Family of 5 portrait session at Harlinsdale Farms in Franklin TN

When Jennifer first started discussing her family portrait session with me, she told me that her girls were all “super energetic & goofy.” I said that was great because that’s my favorite type of family to photograph!

Kylie (8), Alexie (6.5) and Bailey (3) were so much fun and I just adored working with them. Photographing young sisters always makes me nostalgic for when my own girls were younger. (Side note: I just registered my oldest for high school. How in the world did that happen already?) Also, Trev & Jennifer are the most adorable couple. There is so much love and laughter in this sweet family, and it shows.

The family moved to Middle Tennessee from California, and in the process, left their beloved family photographer and friend. This was the first time they had pictures made since the move, and wanted a country feel to the location. They also wanted to include their sweet, 13 year old golden retriever. Since it’s still winter and there isn’t a lot of green on the trees, I though Harlinsdale Farms in Franklin would be a good spot. I always love the textures and colors on the barns and buildings there, and it’s a great place for a dog.

I was a little worried about ti being super cold, but it ended up being a really beautiful day, though still a bit chilly if you weren’t bundled up. As a bonus, the girls found the first dandelion of the year! You guys know I love a good dandelion wishes photo, and this year Kylie got to be the first. I hope they enjoyed their first Tennessee photo session as much as I did.

My last portrait session of the decade

What a beautiful way to finish up 2019 with this gorgeous family of 5 portrait session at Harlinsdale Park in Franklin. This photo session was originally scheduled for November but we got rained out. We couldn’t reschedule right away because the family’s oldest daughter, Jessica, lives in New York so we rescheduled the session for when she would be home for the Christmas holidays. And what an amazing day it was! We could not have asked for more beautiful weather.

I originally photographed this family about three and a half years ago, and it was one of my most memorable sessions of the past five years because we got photobombed by a hot air balloon! No hot air balloon showed up this time, but we did get the most gorgeous sky! That sunset is one reason Harlisdale Farms is one of my favorite spots for family portrait sessions in the Nashville area!

I’m now booking portraits for 2020 through June! Book online or contact me today to get your spot!

My Memory Card Failed During this Family Portrait Session

About 20 minutes into this outdoor family portrait session, my camera suddenly refused to take a photo. I looked down at my camera screen, and saw a warning that said I had a memory card error, and to remove the defective card. The card was somehow damaged, and could not be accessed at all. All of the photos I had taken of these beautiful girls so far, were not on the card.

That might have been a moment of panic. For an hour long session, 20 minutes of shooting is a significant number of photos. And the girls had done such an amazing job. We had sang and danced and giggled in the gorgeous light of the most beautiful yellow tree at Thompson Station Park.

But instead of panicking and mourning the loss of those pictures, I simply popped out that memory card and replaced it with another one. You see, I wasn’t worried about losing images, because my camera holds two memory cards. When I take photos, the images are copied to both cards, so that even during a session, I always have a backup. One card was damaged, but the other one was just fine, and had all the photos from the first part of the session. So I just continued shooting without issue, with a new card from my bag as a second backup.

In fact, I always have two copies of your portrait session images. Once I get home from a session, I immediately copy one of the memory cards onto my computer. The other memory card from the session is then stored in a case, not be erased until I have uploaded the session to my online gallery, at which point I’ll have a copy online and a copy on my hard drive.

And I am so glad there are, because I wouldn’t have wanted to miss one photo of these amazing girls. This is the third year now that I’ve been blessed to photograph this wonderful family. Last year, I wrote about how much I love to see repeat clients each year, and that’s still true today. Seeing how these young ladies grow and change each year is one of the best parts of my job. ❤️

Family Portraits After Loss

It’s a very personal thing to photograph someone. It’s especially personal to photograph them through loss and grief. So when Brandilee told me she wanted family photos, and wanted to find a way to include Finn in them, I wanted to do the best I could to make that happen for her, but wasn’t really sure the best way to do it.

