Memories Portraits {blogged} » Heather

The Birth of Anna Kate | Knoxville Birth Photographer

Heather — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 02:28:29 +0000

Alright guys, here it is, my first experience photographing a birth… and I owe a huge thanks to Liz and Seth for letting me in on their amazing day! Liz is so beautiful and the entire family was so, so gracious, I could not have asked for more. All of this to say, as much as I’m talking about myself here, that is not what this day was about… this day was truly about just being there with my camera and this family during their most special day… documenting the first journey of sweet Anna Kate. It was a true miracle to witness this precious girl enter the world… amazing family, amazing girl! You guys are the best

And, thanks so much to everyone for the amazing response we have gotten for our birth photography services! We are excited to have more upcoming births within the next little bit… Hannah & Candace — you’re next girls!

oh, and the artists to these amazing songs are Innocence Mission “Wonderful World” and Matthew West “Safe and Sound”.

We Have Winners! | Knoxville Portrait Studio

Heather — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 20:22:20 +0000

Remember this? The contest with Regal was a smashing success, and we are so excited that we now have winners to announce! Babies Eva, Sawyer & Kaori’s parents have all been contacted and will be enjoying their prizes soon. And thanks so much to everyone who entered, we had such a great time with this contest (and, from what I hear, Regal had a verrry difficult time deciding… all of the babies were so adorable and so full of personality!) We can’t wait to get Eva & Kaori into the studio for their sessions (and, Sawyer, enjoy your movie themed birthday party!)… see you soon girls!!

Birthday Girl | Knoxville Photographer

Heather — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 12:15:15 +0000

As soon as my mother-in-law brought this old tricycle over to my house, I knew I would be using it for something special. It belonged to my husband when he was a toddler. Soooo, for Lexi’s third birthday session last week, I bought a dozen balloons and had Nancy go to town photographing Lexi with her daddy’s favorite old toy. This was, by far, the most fun session we’ve ever done with her! And before you ask, I bought her dress at Target (for $11 — what a steal!)… the top was plain though, and quite boring compared to the cute, cute bottom… so I hired one of our newest clients Julia of Elise Claire Designs to cutify the top (I’m pretty sure I just made that word up, LOL!)

The result of it all… pure L-O-V-E. Today is my girl’s third birthday, and I think we shall go play and enjoy THREE!

The Birth of Luna Summer | Knoxville Birth Photographer

Heather — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 21:16:41 +0000

Let me start off by saying just how very excited I am to finally reveal this video slideshow! Many of you already know that my sister is an apprentice for Lisa Coomer, and has been planning for a home delivery ever since she found out she was pregnant. But I’ve got to share with you a little about this amazing day, because I don’t want the images of the paramedics to leave you wondering. {And a note about the video, I nearly decided to leave out the paramedic image, but ultimately decided to include it because it was an important part of the day… not a part that we planned on, but a major part of Robin’s delivery… so it’s in there, because real life happens.} My sister texted my mom and I around lunchtime to let us know that it was probably ‘Baby Day’… and not too long after that, we got a phone call from Jason (my brother-in-law) that we had better hurry on over because it was happening fast. Let me tell you, we drove like a couple of crazy ladies to the other side of town just to make sure we didn’t miss this moment. Once we got into the house, Robin was nearly ready to push. Two hours later Luna Summer entered the world (did I mention that we all just knew that this baby would be a boy?!) We were so elated and surprised when Jason announced “It’s a GIRL!” just a second after delivery. About 45 minutes after Luna was delivered, Robin delivered the placenta but it did not properly detach – part of it was still connected which meant that she was bleeding uncontrollably. I immediately called 911, and Lisa began giving my sister medication to stop the bleeding. The ambulance came and took Robin to the hospital, where she had to have surgery to remove the rest of her placenta. After a couple of days, the hospital released Robin, and she’s doing more than fine now. Robin showed incredible grace and perseverance during this amazing event, and I have never been more proud to call her my sister… and sweet baby Luna was born perfect and healthy, and is growing more beautiful by the day. I feel like I should also tell you that what happened during Robin’s delivery is very, very rare; and I don’t want to frighten anyone who is considering a home birth. Robin was Lisa’s 603 delivery, and this was only the 4th time that she has had to call for an ambulance transport… I don’t know the stats on anything, but I’d say those were pretty good numbers! And I must say that if you are considering a home birth, I would 100% recommend Lisa. I found her to be kind and caring, but also bold and assertive when it was necessary… just the combination you need in a good midwife.

