I will skip over the how is my baby old enough to be in kindergarten?! and just get right to the cute pictures we took her first week. And of course I am just now getting around to sharing them. But, I say better late than never

Here she is, Kennedy Grace, all excited for kindergarten…

Happy Friday!

This brother/sister pair got in front of my camera back in the fall – Gini had fun, Jared just went along with us  Haha, I think he actually did have fun!

Love laughter

My favorite shot of Jared….

Jared plays football for Sun Valley, so we got some of him wearing his jersey…

A fav of Gini….

Thanks Sharon, for asking me to do these for ya!

I chose the focus for Click of the Wild this time around, and “this moment” is what I went with. I feel like “this moment” can be SO many things. Our days are full of moments, the ordinary the not-so-ordinary, the happy, the sad, the funny, the crazy, the quite. Anywhere, anytime, these moments happen.

Back in December I snapped these two pictures of Bristol, I feel like they show ‘this moment’ perfectly…

These are a few of the moments I captured in the last two weeks…

Kennedy climbed a tree last week for a better look at a birds nest…

After the snow we got last week, we came in and warmed up by the fire… and let our clothes dry out. The girls settled down here by themselves and I found myself smiling just watching them….

These two love to lay in Daddy’s chair together and watch TV…

Another post snow-playing shot…

And lastly, Kennedy and her baby doll. This was the first shot I took for this focus, and it’s the one I ended up using  I absolutely love the feeling of it.

Thank you for looking! Now, head over to Click of the Wild blog and see how the other girls captured “this moment”…

Travis and Laura jumped in front of my camera with their two precious little girls back in the fall… it was one of those fall days that felt more like summer. It was hot. But, they put on smiles and had fun anyway, it was a pleasure working with them

Something about this image I love…

and this one too… I love it

I love laughter!

A juice and paci break was needed…

Thanks for looking!

Thank you to all who entered for the chance to win a free photo session with me. I am sorry for any trouble that you might have had trying to leave a comment, I hope to get any and all kinks worked out on my blog soon

For those of you who let me know that you were having trouble commenting; thanks! I was able to open up comments for entry on Facebook and Instagram

And now, the WINNER of the FREE PHOTO SESSION is…… Carey Parks!

(chosen by Random.org)

Congrats Carey! You will be getting an email from me soon.

And now, a little sneak peek from my first session of 2014 – this sweet little girl was a great way to start off the new year!

Happy Monday!

When I arrived to do this family session, (early because I didn’t know where I was going exactly!) the sun was shining. But, all too soon, the rain started coming down. We ran to our cars and hurried to another location. Made a wrong turn on the way, and somehow managed to get to there before the rain! We only took a few pictures before the rain started coming down again. We ran for cover, and luckily, I was able to shoot some in the area that was covered… then when the rain let up we ran out for a few more minutes. Before it started again, this time harder… It was tough, trying to beat the rain, running for cover, waiting it out for a bit, and hoping for enough light to keep shooting. But, Devin, Hailey and Maddex were good sports and totally just went with it. Thanks ya’ll! We managed to get a whole bunch of great images, yay! Here are a few of my favorites…

I absolutely loved having this cute little guy in front of my camera – and the hat was a bonus!

Hailey wanted to shoot at the river behind their house, but Devin didn’t want to go back their because that is where he hunts. So he found this area for us on his way home one day, and I LOVED it!

Thanks for looking Oh, and if you haven’t done it already, scroll down a couple of posts to the GIVEAWAY post and enter to win a free photo session!

“You are more beautiful than you think” -Dove

When Alicia chose “Self Portrait” as our focus for Click of the Wild, that quote from the Dove Commercial came to mind. If you haven’t seen this video, watch it…You won’t be disappointed. (there is also a longer version.. you can google it)

I believe in beauty, and I believe it comes in many forms. I love to capture the beauty of laughter and love and relationships and so many other emotions with my camera.

But, believe me, beauty is not easily captured in a self portrait! ha.
Okay, I was under no illusions that it would be easy. But, I was excited to give it a try. Excited and nervous. In fact, I was planning on suggesting ’Self Portrait’, but Alicia beat me to it, and I am kinda glad she did. Because I might not have had the guts to do it.

