This is Kyle.  Kyle is one heck of a guy!  He’s funny and smart.  Athletic and artistic.  We had a great time last weekend as we shot his senior session.  There were many to choose from, so this was difficult, but here they are… (btw, I’m not as chatty as I usually am as my brain isn’t working in it’s normal way- blame it on the pregnancy!) 

And finally, I think this is my favorite shot from the day…

I love working with seniors!  They are just a blast to work with and Kyle was definitely fantastic!  Thank you for your patience, Kyle!  I know you’ve been waiting this week! 

Sarah Grace is one cutie patootie for sure!  And, boy, did she have her mom & me running on the day of her session.  She thought for sure that it would be much for fun to run for the street than to play with me.  Or, maybe that was how she was playing with me!  Lol!  Well, I managed to photograph her beautiful little face anyway, even if she did try her best to run away laughing every time she saw the camera go up! 
Here are a few favorites!

The aforementioned running!

The next 4 are 2 different versions of 2 shots.  I honestly could not decide which I liked better, so I’m showing them both.  Please be sure to leave a comment and vote on which ones you like best! 

These two are a bit more similar, but I still struggled to decide.

And finally, these last two were taken in Sarah Grace’s room and are just absolutely the most precious shots from the day.

Thank you, Carla, for letting me play with your sweet girl for a while.  I really enjoyed it and got a good running workout at the same time!  Lol!  She is just precious!

Last Thursday I was with some dear friends, Rick & Heather, for the birth of their 2nd child.  I photographed their first birth with Jaxon, so of course, we had to document round 2.  I have only pulled a few from the actual day, so as not to gross anyone out too much  :-), but I have also included a few from this week when I went back to their home to take a few portraits.

Here we go!

She looks so much like her big brother!

Congratulations to you all and welcome to the world Miss Ashlyn!  We love you already!

I know I am getting behind on blogging, but I promise you there is an excellent reason.  :-)  Last week I had 5 shoots in just 3 days all while finding out that I was pregnant.  It certainly explains why I was so tired and too tired to stay up late and blog.  I will be catching up, I promise.  But things are probably going to take a little longer now that I can’t stay up working until midnight to two in the morning!

I will be working this week to catch up, but please be patient with me!!! 
Thank you!

-L

Yep, I said it- Holy Cow!  This is one fantastic family with two absolutely gorgeous children!  After being rained out on Friday, I met up with Drew, Mandy, Mary Catherine and Aubrey on Saturday in Collierville Town Square for their family session.  The weather was beautiful and it wasn’t horribly crowded so we were able to really have some fun with it!  There were so many great shots that I am really having a hard time getting the edit down on this one.  But, here are a few first quick favorites…

I have to thank the owners of Square Beans Coffee for letting us use their incredible lime green wall as a back drop for these very gorgeous shots of the girls~

And being a little silly…

And no surprise, Aubrey wanted to be just like her big sister! 

On Saturday morning I rose to wonderfully cool weather and an equally cool family to photograph. We met downtown for a great session. Michelle asked me for less traditional (which you know I am happy to do!) and so we started with a little version of Abbey Road…

There were a few other cool shots of the whole family together, but I’m saving those for you to see in my office on the big screen! All I can say is I have a vision and I can’t wait to share it with you.
We wanted to get individual shots of each of the kids- they were so great to work with! I really enjoyed it and hope they didn’t mind too much either (especially the boys, lol!).

Here they are…

Patrick (No need to adjust your screen, I played with this one a bit. If it’s not your cup of tea, no worries, there is a fun color version too!)

Scott

And Reagan started out a little shy…

But, I think she warmed up to me a bit.

I love this shot of Glen and his boys…

and Michelle getting some lovin’ from Reagan…

Thank you so much, Michelle, & Glen for giving me so much creative freedom on this session! I enjoyed working with you all so much and look forward to showing them all to you soon!

As many of you know, I have been rather busy of late, which is why I haven’t been able to blog as frequently as I would like. But, busy is good and I have been enjoying all of my sessions lately. On Friday, I drove out to the home of Shane & Nikki, who, along with their two great kids, are a lot of fun! We planned to have a relaxed portrait session in their home and got some beautiful results. Here are a few quick favorites… (Oh yeah, and before you ask, yes, their eyes really are that blue!!!)

And this one was so hauntingly beautiful, I couldn’t resist 2 different versions.

I am excited to share with you that I have finally found a fantastic company started up by two local women here in Germantown with whom I am partnering to offer my clients some of the best custom made frames you can find!  They are truly amazing and I just know that you will love them!

Here is their bio along with a few sneak peek images at the frames!

A better view of the 2 Lauras.

And images do not do these frames justice.  They are even better in person.  But, I really want to show them to you here, too. 

I am frequently asked about how kids should dress for their sessions.  I thought it might be fun to inspire you with what I think are some great places to find fun clothes that look great in photographs!

So, one newer company to the US is Boden. I just love Mini Boden, which is their line for kids.  Here are some cute Fall combos that I pulled from their website:

a little something for the boys~

Another online store that I think has adorable kids items is Cocotier Kids Boutique. They have really cute brands like Daily Tea~

and Deux par Deux~

So, there are many great brands and shops out there, but fun, colorful and comfortable clothing makes for some great contemporary portraits!  I wrote this entry to inspire you to go outside of the norm.  I know that smocked dresses and big hair bows are what is expected, but unless those are your child’s favorite things for themselves, why not play a bit with their outfits and let them try something unexpected? 

As summer is winding down and my kids are going back to school, I have decided to set more regular business hours.  Beginning August 18th, I will be available Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 10-5.  I will allow for 4 weekday evening meetings/sessions and 4 Saturday sessions per month, at my discretion as it fits into my family’s schedule.  I will not be taking consults or viewing sessions on Saturdays.

So, that being said, I am nearly booked for August and have appointments available on Wednesday the 27th and in the afternoon only on Friday the 29th.  September has already started booking up.  I will be posting my holiday deadlines later this week, so please check back if you are planning on a fall session.  I will have one Saturday that I set aside for those who are interested in quick sessions for Christmas cards only- more details on that later.