Introducing Baby Charlee | Atlanta Newborn Photographer

I had a wonderful day with this sweet girl and her family for a newborn session.  Baby Charlee is the granddaughter of a special friend of mine, and according to Bebe, this is my Denton's future wife, so I'm thrilled to be taking her pictures!  I've got to keep an eye on my boy's girl! 

Charlee is a petite little thing, and she was a great model.  She slept sweetly and allowed me to play with her for a long time.  Congrats Smythe family!

Family Portrait Advice

I had the same conversation this weekend with two different mommas, so I thought it warranted a space on the website today.  (Still got some updating to do by the way, so keep snooping around and checking things out.)  One momma, (you know who you are!) talked about being disappointed in her most recent family pics.  She was hoping to get a good wall portrait and things just didn’t come together well, and the quality wasn’t what she had wanted, and it was the first portrait in over 7 years!  That’s a lot of pressure on one session!  The other has a church directory picture that she hates on her wall because it is all she has.  She also has had an adoption, a wedding, and a grand baby since then!  I have a feeling they are not the only ones, so I wanted to share.

I know I’m a photographer, so I am biased, but I have ALWAYS loved photographs and even when we were a young, working-part-time-one-income-poor family, yearly portraits were a priority.  I am going to share my family’s shots from the last 4 or so years.  Just a personal note:  My hair has been great, totally wind-blown, good color, bad color, and everything in between.  My weight has ranged from 135 to about 175.  Some of these pictures would look great with the decor of my home.  Some are opposite of my decorating style.  Here is my advice about Family Portraits:

• Give yourself the opportunity.  Take at least one family group shot a year.  Make use of it.  Use it as a Christmas Card, print it for a scrapbook, put it on the wall or a table, have an album.
• Relax.  Not every year will be suitable for a wall portrait.  There will be bad hair, cheesy grins, uncooperative kids, bad coloring, etc.  BUT, every once in a while.  Every couple years or so, you will get a winner, and if you’re taking them often enough, you’ll get the winners!
• Dress neutrally every other year.  Of course, if you have a favorite color, throw it in as an accent.  If one year you have calm neutrals, then the next year you can dress in something fun or trendy or themed.  There is not so much pressure for the perfect picture once every 5 to 10 years.
• Don’t try to be perfect.  Accept where  you are right now.   Next year will be different for you, the hubby, the kids.  Sometimes we look back and say, “Man, we had it together.”  And sometimes we say, “Whew!  Glad we got past that stage!”  It’s about the memories and moments, not how perfect we are.  

So, here we go.  Enjoy my walk down memory lane, but make your own!! (And First Moments would love to help you with that!)

Oh, how I love this work! I got home from Uganda on Tuesday and got the call Thursday to capture Miss Ashley Victoria's arrival. What a sweet family to work with! I am honored to have been a part. The brothers of our families have played baseball together and even though the dads are rivals (heehee-FedEx and UPS) we've enjoyed knowing this family!


 

Here is Miss Willis Cait's debut.  I have loved meeting and spending time with this sweet, young family.  I have newborns coming soon, but here is her birth video.  Thank you Whitney and Chris for sharing your day with me!

Miss Frackelton

I was honored to be a part of Miss Frackelton's birth the day before Valentine's Day. I spent some time with Mom and Dad and big sis that morning at home, and after mom had some rest time, joined them at the hospital around 4:30 p.m. Momma Frackelton did an awesome job sticking with her birth plan and doing what was best for her and baby girl Frackelton. I am so awed at these strong mommas and witnessing birth from a whole new perspective. I tear or cry everytime a new baby cries, and marvel at how complete and perfect they are. Thank you Frackelton's for sharing this day with me!