The Other Hand

I am having problems figuring out how to start this blog because I fear I am not going to portray the emotions these portraits stir in me. This is Ava, a beautiful little two year old girl. I consider this session a celebration just in the fact that it is her two year portrait. The reason for this is that Ava came into the world with a fight ahead of her. When her mother was pregnant, the doctors informed her the baby she was carrying had Down Syndrome. But when Ava was born she had a bigger battle to face. She was diagnosed with a disorder known as PPHN where her heart and lungs were not working together. It was a very serious disorder that required her to be on the ventilator for 6 weeks. Her parents didn't know if Ava was going to come home from the hospital. Miraculously at six weeks she was weaned off the ventilator but continued on a feeding tube until she was a year and a half. Obviously Ava is a fighter and this was her first session in which we did not have to work around the port for her feeding tube! At Ava's first session, I took a portrait of Ava holding her mother's hands and looking into her eyes. The peaceful look on Ava's face really elicited a wave of emotion in me and late one night I wrote a poem about Ava's struggle and her mom's divine role in being her mother. When Ava was standing at the door with her mother on the other side, I was really trying to get some nice window light on her face. But what I got was the connection between mom and child. It immediately reminded me of this poem which I will include at the end of this blog. Ava, you are a wonderful gift from God, an angel in a child's body, and an inspiration to me! Keep on fighting sister!

The Other Hand

I started life with quite a fight,

To God's great hand I held Him tight.

The nights were long, my mommy cried,

She loved me so but hurt inside.

But as she prayed, His grip in mine

I knew it was His great design.

He had a plan that I would grow

And in this plan His love I'd show.

My hand in His and His in mine

Through life I'll walk, my light will shine.

His Hand's a gift to me alone

He holds me tight from His great throne.

His hand is strong, mine is so small

He'll keep me safe in case I fall.

I love Him so but now I see,

It isn't all He's given me.

With two small hands He's blessed me so,

To guide me through this life I'll go.

He heard her heart and as she prayed

The other hand He gave away.

So now you know what God had planned,

My Mommy holds the other hand.

So little...

In college I took a psychology course that taught us about the way the mind works...our professor explained that the human mind is extraordinarily adaptable and extremely efficient. Our eyesight is one example of this. Our eyes are in constant tiny motion called microsaccades, and according to Wikipedia, "They serve to refresh the image being cast onto the rod cells and cone cells at the back of the eye. Without microsaccades, staring fixedly at something would cause the vision to cease after a few seconds..." So without constant change in a scene, our mind would quit detecting its existence. Sometimes I feel like I am around my children so much and they change so incrementally that I forget to appreciate who they are at any given time. I just 'get use to' their size, and their voice, and their little precious characteristics. That sort of makes me sad because I really want to savor their littleness...I want to ENJOY this time and appreciate that as hard as parenthood is, it is well worth the struggle. Oh yes, the sitting, well, I chose these two portraits to showcase because they really showed the littleness of these two precious little girls. As they hold on to their mom an dad's hands and strain their little necks to peer into their parent's eyes, they look so, well, little! One thing I love about photography is it takes the constant motion of life and freezes it in an instant. That constant motion of life may help us to make it through each day but it also prevents us from seeing the subtle changes in our children. I don't want to become blind to who my children are TODAY because tomorrow they won't be the same. So I hope this post makes you stand up and go to your children and for at least a few moments take note of their littleness...now enjoy it because they'll never be this little again!

Grandparents Welcome!

Precious little Mac, what an angel he was for this session. Oftentimes this age can be the hardest to photograph because once a child starts walking they have no interest in sitting for ANY reason! And the fact that children this age don't quite understand everything we adults say, it makes bribery a challenge. But Mac's session was different, and I have an idea why. Mac lives in Texas...his mommy and he come back to visit several times a year but he doesn't have the luxury of living in the same town with his grandmother. So at this session his grandmother was there to keep him entertained and all it took was a little playing and we couldn't get Mac's eyes off her! He just seemed to be so happy to be at his grandmother's house, he just was intent on listening to everything she said. Thankfully we got some precious portraits of this little one, and knowing this portrait he was gazing in his grandmother's eyes makes it all the more special. I have a policy for all my sessions: Grandparents welcome at all times! Now you see why!

Sweet and Sassy!

This little soon-to-be heartbreaker is Madeline...and she is as sweet and beautiful as her name! The goal of this session was to get some portraits that will be made into a heavy oil painting, so obviously we worked for some very formal portraits. When I saw this one, I just thought it looked like one of those beautiful old portraits that were framed in the oval frames. Madeline's eyes just pop from the portrait. Gorgeous and definitely a beautiful age to create a lifelong family heirloom. But anyone who knows Madeline knows that she is not so proper all the time...no she has some spunk to her! To get through this session we promised her she could put on some lip gloss at the end and we would take some pictures of her like that. She did great and so we did. This second portrait says who she is at this age...it says she is six AND A HALF, it says she loves makeup (especially lipstick!), it says she is rough and tumble (notice the scab on her elbow and the tattoo on her arm)...it says she is SASSY! The first portrait is Madeline, but the second portrait is Maddie! Both truly unique and both truly her. You go girl!!!

