Mic, Macy, and Faith

So, one person I can always count on to throw a photographic opportunity my way when I visit home is my sister, Daryl. She has always been very supportive of me and now my photography business. And she's a great lighting assistant on my shoots in Doniphan, too.

This visit I photographed three of the little people in my sister's new family. (She got married about a year and a half ago) Mic, Macy, and Faith were a lot of fun to photograph. Macy was quite the little giggle box, at least until she got some of the bubble mixture in her eyes. She was pretty tough and didn't cry (I probably would have) but after that happened, she wasn't as chipper as she had been previously.

Probably, the most interesting part of that session, was the run-in we had with the mule that resided in the field we were shooting in. He watched from a distance for a while, but then I guess decided it was time for HIS close-up and walked right over to us.... and would not budge. Daryl kept trying to push him away, but he was definitely living up to his mule reputation of stubbornness. Finally, I told Daryl to wave the towel she had over her shoulder in his general direction, and she and I made some noise until he finally decided to go away. When he had walked a good distance away, he looked over his shoulder at us with what I would say was a pitiful look. Awwww, why the long face, buddy? BAHAHAHA! Get it? Long face? He's a mule! *cough Anywhooooooo....

Here's a look at some of the shots from the session:

Nici + Josh's Vintage Picnic Engagement Session

Well, I don't know about the rest of you, but I certainly have been enjoying this nice, warm summer weather. Daniel and I have been taking advantage of it on the weekends, going fishing whenever we get the chance. I hope to spend as much time as possible outdoors this summer.

I have been editing pictures like a mad woman the last couple weeks and have made a pretty good dent in them. I know a lot of you are anxiously awaiting your finished photos. Let me assure you that I am working hard on them and trying to get them back as quickly as possible, but creating beautiful works of art does take some time. Please be patient with me.

So, The Notebook has got to be one of my favorite movies. I'm sure it's a favorite of many of you as well. It's one of those movies that makes you bawl like a baby, but you still love it anyway. We used that movie for inspiration for Nici and Josh's engagement session. This is probably one of my favorite sessions to date. We had many challenges along the way, such as the threat of rain, the smothering heat, and the millions upon millions of gnats that insisted upon flying into our mouth, eyes, nose, and ears constantly. But in the end we got some awesome photos and had a blast during the session.

We drove to Van Buren and started the session at Big Springs, one of the largest springs in the United States and the world. Since it was a Saturday, there were many people there (mainly grandma's and grandpa's wearing khaki shorts, and tall socks with sandals) and we had to fight for space to take any photos by the spring. Apparently, one of the grandpa's stopped to take a picture of Nici and Josh over my shoulder. haha. Needless to say, between the crowds of people and the black fog of gnats we didn't stay close to the spring for long. We made our way through the park to a nice quiet spot beside the Current River to set up our little picnic, stopping along the way to take some photos at one of the old log cabins.

Next, we headed into the town of Van Buren, grateful to not have to worry about eating anymore bugs, and took some great shots at this cute little motel. It looks like one of those motels in the movies where it looks so pretty and cute during the day, but then at night it turns into the stuff of nightmares. Anyways, I thought it had character.

We ended the session at the old Carter County Courthouse with a group of on-lookers across the street watching and laughing at us. When I had taken the last shot and yelled "That's a wrap!" jokingly, they all started clapping and Josh took several bows.

Well, I guess I'll stop rambling on, and let you all see some shots from the session. Thanks Nici and Josh for a fun time and being such awesome photo subjects! And thanks to Paige for assisting me!

Rebecca and Kyle's Senior Portrait Session

Hey everybody! Well, I've been back in Canada a little over a week now and I bet some of you have been wondering why I haven't put up any new blog posts on the sessions I did while I was in Doniphan. I've been a busy girl this past week, let me tell ya! Unfortunately, it's been the kind of busy where you work on something for hours and by the end of the day, you can't tell that you've done anything at all. So frustrating!

Everytime I leave for a week or two and Daniel gets to use his laptop (he never gets to use it when I'm home because I always have it. lol) it starts crashing all the time. I told him that his laptop has changed it's allegiance. It no longer likes him; it only likes me. Can't say that I blame it since Daniel is the one that gave a previous laptop of his a bath! Yes, Daniel, my techy, computer savvy husband dropped his laptop in the bathtub! Don't ask how it happened. He did manage to dry it out and it still worked for a while, but I don't think it was that long until it was replaced by the current PC.

