leaves Archives - Crystal Freemon Photography

Spring Hill Family Portrait Session with 10 Month Old Baby GirL

November 13, 2019November 13, 2019Posted in Chapmans Retreat Walking Trail, Family, Newborns & Babies, Portrait SessionsTagged "family of 3", "Spring Hill tn", baby, fall, Fall in Tennessee, Fall Portrait Session, leaves, Spring Hill TN PhotographerLeave a comment

I can’t believe I took these photos just three days ago. It feels like a whole different season ago, which really it was. Sunday was the absolute perfect Fall Day, and my favorite day of the year for fall family portrait sessions.

I’m so glad that Lauren was able to book the session. I met this wonderful family at an in-home portrait session in May, and was so happy to have them book another session. Babies grow so fast during their first year. I love capturing all of the stages as they grow and change, but if I had to pick, I would say that I love photographing older babies the best.

Lauren had contacted me before the session to ask if I thought an outdoor session would be appropriate for a 10 month old. I said that it absolutely would be! Even babies who are too young to walk tend to be fascinated by the beautiful world around them, and I love capturing that fascination and wonder.

Isn’t she just the most adorable little girl? I am in love with the purple color mom chose for her dress. It contrast perfectly with the gorgeous yellow leaves.

Too bad those leaves are probably gone now. Fall is absolutely my favorite season, but I’m happy to photograph beautiful snowy portraits too, so we will see what the winter holds. Fingers crossed that we get at least one good snow.

When to book Family Portraits if you Want Fall Color

November 12, 2019November 12, 2019Posted in Chapmans Retreat Walking Trail, Family, Seniors & TeensTagged "family of 3", "Spring Hill tn", autumn, CRES, daughter, fall, Fall color, Fall in Tennessee, leaves, Spring Hill Photographer, TeensLeave a comment

As I sit here on the super cold morning, I miss the perfect Fall day we had just two days ago. I wanted to take the chance to talk about when to book a family portrait session if including fall colors on the trees is important to you. I wrote about this last year, and none of that information has changed, but if bears repeating. I still have many clients who assume October is the best choice for Fall color.

First of all, I want to say that any time of year is perfect for a family portrait session. The important thing is to get them done, and to do it regularly, preferably at least once a year as our littles ones grow so fast and are constantly changing. Beautiful memories can be captured any time of year. I’m now booking January photo sessions, and those can be absolutely beautiful (you just need to dress warmly!)

With that being said, lots of my clients really want that gorgeous fall color, and ask me when they should schedule family portrait sessions to get that color. I always hesitate to answer because mother nature is unpredictable and I cannot promise you we will get beautiful fall color at all. Sometimes, an early freeze or drought conditions or other things can put a damper on that beautiful autumn color.

But I can tell you, after some experience and actual forecasts, when to schedule your session to get the best chance of gorgeous color, and that is the first or second weekend of November (the last weekend in October is a good second choice). That’s when our fall colors peak here in Middle Tennessee. I find a lot of clients who assume it happens a lot earlier than that, and that’s probably because it does up north. Our friends in Michigan saw their autumn peak several weeks ago (and now they are getting snow!).

I said all of that same information last year, and here, as further proof, is one of my sessions from Sunday, November 10. I adore this family and loved getting to hang out with them again. I’m thrilled they were able to book this session and indeed did get gorgeous fall color.

Happy Veterans Day!

November 11, 2019November 11, 2019Posted in Chapmans Retreat Walking Trail, Family, Little Kids, Portrait SessionsTagged "Family of 4", "Spring Hill tn", 2019, autumn, fall, Fall in Tennessee, leaves, Nashville Family Photographer, sisters, Spring Hill Photographer, Veterans DayLeave a comment

To our men and women in uniform, past, present, and future, God bless you and thank you.

How fitting that I’m sitting here writing this blog post on Veterans Day. Jennifer wanted to schedule this session because her husband will soon be leaving for military training for six months. She wrote “I would just love some memorable family pictures that my girls and myself can look at while he is gone and just have a fond memory and smile.”

She snagged a spot that had opened up fairly last minute because I had a client that needed to change to a different date. I’m so glad she did. I had photographed the family a couple years ago and it was so great to see these sweet girls, and how much they had grown.

The day could not had been more perfect, and we had a blast exploring and playing in the leaves. I love their energy so much. I couldn’t help but smile while I edited these pictures of their sweet family, and hope that they will be able to look upon them with fond memories during their time a part.