Christmas Cheer

Oh dear, I am so far behind on this blog so I am going to try to start updating some in the next couple of days. We are in the prime of Christmas rush in the photography world, so I am just trying to keep my head above water...or at least take a gasp of air every now and then! But this session really cheered me up! This is Sophie and couldn't you just squeeze that little cutie?! I named this blog Christmas cheer because this shot just made me smile. Those big blue eyes, those chubby little cheeks! While this particular shot doesn't look like she is particularly happy, she did great throughout the session and we got a great variety for the mom and dad to choose from. But this one just looked like you could jump out of Sophie's eyes, slide down that little button nose and bounce off her smooshy little cheeks. Sophie you did great! And I will try not to squeeze you too hard when I hug you next visit...but I am not promising anything! :-)

A confession...

This is Brantley and THIS is Brantley's three year portrait. Brantley was a little late for her session because of "hair difficulties"- I quote from her mom, "These curls are going to be the death of me!" So, I have a confession to make... it is time to just get this out in the open and off my chest... I sin...yes, I sin in many ways, but one way I sin often is through envy. Oh, I'll just say it! I am jealous of curly haired children! I LOVE curly haired children and after having three kids of own, my porcelain 'First Curl" keepsake given to me before the birth of my daughter stills sits empty. I held onto that thing for six years thinking eventually one of my children would have a curl, just one little curl, it didn't even have to be a real curl, a FLIP would do, but no, empty it sits and now I just dream of the grandchildren I'll have with ringlets because I do plan on steering my children toward spouses with curly hair! Think I'm kidding? Watch me! I'll look for colleges with exceptionally high curly haired applicants! So, when Brantley arrived, honestly I could barely keep my camera from photographing the BACK of her head, because I just wanted to capture those ringlets! Soo cute! And what a well behaved little girl she was...put my kids to shame with how well she held it together with really minimal bribing! Curls and obedience... some moms have it all! You know I love my straight haired, disobedient little angels, but for this hour I got to enjoy the curls of another mom's little girl. And boy did I love it! Hmm, do they still sell those little pink, smooshy curlers... maybe I'll go buy me some today! :-)

A Session of Hope

I always feel butterflies in my stomach prior to any session. I often wonder if I'll ever get past that, but some sessions make me more nervous than others. This session in particular made me really nervous. I always want to give my customers portaits that they will love for a lifetime--portraits that will grab their heart. But this session in particular meant even more to me. See this customer came up from Mobile. They came up for the weekend just to get their daughter's portraits taken. That in itself made me nervous. I mean, to be honest, I'm thinking they are expecting a lot from this session if they are driving all the way up here with a two year old just to have her portraits taken. I feel certain there are plenty of capable photographers in their area, and yet they have made the effort to come up here. But there is more to the story...a lot more. I had met this family a couple of times through the years but have kept up with their life mainly through my sister-in-law and brother who are their very good friends. They have relayed this family's stories of excitement followed by dispair not once but twice with two precious babies. Reagan and Harrison are both now sitting at the feet of Jesus in Heaven but certainly not forgotten here on earth. At last Anna Katherine was born and the mother describes her as "the baby the Lord knew we needed to keep." Anna Katherine is two and on the go...literally! Energetic, friendly, and absolutely beautiful. Her blue eyes locked me in just before she threw her arms around me to hug me just minutes after she arrived at my house. God filled this little one with the life and love of her siblings that she'll never know here on earth. So, this session was more than just capturing Anna Katherine at age two. To me, it was capturing the love in this child's eyes because she holds the love of three children for her mom and dad. I wanted to portray portraits of hope, of love, of joy, joy, joy! Anna Katherine made it easy because hope, love and joy is who she is. What a session it was, and what a testimony this family is. Thank you for sharing your little bit of Heaven with me!

Sisters Twirling!

Okay, at Christmas time I really struggle with what portraits to sneak peak on my blog because if anyone else is like me, they like their Christmas card photos to be a surprise (hmm, maybe I am just weird like that!) Either way, I don't want to upload portraits that I think may be used on someone's Christmas card...this creates quite the challenge! Needed: Cute, fun portrait for blog BUT can't be the CUTEST one because the mom may want to use it for the Christmas card...quite the precarious situation it puts me in! So if my blog is lacking over the next several months, just know I am holding out on ya for the best of the best... Tis the season! Ha, ha, ha...or rather, ho, ho, ho. And everybody gives Mark the credit for being the 'funny one!'

I digress, so these little girls are some of my favorites to photograph because of their kind spirit and gorgeous hair! The portrait here does not show just how beautiful their hair is, but it is the most gorgeous red hair you can imagine! So picking a portrait to post here is really difficult because I really wanted to make sure I wasn't picking one the mother may choose for her card. I'd pick one, then think, "No, they look too cute in that one, she may choose that one for her card." Then I'd think, "Oh THAT is the one", then, "No, they look so pretty there, I can't do that one!" So, Iast I settled on this one because it shows the relationship between these sisters that I see everyday... I honestly don't know that I have ever seen them argue! The mom may disagree but after having to physically separate my boys so they don't literally kill each other, some sibling love is something I dream of. The heirloom dresses sewn by their grandmother and the twirling just screamed sepia to me. So, to really enjoy these girls' beautiful hair you'll have to stay tuned to their Christmas card! Tootles!

