Cades Cove

Recently, we enjoyed a nice weekend in the TN mountains, near a little town called Townsend. This place is near and dear to my heart, as I spent some time there every summer at leadership camp in high school. I think it's when I fell in love with the mountains....crickets chirping at night, clean crisp air, wooded forest paths, sitting around a crackling firepit singing songs in the evening....ah, memories.

Anyway, one day during camp we'd all pile into buses and drive the scenic Cades Cove, a beautiful 11-mile loop of pastoral landscape. There are refurbished original buildings there, too. someday I'd like to bike it (which apparently they reserve for Saturday mornings).

I enjoyed getting outside my comfort zone, and shooting something other than people. Interesting how differently I see the place now. It also has revealed my strange fascination with old buildings, fences and wood....

I"m getting caught up on a lot, so check back!

Fashionista

I went shopping recently (which is kind of rare, as I hate shopping) and found these fabulous red cowboy boots! At first I thought I'd buy them for Sarah, as after all, every girl needs her own cowboy boots. But instead I snagged them for some photo prop usage - if your child has size 13 feet, and you'd like these in your session, just let me know!
I also have this great blue boa. Hey, why not wear them together? Childhood is all about play and dress up, right?

Sweet Expectation

I love how every session is completely different and unpredictable. You can never know for sure exactly what shots will 'work', and what won't. This mommy-to-be let me play around with all kinds of props and poses, with some great results.
I was SO glad the rain held off for us. I didn't think we'd be able to go outside, but indeed we did; and as a bonus, the major cloud cover proved a fabulous light diffuser :)

Check out my Facebook Fanpage (Laura Alvis Photography) for more images from this session!

Daily Candy

Hey blog followers, check out Daily Candy website (an insider's guide to your city)! You may remember that awhile back I took some product shots for a wonderfully creative Children's Stationary artist. You can see an article about her business - and 1 of my photos - here: http://www.dailycandy.com/kids/atlanta/article/75664/The-English-Pea-Childrens-Stationery .

More posts coming soon, I've been busy!!

Sassy Senior

I don't know about you, but I remember Senior pictures being pretty boring, stuffy and 'posey' (think mirrors, robes and roses). I have been excited to see that the world of Senior Portraits has evolved into SO much more! Nowadays, Seniors can choose to get their portrait session done on location, with a multitude of outfits, accessories, etc.

And as I was processing this session, I realized why a great Senior portrait session is so important. Most Seniors probably haven't had the typical 'kid' portraits done in awhile (as they go thru that awkward middle school phase). And they likely won't have good pictures again until they get married. So this is an important time for Seniors (or rather, their parents) to get a killer photo session that's all about THEM!!

And that's exactly what we did here - this fun and sassy senior brought all her tack and lots of personality! It was lots of fun, and I"m looking forward to doing more Seniors next year!

Mommy's Sweet Girl

Sometimes we are blessed with a friend not just thru a time, or a season, but for a lifetime. No matter where our lives have taken us (and it's currently several states apart), K and I have been friends since we were 3 years old. We met in dance class, and have many memories of classes, costumes, recitals, practicing (or not practicing). If our dear teacher were still alive, she would adore the sight of us with our sweet baby girls. Maybe someday our little girls can get together and dance to the music :-)

Anyway, I traveled home to see her and little Miss L for some newborn shots. Although, Miss L was about 6 weeks old, so she was out of the 'sleepy and curly' phase already. So she did much better with mommy holding and snuggling her. Which is great, because I adore mommy-and-baby shots, and here's a couple to enjoy....

Snuggly Little Sweetie

This little guy is the youngest of 7 children, and is every bit as relaxed as he can be. He literally slept thru the entire session, which is fabulous because then I can get all those sleepy-curled-up newborn pictures. That's why it's SO important to get your newborn session done within the first 14 days of life (the sooner the better). after 14 days, they start to wake up, 'uncurl' and get stretchy, and it becomes more difficult to prop them into all the sweet newborn poses

Every newborn session is different, as different setups or props strike me at the time. Today was a 'big basket and white fluffy blanket' day. He snuggled riiiiiiiight in.....can you stand those big scrunchy cheeks??

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