Shutterbelle Photography blog

Can you be cute when you're pregnant?

2008-08-26T14:49:00.002-05:00

I think so! I know most women don't feel cute in the later months of their pregnancy, but I still think the form is fantastic! I love that so many are willing to come in for portraits now. Its such an exciting time and studio portraits always look better and are more emotional and classic than the 'stand against the wall' ones your husband will take of you. Lisa is one of those women who looks great.. cute and pretty! She did a great job posing for portraits.. here is a sample:

Dawson

2008-08-21T22:22:00.003-05:00

This is one of my nephew's at six months... such a doll! I love how happy he is when you talk to him. His big brother Dylan did a great job too!

Jade 10 Days Old

2008-08-19T20:51:00.002-05:00

Today was my first attempt to photograph a new baby in their own home using only natural light. It is something I've always wanted to do, but have never actually had the circumstances or opportunity. I loved it! It was a lot of fun and the parents were awesome and the lighting perfect! This is also my first attempt to post a video instead of a bunch of pictures.. i think there are about sixteen pictures in here and its only a minute long.

Zach, Morgan, and Madison

2008-08-19T16:43:00.002-05:00

These sweet kids were getting their portraits made for their grandmother. It was quite a hot afternoon on Saturday, but a light breeze made it more tolerable. The kids did a great job doing what they were asked to do by everyone around - I think the grandmother will have a nice selection to choose from.

Aubrey

2008-08-18T11:51:00.003-05:00

Saturday morning Aubrey was a very content and happy little girl. Sometimes she was a little more interested in just taking in her surroundings than getting cozy and smiling - but the pictures of her show several different sides of her personality. I love her genuine expressions.

Madeline

2008-08-17T18:04:00.003-05:00

Madeline was born several weeks premature, so although she is ten weeks old, she weighs little more than six pounds. At 7pm on August 15th, however, she was not a happy little camper! Her parents patiently worked with her despite having had a rough day themselves and we managed to get quite a few beautiful pictures of their precious baby girl.

Lindsay's Bridal Session

2008-08-15T13:46:00.002-05:00

I wish I could post some pictures on here of Lindsay's bridal session yesterday... but they dont want anyone to see them yet. So I'll have to wait another three weeks when they get married to remove the password protection. I just love some of the images and Lindsay was great to work with. I barely had to coach her. I'll try to post some of them when I post some wedding teasers.

Welcome Baby Jade!

2008-08-11T11:53:00.004-05:00

I hope its okay that I'm posting these on here. Baby Jade was born at 1:06am on Saturday morning. I got the message around 8am, but since I had a portrait scheduled for the morning, I couldn't get there until almost noon. She is a beautiful newborn and I think she is perfect. She hardly cried at all even though she was handed around the room quite a bit for pictures. She even smiled a couple of times! I just loved being there with her family. I couldn't help but stare at her - babies are such great little miracles.

5 Week Old Isaac

2008-08-11T11:45:00.003-05:00

Look at this handsome little baby! I love moments between parents and their new babies. Everything is so sweet and tender. And I think they told me that one of the grandmothers buys each grandchild a teddy bear when they're born so that you can see how much the child grows over the years... great idea!

Kylie and Cassie

2008-08-11T11:38:00.005-05:00

We had a gorgeous day on Friday for portraits.. the weather couldn't have been more perfect outside. These girls were so sweet - I just loved being with them and we had fun together... it's always a good thing when the kids voluntarily hug you when you're about to leave! Here are some highlights from their session:

Sweet Jasey

2008-07-29T11:39:00.003-05:00

I wish you could hear this little girl laugh - it was so sweet and cute! She sure wasn't happy to be set in the grass, but thankfully her dad was willing to sacrifice a shirt for the cause. The parents did a terrific job getting her to smile and giggle - she was a delight to work with!

Maternity Session

2008-07-26T20:01:00.002-05:00

This was a session she really just wanted to focus on belly shots, so thats primarily what I am posting here.

Cute baby boy!!

2008-07-26T19:50:00.002-05:00

I'm a few days late in getting to post this little sweetheart. His name is Myles and although he was only interested in staring at the transmitter on top of my camera, he is still cute!

Baby Shower!

2008-07-19T22:36:00.003-05:00

I enjoyed being at the baby shower this afternoon. The had several dads line up and see who could finish a bottle of apple juice the fastest, and also had the 4 siblings of the expected baby put diapers on dolls to see who would be the best helper for mom and dad. It was pretty cute! Below are some of my favorite pictures of the family.

Check out this Cutie!!