Second Time's the Charm

You may recognize these two boys- this is Jack & Whit and this is the second attempt at their session. Poor Whit wasn't feeling well at the first session, but at this session Whit was back! As I went back and looked at the portraits we got from the first session I was a little surprised because there were some really cute ones, but none with Whit really happy (afterall he wasn't feeling well). I like for parents to have TOO many portraits to choose from so I insisted on doing another session...boy am I glad we did! We got family portraits, mom with Jack, mom with Whit, dad with Jack, dad with Whit, Whit and Jack together...we covered all bases this time around! I know it takes a lot of effort for the parents to get their kids ready for a session, so thank you Mom & Dad for being willing to come back... when you see the rest of the portraits I think you will be glad you did too!

The 13th Minute

I have had several people through the years refer to me as a 'runner.' I always quickly correct people explaining that indeed I run for exercise but I am NOT a runner. To me a runner is someone who actually enjoys it! I simply run so I can eat! I've been approached by friends through the years to train for a marathon with them and it is amazingly one of the few things I can easily say NO to...no thank you! Run for hours on end...no way Jose! A question I get a lot is how far do you run...my answer is 30 minutes. Whatever distance that is, if I've run 30 minutes I can mark it off my list for the day. I feel like to be a true runner you must actually somewhat enjoy the activity...not count down the minutes until your run is over. Enter Jana...my dear, dear friend from college. Jana actually asked me years ago if I wanted to train for a marathon with her...I politely said no! But that doesn't really have anything to do with this session... Jana has three kids very close in age like my own. Similar to my last post but instead two steps behind me in age. She has three girls ages 5, almost 4 and close to two. Precious little girls! But let's face it, wrangling three children that close in age for a photo session in a wide open church is just challenging. Not necessarily for me but for the mom! I watched Jana throughout the session as her frustration level rose...I clearly recognized it as that is how I feel as I am photographing my own children. Ugh, if it weren't for the priceless portraits that I got out of the session, I as a mother would NOT go through the stress! So, after the session I was on one of my obligatory runs. I was thinking about Jana and the stage of life she was in. I was remembering that when my kids were that age I actually told Mark that I thought I'd bit off more than I could chew. Someone was ALWAYS crying, I was perpetually tired, and Mark and I just co-habitated handing off children from dinner to bath to bed. It was a tough season in life. But now my youngest is almost three and a half, all out of diapers, all out of cribs, all somewhat manageable (I say that loosely!) It isn't easy but it IS easier. Back to the run, when I am exercising I sort of play mindgames with myself to pass the time. I cover up the time on the tredmill and try to wait as long as I can before I check it to see how close I am till the end. My goal is to not look at the time until after the 17th minute mark...and usually I can do that. But sometimes on those particularly hard days, I fold and look earlier. The worst number I can see ticking by on that timer is 13! UGH, that 13th minute just stinks! When I look down and see 13 minutes that says, "You are hurting girl and you aren't even half way there...you aren't even close to half way!" Of course the runs that hurt the most are usually the most needed and the ones that result in the best sense of accomplishment at the end. As I go through motherhood I am reminded of this...there are times in parenthood that are just hard. There are days that are worse than others. There are seasons that just seem to drag on. But the time is ticking by and before you know it your time with little ones is up. You'll look back and realize it WAS worth it...it hurt at times going through it, but the lifelong benefits of sticking it out is priceless. Jana, you're in your 13th minute of motherhood... it IS hard, but you're doing a great job, and before long you'll see that magical halfway mark and an end will be distantly in sight. Then the endorphins will kick in and you'll be running through life at a record pace. Knowing all that doesn't make the 13th minute perfectly enjoyable but it does sort of help to ease the pain a bit. We all have those 13th minutes throughout life but hopefully seeing it in this light will help. Hang in there- soon you'll be saying adios to the diaper aisle and believe it or not, there will be a small part of you that misses it!

Worth the Trip!

I use to travel to B'ham a good bit to take portraits of customers up there. As my personal life has become more complicated with children's scheduling, I have all but totally cut out travelling to sessions. I hate to turn away customers in other cities but the logistics of getting those sessions arranged are just not manageable at this time in my life. I have one exception- my Shoefly kids! Twice a year I take a trip up to B'ham to photograph five adorable children whose mothers own a fantastic shoe boutique. I call it my fall and spring Shoe Safari, and I love those hunting seasons! The shoe store is named Shoefly and Meg & Jana are the owners. I have loved watching their families grow through the years and loved photographing their little ones. This is Dorsey & Robert- aren't they so cute...and happy! Dorsey has a precious smile and a sweet tooth and therefore a very willing portrait subject...thank you Smarties! And with Robert it takes nothing more than a little jumping around to make him giggle. As always, this little family made me smile to see them interact. Thank you for another great session!

