***UPDATED 3/21/12: Due to the early blooming this year of Spring flowers, we’ve had to adjust the date for the April Mini Session at Oaklawn Garden. We will now be shooting out there on Sunday evening, March 25th as well as Friday evening, March 30. There are a few spots left if you have an interest!!***

You’ve been asking and the information is here!

I’m so excited to share with you the information for our Spring Mini Sessions for 2012. I tried to pick a couple of locations with completely different “looks” so that you have options in choosing. Additionally, these locations are ones that I hardly ever shoot, and the farmhouse is one where I’ve only shot once! I just LOVE that these Mini Sessions will give you an opportunity to have a session at a location that is different than the “normal”!  The locations are on a Friday evening in April at Oaklawn Gardens in Germantown, and a Friday evening in May at the farm and fields of a customer who is generously offering their property for our use. The April session at Oaklawn Gardens is hopefully when the azaleas should be at their peak (hopefully-as this is based on the weather!). Combined this with the awesome textures of old benches as well as an old railroad car, it is a beautiful setting. Think lots of green grass and colorful spring azeleas! The May session is located at a property that I fell in love with last year when I photographed there. The property offers an old rustic red barn, a tractor with lots of “character” and a great field full of wild grasses! I am posting example photos from both locations below.

See below for all the exciting details! Need to schedule your session time? Simply contact jodie@117photography.com with your desired date and she’ll be happy to help you complete the process. Again, these sessions are always a customer favorite so if you see an idea that sounds like something you’d like, don’t delay!

And now, to help inspire you, a few examples from past sessions for each location. First some from Oaklawn Gardens, the location of our April Mini Session. These photos are all quite old, but they still show the location well!

And, some from my session last year at  the location of our May Mini Session! Hope to see you at a Mini this spring! 🙂

Oh, what sweetness!!! Cooper is our newest member of Little Gifts Newborn Club so we will be seeing a lot of his adorable little face over the next year! Aren’t we lucky? 🙂 Little Cooper was almost 10 pounds at birth, so his little baby cuteness factor is just off the charts with his chubby little cheeks, arms, and legs. I just love it! He was such a good boy for his session yesterday. Take a little look at Cooper. Congratulations, “H” family! I am so happy for you guys! 🙂

My sweet, sweet little nephew turned one in late January! Jodie and I finally found a free day for us to meet up and photograph this milestone in little Graham’s life. At least that’s what we thought we were going to do. Actually, we instead saw a bunch of this…

And this…

Haha!! This is one very B.U.S.Y. little guy!! 🙂 But, he is just ooooohhh so very sweet and lovable and gives the best little hugs and grins…when you can catch him! So in between a lot of photographs that looked much like those first two, we managed to capture some magic and a wonderful glimpse into Graham at 13 months old! Love how big he looks, but it kinda breaks my heart, too! He’s so little right now, but those sweet little curls and long eyelashes remind me of a little boy that lives in my household that is almost 11! I swear it was just yesterday that it was him that was this age! Aunt Julie loves you Grahammers! Happy Birthday!

Believe it or not, it is almost here! Spring and Summer portrait sessions are right around the corner. If you are like me you have seen the first signs of Spring around town this week with the blooms of daffodils,Bradford pear trees, and even flip-flops on feet! 🙂 It’s coming…those photo sessions full of green grass, bright flowers, rosy red cheeks flushed with the heat of the day, bare feet, sundresses, and newborn babies basking in the warm sun! I’ve pulled out just a few of my favorites from Spring and Summer sessions from years past to inspire you!

Only a few Saturday spots remain but plenty of availibility still abounds! Get scheduled now before the weather warms up and everything turns green and everyone else starts wanting to get scheduled. NOW is the time to have your pick of dates and location! Email jodie@117photograpy.com to schedule your session today! I can’t wait!! 🙂

Sometimes, the words just won’t come to me and I just wish that you could see into my heart as that is the only true way that you would see my joy about this sweet little girl! Meet Alice Mae, youngest daughter of my little sister, Connie, and her great husband, Adam and littlest new sister to my nieces Olivia, almost 10, and Lucy, 7.5 years. This family is IN LOVE with their new little gift from God and who can blame them? Look how adorable she is!! I was privileged enough to be with Alice the moment that she made her entrance into this world….there are no words for the joy!! And, to make it even more awesome, Alice is named after our amazing “Gram” whom we all miss every single day, so you can imagine the emotions. I am so very happy for this little family and the addition that Alice has made in their lives. What a true testament to faith in God! “Every good and perfect gift is from above.” James 1:17 Such a small statement but oh so powerful. Connie and family, I love you and am so happy for all of you! 🙂

I had the hardest time picking out my favorite images of the 3 girls…so I picked ALOT! Just a glimpse of the JOY these sisters feel over their little sister. Tears of happiness have been shed and belly laughs of joy, too!!

