This, my friends, is our amazing realtor Gusty Gulas and his lovely wife Katie, here to help me wish you and yours a happy New Year and best wishes for 2012!

We loved Gusty from the very first house he showed us, and I’m pretty sure Jamie dazzled him with his… um… creative descriptions of all the houses we ended up looking at together. So when he asked if I’d come take a few photos of him and Katie for their New Year’s card, I naturally said yes. These were taken at the new Gulas home, which they moved into just shortly before Jamie and I bought ours. Isn’t it absolutely gorgeous? That aqua front door (which I’m in love with, obviously) is courtesy of Southern Living magazine, who came by their house out of the blue and offered them a free entryway makeover to be featured in an upcoming issue. How cool is that?

I’m not really big on resolutions, but I will say that I love the hope and promise that a new year brings. I can’t wait to spend January organizing, cleaning, planning, and preparing for the next busy season. 2012 is taking me from Palm Springs to Kansas City to all over the southeast for weddings and I’m BEYOND excited. But for now, it’s time to say goodbye to 2011 in style. Hope your NYE is everything you dreamed and more!

I was so honored when Carmen, one of my good photographer friends here in Birmingham, asked me to capture her and her husband Kent and their “baby” Heidi. Words cannot express how much I LOVE this girl. If you were to look up “real” in the dictionary, you’d see her photo there. She’s so kind and easy to talk to and funny, and her Southern accent just makes me grin. I remember stumbling across her blog for the first time and thinking how awesome it was to see someone doing family and newborn photography so creatively and beautifully, and after we hung out a few times, I was thrilled to be able to rope her into second shooting a wedding for me. Ha.

The first time I went to their house, I was also blown away by how amazing Carmen’s eye for decorating is. Their home is a perfect blend of eclectic, modern, and cozy, and I’m super jealous of her skills. I tend to be a little too matchy-matchy when it comes to styling, so in our new house I’m challenging myself to strive for more imperfection. I mean, variety is the spice of life, right?

But I digress. When we originally discussed plans for the session, Carmen had envisioned something completely different at a state park, but because we had to cancel and postpone a couple of times due to the wildly unpredictable weather this time of year, she said it might just be better to do the session at their home. I think this worked out absolutely perfectly, because I LOVE home sessions, I love their home, and we even ended up having warm beautiful weather to shoot in their backyard too. Score!

Enough chit chat… on to the photos!

Let me just tell you… little Miss Heidi was ALL about having a photo session. I mean, she was actually posing and looking at the camera most of the time. We were all laughing hysterically every time she jumped onto the couch and got into position. I mean, she was more cooperative than many fully-grown adults. Ha. Look at this cute face:

One of my faves.

I had for some reason never noticed it before I got Carmen in front of the camera, but I couldn’t believe how much she reminded me of Emma Stone. Gorgeous!

Carmen and Kent (and Heidi!), thank you guys so much for allowing me to capture a little bit of your love, life, and mad style! xoxo

The Beavers have become regulars here on the blog, so I was excited to once again get to photograph them last weekend when I was up in Knoxville. Baby Quinn is growing like crazy and is cuter than ever, and this time around I got to shoot her not only with her parents, but also her aunt and uncle and cousins and grandparents. This little girl has got lots of people who love her to pieces, no doubt about it!

We got rained out on our original day, so I’m glad the sun came out to play the morning of our session. I’m glad to have so many sessions that display the glory of fall leaves, because I’m probably going to need to come back and look at ‘em in January when it’s gloomy every day and I’m depressed. :)

Without further ado….

Do you spy the Morgan Trinker photo within the Morgan Trinker photo? ;)

After shooting just Quinn and Hope and Chris, we headed to the park to shoot the whole family. I told Hope and Holly (who are sisters) that they are REALLY good at making adorable children. I mean, seriously… look at these sweet faces!

Retha and Darius are such a great couple, and I’m so glad I got to see them again (and meet their kids!) last week for their Christmas card this year. This was my third session with them, and each time it just gets better. Retha’s so awesome that when I brought along my friend Kelly (who has been mentioned here a time or two) to one of our sessions, we walked in and she was all “Oh hey Kelly!” without me even introducing her or telling her she was coming. That’s how closely they follow my blog. :) LOVE IT!

When we met up at the Birmingham Museum of Art last Friday, they also brought along albums they had made of photos from our previous sessions, which Darius had designed himself. It was really cool to get to see what clients end up doing with their images… and I was really impressed!

I was also so impressed with how cooperative all the kids were! It’s not easy for kids to have much patience for smiling and looking at the camera (at the same time), but they did really well, and I think we got some great family portraits. I also love how much color and personality the museum setting adds to these.

Hope you guys enjoy! Happy Friday everyone!