On a different note, I found one of the best inventions every mother should know about on my last shoe safari. I tried to figure out how to work this little nugget into the session blog but couldn't for the life of me come up with a way to do it! So I am going to use this blogging platform to share a random find of mine. It is called the Yummy Tummy and Meg & Jana introduced me to this little jewel. With all these low rise jeans, I think every mother out there can relate to the dreaded 'Muffin Top' that rears his ugly head when these all too cute designer jeans are coupled with the form fitting tops. Unless you are an avid pilates attender I'd venture to say the trimmest of moms knows what I am talking about! Why didn't I think of this?! So, take it or leave it but I felt like it was my civic duty to share this wonderful invention with all my mom friends!

Surprise!

Look at these beautiful little girls! This is Jessi & Lydia and they are indeed as sweet as they look. I must admit that the Lydia I know is not as stationary as the one in her first portrait appears, so I just had to include the second one of her because the Lydia in motion is the one I know! This family use to live across the street from us and I just adore them...simply wonderful people. And I must admit a bit of an inspiration for me. See, Lydia & Jessi actually have an older brother. When my third child was born, Lydia was almost two, Jessi was almost four and Andrew was right about six... just like my family but about two years ahead of us. Throughout the years, I have watched these children grow, and sort of anticipate what my life will kind of look like in two years. When I was nursing a newborn, I watched this family scramble to get all the kids in the car for church. When I had three toddling around, I watched this family at least attempt to eat at a real, live restaurant, and now this year I watched as this family had all three kids in school...wow, I was going to make it too! At this session, I even thought to myself, "They have made it! They are making it through an entire studio session without even one MINOR meltdown! Dreams DO come true!" :-) Then at the end of the session Jessi proudly announced their news- her mommy was having another baby! I could have dropped my camera! Indeed my jaw DID drop and I looked up at Kelly (the mom) as she giggled at the very apparent shock on my face. Looking back I laugh at what I must have looked like, as if I had found out I was pregnant again! Yes, it was a surprise to them as well, Kelly explained but with that new mother twinkle in her eye. But the more I thought about this family and how I'd watched them through the years, I remembered there was one thing very different about our situation. See, Mark and I debated between two and three children. When Elliott came along as our surprise number three, there was no question that the next move was to the urologist. However Kelly and her husband debated between three and four children. As time moved on, they decided that three was the number they were going to decide on. But oh how God must laugh at all our "plans" knowing what He has in store for us. About 10 minutes after I told Mark we were pregnant with #3 he said, "It probably is better this way because I don't think we ever would have had the nerve to actually choose to have the third." So true, and yet what would our life be without precious Elliott?! Yes, God knew He'd have to take things into His own hands, and He did, and I am happy He did. So, I truly believe this Baby #4 for this family was God saying it was just in His plan. I am thrilled for this family and will love, love, love on this little one when he/she arrives, thanking God each time that Mark I debated between two and three and not three and four! I am so happy for this family's little surprise...surprises are the best!

Hmmm... seeing the big picture helps!

This is Jack & Whit! This session was actually photographed a few weeks ago. I haven't blogged about it yet because quite honestly I hadn't really looked at the portraits yet. See, this was not a super session...and I really get upset when that happens! I feel responsible as the photographer and so I was a bit disappointed after the session. For this reason I hadn't really been anxious to look at the portraits until recently. As a matter of fact, the mom and I had already decided to reschedule the portrait session so I wasn't even sure if I was going to blog about the first session. But after I looked at the portraits I was pleasantly surprised to find quite a few that were precious, and one shot in particular that I absolutely love. Okay, so the story... Jack & Whit's mom had called me to schedule their session a few months ago. I knew both Jack & Whit but I wasn't sure that they knew me so I had them come over prior to the session so we could meet. All went well and I was super excited about the session because these boys' eyes are captivating! The day of the session arrived and the weather was a bit questionable. We decided to go forward because coordinating the mom & dad's schedule was sort of tricky. We got there and Jack (the older boy) was on! What a dream he was... so laid back and cooperative and did I mention how beautiful his eyes were! But precious little Whit, well, let's just say he wasn't haven't a great day. Oftentimes sessions with children Whit's age can start out a little slow just to get them to feel totally at ease. But Whit didn't get easier throughout the session but instead a little harder. He would not let go of his dad, and even then he wasn't particularly amused with the fact that I was following him around. By the end of the session, I felt like we had a ton of great portraits of Jack but not so much of Whit, and none of them together (which was something in particular every mom wants). So, I broke the news to the mom that I really thought we needed to reschedule another session. We both were a bit at a loss...was Whit hungry, was he sleepy, what could it be? As they left I off-handedly mentioned that sessions like this had occurred before and the next day the child woke up sick. In any instance, I really wanted to try again another day. So the mom, dad, & I all left that day confused and bummed. I even called my photographer friend on the way home and told her how disappointed I was because these boys were so darn cute but I just couldn't get anything. She eased my mind reminding me that sometimes that just happens. UGH...I just hate it when that happens. Why couldn't I figure out the magic trick to make him giggle? to make him laugh? to make him just crack a smile?! Eureka, the next morning his mom called to let me know that Whit had woken up sick the next day! Bless his little heart, he didn't FEEL good! And there I was trying to make him be happy and follow him around trying to get just anything I could and he was probably thinking, "Good grief, would this lady just leave me alone! Can't she see I don't feel good?!" I am sorry Whit! So I should have known something was up! The only thing that made me feel just a bit better was both Whit's parents are pediatricians and they didn't see it coming either! But like I said, I was pleasantly surprised with many of the portraits but this last one of Whit and his dad is one of my favorites. Knowing the story behind the portrait however makes it more impactful. As we were going through the session and Whit was becoming more and more unhappy, his dad was who he really wanted to keep him from crying. As we were walking along I half-heartedly joked that Whit's age is one of the most challenging as a parent because they are so on the go but really have no means of effective communication to tell you what they want (or how they feel!). The dad's response reminded me of how precious every stage is. He said that he had been in Iraq in the service during his oldest son's second year of life and so this stage was all new to him. Oh my, I have always had a respect for the men and women who protect our country and knew they made lots of sacrifices to do that. But I guess I had never really thought through the fact that there are moms and dads missing entire stages of their children's lives so they can serve their country. So when I saw this last portrait of Whit & his dad I was reminded of how lucky/fortunate/blessed I am to live in this country. But that circumstance is not without sacrifice from many brave men and women who are also moms and dads...and seeing the dad's wedding ring reminds me that those men and women who fight for my freedom leave behind husbands and wives as well. What emotion that last portrait stirs inside me because the dad is savoring these 'challenging' times and thanking God for every minute of it. Thank you Matt & Nicole, Jack & Whit for the sacrifices you made to defend me and my country!

