Images of Love Photography

Newborn Session

admin — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 04:10:15 +0000

I recently had the pleasure of going to Heather and Michael’s home to photograph their brand new, baby girl, Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn made her entrance into the world a little earlier than planned, well, about 6 weeks early actually. However, though small at just over 4 pounds, she came out strong. She didn’t have to spend too much time in the hospital though and is now settling in at home with her Mom and Dad (and dog).
At the time these photos were taken, Kaitlyn was about 6 pounds 2 ounces. How quickly they grow and change….which is why I’m so glad that Heather had the forethought to call and schedule a newborn session (which is impressive considering the sleep deprivation!). Here are a few faves from our session:

Kaitlyn was in no danger while this was being taken! We were trying to get a shot of her with the dog and the dog started yawning. It looks like she is trying to eat Kaitlyn and just cracked us up!

Firsts

admin — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 03:01:25 +0000

Everybody remembers where they were at specific points in history. You know, the big things like, when the space shuttle exploded. But mothers have a special memory for firsts. They not only remember, but celebrate all the special firsts of their children. The first time they roll over, the first time they discover their own hand, the first time they sit up, the first time they sleep through the night…you get the picture.
Although I don’t have any children of my own, I am blessed to be able to be involved in the lives of my friends’ children, so I get the joy of celebrating many of these firsts without the side effect of sleepless nights:). It’s been funny actually, that I have been present for some firsts. My friend Melissa came over this week with her little guy, Henry. Henry is almost 5 months old and he came for his very own portrait session, without his big sister, Audrey. During the session, we pulled out this atrociously loud monkey that I have to try to get a few more smiles out of Henry. I wasn’t sure if it would make him smile or cry because it was untested. To my surprise, he not only smiled, but he laughed out loud for the very first time. Melissa told me that she thought it was appropriate that I be present for one of his firsts since I was the first person to hold his big sister (other than Mom and Dad of course). So, it was an especially exciting visit with Melissa and Henry, and I think we got some really cute shots to boot. Here are a few of my favorites:

This is one of the shots we took about the time Henry laughed out loud for the first time!

Sometimes Aunts pick out the cutest clothes…Henry’s cool hat is an example of his Aunt Corey’s great taste! Adorable! Can’t wait till he can sit up!!!

The Return of the Jedi

admin — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 04:57:19 +0000

I was 6 or 7 when I saw my first Star Wars movie. My Dad took me to the theater to see the “Empire Strikes Back” and if I remember correctly, I ended up sitting in his lap by the end. Later I went on to see the entire Trilogy many times and like most girls, I was enamored with Han Solo:). Which, to digress for just a moment, can you believe that Calista Flockhart is dating Harrison Ford and she has NEVER seen any of the Star Wars movies??? What is up with that??
Ok, back to the point at hand. Star Wars is one of those timeless stories almost like “The Wizard of Oz”. It will be passed down from one generation to another. For some, it will be a rite of passage of sorts. I saw evidence of this when my friends Lisa and Michael brought their little boy, Ian, over for his four year old portraits. Granted, Ian is pretty advanced for his age in many ways, but he LOVES Star Wars, and he’s never even seen the movies (evidently a little too young yet). His Dad had told him all the stories and they have a pretty complex pop-up book that outlines all of the galaxies. Ian knows all of the characters and has some pretty mean light saber skills. What cracks me up the most is that Ian will tell you that Yoda is his favorite because they are the same size!
So, Ian brought his light sabers over to the studio and I got to catch him and his Dad in action. Ian is also a pretty accomplished musician to be so young, so be sure that these are actually his instruments and not just props.
Here are a few of my faves from his session….

This is Ian in action....NO POSING!!!

Again, totally Ian with no input from me:).

He continues to crack me up...

This one is my favorite. Such a sweet little Jedi knight.

He loves his guitar, but I believe the drums are still his favorite...

I can say I knew him when...

Maybe a future rock star, but definitely a return of the Jedi, just in a smaller package .

Naked Babies…

admin — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 19:20:11 +0000

I love me some babies… and they are especially adorable when they’re naked. Think about it…what other time in life are you said to be cute because of your rolls of fat??? Take advantage of it while you can is what I say. Milk that michelin man look for all it’s worth.
I normally try to work some just diaper or naked shots into a session for little ones who are 6 to 9 months old if the parents are ok with it. This means you have to crank up the heat, but usually these turn out to be my favorite shots.
I warn the parents that the baby is more than likely going to pee on the background, so don’t worry about it because I can easily clean it. Just make sure they don’t pee on you if you are holding them! This has turned out to be especially interesting with boys, because it happens 99% of the time. However, what I have discovered is that this is probably the first time they have ever actually seen themselves pee. Maybe in the bathtub, but they are in water, so it’s just not the same. It is hilarious to watch, because they are fascinated with the process. I mean, think about it, how many people just let their kids sit around naked on the floor? Who wants to clean that up? So, I get some great expressions as they marvel in their new found talent and we (me and the parents) are usually cracking up, which makes the kids start laughing.
This exact phenomenon happened recently with my friend’s little boy. He is about 10 months old in these pics. Here are a few clothed and naked (big difference from nekkid…).

What's not cute about a baby in a bucket? He thought it was good times.

All we need now is a bear rug...how cute is he I ask you???

naked is good, but Mom picked out a pretty spiffy outfit as well...

