SPROUTS by Heather Knowles

New blog!!!!

2010-03-16T12:29:00.002-04:00

I am so excited to finally launch my new blog! I have been working on this project behind the scenes since the new year. I am excited to finally share it with everyone. This blog will not be updated any more so you will want to update your reader subscriptions or bookmarks to the new blog at http://sproutsbyheatherblog.com/

Come on over and check out the new blog!!!

If you experience any problems while you're there please let me know!!

Addison | newborn

2010-03-09T15:33:00.002-05:00

One of my favorite things about newborn sessions is observing the new parents with their new sweet baby. Makenzi and Brad are just smitten with their precious little baby girl, Addison. I was in there home when she was 6 days old and this beautiful family seemed like they had always been together.

It appears that she is having sweet sweet dreams....

Is it Spring yet?!?!

2010-03-01T18:15:00.002-05:00

January and February brought so many freezing cold days! I can't believe we might have more snow tomorrow. Enough already!! The other day I had a photo shoot planned with a brother and sister who are one year and four years old. The temperature just kept on dropping and dropping and after about 15 minutes outside we decided to reschedule. I put my jacket around Anna Kate as we all walked back to their car. She was so cold...and not happy about it. But when I told her she looked like a little penguin in my jacket, we enjoyed a few minutes of waddling with our shadows and before we knew it, the little penguin had made it back to the warm seat in her car.

I'm looking forward to this photo shoot when we get a warm day, which looks like may not be until next week. Maybe then, it will be spring for good! Surely I am not the only one that is ready for warmer temperatures!!

Gardner Family

2010-03-01T17:59:00.003-05:00

I have enjoyed getting to know this family over the past year so much! I was excited that we found such a beautiful setting for their family Christmas photos. Little Hailey is SO beautiful, I think I could photograph her every day. I am really excited because they just found out they are having another girl, and I am certain she will be just as beautiful as Hailey has been from day one. I can't believe Hailey will be a big sister in June!! How fun!!

Eliana | one year

2010-02-04T13:09:00.003-05:00

It is so amazing how fast Eliana's first year went by. She was one of the first babies I photographed when I started my business in the fall of 2008. It was so fun watching her run around in November and capturing this stage in her development was awesome! She even brought our little baby-to-be a gift....one of her favorite books "Guess How Much I Love You". I love my clients and how I get to develop such great friendships with so many people. It is such a blessing!

She was a little shy at first, so we started out with a little game of peek-a-boo. Works like magic!

I just love this last one of her. She is so engaged and you can tell she is becoming a little girl......babies grow up SO fast!!!!

Wittig Family

2010-01-27T13:56:00.003-05:00

Last week I met up with this sweet family on one of the most beautiful days in January. Vaughan was an absolute sweetheart, it was pretty obvious to me why his parents are so smitten with him. He is such a relaxed baby with the sweetest little grin. He has adorable features, which is no surprise by looking at his beautiful parents. Such a gorgeous family!

Lucy | 3 months

2010-01-27T13:43:00.003-05:00

I really enjoyed meeting Lucy and her lovely parents shortly before Christmas. Even though Lucy is so little, she has the cutest personality which is perfectly accented by her precious little eyebrows. Most babies this age don't have eyebrows like hers so she loves to show them off and use them for effective communication. :) Seriously. She definitely communicates with them, it is absolutely adorable!

Powell Family

2010-01-27T13:37:00.003-05:00

Another catch up blog post from November....
I photographed these twin boys as one year olds in the fall of 2008, so it was a lot of fun to see them again a year later! They still have very distinct personalities and it was double the fun watching the parents interact with them throughout our time together.

Phoebe | newborn

2010-01-25T10:25:00.007-05:00

Oh my goodness! Talk about sending a pregnant woman into anxiousness overdrive! I photographed beautiful Phoebe last week at 7 days old and now I am more anxious than ever to meet our little Mason in April. 14 weeks to go! Phoebe was a dream to photograph. I don't think I heard her make a peep, even as I moved her around. There was excessive cuddling on my part between groups of shots. How could I resist?!?!
I admit that I sit around and daydream about photographing Mason as a newborn....I wonder if there is a support group for that?

You might remember these little tootsies from a sneak peek from last week. I thought they were so cute it was worth a repeat.

I should also introduce big sister Lillian. She will be two in March and was pretty excited about the new babydoll in the house.

I also feel like I have to mention that their mom makes the most amazing little dresses for her girls. She made all of the ones pictured. So feminine with the most delicate and precious details, you can tell there is so much love that goes into each one.

20 tiny toes will surely cause baby fever....so you may want to look away.

Precious precious details. Seriously. April 30th can not get here fast enough!

Jimmy & Amber | Lovebirds

2010-01-23T09:36:00.004-05:00

A little bit of work on this Saturday morning, then I'm off for a girly day......a baby shower for a friend and then consignment store shopping!! I'll be looking for twigs for my nest...errr....possibly items to reclaim for the nursery!!! I'll do a post about my adventures if I find something awesome.
I don't often book couples' sessions, and honestly through some parts of the year I get so busy I have to refer them to other photographers because I want to focus on babies and children. But right after Christmas things slow down a little bit and it is exciting as an artist to do something a little different. Jimmy and Amber are a beautiful couple, they've been married for almost four years and they still look at each other like they just fell in love yesterday. Their love is beautiful and I enjoyed capturing it. I really enjoyed our time together.

Ty | one year

2010-01-21T10:52:00.007-05:00

This is actually a recent session from last week. I have been photographing Ty since he was a newborn and have really grown to love this family. If you've met a one year old lately, you will know that most of them do not sit still! Often they have just learned to walk right around their birthday and they have an entire world to explore. So that is what we do....explore. I think we played with all of his favorite things by the time I left.
the toy bucket, blankie, books, stuffed animals...the neighbor's dog....his own dog, uh, I mean brother... :) I needed a nap when I left but it was so much fun!
Here he is playing ball with "big brother" Rufus....

I love his little Frankenstein walk.....and the hand of a loving mother waiting nearby....I just love it! This is such a cute stage!

One of my favorite shots from his newborn session was on this blanket, and they have a big canvas of it in their home. He looooooves this blankie, as you can see.

Maya | 6 months

2010-01-21T10:31:00.003-05:00

This was a really fun session from November. I loved the connections that these parents made with baby Maya. She is a delightful baby and started smiling at me the second I walked through the front door of their home. Toward the end of the session, Maya was getting a little tired and dad stepped up to the plate and knocked it out of the park. With his dramatic reading of her favorite book "Brown Bear" she was all smiles and giggles for another 15 minutes. It was nothing short of a truly amazing new dad moment. You can tell from this first shot that Maya adores him.

Morrison Family

2010-01-21T10:26:00.002-05:00

Another November session....
These little boys were all energy! I loved how the baby tried his best to keep up with big brother.

Sarah | SEN10R

2010-01-21T10:13:00.002-05:00

Sarah was the last in a string of beautiful and sweet senior girls I photographed this fall. In early November we went out to a horse farm east of Charlotte. Sarah is super sweet and I just love the way her personality shines through in these shots where she is laughing. When her mom saw these she said "That is SO Sarah!!!"

McDowell Family

2010-01-21T10:02:00.002-05:00

This sweet family was in town visiting some friends whom I had photographed a while back. They called before their visit to Charlotte to schedule a photo shoot during their time here. We met at the park one afternoon in November and had some fun.

We even let their friends in some shots at the end. All these little giddy smiles are just so cute.

State of the Blog

2010-01-20T19:20:00.003-05:00

I have spent time with some darling babies this week. Like the owner of these wee little piggies....at 7 days old.

And then this evening, in the gorgeous weather we are having, I spent some time with this sweet little boy and his fun parents.

I have several other new sessions to post, as well as some catching up to do from pre-Christmas....about 10 sessions worth of catching up. I vow to wake up in the morning and be a blog posting factory before I start on anything else. I will prevail! :) I don't think I truly realized how behind I got during my first trimester sickness.

I want to get caught up so that I can get back to posting true sneak peeks the day after sessions, as well as leave time for a new blog feature that I want to start on next week. Wish me luck....and a little new year gumption!

Preston | 6 months

2010-01-08T10:42:00.005-05:00

First I have to warn you, if you don't feel like smiling this morning, then you should look away now! You are about to lay your eyes on the most scrumptious little 6 month old lump of happy baby boy!! This photo shoot with baby Preston was a great start to 2010. It was SO cold outside so we had to stay indoors but I love the simplicity of this shoot that allows his little personality to shine through. I photographed him as a newborn and at 3 months, it is so great to see him now at my very favorite baby age....6 months! I mean, really, that age is just amazing!!!! A little baby personality emerges that is too big to remain inside their little bodies. Smiles, giggles, flirty grins, playing with toes, a drop of drool on the chin. This session really made me anxious for our little Mason to arrive.....I have a strong feeling that will be the theme of Spring for me. Okay okay, you don't want to listen to me ramble any longer, you want to see the cuteness....please smile and squeal at will!!

"Look MA! No hands!"

ahhhh!! Crinkly nose, I can't handle his cuteness!!

Couldn't you just nibble on these adorable little piggies?!?!

Does anyone need a hug? Or maybe you just want to squeeze that little fat roll under his arm....

A New Year

2010-01-07T10:16:00.002-05:00

So its been a new year for an entire week now and I'm just getting back into blogging! I do plan on getting back into my normal routine of blogging a few times a week...its one of my new year's goals. I still have about 10 sessions from the end of the year to blog and I started back with sessions this week so there will be a mix of things to see.
I've been working on updating the images on the Sprouts web page this week so I thought it would be fun to post some of my favorite images from 2009 on the blog. I met SO many adorable babies, kids, and families this year. With close to 100 sessions in 2009 I truly feel blessed to have spent so much time with such wonderful people. I'm looking forward to watching many of these babies grow throughout this new year.
2009 was such a wonderful year, both personally and professionally, and I know that 2010 is going to be even better! I am personally looking the most forward to the month of April when we will welcome our new little boy Mason into the world!!!! I seriously can't wait to meet him, and I can't wait to share him with all of you here!!
For now, here are a few highlights from 2009! I hope you all have had a great first week of 2010!

Rogers Family

2009-12-16T11:20:00.002-05:00

Two things made this session special. First, the dad was an Auburn grad....my alma mater. Auburn Alum are a tight knit family so it is always fun to meet another. Second, these two boys.....well, I fell in love with them! They are just too cute. They had all the energy that little boys have, but were still soooooo sweet. I think you can see a little bit of both in their images.

There were lots of leaves on the ground so of course the boys had alot of fun. Giggles were shared all around!

And no one was exempt from the attacks....not even mom....

and not even me!!!! Look at that little grin!

one last family shot for the Christmas cards

The Hull Family

2009-12-16T11:05:00.003-05:00

I'm still trying to catch up from all the sessions this fall. I'm still blogging sessions from October. Sorry! But at least you can enjoy the crisp feeling of fall through all the beautiful colors. Its nice on a chilly day like today. These two kiddos are just absolutely precious, and two of the sweetest siblings I've seen.

I can't remember what caused this momentary pout-y-ness, but I love it!

Beautiful Family

2009-12-10T12:37:00.002-05:00

Its the time of year where I have a ton of family shoots. This family was so beautiful, like they should be the family in J Crew ads. I'm so behind on blogging that not only have they seen their gallery, but they have already ordered and received their prints. They ordered 16x20s of this first pair and they were soooooo gorgeous!!!

I just love their little personalities.

I love these next two, mom and dad's attention is in high demand!!

and a family photo for the Christmas cards

Sweet cousins

2009-12-10T12:33:00.002-05:00

I photographed Emma as a newborn just weeks before and they wanted to do a photo shoot of the cousins as a gift for the grandparents. I think you can tell Emma is very loved and adored by her two older cousins.