Check out the shirts Aunt Jodie made for them. Love it! “Lil Sis”, “Big Sis” and “Big Big Sis” 🙂

Don’t you just LOVE all the hair on little Alice? Amazing amounts of hair for a newborn! And a little newborn grin, too. I think this next one is my favorite of her.

And, finally, the one photo I can hardly look at without tears filling my eyes. The photo behind baby Alice is one of my grandmother, Alice, when she was young. This is how I envision her up in heaven now…young and beautiful and happily looking over all our shoulders from up above. I know that Gram will especially watch her little namesake. 🙂

Oh, precious baby boy!! Welcome to little Tanner! Remember this beautiful couple? Well, if you thought they were gorgeous, you need to take a look at this beautiful little boy, Tanner Warren! At only 5 -days-“new” Tanner was such a little champ for his portrait session yesterday. I just love his big eyes, grumpy little ol’ man face, and sweet newborn grins. Ahhh, perfection! Tanner’s Daddy is in the Air Force and we incorporated some photos just for that purpose. Love the one where his Dad’s hat is lying across him while he holds Dad’s dog tags. Someday very soon they’ll be saying how they cannot believe how tiny he once was that the hat fit across his entire body! Shelby and Chris, I am so very happy for you and congratulations on your precious gift from God! 🙂

Happy little grin! 🙂

Sweet little Daniel has joined this precious family and now these two proud parents have three handsome sons and one beautiful little girl! Following in the footsteps of previous photo sessions of her first three children, Daniel’s mom requested that we mostly do black and white photographs on a black backdrop so that they would match. It was fun to do something different than my “normal” newborn session and took me back to my early days of my photography career when I used this backdrop for almost every indoor session that I did. Daniel is gorgeous and his siblings were SO good for their photos with him. I thoroughly enjoyed my afternoon with you guys. Congratulations on your precious baby boy! I’m so happy for you all! 🙂

WOW! Ya’ll are going to love this one. I am quite sure of it! This is the stuff that dreams are made from and tangible proof that God answers our prayers! 🙂

One month ago, this sweet family was a family of two, a precious married couple longing to fill their home with children. Fast forward one month, and you’ve got an instant family of 4 through the power of prayer and the miracle of adoption! Meet Lilly, age 4 and Joseph, only about 3 weeks “new”! Aren’t they just absolutely beautiful? These two adorable children are not only instant brother and sister, but also sweet son and daughter to Scotty and Allison. First Lilly came home to live with Scotty and Allison, and then a couple of weeks later, little Joseph was born and he made his journey home, too. There’s much to both of their stories of how each one came to be a part of Scotty and Allison’s lives; however, I don’t really think that is as important as the stories they have yet to be written. Stories of a beautiful God-given family that has only just begun.

I love the joy in Lilly’s face in all of these photos! Such happiness! And, look at Mr. Joseph! Not quite three-weeks-old and he was bright-eyed, alert, and holding his head up more than almost any newborn I have ever photographed. It was such a joy to be with this family and capture their first few days together. Scotty and Allison, your family is simply perfect. Congratulations! 🙂

Lovely Miss little Lilly…

The new brother and sister…

And, baby boy Joseph!

As a photographer, there’s always a few things that can make you a little anxious about a photo session. Getting notice that you have an evening with a family of five children ages 6 and under can definitely cause a little heart flutter! 🙂 But, when I read the next line that the session was with one of my favorite 1:17 families, all those worries went away. Meet Beth and John and their simply precious family. John is a pastor in Memphis at a local church, and he and his sweet wife, Beth have adopted all 5 of these adorable children. I first photographed them when their oldest was barely a year old…and now here they are with an entire house FULL of joy! 🙂 Their story is such a beautiful one and a true picture of God’s grace and of His love for us. I just ADORE them! These photos were not originally posted last Fall when we took them because they were intended for the family’s Christmas card. John, Beth and I were beyond thrilled with how wonderful the children were that evening and we all just fell in love with this session! So happy to share this family with you! Enjoy! 🙂

I’m playing a bit of “catch-up” today and wanted to blog a couple of families that didn’t get posted last Fall when I photographed them. First up, is my fabulous assistant and beautiful sister-in-law’s family…Jodie! Jodie and my “little” brother, Jeff, had their first family portrait taken by me since their oldest was six-months-old…she is now six! 🙂 These weren’t posted earlier becuase they were to be a fun Christmas surprise for the Grandparents. I love this family so very much! Happy to finally share their cutenss and love! Here’s Jeff, Jodie, Kinley, Kallen and little Graham!