There is nothing that amazes me more that watching a mother bring a baby into this world. The strength. The love. The growing family. How can you not fall in love! I am so thankful God brought Lisa and her family into my life. I was on call for her incase her little man decided to arrive while her friend who was going to photograph her birth was on vacation. From the minute I walked into the room it felt we had known each other for years instead of meeting for the first time. Lisa was being induced AND planning for a natural delivery. The strength that she had breathing through each contraction with her husband always by her side brings tears to my eyes. She went from needing to sit up to paging the doctor to push in about 2 minutes and I am not even sure she pushed more than 3 times before Lucas was born!

Congratulations on a healthy baby boy!

This big girl was celebrating her 1st birthday and the entire family jumped in her session to celebrate! She has the biggest blue eyes just like her brother! Speaking of brother, isn’t he just a ham?! You should have seen how hard he laughed while making silly faces and of course farting noises… Mom always does such a great job with picking out the outfits and she nailed it for this session as well!

I am so excited to have Lydia join the GKids program! When she came in for her session she was as happy and smiley as can be. As we were changing for the next set she started to fuss and I knew she was getting tired. I asked her Mom if I could see her and I rocked her to sleep. I knew it would be a long shot but I was going to try and pose her while she slept. IT.WORKED. She slept and I moved her from one set to another!! I am so in love!

Welcome to GKids!!

I was invited back to Greenville to spend the day at the Shriners Children’s Hospital and capture a special day for the Owen Family. The last time I was here The Ronnie Thames Foundation was donating money on their yearly visit to the hospital with Santa. Before Santa started to make his rounds to hand out gifts to all the children, we gathered for a group picture picture and the Owen Family was invited to join in. On the ride home little Ellery started asking her Mom about the group and what they were doing. This prompted a conversation about donating money and how Shriners does not collect any money from the patients. Ellery decided she needed to write another letter to Santa asking for a sewing machine and money to donate to the Shriners. On Christmas day Ellery watched her two sisters open their gifts while she had  $40 inside her stocking and a choice to buy her new sewing machine or donate the money to Shriners. Ellery donated the money. The word slowly started to spread about the  generous young girl who donated her only Christmas present to Shriners and it sparked a chain. Donations started to arrive in Ellery’s name and Shriners wanted to reward this amazing young girl.

Ellery, her two little sisters, and her Mom were ready to present the check to Shriners. With the donations that people sent in on behalf of Ellery the check now totaled $600. Ellery said she wanted to donate the money so that other children could run and play like her sister. When her 3 year old sister first started therapy at Shriners she couldn’t bear weight on her legs and now she is running all over the place. As the cheering began for Ellery’s donation a jolly  Santa came bustling down the stairs jingling his bells. He walked right up to Ellery who could hardly contain herself, and put down his big bag. Santa told her how he was on vacation kayaking down the river in Florida with Mrs. Claus when he got the call. He told her what she did was remarkable and exactly what the true meaning of Christmas was all about. He made a special trip just to hand deliver a few gifts to her. She ripped open the paper to reveal her brand new sewing machine. The Ronnie Thames Foundation gifted her with a $200 gift card to the fabric store and a customized case for her new sewing machine. When asked what her first project would be she replied she wanted make pillows for the kids at Shriners. The members of the board were challenged to whip out their wallets to match her original contribution and Ellery walked around with a fez to collect their donations. By the time the last dollar was collected Ellery has raised $1,600 since December 30th! 

Several people have asked how they can help this sweet family and they would love it if you could donate to Shriners in Ellery’s name.

I have known this family for a couple of years now and they were so excited to be pregnant with a little boy. I couldn’t wait to see Ava as a big sister and she was so great with him. We had our first session for John at the hospital. I love seeing babies so fresh and new to the world. It is amazing how he turned his head towards his Daddy when he would talk to him. Ava did a great job holding her little brother with Mommy and Daddy right by her side. The picture of Mommy and John in the hospital is one of my favorite 1st 48 images.

The newborn session took place a couple of days later and he was so good to me. Mom knew exactly what he needed to have a full belly and a sleepy baby. Grandma was in town to give big sister some one on one time during the session and of course we had to get a couple of shots with her and the grandkids 🙂

Here are some of my favorites from our time together!

Harper has been working on strengthening her muscles since I have last seen her and I can tell she has put in a lot of hard work. She was so happy for her session today and gave me so many smiles. Her personality is so laid back and we were able to play around with many setups. Her mamma brought in this really cute white dress and since I am a sucker for monochromatic sets I knew I had to put her on the white wood! Then to make my sappy heart melt she started sucking her thumb!! Oh she reminds me so much of my sweet boy.

The hardest part about planning your session is going to be what to wear! It’s the question I get asked the most and I have a few tips!

1. Be you! It sounds cheesy but it is so true! If you are a suit and dress kind of family then by all means dress to impress! If this is not something you wear on a regular basis then it is not the best choice for you. This does NOT mean you should be rocking your yoga pants and some unbrushed hair (let’s be real, that is my everyday…) so lets just polish up your look and maybe even wear a dress!
2. Be comfortable! Are you one of those women that wears those ridiculously tall heals (even though we secretly want to see you fall) like a super model? That’s what you should wear! If you  live in your flip flops like I do then maybe you should wear some flats. You also need to keep our location in mind. There will be walking, sitting, tickling, and probably swinging involved so be able to sit without the need to unbutton your pants 🙂
3. Wear the right size! I know SO MANY women who say they have a ton of weight to loose before they can show their figure off but that is the opposite of what you want to do! Your clothes give you shape,and combined with the right pose your “extra pounds” will melt away!
4. Coordinate, not matching!  Gone are the days where everyone needs to wear the same color top and matching bottoms. Start with a color family you like and pick the family’s outfits based on that! Not sure what colors you like? Look at your home! The colors of your walls, pictures hanging, pillows, and your closet! Look up color family on pinterest and take notes! Here is my page with some great ideas! https://www.pinterest.com/jenngphotos/photo-outfits/

This is from one of my favorite pins: http://marlenjames.blogspot.ca/2013/05/tips-for-your-family-pictures-at.html

This is a great starting point for you and I am always here to talk about what you would like to wear. Feel free to text me a picture of your outfits if you are on the fence!

I know how excited you are to download your digital images and in just a few clicks you will have them! To access your digital images you will click on the link I sent you from a computer or laptop. Click on the open gallery button.

Next you will enter your email and the password I gave you. 

When you get into your gallery look on the top right the buy all and click on it.

A side menu will open and you will click the Digital Media tab and select the option that says all gallery photos.

Add your item to your cart.

Next you will select view cart.

When you get to the shopping cart your total will be $0. Continue with the checkout.

Fill out all of the information on the next page and place your order.In the next window you will see that an email will be sent to you with a zip file containing all of your images. It can take a little while for the zip folder to be sent to you, especially if you have several images in your gallery. Your images will NOT have any logos on them.

Time to show off your images! Let me know if you have any questions!