As an adoptive mom myself, I love doing these sessions.  If you are not familiar yet, I’ll explain.  Once a month, I will donate a session to a family who has adopted a child within the past 12 months.  This is Gary and Melanie’s family.  Gary, Melanie, Connor and Camryn welcomed Chloe into their family just about a year ago.  She has had to adjust to a new family, new culture and new language!  By God’s amazing grace, she is doing it very, very well!  This family is just awesome!  I really enjoyed our afternoon out shooting!

So, because I had so many that I liked, you better sit back with a cozy blanket and some hot cocoa or a cup o’ joe, ’cause this one’s going to take a while! 

Enjoy the pictures!

Then let’s show you off and prove it to everyone else!  Kiralisa Photography is participating in the International Charity Model Search to select North America’s Cutest Family and to raise funds for the non-profit Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep Foundation. (NILMDTS.org) This is an organization that I personally volunteer for and love dearly.  Last year one of my clients was picked to be a finalist and I’m looking to do it again this year!  Together we helped raise over $150, 000!

Are your loved ones North America’s Cutest Family? We’ll give you the opportunity to prove it! Many exciting prizes will be awarded, and the grand prize winner receives a new car!

Model Search Special:

$99 entrance fee includes a 30-minute model session and one image submitted to the national gallery.

Finalists will be determined by online votes. Each vote is $1 (no limit on the amount of votes you can cast), and all proceeds from votes benefit Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep (NILMDTS.org).

Grand prize international winner will be determined from the 52 city finalists. The winners will be selected from the finalist gallery by photography and modeling industry experts. The winning family also receives a session with the renowned portrait artist Sandy Puc’ and international recognition.

Call 901-428-3026 now to enter your family in this exciting contest.  The sooner you enter, the more time you have for votes!

*Contest open to residents of the US and Canada. For more information, visit http://sandypucmodels.com/.

These two beautiful people are getting married in March!  We went out to Arlington Town Square to celebrate their engagement with a rockin’ photo shoot!  I love how IN LOVE these two are!  It is so sweet and wonderful to be around.

There will be a lot of pictures here, because these two are so smokin’ hot, I couldn’t choose favorites!

I could keep going, but I think I will stop!  I can’t wait to shoot their wedding!  I know it will be full of love and style~ just like them!

A while back I photographed Michelle and Danielle, not long after Danielle’s adoption became final.  As an adoptive mom myself, it does my heart good to do these sessions and see the beautiful families that have been formed through adoption.  These two love each other so much, it is just precious!

It is my privilege to show you some of the wonderful photographs of this newly formed family…

I love this series of 3…

Meghann had the most wonderful idea to give her mother a portrait session for Mother’s Day this year.  With our schedules and the heat this summer, we decided it would be best to wait until fall when Meghann would be home for a weekend to do their session.  We headed out to Collierville Town Square and thoroughly enjoyed our time together.  They have such a wonderful relationship and it’s encouraging to see a mom & daughter who love and respect each other so much!

So, here’s their sneak peek!

Susan and I spent some time not long ago taking some great portraits of her and her adorable puppy dog to celebrate where she is in life right now!  She is fresh, fun and just a blast to be around!  We had a great time and her images turned out just fabulous!

Let’s take a look see. 

I absolutely love this one.  It’s not your normal portrait, but I just love it!

Do you remember the days a few weeks ago when it was just oppressively hot?  Yes, I know it’s Memphis and all, but it really was a scorcher!  Well, I went out with Christen, Chase and Christen’s adorable new puppy, Knievel, for a downtown session.  We made it through the heat and came out on the other side with some absolutely beautiful portraits!  There are so many that I love from this session, it was hard to choose what to put here, but I think you’ll enjoy them!  Christen and Chase were a lot of fun!  She’s a real girly girl and he’s a tough guy who rides 4 wheelers professionally (think BMX, but on a 4 wheeler)!  I love how they are total opposites in that regard, but when you meet them, you see how it works!

So, enough chit chat…Here are a few of their great images!

I met up with Erin not too long ago so that we could get her some fresh headshots before she headed out to LA to give her acting bug a try!  Having grown up there, I know how tough it is to get into the business and how important great headshots are!  So we spent some time together and got some really beautiful shots!  It certainly doesn’t hurt that she is absolutely gorgeous, but I hope you are also able to see how beautful she is on the inside just by looking at these!  Erin’s wonderful personality just glows and I think her kind heart shines through!

Good luck, Erin!  I can’t wait to see you on the big screen!

This is a little something different for me.  Our good friend Derrick is an incredible saxophonist and I had the privilege of photographing him and his group, Eclection, this past week.  I thought I would try a little bit of painting with light, an older technique that is seeing more use these days.    We had a great time and got some great shots.

Here you go…

and some more traditional black & white images…