As a photographer, there are few bigger compliments you can receive than when another photographer chooses you to capture her family. When Megan, who is a Chattanooga senior portrait photographer, contacted me awhile back to ask for some business advice, one thing led to another, and next thing I knew, she was planning a trip down to Birmingham for me to shoot her family. I know that she has lots of talented friends, so for her to trust ME to capture her family was a huge honor.

Naturally, I was so nervous I thought I would throw up.

But as soon as Megan, her husband Sean, their son Caiden, dog Bailey, and Megan’s mom stepped out of the car when we met up at Oak Mountain State Park on Sunday afternoon, my nervousness began to melt away. They are such a warm, loving, and fun family that Jamie (who came with me to help out- thanks love!) and I felt like we had known them forever. Caiden is so cute that even during the rare moments when he got restless and a little over the whole photography thing, he still had a gigantic smile on his face. His belly laugh is infectious, and had the whole group practically rolling with laughter.

Megan told me she was embarrassed to admit that as a professional photographer, she had no professional photos of her OWN family to hang on her walls and that was one of the motivations for scheduling this session. I think all too often we photographers focus so much on documenting other people’s lives that we forget to do the same, or hire someone else to do the same, for ourselves. So I think it’s awesome that the McGee family will now have some slices of their life and love to proudly display in their home.

So Megan, thank you for trusting me with this. I hope I did you proud! :)

“Wait, where’s Noah going?” Scott asked as we were headed out to the backyard to begin the Boling family’s session.

“Oh, brother,” Amy said. “He’s checking the mailbox AGAIN to see if his American Apparel T-shirts have arrived.” Then she whispered knowingly to me, “He starts high school on Monday.”

Ah, I remember those days well. Spending the last couple of the weeks of summer planning out my outfits obsessively and stocking up on fresh new folders and pens in preparation for that mid-August return to school. It’s actually kind of weird, now that I don’t really think about August as “back to school” month anymore. I guess this is the period of life when I’m between being in school myself and having school-age kids. But during our session last Friday, I couldn’t help but remember what it felt like to soak up those last glory days of summer while also getting excited about fall and cooler weather and all the possibility that comes with a fresh start and a new semester at school. Truth be told, I was a teensy bit jealous. :)

I tried my hardest not to embarrass Noah too much (because yeah, I definitely remember what it was like at that age), but he and Katie did an amazing job. All around, the Bolings are just a really fun (and super good-looking, am I right?) family, and I had a blast photographing them at their home. I’ll take this opportunity to once again get on my soapbox and say how much I ADORE at-home family sessions. I know that so many parents are resistant because they don’t think their houses are perfect enough, but honestly, you guys would be surprised. I’m actually much more drawn to the imperfections of a home, because those are what really communicate the uniqueness and character of each family and give the rest of the world a glimpse into their everyday life. If we have a backyard, a sofa, a big bouncy bed, and/or some great windows, we’re golden. And your home is such an integral part of your family dynamic. It’s where all the big stuff happens. Why wouldn’t it be fitting for it to be the perfect setting for your family photographs? Just sayin’. :)

Anyway, hope you guys enjoy this preview and fall in love with this sweet family as much as I did!

Thanks again Amy, Scott, Noah, and Katie for inviting me into your home to document a little slice of your life!

Last week I headed up to Franklin, TN to visit and photograph my aunt, uncle, and cousins. I have very fond childhood memories of the Shinnick clan. Every Christmas, when my family would make the trek from Knoxville to Nashville to celebrate (since most of my extended family lives in the area), my brother Seth and I would beg our mom and dad to let us stay in Franklin with our cousins Ellen and Will for an extra few days. We grew up thinking they were so cool, since Ellen was four years older than me, and Will was my age, but three years older than my brother. I’m not quite sure how Ellen tolerated the amount of times I rearranged and organized her room for her. Ha. And Seth would sit and watch Will play his guitar in total awe. Yep, we loved hanging out with the Shinnicks.

As we grew older, I wondered if we would be able to stay as close. But when Ellen married Jeff and they started their adorable little family, I knew they were perfect together. And when I met Caity, Will’s now-wife, for the first time, I felt like we were long-lost sisters. So needless to say, we still very much love spending time with them. Whenever I stay at Caity and Will’s house, she always makes me this cute little bedside basket, which this time had a new set of personalized stationary (her specialty!) and a perfect pair of bright green Ray Ban-style sunglasses. And we always end up swapping stories until late into the night. Caity is the one who initially contacted me about doing a session for the whole Shinnick clan– my Aunt Paula, Uncle Mike, and all the kids and the grandkids, Caroline and Harris. We conspired over emails and I’m so happy with how the whole thing turned out.

I dearly love my family, and I hope you enjoy their so-adorable-you-can’t-even-stand-it photos. :)

Caroline and Harris are so precious. Harris’s facial expressions? Priceless.

