Category: family portraits

Sweet little Addie is turning 4 in just a few weeks! We met at thier home in Minden Louisiana to photograph her birthday session at their home. Addie was ful of spunk and character that made getting a variety of images easy! She is so funny.

I’ve photographed Addie since she was a newborn and it has been such a joy to watch her grow. Although, I can’t believe how fast she is growing! She is turning to a beautiful little girl and my heart can’t stand it.

Addie loves all things girly. Sparkling, glittery, pink, purple, rainbows, unicorns, you better believe she loves all of those things! She’s so smart and witty. She’s easy to love. She’s the youngest of the family and knows right well that she can get almost anything if she makes her “cute face” or just simply by saying “but I’m the baby”. Haha! How can you say no?? You can’t, that’s how.

We all love Addie and we are so thankful to thave her in our lives!

Thank you so much for being here!! If you enjoyed this post please leave some love. It means the world to us.

Xoxo,

Courtney

This post is a very special one- one celebrating a miracle that has been prayed for time and time again. This sweet couple attends that same church that we do and are our friends. They have been waiting on a bay for years and the time has finally come! Many prayers around the world moved God on the scene and He showed up. Isn’t it amazing how He does that?! He never fails us, no matter how long the wait is, He never fails. We are so thankful to be witnessing this miracle before our eyes.

Andrew and Candace are no stranger here at CDP. They are featured in my portfolio and on my social media accounts. They are so easy to photograph and I just love the images i have taken of them. However, I have the feeling that these ones coming up over the next few weeks will be my favorite.

Every baby shower is a very specail occasion that is celebrating the miracle of life- whether there has been a struggle to produce this life or not. Every baby is special. However, when there is a struggle to prodcue this little life, once that time arrives it’s something that you can’t help but shed some happy tears about. Tears in awe at how amazing God is that His power is very much alive. Tears of joy that your prayers are being answered, that people you admire are being blessed with the joy that children bring into your life. Tears of renewed faith for those you are still praying and believing for that if God can do it once, He can do it again and again and again. I feel as though the list could just continue to go on and on.

Everyone that played a part in pulling off this beautiful baby shower did just a fantastic job. From the food to the decor. It was all just wonderful! The cake, cupcakes and cookies were made by my sister in law. She has just recently started making cakes and cokies and, wow! She has such an incredible talent! I have been blown away! Should she start a business? I think yes! Can you just picture all the gorgeous cakes she could make? I can!

Another amazing element that you will see are these beautiful smocked dresses. Andrew’s mom MADE them! WHAT?!? Yes, it’s true. And not only that, one of the gifts is frim Amndrew’s sister, these are hand knitted items- that SHE knitted. Ok, why can’t some of this talent in this family be shared? Am I right?

It was an honor to capture these precious memories that will be cherished for a lifetime. Each time I do things like this I am always honored to know that the images that I take will be looked back on year after year and cherished. I know that photos are something that the true value can’t be expressed. It’s just something you have to experience for yourself.

I hope y’all enjoy these images as much as I enjoyed taking them and editing them.

As I have already said before, 2021 was full of beautiful sessions that I just adored! And I know I have already showed those to you. However!! 2021 was also full of some great locations around North Louisiana.

As a photographer in North Louisiana, it can be tricky to find great spots because North Louisiana is really not that glamorous. Like at all. In fact, it is frustrating how non-glamorous North Louisiana is. There are no mountains, no epic gardens, no super awesome historic locations. We do have historic locations, but not a ton.

However, there are a few great spots that I have found in 2021 and I’m hopeful to find even better ones in 2022!

Here are my top favs

These are just a few great spots in case you need ideas for your next session.

I hope you enjoyed this post! Please leave some love.

Xoxo,

Courtney

Christmas in North Louisiana is always unpredictable as far as the weather goes. And that is exactly how this day was. There are was a big storm approaching that night so the wind was howling! I had the bright idea of bringing our tree outside to use as a prop.. it was real genius with howling wind. It fell over once and continues to threaten more falls. I decided to grab a few 15 pound weights to hold it down. HA!

