We call it “Nerd Night”, but it is a good kind of Nerdiness! We (me and some close photog friends) get together and discuss the ‘other’ side of photography that we – as photographers - find interesting. We discuss technicalities, idea’s, business, and anything else we happen to touch on! It is a lot of fun and we walk away feeling inspired and encouraged

Last week we went to NoDa and wondered around snapping pictures. Linden was our main focus, we kind of put her up to it since she is pregnant and we were sure she’d love some baby-bump shots…she easily agreed

Mallory working the camera

We took a few shots of the rest of us too… Linden took my camera and got this one of me..

I got this shot of Alicia…

some random bikes parked on the sidewalk…

Mallory…

As we headed back to our car, I captured this one of Linden, Mallory and Alicia together…

and lastly, I saw this and it made me smile…. I think most artists have probably felt this way at some time or another…

We ended our night at Ameliea’s with a yummy meal and lots of nerd talk

Happy Monday everyone!

Joseph is my cousin, he is marrying Lizzie whom we all love, and we are excited for their November wedding!

Here are a few of my favorite shots from their engagement session…

loooove this one…

Thanks you two, for asking me to do these for you
XoXo

Meet (from left) Andrea, Liz, Mackenzie, Brittany and Amber:

I was super excited when they contacted me for a photo shoot, simply because I knew shooting these girls was going to be fun (I just love friends shoots) and they did not disappoint!
First of all, they showed up with glass bottled drinks – gotta love that! Then, as I tell them how great they all look, they inform me that they had not discussed outfits with each other at all. They had agreed to each wear what they wanted so that each of their styles would be reflected in the pictures. I was impressed! They each have their own sense of style and, of course, their own different personalities.  I loved having every one of them in front of my camera.  

A quick outfit change into a more casual look…. I loved how they were all “Oh (insert name here) I love that color on you!” …..”that is so cute!”……. “you look great”  Truth is, they all looked great. And while each of them looked different, they fit perfectly together.

a couple of silly props I brought along and we almost forgot about!

As I got in my car and drove off Taylor Swifts song “Fearless” was playing. And yes, I know that song is about romance, but somehow, the words seemed to go perfectly with the evening and the friendship I’d just captured.

Cuz I don’t know how it gets better than this
You take my hand and drag me head first
Fearless
And I don’t know why but with you I’d dance in a storm in my best dress
Fearless

Okay, I know this sounds crazy, considering it is the middle of summer, but Christmas will be here before we know it! Yep, I just went there It seems that the fall season is the absolute busiest season for me. Last year I ended up having to turn down a few people, which I really didn’t like having to do.

Fall is a great time of year to have pictures taken for many reasons; it is cooler, it is beautiful, and – probably the biggest reason – it is right before Christmas. People start thinking about Christmas cards and Christmas gifts.  (as I’ve said before, pictures are the gift that just keeps on giving… I make a coffee table book for my parents, my grandparents and my in-laws every year)
So, I wanted to get you all thinking about it, and if you are considering doing a photo shoot, please contact me so we can get you on my calendar
You really don’t have to wait till right before Christmas to do pictures that you want to use for a Christmas card – unless you just want too! They can easily be done early in order to ensure you are not freezing while we shoot.  Unless of course you want the big jackets, cute hats and scarves look (which I also love). But sometimes even bundled up it can be hard to enjoy the shoot if it is really cold. However, I did shoot several times while we had snow flurries last year!

I think I am rambling now, I am half asleep, moving on…

Right now, we are still enjoying every minute of summer…. bare feet,  popsicles, swimming pools, juice boxes, sunscreen, tricycles… it’s all good.

Bristol has mastered the slide…

And Kennedy flies around all over the place on her tricycle…

And if Big Sis loves it, Sister Bears gotta try it…

Juice boxes (even though they are not ‘boxes’ that is what we call ‘em..) my girls loooove!

Happy Monday!

Every year we celebrate MawMaw’s birthday at my Aunt and Uncles house. They live on the lake, so we just make it a full day of swimming, hanging out, eating, etc.  The party was a few weeks ago, and while I didn’t come close to getting pictures of everyone, these are a few that I did get :)

Here is the birthday girl:

My cousin Heidi

Bristol and Max…

love this!

love this one too

Poppa…

Kristen, who my girls affectionately call “Kiki”…

Poppa with my youngest sis, Tressa Ann…

JoJo with her oldest, Kourtnie…

Trey

Hannah

Westin

Doug aka: Bryan (Doug was a nickname he got when he was a teenager, and it stuck with some of us)

Emily, looking shocked! (thanks for being a good sport about me posting this Emily! XoXo)

Justin

Kourtnie, Tori and Kennedy…

Aunt Millie, holding her grandson Jesse Ray…

Max with his MawMaw Mauch…

Bristol got as much of this red drink on her as she did in her

Katie

My cousin Jillian decorated the cake, and I think she did a great job of doing a theme of two of MawMaw’s favorite things; reading a baking!

And in case you are wondering; the red santa hat represents Christmas baking with MawMaw. Since I was very young MawMaw has gotten all of the grand-girls together and we make christmas candy and cookies just a couple of weeks before Christmas. We have never missed a year since she started it, and I have to say, it is pretty incredible!

MawMaw with Aunt Lou… 

with Jax

Uncle Nelson

At the end of the day, we had some very sleepy babies…

MawMaw, I love you so much!

Remember Brooklyn last week? This week I have some of her with her parents, Tyke and Courtney…

work it Courtney!

Love me some laughing shots!

After a quick outfit change we headed down to the creek…

I just have to share a few ‘behind-the-scenes’ shots… Courtney got pretty wet – even after rolling up her pants!

and we borrowed a 4-wheeler from Travis and Monica (thank you guys for everything!) so that we could easily get further down the creek to the area we shot in…

All in all, it was fun! We laughed a lot, got in a lot of water, and tried hard to stay dry!

Courtney and Tyke, as you know, I love having you in front of my camera – thanks for always trusting me Much love!

My girlies    
These are just a few shots I snapped one night while they were playing….

Kennedy loves to swing…

She talks with her hands…

Loves pockets…

This is my feisty girl…

She is on the move all the time and loves shoes!

Happy Monday!

These shots are actually from a family shoot – but when I went through the pictures to blog some I just could not say ‘no’ to any of these! So, I decided to blog this little series Brooklyn today, and I’ll blog a few more -with her parents- next week

Love.

There is a quote that I love; it hangs around here in various places – it might be on the fridge for awhile, then on my desk, then displayed in the living room….but everytime I see it I love it. It reads: Life is full of beauty. Notice it.

And honestly, I don’t know where I first saw it, and I had not written down the author’s name, so I goggled it and found that there is more to the quote. The entire thing reads: