One Day in May

Happy May 15th day folks. This month is always intense for all the moms ( and dads) out there, I know why they make Mother's Day in May, because May puts you to the test. There are recitals, and all kinds of sports events and the end of school fun all crammed into one month. Making this video made me relax immediately. What a great family and a wonderful place, South Pittsburgh, TN on the way to Chattanooga.. Shawn and I discovered a mountain cabin nearby and well, we're in full dream manifest the cabin mode. I hope to head down there as soon as the last school bell of the year rings..

Slow down time.. just a little.

Where did the time go?

In two weeks Mariama will be a teenager. What a great four and half years. Was is scary hopping on a plane and flying to another continent alone.. yah it was. 

Is teenagerdom even scarier sometimes.. with the silliness, the forgetfulness. all the lost sweatshirts, school clothes, forgotten items..yes.. Do I get tired of repeating myself twenty seven times a day. Sure. but what's the point of  anything without someone as joyful as this to share it with. We have been forever changed by this gorgeous face.

Strike a pose

Some girls are serious about their posing...

Love this little...

Wes Anderson and all that is stylized...

 It took me awhile to discover Wes Anderson, but when I did, I realized his style of filmmaking lines up completely with my style of photography. At least in my mind LOL. I love his vintage nostalgic way of  saying it all.. all the clutter, attention to detail, the stark solemn direct way all the characters just stare at the camera and say nothing.. I LOVE IT. and he's a Texan as am I and lastly his mother's name is Texas Anne.  Now if that's not a name for a character in a book, I don't know what is. Simply put, the style in his films wins me over, they are quirky and always make me think "wow I want to live in this movie right now, not at this dysfunctional level, but in these pretty pictures." So on that note as a long winter turns into a blazing hot summer day and before we're all  hiding in the basement from this storm that's coming in ( I've got one kid up in Monteagle so I'd prefer not to hear tornado sirens tomorrow) I'd like to suggest that everyone who's interested in portraits this spring, let's do a Wes Anderson inspired shoot.  I am actually shooting one next weekend near Chattanooga that is inspired by Moonrise Kingdom, and am so excited.

Mini-shoots will work for themes too, we can't get all up in it, like a big shoot, but still mucho fun.

Mini shoots are $175 and you receive one high resolution image for reprinting and one mounted 8x10 and big shoots are $300 for the session and we'll have an ordering session three weeks later.

See you when I see you!

Here's what's happening!

April and May are going to be such busy months, but I am looking forward to it. I'm excited to embark on a new round of spring mini sessions as well as some neat themed portraits coming up, including a few babies to snuggle. I can't believe it's finally nice weather, I almost kissed the little cherry tree in our front yard this morning when I stepped outside. We're doing DancEast photos this month so we can have them ready for the showcase in May. On the gymnastics side of things, I'll be doing Magnitude 10.0's Spring Fling portraits for their recreational gymnasts and then team pictures in May. Throw in a couple more personal projects and we're done.  Then school will be out and it will be summer. No sweat huh. The kids are going to sleep away camp for the first time and I hope to finally get to see some friends I've missed very much and the Redwood forest. We can do it y'all, and soon we'll all be laying around by the pool whining about how hot it is.