It’s Click of the Wild time again! It was my turn to choose a focus word, and a few months ago I had seen that Instagram’s weekend hashtag game was ‘chair’. I loved the different pictures of chairs and was so intrigued by how something that might normally go un-noticed or seem boring, could actually be pretty or inviting, or simply interesting in a photograph. And so, I chose Chair(s) for our focus word

Here is how I captured it… I decided that a chair in my sisters front yard was ‘the’ chair I wanted… so I took a few pictures of it there, then moved it to my parents yard (which was un-necessary since I went with one from it’s original location!)…

As I was leaving, this blue chair caught my eye…

Thanks for looking! Please head over to Click of the Wild to see how the other girls captured ‘chair’.

My little sister got married a couple of weeks ago, and while I was not the main photographer (her photographer was Pixelframes Photography), I did have my camera
Here is her wedding day – through my lens…
(warning: there are a whole lot of pictures in this post!)

First, the happy couple…

And now, I’ll back up to the ‘getting ready’…




My niece, Isla, was not left out… here she is with her Momma




Cute little flower girl… she was SO excited!


Kennedy was equally excited!


This was an at home wedding and our family all helped out with food and wedding décor… the oven locked up at one point. The door would not open. Thank goodness for Google! My brother handled that…

Poppa and MawMaw, waiting and watching…

Mothers of the bride and groom…

Matt seemed to be totally relaxed before the big event

Our view from inside looking out right before the ceremony…

My Mom has walked each of us girls out to see Dad for the first time right before the ceremony…. and then from there he walks us to the ceremony site and down the aisle. It’s sort of ‘our thing’… Here she is looking out to make sure Dad is ready, and here Dad is waiting…

I loved capturing those few moments
Now, on to the ceremony.. I only took a few from my seat. I did not get up and move around at all, so there are just a couple…

right after the ceremony, I just took a few candid pictures as I waited for my turn to pose for family pictures…
Confession: the formal pictures at weddings bore me! Truly, it feels like the necessary evil. I know those photo’s are important, I know they are treasured. But the process bores me!

A few of the happy bride and groom…

My Mom made the cakes, and my MawMaw, Aunt Cindy and cousin Jillian decorated them. I think they did an amazing job!

a grumpy flower girl… her shoes rubbed blisters, her dress was hot and she was just generally grumpy by this time of the day!

These are all newly weds :)

I have been to a lot of weddings, and I can honestly say that this was the first time I’d ever seen the flowers go up and over the group of ladies waiting to catch! But sure enough, the flowers landed somewhere behind the group!

And the guys for the garter toss were highly entertaining!










We sent them off with sparklers… and again, I just took a few shots from my spot. I tried to mostly enjoy the wedding and not feel like I was in ‘photographer mode’ too much….

Congrats Tressa Ann and Matt! XoXo

Emery just turned one year old, but this was her 6-month session! (just a little behind on blogging!)
It was freezing cold the day we did these, so we just stayed inside. And she was an absolute doll baby…

Her blue eyes and chin dimple get me every single time…

She was sleepy at the end of our shoot, and I love these sweet pictures of her snuggling her blankie….

Thanks Megan! xoxo

Not gonna lie, when Alicia gave us this focus, I full out groaned! Really, humans with animals. I dreaded it. I don’t know why, exactly. Maybe because we don’t have any animals. Maybe because I am not a huge ‘animal lover’. Don’t get me wrong, I like them and think they are cute and all that… but, I just don’t feel very close, or connected, or whatever, to them…

But then, I thought about it. And, like always, I realized this is why I LOVE Click of the Wild. It stretches me. Pushes me. Makes me capture things that I typically would not. Makes me see things differently.

I was at the beach a lot in the past two weeks. Not the norm for me, and I am sure not complaining! First, I went for a few days with friends. Just us and our kiddo’s, and that is when I saw the shot I wanted. It unfolded in front of me as I sat on the beach holding Tenley. I watched one of the kids eating a snack and the seagulls surrounded her. They were everywhere – on the ground, in the air. It was beautiful.
I said to myself; that’s my shot.
But, I didn’t rush up and go back to the house and get my camera, I just sat and enjoyed, and told myself I had the next week to get that shot.
(I had a full week at the beach with family the following week)
Well, the shot did not happen again. We saw maybe one (ONE!) seagull while we were there! Okay, maybe we saw three. But nothing like the week before.
The Momma in me is happy that I sat, held my baby and simply watched. Enjoyed. Lived in the moment.
The photographer in me wishes I’d jumped up, run to the house, grabbed my camera and nailed the shot. The awesome seagull’s surrounding the kid shot.
Oh well. Ya win some and you lose some.

On the last day I had to get my shot, I borrowed my cousin’s fish, Chester (Thanks Jacquelyn!), had Kennedy pose with it, and got this shot.

And I love it.

Now, head over to Click of the Wild and see what everyone else captured. They are all fabulous, you won’t be disappointed!

I remember when I first started learning about bokeh - it was taught to me as the ‘circles of confusion’ in a photo. The part that was not in focus, often in the background of your subject. I would try to capture it, and when I did (accidentally) once, I was so proud! I loved me some bokeh, and still do
So when Molly chose our focus word “bokeh” I was pretty excited to focus on getting images with noticeable bokeh. And this time I felt better equipped and a bit more knowable on the ‘how to’.
Here is what I got…

Kinda in love with that shot of Bristol Bee, there are more where that came from and I’ll share them soon

Now, head over to Click of the Wild and see which one I choose to use, how the other girls captured bokeh!

