Here are a few random pics. One is from the maternity shoot that I did last weekend and the others are just some that I took this weekend for fun. Nothing exciting but I thought it'd be fun to post SOMETHING today!

Playing in my kitchen window...

I know no one really wants their pregnant self all over the internet but I did think this shot turned out pretty cute (and it maintains my subject's anonymity!).

Here's Attie doing what he loves the most. I really think he would choose his frisbee over us.

I have really missed taking pictures the last few weeks! It is so gray and dreary outside that it makes me long for spring and color everywhere. I got the chance to try two new things this weekend--I did pictures of a 2-1/2 week old baby AND my first maternity shots. I am still amazed that people want me to take pictures of such precious parts of their lives. I am so thankful! Here are the pictures of Grayson...

I know it has been forever since I have posted. We had a busy Christmas season and loved spending time with our families. It was great to have a chance to rest after such a hectic pre-Christmas season! We were so excited to spend New Year's meeting our best friends' daughter, Salem. It was truly the highlight of our holidays! She is an absolute delight and it is so much fun to watch Josh and Keely as parents--they're such naturals! I was so excited to get to take pictures of her on the beach. There are actually two slideshows of her--one of the three of them and one that is mostly of Salem and Keely. We miss them all already!

We had an awesome weekend in Columbia, South Carolina for my friend Susan's wedding. Though our whole group of Rhodes friends couldn't be there, it was such a gift to be with people we are totally comfortable with and enjoy so much. It really was SO much fun from start to finish. It was also one of the most beautiful weddings I've ever been to! The service was incredible and talk about an entrance--the bagpipes were amazing. We are so thrilled that Suz and John are married now and it was so great to be a part of the celebration.

I ended up not taking many pictures at all and absolutely no pictures that were remotely creative. Their photographer looked like she more than had it covered! Here are a few of my favorites none the less (I think Ashley took all these!). I hope that you enjoy them, particularly the one of the crazy guy behind Corey and me!

Melanie and Pete's wedding was beautiful and I loved being a part of it. I just love weddings and all of the joy and excitement, the energy and the reverence of it all. It is so much fun to step inside people's worlds for a day...to spend just a little bit of time with them and yet somehow try to capture who they are so that the people who really know them recognize what is true and authentic. Melanie and Pete honeymooned in Telluride which I of course think is the coolest thing ever. I am still trying not to be jealous. Of course, we are off to a South Carolina wedding for the weekend...(more on that to come...with pictures, I hope!)...

Well, the Christmas sessions are starting to wind down. It has been a crazy few weeks but it has been so much fun. I have only had to reschedule two photo shoots because of rain and that has been a huge gift! This photo shoot of the Ransoms was a total surprise as we had a sunny 75-degree day just hours before the rain and arctic blast moved in last Thursday. These two kiddos have a really sweet friendship with each other and I loved taking their pictures!

The day I took Colton's pictures was his 2nd birthday! I have had several birthday photo shoots lately and it always feels like such a gift for me to be a part of capturing such a special day. I think this picture shows exactly how Colton wanted to spend the day.

Avery made the cutest baby faces I have EVER seen! She was a joy to photograph--so easy-going and laid back. It was a beautiful November day at the gardens--and 70 degrees! Crazy! Well, the Christmas rush continues so I'm off to work...

Charlie is in my class this year and it was so much fun to hang out with him outside of school! It was definitely the coldest day we've had this year and he was such a trooper.

The Kings

The Sanders

Caleb

The Harris Girls

The Monks

The Martins

The Millers

Emily and Jake

It has been a crazy few weeks with Christmas pictures! There is no way I could keep up with posting them all but here are a few.

Well, I have to say that the prospect of taking pictures of a family of 7 is a little bit daunting when I'm used to doing 1 or 2 at a time but I ended up having a great time with the Wells family last week. I love the way they laugh together and truly enjoy one another.