Elmo is his little buddy. Look at that face, I could just eat him up!

Nathan | 1 year old

2009-12-10T12:22:00.002-05:00

I loved spending time with this family. Nathan's little smile and giggle are just so sweet and endearing. He was extremely mobile so we all got a workout chasing him around. He loved it!!!

peek-a-boo I see you!

Emma | newborn

2009-12-07T12:25:00.004-05:00

Another sweet newborn Emma.
Emma slept like a champ during her session, but when she was awake and being cuddled by her adoring parents, we got some sweet shots with them too. She did use the bathroom on me, but I'm not going to hold that against her as long as she forgives me for messing with her during her sweet dreams.
I think this must have been similar to the sight that the writer of the words "sleep in heavenly peace" was looking at when those words were penned. Newborns always look so peaceful.

So much to be thankful for....

2009-11-30T13:12:00.002-05:00

This year, the word thankful just doesn't seem strong enough to describe how I feel. I am thankful for so many things. Most of my gratitude is for the people in my life, and the little person in my belly. I am of course thankful for food, clothing, and shelter, but the people that surround me make my life rich.
I am so thankful for salvation and grace found in Jesus Christ. As I served last Tuesday at our church's "Feeding of the 5000" I was reminded that He is the Bread of Life. The nourishment for the soul of man. It was a blessing to serve the hungry, not only a meal for Thanksgiving, but also an opportunity to have a life changing encounter with the Savior.

I am overwhelmed with gratitude for my husband Jeremy. He is the most amazing man in the world, and I fall in love with him over and over again every single day. I have no idea how he loves me like he does. He gives so much of himself. He has worked so hard this fall teaching and coaching with a really long schedule every day, only to come home and cook dinner and make post office runs for me so many nights. He leaves me notes and writes me letters. He knows me better than anyone else and somehow he understands this crazy emotional pregnant woman I have become better than even I do. I honestly do not think I would survive without him.

Our families and friends are just absolutely amazing, and I am so thankful that we are surrounded by so many wonderfully supportive people. I don't know why we are blessed so much in this way. Truly rich. Saturated with love.

I am also so thankful for the blessing Sprouts has been in my life. I absolutely love what I do. I love spending my days with babies, children, and families. I am so honored to capture such precious moments in these little lives. This fall, I am also so very thankful for how many cards, phone calls, and emails from my clients with overwhelming joy, excitement, and gratitude for their photographs. The past few months have been so hard, trying to juggle running my own business with pregnancy sickness, it wouldn't even be a possibility if I wasn't blessed with the most amazing clients.

Most of all, I am thankful for this moment with my family this past Saturday night. I feel like I can say with confidence this will be one of my favorite memories of my entire life.
The quick backstory.....
One of my best friends did an ultrasound Saturday morning and sealed the gender in an envelope. My mom was the only one to know the big secret. We had her make cupcakes for our big family gathering that night and fill them with either pink or blue icing. Our family is very dominated by one of these, and I thought it would be impossible for the baby in my belly to be the other. Jeremy and I both cried....along with pretty much everyone else, including my dad. I've watched this video almost 100 times now and I cry every single time. I am so thankful for this incredible moment shared with my family.
Saturday evening everyone gathered around and bit into a cupcake at the same time.......

Isabel | newborn

2009-11-18T17:41:00.004-05:00

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb." Psalm 139:13

Another sweet little September newborn. I remember the struggle to make it through this session, it was right in the middle of the height of my pregnancy sickness. Isabel was awake when I got there so we focused on getting some shots of her and big sister, Sarah. Then I took a little break to eat a snack so I could continue on. She fell asleep in her swing which was perfect, and I finished the shoot with sweet sleeping pictures which are my favorites for newborns! She was in a deep sleep and let me move her around a good bit. She even grinned for the camera one time! It was so wonderful getting to see what would soon be my reward for all the yucky days. I held the sleeping Isabel before I left that day and just couldn't believe that there was one of these growing in my belly right at that moment! New life really is a miracle, and such an incredible blessing.

Lawson + Anna

2009-11-18T17:19:00.003-05:00

I had so much fun playing at the park with Lawson and Anna. They are both so sweet and I just adored how sweet of a big brother Lawson is. I loved watching them play together.

Emma | newborn

2009-11-18T16:46:00.005-05:00

In the past two and a half weeks I have shot and edited 10 sessions, placed and delivered 18 print orders, replied to over 100 emails, did some bookkeeping, filed monthly sales tax, managed to dodge the swine flu my husband was carrying, started coaching a high school swim team for their winter season, finished growing a set of organs for our baby :) and blogged..... ummmm..... once.

I don't know when I will catch up on blogging all of my fall sessions, but I will do it somehow, someday! I've decided to cut myself some slack since it is my busy season and this year I do have to manage to get some sleep for the sake of my unborn child. I also realized that the world, in fact, does continue to go 'round even when I'm 6 weeks behind on blogging! I really do appreciate the fact that all of my clients are completely understanding that they never got their "sneak peeks" on the blog. I guess it helps that all of my clients are mothers and really understand my current state. I truly am thankful.

I've had several newborn sessions this fall and these moms and babies were just fabulous. I enjoyed, more than ever, admiring the babies and talking with the moms in those first few days at home with their precious little one.
Emma was determined to stay awake for my entire visit when she was just 10 days old. I guess she just didn't want to miss out on any of the girly chit-chat.

2009 Holiday Cards

2009-11-03T13:48:00.008-05:00

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas...
Okay well maybe not quite yet, the leaves are still a symphony of colors and most of us are still wearing only one layer of clothing, but Christmas is only 7.5 weeks away! Can you believe it?!?! I feel like after Halloween the rest of the year just flies by. I am really looking forward to Thanksgiving this year since my pregnancy is the perfect excuse to wear elastic waist pants and indulge in some good home cooking! It can't get here soon enough!

Most families like to send their Christmas cards out in early to mid December so now is the time to start planning so you don't have to send out a Happy New Year's card like I did last year (in mid-Januray....by email....I know, sad).
I have had my Christmas card templates since August and have had "blog the holiday cards" on my to do list every week since. Well (finally) here they are friends, enjoy the pretties. :)

If you would like to order Holiday cards through Sprouts, here are a few things to know:
-You must use a picture(s) from a Sprouts session, no exceptions.
-Cards are only available in increments of 25. (i.e. 25, 50, 75, etc.)
-Cards are 5x7 flat cards press printed on a slightly glossy coverstock paper OR an art linen coverstock paper (your choice). The quality of these are beautiful and amazing, this isn't shutterfly people!! :)
-You may choose from any of the cards featured above. You can choose a front and back designed set, OR choose any one side from the cards above and the other side can be one large picture.
-Wording can be customized by you.
- Colors can be customized for an additional design fee.

*Cards are $40 (plus tax) for each set of 25.
*The deadline for all card orders is December 4th. You will need to allow two weeks for delivery. So you will want to order early if you like to send out your cards by mid-December, or just order early to be sweet and help me cut down on the holiday rush. :)
*All Christmas card orders placed before Thanksgiving will receive a complimentary set of wallets, great to give relatives throughout the holidays or to use as gift tags this Christmas.
*Email me to order your Christmas cards, they are not available through your online gallery.

Grayson | 1 year

2009-10-29T14:04:00.002-04:00

Two posts in one day! I may catch up on blogging by the end of the year after all!

I have photographed so many one year olds over the past two months. Most of them I have photographed previously this year, so it is awesome to get to see them again and get to witness their personalities emerging. Grayson is a sweet heart and seems to be soooo laid back. I just love him! I was feeling especially pregnant this day, so we shared a banana and crackers half way through the session. Now I know how to lure him to sit in my lap!! He is just the sweetest.

Preston | 3 months

2009-10-29T13:24:00.004-04:00

It is so much fun to watch babies grow and document their first year. I photographed Preston as a newborn and then in a blink of an eye I was back at his home for 3 month pictures. He has grown so much and is a delicious little chunk of love. He is generous with his giggles and smiles. Oh and those adorable little toes, more delicious than watermelon jolly ranchers...

This turn of events makes me laugh.

Alex Josephine | 3 months

2009-10-27T16:35:00.002-04:00

Alex was such a sweet little baby. Her grandmother was there for the photo shoot as well and I just loved how she knew all the secrets to making her smile.

Alex and the first child! They told me he wasn't too upset about Alex's arrival because they stopped putting diapers and bibs on him!! hahaha I saw him in a bib and it was SO cute! He was such a pretty and well behaved dog. (I wish I could remember his name, but I have pregnancy brain) :)

Blogging Hiatus

2009-10-26T17:40:00.004-04:00

So I really am trying to get back into the blogging game. I hope people don't think I have disappeared, I am still working like crazy, its that time of year! I have about a million and one sessions to blog and all of those clients know why they haven't appeared on here yet. But I guess some blog followers who haven't seen me recently might not know.....that I am expecting!!!

Sprouts celebrated its one year anniversary last week. After a year of photographing and falling in love with all of your babies, we decided it was time to have one of our own! I am 13.5 weeks along, we are due April 30, 2010. I'm not showing yet, most likely because at least half the food I eat comes back up. But I am just beginning to look a little chubby so I'm guessing a pregnancy bump will be making its appearance any day now. I am so thankful for all of my clients who have been so patient over the past two months while I have been so sick. Blogging was the only thing I could drop and still be able to get clients their galleries and prints. I have had to take a "banana break" during most of my sessions here lately too. I think I am going to have a monkey because I eat at least 3-4 bananas every day. I have learned to take along an extra banana to sessions with babies between the ages of 6 months-2 years, apparently they love bananas too and my baby loves to share already!! :)
I am really hoping that I will start feeling completely back to normal REALLY soon and can get caught up on blogging all of the sweet families I have met over the past month. I have photographed 3 sweet newborn baby girls over the past few weeks too which I have especially loved!!

I am almost completely booked for the rest of 2009. Weekends and weekday evenings have been completely booked for a few weeks now, but I do have a few weekday morning spots available during November. I am also already booking for 2010. Please don't wait any longer to schedule a 2009 session.
I am still trying to figure out when I will be taking my maternity leave. As of right now I am estimating I will not be photographing sessions from the beginning of April through the end of June. I hope to make exceptions for newborns and existing baby clients who will hit an age milestone during that time. I'm sure there will be more updates on this and of course, many updates about our growing bambino!

Ariana | 1 year!

2009-10-02T17:46:00.004-04:00

Ariana just turned one too!! This age is SO much fun!! Ariana is a little performer so I really enjoyed capturing all of her little "tricks". I love how babies at this age can take cues from their parents. Ariana loooooves cars, I mean LOVES cars! We were out in their front yard and she would yell "car!!" so clearly each time one went by. It reminded me of the Chick-fil-a commercial where the little boy is saying "cow" from the backseat. We were out front playing around and I loved watching her face light up each time she saw one. Each car was a brand new excitement. Her excitement was contagious because after a few minutes I found myself excited about each car too. Funny how babies can make you do that!!
Ariana is ready for football on the left and on the right is one of the "car" moments!! Sooooo cute!!!

She can also make a pretty darn cute fish face....all the while looking out for cars, of course.

She has her own car which she of course LOVES!

Her other love is her bunny "B".

I will go anywhere looking for great light. This just happens to be in mom & dad's beautifully modern bathroom. I love it when parents are up for anything!

Hailey | 1 year!

2009-10-02T17:30:00.004-04:00

I photographed a ton of one year olds during September! So many of these were babies that I have been photographing for a while. I first met baby Hailey when she was just about 6 weeks old. I CAN NOT believe she has already had her first birthday!! This was the fifth time Miss Hailey has been in front of my camera and its always so much fun. I love how its just like getting together with old friends when I go over to her house for her photo session. We played, played, and played some more on this particular day!! Tea parties, sand box, splashing in water, baloons, slides, and more!

