I always love getting to photograph this sweet family. They are always fun and so easy to be with. I was so excited to get to photograph them this year at the pumpkin patch. It is the perfect way to kick off fall and see this little guys exploring the pumpkins. And I loved their styling by Nicole! Enjoy these sweet photos of this beautiful family!
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Children
I have a handful of clients that have been with me since the beginning and I've had the pleasure of photographing their family as it grows and this beautiful family is one of them. I first photographed them when Lauren was pregnant with big sis and all throughout her first year here, here and here. So, I was so excited when they contacted me for maternity photos for sweet baby girl number two and now their in home newborn session. They are so much fun and completely relaxing to hang out with. Congratulations Cardwell Family! Blessings on you and your family as you grow. :)
A couple of weeks ago, I got to photograph this beautiful family in the mountains. If you know this family, you love them. They are completely adorable, have huge hearts for the Lord and will keep you cracking up the whole time you are with them. I was so excited that we got to do this styled session with them. This past spring, I was chatting with my super-stylish friend Nicole about how I would love to have styling for my clients. She has the best eye for fashion and always looks fabulous. My clients are always asking about styling and what to wear and although I do my very best to help them, I knew that having someone dedicated to them and their style needs would add an incredible element to their session, as well as make their experience with me even more fun and relaxed. So I asked Nicole if she would be interested in styling my clients, and from there Nicole Wise Styling was born. We wanted to kick off her services by doing a giveaway which we held this past Spring to also celebrate 2 years in business for me.
This sweet family was the recipient of our styled session and they were incredible to work with. It was so much fun throughout the whole process. We wanted this session to be really special and after seeing Nicole's style boards for their session, I knew I wanted to take them to the mountains. Having Nicole style them really helped me with my vision for their session and it took lots of stress off of Amanda from having to put together outfits and accessories for her family. Not to mention, she felt totally pampered having her hair and makeup done before the session. If you are interested in a styled session, you can find out more info on Nicole's services here. Enjoy these sweet photos of this wonderful family!
If you make it to the bottom, there's a little behind the scenes video from our session. Enjoy!
https://vimeo.com/138264676
Last week I took my 3 babes out to this gorgeous little pumpkin patch for a few shots for my limited edition pumpkin patch mini sessions. I am so in love with these images and I can't wait to do these for my clients. They were styled by my sweet friend Nicole Wise. You can find out more about her styling services for my clients here. I HIGHLY recommend. It made dressing them super easy for me. And in case you didn't see here, I am offering very limited pumpkin patch mini sessions this fall. As of this afternoon, there is only one spot left, so be sure to let me know if you want it!
I recently got to photograph one of my sweet friends and fellow photographer Lisa and her family, as well as her sister and her gorgeous family. They are such a fun + hilarious bunch. Seriously there is not a dull moment with these two families. I loved every minute of our session! Lisa and her family were styled by our stylist Nicole. You can find more info on her styling services here.
Limited edition pumpkin patch mini sessions are open for booking! Contact me to reserve your spot. Details can be found below...
***Style by Nicole Wise Styling***
>>Images will be delivered via digital download
>> Online gallery for print ordering will be provided
>>Up to 6 family members per session
>>One family per session
>>Session must be paid for at time of booking to reserve your spot
>>Session fee is non-refundable
>>Sessions are not suitable for newborns
>>TN state sales tax applies to session fee
I loved photographing this beautiful family for the second time a couple of weeks ago. They are always so much fun and these girls keep me cracking up the whole session. I love that we did their session at their property with their beautifully restored farmhouse. And just for fun, here is the last session we did together. Enjoy!
A few months ago, a dear friend and her girls whom I haven't seen in FOREVER, passed through town on their way to visit family. I insisted they stop and stay with us and I am so so glad they did. I had the best time catching up and girl talking with my sweet friend. This mama is incredibly strong. She is a rock for her girls and such an amazing example of love for them. It was wonderful to spend time with you guys and take a few photos of you. I hope you see through these the beautiful mother God has make you Aubrey. Love you.
