There’s this complex photography rule that says the difficulty of a session is inversely related to the ages of the children at the session divided by the number of said children.  Simply put, photographing more than two young children at time is not generally the easiest thing in the world to do.  Of course, we all know, rules were made to be broken.  And this session is the proof.  Because what should have been difficult was extremely easy.  Four children under seven and a late afternoon session after a three-day weekend ended up being a photographer’s dream.

 

First, I can not take any credit for it.  These kids are so much fun I just can’t even describe it.  They make my heart happy.  And, when you throw in parents who are okay with shots like this:

 

well, it’s kind of hard to go wrong.  It’s sessions like these that remind me why I love doing what I do.  When I took this picture, all three of the other children were piled around me, laughing and making suggestions.  I was smiling so big it was difficult to see through my viewfinder.  But, I’m glad I did!

 

It really was a wonderful afternoon:

 

 

 

 

And, of course, a family picture.  It was hard for me to just pick one that I liked to post on the blog.  So, I picked two. 

 

 

 

Kristy, enjoy your sneak peek and than you so much for letting me spend time with you & Brad and your four amazing blessings!

Two years ago this month, I had my first photo session.  It was at the beach with a wonderful family that I am blessed to call my friends.  Fast forward two years.  They’ve moved to just outside of Memphis, Tennessee.  Luckily, my sister lives up that way so I get to make several trips a year up there.  Now, one of my favorite places to visit is even better!  Yesterday, I was blessed to do another family session with my friends.  How appropriate that my first session in Pensacola was with them and my first one in Memphis (I’m planning on trying to do more photography work in and around Memphis – since I’m up there often anyway, why not? ) was with them, too!  These people are very special to me on some many levels and I’m so glad I got to photograph them!

 

Here’s a few of my favorites:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love this look!  (And I miss seeing this sweet little face in the rearview mirror of my van!)

 

Can I tell you how much I love this shot?  It just says fun to me!

 

 

 

I love you guys!

I was so excited for this session!  I took Caden’s three-year-old portraits last year at Ft. Barrancas.  This year, we headed back to the fort for:

 

you guessed it! His four-year-old pictures.  He’s grown up so much in the last year – he’s even more handsome and such a joy to be around.

We had a good time playing inside the fort, jumping and blowing bubbles (Just love the light inside the fort…I say this every time I’m there, I know!)

 

After we wandered around the fort, we took a walk through some of the trails, headed to my favorite tree.

Caden’s fourth birthday party had a fireman them and a fire truck even came to his school the day of his birthday.  So, imagine our surprise when we came through to one of the clearings and saw this:

What amazing luck!  I was standing there, clicking away when one of the fireman walked up.  Erin and I were sure we were going to get a reprimand and told to vacate the premises, but instead the fireman walked up to Caden and asked him his name and how old he was.  Then, he asked him if we wanted to come look at the fire truck.  How cool is that?  Caden was a little shy (and of course the fire truck was not exactly in the perfect-light location ), but we still got a few pictures.

Then, we headed over to the “Tree of Amazing Light”….

After all of that excitement it was still early, so Erin suggested we head over to the Lighthouse.  I was fairly certain that it was closed on Mondays, but I thought we could get a few pictures on the grounds. 

I was wrong…the lighthouse was open for climbing, all 177 steps of it. So, climb it we did.  Caden was amazing!   It was a little bit of a vertigo-inducing experience for me, but he was a trooper.  Here’s a picture of the stairs:

Quick!  Is that looking up the stairs or down them?  It’s kind of hard to tell isn’t it?  It’s actually looking up.

 

The view at the top is totally worth every one of those steps.  Every. single. one!

 

It was an absolutely wonderful morning with one of my favorite photography subjects.  I hope we get to do it again next year!

Sometimes, I wish I could bottle up the magic and the laughter and the joy from a session and remember the happiness anytime I want.   I guess that’s what I’m trying to do with my pictures, isn’t it?  Capture the joy of a moment in time so you can look back and remember that day.

 

Caroline and Kyle asked me a few months ago if I would photograph their vow renewal ceremony at the beach.  I love these people;  I love their children;  I love the beach.  Of course I would!  It was a simple and beautiful ceremony and I was blessed to be a part of it.  Thank you so much for letting me photograph your special day.

 

The wonderful couple

The beautiful bride

 

 

oh my that dimple just gets me every time…

 

 

 

 

I just love this one…

 

 

 

this may be my favorite family photo.ever.  I took a couple of photos of them all jumping and casually told Kyle that Caroline was jumping higher than he was..so we had to try again…sorry Kyle looks like she beat you again

 

And this one….we were finished with photos and we heading toward the boardwalk when I noticed the sun…so I asked Caroline and Kyle to come back for one last kiss…I’m so glad I did…

It’s been a long summer here…My last beach session was in May, just after the oil spill.  Until Saturday, that is.  And how appropriate is it that my first session back at the beach was an engagement session!  Lauren & Dustin were beautiful together and I had such a wonderful time taking their pictures.  Lauren is so creative and kept asking “can we try this picture?”  “Can we try this one?”  I LOVED IT!!!! It’s so much fun to photograph someone who comes with ideas of pictures that they want to try. 

