Photographic Expressions

2008 has been a whirlwind in that we now have two beautiful furbabies, I’ve traveled and had a wonderful time with fellow photographers at workshops, met the oh-so-talented Annie Leibovitz for my birthday, and made some awesome friends. To my husband: Thank you for your undying support and love, I love you!

~C

(just to preface-some of the pictures were taken with an iphone so they are a bit grainy)

Many thanks to everyone for making a great year! 2008 was a year full of babies and brides but I’ll let the pictures do the talking. 

~C

Eyelashes. Kissable, gorgeous, delicate eyelashes. 

~C

The other day I had the chance to drive down to Perry, farm country, for an afternoon shoot with Jessica and Chad. So much fun! The wedding is right around the corner (April!) but they weren’t letting the stress of the day get to them as they kept each other laughing the whole time. We had so much fun scouting for locations in the quaint town (crazy Christmas house anyone?) and at one point channeled the Beatles on idealic Carroll Street. Chad just finished up a great run coaching the high school football team into playoffs this year so it only made sense to head to the football field where they have spent so many Fridays together. To round out the afternoon we paid homage to the painting American Gothic for the many renovations their home has endured and those in the future. It’s going to be great!

J&C, thanks so much for the great afternoon, I had a fabulous time hanging out with you two. Can’t wait for April! 

~C

It was a proud moment for the Turner family and of course the firefighter family when little Jared Gray entered the world. Not giving his mother any reprieve from the numerous and grueling hours of labor, he finally made his appearance in the world on November 17th. 

So tiny and oh so handsome, Jared has a big sister who is definitely looking out for him. Asking her if I could take him home with me, she responded with an unfaltering, ‘He’s not going anywhere.’ Ms. Ashlyn is quite the proud mother sister of little Jared. 

I spent the afternoon capturing the life of this almost 4 week old little one, I couldn’t stop looking at him. He’s precious! While he slept and carried out his normal day Christmas decorations were abound, loving glances between mom and dad stolen over his head while he slept curled on mom’s chest, given kisses galore by his giggling sister and perhaps an occasional lick from the family dog. Someone is certainly loved. 

I absolutely adore this family. I’m so touched and honored to add family photographer to my list alongside sisterhood of the firefighter family and so much more. 

Love you all!

~C

Part Two of my birthday was initially just going to be Part One until the Chattanooga workshop popped up last minute. Having a December birthday it’s easy to merge Christmas and Birthday gift into one big gift. That’s how I’ve been rocking it with my husband that past few years so he’s gotten off easy. Well this year the celebrations were going to be seperate AND he had to figure out the gifts himself, I was not cheating and telling him what I wanted. Oh boy, this was going to be interesting. 

Well of course that didn’t last long when one night back in October I was sitting on the couch reading my latest copy of Atlanta magazine and I saw her. Annie Leibovitz was going to be at a book signing on Dec 10th. Well, I couldn’t help but shout ‘I got it! I found my birthday present this year!’

After showing him the ad (surprised I saw it in the first place) Josh looked at me perplexed and said, ‘Who?’

Exacerbated I looked at him like he lost his mind and said ‘You know, the really, really famous photographer. She worked for Rolling Stone magazine and did that famous shot of Demi Moore when she was pregnant.’

And y’all I swear if he didn’t just jump up off the couch and struck the very same Demi Moore pose I was talking about. (no I didn’t show him a picture, he just knew) I couldn’t believe it, I doubled over laughing so hard. And with that, we signed up and marked the calendar. 

So the day of the event was mildy cold, everything had a wet and gloomy layer to it after raining for two days straight but Josh swears I was walking on Cloud 9. After picking up Annie Leibovitz’s latest book, “At Work” we walked into the center, me clutching my book and camera as if it were my lifeline. I won’t mention that we waited for over an hour sitting on chairs that were suited for kids and not my 6 foot 3 inch husband, before we could see her. Sold Out show, y’all.