One Cool Kid!

So I am really having to hold myself back right now. I try to just put a sneak peak of the session on this blog but this little one was just a model baby! This is Crews. What a cool name, huh?! And this baby goes with his name...he totally took the session by the horns and worked the camera. He was such a total cutie, and when he smiled, his face lit up! Now, I went into this session doing what I advise all parents NOT to do...try to create a portrait during the session. Hmmm, so that needs some explanation .... what I mean is that the best portraits are usually those that just happen. Anyone with children know that they are totally unpredictable. Sometimes in the bad way (i.e. you go on vacation and your usually super sleeper wakes up four times in the middle of the night) and sometimes in a great way (when your four year old sees you kneeling to pray and he instinctively joins you without you even knowing it...yes, Graham did that this morning...almost made me forget his totally horrible trantrums that enveloped his entire four year old year!) Either way, children are just that- children! They don't come to a session with an agenda and neither should we. So, before this session I saw a composite of a baby about this age with three totally different expressions...a happy one, a solemn one and a crying one. It was too cute. I thought, I am going to try to get this with Crews. So usually a session is lengthened in an attempt to get one more great smile out of a baby, or a captured giggle, but no, this session was different- I worked to get him to CRY! Yes, this baby was the happiest little fellow...he was so tired and yet whenever we set him down to take the picture, he'd see the camera and SMILE! So instead of recreating the portrait I had in my head an even better one evolved- one that showed the REAL Crews! When will I learn- children always have something better in store than I could ever create on my own! Thank you Crews for a totally fun session! You are one cool kid!

Brothers are a gift from God...

So, if you had asked me before I had children my perfect birth order it would have been Girl-Boy-Girl. That way the middle child has his own identity and the girls have a sister. That sister relationship has always been a desire of mine...I had a much younger sister which I parented more than 'sistered'. When I went to college I lived with a girl once that had an older sister...I was fascinated by the way they interacted with each other... they really TOLD each other when their pants made their rear look big or they were wearing too much makeup. The flip side of that is I witnessed some NASTY fights! I remember the first time I saw one I thought that their family was being ripped apart...two days later they were shopping together as if nothing ever happened. Odd! Anywho, so God didn't give me sisters, instead he gave me brothers. Hmmm, I had never thought about the uniqueness of THAT relationship! However, now that I have brothers I am thrilled that they have each other because what a neat relationship as well. They'll have each other to tell them just how bad their batting average is or that it is time to quit bugging that girl because your neediness is just creeping her out! Hmm, brothers are fascinating as well. Of course, they get into some knock down drag out fights as well...even at ages three and four I worry that if I were not there to physically separate them Graham and Elliott could do some serious damage to each other! And don't feel too sorry for Elliott- he throws a mean punch too, and when all else fails he pulls Graham's hair or bites him. After they fight I always tell them both, "Brothers are a gift from God," and I make them repeat it back to me. I am certain that'll be a topic of torture in therapy sessions later in life! Sooo, the session, yes, this session was with two brothers. Sometimes in a portrait you catch an expression on a child that gives you a glimpse into what they are going to look like as a teenager...this one of Walker (the older boy) did that for me. Whoa! He is going to be quite the catch one day! And Owen (the younger brother), what a cutie HE is! Back to that two-year-old smile from my last blog...just so sincere! But the last portrait of them together is my favorite. They are looking at a man putt on the golf course...it is cute that Walker has his arms draped around Owen...I don't remember but that could have been directed by the mother...but the way Owen has his hand gently holding his big brother's hand in place, THAT is what got me! The interaction of those chubby little hands as they enjoy an quick moment of rest investigating a sports demonstration. Don't kid yourself, this moment lasted only a moment...just enough to snap the portrait...but oh, it is the perfect reminder that brothers truly ARE a gift from God!