Andrea | SEN10R

2009-10-02T17:21:00.002-04:00

In an attempt to catch up on blogging over the next few days, I will be blogging up a storm.
Andrea's SEN10R session was several weeks ago and thank goodness she has had her gallery for most of that time. I just got really behind on blogging while I was sick, sometimes we just have to focus on the necessities. But finally I share with you the beautifully sweet Andrea! Class of 2010!

Holiday schedule announcement

2009-09-17T12:29:00.003-04:00

I promise I'm still around here somewhere. Sorry for my absence but I have been incredibly busy and sick at the same time. Not a good combination for someone trying to run a business by themselves. :( So I've had to focus on the things that are absolutely neccessary. I have six or seven shoots to blog, those will be coming soon, I promise!! I'm so sorry for those who are waiting on their blog posts, at least you already have your galleries to admire. :)

I just wanted to let everyone who is thinking about Fall sessions know that my calendar is filling up very quickly. If you are thinking about scheduling a session in 2009 please contact me really really soon. I will not be scheduling any shoots after Thanksgiving through the end of the year except for newborns and babies who are current clients who have milestones in December (6month, 1year, etc.). All orders will need to be placed by the end of November to guarantee delivery by Christmas.

Also, I am going to be having a gallery wrap canvas sale the first week of November! All canvases will be 25% off. These are the perfect Christmas gift! If you have had a session with Sprouts any time in the past year or have a session coming up in September & October you will be able to take advantage of this sale. Get the grandparents marked off the Christmas list early and give them a gift they will treasure!

Shelby | SEN10R

2009-09-04T16:42:00.003-04:00

Shelby is another great senior I had the opportunity to work with recently. I was so impressed with how Shelby carries herself. She is so smart and sweet to the core. She also loves to travel, so we had plenty to talk about!! Shelby is the only child and I know her parents are going to miss her sweet presence in their household next year when she goes off to college. She is just a joy to be around. I was excited that she stuck around after the shoot and had lunch with me. We had some great Italian food and about 2 gallons of ice water each! I think it was the hottest, most humid day of the year!

I have definitely been in a black and white mood this week! I love how her scarf looks in these black and whites.

Shelby's dad is the biggest Carolina Panther's fan ever!! She decided to surprise him and have some of her pictures made in her pink Panthers jersey. I know her dad is going to cherish these and I think the jersey fit her sweet, laid-back personality perfectly.

I love these next two...smile/no smile/color/black and white....the series of 4 are all really beautiful.

and I absolutely love this close cropped shot of Shelby! I just LOVE her smile!! Beautiful! I think mom and dad need a huge canvas of this in their living room so she's always there smiling at them!

Avery & Addison

2009-09-02T13:19:00.006-04:00

What can I say about this family? They are wonderful! I'm a little biased because they are friends of ours and Avery is the world's best cat sitter. Our cats, Tim and Chloe, say so! I was so excited when they hired me for a photo shoot. Avery and Addison were both adopted from Guatemala as babies and I don't think I have ever seen a more perfect, well rounded family. The girls personalities are so different and they fit in perfectly with the roles of older sister and baby of the family. Addison is the entertainer and Avery is the soft spoken one (most of the time) :) and helps keep Addison in line just like my big sister used to do to me. I wonder if she also plays school with her and makes her do *her* math homework......Maybe not yet. I guess that's my own fault for loving math so much growing up, and my sister was brilliant for capitalizing on it!
So anyways, back to Avery and Addison.....aren't they precious!!!!!

I love these square closeups and think they would be really cool with some asymmetrical framing as illustrated.

wow, I didn't realize so many of my favorites were in black and white!

They showed me a place in their dining room that they were having a hard time finding something to go on the walls. The door into the kitchen creates two narrow widths of wall on either side, so we decided that it would be really cool to have two tall, skinny canvases there. The cool thing with gallery wrap canvases is that you can do any custom size! I love that!

North Carolina sales tax increase

2009-09-02T13:06:00.002-04:00

Not sure if everyone is aware of this but I guess we will all start noticing it in stores. Just wanted to give a heads up to all my clients since you will now see that the sales tax rate in the shopping cart is 8.25%. You may not have noticed it otherwise but I did want to share the news in case anyone was wondering about the change.

North Carolina Department Of Revenue
Post Office Box 25000
Raleigh, North Carolina 27640-00

IMPORTANT NOTICE: SALES AND USE TAX RATE CHANGE
I. INCREASE IN STATE SALES AND USE TAX RATE BY 1%

The General Assembly enacted legislation to temporarily increase the State rate of sales and
use tax by 1%. The increase is effective September 1, 2009 and scheduled to expire July 1,
2011.

Jillian | SEN10RS

2009-08-31T16:46:00.003-04:00

Jillian and I chose Uptown for her SEN10R session and we had a blast exploring the ins and outs and ups and downs of Charlotte's center city. Jillian is A-maz-ing in front of the camera, and is an absolute sweetheart. The one on the left is the very first shot from the session....I was pretty excited about the session after seeing that it took her exactly 1.5 seconds to warm up to the camera.

one of my faves...

definitely love these....she's beautiful

and I think this is my absolute fave...but thats a tough call...

Barrett | 10 weeks

2009-08-24T11:00:00.003-04:00

I was so excited to finally meet this family, we had been trying to get our schedules to cooperate since June! Well, mostly my schedule...summer vacation time. They are from Alabama just like me so we had a special bond from the beginning, even though we are fans of opposite teams in one of the biggest rivalries of all time! My husband and I went to Auburn and they went to Alabama. It was so much fun to talk to them about home....and we decided we can be friends except for on November 27th....the day of the big game. ;)
Barrett is an absolute doll! I don't know if its okay to call a boy a doll but that's what he is! Absolute perfection! He is already holding his head up pretty well and smiling a lot. He also has two pretty smitten parents. I mean, how could he not!!

probably my fave....he's just so sweet and cuddly

Their dog Bella was having a first child-pity party kind of moment.

........behind the scenes.......
Barrett took a little power nap during the photo shoot. I can't believe he sleeps like this!!! Isn't that the cutest thing you have ever seen!!!

Connolly | 6 months old

2009-08-24T10:31:00.003-04:00

I photographed sweet Connolly as a newborn and it was so great to see again her last week. She has grown and changed SO much. It is so awesome to see babies developing a personality and to be able to tell which parent they look like. Connolly definitely has her daddy's eyes. I think she is a pretty even blend of her mom and dad. She is just so precious. Turns out, she wasn't feeling too great this day, maybe teething. So she didn't show us very many of her smiles but she still has the cutest expressions.

I love these little scrunched up toes. This was her first time to sit in the grass and it was tickling her sweet little feet.

Love this. They were working so hard to try to get her to smile!

The Happiest Baby

2009-08-20T20:28:00.008-04:00

What do you get when you have a smiling baby for two hours, some beautiful evening light, and parents who are relaxed and game for anything? Too many great pictures to narrow down for the blog! Siena is 9 months old and she was A-maz-innnngggg at her shoot. She smiled and laughed the entire time and I had such a great time playing with her from behind my camera. I loved how her mom and dad both told her over and over throughout the session... "you are the sweetest baby." Yes, she is.
Two of my absolute favorites.....

She looooves her mommy AND her necklace!

I just couldn't stop photographing her! Even when I was packed up and leaving, I had to stop, unpack and shoot some more!

Sienna's mom is Cyndi Schick, an amazing local artist who works in several different mediums. Go take a look at her beautiful work here! I am in love with her "landscapes and abstracts" section. Take the time to venture over to her site and check it out.

Rebekah | SEN10RS

2009-08-18T09:41:00.004-04:00

Rebekah is another beautiful senior that I got to hang out with recently. She is a sweet pea.... Pocket sized, sweet pea. We had a great time exploring downtown Davidson, playing in the rain, and comparing our shadow sizes. Halfway through our shoot when it started raining Rebekah, her mom, and I just piled in the car and chatted up a storm and waited for the rain to pass. We didn't think it was going to end, so we decided to get out and play in the light rain. Rebekah was awesome! I was so excited that she was up for anything, and muchas gracias to her mom for holding the umbrella over my camera!! We had a blast. Then the rain stopped and an amazing blue sky appeared for the remainder of the shoot. It was awesome.

Taylor | SEN10RS

2009-08-17T12:31:00.002-04:00

Taylor, her mom and I had a great time at her urban shoot. We walked, talked, and burst out into random songs. My kind of gals. Chocolate. That's another thing we had in common. So we just had to stop by Amelie's after the shoot so I could introduce them to the best dessert in Charlotte. We had a great time exploring and even stopped by a playground by Taylor's request. She said she was a kid at heart and wanted to capture that. I love that!

The many faces of Taylor. l love them all!

Jennifer | SEN10RS

2009-08-13T09:56:00.003-04:00

The very cute and ever so bubbly Jennifer was my first in a string of sen10rs I have this month. We had a blast talking about summer jobs, shoes, and hair products. Doesn't she have beautiful curls?!?! She is one of those people whose smile and laugh just spreads like wildfire. It wasn't hard getting great pictures of her for sure! What was hard was narrowing it down for the blog. Can't you tell how sweet she is just by her smile and expressions. I love that!!!

I really love these two of her.

Jennifer, you stop being so cute, stop it right now. ;)......she can't.

Smoothie Madness

2009-08-12T16:59:00.003-04:00

Our new blender came in last week and we have already put it to work. Its fantastic for chopping ice to smithereens (is that a real word?). Our favorite recipe so far is 1/2 cup strawberries, 1/2 cup blueberries, 1/2 cup cherries, 1/2 cup bananas, 1/2 cup fat free vanilla yogurt, 1/4 cup orange juice. I also add a teaspoon of local honey to supposedly help with my allergies...I will try anything to help allergies. :)
I figured out that if I do all the chopping and prep work in bulk it saves a lot of time and mess. So yesterday I went to the local farmer's market and bought a ton of fruit. It took about 30 minutes to individually bag ingredients for 10 smoothies. Probably would have been quicker if I didn't have the urge to photograph everything in life. Now all we have to do is pull the frozen fruit out of the freezer and add the liquid ingredients, its just as fast as pouring a bowl of cereal! I also like the texture of the smoothie better when using frozen fruit. Its a win/win situation.

See those little blue specks....those are tiny pieces of blueberry skin. If you make this smoothie, you might want to check your teeth before leaving the house. It hasn't happened to me or anything....like at church or something....I'm just saying.....

sweet Reilley Grace

2009-08-10T11:31:00.002-04:00

Last week I had the pleasure of photographing 4 month old Reilley Grace at her home. She was so sweet and gave me all kinds of sweet little grins. Mom and dad are just smitten. They love black and white photography so I thought I would share many of those. I could stare at each of her precious little baby face features all day long!

She has already mastered the fist bump.

Sweet Sisters

2009-08-05T13:39:00.004-04:00

A sister is a little bit of childhood that can never be lost. ~Marion C. Garretty

Last week when I went home to Alabama for a wedding, I scheduled a few sessions. All but one was rained out, I guess we now have a rainy season. I was so glad I got to hang out with these two sweet sisters...even if the looming rain did rush us a bit. Kelsey is going to Auburn in the fall....our Alma mater...War Eagle!!!! :) Their mom, Luanne, thought it was a perfect time for a photo shoot for Kelsey and Taylor before Kelsey leaves the roost for college. I couldn't agree more. I asked Kelsey where her best friend was going to college, and she said "my best friend is right here" and pointed to Taylor. It wasn't a casual remark stated to make mom smile either, it was the absolute truth. Their love and friendship was so obvious and beautiful.

I had SUCH a great time with you ladies. Best of luck to you Taylor as you start school at a new high school this year, and a giant "War Eagle!" to Kelsey! I know you will love your time at Auburn! Maybe we'll bump into you at Jordan Hare Stadium this fall. :)

Happy (Belated) Birthday to Harrison!