The weather was a little questionable on Saturday.  It rained early in the afternoon and storms were threatening that evening, but the amazing thing about the beach and weather is that the more ominous the clouds seem, the more beautiful the pictures.  Clouds add so much drama to beach photos.

Lauren and Dustin, I hope that your marriage is blessed with many, many years of love and joy!  Here are your sneak peeks…I hope you enjoy them!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This picture was one of Lauren’s ideas…I just “love” it!

 

So, I have this amazing friend who has this amazing baby (actually three amazing babies)who has this awesome high chair that was his mother’s and his grandmother’s.   Kristi asked if I’d take some pictures of him in his heirloom high chair.  I asked if she’d mind bringing it out to the middle of a nature trail not far from home and she, being the great sport that she is, agreed.  So, there we were, three kids, a stroller, a bag of photography equipment, carrying a high chair down the nature trail on a hot summer morning.  It was totally worth it! 

 

 

 

The green of the nature preserve was the perfect spot to showcase the high chair.  And the high chair was the perfect place to highlight Max’s beautiful baby blues!

 

 

And his darling little toes…

 

 

We also took some pictures on a quilt that belonged to Max’s daddy.  I just love this expression

 

Max’s legs are somewhat legendary around here!  He is not a big baby, but he carries all of his weight in his thighs…they are without a doubt the cutest baby legs ever!  Kristi wanted to get a few pictures of his legs before he starts crawling and walking and the baby legs start to become toddler legs.  This picture does not do them justice!

 

So, here’s the thing if your related to me…you’re going to get your picture taken.  A lot!  Ruby & Emmie have been in front of my camera lens since they were born and let me tell you, they are naturals!  When we visited them last month, I took a few school pictures for my sister & brother-in-law.  We had such a great time…  I think all school pictures should be taken outside

 

 

 

 

I love you girls!  And your mommy and daddy, too!

 

Do you remember Caden…he of the sweet personality and the amazing eyelashes?  Well, Caden became a big brother last month.  And, I had the privilege of doing some newborn photos.

 

Isn’t Caden’s baby brother so sweetly adorable?

 

And what about his other baby brother?

 

Yes, you read that right!  Twin baby boys!

 

What could be sweeter than one newborn…well, that would be two newborns.  I was in baby heaven.  Here’s a few more sneak peeks of these precious babies…

 

 

 

 

This one makes me smile a heart-happy smile

 

Congratulations to you all…they are just beautiful!

I love 3-year-olds.  This is perhaps my favorite age to photograph…there’s something about children on the cusp between the toddler years and the preschool ones that fascinates me.  You can still see a little bit of the baby that they were, but you also get a glimpse of the big kid that they are becoming.  So, when Amy asked if I would photograph Ben for his third birthday portraits, I was tickled!

We met out at Fort Barrancas (noticing a theme here?  I’ve been doing lots of sessions out here lately and it’s wonderful for children, because there are so many places to explore!).  We started out on the main path and played for a while. 

 

Then, we headed into the fort itself.  Now, the fort itself is kind of iffy for pictures for children this age.  Sometimes, they want to sit and pose.  Sometimes, the fact that it’s a bit dark in there scares children a little.  And then, sometimes, there are kids who love the long cement hallways and run through them as fast as their little legs will carry them, which is a little difficult to capture with a camera – the light is beautiful inside the fort, but it doesn’t really lend itself to action photography.  Ben fell in the latter group (so does my 3-year-old) ! But, walking out of the fort is always a good place to photograph…here’s Ben, waving back at Mama & big brother… 

 

Once we finished in the fort, Ben said he was ready to go home, but I really wanted to show him the “climbing tree”.  We got back to the main entrance and Amy & I tried to convince him that the tree would be fun.  Here he is, standing at the fork in the path, trying to decide if the tree sounds like it would be worth the walk in the heat…

Well, we convinced him to see the tree, but he was done with my camera

 

Luckily, for me, he found a spot in the tree that he just loved…and then magic happened…

 

 

Enjoy your sneak peeks, Amy.  Thanks for letting me spend the morning with you and Ben (and Sam, too)!

 

So, I have a 3-year-old daughter named Abigail.  Abigail has a best friend named Addi who she loves like a sister (read…they love with wild abandon and fight like cats and dogs ).  In two short weeks, Addi is moving to another state.  The girls have been friends for almost two years now and for almost two years, Addi’s mom, Lori, & I have been talking about getting the girls together to do a mini photo session.  Today, we finally did it.  I had another session this morning and Lori watched my girls for me, so we just got there a few minutes early and took some pictures of Addi & Abigail.  I love these girls…their personalities, their spirits, their hearts.  And I’m so glad that Abigail will have some pictures with her first best friend…

 

Lori & I talked about coordinating the girls’ outfits or even finding them something matching.  We finally decided just to let the girls do their own thing and let their personalities shine through.  Addi picked out a hot pink heat, some sparkly sunglasses (which mysteriously didn’t make it into any of the pictures), and of course a bracelet

 

And Abigail went with the cowgirl boot, gymnastics leotard, and matching hot pink guitar

 

I love this pensive look….

 

 

 

and this one, this one just tugs at my heartstrings…there’s nothing like a friend to look up to…