Emma's Newborn Session | Knoxville Newborn Photographer

Knoxville Newborn Photography

Meet sweet, sweet baby Emma! She is simply a doll with a FULL head of hair and beautiful, creamy skin. She was perfect in every way. After a bit of coaxing, she fell right to sleep, and let me capture some stunning images of her perfect, little face. 

Knoxville has so many beautiful newborns! I enjoy working with each and every one of them. Getting to see their unique personalities, and interact with such sweet, sweet babies is a dream. 

Here's my favorites from Emma's session:

Knoxville photographer | Knoxville Newborn

Peyton's Newborn Portraits | Knoxville Newborn Photographer

Knoxville Newborn Photography

Meet Peyton; one of the most wonderful babies I have ever had the pleasure of photographing. He slept like an absolute dream; I couldn't believe it! I can't remember the last sweet baby who slept so well while I moved and posed them! As a Knoxville newborn photographer, it was the highlight of my week!

Newborn photography is so different than any other type of photography that I do. It takes patience, and knowledge for a safe, happy newborn session. I adore working with these little ones and being the "baby whisperer".

It was seriously a fabulous newborn session. I loved very second of it! 

Here are some of my favorites!

Newborn Portraits | Knoxville Photographer

Kendred and Ingrid | Intimate Knoxville Wedding

Intimate weddings are some of my favorites, and I had the pleasure of photographing an adorable couple's just last weekend! Kendred and Ingrid were simply amazing and so photogenic!

This couple chose a beautiful location, at the perfect time of day for gorgeous, golden portraits. I couldn't have planned it better myself! They were even so thoughtful as to consult with me on when the lighting would be the absolute best (talk about a dream couple to work with!!). We had a grand time finding the perfect spots for them to pose in after their elegant, simple Knoxville ceremony. 

The love between these two shows all over their faces in their portraits. They hardly even had to be posed; they were so awesome together!! I can't wait to share some of my favorites with you all!

It's been fabulous to be back home and photographing in Knoxville and the Smoky Mountains. It looks like it's straight out of a fairytale! I am loving all the wildflowers, and the beautiful trees. Being invited to photograph this stunning couple's ceremony in a perfect location was amazing and I am incredibly glad I had the opportunity to be there. 

The Arnold's Family Pictures || Knoxville Photographer

Knoxville Photography

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of meeting the Arnold family for their pictures! They are such a great bunch, with simply beautiful children! I couldn't ask for a better family to photograph. Their girls were so patient waiting on their brother to crack a smile and what personalities! 

Knoxville has so many stunning locations to photograph, just like this beautiful botanical garden; it looks simply magical.Everything about this garden reminds me of a fairytale.  Family sessions are so important! If your family is anything like mine, one parent is always behind the camera, so it's hard to document everyone together. This is your chance to have everyone together for a beautiful portrait. 

I'm not sure I have ever met a 4 and 6 year old as patient as these two little girls were! They held their smiles and were so still and amazing while I snapped away. Once that sweet baby boy cracked a smile, he was perfect! All three were great little models!

I took a few moments to get individual portraits of these sweet kiddos and I'm sure glad I did! Their personalities were such fun and shine through their images. 

Who could resist that face??

I LOVE her laugh!

Such a sweet girl!

What a great family! I'm so excited to get their images to them.

Knoxville Child and Family Photographer

How to look GREAT in pictures || Knoxville Professional Photographer

 

4 tips to make the most of your portrait session

Everyone wants to look great for their professional portraits! I've put together a few simple tips to help you look ( and feel) tip-top for your pictures.

1. Make your clothing work for you, not against you. 

If you have an area of your body that is bothersome to you, use your clothing to minimize it. For example, if you aren't a huge fan of your arms, I recommend wearing long sleeves, or even just a crop sleeve cardigan to help bring attention away from that area.

Are your legs not your thing? Wear a nice, long skirt, or pants that are a relaxed fit and stick to neutral colored bottoms with a brighter top to bring attention upwards. 

Another great example, the belly! After having two children, I avoid tight shirts, and really focus on tops that flow away from my body, especially for pictures! Top a beautiful shirt, with a great scarf, and you'll bring the attention right where it belongs, your lovely face. Almost any part of your body that you don't like, can be masked perfectly in your portraits with a few simple wardrobe adjustments.

Also, be sure to really check over your wardrobe choices. Check it standing up and sitting down ( things look totally different when you sit). Be sure sure you're not choosing something that may look too tight, clingy or see-though on camera. Don't forget to check and make sure your undergarments don't peek out anywhere. No one wants to be fiddling with straps for their entire session. 

When your clothes look great and hide any bits and pieces you're not happy with, you'll feel better and look phenomenal. If you need more examples, or help styling for your session, just ask, I'm happy to help!