2009-08-04T13:06:00.002-04:00

Harrison turned one in June so he was one of my first scheduled sessions when we returned from summer vacation. He is baby boyfriend ;) to Hailey whom you have seen on the blog several times. Harrison was such a cool and relaxed baby. He even sleeps late! Now that is my kind of baby!!! We played with all kinds of toys while I was at their house for the photo shoot. I think he had a great time.... I know I did!

Baby Love

2009-08-03T14:42:00.003-04:00

I first met this family last year before Christmas when I photographed them as a family. They had just welcomed baby Macy into their family and everyone was still giddy with joy. Many months later, that excitement has still not worn off. I had such a great time hanging out with the family at Lake Norman. Brendan and Meghan love their little sister so much. Several times throughout the session, they had to stop to just hug and love on Macy for a minute. Then they would be rejuvenated and ready to go again. It reminded me so much of my family with my little sister who is 14 years younger than me. It is such a blessing to be able to help raise a little sister, and it was a blessing to be able to watch Brendan and Meghan do the same.

....behind the scenes.....
I always get a little snuggling time of my own at sessions with babies. Macy is one very cuddly baby!!! She is so precious. Thank you Brendan for taking this picture for me! Maybe next time you'll just let me bring Macy home with me!! ;)

All boy, all brothers

2009-07-30T14:49:00.002-04:00

I met this sweet little family of four in Huntersville last week for a fun family session. Both of the boys were so sweet and I had so much fun chasing them around. It was so sweet to watch them love on their mommy...sigh.....I love how little boys do that. Isn't it the sweetest?!?!!

They loved on each other too. The one on the left is one of my favorites.

And I love love love all of these expressions. They were all within about 15 seconds of each other.

I'm constantly studying and learning new techniques. One thing I've been trying to figure out for a while is lens flare with the sun. Still not quite there honestly, but I really like the warmth in this image. I love the opportunities for growth and exploration in photography.

There is an entire series of family shots like these. I LOVE them!!! I think they would look great in a series of 4 or 6 11x14s. So much love and happiness.

Baby on the Way!

2009-07-27T15:52:00.002-04:00

I adored watching Dana and Jason laugh together. Such a sweet couple, they are welcoming Baby Emma into the world in about 6 weeks. What a lucky little girl she is to have such kind and loving parents. I have a feeling she might know how to giggle by the time she comes out of the womb.

They had me cracking up the entire session. Most definitely kids at heart.

I loved spending time with you guys and I can not wait to meet little Miss Emma!!!

Session Album

2009-07-24T19:20:00.003-04:00

I wanted to share this beautiful little session album that I mailed out to a client today. These albums are available to all my clients, you can find more information about the Session Album in the 2009 Pricing Guide pdf. (If you need the guide, email me and let me know)
The 8x8 album contains up to 30 images from your session and feature matted 5x7s on black or white pages. There are tons and tons of cover options, a lot of cool materials in some really fun colors as well as custom photo covers like the one shown here from a summer session in May.

Home Sweet Home

2009-07-24T18:50:00.002-04:00

We've been home since Sunday, and updating the blog has been on my to-do list every day since. I wouldn't say that I'm caught up enough to be blogging right now, but I needed a break and I *really* wanted to cross this off of my to-do list.
I have a ton of shoots in the next 6 weeks. I knew it would be that way after being gone for 6 weeks. Maybe this is a cycle I should work on??? Do 12 weeks worth of work in 6 weeks and then take 6 weeks off??? Not sure if that's exactly what people mean when they say a healthy life/work balance. We had such a great time with Jeremy's family. We are so thankful that we were able to spend so much time with them this summer after not seeing them very much over the past 3 years. It was refreshing and I know this summer made my husband so happy. That makes it more than worth it for me.
So anyway, I'm back in action and wanted to share just a few pictures from our trip to the Bahamas. I have hundreds of pictures, but with my upcoming schedule it may be a while before I get to go through the rest of them.

Even though vacation is over, I'm still lovin' life. I was just thinking today about several things I am excited about.
1. We only spent $82 on groceries for an entire week! I love Trader Joe's and the Kings Dr. Farmers Market! That is such a major change from a year ago when Jeremy was training for the Olympics and eating at least $150 worth of food a week by himself, thats not counting the 36 powerbars a week and the recovery drinks! Its also a big change from expensive groceries the past four weeks in the Bahamas.
2. We are getting a new blender! We drank so many fresh fruit smoothies while we were in the Maldives in June and we planned on getting a blender when we came home. After some research, we finally ordered one and it should be here Monday! I can't wait to try out some smoothie recipes we've found online.
3. I finally have some new pictures for our living room! When we moved to Charlotte, I decided to design our living room around peaceful beach colors since I knew Jeremy missed the Bahamas. I just got several new white frames with white mats for some of my photos from this summer and I can't wait to put them up. I will try to remember to share pictures when I finish this little project.
4. Swimming World Championships in Rome, Italy start Sunday!!!! This makes me happy and kind of sad at the same time. I'm excited to see how our friends do, especially Mark Gangloff (100m BR & 50BR for USA) and our new friends from the Maldives, but I'm also kind of sad that Jeremy's not there competing and I'm not there cheering him on. I'm still excited about seeing the results and getting to watch part of the meet on NBC.
5. We are going home to see my family next week!!! Even though I will be busy with photo shoots while I'm there, I'm still super pumped about seeing Ella!! It is absolutely crazy how much I miss her!
6. I'm excited to be back home and catch up with our friends at church on Sunday, and I can't wait to see how much all the babies in our group have grown this summer.
7. Jeremy doesn't start back teaching until August 18th so I don't have to go through complete seperation anxiety after 6 weeks of being together all day every day. He has already started coaching but that only takes him away for part of the day. :)
8. Our new nephew will be born in the Bahamas in just a few weeks!!!!! I am trying to work it out to go down and see them right after he is born. I really hope I'm able to!! It was so much fun spending a lot of time with our 18 month old nephew Joss this summer. Jeremy and I have been "speaking Joss" a lot since we came home. I love the way he pronounces different words like "pish", "tuh-tuhs", "boooooat", "beasch" and "uh-ooooooo".
As you can tell, his vocabulary is heavily ocean themed. :)

Bahama Mama

2009-07-07T14:54:00.003-04:00

My husband, Jeremy, is from the Bahamas and most of his family still lives there. Growing up, his family would go on vacation to the out islands in the Bahamas. Lots of sun, boating, spearfishing, conching, and family time. They know how to take it easy.
We brought two of our couple friends down last week and took them out on the boat to the Cays in northern Exuma for several nights. We had a great time on the boat, introducing them to the island lifestyle of wristwatch-free relaxation and eating what you catch for dinner.
Then Jeremy and I spent a few days in Nassau catching up with aunts & uncles and friends. Jeremy's oldest brother, Dallas, and his wife, Tamara, and little boy, Joss, live on a little island in the southern Exuma Cays, so we came down to visit them for two weeks with Jeremy's parents, siblings, and spouses. This is the first time in several years that they have all been together at one time since they are spread across the Bahamas and southern U.S.
Good times.
Dallas and Tamara own a tourism company called Out Island Explorers, you definitely need to check it out. They have kayaks and sail boats that you can rent to explore the Exuma Cays, the most beautiful place on the planet!!! We all went out sailing a few days ago and yesterday we went kayaking for several hours. It has been fun to have some extra activities to throw into the mix. One night this week we are having a pirate themed mystery dinner theatre and I am super pumped about my outfit!! I will definitely share some pictures of that. In the mean time, here are a few pictures from our sailing trip.

Their boats are little Sea Pearls which are SO much fun, we split up into different boats and had a few races. Our boat "Feather" came in last every time....what can I say....we're taking "island time" a little too seriously.

Our nephew Joss LOVES the water. He learned how to walk on the beach and at only 18 months he is already half way swimming. He is a true island boy with a cute little tan to prove it.

Summertime Babies

2009-07-07T14:44:00.004-04:00

As you can tell by the lack of posting on the blog, I am on vacation. This summer has turned out to be a busy one but now we are enjoying spending a few weeks with my husband's family in the Bahamas. We came down on June 16th but I had to go back home for a few days for a family wedding and a few photo shoots. I don't want to skip anyone on the blog and I also don't want to be months behind so I thought I would blog several babies I photographed recently. I love spending time with my tiniest subjects. Check out these sweeties.

Summer Update

2009-06-24T09:23:00.005-04:00

I apologize for not updating right after we returned from the Maldives last week. We had an amazing time and I looked forward to telling you all about it but then things got crazy busy really fast. We arrived back in Charlotte Sunday night and then flew to the Bahamas Tuesday morning for Jeremy's brother's wedding on Wednesday. I was the wedding photographer, jet-lag and all! Then Thursday morning I flew back to Charlotte so that I could drive to Alabama for my cousin's wedding. 20 miles into the trip I had a blow-out so after getting someone to help me change the tire I just decided to turn around and go home and sleep in my own bed. That night of sleep was too awesome for words! Friday morning I bought a new tire and then took the 6 hour journey home to Alabama. Saturday was filled with fun wedding festivities and then Sunday with Father's Day. I also photographed my niece Ella at 9 months old and my new baby cousin Caitlyn. Monday I drove back to Charlotte to get some work done. I had a photo shoot yesterday and one today and then I fly out first thing tomorrow morning to go back to the Bahamas for a vacation this time! Two of our couple friends are going with us and I am really excited about spending the next week on the boat with them. Then Jeremy and I are flying down to the out island where his brother and his family lives to spend some time with them. This summer has been so busy with hopping around from one place to another but I will be so excited to get on the plane in the morning and know that schedules and long trips are over with until we fly back here on July 19th. I may try to blog a few pictures here and there while we are away.
But for now I wanted to point you in the direction of our photo albums from our trip to the Maldives. Follow this link to see pictures of Dubai, and this is the Maldives.

This is one of my favorite pictures from the trip. I just loved how affectionate and family oriented the people in the Maldives are. It was so sweet to watch the families interact.

And this is my favorite picture of Jeremy and I from the trip. We took this on the beach one morning with the camera sitting on a beach chair and using the self timer.

I got to see alot of the family babies over the past week! While in the Bahamas for my brother-in-law's wedding, I got to play with my nephew Joss that lives in the Bahamas. We will be spending a lot of time with them this summer so you will probably see more of him. We also get to meet our new niece Olivia in a few weeks while we are down there!

I took some newborn pictures of Caitlyn for my cousin Cristy. She is so sweet and tiny. It is amazing how Ella is already twice this size in only 9 months time!

Ella is growing and changing SOOO fast!! She is crawling really well now and she can pull herself up on anything. The picture on the left is my new favorite picture of her. I think I give this face at least 10,000 kisses every day that I am with her. On the right, she was sitting in this chair that her great-great-great-great grandfather made for my grandmother when she was a little girl. It didn't take long for her to turn herself around and stand up in the chair!

Most babies suck their thumbs, Ella chews hers. She has two bottom teeth that she scrapes back and forth over her thumb and she makes the funniest faces. I am also still completely obsessed with her amazing eyelashes (and a bit jealous of them)!

From the Maldives!!

2009-06-02T12:19:00.004-04:00

I didn't have the chance to blog Friday night before we left for the Maldives, but we have now arrived! We had an 18 hour layover in Dubai on Sunday so we had enough time to go out into the city and explore. Being an architect, I loved seeing all the new buildings. Dubai is an interesting place and its very hot since its in the middle of the desert. It was 120 degrees the day we were there!

