“Does she realize she looks like a sunflower, ready to rain sunlight on all who look down upon her?”
Simone Elkeles
Yesterday, I had the wonderful opportunity to meet one-year-old Ada and her family. I was a gorgeous day for a summer family portrait session, and the heat was totally reasonable. Kayla decided to have the photo session at their Spring Hill home, and I’m so glad she did. They have a beautiful backyard that was just right for a family portrait session. And it allowed the family’s sweet pets to get in on the action.
Summer is almost over and now is the time to book your Fall family portrait session. I have recently added fall dates to my calendar. Unlike last year, I’m going to spread the sessions out more and let clients decide on a location (though I will happily help you choose a good fit for your family). You can see open dates and book one now on my online booking calendar. Don’t wait to book yours. These session will sell out.
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. ❤️
This lovely family just moved to Spring Hill from Chicago and found me on Google when looking for a family portrait photographer.
In my client questionnaire, Justine said that the family was a little homesick, but was enjoying getting to know Spring Hill and Middle Tennessee. What tips would you offer them for acclimating to our area? Any favorite businesses or outings? When I moved to Spring Hill 16 years ago, there wasn’t much to this tiny little town, but now there is a ton to explore and do. In the comments, tell me your favorites. Be sure to tag your favorite businesses, so she knows where to find them.
Justine also mentioned that her fear for the portrait session was that Nolan (like many toddlers) was pretty squirmy, and she was a little concerned about getting a family picture. That wasn’t an issue at all. I would say this was one of the easiest portrait sessions I’ve photographed in a while. Nolan did a fantastic job. My other portrait sessions of the day both included two very young siblings. One toddler is generally very easy to photograph. It’s when you start trying to get two or more of them together that it gets more challenging.
🍁 Great Opportunity if you haven’t booked fall photos!
I’ve had a client who had to reschedule a session, leaving an opening for a family session at Chapman’s Retreat Walking Trail (shown below) on November 10 at 3:15 (magic hour!!).
I also have a 1:15 spot open for that day. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
In case you haven’t heard me preach this before, contrary to popular belief, October is NOT the best time for fall color in Middle Tennessee. Early November is. Of course, I can’t promise anything, but there is a good chance this might be one of the best weekends of the year for Fall photos, and I have two spots open. Don’t wait.
