sweet salem...

If you have been reading my blog for awhile you know that these are our dear friends Josh and Keely and their precious daughter, Salem. We are actually in Atlanta right now where sweet Salem will undergo a pretty intense brain surgery in the morning. I'm writing to ask those of you who pray to pray for baby Salem tomorrow. You can read more about her journey, as well as get updates on the surgery, at their website , www.outofethiopia.com. There are also some specific ways that you can pray. These are some pictures that we took this afternoon--in the rain--literally as soon as Erika and I drove up to the hotel. You can see the slideshow here.

So...I felt like changing the blog tonight. Probably (okay, definitely) not the best use of my time but I needed a change today.

This is one of my favorite sessions as of late. Benjamin's pictures were a couple of weeks ago, right in the height of our heat wave. He was super easy to photograph and so full of wonderful expressions. He made me laugh the whole time, especially with the way he crinkled his little nose every time his mom and grandmom made him smile.

heat wave...

I'm pretty sure that everyone who reads this blog is living somewhere that is about a gazillion degrees right now. I have always loved summer...always. Though I do love fall and the changing of the seasons, there is always part of me that mourns the passing of summer. I am dreading the shorter days but I am SO ready for this hotness to end. This photo shoot with Jonathan was on one of these crazy hot days this summer. He is so much fun and has so much to say! He is the only one-year-old I know who knows the word khaki (used to describe his super cute hat!). It really was such a fun afternoon with Jonathan and his mommy at the gardens. Can you tell how much he loved playing in the water?

it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

A couple of weeks ago I sent out an email to all of my previous erin nolen photography clients (and people who had recently inquired) about the upcoming fall and Christmas card seasons. I wanted them to be the first to know about the awesome Christmas cards we are going to be offering this year as well as give them a chance to book for fall sessions. I offered a $25 off special for the first five people to schedule a weekday session for any time from now until November 20 (the last day to schedule pictures in time for Christmas). The response was awesome!

I thought that I would go ahead and post on the blog about fall sessions. I have very few weekend dates still available so if you are thinking that you would like to set up a fall/Christmas session on a weekend, please contact me as soon as you can!

I have decided to offer the same special to NEW customers! The first five NEW customers who contact me to set up a session on a weekday from now until November 20 will get $25 off of their order or sitting fee. The only catch is that the session has to be on a weekday.

I will be posting the Christmas card samples early next week so be looking for them! I can't wait to get started on them. Also, we will now be doing baby announcements! So much exciting stuff I can hardly stand it. For those of you who know me, I know that sounds like I am being sarcastic. But I'm not. Really, I am more excited about these cards and announcements than I probably should be...you can ask Keely. I made her help me decide and it took a LONG time.

And last but so far from least, and speaking of Keely, here is a slideshow that I did of baby Salem from pictures we took last April. There are lots more to come of sweet Salem and I can't wait to share them.ps...this is one of my favorite pictures ever.

beautiful day...

I have taken a lot of pictures at the Hampton Cove waterfall in Huntsville in the last couple of years. It is a beautiful place for pictures no matter what time of the year you're there. But when I was in town for a session there last month, it was prettier than I have ever seen it. It was just one of those afternoons when the light and the scenery and the subjects are almost too much for me to believe. I love what I do! These two boys are full of so much life and energy and it really was my joy to get to photograph them. Enjoy the Hales!

cousins...take two...

Here is another one of my sessions from way back at the beginning of summer. This one was extra special because little Philip is the second cousin of my friend Elizabeth. Elizabeth and I met during our days at Rhodes and she has always talked about her cousins and how important they are in her life. She even came to the shoot on the afternoon we did the pictures and was a huge help in getting little Philip to smile! There are a couple of pictures where you can tell he's looking right at her! I love these shots we got of their little family--it is not hard to see how much they delight in their little boy.

radiant...

I was so excited when Stacy and Rick asked us to photograph their wedding. They are friends of ours and it is always a gift to be given such an honor. I was even more excited when they told me where their wedding was going to be. I have always loved the church where they were married and always said that we would have had our wedding there if we had gotten married in Birmingham. I guess photographing Rick and Stacy's wedding helped me to vicariously experience a wedding there! It was truly a perfectly beautiful day from start to finish. Stacy was a radiant bride and her groom could not take his eyes off of her. I know that this part of their story is just beginning and that there are great things in store for them as a married couple.

new friends...

One of the best parts about this whole photography gig is the people that you get to meet. It's even better when you get to meet people that you should already know...like people who not only live in the same itty-bitty town as you but who also happen to go to the same church as you. All that to say I really loved getting to meet Ryan's mom and daddy on the day we did his pictures. I love love love the pictures from this session which is the main reason why I couldn't pick just one to post and decided to post all three. I could tell you how precious he is but really, you just have to look at the pictures to see that.

sweet dreams...

Ava Scott was a dream to photograph. Really she was. She was awake when we wanted her to be awake and then she went right to sleep! That NEVER happens! But I am glad that it did on the day that I photographed Ava Scott. I photographed her big brother and sister a few months back so look for their cameo, blue-eyed appearance in the slideshow.