A Happy Boy!

Age two is such a fun age! Such a challenging age as a mother but such a fun age for a child. Meet Knox! Age two...all boy...and all smiles! The great thing about this age is when you capture the child smiling it is because the child is genuinely happy about something...so sincere! And with that blond hair and blue eyes...how could it not melt anyone's heart! This is the third time I have taken Knox's portraits and I don't think this child can take a bad picture! Picking a portrait to post on the blog was challenging because I would melt everytime I captured that sincerely happy boy! Nevertheless, these two portraits are my favorites...the first because of, well, there is no explanation necessary...look at those eyes! And the second because it shows the emotion in action...happiness is full swing! With the mom and dad's hands in the portraits, both supporting his little boy upside down and Knox with a smile from ear to ear with total, complete trust in his parents. A perfect picture of what childhood should be at this age! Happy parents, happy family, happy boy!

Oh My, and I thought I was busy!

So, many of you know I had three kids in less than four years. To be perfectly honest it wasn't planned that way, but it just sort of happened. When my baby Elliott was brought home from the hospital Graham was still one and McKinnon was three. It was a crazy couple of years to say the least. I actually told Mark one time that I thought we may have bit off more than we could chew! Ha! Like there was anything we could do about it! Anywho, when Ouida told me she was expecting Baby #3 I was floored! She had just had a baby! And before that another baby. So she took my chaos and raised me a year...she had three babies in less than THREE years! Three beautiful little girls! The advice I give mothers of babies so close in age is this: get a babysitter! Consider it the cost of doing business over the next few years...consider it an investment in your sanity...consider it as a down payment on an averted trip to a mental hospital! Don't try to take three to the grocery store, don't try to take three to the preschool open-house, don't try to take all three by yourself anywhere you don't have to. Your baby needs diapers, you buy her diapers. Your baby needs formula, you buy him formula. Your baby needs a mentally stable mother, rent yourself a sitter! And I am pleased to say Ouida has taken my advice! The morning of this session she just brought Virginia for her three year portrait and baby Abby for her three month portrait. Virginia could not have been better behaved! She was patient, and well-mannered, and just a dream! Look at those eyes...in all her portraits I am always captivated by her eyes and this one shown here is even more powerful than I have seen in the past. I have a feeling she'll be breaking my Elliott's heart one day! And Abby was just as easy! She was so content...she slept and cooed and slumbered some more! Ouida- you are an inspiration- with all the chaos in your life, I've only seen you with a smile on your face! Keep up the good work, and tell John we know a great urologist! :-)

True Friendship....True Emotion

Okay so the last blog was about mybestfriendMarti. There is more to the story...see I am very lucky to have THREE friends from childhood that I talk to on a very regular basis. I now realize this is a quite unusual situation...all three of us have known each other since eighth grade. MybestfriendMarti and I have been best friends since third grade...Tracey (affectionately known as Ogie since we share a first name...I am called Higgins to this crowd) and Mandy (nicknamed Nubby) have been best friends since preschool. The four of us (two sets of best friends) ran around together growing up and are still best of friends. Growing up with a friend gives a completely different dynamic to a friendship because they know your entire history...history that can't be explained really to anyone that didn't actually experience it with you. So, I feel very blessed to have these three long-lasting friendships! They know me better than I know myself at times and have seen me through the good times and the bad...the presentable and the ugly...the happy and the sad. True friendship I thank God for! So, again you ask, the blog??? What does this have to do with photography. Well, in case you haven't noticed Young Photography has the tag line: True Joy, True Peace, True Emotion. Whenever I photograph a session, I try to capture joy, peace and true emotion in each child. Each aspect demonstrates a varying side to childhood and each makes me smile when I succeed in capturing it on 'film'. So this session was with Mandy's children. The main objective was to create a canvas of her youngest child to hang beside the canvases we did of her two older children a few years ago. I love this first portrait simply because it demonstrates who Emory is... happy, relaxed, easy-going. She was easy to photography because while she was busy, she was also interested in our crazy antics we displayed to get her to stay still. But this second portrait is the one that makes me smile the biggest. Mandy wanted to try to get a portrait of all three of her kids if they would cooperate, so we attempted it. Since Kiesel is a dog park, there are, as expected, a lot of dogs. When setting up this portrait all three kids were sitting nicely in a very formal pose. As I started to snap the portraits, a rather large dog entered the scene and voila, true emotion was captured! Apparently Carson has a fear of dogs and when she saw this canine her fight-or-flight response took over and she was "out of there!" It looks like a Heisman Trophy pose! Too funny, but the expression on the brother's face is what makes this priceless. You may not be able to really see it as small as it is shown on the blog, but you can tell the slight upturn on Maylon's eyes...he's smiling...on the verge of laughing! As his younger sister is in a total panic, running for her life, he didn't respond as her protector, as her defender...only a brother would respond with a chuckle at such a response! Too funny...true emotion captured indeed... intense fear from a sister and sibling smugness from the older brother! All ended well and we got a precious portrait of the three children in a very traditional pose, but THIS is the portrait that tells the whole story!

