Monthly Archives: January 2011

Four people twelve times \ \ January

This is my family.  I love seeing pictures of all four of us together, but for obvious reasons, that rarely happens.  One of my favorite photographers is Tara Whitney, and Tara came up with a fabulous idea that she did with her family last year.  My New Year’s resolution this year is to follow her lead!  She took a family self portrait every month by either setting the self-timer, holding the camera herself, or grabbing someone else to take the shot.  No frills.  Plain clothes.  Little fuss.  Just do it.  Just to have it.  At the end of the year, she took the twelve pictures of her family and created a book.  I’m not sure I’ll go that far, but at least I’ll have the pictures.

There is never a perfect time to take a family picture.  I think as women, it’s easy to say – I’m too heavy… I’m too busy… my gray roots are showing…  maybe later… but twenty years from now, your children aren’t going to care.  They will love having photos of their family, regardless of whether your hair has been freshly highlighted (and yes, I’m preaching to myself here).  Sooo, having said that, I would love for you to consider joining me in this project!  Just set the self-timer and run!

When I look at our January photo, I will remember three things: (1) Sixty degree days in January are such a gift.  After all of the snow we’ve had recently, the sunshine on Saturday morning felt like the perfect therapy for my winter blahs.  (2)  I love the woods behind our house, which is where we took the picture.  I love looking out my kitchen window and watching the seasons change right in my backyard.  (3) I almost killed my husband when he walked out in that hat.  Seriously.  I almost didn’t let him in the picture.  My St. Louis blood runs too deep.  (He bought that hat and just wore it to spite me.)  Thank goodness my son has better taste.

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Anna Sparrow, age 8 months.

Today was such a warm, sunny, BEAUTIFUL day in the middle of January!  Anna Sparrow and I have rescheduled her photo session about three different times due to the snow, but we finally got a perfect day!  It was even warm enough for her to go barefoot while she was reading/eating her book.  :) 

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Baby Remy, age 1 week.

Rex and Sterling have a beautiful new baby sister!  Meet Remy, who was born last week…

Her facial expressions were cracking me up.  I love how she’s looking at her momma here (the forehead wrinkles were a hoot!).  :)

And as a child thumb-sucker myself, this has to be my personal favorite!

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Flit & Flitter – preview of the Fall/Winter 2011 line!

I shot some pictures this morning for the Flit & Flitter Fall 2011 catalog!  Thank you to all of the little models today, especially the ones who braved the freezing cold to go outside with me (and yes, it was snowing!).

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Brittany + Steven.

I got to photograph a beautiful wedding in Franklin last weekend with my friend, Laurie Carpenter.  I love being her second shooter!  I am putting my wedding business on hold for now while I focus on my first love (family photography), but every now and then, I’ll tag along with someone else and serve as a second shooter.  It’s such a neat experience for me, because I get to tell the story from another pair of eyes, and I can give the bride & groom more shots from different angles.  For example, I love this first shot.  There is no way that the main photographer could have captured this moment.  While Laurie was in the front of the church shooting the processional, I was able to capture the bride spending the final moments with her father before walking down the aisle.  It truly is an honor to be involved in a couple’s wedding day.  Thank you and congratulations to Brittany and Steven!

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Brand New Year!

Happy New Year!  2011 is going to be a year of changes for me.  This year will mark my 5th year in business, and I continue to learn and grow each year.  As the years have gone by, every year more and more clients have been asking for digital files.  There are so many things you can do with digital images these days… from blogs to Facebook, iPhones, screen savers, digital frames… not to mention very affordable printing options being offered at some high-quality places.  So here’s the big change… I am going to make the switch over to the digital world and include the high-resolution digital files with each session.  The 2011 session fees will include your digital files on a custom image disk to keep forever.  Printing rights will be included, and you may print your own photos anytime, anywhere (of course there are a few specific places that I will recommend).

Now that each client will have the digital files, I am going to make custom birth announcements and Christmas cards a thing of the past.  I have seen some of the cards that my clients have created through other online digital stores and some of them are very impressive.  I am happy to recommend a few sites that offer quality greeting cards using your digital images.

I am going to make a concerted effort this year to limit the number of sessions each season in order to perform at my absolute best for each client.  I want each session to get the proper attention to detail from start to finish.  Hopefully, these changes are going to mean good things for my clients.  I have met some of the most incredible folks that I know through this job, and I am so grateful for the many friendships that I have been blessed with.  Five years ago, I never (seriously, NEVER) dreamed that my business would be where it is today.  I am very excited about what the next five years will bring!

Having said all of that, I have updated my calendar and am now taking appointments for the spring!  Please email me or give me a call if you would like to set up an appointment.  You can view the 2011 pricing here, and please note that there is a different session fee for weekdays versus evenings/weekends.  There is also a non-refundable deposit due at the time of booking.  Let me know if you have any questions!

And to all of the teachers out there, I hope you are well-rested for the big back-to-school day tomorrow!  My kids have had a lot of sugar over the break!  :)

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