I can’t even imagine what it might be like to lose a child myself, but I can guess that every first without your little one is incredibly difficult, including the first family photos after loss. I am thankful to have been trusted with this task, and hope that I was able to honor Finn’s memory while capturing the beautiful lives of his loving brothers and parents.

There really wasn’t much on the internet that I could find on honoring the loss of a loved one but Brandilee had made two requests so that was where I started.

The first thing she wanted was to photoshop Finn into some of the photos in a transparent way, symbolizing that his spirit was still there with them. I used photos from my family session with them from two years ago, and tried to blend it into a photo from this session.

The second thing she had requested was to include a framed photo of Finn with this family portrait session. So we printed her favorite image from that session two years ago, and she found a frame she like to put it in. The print was an 11×14 and I believe the frame was 16×20 inches.

One issue we ran into with the framed portrait was glare on the glass of the frame. Looking back, I wish I had asked them to remove the glass for the photo session. However, since I had the original image that the print was made from, it was pretty easy for me to photoshop the glare issue by covering up the reflection with the actual original image.

The last thing we did to include Finn in the photos was suggested to me in a forum of photographers who volunteer with The Gold Hope Project, and it’s actually my favorite. They suggested that we include a “stuffed animal or other object” that was important to the child whose memory we are honoring. What better way to remember Finn than to include his stuffed Avocado in the pictures?

One very important way that Finn’s family is honoring his memory is to be intimately involved in the continued fight against Rhabdo, the rare cancer that took Finn (and Sophie). If you want to learn more about their fight and the very important research going on at the Mayo Clinic, read this link on their blog.

To contribute to this incredible work please go to the following link: http://philanthropy.mayoclinic.org/donatemc.

Select “Other” under “Designate My Donation” and type in “Pediatric Rhabdomyosarcoma Research – Granberg/Gargollo.”

Typing in “Finn Schafran” when given the opportunity to enter in who’s memory this gift is for will help us continue to track Finn’s influence in this research

Family Portraits at Winstead Park with Epic One-Year birthday Watermelon “Smash”

Family of 5 Portrait Session at Winstead Hill Park in Franklin TN

“The laughter, the fun, the hand-holding, the love.”

Things get pretty boring and lonely for a mostly outdoor family portrait photographer in the south in the month of July. For some reason, most people don’t think first of July as the best time to book family portrait sessions.  I get it.  It’s hot.  SO HOT.  And there are only so many clothes you can take off before it’s a different kind of photography all together.  But it was perfect for this family session combined with a One-Year Cake Smash birthday session. ☀️😉


But this portrait session shows how perfect a July photo session can be, and I am so excited about sharing it with you.  I generally love all my sessions, but once in a while, I get one that just feels like magic. 


If you’ve followed me for a while, you can probably guess that those sessions almost always involve young children.  It’s no secret that the 1 – 6-year-old crowd is my favorite to photograph and this beautiful family had an (almost) one-year-old, a four-year-old and a six-year-old. I had taken their photo with Santa last year at Spring Station Middle School’s Holiday Marketplace, and they loved the Santa photos so they booked a family session. (Yes, Santa and I plan to be back at Holiday Market this year.)  July was chosen in order to celebrate sweet baby Reya’s first birthday with One-Year Cake Smash photos.


It is so important for me to get to know my clients because taking photos is such a personal thing for me.  The first step of getting to know a client is an online questionnaire they fill out when they book a session with me. Casey did a fantastic job of giving me a head start in getting to know her beautiful family. The answers don’t have to be too long…just enough information to give me a feel for each family member and to help me envision how to capture them for who they are. 
Before each session, I study those answers and make notes for myself as I plan out the session in my head. I note things like the fact that Monroe is very outgoing and loves soccer and dancing, while Everly can be shy and loves unicorns and all things pink and glittery.  These little things may not sound like a lot, but they help me get a feel for the girls, and to guide how I connect with them at the session. 