2008-07-15T22:13:00.004-05:00

I just melted when I saw this little girl today - she is so adorable! I'll have her album pages up tomorrow morning, but until then - here's a few to hold you over.

Downtown Nashville Wedding

2008-07-14T13:33:00.003-05:00

I'm probably including too many images, but I think we captured an interesting selection. Amanda and Jarred are such a sweet couple. We really didn't have a lot of time to get formals done, but we had some fun with the time we did have. The ceremony was at the Downtown Presbyterian Church, followed by some portraits on the Shelby Street bridge, and then on to the reception at Global Cafe. Enjoy!

A Mohawk Wedding?

2008-07-07T09:25:00.003-05:00

What do Zoot suits, Converse shoes, Marilyn Monroe, and mohawks have in common? This wedding!! I should have the album up in a couple more days, but until then, enjoy these highlights:

Stovall Family Reunion

2008-07-04T13:58:00.003-05:00

I was invited to come take portraits at a family reunion yesterday. Everyone was so kind and pleasant to be around, I enjoyed being there with them. You can see the nearly 400 images on the albums page of shutterbelle.com, but here are a few to share:

June 28th Wedding

2008-06-30T22:22:00.003-05:00

I think I might be able to get the album online Tuesday or Wednesday. Until the full album is online though - here are some of my favorite portraits from the wedding:

Kadence - what a doll!

2008-06-26T08:51:00.003-05:00

It is not often that I get to photograph a baby less than 3 months old, and less often one that is less than 4 weeks old... yesterday, I had the privilege of meeting 1 week old Kadence. She is such a good baby and such a beautiful one too! I really enjoyed our session.

Downtown

2008-06-22T21:33:00.003-05:00

I have a wedding coming up in three weeks where we will be taking pictures of the entire bridal party at various sites in downtown Nashville. Last Thursday we walked around together to get a feel for what we want to use... I snapped a few pictures during the hour we were together. Here are some of the bride's favorites:

Old Photo Restoration

2008-06-07T07:35:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I finally had an opportunity to catch up on some errands I've been wanting to make for many months. One of them included getting some composites framed. While I was in there, a couple came in with a photograph from 1947 that had her dad and i think an aunt and uncle in it. Her question to the framery was if they knew of a place that could make copies of this old photograph that was I think 7 by 18 or some odd size. The framery made some calls and said that a local photographer takes larger prints to a place in Nashville. He could pick it up from the framery, and take it with him, and call them with a quote. They said they dont live here, they are visiting family, and would need it all done by next Friday.
I knew I didn't have a lot more to do, so I offered an alternative for them. I told them they could follow me to my studio so that the photograph never leaves their possession. I would take pictures of it with my mega-camera, and then I'd also clean it up for them since it had several scratches and creases in it. I could have it done in a few hours. It would be an interesting project for me. The finished file ended up being i think 40x20ish so plenty big for them to get copies made the original size - and it should look the same except that I cleaned it up, evened the black/white tone, and cropped out the uneven border. Although it is by no means perfect, I think I did a pretty good job!
Here is the big picture:

This was the hardest section for me to clean up - so its really not great, but better than the original.

The sweaters here were in pretty rough shape:

The grass wasn't too hard and I think the shoes came out okay:

This part was interesting:

So - I'm hoping they will contact me when they get prints made and let me know how it has turned out. I hope they will be pleased with it.

Also updated now is the latest wedding. Amanda and Aaron were great to work with and their families were very cooperative. They have a family tradition of going "too far" (according to some) with decorating the vehicles - but I was also told that they were being kind this time. You should have heard some of the stories from the past! whew! Anyway - here is a short slideshow I put together from their wedding on May 31st.
And if you haven't been to the albums page on my site, I also have a slideshow from Sarah and Martin's Wedding at Cedarwood. Cedarwood was a nice location. I loved the old truck, the red barn, and the antique couch in the yard.

Let me know what you think!

Sarah and Martin

2008-05-27T20:50:00.003-05:00

This was such a lovely wedding.. here are some of my favorites from it:

Happy Anniversary!!

2008-05-26T22:13:00.003-05:00

I meant to do this early this morning and totally forgot by the time I got to the computer. Ted and I got married seven years ago today. He's the best thing that has ever happened to my life and I'm so thankful to have him in it.

HAPPY 7th ANNIVERSARY!

I love you more every year Ted... thanks for choosing me to be your bride.

love,
Amanda

Beautiful Girls!

2008-05-23T02:04:00.003-05:00

Look at these dolls I had the pleasure of photographing yesterday morning - so beautiful!