We arrived in Male, Maldives Monday morning and took a speedboat to an island resort for the first two nights. The swimming federation arranged for us to stay here the first two nights so we could catch up on sleep. I think that was a good decision since we have taken 4 hour naps each day as well as sleeping 8 hours each night. We were exhausted when we got here but I think we are starting to recover. We take the speed boat back to Male tomorrow and meet the president of the swimming federation. The clinic my husband is coaching starts Thursday morning and we are excited to get it underway. I will be doing a lot of underwater filming for the swimmers and I just installed the video editing software because I still need to learn how to edit video!
Here are a few pictures of the resort where we are staying. It is so beautiful here!!
Sorry for all the wonky horizon lines, all I did was take these straight out of the camera, reduce, and upload. I didn't have time to straighten and edit, but I'm sure you understand. :)

I'm having withdrawals....

2009-05-27T19:43:00.005-04:00

from this little one...

LOOOVVEEEEE those little tip-toes.
I spent the long weekend at home with my family. My niece Ella is changing daily and it makes me so sad that I am not there everyday to see it. Reflecting on that thought this weekend made me SO incredibly grateful to the service men and women that sacrifice time with their families (among many other things) to protect the freedom we have in this amazing country. So very thankful.
While at home, I woke up every morning to this...

Before Ella was born we would always spend the night at my mom and dad's house, now that she is here I need every possible second with Ella so I spend the night at my sister and brother-in-law's house, and I sleep in Ella's room. I love waking up to her sweet little face in the morning....but not too early in the morning *ahem*...4:15 my last morning there. She is pulling up in her crib now and she chews on everything. She just crawled for the first time last week so it was so much fun to watch her improve and really figure things out over the weekend. As many things as I miss in her life, I was *ecstatic* to watch her crawl over to the coffee table and pull herself up to the standing position for the first time!! She is so strong...both physically and willfully. The baby proofing will commence immediately because we are quite certain she is going to blaze right through the crawling stage and be running around in no time.

I was home for my first cousin's baby shower who will be adding another little girl to the family any day now. I think its safe to say that Caitlyn has plenty of clothes!!
I was also there for my little sister's sixth grade graduation. Her school, which is the same school my older sister and I went to, is K-12 so they have Kindergarten graduation, 6th grade graduation, and 12th grade graduation. I am so proud of the little lady Haley is becoming. She won several academic awards, but what makes me the most proud is that she was chosen by her teachers for the "Good Citizen" award. It was the only character award and it was given to 3 students in her class that are good students as well as positive role models to their classmates. Haley is so sweet and kind hearted. She is very smart, and not just book smart, but wise....wise beyond her years. Our family is so blessed by her and we are excited to know that her teachers and classmates are as well. Here she is receiving her award. I also had a goal this weekend of getting an updated picture of my grandparents. It rained most of the weekend and kept on intruding on our plans to photograph them but we snapped this after Haley's graduation. My granddaddy is laughing here because it just started to rain....again!

We also managed to fit in a few minutes between the rain to get some shots of my cousin Cristy and baby Caitlyn. I am in love with this field that is right beside their house.

Kirby + Brandi...Happily Ever After

2009-05-27T18:46:00.006-04:00

Few words are needed to describe how much joy exuded from this couple on their wedding day...you can see it all over them!! Kirby and Brandi were so easy to get to know and I truly had a blast on their wedding day. Not only were they outgoing and super friendly, but their entire wedding party and family were the coolest ever! I felt like a part of the family by the end of the night. The ceremony was a full Catholic mass infused with Filipino traditions at St Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in the University area. Every guest from the youngest to the oldest danced the night away at The Big Chill in Dilworth after the ceremony.
This is a big sneak peek for them to enjoy when they return from their honeymoon in St. Lucia!

9 months of Hailey!

2009-05-27T18:41:00.003-04:00

I have been photographing this little beauty since she was a few weeks old. After several photo shoots, it is so fun to meet up with this family of three for our photo shoots. Its like hanging out with old friends. It is so neat to see how much Hailey is changing. Her hair is getting longer, she smiles A LOT, and she is crawling all over the place. She is so beautiful and loved SOOO much by her adoring parents. It is so sweet to see them together.

I am a sucker for cute photo ops with baby + daddy. I just love to see how baby girls get their daddies wrapped around their little finger so early in life.

When I see Hailey for her first birthday in August, I am sure she will be walking. She is so determined and very smart!

Charlotte Ultraswim

2009-05-27T18:33:00.005-04:00

Weekend before last, I had the opportunity to be on deck and photograph the Charlotte Ultraswim. This is a meet that my husband Jeremy has been competing in for years. He retired from competitive swimming in September of last year, so this was my first big swim meet to go to where he wasn't racing...he was coaching instead. I missed cheering for him, but thoroughly enjoyed not being anxious and nervous! His involvement with the sport is different now but his passion is as strong as ever.

Here are just a few shots from the weekend, if you want to see more you can follow this link to my album from the weekend.

Happy Birthday Marshall!!

2009-05-20T09:11:00.002-04:00

Marshall turns one year old in a few weeks so his parents wanted to capture his personality at this age. Mom & Marshall met me at the park while dad was at work. We had a great time playing and I don't think Marshall ever realized we were taking pictures. I just love how huge Marshall's smile is!! I think we even got some good shots for Father's Day. I loved so many of them playing together, so much love.

In the picture above, Marshall was talking to this guy. I guess they are so used to people feeding them at the park that they pretty much marched right up to us and demanded something to eat. I was squatting down in the grass and this one came up to me and almost pecked my toes!! It really freaked me out!

Happy Birthday to You! Happy Birthday to You! Happy Birthday to Marshall! Happy Birthday to You!!!!

Three Little Sprouts!!

2009-05-18T13:05:00.003-04:00

Last week I photographed Carley at a teeny tiny seven days old. I love shooting newborns in the window of 5-10 days old when they still have the newborn curl, it is so sweet. I was excited to photograph this family with a newborn and twin two year old boys. Guess what their last name was?!?! Sprout!!! Maybe I'm a little bit more excited about that than some people would be, but I just thought it was neat. :) I had a great time with little Miss Carley, she slept the ENTIRE time!!

I just love how tiny she is from this perspective.

a sweet little peaceful smile...
oh my goodness! sweet little baby fingers and toes!

After a while I went outside with Bryce and Jesse to play. I just LOVED this little boy collection of sticks and rocks in a little plastic bowl from the kitchen. Little boys are so fun!!

One Year Old Beauty

2009-05-14T19:39:00.006-04:00

Beautiful Charlie is celebrating her first birthday this Saturday!! The day of her shoot it was gloomy and rainy outside so we decided to try again the next day so we could play outside. I am SOOO glad we did! The following day was gorgeous and Charlie had a great time playing outside with me following close behind, snapping away. I mean really...isn't she gorgeous!?!?!

I just love the bottom right picture of all three of them crinkling up their noses. There were plenty of other great moments between the three of them. Come to think of it, this entire family is beautiful!

And I believe Charlie has her daddy wrapped around her little finger. What do you think?

I don't normally do this treatment on pictures but it was a special request from mom, so I was up for trying it out. I wanted to put my own personal touch on the "black & white with a pop of color", so after working the black and white levels to get that just right, I left the color subtle and played around with some texture on the image for the final look.

Triple Sneak Peek

2009-05-13T16:17:00.004-04:00

I am very thankful for how busy I have been this spring. This week and the next few are even more so and in order to make sure all of my clients needs are met first, the blog may be the first thing to suffer. I just want to make sure that I am sending out gallery links and print orders on time, so I have a limited amount of time to do posts. I always want to make sure I give everyone a sneak peek though so here are three from last Saturday. I have several more sessions I hope to share before the weekend.
First up, we have two year old Sarah. This age is fun to chase around and I have to pretty much let them run the show. Sarah loved these balloons we found on the street and daddy also entertained her with bubbles. Sarah will be a big sister this fall and I am looking forward to capturing her newborn sister in September!

The other two sessions from Saturday were two big families. Everyone was in town for Mother's Day and Christy & Christi had set up a photo shoot for everyone while they were all in town. I thought this was a great idea. I would love to have photos like this of my extended family. We all love photography so we have a ton of pictures but there is always one person missing from each picture....the photographer.
Christy with a "Y" and her family met me at Freedom Park for this shoot, complete with their cuddly labradoodle. This dog literally felt like velvet and Christy now has a new dog sitter whenever needed!! I thought her grandparents were the cutest thing I have ever seen!!!!

Christi with an "I" and her family met me at the Green at Uptown for their shoot. Christi (the one with long blonde hair) is the mother to baby Holland Grace. Christi's sister Courtney is the mother to the cutie pies Tori and Luke. I love how this family laughs together. They definitely have three water babies on their hands!! It was so much fun to watch them play in the fountains. Tori & Luke even got Aunt Christi and Uncle Matt involved, so then of course baby Holland Grace had to play too. They all LOVED it!!!

I love that last picture of Christi and Holland Grace....it looks like Holland is saying "I love....YOU!" What a perfect Father's Day gift for Matt of his two lovelies!

We have a winner!

2009-05-11T20:07:00.005-04:00

We are soooo excited about our awesome playlist for summer! Thank you so much for sending us your song choices, there are some GREAT ones and there is no way I would have thought of all of these by myself. We leave in two and a half weeks and I have not really had a moment to think about our trip yet because I have been so busy, but now that I have all of these songs on my mind I am really starting to get excited! I hope to have time this week to start downloading and it is a good thing that Jeremy still has some iTunes gift cards from his students at Christmas! We are going to need them! I can't wait to start listening to this play list, I think I might edit photos in my sunglasses and bikini for the next two weeks just to get ready. ;)

This was my very first contest and I have to say, it is exciting to give something away. I've always enjoyed watching people open gifts from me more than I have enjoyed opening gifts myself, so maybe that is why this is so much fun.
It says there were 17 comments, but there were actually 15 because two people deleted theirs and then reposted so I entered 1-15 in a random integer generator online to produce the winning number. I then counted down through the list to the magic number, skipping the posts which were deleted.
so without further rambling, the winner is...
...
...
...

#7!!!!
One Fine Day Artistry!!!
Meredith is a makeup artist in Birmingham, AL. We actually went to church together in college at Auburn and Meredith found my blog recently through facebook.
Meredith! I wish you lived in Charlotte so you could be my makeup artist for photo shoots! You are beautiful and so is your work!!!! Congrats on starting your own business and congrats on winning this little contest! :)
Email me at info@sproutsbyheather.com and let me know if you would like a gift card to Target or Luxe Deluxe. Also include your mailing address and it will be on its way! Yay!! Giving things away is so much fun!!

I was going to make a cute little graphic with all the songs in it, but then I thought that some of you might want to make a summer playlist with it too so I'm just going to paste them below so that you can copy them easily. Thank you all so much for helping me make the best summer playlist ever!! You guys rock!!