But the thing I loved the most about Casey’s answers, is that when asked what she wants to remember about her family right now, she said “the laughter, the fun, the hand-holding, the love.”  I wrote that at the top of my notes because it just seemed to perfectly sum up my desire for every family session. I hope that she can see all those things in the photos below. ❤️

Watermelon instead of cake for a one-year cake smash? Yes, Please!


Oh, and I just LOVE Watermelon as a replacement for a one-year cake smash.  Reya seemed to dig it too because she was LOVING every single bite of it.  There is just nothing cuter than a naked baby eating watermelon.  I enjoyed getting big sisters in on the watermelon eating fun as well.  Do you think it would be weird to bring along a cooler full of watermelon to every summer family session from now on and hand them out instead of my usual suckers? 🍉  

If you’d like to schedule your own summer fun family session, you can book online now (and feel free to bring watermelon!!).  I can usually fit in a summer session pretty last minute.  But please note, if you are like the other hundreds of people that really want Fall instead, those are selling out fast so don’t wait toFamily Portrait Session at Winstead Park with Epic One-Year birthday Watermelon “Smash”If you’d like to schedule your own summer fun family session, you can book online now (and feel free to bring watermelon!!).  I can usually fit in a summer session pretty last minute.  But please note, if you are like the other hundreds of people that really want Fall instead, those are selling out fast so don’t wait to

A Christmas Gift to Last a Lifetime – Photo Session for Mom

Franklin TN Family Portrait Photographer - Family of 5 with Teens at Aspen Grove Park in Franklin TN

Isn’t it funny how a smell can take you back to a time 30 years ago?  That’s how I felt at this session at Aspen Grove Park in Franklin, TN this week when I arrived early (like I always do) to take a walk before my clients arrived.  It was an absolutely perfect spring day, and as I walked down the trail, I was overwhemed with the scent of honeysuckle.  Honeysuckle is one of my favorite smells (I even use this in my kitchen), and it takes me back to my childhood in the mountains of East Tennessee when me and a neighborhood friend use to spend hours and hours walking through the hollows and back roads just talking and enjoying the sunshine.  

It was the perfect day for a family session for this handsome family.  Dad had purchased the session as a gift for mom this past Christmas, after she had hinted strongly that what she wanted was to capture her families special memories in a portrait session. This was especially important now, because her oldest, Porter, is graduating from high school this week.  

We all know how quickly time flies.  A portrait session gift certificate is a perfect gift for moms who want to freeze time forever, if only in photographs.  

Let’s talk about aspect ratio and cropping photos

You all know that I pretty often get excited about beautiful light or a gorgeous sunset, but I have to say that this is the first time that a rainbow has shown up for a photo session, and it couldn’t have happened to a more beautiful family. My friend Christy and I had planned a combination family session with Hannah’s First Communion Photos, which I blogged yesterday. We had just finished up inside the church and let Hannah change out of her Communion dress when it started to sprinkle. I was a bit concerned at first, afraid it would start to rain hard and ruin our family portraits.  But it only rained for a few minutes and then suddenly the girls noticed a rainbow nearby.  How lucky can we get?  It was only there for about 45 seconds, but that was enough time to get a few pictures.  🌈

I thought I would take Christy’s session preview as a chance to talk about a slight change I think I’m making in my photography, and why I’m making it.  

Christy has been one of my closest friends for like eight or nine years now, and I’m in her house fairly often. Her home (which is gorgeous, btw) is filled with many photos I’ve taken. One thing I really love about her is that she appreciates photos and she does a fantastic job of getting them printed.  However, my one complaint (and I can say this cause she already knows it and loves me anyway) is that in several of the photos she’s printed there are feet cut off in the print.  And it’s not just her.  Most of my friends have sad, chopped off limbs in their printed photos that I’ve taken.  *cue sad music here*

Many of you are probably thinking ‘so what?’.  Well, as a photographer, one of the cardinal sins is to chop off limbs in a weird way. Photographers put a lot of thought into composing photos in a pleasing way, and none of those ways includes people floating on stumps without feet.   