mybestfriendMarti

So, any of you that have spent more than say 5 minutes with me know I have a best friend. If I haven't told you her name, I feel certain I passed on some of her advice to you or parlayed her into some story that started out, "So I was talking to a friend the other day..." 9 times out of 10 that 'friend' is Marti. My neighbor friends affectionately call her mybestfriendMarti (all slurred together like that) because it got to a point that they were like, "We KNOW who Marti is now!" Yes, mybestfriendMarti is just that...my best friend and her name is (who would have guessed) Marti! We've been best friends since 3rd grade and we talk, oh 10-12 times a day. She lives in Atlanta and while it baffles our husbands, we do truly talk that much on the phone. Now, realize many of those calls are just 30 second calls to quickly express a thought, but yes, some of those calls turn into political discussions or mom-venting or theological debates of how the Holy Trinity operates exactly. Indeed, we talk about anything and everything you could think of. And one of the things I love most about Marti is the fact that we have so little in common...hmmm, that didn't come out right...we actually have a lot in common too, but we have a lot not in common. For example, she just got a nose ring (gasp!). I mean, I think I would consider a belly button ring, a shaved head, a tattoo of an eagle's wings spanning the width of my back before I would have considered getting a nose ring! Now I am really laughing because I know Marti is howling at the thought of me at the pool with my kids and a tattoo of an eagle spread across my back under my Mom-tankini! That being said, after we talked through her REASONS for the nose ring, I completely understood and respected her decision...and actually thought it was cute when I saw her! Okay, this blog is digressing from where I wanted to take it! :) Okay, so another thing that is totally different about Marti and me is her love of foreign missions. Oh, that sounds bad too... but I am just going to say it, when I was growing up and the topic of foreign missions came up in G.A.'s (Girls in Action...a Baptist thing), I would tune out. Considering that G.A.'s is actually BASED on 'Missions in Action' (Girls in Action, Girls in Action, Mission Studies and Mission Action, Growing, Living, Loving, Girls in Action, Girls in aaaccccttttion now!) I tuned out a lot. I promise I am not a bad person, I just have a hard time really identifying with people who live so extremely different from me (as I type this, I realize this is a fault I am sure God is taking issue with me about!) Anywho, Marti LOVES foreign missions...and she truly has a heart and a gift for it. When she called me one of her 10-12 times a day a few years ago and said she wanted to host a Belarussian child for six weeks over the summer (she had just had her second child), I thought she was crazy! I could see her doing it in a few years when her newborn was say, sleeping through the night!, but now? Are you crazy?! But she really felt called to do it and so enter Angelina (pronounced with a hard 'g') Angelina lives in a town in a Belarus by the name of Mogilev. This town is close to where the Chernobyl Nuclear Plant had its melt down in 1986. There is still extreme radiation fallout from this disaster, and it adversely affects the health of the children growing up there. What they have found though is that if the children can be removed from the environment for just 6 weeks/year, their immune system has time to build up enough to protect them for the rest of the year. I am so glad Marti followed her heart because Angelina is a total delight! This is her fourth year coming to stay with Marti and her family and every year we try to get together and get some portraits of her. This year she grew up so much! Isn't she beautiful?! And she truly is just as beautiful on the inside...she fits in perfectly with Marti's family here in the states. If you would like more information about this mission, go to www.abro.org . Angelina, we miss you already and look forward to your trip back next year! Thank you for the joy and love you've brought Marti and Lane through the years! And to mybestfriendMarti, thanks for reminding me of God's bigger plan!

Oh Yes, I remember...

Isn't it funny how our memory works? I've often said that God had a grand plan when He thought through the procreation process, and a pivotal part of that plan was the erasing of our memory of the first few months of new parenthood! I saw a special on the Learning Channel once that explained that after childbirth a chemical is released in a mother's body that actually acts as a memory blurring agent, because let's face it, if we vividly remembered the pain of childbirth, it wouldn't make a second chance at procreation so appealing! I believe that whatever that chemical is, it must extend into the first few months of a new parent's life...oh and somehow it gets in the dad's system too! Hmmm, maybe it is the lack of sleep that aids that chemical reaction! (Can you hear my Chemical Engineering background coming out! Ha!!!) Anywho, I remember distinctly thinking when I was a new mom that if I made it through, I was going to make it my personal mission to help other new parents through this challenging time. I do believe that is another reason I love newborn photography so much. Meet Alex! What a precious angel he is, don't you think?!!! Looking at these blog portraits you would think he was the Johnson & Johnson commercial baby...you know, the one that sleeps all night and giggles and coos the other 12 hours of the day and never causes anyone a minute of anguish! But like most one month olds, Alex is still figuring out sleep...his little tummy (as my two year old always said) "got grass", and getting him to sleep was a challenge. Actually a two hour challenge. And as we bounced and shhhhed and walked around in circles in the dark and in the light and in the middle, it reminded me of a blurred memory of mine, yes, new parenthood was hard! There is a book I usually recommend to new moms called MotherShock- it likens new motherhood to culture shock in a very comical, but real way. So true! But then, magically after two hours the miracle happened...Alex fell asleep and the Johnson & Johnson commercial started rolling! As I look at this first portrait of Alex with his parents, the memories started flooding back...yes, parenthood is hard, yes, parenthood is NOT what I thought it was going to be, but YES, parenthood is so worth it! I rarely have to instruct new parents what expression to make when they look at their new sleeping newborn...it comes totally naturally...it just comes through as totally, unabashed love. And these new parents were no different... I love the way the parent's heads with Alex's head sort of create an upside down heart shape... such a natural outpouring of love happens during new parenthood! So, to all you new moms and dads, hang in there! Yes, it IS hard, harder than I ever expected, harder than I ever dreamed, harder than I ever could have imagined, but truly it is the best, the greatest, the undeniably hands down most super experience I'm still having every single day ...and no chemical in the world will ever make me forget that! Thank you Alex for your sweet, sweet self...and shhhh, sleep well tonight!