Walter Egen – Magnet and Steel; Hall & Oats – She’s Gone; Stealers Wheel – Stuck in the Middle With You; Thin Lizzy – The Boys Are Back In Town; Elvin Bishop – Fooled Around and Fell In Love; Tommy James and the Shondells – Crimson and Clover; Bob Seger – Night Moves; Simon and Garfunkel – The Boxer; Led Zeppelin – Bron Y Aur Stomp; Derek and the Dominos – Bell Bottom Blues; Rufus ft. Chaka Khan – Tell Me Something Good; Doobie Brothers – China Grove; Eddie Money – Two Tickets to Paradise; Jim Croce – New York’s Not My Home; Gordon Lightfoot – If You Could Read My Mind; Stephen Stills – Southern Cross; Joe Walsh – Life’s Been Good; In my mind I'm going to Carolina- James Taylor; Simple Man - Lynyrd Skynyrd; How sweet it is--James Taylor; You're the Inspiration--Chicago; Mother and Child; Reunion--Paul Simon; Hotel California- Eagles; Love will find a Way--Pablo Cruise; pretty young thing--Michael Jackson; Country Roads--John Denver; Margaritaville--Jimmy Buffet; Son of A Sailor--Jimmy Buffet; Brown Eyed Girl--Van Morrison; All Right Now-- Free; American Woman-- Guess Who; Sweet Melissa -- the Allman Brothers; In Your Eyes, Peter Gabriel; The Gambler, Kenny Rogers; Three Times a Lady, Commodores; Kung Fu Fighting, Carl Davis; Let's Stay Together, Al Green; Margaritaville, Jimmy Buffet; You Sexy Thing, Hot Chocolate; Rock With You, Michael Jackson; Ain't No Mountain High Enough, Diana Ross; Summer Nights, Glenn Campbell; Dancing Queen, ABBA; December 1963 (Oh What A Night),4 Seasons; She's a Lady, Tom Jones; Copacobana, Barry Manilow; Summer Nights, Olivia Newton John & John Travolta; Come And Get Your Love - Redbone; Go Your Own Way - Fleetwood Mac; Landslide - Fleetwood Mac; Signed Sealed, Delivered (I'm Yours), Stevie Wonder; Ain't No Mountain High Enough, Diana Ross; Give Me Just A Little More Time, Chairmen Of The Board; If You Leave Me Now- Chicago; We've Only Just Begun- Carpenters; She's Gone -Hall and Oats; Piano Man - Billy Joel; You've Got A Friend - Carole King; My Girl - The Temptations, The Temptations; More Today Than Yesterday - Spiral Staircase; Hot Fun in the Summertime - Sly & the Family Stone; Wedding Bell Blues - The 5th Dimension; Do Wah Diddy Diddy - Manfred Mann, Manfred Mann; I Saw the Light - Todd Rundgren; Good Lovin' - The Rascals; Bad Moon Rising - Creedence Clearwater Revival; If You Don't Know Me by Now - Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes; I Only Have Eyes for You - The Flamingos; Saturday in the Park - Chicago; My Girl (Theme) - James Newton Howard

Wow friends, that is 70 songs from the 70s! This is an incredible summer soundtrack! Thanks again for all your awesome suggestions!!

Enter today...

2009-05-11T08:44:00.003-04:00

Last day to enter the contest. One random winner will be drawn tonight at 8pm. I will announce the winner shortly after. We're pretty excited about our awesome song list for this summer!!!!
Enter your song choice in the comments section of the post below for chance at winning your choice of a $40 gift card to Target or to Luxe Deluxe @ Etsy!!

http://sproutsbyheather.blogspot.com/2009/05/summer-schedule-contest.html

Don't forget to enter the contest!

2009-05-08T08:33:00.002-04:00

Just wanted to remind everyone to enter their song for the contest before it ends on Monday. I'm guessing the 404 people who have visited the blog since Monday who have not commented yet, are just thinking of their song. ;) Don't be shy! This could be the easiest $40 you ever make!
One song will be randomly drawn Monday evening to select a winner! Enter now so you don't forget!!! Have a beautiful weekend!

Summer Schedule & A Contest!!

2009-05-04T15:51:00.009-04:00

*Read all the way to the bottom to find out how you can win $40 and make my summer complete!* :)
I just wanted to give a quick update about portrait sessions for the summer which is quickly approaching! I can't believe its already May! My husband- Jeremy - and I will be traveling all of June and part of July so I am now booking sessions for late July and August.

The first half of June, I will be traveling with Jeremy to the Maldives where he was invited to do a coaching clinic for the country's top swimmers and coaches. It will be a lot of hard work in the heat but hopefully we will be able to mix in a little bit of fun and soak in the beautiful surroundings while we are there. The day after we arrive back in the States, we fly down to Nassau, Bahamas to stay until mid-July We have several really fun trips planned while we are there, and we are sooooo excited about being able to spend an extended amount of time immersed in the islands and hanging out with Jeremy's family.
So this brings me to my first ever contest on the blog! I really really REALLY want you each to enter it!! It will TOTALLY make me day.

Every time Jeremy and I go on a trip we plan out a new song list to serve as our "soundtrack". We have decided our genre of choice for this summer will be smooth/soft Rock of the 70s....think James Taylor, Eagles, etc.... and we better throw in some Neil Diamond for Jeremy. We think it will be a good choice for relaxing on the boat and soaking in the sun.

This is where I need your help!! In the comment section below list your favorite song & artist of this genre that we should add to our Summer '09 Soundtrack. I will randomly select one commenter next Monday afternoon (May 11) to win a $40 gift card to one of my favorite Etsy stores... Luxe Deluxe or to one of my favorite stores down the road...Target. Make sure you list song&artist and don't forget to leave a way for me to get in touch with you!

Post about this contest on your blog for an extra entry!! Just notify me with a link to your blog in a separate comment. *I know some people have mentioned they have had problems with commenting, if so, you can email me your song/artist and I will post it for you so you can be entered in the contest.*
And to keep this post from being only text. We went to Blowing Rock in the NC mountains this weekend. We ate some really great barbecue on Saturday which reminded us of this song. Enjoy! I think this is hilarious...maybe you will too.

Click on the "_ comments" below the video to expand the commenting section and leave your song choice.

Big Brother Love | Charlotte Children's Photographer

2009-05-01T15:21:00.004-04:00

Meet two brothers who looovveeeee their baby sister. I mean really really love their baby sister! They can't keep their hands off of her and they are just so gentle and playful. It was the cutest thing I have ever seen! Nate and Andy are rough & tough -all boy- big brothers but they still hug and kiss all over Erin-Hope. They were so much fun to watch and capture!

Erin-Hope LOVES her baby doll. She literally shook with excitement when mom pulled her out of the bag and her reaction made my heart melt into a little puddle. I don't think I have ever seen a sweeter moment in a 1 year old's life.

Andy affectionately called Erin-Hope "baby" as she pushed her in the swing. He also told daddy not to talk to her because he wanted her to play with him. :) soooo adorable.

on the left, one of many times that she tried to "get" me. :) and on the right, without a doubt THE longest baby eyelashes I have ever seen!

Such a sweet, beautiful family.

You've got mail...

2009-04-30T18:11:00.004-04:00

Today I received several print orders in the mail. This is one of the most exciting steps in the process for me. I love to see everything printed out! To touch it, to hold it up in different light, to check everything carefully, to stare at it without the glow of the computer screen. I have learned so much about photography simply through analyzing things through print. I love delivering prints to my clients and then going back to their home for a later session and seeing it on their living room walls. Its the best!
So this is one order of the adorable Grayson! I love these pictures even more printed out and I am so glad that I get them shipped here to me to check before sending them on to the customer because they made my day looking at them. He is just soooo cute!! Now all the orders are packaged up and ready to make their way to the post office.

Grayson's mom ordered two 11x14s and four 8x10s for the walls. I love pictures grouped together, they tell a story and have such life and variety. It made me realize I want to print out some pictures and hang over my desk in this spot. Right now I have this cool satellite image of the Bahamas, which I love, but I think it might be time to hang some of my pictures....even if they are of other people's babies. :)

So to all you moms out there who take a ton of pictures of your children with your digital camera, this is a reminder to print them!! You'll love flipping through them in your hands, and your friends will be able to see what your kids look like much better in print than on your cell phone!

Double Take | Charlotte Children's Photographer

2009-04-29T09:39:00.003-04:00

Last week I had a super fun session with this family. We started out at a cute little pocket park. It wasn't long before we needed to make an ice cream run. I am not above bribery.....and it was really hot outside! After a little cold treat we headed back outside for the second half and had even more fun!

We started out with a little shyness, but after one foot race with me as the judge, Madison warmed up to me so quickly she was holding my hand everywhere we went! sweetness!

I think it is so neat how this set of boy/girl twins looks like mom & dad mini-me's!! So we had to showcase it.

I think this might have been a direct result of the ice cream. Madison was not amused. Too funny not to share!

And this last sequence, well, I couldn't choose just one of these to post. This broke out a couple of times during the session but there were always giggles with it, so I think they didn't really mean it. When I asked mom & dad to kiss at the end.....check out little man's reaction up front!

This session was seriously a lot of fun. I was so worn out, I went to bed at 8:30!! :)

class of 2009!

2009-04-29T09:33:00.004-04:00

I met up with Bryan (and mom and lil' sis) last week for an urban senior session. Bryan is a busy guy with baseball season, and diligently finishing up senior year, so I hope this was a fun break. He was so great in front of the camera. My husband and I have been debating....which famous person do you think he looks like??

A little behind...

2009-04-29T09:26:00.003-04:00

Amidst a ton of work and spring allergies I have gotten a little behind on blogging sessions, so I am going to try to speed blog a few to try to get caught up today and tomorrow.
This first session was about 10 days ago. I love how this family interacts. The boys are so mature and they are such a close knit family. Both boys are very well rounded. Smart, play sports, love the arts. Its so neat to meet teenagers like that.

Quinn was in a boot because he tore some ligaments in his ankle a while back in karate. So he wanted to show off his mad, self-taught juggling skills. :)

and I'm pretty sure Kyle could do a one man Broadway show. He can play the violin and the piano, and he was also the Mayor of Whoville last month in a school production. I really hope my kids' talents are this diverse.

Email....off with its head! :)

2009-04-27T13:56:00.002-04:00

So, I've been having some email problems for the last week or so. Apparently some of my outgoing emails have not been getting to their destination. They have not been bouncing back either so I do not know who has received emails and who has not. I apologize greatly if you are waiting on a response from me. I reply to all emails so if you haven't gotten a response from me, could you please email me back so that I know you didn't receive my initial response. I plan on emailing everyone today that I am suspicious did not receive my emails. I will be sending them from my personal email so look for something from heatherhknowles{at}gmail{dot}com. Thank you so much for your patience and understanding while I get this figured out!

Hannah: my little overachiever! | Charlotte Baby Photographer

2009-04-23T13:13:00.004-04:00

Last Saturday morning I photographed this little sweet pea at her house. Hannah is 7 months old and is already crawling! The best part is she has been crawling for a month! I think that is just amazing! You moms out there are exhausted just thinking about it! I photograph so many 6 month old babies and she is the first one that is already crawling at that age. I thought she deserved a round of applause. :) It did make the session a little tricky since she was constantly crawling towards me but it was so much fun. Their house is so cute and they had beautiful photography all over their house. I noticed (and they also mentioned) that they really like black and white photography so I kept that in mind while I was shooting and editing. They have plenty of choices in their digital gallery but I thought I would share some of my favorite black and whites.
first I have to point out that they are a beautiful family

Hannah loves to dance with mommy

baby on the move!!

and I LOVE this one! I can't decide between color or black and white!

She is just perfection. Again, I love this in color, the vividness of her blue hat and how that makes her eyes pop out, but I also really like it black and white. what do you think? .

Three Sweet Sisters | Charlotte Children's Photographer

2009-04-20T20:01:00.002-04:00

I had so much fun with this family of three sweet girls. The first word that pops into my mind when I think about the baby, Faith, is "jolly". I think that is the first time I have used that word to describe anyone other than Santa Clause. She just really is so jolly. She smiled the whole time as if she completely understood everything that was going on around her. The two big sisters couldn't be prouder. They play with her as if she is their age, welcoming her in to all of their games. And she sits there and smiles at them. Oh so precious.

There were lots of squeals in the making of these pictures. I felt seven years old again when I was running around barefoot and giggling with them in the backyard.

Growing up so fast! | Charlotte Baby Photographer

2009-04-17T16:05:00.004-04:00

I can not believe how quickly babies grow up! I know we all hear all the time that babies and kids grow up quickly. I have experienced that with my little sister going from infant to pre-teen almost over night. I love that I get to watch babies grow up through my camera. It is so neat. When I do multiple sessions for a baby I love going back to look at the previous sessions' pictures. I first photographed Eliana when she was a few weeks old. She was such a tiny little baby. I still call her my tiny princess because she is so precious and petite. This was our third session together and it has been so neat to watch her grow. This week when I photographed her it seemed as though she remembered me and she would reach for me and play with me throughout the session. *sigh* It made my day.
I thought you might want to see how much she has changed. The first picture is from Eliana's newborn session in October.