But I don’t blame Christy or my other friends for the floating people. I blame whoever decided that standard print sizes would be a different aspect ratio than most camera’s shoot in. 

You see, my camera (and most others) takes photos in a 2 x 3-inch ratio (same as a 4 x 6 ratio).  That means if you take the image as it was shot, and print it as a 4×6 inch print, you get the entire picture as it was taken in the camera. But 4×6 prints are where it ends as far as getting exactly what you see in a print. 

It seems that the most common size photo that people print and frame is an 8×10 (4×5 ratio).  That is significantly more square than a 4 x 6.  So if you can imagine trying to make a very rectangular image into more of a square, you definitely end up chopping off a decent portion of the image on each end. And that’s how the prints end up missing feet…because it did not crop well as an 8×10.

So I’ve been thinking, perhaps it’s just easier on clients (and on myself since I’m admittedly a bit of a control freak) if I just go ahead and make them 8x10s myself before delivering the gallery to you.  That way, you don’t have to worry about having to crop the images for the sizes you print most often. This means that if you print an 8×10, a 16 x 20 or a 20 x 24, there will be no cropping required.  5×7’s and 11×14’s will still need to be cropped a bit, but much less so and I believe you are less likely to destroy feet in the process.  

If you wanted 4×6 prints, that will require more cropping, which it did not originally. But you know what?   You can get 4 x 5 prints that I think are really cute and won’t require cropping from this new aspect ratio.  

So what do you think? Will this be helpful to you or do you prefer the original aspect ratio of 4×6 in your galleries? I’d love to hear your feedback.

Combination Family & Senior Portrait Session in Thompson Station TN

A few times, I’ve been approached by a mom who needs to book a senior session for her child (or in this case, children) for graduation announcements and all that fun stuff.  But then she’ll also say that it’s been a long time since they’ve had family portraits done and that she’d like to get a few photos with everyone in them. 

I’m sure that other photographers may disagree with my approach to this, but I am 100% OK with combining a senior session with a family session.  I charge a set fee for a one-hour photo session for up to 6 people, so it is really up to the client on how they would like me to prioritize that hour. I always do individual shots of each child at a family portrait session, so it is pretty easy to combine the two types of photo sessions. 

Combining sessions might not be the best option for you if your senior is very shy and maybe might take a while to relax at a session, allowing me to get natural images. But that wasn’t the case for Sarah and Jacob.  It also might not be best if your other children are very young toddlers and may need extra time for getting family shots.  But Eli was just old enough to be pretty easy to work with, so this was an excellent option for their family. I feel that we easily got enough photos for the twin’s senior portrait needs, and also the typical family sessions shots. 

Beth had let me know that she had these adorable shirts that she wanted to get a photo of the kids in at the beginning of the session. So we planned to get these in first and then let them change for the family session. Aren’t these just so cute?  

Repeat Portrait clients are my favorite

One of my favorite things about my job as a family portrait photographer is getting to know families, especially when they come back for repeat sessions.  I photographed this beautiful family around this time last year and just loved getting to know these three beautiful sisters, so I was so excited to see them again this year. 

Last year I wrote: “They are totally my happy place. So much energy, and wonder and joy.  They were just perfect.”  I would say exactly the same thing about our session this year.  Only one thing was different…

Last year for their session, I wrote about how important it is to tell me if one of your children is particularly shy before the session. That lets me know that I need to maybe approach that child a little differently and give her time to warm up to me.  

But you know what’s great about being able to see client again and again?  This time, the children remembered me, and they knew that the session wouldn’t be scary or boring.  They came into it knowing we’d play and have fun.  This makes it especially easier for kids who may be a little shy.  Knowing me coming it to it, they feel more at ease and have an easier time getting into the session.

And I got the chance to see how much they’d grown over the year, and hear about their new interests and what brings them joy.  (New Harry Potter fans are the BEST.)  

