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!