Hello...Goodbye

One of the things I love most about what I do is the families I meet. I can't tell you how many true friends I have made that started out as me photographing one of their children...then their next...then their family portrait. It just makes me smile because lifelong friendships have been made that started out as a call about photography. Unfortunately this family is not one of them. Well, that sounded bad, didn't it?...I said unfortunately because this family is moving! And I absolutely LOVED taking their portraits! This family won the gift certificate for the silent auction at Ogletree Elementary so I do not know if they had even seen my photography before we arranged our session! But let me tell you, this family is precious! With their youngest child being as old as my oldest, they are obviously in a different stage of life than my family is...and what hope it gives me! The session went so smoothly and the mom encouraged me that seven years is the magic age (I had myself convinced FOUR was the magic age but with two of my children over four, I'm facing the music that age four isn't all ice cream and roses!) So, now my new goal is age seven. Don't get me wrong, I am not wishing the time away...truly I am not...afterall my favorite quote is from Dr. Seuss, "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened." Hmmm, maybe my quote needs to be, "Don't cry because it isn't over yet, smile because it is still happening...and enjoy it!" See, things with my family ARE getting easier...three are potty-trained...three are swimming...three are out of cribs, but I have to admit, things are NOT easy. I am often asked how I juggle it all...my answer: very poorly. However, I am still trying to ENJOY it. Enjoy the craziness, enjoy the chaos, enjoy the madness. But this family gave me a glimpse of what is to come...maybe not easy, but at least a little less crazy. So, take a look at these good looking boys...they were a delight to photograph...so well behaved and so handsome! I wish I had more time to get to know this family better because I truly enjoyed being with them...for now, I am just so thankful that I had the opportunity to meet them before they moved. You'll have a special place in my memory at least for the next 4 years (at which point MY youngest will be seven!) Thank you for the encouragement... indeed, I will miss ya'll!

Snooze City

I think I have explained in the past that it is best to bring your newborn to their first portrait session within the first two weeks. The reason for this is because this is typically their sleepiest time. This of course is just the typical, but not always the absolute. I have learned to never expect anything from a newborn...afterall, they are new to this world and still figuring things out. But when you get a sleepy one, it makes my job so easy...and Davis was a SLEEPY one! Oh, this little one I do believe was the sleepiest baby I have every photographed...he was a dream! I moved him and jostled him and arranged all his little baby parts and he just snoozed and snoozed and snoozed! Add all that snoozing to a newborn with a head full of hair and you get some priceless portraits! Did I mention he has the cutest older brother...not the quietest or the calmest but the cutest! As Charlie ran and played in the studio guess what Davis did...yep, snoozed! What a fun session this was! Here's to the sleepiest newborn thus far! Keep on snoozing Davis!

Picture Perfect

So this is Cole, and Cole is very special to me because I have taken his portraits since he was a newborn!  I have gotten to know them over the years and I just think they are the most adorable family!  As with most of my clients, my main contact has primarily been with the mom except for during the actual portrait session in which the dad will come to take family shots.  But this session was different.  Cole's dad actually called me this time and asked me to take portraits in front of their sunflower field.  I had no idea what to expect because I guess I have never really seen a sunflower field in full bloom in person.  Wow, was it beautiful!  I have since found out that sunflower fields are planted to help with hunting doves...hmm, who'd have thought!  In any sense, this field was gorgeous but I must admit that it presented a bit of a challenge...see the sunflowers were taller than the child!  To get the magnitude of the field, we would have to get Cole ABOVE the flowers and shoot down.  Enter ladder...thanks Dad!  A motivated dad can be a handy tool during a photo session!  I love this first portrait of Cole... honestly, doesn't the background look fake it is so beautiful!  And the second one with his puppy dog...look how patiently the dog sits while Cole places the flower behind his ear!  Too funny!  But this last portrait is the one that grabs my heart.  Because as perfect as the sunflower field was, a happy family is truly the key to the best portrait of all!  A sunset, a home and a family...doesn't get more picture perfect than that!