Gracie Girl

I can't start this photography blog without showing some of my very favorite sessions with my own daughter. She is ultimately the reason I started learning the "business" of photography, I guess you could say. I had taken black and white photography classes in high school and a little in college, and played around with the point-and-shoot setting of my DSLR for years. But once I had Grace, I wanted to learn to be better. I wanted to understand the techniques of the manuel settings so I could keep beautiful memories of each stage of her life. I started doing simple photo sessions each time Grace turned a month older until she was 1 year old, and have now been doing that with my son. I love capturing each stage this way and seeing just how much they change in a few short weeks!

Here are a few of my favorites of Grace - my very first, little subject.

{Extended} Turner Family

My mother in law asked me to be in charge of taking our Turner family photos last fall and I was a little worried about how to accomplish that since I also needed to be in some of them... Luckily we found a friend who was happy to help snap the photos while I handled the camera settings each time that I had to be in the shot. It was a bit stressful, and with such a large family (including individual families to photograph) we were losing the good light pretty fast. I think we still did pretty well and got some good ones!

 Just for fun... Even though I didn't technically take this photo, here is the whole family together. I love them! (I was happy to hide my prego belly in the back)

Baby Paisley

This sweet little girl was just a tiny little peanut when she was born over a year ago. I had such a good time doing her photo session. Her mom, my good friend in Nevada, hand-crochetted all of her accessories. So talented! 

The Lackey Family

There is so much love in this family. That's what I remember most about this session with the Lackeys. They were expecting a baby boy at the time, so unfortunately he's not pictured. But what I did catch were so many sweet moments in these photos!

Baby Whitaker

My good friend had a sweet baby boy and I was able to take a few photos of him while I was visiting Utah. She had already had a full newborn session done when Whitaker was brand new, but wanted one or two other options of him in a simple pose. I was more than happy to spend a little time with them and take a few! It was the first time I'd had a session with a baby BOY, so it was a good learning experience not having any props or accessories like girls do. I was able to focus on capturing the natural light in his eyes and hoped to get all the details of his adorable lips (which he inherited from his gorgeous Mama! lucky kid). :)

Baby Grace R.

This little sweetheart shares a name with my little sweetheart. I got so many great photos at this shoot that I can't choose just a few to share. She was the perfect little subject!

A funny memory I have about this shoot was her Dad's question as to why babies have to be totally naked in these photo shoots. Well... they just do! Look how precious.

Bishop Family

I love this family so much. We've helped each other through the ups and downs of med school and I'm so grateful for them! I was able to take their photos more than once and their kids are just adorable. (See also Baby Paisley's newborn photos)