Baby Liam | Dallas Newborn Photographer

Since my company name does include design, I'm always excited to get to design things here and there for clients. I never use pre-designed templates and always work from scratch to create one of a kind things (like this really cool birthday party invite). So this is the baby announcement I created from the images I took of my sis-in-law's new baby Liam. After a shaky start Liam fell right into the perfect newborn sleepiness that every photographer hopes for in a newborn session and he was just amazing! I have to thank my friend Julie of Coco 1981 for letting me borrow her awesome chair! It really made this session for me!

Kamille | Bridal | Arlington Wedding Photographer

I really only want to share one image from Kamille's bridal session. She's an amazingly beautiful girl and was picture perfect in her entire session. The girl does not take a bad picture! I was so thrilled she gave me a little creative license with these. I've wanted to shoot at this pecan orchard down the street from my mom's house that's owned by old family friends, owners of Hickory Stick Bar B Q (seriously, go there!) Then when her mom suggested bringing the antique couch that belonged to her grandmother I was so excited!

This may very well be the most perfect bridal portrait I've ever taken. It's just so her. And I love everything about it.

The K Family | Arlington Family Photographer

I really feel that being a portrait photographer helps families tell stories about themselves in pictures that you can't do in words. It's a rare opportunity for most people to get to meet a family and see how much they care and love each other, and I get to do it a few times every month. I love this about being a photographer more than anything.

I get a lump in my throat every time I scroll through this family's images. Partly because of the circumstances surrounding this session and the tremendous honor I felt in being asked to take these pictures. And also because it hit so close to home for me having lost my dad over 10 years ago. I will only share one image from this session out of deep respect for this family. But I would be remiss if I didn't share with you the portrait of a family so supportive of their wife and mother, who are now devoting themselves to the memory of her bravery.

See, Sue fought a long battle with lung cancer, something that as a non-smoker came entirely out of nowhere for her and her family. After a few schedule changes to accommodate her treatments we were finally able to take this family portrait the night before we left town to shoot a wedding. A week and a half later Sue lost her battle to cancer. I was honored to take their pictures, honored to have met Sue, and honored to have given a family a gift that is priceless.

Krystal + Randy | Dallas Wedding Photographer

We met Krystal and Randy last May when we shot their engagement session and they have been some of our favorite people ever since. Krystal is beautiful and poised but loves to have a great time. Randy is laid back and cool. They LOVE their Longhorn football! They are perfectly in love and we were so excited to be a part of their wedding day.

Their wedding was held at the beautiful 1899 Farmhouse. The wedding was coordinated by Stephanie Kuykendall of One Event Design and the amazing cake was created by Opulent Cakes.

Friday Photo Challenge Week 1: In the Grass

I came up with an idea the other day after reading another photographer's blog. I wanted to do a weekly photo challenge for myself and anyone else who wanted to join me. My sister Mandie is also a photographer and I ran the idea across her because she comes up with all these harebrained ideas too. Luckily she actually liked this one and now we have our first Photo Challenge week! Any other photographers who read this, we would love for you to join our challenge. Just leave a comment and I'll send you the details!

So after making a HUGE list of challenge ideas we decided our first week would be In the Grass. Because it's scorchingly hot here in Texas and the grass will only be green for so much longer! My image today is not the most fantastic image ever, but it's an idea I had for the opening spread of a wedding album I'm designing for one of our May brides. I felt like the grass and their wedding invitation really sets the tone for their wedding experience. Beautiful sunflowers and green accents ran throughout their whole day and it was just gorgeous. This is an image I shot this morning (I love when brides send us wedding invitations!) and I may look for a patch of grass that hasn't been mowed to match their free-spirited style a little better. If I do I'll update this post with the new image. But for now, here's my contribution to this week's photo challenge!

Loved | Arlington Family Photographer

I know it's been a really long time since I've posted! Life has been so busy! I'm hoping to get some time to be able to blog the many many sessions I've been working on. I have some really amazing things to show you guys! Thanks for sticking with me!

I absolutely LOVE this family. And the best thing about them is how much they love each other! They were fresh off the plane from Hawaii where they had the best time together, and you can really tell! Such a talented and just fab family. :)

I ♥ Faces – Play

I realize I posted this picture a couple of weeks ago, but I thought it went perfectly with this week's I ♥ Faces challenge, Play! Ben loves going to grandma's house!

Check out the rest of the entries here!