kids loved getting to dress up as Pirates and go out to a creek and play around. I would love doing sessions like this for clients! There was not one ounce of posing going on, just capturing my boys as they are. Okay, sometimes I would ask them to "pause right there for just one second" for a shot or two. But this was a totally fun session.

For you, imagination will know no bounds. Unfortunately we will have to abide by trade rights and copyrights for certain characters. Generic pirates, princesses, fairies, knights, cowboys, astronauts, firemen, policemen, military men, etc. are all fine.

Joined a new charity organization

NAOCP - National Association of Charitable Photographers.

One of the exciting things about this is that I will now be offerring free sessions to adoptive families. My heart is in adoption, particularly international adoption. If you know of a family who is adopting, or of an adoption agency, please contact me for details. They also offer Military Family sessions for families with a loved one deploying, and they offer hospice sessions.

For those that did not know, today, we are Dossier to China to adopt our own beautiful daughter. It's a long process, and we are just now through the first stage. This next stage will take up to a few years depending on referal timeframes and so forth. If we end up going special needs route, then it will be faster.

My heart truly is in adoption these days, it's such an exciting time for us as we await news of our future daughter. Don't worry, I'll be sure to let everyone know when we find out who she will be.

Changes...ch-ch-ch-changes!

I am finally going to have some time to update the website! Finally you all are saying? Yes, finally. It's been weighing on my mind for a few months that I have not gotten the sports website done, or that I've not filled out all the galleries. I need to add another kids gallery. I just have too many cute little kids to leave so many out!

I hope you have been watching the TN Valley Kids Directory for my ads! I have another coming out in September and then in October. I am not certain at this time if I will continue beyond that time or not. I would like to, but just not certain if I will or not.

This summer has been so much fun meeting so many new people, and seeing familiar faces. I hope to get some of these photos up in my galleries soon. I am now working on the Gallery Plans and the Gallery Collections, so I hope I will have a link to those soon as well. Christmas/Holiday cards are in the works, and I will showcase some of the designs here.

I have had inquiries about fall family portraits with the leaves. I know from previous years that end of October is the best for leaves, and one of the best locations is on Monte Sano Mountain. However, with the lack of rain this summer, I am not sure how nice of leaves we will have. If you are interested in a Fall Family session, please contact me as soon as possible since those dates are filling up quickly.

Where has the summer gone?!

I can not believe it is August already, and time to start back to school. This month is going to be busy for me as I travel back and forth to Tennessee to help my family with my grandmother. She's just had a 2nd major stroke in less than 6 months, and the doctors do not have a great prognosis for her. I'm hoping to get some good portraits of her this month to have for years to come.

I am currently scheduling clients for the last half of September. It's time to be thinking about Christmas sessions. See what I mean when I say "Where has the summer gone?" One style of card I have in mind is doing a Nativity scene with a quote from the New Testament. I have an example in my Limited Moments gallery. I also have a new brown backdrop that I am hoping to use for this session instead of the black this year.

I will, of course, offer the burgandy ornaments and the Santa hats.

I am tossing around ideas about how to set up these sessions. One idea I have had is to do a Home Portrait Party style, think portraits but like those "in home parties" and only for Christmas card photos!

During down time at my parent's home, I will hopefully have time to work on my website and get it all fully up. Please keep an eye on it!

Okay, I can't leave without a photo. Here is a young lady I had the pleasure of meeting in Hampton Cove during a very hot evening in July. She is just a lovely young woman.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer!

July has been a busy busy month for my family. Lots of camps for my oldest to attend, and I'm the taxi. If you have not ever been involved with Sci-Quest then I highly recommend you visit someday. I also highly recommend their classes and camps for kids. My son absolutely loves them.

On the business side of things, I've been busy which is good. I have truly enjoyed getting to meet so many new people, and work with their families. The kids have all be wonderful, and have endured the heat without complaint.

I am working on Christmas card designs, and Christmas card themes. If you have any ideas, please send them to me and if I use them you will get 1 set of photo cards as a gift as me saying Thanks!