 Fabulous presentation. I was hanging on her every word and enjoying the insight and the rare behind the scenes look at her work. She’s quite funny, had an interesting roller coaster, one in a lifetime life and she’s not done yet. I was so intrigued and enraptured that most of her work that grabbed at me were the rare shots of an event. I don’t ever recall paying attention to the image of Richard Nixon leaving the White House in a helicopter as the Marines started rolling the red carpet. Perhaps I wasn’t born then (shhh) but I didn’t recall this image and yet I was captivated by it. Annie explained that she was one of the last photographers to get her credentials for this event and there were quite a lot of photographers snapping away as Nixon was walking away toward the helicopter. Just as they shut the door on the helicopter and started to lift off, Annie recalls everyone packing their equipment and leaving and that was when she started firing away. Seeing this image reminded me to continue ‘farming’ out my images and really pushing myself to get that rare but empowering image that tells a story in itself. 

Afterward I ran into my new friends Alan Darmondy whose work shocks me every time I look at it, Nathan Holritz of the Holritz photography fame and Rachel and Andrew of the infamous LaCour. For those of you who don’t know LaCour, their images are simply, Stunning. They also have a wonderful software program for photographers to help manage their studios (and I love it) in addition to being one of the Top Ten wedding photographers in the nation. Huge right?

Side note: Have you ever followed someone’s life/career  for so long and intently that you felt that you knew them? You run phrases, sentences, whole conversations through your head of what you might say if you were to say, might meet them. And sometimes when you run into someone that personally knows them you get all excited and attached to them too? No I’m not crazy internet, I’m merely…a person who loves to love and gets excited over…a lot. 

 Well I go over and introduce myself and proceed to open my mouth.  I’m sure these two were looking at me, this babbling, rambling, overexcited girl thinking, “um, wow.’ But you know, I have wanted to meet these people for oh so long and I finally got the chance and yep, everything I have ever wanted to say for fear of never meeting them came out. Oops. 

And then! I torturing my husband to stand in line for 45 minutes, because we were last, because I had to meet LaCour, so I could finally meet; Annie Leibovitz. Well they handed out post it notes to jot down what you wanted her to write in your book and I was a little deflated. I didn’t want to put words in her mouth, I wanted her words. Here is my chance to have her tell me something empowering, insightful, robust and then I find out I had to feed it to her. Unfortunately Josh was no help, the poor thing hadn’t eaten dinner so he was a bit grumbly so I used my lifeline and called Dad. Got a few ideas but again, still deflated that I was feeding her words. Well we got to the front of the line and found out she was only writing first names, well ok. Better than b.s. that I made up right?

I got to the front of the table, two feet away from her! And her celebrity shocked me into silence. I remember standing in front of her, not knowing how to narrow down what I wanted to say and blurting out, ‘You’re my birthday present.’ !! Y’all I couldn’t believe it myself. Well she looked at me so kindly and asked me to repeat what I said and I repeated, “Coming to see you was my birthday present.’ So she asked me when my birthday was, allowed me to get a quick photo (sorry for the fuzziness-Josh took it-I ned to give him some lessons) and she signed my book, Happy Birthday! 

WOW what a birthday!

~C

This past weekend I really felt my age, o.l.d. My godson, Xander, was celebrating his fifth birthday. Five, 5, f.i.ve. Oh my goodness that’s just not fair. I can remember the exact moment I first laid eyes on him. He was beyond tiny and oh so delicate, still in the hospital with his identification bracelet on, reflections of Christmas lights dancing on the windows.  Poor thing has a December birthday like I do so I understand the struggle with fitting a birthday in with all the Christmas plans and parties. But as much complaining I do about being a December baby,  well, we sometimes get the best end of the deal with celebrating twice : ) 

The party at Mega Maze was Xander’s first, fifth birthday as I’m sure they’ll mark the actual birthday with a fun dinner. But this weekend at Mega Maze he was able to run around with his friends, climb tall maze trails, fight with balloon swords, race his sister in a game of cars and giggle to his heart was content. Oh this little man is so handsome and lord help us all in 10 years when he’ll be driving real cars and breaking girl’s hearts. 

So much love for you all!

~C

With great love and understanding of what it’s like to have a furbaby and be truly madly in love with them, I had a wonderful time photographing Tina and Marty with the precious Miss Nortie at Piedmont Park.   