Brave and Jennifer were some of our first "couple" friends when I moved to Birmingham the summer before Corey and I got engaged. They have been wonderful friends to us over the last few years and we were so sad when they moved to Tuscaloosa this year. We really miss hanging out at their house and enjoying meals and time together. I was honored to have Brave design the erin nolen photography logo (which has yet to make its appearance on the actual website). Last week I had the privilege of spending time with Jennifer and getting to take pictures of their really cute, super fun kids, Alex and Hannah.

Fall is here and it's time for Christmas cards! The more that I do this, the more that I see how much I really love taking pictures. It helps that I really like kids, too. There is just not much that is more fun to me than hanging out with people that I like and precious children that I adore AND getting the chance to try to capture just a glimpse of who they are right now on this fall day in this treasured season of life. I hung out with some of my favorite girls ever this week and we had a blast playing in the leaves and running around. I hope I captured even an ounce of their joy--these girls love life and they are a gift to me.

(Click on the highlighted words to view the show--I don't know if I've said that in other posts!)

Adam and Jessica's engagement pictures were some of the first that I posted on this blog. Their long-awaited wedding finally came on a beautiful Saturday afternoon earlier this month. It was such a sweet time and I was honored to be there to capture it.

It is hard for me to believe that my little brother is MARRIED! We had a wonderful weekend celebrating Andy and Kelly and could not be happier about their future together. Here are a few of my pictures from the weekend. I wasn't there as photographer (I had a more important role as sister of the groom!) so I tried to stay out of the way most of the time. You can tell that no one's looking at me in most of the pictures! I put this together really just to show to them but thought I'd go ahead and share it.

It's been a while since I've posted, I know. I have several things to post and hopefully will be able to do that in the next few days. Here are some pictures of some precious little girls I photographed a few weeks back at the gardens. The Sandlin girls were so much fun to spend the afternoon with!

We had a great weekend in Orlando celebrating our best friends, Keely and Josh. They are adopting a baby from Ethiopia and we could not be happier that it is almost time to bring her home! On Saturday, Erika, Keely, and I had a great day at the Farmer's market and then had a really fun lunch to "shower" her with gifts we had brought from all of our college friends and family. It was so good to all be together. Check out Josh and Keely's blog at
www.outofethiopia.com

There are few people I would rather spend time with than our niece, Alex. I love her sweetness and her silliness and also the way that she just GETS things. Also, I think she is the cutest thing I have ever seen. I take pictures of her every chance I get, which she is TOTALLY over in a really funny way. Since the beach pictures were such a wash for the most part, we did these last week downtown. It was a new venue for me to take pictures but Corey's sister, Casey, is great about letting me experiment with photography on her daughter. I really love these pictures but I think it's mostly 'cause I REALLY love Alex.

Bella turned three the day before we took these pictures. She is definitely a three-year-old in all the best ways, including her willingness to wear this super cute hat for a ton of pictures! We had to hurry to dodge the late afternoon thunderstorms and she was such a trooper the whole time, barefoot and all. One super cool thing about Bella: the pillowcase dress she wore was appliqued by her great-grandmother, the lace was put on by her great-great-grandmother, and her grandmother turned the pillowcase into a dress! How cool is that. The only bad thing about my session with Bella was that we made the unfortunate discovery that the BBG has replaced the famous red door with a brand spankin' new one! It hadn't been painted yet so I'm hoping hoping hoping they'll paint it the same color.

Though I end up at the Botanical Gardens here in Birmingham a lot, I am always amazed at what it's like to see them through the eyes of a child who's never been there before. I tell people a lot that the fact that so many kids have never been is one of my favorite parts about taking pictures there. There's so much to look at and it lets me capture the natural explorer in whoever I'm photographing. Walker was always ready for whatever was around the next corner and his gentle but endearingly silly spirit made him an easy subject. Not to mention that his red hair and cowboy boots are awesome!