Now… onto business. We have been considering adding Birth Photography to our services for a while now, and now that we have done one… this project is AGO! Most of our clients have met Michelle, Nancy’s daughter, working in the studio. Michelle has an excellent eye for photography and also has become quite the Photoshop user around here, and she will be photographing these very special occasions. Memories is currently looking for 5 expecting parents to allow us into your Labor & Delivery to photograph your amazing experience — at no charge to you! With these special sessions, you will receive all of your original images, along with about 50-75 images in black & white on disc, a video slideshow set to music on dvd and an additional file that you may upload (if you wish), and a set of black & white 4×6 proofs of all images included in your video. What we promise to you — to be a fly on the wall — we are not there to be in yours or the staffs way, or to distract or to interrupt your experience… we are simply there to document your day, as it happens. There are so many things that are easily and quickly forgotten about these special days, we believe that it is important to preserve these memories just as they happen. What we need from you — rights to your images and your video — in order to promote this new service, we need images and videos with which to share… we promise to use creative cropping, just as I have done in this video here (and we can leave out the actual birth photos — my sister has given full permission to share, so they have been included in this video). The last thing that I want to say is that I’m sure you’ll notice that we elected not to do touchup on Birth Sessions. While we preform vigerous touchup on all of our portrait sessions, we feel that cleaning up skin and reducing body sizes would not accurately display the true events of the day… and these days are beautiful, so very beautiful, just as they are.

because. they. are. real. life.

Interested expectant parents, please contact us with your due date and birth plan, so that we may see if we can accommodate you with a Birth Session… we can’t wait!

My Supersweet Niece | Knoxville Newborn Photographer

Heather — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 00:01:03 +0000

We have been looking forward to this Squish Session for quite some time now (oh, about 8 months ago when my sister and her husband told us that they were expecting their first baby!) Nancy, Michelle and I thoroughly enjoyed posing and photographing this sweet gal during her session. At just eight days old, she is honestly one of the sweetest, cuddliest little girls with whom we have had the pleasure to work. Luna was indeed very, very good to us… and soooo strong too! But let me tell you, she comes from one strong mama… I know I’ve already said it, but I was just so grateful to witness little Luna make her entrance into the world. More on Robin’s amazing birth later though… for now, I would ~~like~~ love to introduce to you my beautiful niece, Luna Summer.

**edited to add: how could I forget to thank one of our most awesome clients ev-ah, Miss Kandice! She surprised us with the most awesome gift for any portrait photographer… these adorable hair flowers! Kandice, girl, you are awesome and we appreciate the heck out of you. So glad to have met you just over a year ago, sister!

Talkative Thursday | Knoxville Portrait Studio

Heather — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 20:30:13 +0000

Nancy isn’t in today, so since I have no one to keep me company… I’ll just talk here. I know the blog has been quiet the past little bit, we’re just working to catch up on some very necessary projects at the studio latelty. First off, I want to mention that we have had a couple of cancellations for our Summer in the City Sessions this coming weekend, so if you’re interested we now have a couple of early afternoon sessions available… call ASAP to book!