To all of those who serve our country, and to their families who support them, thank you for your service. 🇺🇸

If you Need me, I’ll be editing portrait sessions

September 17, 2019September 17, 2019Posted in Chapmans Retreat Walking Trail, Family, Little Kids, Portrait SessionsTagged "Family of 4", Big Kids, CRES, fall, family, leaves, outdoors, sistersLeave a comment

It’s officially the busy season. Like accounting, family photography is a very seasonable business. It doesn’t have to be…you can have beautiful family portraits taken any time of year. But many people prefer their family photo sessions to be booked in the fall. So if you need me, I’ll either be shooting, or editing. Or at the ice rink editing, because it’s also almost hockey season.

There are still a few spots left, but they are going quickly. Don’t wait too long to book yours today.

It would be nice if someone would tell the weather that it’s Fall portrait session season because this weekend was way hotter than I had hoped, but my clients were troopers.

These beautiful people are old friends of mine that you might remember from last Spring. I’ve been photographing Lucy since she was very young, and Arya literally since her birth. Arya was diagnosed with a rare brain tumor as a baby. You can read about her story here. She is one of the little ones who inspired me to get involved with the Gold Hope Project. She had her most recent MRI in April and continues to show no signs of cancer. 💛

Margot & her dolly Spring Hill Family Photographer

December 6, 2018August 7, 2019Posted in Chapmans Retreat Walking Trail, Family, Little Kids, Portrait SessionsTagged "crystal freemon photography", "family of 3", "Spring Hill tn", 2018, baby, CRES, family, girl, joy, leaves, outdoors, photography, portraits, toddler1 Comment

This Spring Hill photo session included two of my favorite things…toddlers and lovies. As a photographer, I absolutely love including a child’s favorite objects in a photo session.

Margot loves her special doll and carries her everywhere, and she did not want to put her down for our session, and that is absolutely OK with me. I’m good with the lovie or comfort object for two reasons. First, Margot is a little bit shy and allowing her to carry her doll all throughout the session made her more comfortable and that’s exactly what I want to do. But besides that, I really like having the doll in the photos anyway because it is a part of who she is at this moment. It makes the photos more meaningful because someday she will look back on them and smile as her parents remind her how she use to carry her doll everywhere she went. ❤️

If your child has an object or lovie they are particularly fond of, I recommend you bring that item to your family portrait session. Not only will having the object be a comfort to them, but it will also make for great memories when you look back at the photos. Lovies can come in all kinds of forms. If you think your child’s lovie is unusual, check out this article about one little girl’s unusual choice for a comfort object. LOL

Oh and don’t worry about little Margot in the photo of her towards the end where she’s crying. She had fallen down and got a tiny boo boo, but she only cried for about half a second.

Are you looking for a Spring Hill photographer? Contact me today to book a session. for your family.

Sweet Baby Abigail – Nashville baby photographer

December 4, 2018August 7, 2019Posted in Chapmans Retreat Walking Trail, Newborns & Babies, Portrait SessionsTagged "crystal freemon photography", "family of 3", "Spring Hill tn", 2018, baby, CRES, family, girl, infant, joy, leaves, outdoors, photography, portraitsLeave a comment

What a gorgeous day for a photo session for sweet baby Abigail. Who would even know that it was December already because the weather for this Sunday’s sessions was absolutely perfect, sunny and fairly warm. My only complaint is that it was muddy, which isn’t the best when you are trying to photograph a baby, but with some blankets, we made it work.

And isn’t she just the cutest thing? This sweet girl did such a great job for our session. She so clearly adores her mommy and daddy and they were so easy to be around and to photograph. I think my favorite photos are the ones on the swing at the end. Abigail really enjoyed swinging with her parents, and the light was just gorgeous.

My first real family portrait clients

November 16, 2018August 7, 2019Posted in Family, Little Kids, Portrait Sessions, Preservation ParkTagged "crystal freemon photography", "Preservation Park", "Spring Hill tn", 2018, boy, fall, family, girl, joy, leaves, outdoors, photography, portraits, preschoolers1 Comment

I cannot believe it’s been almost four years now since I began on this adventure as a professional family & children photographer. I was thinking about that during this session because I consider this family to be my first “real”clients. I had been photographing lots of families before I considered myself a real professional, but they were all close friends who I knew very well. This family was the first ones who hired me who I didn’t know really well when they had their first session, so that’s why I consider them my first real clients.

