One of the reasons I love doing what I do: I meet people (like Scott and Heather) have a great maternity session (click here to see it) then a few months later I go to their home and capture them as a family. Love.

Meet sweet little Ella…

Scott and Heather, thank you. So much. XoXo

Linden chose ’hands’ for our Click of the Wild focus this time. And I loved it immediately.

Hands.

There are so many ways to photograph hands. I had all kinds of idea’s, but as usual, I tended to just notice and focus more on hands when I had my camera out. Because you know, making time to make an image in my head come to life just does not seem to happen these days!

Here is how I saw – and captured – hands.

Head over to Click of the Wild to see what image I chose to use, and to see what the other girls got!
Thanks for looking!

And some happy ones too, just because I know my MawMaw will want to see those (these are for you MawMaw! xoxo)

Happy Monday. I hope your 4th of July weekend was great!

The last time I had Lane in front of my camera was here <<click<<   ……he has grown up so much since then! It happens fast, doesn’t it?

He turned one year old in May. I went to their house and we wandered around capturing him as he is, at one year old. Big blue eyes, adorable smile, curious little hands, feet still new to walking and legs just a little wobbly…

….his big brother suddenly snuck in and handed him this - haha! He felt sure he needed a toy gun in his photo shoot! Boys…..

The color image is my favorite, but, something about this b&w gets me too….

His Momma is in the doggie business (you can find here HERE) and I was amazed at how wonderful this dog was with Lane. He allowed him to do whatever (including picking up his foot and examining it!) and would stay nearby as if protecting him. Then, when Lane would stand up (still a little wobbly at this time) the dog would put his nose under his arm and help nudge him up. It was really cool watching them together!

Paulette, thanks so much for asking me to do these for ya! xxoo

You may remember me talking about sweet little Isla Jane making an 8-week early appearance here, in Kristen’s maternity post….  Well, I finally got around to doing her newborn pictures back in March, and let me just say, she was a dream subject. She would move her hands into the most precious little positions, which I loved, since posing a newborn is not my strong suit!

Meet my niece, Isla Jane….

I loved this one so much both in color and b&w, so here are both

she smiles. a lot.

More happy smiley faces at the end of our session… love!!

Kristen, thanks for always trusting me and cheering me on! xoxo

Bristol tried pouting/whining… but then she couldn’t help but smile

This week, I am determined to blog more sessions. So, be on the look-out!

And may your Monday turn out to be a smiley one – even if you start out whiny or pouty, or just grumpy.

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!