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/.

I am loving the job of photographing newborn twins this year!  This is my 4th set and I think I am getting better with every session.  They are so precious when they are this tiny and come in pairs!  These two little sisters seemed so tiny when I walked in, but they had already grown so much since being born a few weeks earlier.  They did a great job posing and we got some beautiful portraits.

So let me introduce you to Abigail and Julia…

And my husband’s comment when I showed him these next 2, “How funny that they both did the Macarena.”  Take a look and tell me what you think…

I also thought it was funny that they lay similarly when it was their turn for this shot~

Aren’t they just beautiful?  And you know how much I love baby feet!  They are such sweet little blessings and I know their family is just in love with these two little girls!

Some of you may recognize a few of the family members in this session.  Two years ago, I photographed Gavin as the MDA Junior Ambassador and then followed that with a family session with his entire family.  Their family is undoubtedly one of my favorite clients.  So, when Gavin’s mom, Mindy, called me with the request to photograph all of the cousins for a Christmas card set up as the Nativity scene, I couldn’t turn her down.  No, it’s not what I normally do, but I love this family and would do just about anything that Mindy asks. 

One of the kids was sick and feeling pretty yucky, one was shy and the rest were just having a good old time!  Trying to wrangle all of them was something to see, as all of the parents were there helping me along!  I’m pretty sure there’s video out there somewhere with the outtakes and the behind the scenes action!

So, here was the one of the Nativity shots:

The precious angel…

keeping watch over baby…

and comforting her brother, who was feeling pretty rough that day, poor little guy…

After we got the Nativity shots done, Mindy wanted some casual candids of all of the kids.  We found a fun spot and had to also take one shot with all of the parents and the wrangling.

The Taylor family came into town to visit with family for Thanksgiving, and thankfully for me, we have a mutual friend who referred them to me for this great session!  We met at Beth’s brother’s house in Collierville and walked around the fantastic property to find lots of great little spots.  I really enjoyed my time getting to know them, their fantastic kids and their exchange student from Germany.

Here are a few fun shots!

A little while back I met Jacob & his mom & dad at their house to capture his perfectly adorable face in print.  ;-)  I was not feeling so hot that day, but this sweet 7 month old made me feel better pretty quick.

So, you wanna see?  Well, you’ve twisted my arm then.  Here are a few of my favorites…

And my favorite image from the whole afternoon?  This one!

I photographed Jay with his mom & dad, Joe & Vickie, at home last year for his first birthday.  This year we wanted to do something different.  So, since Jay loves to run around outside, we decided to shoot at My Big Backyard in the Memphis Botanic Garden.  Jay was struggling to adjust to the time change and was off of his game.  He fell a few times and ended up with a slight fat lip.  So, we opted to re-shoot and decided to stay close to home.  It turned out to be perfect!  He gave us all a great work out keeping up with him as we walked the trails behind his house in Harbor Town!

So fun!  Here are a few faves!

I think this shot definitely shows just how much his parents adore him!  I love it. 

Julianne and I go way back.  Back 10 years to be exact.  10 years ago when she was a counselor in our first adoption.  So, now I had the opportunity to photograph her super cute family and I just love them to death.  She and Chad are obviously (you’ll see in their pictures together) still completely in love with each other, and all 3 girls just totally crack me up!  They each have such different personalities and are so much fun.

We went out to Schilling Farms and the weather and lighting was perfect for their session.  I wish we could have that kind of warm weather and soft, beautiful light all year round!

(Note to other photographers: Schilling Farms is private property and is not open access.  Please do not trespass to shoot there.)

Now on to the uber fabulous images!!!!

My favorite B/W from their session

Thank you Chad, Julianne, Emily, Caroline and Abby for all of your beautiful awesomeness!  :-)  I love you guys!

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…