editorial, commercial, modeling, and child & baby photography across Tennessee

kicking shoulda woulda couldas to the curb

April 9, 2010

You know, sometimes I get followed around by “should be” “could be” “would be” clouds that bother me all day long. Are you familiar with these? The “I should be spending more time teaching Jack to read” or “if I had gone to medical school, I would be out now, practicing” or “I could be in bed right now but someone decided they were hungry at 5 am.”

Don’t those thoughts just plague you sometimes? It really takes the wind out of your sails. Sometimes I need a good shaking–a mental shaking–to realize that living in the shoulda coulda woulda’s is psychological suicide. Living in the true present, the actual reality, is so much more satisfying. There are things to do, people to love, days to accomplish right here, right now. The secret to happiness is embracing your reality!

There are pictures to paint, and brothers to hug. Always something to do, with all your heart.

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Okay, so here goes my obligatory “welcome to the new year” post… only it’s not really obligatory because I want to do it. Mainly because I DO want to do some things differently this year on my blog (namely, uh… post) and well, while it’s convenient that this coincides with the beginning of a new year, what it really has more to do with is the fact that Jude is now almost 12 weeks old and my life is starting to slow down just ever. so. slightly.

So. No one really wants to read a post about how someone’s going to do more posts, but I do have to just say it so I will stick to it. I also want to share more pictures from my life, from my kids to other things I enjoy photographing. And lastly, I want to start sharing tips and tricks for the moms-with-a-camera and aspiring photographers out there. As you may or may not know, I have taught three workshops so far and love sharing photography tidbits with those inquiring minds who want to know.

Now, onto some pictures of what I’ve been up to for the last 12 weeks. Okay so this is just one of the things. But he does take up quite a bit of time.

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Right now his hobbies are eating, sleeping, and…

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staring at his fist. He logs a good 4 hours a day contemplating that thing.

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…and now Jude has officially surpassed me in eyelash length. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I am the only female in my household, and all four males have longer, more beautiful (can I say beautiful about a boy? Matt’s gonna kill me) eyelashes than me. Including Matt himself. It’s ridiculous.

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(oh, and can you guess what he is doing in the above picture?)

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Maria Hays - He is perfection Sarah!!! Look at those gorgeous eyes and sweet lips, I could just eat him up!!!

Jennifer Chaney - Oh I so miss the fist examination stage! So cute. So very very cute. And I totally can empathize with you about the shortest eyelashes in the house… I think my dogs are longer than mine!

Jess Wernes - What a handsome little guy. I love the way you captured his eyelashes. Beautiful light!

tara k - oh, he is just the sweetest little punkin, sarah. i need to smoosh him! truly beautiful shots of your newest little man.

Maria (from Amsterdam) - Hey Sarah,

Jude is gorgeous and his fist-starying hobby hilareous, hehe! Love the photo. It’s priceless Timo has not even discovered that he has a fist so far, or maybe he’s just not so fascinated by it.

Too bad you’re so far away. I would love to have you take pictures for us or join your workshops.

I just looked at your gallery again, and the photos really give me goose bumps; they’re so amazing. I love how you capture the children’s eyes.

As a mom with a camera I would really appreciate any tips for photographing babies/children. So, I’ll follow your blog!

santa baby…

December 16, 2009

It’s not unusual to hear me ooh-ing and ahh-ing over a newborn as I am photographing him or her… I’m usually just overcome with the cuteness of the tiny little thing, even as I am shooting! But this little girl was subjected to even more than the standard amount, and that’s because she is my super-sweet, so tiny, and so beautiful and kissable niece. Meet the cutest santa baby I have ever seen, a Christmas eve baby that surprised her momma with an early Christmas gift–her presence in the world! This is Janna, at four days old:

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still looking back…

December 12, 2009

a mix of private and magazine work…

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willow meets the world

November 18, 2009

I had been looking forward to photographing sweet Willow for several months… and we knew she was due right around my own little addition, so we sort of had to take the wait-and-see approach. So here she is, at a little over two weeks… so beautiful and such a good baby! (And we share a birthday, so she’s gotta be something special.)

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