2. Posture matters.

I am HORRIBLE about good posture and a terrible example most of the time ( although I'm trying to work on it). Good posture during your portraits really spruces up your overall images. Try to stand casually, without being rigid, but with your back straight, it really polishes those pictures!! Posture is especially important in sitting poses, be sure to keep your shoulders back. During your session with me, I'll do my best to remind you to keep that posture looking great!

Another awesome posture tip, if you have trouble with a double chin, try to keep your chip up slightly, while bringing your head forward to elongate the neck. Think of how chickens stretch their necks! Sounds silly, but it works! 

3. Leave your personal space bubble at home

Personal space bubble: everyone has one! If you're taking pictures with family members, you'll need to look super tight knit in your pose (for most poses). Everyone, myself included, has a tendency to leave a little bit of space between them and the nearest person. During a portrait session, this space looks a bit awkward in the finished images. You really want to show off you're closeness and connection as a family or a couple, so prepare to be super close during your session. We're talking squished in,  uncomfortably close. If you feel you're close-enough, you'll probably still need to move in closer, but I promise, it's for the sake of beautiful family pictures! Put your arms around your loved ones and pull them in!

4. Smile. REALLY Smile!

A smile is the most beautiful thing a person can wear. No really, it's true! A true smile in your portraits makes all the difference in the world. I know getting pictures done can be stressful with picking wardrobe, getting ready, making sure the littles behave ( and trying not to pull out your hair when they don't). Be a duck, let those things roll of your back and grin. I promise you'll love your portraits so much more if you do. Fake smiles may fool other people, but you'll look back and realize that you weren't truly smiling and the picture will lose a bit of it's luster. Do what you need to do, tell a joke to your husband, make a silly face at the kids. Get that smile out to shine!

My own children are a nightmare to photograph ( at least for me!). I totally know what it's like to force a smile. They can't seem to focus for five minutes on some days. There are times when keeping a smile on my face while also getting the two kiddos to look at the camera, fixing my tripod ( to take our own family portraits), using the wireless remote ( that for some reason refuses to function when my children are actually looking at the camera), and keeping everyone from running off at the last second, seems like too much to bear. I smile anyway, because I know the end result will be worth it!

Knoxville Professional Photographer | Knoxville Portraits

Grace's Senior Session || Knoxville Professional Senior Photographer

Hello again! I'm working on getting caught up on the blog with some of my favorite sessions from the past few weeks! 

Let me introduce you to Grace, a 2015 High School senior from Knoxville! She is simply gorgeous!!! Senior sessions are one of my favorites! I've even considered specializing in them. They're so much fun and I love how creative you can get with posing and locations! The possibilities for your senior portraits are endless! For Grace's session, we went with an urban Knoxville look, and let me tell you, I couldn't have asked for the portraits to turn out any better!

While it is getting late in the school year, it's not too late for 2015 senior pictures! While senior portraits are typically done towards the beginning of your senior year, I still have availability for a few more senior sessions this spring. They're such a wonderful memory to look back on. Take it from someone who skipped out on them back when I was at William Blount High School (me!), senior pictures are a fun experience that you don't want to miss!

I'm so excited to share some of my favorite images with you all! Grace was phenomenal and was willing to try out all kind of poses and spots for me. 

Grace is such a beauty! I love this one in black and white; it reminds me of classic Hollywood. Sometimes the more candid images are my favorites for seniors!

Simple and sweet! A classy senior portrait of Grace. 

The moment I saw this revolving door, I KNEW we had to use it for Grace's session! The moody edit and fabulous location make for an epic senior portrait!

Leaning up against a vine wall, creates  a very elegant portrait. 

The last one for this sneak peek! Isn't she lovely???

The Casey's wedding || Sevierville, TN Wedding Photographer

Meet the Casey's: a fabulous couple I had the pleasure of photographing this winter. 

They were my very last wedding before our big move home to Knoxville, TN. It was so close to our move date, that I couldn't even commit to being their photographer until two weeks prior, when I knew without a doubt that I would be there and able to capture all the details of their wedding! They were so incredibly patient while they waited for the Army to pin down our official date . I must say, I'm incredibly glad I was able to be there! It was a simply elegant wedding with family and friends there to celebrate their little family. 

It is such a wonder to be included in wedding days, especially here in my hometown, Knoxville, TN! I love being caught up in the excitement of the day and helping to make it a wonderful memory. My style has evolved over the years to documents wedding in a very unobtrusive, journalistic style, to minimize stress and let my wonderful wedding clients be themselves. The only downside to weddings: wedding fever! Each wedding I photograph fuels the fire to start planning my own fabulous vow renewal ceremony. 

The Casey's wedding day was as close to perfect as you can get! Everything went incredibly smoothly, and the awesome bridal party was even willing to brave the bitter-cold wind for some awesome formal portraits! 