I was probably sticking my tongue out at him on this one...

Freemont Street Experience

admin — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 06:24:18 +0000

The Freemont Street Experience is a classic tourist trap in Vegas. You’ve gotta go at least once. So, we did. We got there a little early, so the light and music show had not started yet. We moseyed around and ended up going into the Golden Nugget to look around and eat dinner. If you have never been to Vegas, let me say this, you DO NOT want to venture off of Freemont Street itself, especially at night. It’s in the old part of Vegas and is not the best of neighborhoods. However, Freemont Street itself is pretty cool because it’s so different from the contemporary Vegas strip. The best part is a light and music show that takes place about every half hour on the ceiling covering most of the street. It has something like 12 million lights. There are lots of street vendors and artists outside of the casinos, gift shops, and eateries. So, we had fun checking things out. Here are a few of my snapshots from the night.

We drove to California just so Sabrina could say she had been there. We were disappointed to find that there was no sign telling us that we were in the state of California. However, we did get to take some pics of the Joshua trees in the Mohave Desert.

These were some pretty cool lights in the casino at the Golden Nugget

We saw this amazing street artist at Freemont Street. They created these fabulous works of art with spray paint in a matter of about 10 minutes. It was amazing to watch and we ended up taking a couple home. They have to stay high all the time because we have aired those paintings out for 2 days and they still stink!

The Stratosphere marks one end of the strip.

This is one of the shots of the ceiling during a light and music show. Stephen is trying to figure out what is happening .

Next post should be an actual portrait session since we are through playing now and are hard at work scoping things out at the show. 8 hours of concrete walking and carrying lots of heavy paper and brochures will wear you out!

Valley of Fire

admin — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 06:07:22 +0000

We, being my fiance and our good friends Stephen and Sabrina, are out here in Las Vegas for PMA. The conference doesn’t start until Tuesday and it’s cheaper to fly out on the weekend, so we had a couple of days to play. Strange things happen when you take one nature photographer and 3 portrait photographers out into the desert…but you get some pretty interesting shots. We were all using very different equipment which was a nice mix. Here are a few of the ones I took with my Canon G10 (LOVE this camera!). It was the only one I was allowed to bring because of luggage restrictions and I wasn’t in the mood to shoot a Nikon this day .

I had to demonstrate the power of the quickpod for this image. Wilson thinks it's hokey for a pro, but I love it!

This is a rare critter to see, much less get to photograph this closely. However, he was trying to come down the rock that I was standing on, so he's looking at me a little funny...

Sabrina actually took this one for us, so I didn't have to use the quickpod.

Well, it’s late and I need to get to bed so I’ll have plenty of energy for the show tomorrow. Tune in soon to see our adventures at the Freemont Street Experience…

The tattoo on my forehead…

admin — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 03:11:17 +0000

I’ve always jokingly said that I have a tattoo on my forehead that says something like “Please tell me all your problems” or “Ask me for help, especially if you are homeless or hungry”. Yes, I’m one of “those” people, some just call me gullible or soft. I don’t know, sometimes I think they’re right, but then something will happen that proves to me they aren’t. I won’t lie, many days my tattoo feels like some kind of curse, but every once in a while I’m reminded that it’s a blessing.

So, what happened to spur this post? Well, Dad and I were leaving Borders bookstore tonight at a little after 10pm when we were approached by a woman asking for help in getting food for her family. This happens to me all the time, but fortunately, having worked at a homeless ministry for many years, I now somewhat know how to handle it. First of all, I no longer give people money if I have any other choice. If people are asking for food and they really need food, they will take you up on your offer to get them food. If they come up with an excuse for why they only need money, then I take it that they are really not telling me the truth. I want to help people, but I don’t want to support alcohol or drug habits, so that’s why I don’t give money. So, I told this lady that I didn’t have any cash, but we were just across the parking lot from a Food City, so we would take her up there and get her some groceries. Her only concern was that she had to catch a bus in 30 minutes. No problem, get in the car and we’ll drive you to the store and the bus stop. So, that’s what we did. She had 2 teenage boys at home, so we picked up some milk, bread, hamburger meat, eggs, cereal, and chips. Since they were riding the bus, they couldn’t carry too much, but fortunately they will be able to receive assistance for food in about 3-5 days, so hopefully this will tide them over. Plus, we were able to get her a free bus pass through Food City’s Shop and Ride program.

Her husband is disabled and although he receives disability pay, that goes to pay the rent. She normally works but isn’t right now because of back problems for which she is going to the doctor for tomorrow. How much of this is completely true? I don’t know, but I figure I don’t have to know. She was willing to ask for help for her family from total strangers in West Knoxville (not the friendliest of places at times) and she was willing to take the help that we were able to provide. Before she approached us at Borders she had approached someone at Texas Roadhouse for help and they had the police called.

We dropped her off at the bus stop where her husband was waiting and worried. He didn’t know where she had gone and was worried about her. However, he was so relieved to see her get out of our car with bags of groceries. You could tell that they were truly in need and genuinely appreciative of the help. I just hope it was enough.

I’m glad that God placed Vickie in our path tonight. It reminded me of how very blessed I am. I needed that. It also reminded me that we all need to come together to help each other. Isn’t that what the body is supposed to do? Maybe I’ll remember to look outside my own little world more often. I hope that my “tattoo” never stops working and that I always respond appropriately to the challenges it brings me.