Babies coming back for their first birthday photos after having their newborn session with me means the world!!
Baker boy was a sweet newborn I photographed last year and I just loved his session. I have since been watching him grow through his mom’s social media posts and I have loved seeing how much he has changed. Then getting to see him again in person. Oh, he is so cute!!
I loved our time together out at Lake Bistineau State Park in North Louisiana and how easy it was to get sweet smiles out of this sweet little man.
My sweet girls in the spring Wisteria
I love the time of where when all the flowers are in bloom. It makes me happy.
We have a large patch of Wisteria on our land in North Louisiana that bursts to life every spring. I make it a point every year to get my girlies out in the flowers for photos. It’s something I just love to do! As they get older and older the images that I have taken every year get more and more precious. There is nothing NOTHING like having your family documented every year. I love looking back over years past and seeing my babies as babies. Boy were those times hard, but now that they are older those times are so very dear.
The Minden Louisiana Chamber of Commerce hosts a gala event for their members every year to celebrate the accomplishments and honor businesses and business men and women who go above and beyond. It was such an honor to photograph this event and meet so many of Minden’s business leaders.
The theme was Arabian nights. Did they not smash it out of the ball park?!? Wow!! It looked amazing! The many hours spent and the amount of effort wasn’t wasted.
So many men and women were celebrated that I couldn’t even begin to name them all but what a honor to get to see them all.
Enjoy the lovely details from such a wonderful evening.
Have you ever prayed for something and it felt like the answer never came? Maybe it wasn’t that the answer didn’t come or isn’t coming, but maybe the timing is different than what we think it will be.
David and I got married 10 years ago. We built on to a very small home and planned to live in that just a few years until we could save up to build something bigger. Lots of unforeseen things happened very quickly and that plan was pushed back for many years. Every time we would feel like we were close again, something else would happen to push it even further. It felt like all the odds were stacked up against us.
We now had two kids and our house was far too small. Only 800 sq ft. We were cramped to say the least.
In 2022, things started changing. The mountain that was before us began to fall, in chunks rather than grains of sand. The mountain was still there but it was getting smaller and smaller.
We were given a promise that more was coming. That things were going to continue to change for the good. We didn’t see anything happen for an entire year, but we believed none the less.
2024 started off like any other year, but it quickly turned into a supernatural year with blessings upon blessings being poured out. Our prayers were getting answered! We, in fact, hadn’t been forgotten.
March of 2024 we signed papers on a beautiful home and we are now in the waiting process for it all to be complete. Next week we officially close on it. The answer didn’t come in the way we thought it would but we are every bit as excited! We are in no way settling or compromising on our dreams. We are living in the very fulfillment of our dreams and it still feels so surreal.
If you are in a season of waiting, I want to encourage you to keep the faith. Don’t give up because of the amount of time it takes. God is not slack concerning his promises. When the time is right, nothing will stop the promises from being fulfilled. We are a testament of that.
I about two months we will be moving in to our new home on our 10 acres of land in North Louisiana. Until then, I wanted to share some images of it for you to see.
As an in home newborn photographer in the Shreveport and surrounding areas, I realize that not everyone wants to have their newborn session in their home.
I pride myself in being able to create natural light looking images with flash when there is not ample natural light yet sometimes it’s just easier on everyone to go somewhere aside from the home.
Shreveport has a great studio that can be rented out by the hour. The natural light is stunning and the beauty that can be created is unlimited.
Raw the studio , a gorgeous studio rental location in Shreveport!
*Not my photo* image of raw the studio
If you’re interested in a newborn session outside of your home, this studio is the perfect option! At booking, just let me know this is the location you wish to use and we will make sure it happens!
Every February, the little town of Minden hosts a four day weekend fundraiser for St Jude’s Children Research Hospital. Every year, they do a phenomenal job of hosting events that bring everyone in the surrounding areas together for a common cause: childhood cancer. It’s such a.l beautiful thing that I have been so happy to be a part of the last three years. I hardly even knew this went on until three years ago because I don’t actually live in Minden. Ever since I found out about this incredible thing the people of Minden do, I have put forth my effort to help the cause. I have donated sessions for the raffle and run in the races that they hold.
This year was no exception. My girls, husband and I loaded up at 7:15 to head to Minden for our 8am race. The girls raced in the fun run and I raced in the 5k. It rained on us most of the time but I didn’t dampen our spirits. We all had a blast!!
Together, the town of Minden raised $2.5 million dollars for the kids of St Jude!! How incredibly amazing is that??
Here’s a recap of the races and here’s to next year!!
Heading out! My girls Dexter cousins ready to race! We tried to get a good pic. Haha!! 5k about to take off! It was raining at the start line. But we brought our smiles First place in her age group! So proud Third place in her age group! Yay Elaine!! They all got plaques Second place in my age group! Proud of us!!
Thank you, Minden, for such a fun and amazing weekend raising money for St. Jude!
Every year my family all gets together for a big family photo. Then we sub off into groups: grandkids, kids, families, etc. This past year was no different. We all met after church on my family’s land in North Louisiana. I brought my tripod and camera for the cool trick I do every year where I take our own photos. Ha! We get everyone all situated and then I snap the photo and run in. I only 10 seconds before the photos takes but surprisingly I make it every time. That’s the real reason I’m into working out. Haha!!!
Our family is continuing to grow and we just love it. We have a lot of girls but we wouldn’t trade them all for anything. Maybe one day someone will have a boy.. and when they do, he will be SPOILED!!! Until then, we have quite the tribe of girls. They are all best of friends and I just love that they are so close in age. Built in buddies.
Do you get your family together each year for a big group photo?? If so, let me know and we can work something out for an extended family session!!!
Oh how I love this session! We planned this in home Christmas session before little Jesse was even born. When we finally were able to see the finished product, ahhh!!
I offered these in-home Christmas sessions over the Christmas season (obviously) and can’t wait to bring them back again. They were so fun! I loved seeing the unique way that everyone decorates for the seasons. Christmas is my favorite time of the year and getting to document these lovely littles around the tree was just the best!!
Meet the Reesby family. They were such a sweet group of people! We snuck this session in real quick before Christmas came and I hurried to get them back to them. The Christmas season can seems to sneak up on you sometimes. I was so glad that I was able to work this session in!
We met at the Red River Wildlife Refuge in Shreveport on cool evening in December. I had just been there a few short weeks ago and there were still lots of leaves on the trees. When I arrived, to my dismay, all the leaves were gone. WAHH!!! This makes it a little tricky to find diffused light, which is vital to my style, but with the help of some tree branches I was able to block the sun from hitting my lens and we still got great images that I am proud of.
Photographing families with older children can be a little tricky sometimes because there’s a little less than you can do than with little, little kids. I like to have littles play games and such to keep them interested in the photos. But that means I am working HARD!! With the older kids, it is easier in that you get in and get it done with hardly any fuss. Haha!! I love photographing families with all ages of kiddos, though! All stages of families are important and need to documented.
I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a happy new year! I know I am looking forward to all that 2024 has in store!
This is the second time I have come to Hot Springs, Ar to photograph this family all together. They do not all live in the same area so they meet in the middle for Christmas. I love that they have asked me to come photograph them twice now. It is so special!
Last year it was so, so cold. We moved so fast! This year it felt amazing so we were able to take our time and get so many beautiful photos.
Let’s take a moment and admire this amazing location!! I am so glad I found it. What a backdrop!
Everything about this session was so fun and these are some of my very favorite images!
North Louisiana Lifestyle Family and Newborn Photographer 