Just look at her now! Her smile is so infectious.

I got to meet her sweet grandmother this time. Such a sweet family!

Just from getting to know Eliana's mom Kim I can tell that she is so smart, so I think that it is so neat that Eliana loves books already. Like mother, like daughter. I love these.

12 years ago...

2009-04-15T15:39:00.005-04:00

Tuesday my little sister, Haley, celebrated her 12th birthday. I can not believe it. She was a surprise when my older sister and I were in high school. Hands down the best surprise ever! I can't wait until she is older and can truly understand how she changed the dynamics of our family. I love her so much. She is the coolest little person I know. So smart...generous and kind....and extraordinarily beautiful inside and out. I can't separate her beauty in my mind from her heart that radiates from within. I pray for her daily and I thank our exceedingly kind and gracious Heavenly Father for giving her to our family 12 years ago. What an amazing gift. I wonder if thats where birthday gifts originated from. Giving the person gifts because their life is a gift to you. Just a random thought...
When we flew back to Charlotte last Friday from the Bahamas, we immediately got in our car and drove to Alabama to spend Easter with my family. It was great to see both of our families all in the span of one week. I didn't have the chance to take pictures of our nephew Joss while we were in the Bahamas because we only saw him for a few hours before we headed out on the boat. But we will be spending two weeks with them this summer so there will be tons of pictures after that! While we were with my family, I soaked in every second with my niece Ella. She is the most active 6 month old I have ever seen.....and I meet a lot of 6 month old babies! She reaches for everything within site and she smiles from ear to ear almost constantly. I can't wait to see how hard it is to keep up with her when she starts crawling and walking!!!

a birthday card from our cats....Ella thought it was funny too ;)

Ella stands no chance of not having a sweet tooth in our family. I can't believe she dove right in. We didn't give this to her at first, she just stuck her hands into my sister's plate and then it went right to her mouth like everything else does. I guess she realized it was good and noone stopped her so she just kept on eating. It was so funny watching her squishing it through her fingers and chewing on every bite for so long.

She also got to try my grandmother's banana pudding which is the best in the world! My grandmother let her try a little bitty bite and then she wanted more!! She reached and grabbed the spoon and pulled it toward her mouth with all her might. And of course she won...who can resist. I'm sure there is some rule about not giving a baby birthday cake and banana pudding....oh well!

oh how she loves to be naked....

happy baby!

When I have her in my arms, I feel like she is the one holding me. I love this baby girl SO much!!

simplicity.

2009-04-15T10:23:00.008-04:00

The older I get the more I appreciate the simple things. I am a project person and I usually have about a million things going on at one time which is just the way I like it, but when we decided to go to the Bahamas for my husband Jeremy's spring break I knew that it would be a good time to set everything aside and simply rest. No laptop, no email, no cell phone. Simply R&R.
Jeremy's family is from Nassau and they grew up taking their grandfather's boat out to the Exuma Cays for family vacations. The Exumas are a chain of several hundred little islands -most of them uninhabited- about 30 miles from Nassau by boat. This trip we took Jeremy's swim coach, David Marsh, and his family to enjoy the week with us and Jeremy's parents. I love watching people's faces as they experience the Exumas for the first time, especially kids. I remember my first trip there 7 years ago, I was in awe as every mile we ventured away from Nassau the colors were more vibrant and the scenery became almost too beautiful to take in all at one time. I still love that 30 mile trip that feels like a journey straight into the heart of an artist's canvas. Simply breathtaking.
We docked at the yacht club at Highbourne Cay, a small island that contains only the marina, a little shop for the basics, and a tiny village of 6 or 7 houses. About 20 or so people live on the island full time and a mailboat comes in once a week to deliver mail, groceries, other neccessities, and sometimes people. Most people come by private boat and a few by sea plane. Its a really quiet place and is so far removed from commutes, cell phones, emails, and the news. Simply peaceful.
We were the rowdy boat of the marina with 10 people -almost half of them kids- and two big dogs. We were on and off the boat, in and out of the marina, all day-everyday. Spear fishing, snorkeling, diving conch, taking the dogs for walks, going to the beach, grilling on the docks, cleaning fish, feeding the sharks. I love how the days in Exuma seem so long because you are never on a schedule, in fact I left my watch in Nassau. We live by daylight. I love waking up each morning with the excitement of running up on deck to see what the weather holds us for us each day. Then packing the day with whatever we wish and closing each day with a beautifully unique sunset that only God can orchestrate. It was so awesome. Simply amazing.

Watching the glow in Jeremy's eyes when he's at home in the islands makes me feel like we are depriving his soul by not living there year round. He is so at home in the water and soaks in every second of these trips. Everyday of the week he was the last one out of the water and I thought we were going to have to leave him there the last day. He enjoyed teaching the other guys how to spear and clean the fish. The girls scrubbed their favorite conch shells to take home with them.

The sand in the Exumas is so fine like baby powder. We had so much fun at the different beaches. The dogs loved digging holes. The girls did gymnastics...I even did a backhandspring and surprised everyone (including myself) that I could still do it. We turned Maddie into a mermaid on the beach, I could watch her giggle with those dimples all day long.

The Briland Gal and Captain Jeremy...tieing knots on the boat.....the dogs have great sea legs...Maddie found lots of shells....how would you like to live on that island....a quick stop at Allen's Cay to see the wild (and huge) iguanas... we played boardgames every night and had so much fun.

At Highbourne Cay on the docks where everyone cleans fish, over a dozen nurse sharks circle below waiting on scraps. They're well fed, nice sharks. Usually there are a few other types of sharks that come up throughout the day that aren't so nice. While we were there a couple of pretty aggressive reef sharks were there and a really big lemon shark that was most definitely not a nice shark. Jeremy and his brothers have liked to play with the sharks since they were kids. (I have a feeling when we have children, we will be having many discussions about what is and is not safe for kids to do...) They tie a fish head onto a rope without a hook and let the sharks bite it. They aren't hooked onto it so it doesn't hurt them, its basically just a dare to see who lets go first. I call it shark rodeo. The lemon shark actually had a better plan and just kept biting completely through the huge rope. He only came out right at sunset which is a good enough reason for me to stay out of the water at dusk. (the one in the bottom two pictures, taken at night with a flash) I'm pretty sure I could set some swimming world records if I met him out in open water.

I bought an underwater housing for my point and shoot camera last summer but I couldn't find it before we left for this trip. :( I distinctly remember putting it somewhere and saying to myself , "I'm going to put this right here so that I will know where it is when I need it." Yeah. That didn't work. Sadly, I do that all the time. I found a disposable underwater camera on the boat and even though the picture quality is not that great, you can see some spearfishing and conch diving in action. I'm in the picture on the top right bringing up a conch from the bottom. This was my deepest free dive ever, I'm getting better at this stuff but still can't hang with the Bahamians.

I never get tired of the symphony of colors. I guess this is why Jeremy's favorite color is blue.

One final sunset on our way back into the Nassau harbour at the end of our trip.

I am so thankful for the vacation and rest. Simply thankful.

trading my laptop for a beach towel...

2009-04-04T18:36:00.004-04:00

I am so excited to be leaving in the morning to go to the Bahamas to spend the week with my husband's family! Jeremy grew up there and is an actual Bahamian, his family immigrated there from Ireland several generations ago when ours decided to come to the USA. (just thought I would share that, because everyone always asks) Jeremy is a teacher...4th grade....I know, so cute! Next week is his spring break so we are leaving first thing tomorrow morning to fly to Nassau to vacation there for a week. I am so excited about seeing family, especially all the ones that are knee-high...most of all our nephew Joss!! I won't have access to email all week as the day after we arrive we are piling on his grandfather's boat and spending the week out in the Exuma Cays. Far away from internet, cell phone service, and even the smallest glimmer of light from the main island. I'm looking forward to some family time, relaxation, and having my bottom in a hammock and my nose in a book! I'll have plenty of pictures to share when we get back.

I will return all emails and voicemails on Tuesday, April 14.

a week of great babies | Charlotte Baby Photographer

2009-04-04T18:18:00.002-04:00

This has been such a great week! The weather was great, I had the sweetest clients all week, and some of the happiest babies I have ever met! This morning I went over to sweet little Ariana's house for her session. She is almost 8 months and was sooooo smiley! Her joy filled the room. I have been smiling & giggling all day as I shot and edited all of her images. Her stylish mom ALSO loves Amy Butler fabric! I'm hoping if you haven't already checked out her stuff you will now. :) I also remembered that Emma's outfit from the April Showers session had some of Amy's beautiful fabric. I don't know Amy I just think she is an amazing artist that you might want to check out, she has great prints for girls and boys.
So, back to Ariana, just take a look...

I love her expression in the one on the right, it looks like someone just told her a great secret and she's like "get out of town, oh no they didn't!"

Ariana loves her doggie.

And Riley loves her baby.

My very first image and very last image of the day. What a great baby!! I love her!!!

I also wanted to share a close up of Ariana's little hairbow. It was the cutest little thing. They are made out of felt and have a small clip on the back side. I did some searching and found some on Etsy. These are great little hairbows for babies to be photographed in as they are a cute little detail but don't detract attention from the sweet baby face like a big bow would. Apparently they are called "felt clippies" which makes me love them even more.

Bringing up Boys | Charlotte Children's Photographer

2009-04-04T07:58:00.003-04:00

I have known Mimi and Michael for almost the entire two years that we have lived in Charlotte. They were one of the first couples we met when we first visited our church. Mimi and I bonded over design, sewing, and Amy Butler fabric! Tyler is three years old and he became a big brother to baby Clayton in September. It was so exciting to wait with them for Clayton to arrive and see the design for his nursery come together. He is the sweetest baby ever and I cuddle him EVERY chance I get!! Mimi is starting a new business designing and sewing cute things for little boys. I'm so excited for her and the launch of Blu Giraffe. She is an amazing mom! Yesterday she went to the grocery store, worked on stuff for her new business, mowed the entire yard, made dinner, and made ME dinner all while taking care of these two boys! Are you kidding me?!?! Amazing!! She said she knew we would be busy since we were leaving to go to the Bahamas on Sunday to spend the week with my husband's family. So she made us dinner. Awesome! I am so blessed with wonderful friends. This is such a beautiful family in every single way.

Are we finished yet, I'm starving? :)

Nicole class of 2009 | Charlotte Senior Photographer

2009-04-02T14:54:00.004-04:00

Earlier this week I had the extreme pleasure of meeting up with Nicole for her senior portraits. She is super cute and incredibly sweet & kind. Nicole is home schooled and has been taking college courses for the past two years and has already declared her major in theatre. She is definitely ahead of the game! She also works at a nursing home in South Charlotte. If you read my recent blog post about my perspective correction you will understand why that made me love her even more! I had to give her a huge hug for that and we talked about how much the people there love to see young people. They get to see her almost everyday and something tells me they all love her as well. It is so refreshing to spend some time with a very mature young lady who has a great perspective at such a young age. Nicole, thanks for inviting me into your life through photography, it was an honor. You are a beautiful young woman, inside and out.

Joyful Joyful | Charlotte Baby Photographer

2009-04-01T19:04:00.003-04:00

I don't think you are going to be able to look at these pictures without grinning. Garrett is one happy baby!!! This session was to celebrate turning ONE! I photographed Garrett right before Halloween when he was six months old and just sitting up. That was in my first month of business, I really can't believe I am about to celebrate my 6 month anniversary in business! hmmm...we'll have to celebrate on the blog, but I'll wait until after my vacation next week.
These huge smiles seemed to have a lot to do with the freedom that running around brings. He had a really good time and we had so much fun watching him enjoy himself. He giggled and squealed the whole time. I'm sure you can tell!

I love the personality in the one on the right, the shy giggle.