If that wasn’t enough, the sun was coming in and out behind very dark clouds. I had to move the tree 3 times. Do things get better? Not yet.

Minutes before they arrived it started sprinkling even though the radar showed no rain. Nothing. I was not ok at this point.

But, alas, things did get better!! Once they arrived the sun peeked out of the clouds just long enough for us to get some pretty light in our images and then it went back behind the clouds for us to use the little Christmas set up I spent all that time on.

After our session was finished, John Paul and Haven got to meet our puppy Duke and they loved playing with him.

I would say, overall, it turned out to be a great day! These images are so sweet and fun! Love these kids!

Thank you so much for being here!! If you enjoyed this please leave some love.

Xoxo,

Courtney

The Mason family is such a sweet group of people. They reached out to me to do their session and we were able to squeeze it in just before Christmas.

We met on our land here outisde of Homer, Louisiana on a chilly December day. I have done their photos a number of times and each time I am thankful to be able to capture this time for them.

The Masons are another family I have known all of my life. I have many memories of going over to Jennifer’s family’s house for Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations as a kid. We always had so much fun! We have photos of crawfish boils when Esther was just a baby. So many memories!

Pictured in a few of these photos is the sweet boy that Esther has baby sat since he was a newborn. He is like a member of the family to them so it was only fitting to let him in a few images. I’m so excited to share these with you and I hope you enjoy them!!

Thank you so much for being here!! If you enjoyed this post! If so, please leave some love.

XOXO,
Courtney

I had such a wonderful time with Emma and Andrew and their mom Laura during this session! It was so good to meet them and they were awesome in front of the camera!

The joys of meeting so many new faces this year has been such a wonderful blessing! I look forward to what the coming year holds!

We met for this sesion at Caney Lakes state park in Minden Louisiana. I do not shoot here often, but each time I do I am reminded of how beautiful it is! We do have to go on a little hike around the lake, but nothing too crazy.

I love how you can just walk a short distance and get such a hiuge variety in locations, light, and image results. This creates so much varitey within the final gallery. Everyone loves that!

I hope you can tell by these images just how sweet and respectful Emma and Andrew are. We got to chat about where they go to school, their church camp where Andrew won the most Christ-like award, and so much more! It was such an honor and priviledge to just learn about them. It is so wonderful to meet such awesome people!

Thank you again, Laura, for trusting me with such a task of documenting your family’s memories. I loved every second of our time together!!

Thank you so much for being here!! If you enjoyed this post please leave some love.

Xoxo,

Courtney

Oh the Stephenson family!

How I loved meeting them!! We met for their sesion out on their land in North Louisiana.

After getting a tad lost and having to call them for help, we arrvied and got to meet and greet. I introduced myself to their sweet kiddos and we chatted a little about the land, where we should shoot, and all that fun stuff! It had just rained the day before so we were a little worried about it being muddy, but everything was perfect. The land was beautiful and so was the light! And that family? Oh they were fantastic!! I have never worked with kids who knew how to work that camera. hah!! They seriously all made my job SOOO EASY!!

After arriving on the land we came to find out that this was actaully where John grew up! How awesome is that?! I’m all about session locations having sentimental value- and this one did!!! It just makes the images that much more special.

We got started wtih everyone smiling and looking at the camera. I always call these the boring shots. HA! We get thes out of the way fast while we have everyone’s attention and then we get to the fun stuff!! I’m a firm believer that in order to make your sessions not feel like they are dragging by and like pulling teeth you HAVE TO MAKE IT FUN! We play games, have tickle fights, and just be plain goofy!! You may wonder how on earth we get good shots this way. Just trust me, you do!! The candid feel is how you capture their real personalities and get the little ones to trust you that it will be fun.

After gettng home and uploading these images I felt the joy and emotion all over again. There is nothing like getting home and getting to re-live a wonderful time all over again. I know I say this all the time, and it sounds cliche, but i just love that I get to do this as my job! It’s the most rewarding and incredible job ever. I’m so humbled and thankful, honored and grateful that people like the Stephensons entrust me with such a role in preserving their family memories. It’s something I do not take lightly.

Thank you so much for being here!! If you enjoyed this please leave some love!
xoxo,
Courtney