Mrs. Ferguson (aka Ally's favorite 5th grade teacher!)

Ohhh...I better get this shoot right or I'm gonna hear about it from my 11 year old! Melissa Ferguson is one of my old teaching pals from my Waynesville teaching days. It's been great keeping up with her and now Ally has her for 5th grade Social Studies. She loves having her for a teacher! I know Ally is drawn to Melissa's charisma for teaching and her fun style and personality!

We met for a Christmas Eve photo shoot. Melissa's oldest son, Scott, was in town for the holidays. I cannot believe this little boy is now a 23 year old man! Where does time go? He's making a great path in his life, too. His job has taken him to Florida (sounds great right now, huh?) where he -correct me if I'm wrong- teaches piloting classes. WOW!


Jack is now a 6th grader and what a great kid! He's so polite and sweet! I remember when Jack was born just about the time I found out Ally was on the way. It seems like yesterday!

I hope they enjoyed our shoot as much as I did. Boys usually do - haha! As an added bonus, the weather was perfect for some outdoor shots so we hit the road and captured a few with their two pups. Pets are a delight in photo shoots. They help everyone to relax and help me capture some natural moments.

Baby Ava and Christmas Cheer

Oh baby Ava! How I love you! I had a great time catching up with my good friend Hilary and her baby girl Ava while they were in town for Christmas. As an added bonus to this visit, I finally got to meet Hil's hubby Jestin...what a great guy!

Hilary is very creative (must be the teacher in her!). She has made all of these wonderful bows that Ava and Kendra wear. She brought lots of fun items to pose Ava with and Ava performed beautifully! She must realize that having a camera in her face is just a part of life...kind of like bottles and diapers.


And I'll bet you've never seen baby heels before - well, now you have! Check out this squishy baby high heels. Those are one of the funniest things I've ever seen! I can't wait to see them again next time they are Ohio bound!

Lynne, Sean, and Jenn

Lynne is one of my favorite people! She was one of my most devoted workout mavens and I miss seeing her sweaty smiling face each week! She inspired me. I admire her will, perseverance and dedication to anything she sets out to do in life.

A couple of days before Christmas, Lynne brought her grown children, Jenn and Sean, in for a family photo shoot. Sean is working on his undergrad while Jenn is a graduate student at Miami University. She's been wanting to get this shoot together for a while but it's hard to rally college kids with their schedules.


Big kids can be just as fun as little ones. I had a great time hanging with Lynne and her crew. I hope they enjoyed Christmas together before they all dive back into their busy lives with school and work.

Liz Black & White

Liz is a natural and the camera LOVES her! So does her super patient boyfriend who came along for the session (awww...I know!). I even put him to work movin' the heavy stuff! Even though her proofs are up (and you can check them out too on our website), I decided to share some black and whites of Liz.






I can't wait to see where Liz goes from here. It's going to be an exciting ride for her!

Senior Session v1.2

Molley and Erica had their outdoor sessions separately this fall, but since they are friends we opted to have a studio session with the two together. Having a friend along takes away the awkward jitters and makes for great fun!




It's been great catching up with these two past students (man am I getting old!). They really haven't changed a bit! They are fun, hard working, athletic and beautiful!




I'm so excited for these girls as they finish out their high school careers and embark on the great adventures of life! They will both be very successful in the big bad world!

Oh Baby!

I love this little girl! She is so sweet! I love when babies start to emerge from the newborn stage to interactive little human beings. She's responding to sounds and voices and finding her chubby little hands.

I have no doubt that Kyla will be loved and spoiled to pieces over the years. Not only does she have awesome parents, but two big sisters to follow through life.

Thanks for sharing Kyla with me for a short while. I hope to watch her grow through the eyes of my lens!

The Jivin' Johnson Crew

Hats off to my fellow MOPS mom, Tiffany, and her hubby John! Together they run a well oiled machine they call family. Phil and I have thought about one more baby, but I'm not sure I could manage 4 little sweeties with such finesse (especially when we have weeks like the past couple in my house!). I love seeing how personalities come out during a photo session. Each child is so unique and it shows in their smiles! Aren't they sweet?

What a sweet group of kids they are raising. All moms worry about picture day, but they did great! After having our pictures done recently, I can relate to that stress...the perfect outfits, the attitudes, the goofy grins!

I enjoyed having you all in the studio! Have a great Thanksgiving weekend together enjoying your family!

Swap Meet v1.0

Seven kids, two hubbies, and two photographers! Does it get more fun than that?
I've had the joy of getting to know fellow photographer, Tammy Chavies, over the past few months (Thanks Lori Camp!). Tammy is a wonderful photographer and I'm sure she's tired of me bending her ear and soaking up her advice! We met up at Polen Farm on Sunday afternoon. I'm beginning to be the "Norm" of that place!

We had so much fun with Tammy, John and their four kids! Tammy and John are the smoochin'-est couple I know (ahem...hence the FOUR kids!). I got a lot of lovey-dovey icky footage and I'm sure the kids will want all of those prints hung up in their rooms! ; )

I, too, had trouble picking from the set. Abby, Garrett, Jenna, and Brayden are so cute!



It's not often I'm on the other side of the camera. I must say I now know what those parents go through when the little ones aren't cooperative! Carson came out to our swap session with energy blazing! Tammy...I'm so sorry you had to work so hard to get our shots! But I LOVE my sneak peek! Thank you so much!