I love this next series of Caity and Will.

I mean…. could they be any more good-looking? I mean, HONESTLY.

Oh goodness. I just love daddies and daughters.

This is how you know it’s time to start wrapping up a session:

Love, love, LOVE!

Caity, Will, Jeff, Ellen, Aunt Paula, Uncle Mike, Caroline, and Harris… I love you guys so much! Thanks for such a fun session. :)

The weekend before last we drove up to Nashville to celebrate my grandparents’ 50th anniversary, and it was such a great experience to not only have my mom’s entire side of the family in one room at one time, but to also just think about amazing it is to walk through 50 years of your life with someone. I mean, all the things my Nan and Pop have done together, seen together, experienced together… I can’t even imagine. As many weddings as I’ve photographed, and having had one myself, it’s really beautiful to see those vows lived out. ‘Til death do us part. I don’t think many of us can even fathom what that means at the young age we get married at. Look at my grandparents below, on their honeymoon:

I absolutely adore this photo of them. And it also makes me wonder… did they have any idea then how their lives would be now? Especially considering that they only dated a couple of months before getting engaged, and then got married the next week (and no, it wasn’t a shotgun wedding ;) ). But I guess when you know, you know, and they knew. And the fact that they’re together after all these years, still loving each other, is a testament to that.

My mom and her sisters, Aunt Amanda and Aunt Heather, did a fabulous job pulling off this dinner, and kudos to my mom for being the MC and giving a beautiful speech without breaking down too much. (Yep, we’re a family of criers.) Below is the original cake topper from my grandparents’ wedding cake. How sweet is that?

My brother, looking dapper in his Don Draper-inspired tie and tie pin. :)

And below, Jamie was fascinated by my cousin Zach’s DJ equipment. (Zach, by the way, also DJ-ed Candace and Trey’s wedding. He’s pretty awesome. :) )

I love, love, love this photo of Nan and Pop with my mom and aunts. Love you all so much!

And finally, for those at the dinner who didn’t get a good view of the slideshow, or for those who weren’t able to attend, I’m including it here. I put it together using a selection of photos of Nan and Pop chosen by my mom and aunts, and it’s set to Wynonna Judd’s “Testify to Love.” Enjoy!

The first family that came to mind was the Bulls. Interestingly enough, I first met Carrie that summer in 2005, when she introduced me to Jamie (my now husband). We were instant friends and have been ever since, and I say without hesitation that she’s one of the coolest people I know, even more so now with her hip little family. Being a Mad Men fanatic and already having a colorful, funky, rockabilly, vintage aesthetic (remember the Alice in Wonderland birthday party she and Shane planned for Harper last year?), I knew she would get my vision when I emailed her my proposal, and she definitely did. So we excitedly planned to shoot the next time I was in Knoxville, which was a couple of weeks ago.

One of the reasons I wanted to do a project like this is because I’m hoping to inspire other families out there to embrace these kinds of “lifestyle” sessions, where it’s not just about getting a pretty, smiley portrait of everyone to hang over the mantle (not that there’s anything wrong with that!). Telling the story is a vital part of my job as a photographer, and I think one of the best ways to do that is for me to come along with your family as you do something together, whether it’s making breakfast at home on a Saturday morning or going to the zoo on Sunday afternoon. Kids are so much more comfortable when they don’t have to sit still in front of a camera, and I’m so much more likely to capture those perfectly imperfect interactions that show who you are as a family.

For this session, Carrie and Shane decided to grill hamburgers for dinner, so we had playtime in the backyard, eating, and then settling down for the night. It was awesome to get to hang out with them WHILE shooting them, and I can never pass up an opportunity to see how much little Miss Harper has grown up. (Seems like just yesterday we were holding her tiny little self in our arms… *sniff*.) But enough of my commentary… on to the goods!

When I posted the image below as a preview on Facebook, everyone made a comment to the effect of what a hot mama Carrie is. Um, YUP! I like to think she’s the Lucille Ball of 2011. :) (p.s. That most perfect shade of red hair is thanks to Justin at Tease Salon… if you’re in Knoxville, you should look him up!)

Love, love, love this one.

PBR, tattoos, vintage clothes…. a recipe for cool parents. :)

Ridiculously cute. I love how she has Shane’s eyes and Carrie’s button nose. Eeee!

I can verify that this was just as delicious as it looks.

One of my faves. I love that Carrie’s art is on display in the background, the walls are purple, and Harper is making one of her gloriously hilarious faces.

Dora and Diego time! So, sooo sweet.

Thank you guys so much for indulging my craziness and allowing me to exploit your coolness and our friendship for a photo shoot. :) It was great to see you and spend time with you, and I can’t wait til our next session!