I'll go ahead and warn you. This post is LONG. Last night I went through all my pictures of my Reid over this past year and I literally tried to narrow my favorites down and I'm sorry, but this is as good as I could do. :) I am sitting here with tears in my eyes and just in disbelief that this first year is already over. Its funny how with the first baby you are looking forward to seeing your child complete each milestone but with your second and even more so with your third, for me, all you want to do is for time to slow down. To keep them little. This first year with my little buddy has been great. It's been hard at times, overwhelming pretty much everyday, but through all that, I've been stretched in new ways, grown in my relationship with the Lord and refined as a mother. It is such a gift to see my older kids love him. Remember the way you felt when you fell in love with your first child when they were placed in your arms and you got to fall more and more in love with them with every passing day? Well, to me, seeing that same love from my older kids towards Reid is like that feeling times a billion. It is just the best. All throughout my pregnancy with Reid, I felt the Lord confirming this verse to me for Reid's verse "Blessed be the Lord because He has heard the voice of my supplication! The Lord is my strength and my shield; My heart trusted in Him and I am helped; Therefore my heart greatly rejoices. And with my song, I will praise Him." Psalm 28:6-7 Happy Birthday Baby. ~ Mama
It has been a joy to photograph this sweet baby girl and her family since she was in her mama's tummy. I seriously feel so blessed to get to do multiple sessions with family throughout the course of their baby's first year and beyond. I have loved getting to watch this sweet girl grow. Happy First Birthday Ms. Savannah!
I was so excited when Lauren emailed me a few months back to let me know that they were expecting their second baby and they wanted to do maternity photos with me again. This family is seriously gorgeous but the best part about them is that they are so genuine and fun to hang out with! I can't wait to meet their new precious bundle next month!
Oh my word. This family is just so precious. I absolutely loved meeting them and photographing them. They were so genuine and their love for each other so evident. Our session was full of snuggles, tickles, giggles and it ended with a Daddy dog pile. What could be better!? Enjoy these photos of this precious family. I had the best time hanging out with you guys!
I got to meet up with this sweet family a couple of weeks ago to celebrate their little guy turning one. On his Birthday even! They are such a gorgeous family. Happy Birthday little man!
More to come from this family's session this morning!
This Family. Oh, this family. I just absolutely love them. I have had the privilege of photographing them throughout their baby's first year. From Maternity, Newborn, 4 months, 8 Months and now his One year portraits. And I have loved every session with them. They are so easy on me. Not only do I totally enjoy hanging out with them and catching up on life with them, but they are just so crazy in love with each other it makes my job super easy! You guys. It has been a blast and I look forward to working with your family for years to come! Enjoy this sweet family.
I love to photograph this family. This was the third time I've been able to photograph them and it's always so easy to get great connections with them because they are crazy in love with each other. The last time I saw them was right after little Ms T was born for her newborn photos and it was so awesome to get to photograph them again for her first birthday. Happy Birthday baby girl!
I absolutely love photographing this family! I got to meet them for the first time last fall and they were one of my favorite family sessions ever. It always makes my job easier when my family clients just enjoy hanging out and loving on each other. We had a gorgeous night for our session and I just love how these photographs turned out.
I have always loved photography, but after the birth of my first child, I became completely passionate about documenting his life. I wanted to remember everything about him. Not just the big firsts and milestones, but also the beauty in our mundane everyday moments. Even though I wish I was, I am just not a journaler. My photographs are my journal. Several years, 3 kids and thousands of photographs later, I have started my own business with the focus on family and the connections they share. As much as I love having a business and working with clients, I realized after going through my personal images from last year that I had begun to neglect that very reason that developed my love for family photography in the first place, documenting my own family. I had taken lots of photos of my kids but hadn’t really documented our story very well. When I looked through my images when putting together our family year books, I felt like so much of "us" was missing. So, at the start of this year, I decided to do a project 365, where I take at least one photo every day. After the first few weeks I noticed a theme emerging from my images. I started seeing beauty in our everyday moments. They weren’t beautifully posed portraits but rather things that were just happening in our lives. And I realized, these were the things I really wanted to remember. Don’t get me wrong, I think styled and posed portraits have their place. I AM a photographer after all. ;) You’ll even see some of those in my 365, but for the most part, I’m documenting our every day and in the past 3 months, I have taken some of my most treasured images of my family.
I’ve had such an amazing response to this from friends and clients alike and so many questions from moms that I wanted to share some tips with you on how to document your own family. The best part about these tips is that there is no fancy camera required. I am doing my 365 with my big camera but all of these tips can be applied to a DSLR, point and shoot or a phone camera. So, here are my tips for you on how to beautifully document the story of your family...
