It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! (Georgia January Sessions Announced)

I don't know about all of you but I am SO excited about Christmas. I love everything about it... the ridiculous decorations, the tree, the sappy Christmas music, all of it. Most of all though I love being with friends and family. I'm so stinking excited, I've got the house all decked out and I even took the crawl space under the stairs and turned it into a "secret room" for the kids decked out with Christmas lights, ornaments hanging from the ceiling, candy, and toys, the girls are going to flip. I'll try to take a pic before the demolish it and share it on here.

Now this blog post does have a purpose other than rambling about my Christmas obsession, I will be in Georgia January 5-9 and will be available for a very limited number of sessions, so if you're interested book now!

I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!

And since no blog post is complete without photo's, here are a couple of my brother and his beautiful, sweet, wonderful bride, they haven't even seen these yet so shhhhhh! :)

"He just stopped smiling"

That is what this little cutie's mom said to me when we first met up at for his session. She said "he was all smiles and a couple of weeks ago he just started making this funny face and just stopped smiling." Well after shooting him I have a theory; he knew he and I had a play date and so he was saving all those smiles for me! Seriously, I can't remember the last time I had a little honey that smiled this much! I'm smitten with him for sure. :)

we've got to pray just to make it today

So I have a song theme going on with my blog titles, anyone know what song this blog title is from?? Anyone?? Well it's none other than MC Hammer, please Hammer don't hurt em :) This little SWEETHEART prayed for the police bike we saw, prayed for an ambulance, and prayed for me! My heart melted. See, usually when shooting kiddo's I'll do embarrassing things like pretend I'm tripping and falling... or say "oh no a bug bit me!" or squeal like there's something on my camera and the kids will usually laugh at my obvious misfortune, and I can't say I blame em, I would laugh at me too. :) But not this doll, he was so concerned for me when I would try my lame tricks (which was a lot because I have created some pretty bad habits while shooting that are hard to break). So he would come over and put his hand on me and pray for me! I could have just scooped him up and covered his adorable little face with kisses! His mom and dad are obviously doing a few things right. :)

And I need to give a big THANK YOU to Lorna and the crew out at Wheels Auto Salvage in Ashdown. They were SO kind and allowed us to come out and take some photo's at the salvage yard which was beyond cool, and Lorna had few fantastic old cars at her house that she let us shoot! I can't wait to dig into all the photo's and edit them. :)

You better work....

...do your thang, on the runway... :) This family makes me think of that song, they are stylin for sure. This is my uncle, aunt and cousins, and they have helped me answer the question that I always get which is "what should I wear for my portraits?" Here is what they did oh so right:
1. Layers
I LOVE layers, if you think your outfit or your kiddo's outfit needs a little "something" extra, add a layer...... a jacket, a vest, a scarf, a hat, especially in winter time, they just give the outfit a little more pizazz.
2. Match, but don't match.
I am not a fan of the "lets all wear white button down shirts that look exactly alike" you don't dress like that in normal life, why would you on picture day? Now don't get me wrong, I definitely want you to coordinate, but that means different clothing that seems to mesh well together. So, here's the rule of thumb, don't wear totally different styles, so if you want to wear a nice cocktail dress and pumps for your photo, don't let your hubby wear shorts and flip flops. Another good rule of thumb is that the colors be in the same color family, so the family below chose to do outfits in blacks/grays/etc... then they switched to bright colors, reds, blues, greens, etc... and it works so well!
3. Be YOU
This is the most important rule of all, if you are not a dress, heels and hose type of girl, then PLEASE don't try that on picture day, because it will show in your photo's that you are not comfortable. And if your kiddo hates wearing patent leather shoes and tights, then as adorable as they are stick them in some jeans or sneakers or whatever they feel their "best" in. I want to capture you as yourself, just a shined up version of yourself, but still you. :)
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New Texarkana Dates and Policy Reminders

Hello all! I know I e-mailed most of you guys in Texarkana individually to announce my date change but I just wanted to be sure there was no confusion. My trip to Texarkana will be November 21-24th. If we have not scheduled or rescheduled your session for these dates please contact me at avery@photographybyavery.com. Also a few policy reminders:

1.The session fee includes the editing of the images, so images are not edited and posted online until the session fee has been paid in full. The session fee is due at the session.