Anyways, so Daniel had to back up all my files onto a separate hard drive, uninstall all my programs, and reinstall Windows. So, before I could even think about doing anything like editing photos or updating my website I had to reinstall all my programs and move my files back onto this computer.

The other thing that's been keeping me so busy this past week (also courtesy of my husband) is that my house is a complete and total disaster. Seriously, it looks like a hurricane (Hurricane Daniel) hit my house..... 5 times! How in the world did he ever manage to get along without me before? I saw his dorm room a few times in college and it was always spic and span.... I feel I've been deceived. Oh well, I love him to death anyway!

So, the first session I did was with two special high school senior cousins, Kyle Davidson and Rebecca Elliott. They are graduating from the same school I graduated from, West Point Christian Academy. I seriously can't believe that these two are old enough to be graduating. It doesn't seem that long ago that they were the two annoying boogers that were always pestering me and my friends on breaks. I'll stop myself before I get too mushy.

I'm really proud of these two! Can't wait to see what's in store for them!

Well, that's it for today! I'll try to post at least every other day until I'm up to date on my sessions. So, until next time!

P.S. If you've tried to comment on my blog posts before and couldn't, I think I've fixed that problem now. :)

Carter/Huffman Wedding

During my time visiting my hometown of Doniphan in November, I had the privilege of photographing the wedding of Courtney Carter and Shawn Huffman. I have known Courtney since we were just little girls in our frilly Sunday School dresses and Shawn and I worked together in the music department of West Point UPC since we were about 14 years old. I was so thrilled to get the message from Courtney asking me to photograph their special day.
They planned a simple, but elegant wedding and I was very impressed with how well Courtney kept her cool even when things (like receiving the wrong color bouquet and the fact that it was pouring rain outside) went wrong. I know when I got married I stressed about every little detail that I was barely able to enjoy my own wedding. So, kudos to Courtney for keeping a level head.
It was a wonderful ceremony filled with some beautiful moments. You know what's so great about pictures? You can tell a story without using any words. So, now, I present to you Shawn and Courtney's wedding story.

 Sorry, the quality of the video is not that great, but I hope you enjoy it anyway.

Julian and Londyn

Early in November, I had the pleasure of photographing two beautiful children. And to say that I got my exercise that day is a major understatement.
Julian and Londyn, along with their mother Cassie, met me and my sister-in-law/assistant, Jennifer, at Lakeview Park for their portrait session. Julian was instantly friendly and quite the little chatter box, asking me about my equipment and other things. Londyn, however, was glued to her mother's side and seemed very shy. I wondered how long it would take me to coax her out of her shyness................ not long at all as it turned out. After the first couple of photos, we were having quite a lot of fun! Running along the beach, playing peek-a-boo, and only stopping long enough for Cassie to wipe some very runny noses. I think they had had their photo taken a few times before. Every time they knew I was about to take their picture, what do you think they yelled? "Cheese!" I've heard from many other seasoned photographers to never have your subject say "cheese", but I'm inclined to let my subjects just be themselves. But I have to admit, after hearing "cheese" for about the hundredth time, I convinced Julian and Londyn to say some other foods that they like to eat. "Rice cakes!" "PISTACCHIOS!"
We ended the session on the playground (the part that Julian had been anxiously awaiting) and I got to be a passenger on the toy train. Julian was the conductor and Londyn blew the whistle. It was a great way to end the photo shoot. Here are some of my favorites from our fun filled day:

This beautiful family was truly an inspiration to me.
To Cassie: You have an amazing story and I know that your testimony will bless many lives. It blessed mine. Thank you for being a model for what it means to truly have faith in God. I pray the Lord continues to bless you and your family.

Breana and Janelle

Ok, so as you may have noticed, I've gotten pretty behind on my blogging. Sorry readers! So, I'll be getting caught up within the next couple of weeks.
First, in the line up, is Breana and Janelle Church. Their session was late in October and the lovely Canadian weather had decided to give us a preview of what we had to look forward to in the long winter months ahead. Yes, It. Was. COLD!!! I felt awful having to ask these girls to take their coats off for some of the photos. But they braved the cold without complaint, and in spite of our numb fingers and runny noses, we got some very nice shots.

Hey everybody, that's it for me today! Don't forget to go to the contact page on my website and sign up for the free VBP newsletter! Have a great week!