What exactly is Lifestyle Photography?

This beautiful family was able to take a last minute opening that I had available, and I am so glad they did.  We had so much fun running and playing in the leaves. 

I thought I might take the opportunity to talk about exactly what it means to shoot lifestyle photography, which is what I consider most of my sessions. To understand lifestyle photography, it helps to understand a few other types of photography.

One type of photography is classic posed portraiture.  These are what you think of when you think of a photographer telling you exactly where to stand, how to hold your chin, elbow, etc.  While I believe there is a time and a place for specific posing, this is not the type of photography that inspires me.  I do, however, try to capture at least a few of these shots throughout a session. 

Another type of photography (one that does inspire me), is documentary photography.  In documentary, the photographer doesn’t give guidance at all, but is merely a fly on the wall capturing what happens as it unfolds. I LOVE documentary.  I love to capture real life moments and emotions.  My birth sessions are documentary, as you can imagine.  In that setting, I am dictating nothing, but just capturing the story that is happening in front of me.  

The problem with using a PURE documentary approach for family sessions is that if I tried to be a fly on the wall and just capture what was happening, it’s likely, at least at first, that your family would stand around awkwardly, not sure what to do with themselves. Probably after enough time passed, they’d forget about me and start going about life, but unless something particularly engaging were happening it may take hours and hours to get a full gallery of images that showed a variety of things. 

So that brings us to lifestyle photography.  Lifestyle photography, for me anyway, is a balance between posed and documentary.  My goal at lifestyle sessions is to capture images as I would at a documentary session, but to hurry things along a bit, and if possible, make them happen in pretty light.  Instead of being a fly on the wall and waiting on your children to play, I’ll suggest they race (on the pretty bridge), play in the leaves, play ring around the roses, or play Simon Says with me.  These are things they might do naturally, but probably not in the span of an hour long photo session unless I asked them to.  

I want to capture real emotion, but instead of waiting on it to happen organically, I might whisper to your kids to go give you a big hug.  I don’t believe that the fact that I asked for it, makes the emotions any less real. It’s a combination of posed and documentary because sometimes I tell you just what to do, sometimes I just suggest an activity and sit back and wait for a moment to happen, and sometimes I act like a documentary photographer and hang back and capture moments that I notice have happened organically without any interference from me.  

This is the combination I find that works best for me at my family sessions, and I think it helps clients to feel more relaxed and natural as well.  As my friend Emily said recently, “my favorites are the posed candids.”What exactly is Lifestyle Photography?This is the combination I find that works best for me at my family sessions, and I think it helps clients to feel more relaxed and natural as well.  As my friend Emily said recently, “my favorites are the posed candids.”

Treat your photo session like a fun family outing

I prefer children (and parents) to have fun and be carefree at our photo shoots….often thinking of them more like playdates than photo sessions.  I believe that the memory associated with family photos should be a fun one, and not a memory of a stressful experience.  To me, creating a pleasant experience is just as important as the final product. 

Lana understood this vision completely and decided to bring along a picnic basket to their family session, and I absolutely love that idea. 

My style is very candid and natural, and I’m not really into props in the traditional photography sense. I do bring a variety of blankets for clients to sit on, but you won’t find me with much more than that. 

But what I do love to include in sessions is anything that a family would naturally have or do at an outing.  As a lifestyle photographer, my goal is portray your family in everyday situations, being together as you naturally would.  So a picnic is a great idea of something to include.  To me, the difference between this and a “prop” is that the picnic basket is something you would truly do in your ordinary life.  Unlike, for example, an choreographed backdrop or scene.  

There are lots of ideas of things you could do to add some fun to your family session. I’m going to list some ideas below, but the big thing is that whatever it is, it is something that fits YOUR FAMILY….something you’d normally enjoy together.