Okay, so I'm sure you want to see some recent photos!





I want to share the rest, but I am going to save those until a later date. Or watch my website, as I know some of them will be finding their way into the galleries!

We went on a mini-vacation.

I just have to share a snapshot from our mini-vacation to the Smokey Mountains. We had a wonderful time, and I had lots of fun playing with my kids and visiting really fun places.

Christmas in July Special!

The kids have chosen to spend some extra time with their grandparents, so I've unexpectedly gotten 3 weekday days open for appointments. So, I thought I would run a special. I know it seems EARLY, but I'm planning my Christmas ads, designing Christmas cards, designing "Happy New Year" cards (for those of us who never make it addressing those cards until AFTER Christmas), and all around just trying to figure out exactly what I am doing for the holiday season regarding the photos. The only "sets" I will not have available will be the nativity set and the Christmas tree (unless you want to put up your own tree). But the Santa hats, the wreath, the ornaments will all be available. OR we can do an outdoor session for your family. I'm toying with a few other ideas as well.

So, anyone who books during July for a Christmas/Holiday/New Year session, will get their cards 25% off the current rates. If you can not make July, but you book an appointment during the month of July specifically for those Holiday portraits, you will get 10% off the current rates for your cards no matter when the appointment falls! So, if you know you want a Christmas photo of your kids, and you book it by July 31st, you can get 10% off the cards...even if the date of the session is in October!

Look for my ad in TN Valley Kids Directory!

My ad was submitted under the wire of a deadline for the July edition of the Tennessee Valley Kids Directory. Phew! It was a whirlwind of design, edits, and polishing up.


Isn't she a doll? This little 1 year old was one of my recent sessions, and I had so much fun with her at the Botanical Gardens. She's a trooper, and after 1.5 hours of photos she was STILL smiling.

I hope you all had a wonderful Father's Day!

I hope that all of you had a wonderful Father's Day! Especially those who are celebrating it for the first time as a Dad.

I have had the priviledge of having a session with this one family, young couple "newly" married to me (I'm celebrating 10 years of marriage this year), and the Dad was so obviously "IN LOVE" with his newborn daughter. Just precious.


What I found even more endearing is that the little girl clearly loves her Daddy. She calmed right down when he held her, and when he laid her down on his chest.

So what did you all do for Father's Day? We took the boys to see Disney/Pixar's Cars and then took my husband out for dinner. I will say that we thoroughly enjoyed Cars, and my oldest is still talking about tractor tipping.

Whirlwind

I've had a fun past 2.5 weeks! Not only have I gotten to deliver portraits to various clients (and see their looks of joy when they finally see that print in person), but I have had so much fun photographing lots of little girls and one boy for the portrait side of business.

When I get a chance I want to share with you all some of these images. All of these kids are precious! One family was a pair of siblings, and the Mom told me she wanted one of them together. Now, I may not show it, but I sweat bullets inside when any parent wants a beautiful photo of the siblings. I honestly can not control how this will go. I can typically get any child to smile naturally for me, but getting 2 (or sometimes more) to smile or even look naturally AND look at me at the same time is hard. I am never 100% positive that I have gotten the shot until I download the session to my computer. Imagine my surprise when I opened this session and found not one, but multiple shots of these children where they were both looking at me and smiling!

Contest entry

I have entered a contest, such a scary step, and I'm not sure I put in the right dimensions. I could NOT find any information at all on sizing for the submission.

Here is my "Something 'Blu' " submission, however, I am now over-analyzing this submission as did it mean literally something blue? Meaning 1 thing blue? As you can tell this has a lot of blue.

Why a blog on a photography site?

It really is not a simple question to answer. I like to talk, and I want my clients to know some about me. I also like to share my favorite images from sessions, sometimes those images might be outtakes and sometimes they are reflections of how I see my client or that client's child.

I will also use the blog to easily update clients on openings that become available, or of specials that are announced before a newsletter comes out.

But mostly, I want it to be where you can share with me.