Last Friday when it rained all day, my friend & fellow photographer Amy Free and I drove all over town for several hours scouting new locations. She showed me this little spot with the big numbers and I thought it would be a bright, fun way to mark Garrett's first birthday.

Chunky Monkey | Charlotte Baby Photographer

2009-03-30T14:44:00.005-04:00

**I am now booking for May, June, and July. I still have a few weekday spots open in April, if you want pictures for Mother's Day. I have a few Saturday sessions still available in May and June. Keep in mind that I am scheduling 3-4 weeks out for weekday sessions and 4-8 weeks out for weekend sessions.****I will be out of the country April 5-12, and will have no access to email, so you might want to get in touch with me this week for scheduling in April & May.**

Last week just before the rain began, I met up with this adorable family to capture Grayson at 7 months old. He is the cutest little chunk ever!! The grass was soooo green with the sun hitting it and all the trees were blooming so the park was a gorgeous setting. Grayson showed us his new tricks like rolling over and sitting up. I know I say it all the time, but I just LOVE this age!!

I adore this outfit and hat. Look at him talking to his toes. **sigh** Soooo cute.

Baby giggles are the best!

I love fat little baby feet at this age. Its so cute how babies feet get so thick before they start walking.

more giggles and a very fun mommy and daddy

and a sweet & contemporary family portrait

Birth Announcements

2009-03-24T15:02:00.002-04:00

Just wanted to share a sneak peek of some birth announcements before I slipped them in the mail to the new parents. I love the way they turned out! You can also see my new print packaging to the left. yipee!! I'm going to try to get in the habit of sharing more product pictures. I have a coffee table book from a family session and a gallery wrap canvas coming in soon so I will try to remember to share those with you.

I'm headed to a session with a 6 month old! love love love.

I also just had a spot open up on the morning of April 25th. Email me if interested, its my last weekend spot available for April.

Rock Star Baby Boy

2009-03-23T12:31:00.005-04:00

Last week I had the pleasure of photographing these two cute kiddos at their home. Baby Ben is 6 weeks old but since he came 5 weeks early he is just now the size of most newborns. He was so cute and very alert. Big sis and I had a fun time playing and taking "princess photos" in between Ben's feedings. I spotted this cool basket hanging on the wall in one of the rooms and just had to get some shots of Ben laying inside. I'm so glad mom was up for it because I love them!

It was a cool morning so we had to shoot inside, but we ran outside for a quick 5 minutes at the end.

still the princess!

Tilt Shift | Perspective Correction

2009-03-20T21:11:00.005-04:00

Spring is....well....springing.

I feel very compelled to share my heart today. Settle in for a read, sorry to be so lengthy. If you just come here for pretty pictures, I understand, thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great weekend. If you want to read what God taught me this week....

I love analogies. I learn through comparisons and analogies shed light for me in a way that people can virtually see the light bulb going off in my head when I finally "get it". God often speaks to me in analogies as He is growing me in His ways. The past few days have been a time of perspective correction for me. A tilt shift lens is used in photography for perspective correction and for the past two days I feel like I have been viewing life through a tilt shift lens. I have had so much going on and a lot of work has overwhelmed me to the point where I have been heavy with anxiousness. Pair this with some major family budget crunches and I started out the week pretty out of focus......

read the rest of the story here http://jeremyandheatherknowles.blogspot.com/2009/03/tilt-shift-perspective-correction.html
(I decided to link to it so that you don't have to scroll so far between pictures on the blog.)

"...Whatever may be your task, work at it heartily (from the soul), as [something done] for the Lord and not for men, knowing [with all certainty] that it is from the Lord [and not from men] that you will receive the inheritance which is your [real] reward. [The One Whom] you are actually serving [is] the Lord Christ (the Messiah)..." - Colossians 3: 23-24

April Showers Bring May Flowers...

2009-03-18T22:45:00.006-04:00

Early last week I had the urge to go out and do an exploration shoot for myself. As a photographer I am always learning more technical things and sometimes that overwhelms me as an artist. Its like a gymnast concentrating so hard on pointing her toes that she forgets to smile...that may only make sense to me....oh well. :) So anyways, I really wanted to go out and shoot for myself just for one day. A photo shoot of exploration. Work on getting out of things I felt myself caught in. Work different angles. Shoot wider and then shoot closer. Take very deliberate shots. Work with light in some new ways. Feel free to try some things just for fun. Feel free to fail at some things because I need to from time to time or I'm not challenging myself enough.
So I called a previous client whose blog I now follow. Faith is one of the sweetest people I have EVER met and I am so thankful that we have met through me photographing her and her equally sweet husband. She is absolutely in love with her three year old niece Emma and blogs about her frequently. When I started thinking about "my" shoot, I immediately thought of Emma and her cuter than cute cheeks, seriously just wait until you see these cheeks. Spring is upon us and really has me inspired so I styled the shoot around "April showers bring May flowers". I really enjoyed going out and shooting just for me. I think this is something I will be doing from time to time to keep stretching and challenging myself.
Thank you soooo much Emma for being my muse+model and thank you so much Faith and Grace for letting me borrow her. She is sooooo precious!!
So here are the results from "my" shoot. I may be smaller and have blond hair in these pictures, but this is me. just look closer.

April showers...

Bring May flowers...

I love the saturated, after the rain colors of spring. They even look good in black & white.

By the way, Faith made this beautiful little outfit, isn't it incredible!!

There's that smile. She's adorable with or without it.

Honestly...still gotta make myself work on shooting up close. I really want to do this with kids more. I love these tight shots, but I'll be honest, this one is a crop. But you guys will hold me accountable now for working like this more, right?!?! :)

sweet beauty.

Spring is such a great time for on-location portrait sessions and I have lots of ideas floating around for other styled shoots like this if you want to incorporate something for half of your child's or family's shoot. Its so much fun!
I have 2 more weekend sessions left in April and some weekday shoots available. Now that it is daylight longer, this makes weekday shoots pretty accessible after work and you can still keep your weekends free. Email me to schedule a session before spring is gone!
info@sproutsbyheather.com

Another thing I love about Spring....Sports!

2009-03-14T12:37:00.005-04:00

I've been shooting a lot of sports in the past few weeks. I have really loved it, especially soccer, being out there really made me miss the sport. I also love getting to know the kids. A couple of the girls on my husband's swim team also play on the soccer team I photographed recently and they are really good. I'm talking on a traveling, Olympic-prep team, REALLY good. Oh to be 16 again. :)

If you're interested in commissioning me to go out and get some great shots of your kids in action, email me at info@sproutsbyheather.com and I will send you a price list. Its a great way to get some high quality action shots which- let's be honest- is much cooler than just holding the ball under your arm and saying cheese. :)

Rian & David: Wedding at the Biltmore

2009-03-12T21:52:00.007-04:00

Friday I drove up to Asheville with fellow Charlotte photographer Jessica Milligan. We had a great time shooting together and are looking forward to collaborating on several more things this year. I haven't finished going through all of my pictures yet but I thought I would go ahead and share some now because my schedule is picking up rapidly over the next few weeks.
The weekend started out with the rehearsal dinner which was at a fabulous venue in downtown Asheville called "On Broadway". The evening was so sweet with a slideshow put together by the groom, two of the funniest toasts I have ever heard, and a beautiful spread of intricate food. Here are a few of my favorites from the rehearsal dinner.

The wedding itself on Saturday was at the Biltmore Estate. They could not have asked for a better weekend, as the one before it was snowing and it looks like this coming weekend will be nothing but rain. The wedding party started their day by getting ready at the Biltmore Inn. The girls sipped champagne and painted their toenails while the guys were upstairs doing this....

It took a number of attempts for each guy to get their bowtie tied but by the time the ceremony came around each one was perfect. I thought the youtube video tutorial was hilarious!
Rian's dress was breathtaking! The mother of the bride captivated the room when she told us how they found a dress at the "Running of the Brides" in Atlanta. They bought that dress but then found THE dress a few months later. This dress was perfect. The first of many tears were shed at this moment in the day.

I didn't grab many shots of this because the background was so blown out as she was standing in front of a pair of french doors. But I actually really love it. I love the way the light is framing her almost as if its reaching out and wrapping its arms around her.

The ceremony was a beautiful Jewish ceremony (my first Jewish wedding!) at the Deerpark Inn on the Biltmore Estate. The rabbi did not allow photography of the ceremony. None. So we skip ahead to my favorite part of the day....the dancing. And this group could D-A-N-C-E!

Charlotte Event Style

2009-03-12T21:38:00.005-04:00

I had the pleasure of doing some head shots for two young women earlier this week. I met Christina about a year ago at church and then recently she helped me plan the gallery event for Sprouts. Charlotte Event Style has been in the works for a while and I am so excited that she and Alisa have finally launched their new business. I am so excited for them to begin this new adventure. They are a full service event planning business that includes events such as weddings, corporate meetings, children's birthdays, showers, life events and much more!
Here are just a couple of shots when we went out to get some images for their website. You should also go check out their site and spread the word about an amazing new event planning company! www.charlotteeventstyle.com

Also late last week before I went out of town for a wedding I met up with Matt, the owner of Charlotte WiFi, to get some head shots for an article about his company in a construction industry magazine. The amazing weather Friday morning was perfect for walking around Uptown for this shoot.

New look!

2009-03-12T21:35:00.004-04:00

I decided the blog needed a makeover for spring! I wanted more color and a lighter background for this new season. The pictures will be a little larger, but I hope not so much that people with smaller monitors have to scroll down to see an entire image (if anyone has to do that please let me know). I also added some much needed navigation at the top. I'm still tweaking some things but I have several things I need to post so I'm going to be playing catch up and sneak in some minor adjustments as I have time. What do you think?

Contact Sprouts

2009-03-12T17:52:00.002-04:00

For more information or to schedule a session
please contact Heather Knowles
by emailing info@sproutsbyheather.com
or call 256-490-6991

available in the Charlotte metro area and for travel worldwide

please also visit my webpage at www.sproutsbyheather.com

Blog under construction

2009-03-11T14:57:00.002-04:00

Things may get messy around here for the next day or two as I update the design and layout of the blog. But check back soon for a brand new look and more organization!! :)

For information about Sprouts please visit my webpage at www.sproutsbyheather.com

I can't believe Hailey is six months old!

2009-03-04T18:50:00.006-05:00

The snow day threw my schedule for a loop but I'm finally getting back on track. This is my third session with the beautiful Miss Hailey, and I look forward to seeing her many more times. I get so attached to the families I photograph especially when I work with babies and get to see them multiple times in a year. Hailey has been smiling since the first time I photographed her at 6 weeks and those almond eyes of her leave me smitten. She is truly such a sweet baby. You know how some babies are just sweet and snuggly, well that's Hailey.
Let's start off with a comparison between a 6 weeks shot on the left and 6 months on the right. I love this little dress and belt. I wonder if they have it in my size?

Hailey was a little mesmerized by my new fabric choice. I didn't expect it to have that affect. It put her in a bit of a daze and then she tried to eat it. I think its yummy too....just in a different way. :)

This looked like fun but we decided I was a little too big to try.

Hailey had several wardrobe changes. I loved this shot from the top. It tells a little bit of a different story but I like its gracefulness...and her eyelashes.

and check her out standing up in her crib now! The color scheme in her room is pink and brown and it so cute. She has no choice but to be really stylish like her mom.

My favorite outfit on babies is always the birthday suit. I love the little rolls at this stage. Soon she will be running around and all of those will go away.

Can't you see the sweetness in her eyes

I'm off to Asheville for the weekend to shoot a wedding at the Biltmore and I'm also working on some action shots from my husband's state swim meet (he's a coach now) that I will share soon. So that will be mixed in with all the babies I've been hanging out with lately! I'm so excited that the weather is warming up!! It will be spring in no time so make sure you book your Spring session in the next week or two to guarantee availability.