Ideas to do during a family session:

  • Bring a picnic (like Lana did!)
  • Bring a cooler of popsicles to enjoy at the end of the session…perfect for summer fun.
  • Have me to your home at your outdoor pool for a fun family session. 
  • Invite me to your family farm to capture a day in the life.
  • Do an at home lifestyle session and bake Christmas Cookies (or your Grandma’s favorite recipe) together as a family
  • Decorate the Christmas Tree at an indoor session
  • Bring a football, or other sport you enjoy together, to an outdoor session
  • Have an indoor session in your game room 
  • Bring your bicycles to an outdoor family session

The options are endless.  And of course, you don’t have to bring anything at all other than an open attitude about having fun at the session and enjoying the time with your family. 

What a difference a year makes

You might remember this gorgeous family from one of my most popular blog posts last year. Jenn had the adorable idea to announce her pregnancy to their daughters, Ella & Sol at our photo session.  It was such a fun and special moment to be able to capture as these girls found out that they were going to have a little brother or sister.  

So here they are one year later, and their secret gift from our last session has grown into the most beautiful baby boy imaginable.  It is so obvious how much the family is head over heels for baby Santi.  And who wouldn’t be…isn’t he just perfect?  

So lets talk for a minute about nursing at a photo session, in case you are curious about how that works.  If your baby needs to stop and take a break at a session to nurse, that is absolutely 100% fine, and what happens during that break is totally up to you.  If you prefer privacy, I can spend the time photographing your other children, or just relaxing. But if you’d like me to capture that special time with you and your little one, I would love to do that too. And it is your choice as to whether you would like those shared or if you’d like them to remain private, but I am so happy Jenn decided to share these gorgeous images of her with Santi, because that bond between mother and baby is just beautiful.  

Through the Years – Getting to Know my Clients and their Needs

One of the things I absolutely love about my job is having the ability to experience my little clients growth each year through my photos.  This is one of the families that I’ve had the honor of photographing a couple times each year, for quite a few years.  In fact, I was there for the birth of two of these beautiful children.  Their most recent session was this past Fall, and I always enjoy seeing their beautiful smiling faces.

One thing that can be beneficial in keeping the same photographer from year to year, is that it can be helpful for the photographer to get to know your kids in order to get the most out of each photo session.  This can be especially true with a special needs child.  My buddy Zafer is autistic, and I’ve been photographing him for many years.  Having known him since birth, I’m able to understand how to make him most comfortable at each session.  I’m really pleased with the photos I captured of him this week that show his beautiful personality.  We do fist bumps a lot because I’ve found that helps to get him to look at me and he enjoys it.  I also have no issue with letting him to play on his IPAD during a session.  It brings him joy and I just love the photos below of him smiling from ear to ear while he watches it.  And if he needs a break, that is no problem and I can spend some time photographing his sweet sisters while he rests. 

It’s important to let your photographer know if you have any special concerns or needs during a photo session so that those needs can be met, no matter what those needs may be.

I believe strongly that EVERY family can have beautiful family portraits. The biggest concern I hear is that parents are concerned that their child, for whatever reason, won’t stand still and pose at a photo session.  I promise you…it will be fine.  There are ways to make it work.  I expect very little in the way of standing still and posing at a photo session anyway. The only real goal is to capture photographs of your family as they are now, and nothing is more beautiful than that. 

What to wear to a family portrait session

Confession time – I’m not very good at picking clothing for family photos.  I’ve never felt like I was very good at fashion, but I know what I like and what I don’t like to see in family portrait sessions.  And I know that several of my friends are REALLY good at picking family session clothing.  One of those friends is Christy – I am always so impressed with her wardrobe choices for her family photos, so I asked her how she goes about choosing photos for a session for herself, her husband, and their three adorable little girls.  She had some great advice to share:

“I typically start with one outfit I love.  One year I loved this purple sweater that Hannah had, it looked great on her.  That year purple was our color and everyone else’s outfit was picked to match.  Last year I had a floral dress I loved, so I pulled colors out of the dress for each of the girls to wear.  I try not to pick more than one or two patterns, or any pattern that is too small or busy.  Most of the time we have what we need in our closets already.  I usually only buy one or two outfits for a shoot.  Old Navy is a great place to get coordinated outfits. They sell lots of solids which always look great in photos!  Little touches like matching bows or denim jackets helps tie everything together.”

