Caroline's Awesome Senior Session

Wow. Simply... WOW!

That's about all I can say about a recent senior session with West High School senior Caroline in downtown Knoxville. We don't really do that many seniors because it's just something we haven't had time to market, but we are very glad that Caroline and her mom found us. It was such a great experience for Danielle and I and hopefully for Caroline too. She rocked the session and I think these photos will be just a *little* bit better than the old posed photos they take at school. ;)

It was hard to choose, but here are a few of my favorites...

(And I think for once I'm going to just shut up and let the photos do the talking!)

























































Awesome light, nice weather, cool locations, and a gorgeous model. What more can a couple photographers ask for? How about more senior sessions like Caroline's! Maybe it's time we fully developed the senior division of Hope Photography. What do you think?

Until next time...
Wes

Nikki+Andrew: The Wedding 08.01.09

A couple weeks ago we had the pleasure of photographing Nikki and Andrew's wedding at Central Baptist Church of Bearden. We met Nikki through her mom, who we had worked with on several weddings that she helped coordinate at the church and were excited when she contacted us to photograph the wedding. If her daughter was as half as much fun to work with as she was then it would no doubt be a great wedding! Although we didn't actually get to meet Nikki until the week of the wedding, we seemed to hit if off right away and had a great time working with her and Andrew! It was a beautiful affair with flowers by Clay Pots Floral Events and a rockin' reception at The Foundry. I say rockin' because these kids knew how to get down! It was a wild party driven by a cool band from Nashville, Entice (booked through Special Notes).

Enough chit chat, on with the show!

A nice detail to start.





The lovely bride.


And her girls.


Danielle found a nice moment while doing her open space thing (she still pays me $.05 each time I point one of her awesome photos. I'm up to $2.35; almost enough for a Happy Meal).


Getting sassy!


Andrew and his boys.


Andrew playing it cool.





The bridesmaids were sneaking peaks at guests as they arrived.


A little kiss from dad before the ceremony.





Checking out the bling!


Playing in the courtyard.





The happy couple.


They arrived to the Foundry via Knoxville trolley.


A few fun details.


Andrew and Nikki had a lively first dance. I tell you, it's cool when a couple really tears up the dance floor at their reception.


I love this one... Andrew and his brother are doing a little double dutch jump rope action, but WITHOUT the jump ropes! I swear it looked like they were doing the real thing.


The band, Entice, had all the groomsmen on stage take turns showing off their stuff. The boys tore it up.


And then they had the bride and groom and their family on stage to have a dance off with the crowd. Entice really knew how to get everyone involved. To quote one of the singers, "Ain't no party like an Entice party!"


A little funky chicken action.


Andrew's boys kidnapped him for an old fashioned groom chair hoisting (does that have an actual name?).


And Nikki didn't escape the fun either.


One more kiss for the night.


The newlyweds! (I was picking dried flowers out of my camera bag for the next two days!)

Congratulations Nikki and Andrew! We hope you had a wonderful honeymoon and are enjoying a new life together in California!

Wes

Coming soon: Caroline's awesome senior session!

Our girls are growing!

We've had a bunch of folks ask about our girls recently, so I thought I would dedicate this post to our little sweethearts since they both have birthdays coming up soon (TOO soon). We've decided to do a joint party for them since their birthdays are only 10 days apart. We wouldn't be able to call ourselves photographers if we didn't have some sort of cool photo for their invitations so since this year's party is a swim/beach theme, we did a little session out in their pool.


The cover shot. And yes, Danielle was barely out of the frame on the right waiting to catch Millie if Maddie were to let her go. Which she did. Twice.


The "Madness" wanted a photo by herself. She's such a poser!


And of course we did a few of Millie too.


I wanted to get some funky, wide-angle, photos with the girls wearing swimming goggles. This was about all I got out of Maddie, who HATES to gave anything tight around her head.


And this is about all I got out of Millie who, well, let's face it, she's 10 months old here.


Look at Millie stand (she looks a little uneasy, but she's standing!).


Augh! I can't believe she'll be a year old in a few weeks!


And a few in their room (these count as Millie's 9-month session, by the way ;p).


Still not a fan of hats.


Our big girl.


Put up yer dukes!


A little backstory with these... when Maddie was about 10 months old, we needed something to decorate our new kitchen. So we decided to add a few props to her 9-month session. Well now that we have two cuties, we thought it would only be fair and do the same with Millie. Since steak knives are out, we went with a rolling pin and whisk.


And in case you're curious, here's Maddie ~3 years ago with fork and spoon.


And here she is now. The stinker is almost four!!!

Being a parent is a bittersweet adventure for sure. It's awesome seeing them grow and hit all the milestones along the way. But at the same time, it is so sad and depressing how fast the girls grow. It just seems like yesterday that we were bringing Maddie home from the hospital. And now she's almost four and her "little" sister is turning one! That's what makes these, and all of our photos of them, so special. One day we'll blink and they'll be heading off to college and getting married.

*sigh*

Sorry to get so deep, but Danielle and I are just really feeling the effects of watching children grow lately. I promise the next post will be more cheery! :)

Until then...
Wes

Coming soon: Nikki and Andrew's Knoxville wedding!