Here's some of my favorites!!!

The handsome groom adjusting his bow tie.

Beautiful bride, putting on the finishing touches before the dress goes on.

But first, let's take a selfie!

Down the aisle they come! So exciting!

He spotted his beautiful bride making her way to him!

Time to celebrate!

These ladies were SO much fun!

Isn't she a stunning bride??

These two made me wish I had a sister. Such a fun afternoon with these awesome people!

A perfect first dance <3

I didn't even have to ask them to pose, they were that perfect!

The garter pull: I believe their faces say it all!

Organize it! (Small studio Organization) || KnoxvilleProfessional Photographer

Happy Wednesday!!

I have spent so much time trying to get my small home studio organized! I scoured Pinterest and Google, and while I found a few ideas, none of them really stood out for my Knoxville, Tennessee home studio. They were either not ideal, or just needed to much space. What I needed was some DIY space saving projects.

I have a modest studio in my home, which is a step up from my tiny home studio in Texas. I'm THRILLED with the extra space, but it needed to be optimized to be as useful as possible during my sessions. Before, I had a closet where all of my backdrops, large props, newborn fabric/blankets were all stored stacked on top of each other in a mess that was hard to find anything. Digging through it to find anything was impossible during sessions and it drove me crazy!

I went in search for good solutions for my prop and backdrop storage problems, and that's exactly what I found! I was able to completely organize my studio for less than $125!!!

First, all of my newborn hats and props needed to be displayed for clients to choose from in an adorable way, and without anyone having to big through drawers or piles. For this, I purchased four, small, decorative curtain rods ($3 each) from our Walmart and several packages of drape hooks ($7 each) for a total of $40. My husband quickly installed the rods, and we used the drape clips to hang each prop. 

As a bonus, I found a belt organizer at Walmart as well that was perfect to hang my tiebacks and headbands on, which then hung on the curtain rod. 

Next, I took on the fabric newborn backdrops. I've acquired quite a collection over the past few years, and it's always growing, so it's very important to keep them all nice and neat. This was a simple solution, but I adore how it looks! I got a tall, skinny cube bookshelf from IKEA ($60 on sale), then folded on my blankets and placed them on the shelves (they be a little stuffed, I see a second shelf in my future!). My OCD kicked in a bit, hence the organization by color. Total $60

The top of the bookshelf was a fabulous way to store some of my larger baskets and such! Although they wouldn't all fit, it got the majority of them off the ground and freed up more space ($0). 

My newborn wrap storage idea was a Pinterest find, and a super good one! I happened to have everything laying around the house and put it together in minutes. It simply took a hanger( free! Who doesn't have at least one empty hanger?) and cheap shower curtain rings (normally $1-$2 at your local Walmart, Target, or Dollar Tree), hooked the rings on the hanger, then slipped 2-3 wraps into each ring. Easy peasy! Total $0!

Close up!

The last task was the hardest. My poly paper and vinyl backdrops are typically stored rolled up. Usually they end up in the corner of my studio. Sadly, this has resulted in the ends getting crinkled, or them becoming toys for curious toddlers. These needed a fabulous, easy to use storage system that got them up off the floor and easy for me to get in and out of. I looked everywhere for a solution! Finally, I was walking through IKEA in Charlotte and happened to see an accessory organizer (the Kompliment $8 each). It had 28 round holes that looked to be the PERFECT size for backdrops. I took a leap of faith and bought two. Next stop was Lowes to buy two shelf brackets ($1.50 each) and a pack of eye hooks ($3). A few screws in the wall later, I had a hanging backdrop storage rack! It has 28 slots, but you could easily roll up 2 less used backdrops together on some slots to give you even more storage. Grand Total $22! That's less than $1 a backdrop to protect my lovely Lemon Drop Stop drops!!

Side view

My grand total for ALL of this organization was $122!!!! If you have a bookshelf on hand already you could re-purpose, your cost could be even less! I hope this helps some other awesome photographers with their organization on a budget.

Welcome!

Thanks for heading over and checking out my blog!

I am in the process of moving to and offering portraits in gorgeous Knoxville, TN and surrounding areas!!!

For the last 5 years my husband has served in the army, so my family has moved around from Alabama, to Oklahoma, then to El Paso, Texas where we've spent the last 3.5 years. We are originally from Knoxville and couldn't be more excited to  move home to our beautiful mountains!

After over 3 years living in the desert, I am so excited to see beautiful, green scenery again and have the privileged of photographing in it! While the desert can be stunning, I have dreamed of taking portraits with real trees ( what they call trees here would only be considered bushed there), grass (with no sand in sight!!!) and lakes. I can't wait to get started!

While you're here, enjoy a bit of our desert beauty =)