Here are a few more do’s and don’ts I have for choosing clothing for your family photos:

DO:

  • Do pick 2-3 colors & find outfits for those colors. 
  • Do shop your own closet first.  What do you love to wear that is your signature style?  
  • Do be yourself.  If you are a blue jeans kind of mom, then wear blue jeans.  Don’t feel like you have to be fancy.  Be you.
  • Do make sure everyone feels comfortable in what they are wearing.  
  • Do make sure everything fits appropriately….this is not the time for squeezing into something, or for buying clothes big so the kids can grow into them. 
  • Do consider scarves, jackets, accessories and other things that add texture & interest to the outfits.
  • Do avoid graphics and distracting logos.  That “Big Brother” shirt is cute, but unless he’s standing perfectly still, you won’t be able to read it well in photos. 
  • Do expect you child to run, jump and play at the session.

DON’T

  • Don’t force your kids (or husband) to wear something they hate.  We want them to be comfortable at the session. 
  • Don’t wear florescent colors.  They can reflect onto skin tones. (My favorite colors for sessions are jewel tones…blue, plum, teal, burgandy, mustard yellow, etc)
  • Don’t use giant bows…it distracts from your daughter’s beautiful face.  Smaller ones are great, BUT only if she wants to wear it. Let’s not spend the entire session trying to force her to put her bow back on.
  • Don’t be afraid to incorporate patterns, just don’t go overboard.
  • Don’t try to be too matched.  Coordinated (but not matched) looks best. 
  • Don’t wear a shirt that wrinkles super easily (I see this a lot on men’s dress shirts…it’s pretty impossible to photo shop out.)
  • Don’t forget about your nails. (I often see chipped nail polish on little girls.)
  • Don’t forget about shoes…especially for the little ones.  If the weather is appropriate, barefoot is a good option for the kids.
  • Don’t be afraid to ask me if you are unsure about something. 

And didn’t Christy do a fabulous job?  They look like they belong on the cover of a magazine. 

Bonus before and after editing shot below. Can you find it?  I kinda love the before.  😂

Have you booked your family portrait session yet?  There are only a few spots left for spring, so don’t wait to book your session.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

The entire time I’ve been editing this session, I keep thinking about Christmas.  The lovely reds in the clothing they wore for their family portrait session just put me in the holiday spirit.  Can’t you imagine how beautiful they will look on a Christmas card??

I know this is going to be a controversial statement, but when it comes to Christmas, I say bring it on!  I have a friend who put up her Christmas tree this week.  She wouldn’t normally do that, but when her three year old begged her to go ahead and put it up, she couldn’t say no to his sweet little face.  She posted about it on Facebook and got a lot of crap for it from some sad, scroogy people (Y’all know I love you anyway.)  We need more joy in this world, and if a Christmas tree brings some of that, then just go ahead and put it up.  And if it’s not a source of joy for you, then don’t put it up.  To each her own, but stop scrooging other people.  And yes, I made up that word. LOL

Ok so back to my beautiful friends here….I’ve been photographing them for years and years. They have been through so much lately as a family and I’m so glad that they could take some time to be together and create these memories.  I think that it’s important even during the rough times to stop for a moment and capture what matters most to you. 

My sweet friend Zaffer is autistic, which can lead to some unique challenges in taking family photographs.  Over the years I have learned more and more about what works for him, and we are sure to take his needs into consideration for the session. It’s always worked out well enough, but I was so blown away with how wonderfully he AND his sisters did for this session. It’s ALWAYS an adventure photographing three young children, even without special needs, but they all just knocked it out of the park this time. Looking at his beautiful smile just makes me all teary eyed. 

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