My little sister got married yesterday. She has been in front of my camera so many times over the years. The first picture I ever remember taking of her has stayed in our Dad’s truck ever since. I used my Mom’s camera, and I was maybe 6 or 7 years old. I had no idea what I was doing (obviously) and didn’t even have her in focus. But, it has always been a family favorite. Which makes me think, no matter how much we practice and get our photo’s ‘technically’ right, it’s really the ‘feeling’ of the photo that makes it special.
Since taking that photo I have grown to love photography on a deeper level. I have practiced to get it ‘technically’ right and now try to put the technical with the ‘real’, and create beautiful images that are true to life and full of feeling.
I am still learning and practicing with every photo I take.
I borrowed the picture of her as a baby from my Dads truck… here it is…

Yep, harsh flash, shadows and all. (I still have no idea what I am doing with flash!) But what I (also) see is a happy, cute, smiley baby.

So, with all that being said, shooting her bridals was extra special for me. We went to Charleston, SC. A place we have visited so much over the years, and our Mom lived there as a child.  It is beautiful. And honestly, I was ecstatic to not only have a gorgeous bride in front of my camera, but also the backdrop of Charleston – It was a photographers dream!

(anyone want bridals – or any session in Charleston?! I am ready to go do it again!)

Without further ado, here are my sisters bridal pictures… enjoy!

The Battery in Charleston was an extra special location to shoot at, since my Mom played here in this park as a little girl….








































































































Tressa Ann, Thank you for trusting me to capture you – always. You are one of my biggest cheer-leaders, and I appreciate it so much.
Mom, Thank you for exactly the same. As we set out to do this session I was a little nervous. You all (my family) often have more faith in me than I have in myself. Without ya’ll pushing me sometimes I might would get stuck in my comfort zones. Thank you. XoXo

These three surprised their Mom with photo’s for Christmas. She had been wanting updated pictures of them for years. She’d had the same photo framed in her living room for 16 years! So, they asked me to re-create that exact same photo (since it has always been a favorite of hers)… I loved the idea. So we did exactly that (as best we could), here is an Instagram photo so you can see the old/new together…

And then we just wandered around the pasture and barn that means so much to them and their Mom… I loved it.
Meet Jonathan, Ashley, and Shelby…

Jonathan, Ashley, and Shelby… Thank you for asking me to do these for you! xoxo

These moments… let me tell you about a few moments this morning while getting the girls hair trimmed….  Kennedy and Bristol got into a fight over candy. Kennedy yelled. I had to pry the candy out of Bristol’s hand. Bristol screamed and threw a huge fit. I was mortified and apologized to the ones who had to witness such a fit. And then I got out of there as fast as I could. (I was getting waxed when this went down too, by the way!)

Sigh.
Never a dull moment.

Now, let me show you a few of the good moments….the ones I love and soak up… Mornings are sometimes my favorite. And this particular morning was a really sweet one. I turned around to get something and found Bristol up on Tenley’s changing table with her. They both thought this was hilarious and so I grabbed my camera and snapped a few pictures

Drawing with Mya (my sisters little girl)…

Window markers. I have a love/really-don’t-love feeling about these. At least they look cute doing it and have a lot of fun!

Tee ball. This is an iphone picture before their game on Saturday. I kinda love this shot, like, a lot.

Thanks for looking!

Confession: I feel a bit intimidated by newborn sessions. I considered not doing them for awhile. But, I really love the special time of having a brand new baby. It’s different. It’s new and happy and sleep deprived, and a whole lot more. It’s a special time.
I still get nervous about newborn sessions. But I also feel that I am finding what works for me. I go in and take pictures of the baby in their own surroundings. I shoot what inspires me and what I feel tells their story best. I hope my images capture not only the special time of having a newborn, and the baby (of course) but also a feeling of the home. Because home really is where the heart is.

Also, getting some sweet baby snuggles as I shoot is definitely a plus!

Meet Brinley Faith…

Thank you Emily, for asking me to capture your sweet bundle of joy!

Mallory chose “playtime” as our focus for Click of the Wild this time. I absolutely love this focus and all the ways it can be captured. Playtime is fun and can vary so much!
One of the first things (maybe the very first thing?) that came to mind was bedtime for our girls. They seem to think that bedtime is playtime, and get totally wild and crazy. One of their favorite things to do lately is jump off the beds into their Daddy’s arms. I decided that I really wanted to capture this as my playtime picture.
We have two weeks to get each focus. I waited till the night we posted to get this shot. Yep. Nothing like waiting till the last minute! I really wanted a shot with all three girls in it, but it didn’t happen. I still love what I got.
This is yet another reason that I love Click of the Wild, without this focus, I probably would not have pulled my camera out and captured this moment. These moments happen and pass and they move on to other things and they grow up. I am thankful to have this picture to look back on and remember when they jumped into his arms giggling and yelling and saying “I feel like a bird! I feel like I am flying!” -Kennedy
“Daddy, catch me!” -Bristol
“Daddy! Me!” -Tenley
 

These are a few other pictures I got in the last two weeks. Honestly, I have more, but haven’t gotten around to even looking at them yet!

Thank you for looking! Now, head over to Click of the Wild and see the other “Playtime” shots!