2.Product/print orders are not placed until full payment has been made. Once payment has been made you can normally expect to receive your order within 2-3 weeks. If you order specialty items like albums, canvas's, etc... then it may take 2-4 weeks to receive your order.

3. Orders must be placed within 2 weeks of your gallery being posted. If you need your gallery reposted after the 2 weeks is up there will be a rehosting fee.

I am also working on some new prices and fun new products so look for some great changes in the next month or so. I have also hired someone to assist with editing and keeping me organized since things have been a little too busy for this to be a "one man show"so that's definitely exciting. I look forward to all the new changes and will definitely keep you all posted!!!

My lovely friends

My photographer friend Lauren came to stay with me this weekend and we are working on some great new stuff for our websites and I shot some photo's of her for her new site. Also my good friend Michealan (who happens to be 6 foot tall and gorgeous) came to stay with me this weekend as well so I shot lots of pics of these two lovely ladies. :) More to come soon! And to all my Georgia clients I am working hard on getting all your galleries up, I'll be sending some gallery passwords out this week, I'm working on getting them all done in the next week or two. Thanks!

The famous Caleb

Oftentimes when someone views my website they comment on a photo or photo's that stood out to them that they really loved. Well the photo that I get the most comments on by far is the photo of Samantha's beautiful pregnant belly holding blocks that say "Caleb". If this is your first time to drop by just head over to my homepage slideshow on my website and you'll see it. :) Well, little Caleb went from a little peanut in his mommies tummy to an ADORABLE little boy who is crawling around and spreading cuteness wherever he goes. I saw him last right after he was born when we had his newborn photo session, he has grown and changed so much since then it just blows my mind. I am always amazed at how much a baby changes in that first year, it's truly a miracle. Well here are a few of Caleb's pics, I hope you can handle a truckload of cuteness!!

Cute little bug

This is the first time I have photographed this adorable little bug and I'm so happy I was able to hang out with her and her beautiful mom. She has one of the best smiles I have ever seen, her whole face just lights up and it's contagious, when she would smile I would catch myself smiling and laughing. It was a little cold outside but she was such a little trooper and mom had all sorts of cute outfits and stuff, look at that pettiskirt! So dang cute!!

Lillie is 1!!!!

I shot perfect little Lillie when she was newborn, then 3 months, then 6 months, then 9 months and now her first birthday party. I was so happy to be there, it's been so wonderful watching Lillie grow over the last year. She is such a ham, so cute and smart. Her mom should be a party planner, seriously she is so talented. Lillie was born on Halloween (such a cool birthday!) and so the party was a Halloween them. Rae (Lillie's mom) thought of everything, there were napkins with her name on them, a bouncy castle, loads of good food and drinks, a margarita machine (for the adults :), even m&m's with Lillie's picture on them! I did not know there was such a thing, they were so cool. :) Here are some pics from the party, if you weren't there you should probably be a little bit jealous because it was definitely the place to be. :)

Happy Baby

This handsome little guy is such a happy sweet baby. He's always full of smiles and he's growing like a weed. He's such a cutie pie and I just love his parents, they are super sweet and cool. I love the "fall" feel of these pics, he probably thought I was a little nuts dragging him outside and sticking him and baskets and stuff but he was a good sport. I can't get enough of his big brown eyes and big smiles :)

*Peace Out!*

I love these boys :)

They are so cute, each with their own distinct personalities. The littlest one has grown so much since I last saw him, it was crazy to see him running around the yard when last time I saw him he was just getting crawling down. These three are such handsome boys, and mom is so laid back I always have fun at their house :) Although we are 2/2 on rain now so hopefully next time it will be dry and sunny!