It was for a maternity session and included the big sister to be at a session at Harlinsdale farms. I was nervous about shooting with people I didn’t really know, but I just fell in love with them right away, and not long after that, was blessed to photograph Grayson’s birth. And each year since, I look forward to photographing their family photos. I talked yesterday about how I had a weekend of shooting my ideal clients, and this is definitely one of my favorites.

Each year I say how easy these two adorable kiddos are to photograph and they were the same way this year. There is just so much cuteness and they clearly love each other sooooo much. It’s not just the kids though. I adore mom and dad as well….they are always playful with the kids and we have so much fun just capturing memories. It’s always such an easy session and they are just simply beautiful.

My ideal family portrait clients

November 15, 2018August 7, 2019Posted in Family, Little Kids, Portrait Sessions, Preservation ParkTagged "crystal freemon photography", "Preservation Park", "Spring Hill tn", 2018, Big Kids, boy, cousins, fall, family, girl, grandparents, joy, leaves, outdoors, photography, portraits, preschoolers, siblings, TeensLeave a comment

I want to apologize for the large amount of photos in this blog post. I really am trying to get better about that, but I easily had enough photos from this session for three blog posts, and I had a really hard time choosing.

I first met this beautiful family last year, when they hired me for an extended family session after I had photographed sweet Lily’s preschool graduation photo and I just fell in love with them. There is just so much love, and joy and togetherness with them that is just beautiful to be around.

In photography workshops and facebook groups, they talk a lot about finding your ideal clients. That’s not something I thought about at all before becoming a professional photographer, but I quickly realized how important it is to find clients who are a good fit for my style. This past weekend, I had three family sessions, and I walked away from them all thinking about how exactly perfect the clients were for me.

I can’t put into words exactly what makes them so perfect, because a lot of it is just a feeling. But there are a few things that I know I love to see in clients:

They are familiar with my style of work and have come to be because that’s the style that they want, not just because someone recommended me or they found me in a google search (those are all great ways to find me, but my point is that they did look at my photos and made their final choice based upon my work.)
They put thought and planning into their wardrobe selection, but also understand that the primary subject of the photos are the people themselves, and have chosen clothing that they are comfortable in and feel themselves in.
They value photos as priceless artifacts of their time together, and after the session, they take the time to print the photos and enjoy them. (I was so excited to hear how this family printed and enjoyed their photos from last Fall!)
They aren’t looking for perfectly posed and put together photos, but are interested in capturing real memories of their time together.

I feel so thankful to have so many amazing clients who are not only clients, but who have become friends. I love being able to see them grow each year ❤️

The best weekend for Family Photos with Fall Color

November 13, 2018August 7, 2019Posted in Chapmans Retreat Walking Trail, Family, Portrait SessionsTagged "crystal freemon photography", "Family of 4", "Spring Hill tn", 2018, Big Kids, boy, CRES, fall, family, girl, joy, leaves, mom, mother, outdoors, photography, portraits, siblings, TeensLeave a comment

With that being said, lots of my clients really want that gorgeous fall color, and ask me when they should schedule family portrait sessions to get that color. I always hesitate to answer because mother nature is unpredictable and I cannot promise you we will get beautiful fall color at all. Sometimes, an early freeze or drought conditions or other things can put a damper on that beautiful autumn color.

But I can tell you, after some experience and actual forecasts, when to schedule your session to get the best chance of gorgeous color, and that is the first weekend of November (the last weekend in October is a good second choice). That’s when our fall colors peak here in Middle Tennessee. I find a lot of clients who assume it happens a lot earlier than that, and that’s probably because it does up north. Our friends in Michigan saw their autumn peak several weeks ago (and now they are getting snow!).

This beautiful family portrait session from this weekend is a bit past the peak. The sessions I did the weekend before had a lot more color, but I can’t share those with you at the clients request (some are surprise Christmas gifts, and we don’t want to ruin the surprise!) But I’m so glad that this family had such a beautiful day! We had actually rescheduled this session from earlier in October because of rain. Are they not absolutely stunning! I’ve known this gorgeous family for years, but this is the first time I’ve been able to photograph them. They were so much fun to capture and I hope they love the photos as much as I do.

The autumn leaves are going to be gone very soon, so get out and enjoy this absolutely gorgeous color while it lasts!