I’ve been working this afternoon to fulfill a client order and had to share this awesome image of this awesome girl. Her sweet mom just loves this vintage look and I just love creating it… this will be one of those images that never comes down… my very favorite kind

And last, but certainly not least, I am also very pleased to announce that my crazy awesome sister delivered her sweet baby GIRL (let me just say that we ALL just knew that this baby was a boy, lol!) at home this past Monday. It was an honor and a pleasure to bear witness to this miraculous event and photograph her very first breath, something I will never forget. I am so excited for little miss Luna’s Squish Session next week… cannot wait for this one! I know I’m a little biased, but she is truly one of the most beautiful babies I have ever laid my eyes on and she has THE most gorgeous head of hair (and soooo calm too!) What a blessing this sweet girl is to our family and I know that she and my Lexi will become bff’s as they grow together.

Crazy Hazy Day | Knoxville Senior Photographer

Heather — Sat, 22 May 2010 18:53:17 +0000

OHMYGOSH, we had such a blast with Leah last Saturday! Leah will be graduating in just a few short days and we really had a great time during her senior session. We completely thought we were going to be rained out for this one but, thankfully, it held off just in time… I’m telling you not 30 minutes after these were taken, it was pouring outside!

And I know I’ve already shown our new green velvet sofa this week, but I didn’t get a chance to talk about it yet. This was a purchase that we made a couple of months ago, but haven’t really had a chance to get to use it until now. And we may be addicted. I love it so much I’m planning my upcoming family session around it, which will result in an AWESOME 12 piece Float Mount Collection for my living room! Do you love it too? Call us at 357-5800 to book your Sofa Session.

New Product | Knoxville Portrait Studio

Heather — Fri, 21 May 2010 21:04:35 +0000

This little goody has actually been up for a little while on our Products Page, but I wanted to make sure to showcase it here for those of you that haven’t seen this yet. I came up with the idea to do a custom hairbow holder when I was shopping at Hobby Lobby one day looking for supplies to make one for my daughter… fast forward after a frustrating day with paint, tape, and a cheap wooden plaque, and I discovered that I am just NOT crafty with my hands. This little wooden plaque was a gobby, painted mess… forget about cute polka dots or painting her name on that… it went straight to the garbage. BUT it just made me realize that I was not working within the confines of my creativity (lol, which would be, what else — photoshop!), then I realized that I knew just what to do. Since she’s two-years-old and full of spunk, I wanted to dress her as gaudy as possible to go along with this fabulous quote from Coco Chanel. I made this to match her room (and it does perfectly!), then I chose ribbons to compliment the design and stitched them up as a place to hang her bows and barretts. No more messy hairbow basket. Problem solved.

By the way, I never have posted about our Products Page before. This is a great place for clients to go and see all (or most!) of our specialty products in one place… I know that it can be confusing when deciding just how you want to display your images in your home, and this is a great resource to reference before coming into the studio for your Ordering Session!

Wonder Woman | Knoxville Maternity Photographer

Heather — Wed, 19 May 2010 16:05:58 +0000

I would like to introduce you to my beautiful sister, Robin… she’s the hippie version of Wonder Woman. We were thrilled to have her and her husband, Jason, over to the studio on Saturday for a pregnancy portrait session and we had such an awesome time together. She’s a midwife apprentice for Lisa Coomer, and so far has assisted in delivering 17 babies into this world… the last of which was an all-nighter just a couple of nights ago (hope you’re rested up now, sis!) Robin and Jason are planning for a home birth, and I am soooooo beyond excited that I will be there to photograph this very special event… most of all excited to capture the moment when we all find out if this baby is a boy or a girl… talk about once in a lifetime!

Piper’s World | Knoxville Family Photographer

Heather — Tue, 18 May 2010 21:20:56 +0000

This adorable girl brought her family and her two huge dogs to the studio last week for a family session and we had such a great time. I find it so funny that I forget just how big a great dane is until I see one in person, I think little Piper could ride this dog like a horse, lol! And if I didn’t know any better, I’d think the gal had been posing for pictures her entire life … she’s quite the little supermodel, and so well behaved to be only three (can you tell, we were very impressed)! And to think we were nearly rained out… so glad it held off for us!