Tina and Marty are truly doting parents to Nortie. She came to her photo shoot freshly groomed and with her very own choice of outfits! Precious!! Though at times we had to coerce her to look at the camera by my sister jumping behind me like a mad woman, Nortie did such a great job sitting for the camera and not bee-lining to the nearest squirrel. 

Tina and Marty, you are just a fun couple to hang out with, thank you for the wonderful time in the park and allowing me the chance to spend time with Nortie! She’s precious!

~C

December 3rd. Smack dab in the middle of crazy holiday season. Well this year I signed up for a weekshop mere 48 hours beforehand and ran up to Chattanooga to spend my birthday with my friends (Amber)  and fellow photographers. Learned lots, had so much fun and won an awesome Shootsac bag!!!! The speakers of the Get Simple workshop were the infamous, Kevin Swan, Mike Larson, Nathan Holritz, and Shaun Austin. 

What a birthday!

(black and white photos provided by Amber and color pictures provided by Kevin)

~C

This past holiday weekend was about my family, about those childhood memories that sneak up and surprise you when you aren’t looking and about extended family.

We gathered around the table, a blending of family created by blood, marriages, sheer luck of moving next door to the family 27 years ago, and by being a Thanksgiving orphan. We gathered to give thanks and our blessings for the past year, our health, for the thirteen miles that one was able to run that morning in a half marathon, for the countertops full of food and for family. We then proceeded to line up with paper plates in hand, utensils stuffed in back pockets to free our hands, loading up our plates or the little five year that has suddenly become your shadow that day. We loaded up our plates and piled them high with potato salad, smoked turkey, cooked ham, mac and cheese, wild rice, more potato salad and various desserts. Can’t say that I went into the holiday weekend carefully watching what I ate for dread of those 5 pounds but I did enjoy the wonderful cooking. When you come home to a dad that takes such pride in his cooking and whips up anything your heart desires (homemade marshmallows anyone?), who produces batch after batch of the greatest wine and always has munchies stocked in the house, well….you gotta expect your pants to fit snuggly as you wave goodbye and head home. 

This weekend was about memories. In attempt to work off our Thanksgiving gorge and to bring organized chaos into our lives, my sister and I set out to tackle what we have been putting off for week, sorting through boxes and boxes of our lives that has been so carefully packaged and stored away for years. I have now been married for the past year and a half and own a home plus my sister has been in college equally as long, yet our rooms still look like we never left. We could never bring ourselves to break down our rooms and create guest rooms, to sift through so much of our lives that we had put on hold. Yet as we coughed amongst the dust that we sent flying, we marveled and laughed over long lost stuffed animals, the baby clothes that we wore over and over again until they were practically thread bare, pictures that we drew in kindergarden, and that 56 I somehow got in first grade on a homework assignment. Who knew counting could be so tough on a six year old? So now I sit in my office at my current home with boxes of books, mementos and a random piece of clothing I couldn’t let go scattered all over and I’m wondering; where am I going to fit these memories of my old life into my new one? 

This weekend was also about extended family. I considered myself the ‘fifth’ daughter in this large yet tight knit family that lived just down the street from me for the past twenty plus years. I have been on vacations, dinners, girl scout outings, plenty of sleepovers as the ‘fifth’ daughter but what happens to a large family when everyone gets married and starts to add to their family with doggies and children?  Well I got my taste of life in a big family (extended edition) this weekend and suddenly life with one sibling is plenty chaotic for me. Trying to keep the spouses names straight, confusing kid’s names with each other, people talking (or rooting for a football game) so loud you can’t keep focus on what you are trying to work on (or take pictures of), trying not to lose head count when out in a tree farm, the built in cheerleading group that can stand behind me to catch a kids attention (or 6 kid’s attention) for a shot. Yep, that is what it is like when a family of six suddenly grows to be three times as big. WOW. So though I spent the majority of my time trying my best to do mass group shots to document the moment that 4 sisters and their families have been able to come together from three states, I really enjoyed the quiet moments throughout the weekend capturing a moment either one on one or the moment between two. Hope you enjoy.

And for my many ‘extended families,’ I do love you all!

~C