A few months ago I started a post saying that some photo shoots are easier than others...and that there was more to come on that later. The funny thing about that is that apparently I wrote that post soon after--maybe even the day of--my session with the Duncans. I didn't think anything about it but Mandy, the mom, immediately assumed I was referring to her girls as the more difficult shoots that I have sometimes. I felt awful! For one thing, her girls weren't hard to photograph at all and were sweet and agreeable the whole time. Having your picture taken is just a hard thing for kids and all things considered--especially my 100 degree troopers the past two weeks--I could not ask for more from the children I photograph.

I didn't expect to have time to post another show today so....surprise! Hannah and Christopher are sweet cousins whose grandmother was SO excited to have them in the same city to get some pictures done. We had a great time exploring places around their house to take pictures...I love this pink wall!

cutting it close...

Okay, I really almost didn't make it this time! But with 39 minutes to spare, here's one more slideshow for the week. We're headed home to Memphis for a wedding this weekend so I don't know if I'll be able to keep up my streak through the weekend. I promise to pick it back up come Sunday night! If not before then...

In the meantime, enjoy these super cute twins! Yay for twins. I really like twins a lot and have always wanted to be one. You can see how much these two have the whole twin thing going on...

three months...plus three...

Okay, here is a great example of how behind that I am. I am posting sweet Maury's three-month pictures but we have scheduled her six-month pictures for next week. Hmmm...

Maury is one of those super easy to photograph babies...she totally went with the flow and was her sweet, cooperative self the whole time.

two for two...

Okay, it's late but I promised! I am officially two for two on my vow to post every day this week. Here is another fun shoot from way earlier this summer. These two were a PRECIOUS pair who love each other so much. What a great big brother and a sparkly little sister! Enjoy Luke and Ella!

summer lapses...

so...new computers can be really hard sometimes. i am still getting used to this one, which is why all of the fonts keep changing on my pictures these days. i guess it's good to try some different things out since it seems that i don't really have a choice anyway.

so...new computers are hard but vacations in the mountains are not. we just got home from a week-long adventure in colorado with my family. it was a wonderful trip and everything was so beautiful. i will hopefully be able to get around to posting some of the gazillion pictures we took while we were there. the one thing that may keep me from that is how many pictures i have to post in the meantime...

i have gotten so behind with my posts to the blog so i am vowing today to try to catch up by posting at least one session every day this week! i know, i know...but it's worth a try! here are some really fun sibling sets from earlier this summer...

walker and payton

the whisenhunts

long time, no see...

I can't believe it's been a week since I've posted! I try to do better than that but things have been crazy around here! Here is another June wedding...another beautiful day and a glowing bride and groom. Rebekah and Michael were so ready to be married--she was one of the most laid-back brides EVER, which made them really fun and easy to photograph. Thanks, you two, for letting me be a part of such a beautiful day.

It's funny how I also photographed Claire and Anna Claire on successive days the same week that I took Grayson and Caroline's pictures. They are just about the same age, too, and are both so much fun. They both were pretty shy at first and it took awhile before they warmed up to me but they were both all smiles by the end. I love the process of watching kids relax into their natural selves over the course of a session.


Claire's mom requested the song for her slideshow and it has become one I've loved using in recent shows. I get a lot of questions about the songs that I use and how I choose them for shows. I really love using songs that are a little bit different and may not be ones you hear everyday...incorporating music in an original way has always been one of my favorite parts of what I do. There are lots of times when I will finish a show with everything except for the music...sometimes you've just got to sleep on that kind of thing! All that to say, thanks to Claire's mommy for the newest addition to the song library!

half-way there...

It was really fun to get to take pictures of two babies more or less the same age in the same day last week. Happy six months, you two! It is amazing to see the way they change so much in such a short time! I have photographed both Grayson and Caroline before so it is really fun and challenging for me to try to do something new and different each time. They are super easy babies to photograph! Caroline's mommy knew she wasn't herself the day we did the pictures and it turned out she had a double ear infection the whole time! It makes me sad to see all the pictures of her smiling and working so hard when she didn't feel good at all...what a trooper!

life...

I know that I am always saying what a gift it is to be a part of people's lives as I attempt to capture life through the lens of a camera. I feel like I am always writing the same thing. Maybe I am. My hope is that the story won't grow old. The magic of what I get to do never fails to amaze me. Photographing a wedding is an incredible experience-- you just sort of appear in the middle of this really beautiful story and all of a sudden you're right in the center of it all, watching these priceless moments of time unfold. Wow. I cry at every wedding I photograph and during a lot of sessions with kids and families. It's just life. And maybe it is a dressed up, not your everyday kind of life but it's life just the same. All this being said, Steph and Wes had a wedding day of celebration and I was honored to witness this part of their journey. The pictures of the two of them were taking just minutes after they said their vows and their joy at being husband and wife is contagious. I don't think I could have gotten them to stop smiling for anything.

These girls and their mom have such a sweet friendship. One of my favorite things about this shoot was seeing how each girl's unique personality unfolded during our time. I hope that comes through in the pictures! Enjoy the Welch girls!