The Audia Crew

I've known Michele for awhile. I've had the honor of bossing her around! Really...it's true! Michele is one of my former (sad face) exercise clients. I miss teaching my classes, but I'm so happy with how God is growing my photography business. And as any busy mom knows, it's hard to balance everything!


Michele brought her busy family out for a Sunday afternoon walk around Polen Farm. It was a perfect November day...one of the many great days I've been surprised with actually! She was wanting family shots taken so that's exactly what we did...lots of them. : )

Michele and Tony's kiddos, Jake and Sara, are growing up fast and into all kinds of activities like cheerleading and football. Sara(sp?) is in middle school and Jake is in high school. It's cliche, but time really does fly!
They're black shirts and jeans made for some great black and white photo opportunities. I love black and white photography!

I had a great time, Audia family! Hope we can make this a tradition!

Down on the Farm

This shoot was so much fun! Lots of siblings, cousins, little ones, and friends = a great time for a photographer like me! I had plenty of inspiration working with my friend and former teaching colleague, Krista, and her beautiful family (Her hubby and own three + her sister and HER hubby and three kiddos + her brother whom I'm fairly certain couldn't wait to have my camera in his face).


We did our dead level best to get "that" shot of the whole crew. As you can imagine, with 11, it's a tough quest but NOT impossible and we got it. It'll be posted on the proofs soon. Stefan is Krista's youngest...now a big first grader!


This farm was a great location for some fun vintage shots. I have more, but too many to share on the blog. The older girls obliged me as we walked the premises looking for some farm grunge. The rustier the better!



Thanks for having me over to hang on the farm with your family. You know, I'm a farm girl at heart...well, that's somewhat true. I grew up on a small farm but I didn't like to weed, garden, mow, etc. Hmmm...maybe I'm more of a city chick. Afterall, I did wear high heel boots to the shoot (dumb move!).

All I Want 4 Christmas...

...is my two front teeth! This picture says it all! Alexis, do you think those teeth are in that box you're shaking? I'll bet they will be here in time for Christmas! In the meantime, enjoy the cute grin.

Alexis is an adorable 2nd grader. Look at those dimples! She's finally lost those teeth and her smile is contagious! I can't wait to get the whole family out for a session next week. Let's hope the weather holds for our cool evening shoot at the Greene. It's going to be so much fun!

Shaye - wonderful meeting you. Thanks for bringing Alexis to the studio!

She's Got the Look!

That song is pounding in my head as I go through these proofs. Liz is probably too young to even know what I'm talking about! But...she has "the look!" We had a blast in one my new favorite locations - the Oregon District. It's part photo session/part worldy education for a small town girl. Nonetheless it was a great spot for our urban grunge shoot.


My great friend and fellow photography enthusiast, Joey, went with us to assist. She has a great eye for detail and was SO HELPFUL! Liz made some quick changes in our makeshift dressing room and we took off around the block looking for grungy great spots - and we found them!

Liz is such a sweet girl! She just posed perfectly for her shots and beared the chilling temps and wind in her less than warm clothes (like her beautiful little black dress!) What a great sport. The only hiccup in the session was when we discovered we dropped one of her red converse shoes along the path! For those of you who aren't fashion savy, that's a fashion 911 call! We high tailed it off down the street and whew...found it! Really...we were that happy about it!

Liz's next photo stop is in our studio. Can't wait for it, Liz! Thanks for asking me to do your session. I loved it and now I hope you love these!!!!

Erica Senior Session

Fall Family Session

To finish off our picture takin' day...I grabbed my favorite assistant Shelby and headed up to Cox Arboretum. We met up with my dear friend and past teaching neighbor, Pam and her wonderful family that includes 3 gorgeous and spunky grandchildren.



We had a bright, sunny day...though shooting in that light is tough and creates some obstacles, I'm relieved we had a beautiful day on this reschedule.

The kids had a lot of fun kicking through the leaves and climbing the trees. Somehow, those cream colored shirts stayed clean and no one fell into the water! Can you say "SUCCESS!"


Thanks Pam for organizing this fun photo shoot. I'd be amiss if I didn't include a photo of my daughter's future blue eyed husband Ethan. I could just squeeze that happy little guy!

PTO Picture Day V1.0

All I can say is HOW FUN was this day! We had four 30 minute mini sessions followed by a large family full session in the late day. I can't wait to share their proofs and show my favorite shots from the day...remember these aren't the favs!
The day started in the studio with two girls near and dear to us, Alexa and Taylor. We decked out the set with some Christmas boxes (you can't see very well in these cropped pictures) and took some shots for their family cards.



Next, we traveled up to Polen Farm in Kettering. I'm so glad I had to search for a great place last week. We were able to get on the grounds to shoot until the start of the afternoon wedding. We started with the O'Neil family. Kellen and Conner are adorable...and lively! I love that!






Next came the King family. I think this first shot should be framed above the wood burning fireplace. Seriously, I love this shot. It's a reflection of the love and joy that this family shares! Jake and Michaela are picture perfect kids - can they give my kids some lessons?





We rounded out our outdoor trio with another family of four. I've known this couple for years and have rekindled a friendship with Angie during our early morning training runs. Their children are sweet & reserved, but I have a feeling they can be very playful & silly like their mom...back in the day!