1. Keep your camera handy
This might seem like a no brainer but I feel like it is really essential to catching those really sweet moments. Most of us have our phone on or near us a lot so that's always a great option. But if you shoot with a point and shoot or a dslr keep it in a central place in your home so that you can grab it quickly. I keep mine on a high shelf in our living room. Safely out of the reach of little ones but I can grab it and be anywhere in our house in a few seconds. So when you see something like this happening you don't have to say "wait a minute! Mommy needs to get her camera!" Although I do say that a lot too. ;) This picture was taken as my husband was leaving for work. She had gotten up and dressed herself just like this and they were giving kisses goodbye. It was so incredibly adorable when I saw it happen, I just quickly grabbed my camera and asked her to give Daddy one more goodbye kiss. 
2. Shoot wide and also go in for a closer look
What I mean by this is to take a step back and take in the whole scene. Usually doing this tells more of the story. When I do this I also like to get in close because it sort of gives you an up close and personal look at what they were doing.
Here are some examples of where I like to shoot wide. I love how it shows how little they are.
And here are some examples of how I like to get in really close to focus on the details of what they are doing or their little features, which we all know, change way too fast!
3. Get on their level.
Changing your perspective can really change the feel of an image and I love to get down on my children's level when photographing them. It kind of gives a more intimate feel and helps you see things from their perspective. Here are some examples of that...
4. Get High- Shoot from your perspective
Again, this is another perspective that really adds a different feel to your images. Of course here we can see more from our perspectives and how we view them. Here are some examples of this...
5. Don't ask them to look at you
We all know this look, am I right? You know, when you ask your child to look at the camera and smile. This is what they give you.
So, just don’t tell them to look at the camera. In fact, tell them not to look at you. Just let them keep on doing whatever activity they’re involved in. Let them be lost in play. Some of my favorite pictures of my kids are ones that they aren’t looking at the camera. It's just so much more special than those fake smiles or crazy faces they make because these photographs are so much more real and genuine.
Like this...
6. Document the mundane
These things we do everyday as parents are what this life is really made of. And when we look back at our images in the years to come, these photos will be the ones you treasure so much because they are your memories preserved. Home haircuts, an afternoon bath after a blow out poopy diaper (ha!), checking the mail, riding on scooters in the driveway, jumping off the couch in this swimsuits in the dead of winter, nursing your baby, your sad attempt at braiding your daughters hair. This is life, and it's beautiful!
7. Make it fun
I can't tell you how many of my clients leave their sessions and text me later that night and say how much fun they had. That is always my goal and the best way to get real authentic expressions and smiles so why wouldn't I want that same thing with my own children. This is a win-win because when they are having fun, they don't mind you taking pictures. Let them jump in the leaves, dance in circles, do flips, run around, whatever they enjoy doing and you want to remember how cute they were when they did it.
8. Get in the frame
This is something I have become much more passionate about this year. Every year, I put together family photo albums and I began to realize I was missing. Like completely. Obviously, I am the one taking all the photos so I'm just always behind the camera. But, I really want my kids to have some photos of us together. Don't you cherish old photos of you with your parents? Your kids will too. So, I've tried to make it a goal to get in the frame with my kids at least once a month. You can set your camera up on a piece of furniture and set the timer or get a tripod with a remote. If you're using your phone, I use the gorilla cam app that has a self timer on it so I can even set up my phone to take pictures and not just holding it out for selfies. I always try to spend lots of time at my sessions focusing on mothers, especially because I know they are usually the one's taking the pictures and are rarely in them with their little ones but you should also make a point to get in pictures with your kids every once in a while whether that be while you’re cooking dinner or snuggling in bed. You’ll always love these in the years to come.
I hope you've enjoyed reading these tips and find them useful in documenting your everyday with your little ones. I wanted to be sure these tips would work for you no matter what kind of camera you use. And just to demonstrate that I wanted to include some iPhone snaps of mine below that demonstrate most of these tips. And finally, if you are interested in scheduling a session with me I specialize in custom photography including in home lifestyle sessions to document these beautiful days for you. You can contact me here if you're interested. Have a great weekend everyone!
iPhone Snaps of our everyday...
Happy Mother's day to all of you sweet mama's out there. In honor of Mother's day, I wanted to share some of my favorite images of mothers that I've taken for clients over the years. Enjoy! Now go call your mama and tell her you love her! :)