For me, it was hard to get myself in focus. That was the hardest part. Then, when I managed to get myself in focus I looked like such a dork! Because I can’t see exactly where I am in the shot, composition was tough…. Clearly, this was a hard one for me.
We have two weeks to work on our focus, and at first I approached it as I do most of my photography. I captured moments as they happened. I was folding laundry, so I set my camera on my dresser and took a picture (focusing on the laundry and letting myself be out of focus on purpose, which I liked). Another day, I had a few minutes, so the girls and I jumped up on the bed and (because I don’t have a tripod) I set a package of diapers on top of a stool, set my camera on top, and set my timer and ran to the bed – over and over again!
I finally borrowed a tripod from Molly, and that is when I got the awful out-of-focus/in focus dorky shots. I had actually showered, fixed my hair, and wore something besides a t-shirt and yoga pants for this attempt. I walked outside, feeling good. Then…the wind was blowing my hair all over the place, I couldn’t seem to get my focus right, (even though I had grabbed a sheet of paper on my way out the door and drawn a smiley face on it to use as something to focus on – then I would set my timer, remove the paper and stand exactly where it had been.. but, it didn’t seem to work for the focusing issue’s I was having) I finally decided I would just give up and use one of the shots I had taken over the past few days. Even if it had to be a mirror shot, which I felt like was a little ‘safe’… possibly lame. (they are included in this post!) Anyway, just when I gave up I saw my reflection in the door and thought that’s kinda cool … so I took a shot. Then, I held the camera up at different angles and got a few different shots that I liked. Really liked. So from there, I managed to get the shot I am happy with

All in all, this focus was tough. But, I am happy with the images I ended up getting (as a photog and Mom, I don’t get in front of the camera enough), and I love that some of the images are simple real-life images of my girls and I. And, I learned how to use my self-timer on my camera! Score!
This is the image I ended up using….

My laundry folding shot

My girls and I….

A little iPhone shot of my set up! Stool, box of diapers… who needs a tripod?!

Mirror shot…

This is us. This is the norm. And for that, I love it.

Here are the two door reflection shots as I was walking back inside after deciding to give up on trying to get anymore.. right before I started getting shots I liked. Glad I saw my reflection and was inspired to try some more

When I started trying different angles this is one of the first I got that I really love…

And these are a few others I got after that shot…

One more mirror shot…

One more shot where composition and focus didn’t work out for me, but I still kinda like it…

Thank you for looking! Please head over to http://clickofthewild.wordpress.com/ to see the full post on “self”.  Happy Tuesday

Are you ready to win a photo session with me? Well, it’s that time of year again!

For the past 3 years I have kicked the new year off with a free photo session, and I am doing it again this year! It’s not hard, all you need to do is leave a comment

Here are the nitty gritty details:

What: A photo session with me

Includes: Session fee and disc of images

How to enter: Comment on this post. That’s all you gotta do

Deadline: I will count all comments on THIS post till midnight Friday, January 24, 2014.

Fine print: Anyone can enter. If you choose to do a family session, only you and your immediate family are included. Weddings excluded. However, I will do engagement session, bridals or Day After sessions. Session must be done before September 1, 2014. One entry per person please. Not transferable to another person. Not transferable for money. Winner will be chosen by random.org. If you have a session booked with me already, and you are the winner, you can use this towards the booked session. Session must be local to Monroe, NC area. (while I’d love to travel, it just cannot happen right now!)

And please, spread the word about this Giveaway! Feel free to share on Facebook, Twitter or any other social media. Or just good ‘ol word of mouth I’d appreciate it, truly.

Thank you and best of luck!

This Mother/daughter (and doggie!) session was a whole lotta fun! Girls, thanks for being awesome in front of my camera and trusting me to capture you

When we talked about their session, one thing Keeley mentioned was that she would love to have a few pictures of her doing a little makeup for Keelyn. It is something new and she knows it will pass quickly, so we captured it

Thanks for looking!

I love second shooting weddings. For several reasons, but one being that when the wedding day is over, I hand my images to the main photographer and I am done! In fact, I did just that more than a year ago when I shot alongside Mallory of Mallory Dawn Photography, and I had not even looked at the images again till now. Not even kidding! The file has been hanging out on my computer for more than a year un-touched. I decided to start the New Year off by digging into that folder, pulling a few out and sharing them here with you

A peek into Dana and Ryan’s wedding day…

When I saw the goggles and the apron, I knew we were in for a treat!

and they did not disappoint!

I’ll end this post with a little photo booth fun

Mallory, thank you for asking me to shoot alongside of you – I loved it!