Way too easy photo session with Alys & Grayson

November 14, 2017August 27, 2019Posted in Chapmans Retreat Walking Trail, Family, Little Kids, Portrait SessionsTagged "crystal freemon photography", "Family of 4", "Spring Hill tn", 2017, Christmas, CRES, fall, family, leaves, outdoors, siblingsLeave a comment

I’ve been taking Grayson’s photos for literally his entire life, since the exact moment he was born, and I always look forward to their annual photo sessions. It almost didn’t happen this year because Margaret didn’t get on my Fall schedule in time, but I had a cancellation for this past weekend and when I posted the open spot on my booking calendar, she jumped at the chance. I’m so glad she did because I just adore these kids.

You guys know that toddlers and preschoolers are my favorite age to photograph. I love everything about them, and especially their wonder with the world around them and their straight up inability to be anything but 100% authentic. They are always amazing, and adorable and full of life. They are not, however, usually cooperative. And that is completely OK with me. I try to alleviate parents fears about little ones “mis-behaving” and let them know that I do not expect, nor need, cooperation. My goal is to capture them being themselves, and exploring the world around them. To get family shots, sometimes that takes a ton of shots just to get one good one. Siblings shots are also challenging, so I guide them to play games together in order to get them in the same frame, having fun.

But I swear, Alys and Grayson just don’t require any of that. For the second year in a row, 10 seconds into shooting, they give me a beautiful, adorable hug where no one seems to be choking anyone (seriously…95% of the time when I ask siblings to hug, someone gets choked.) They would even stand in the pretty light for me so I could get portraits in the exact spot that I wanted. I feel like these two maybe should go into modeling. Like for real. I know I could just photograph them all day long.

Yes to Puppies at family portrait sessions

November 8, 2017August 27, 2019Posted in Chapmans Retreat Walking Trail, Family, Little Kids, Pets, Portrait SessionsTagged "crystal freemon photography", "Family of 4", "Spring Hill tn", "Spring HIll", 2017, Big Kids, Christmas, CRES, dog, fall, family, leaves, outdoors, pets, puppy, siblingsLeave a comment

I am often asked, sometimes hesitantly, if it’s ok to bring the family dog to a photo session. The answer is always, one million times, yes. Unless your dog is a terrifying, savage beast who is going to maul me, then perhaps not. But for cute, adorable puppies, always yes.

Here are my top 10 reasons to bring your puppy to a photo session:

1. They are adorable.

2 They help to get for real, not fake smiles from your children.

3. Puppy kisses.

4. They are part of the family, so why wouldn’t you?

5. Tiny kids holding puppies is adorable.

6. Tweens & teens holding puppies is adorable.

7. Grown ups holding puppies is adorable.

8. Puppy kisses.

9. Taking the puppy for a walk is a great photo op, and a real moment.

10. Puppy kisses

It’s only reasonable that I’m going to Disney World

November 7, 2017August 27, 2019Posted in Chapmans Retreat Walking Trail, Family, Little Kids, Portrait SessionsTagged "crystal freemon photography", "Family of 4", "Spring Hill tn", 2017, Christmas, CRES, fall, family, leaves, outdoors, siblingsLeave a comment

I just love working with repeat clients. It’s so much to see the children grow from year to year at their annual family portrait sessions. Scarlett & Jackson are two of my favorite repeat clients. The two of them are just so full of life, and wonder and energy. We have so much fun playing & exploring together. I just love the dynamic the two of them have together, and they always keep me on my toes. I find myself smiling as I’m editing their photos because of their adorable faces and their beautiful spirit. These two definitely embody what I love about children’s photography.

In addition to their family portrait sessions, I have also regularly shot birthday parties for this beautiful family. You may remember Scarlett’s gorgeous Fairy Birthday Party, or her adorable Strawberry Shortcake Birthday Party. Or big brother Jackson’s amazing Star Wars Birthday Party a few months ago. Nicole throws the most amazing children’s parties, but I imagine they are a LOT of work. While chatting at their family session, I learned that this year, instead of a birthday party, Scarlett has chosen to go to Disney World instead!!

So, I think it’s only reasonable to assume that I’m going to Disney World to photograph Scarlett on her birthday, right?

(Good thing we are already planning a family trip to Disney ourselves, otherwise Nicole might find me hiding in her trunk.) 😉