Hope Photography - The Best of 2010

2010 has come to a close. What a glorious and amazing year it has been for us. We have met so many great people and witnessed so many beautiful moments that it just blows my mind. It's been one of the most successful and crazy years for our business to date. I always gripe about being so busy, but trust me, I know what a blessing it is for a small business to stay afloat in the turbulent economic waters of the last few years. Danielle and I obviously couldn't do this without the love and support of all of you, our frients/cliends (new words for 2011 combining clients + friends) and family. Thank you!

So just like this time last year, instead of showcasing our favorite photos from the year, we decided to turn the tables and we asked all 21 of our wedding clients and 40+ portrait clients to submit their favorite image that Danielle, Brittany and I took during their wedding or session. We didn't hear back from everyone, but I'll blame that on poor planning on our part… I mean, who wants to check their email over the Christmas holidays? And we heard from several clients who said they simply couldn't narrow it down to one favorite and gave up. That's a good problem to have, I guess. :)

Here are the 2010 client favorites with their reason why below each image (presented in the order we received the entries). Enjoy!

The Treadwells: This picture is my favorite because you took what was a humiliating moment for a parent and turned it into the most wonderful picture and most precious memory! As were most of his pictures, this one sure wasn't planned, but every time I see it I have to giggle because you thought it was a great moment to catch it on camera! THANK YOU GUYS! We will never EVER use anyone else to do our pictures!

The Millers: I like this photo, because we are all happy and healthy and full of life! I also am choosing this photo because we would like to send it in as our family photo with our adoption profile!

The Suttons: It is simply priceless! It captured our precious baby boy in the first week of his life. We will forever hold those pictures as his first professional picture shoot! You guys did an amazing job and we can't wait for you to do more of Baby Jackson!

The Burkhalters: It perfectly captured the spirit of three stair-stepped, smiling sisters holding on to & leaning on each other! We pray they will forever remain stuck on each other!!

The Efflers: We love it because the colors on the tree are bright and clear, and because it captures how happy our little family is together!

The Mobleys: It's my favorite image because you captured all of us (Shamus included) beautifully and naturally. The lighting and setting are just perfect and it's my favorite picture of all of us.

The Whaleys: We love it because they look like such BROTHERS in that one! Younger brother just taking off without hesitation, older one being cautious and "looking before he leaps"- true to both of their personalities. :-)

The Kirklands: It was really hard to pick just one. But, you caught us laughing at the kids and enjoying ourselves looking very natural which no photographer has been able to do before. Thanks guys!! You really had your work cut out for you with us!!!

Suzi and Matt Fairclough: We love this photo because it represents the fun and romantic side of our wedding.

Lori Lary and Clark Hornstra: We met at Patrick Sullivan's and I still get warm fuzzies every time I look at this picture!

Kaitlyn Taylor (senior session): I was so glad that Brittany thought to go up there at the last moment. The sunlight made my hair color stand out beautifully. I will never forget how much effort it took climb up that hill (where everyone in the city had obviously brought their dogs) and take great pictures. Thanks guys!

The Lamar Family: This picture captures our family so perfectly. It's not stuffy or overly posed. It's just...us. I love the subtle fall colors in the background as well. Thank you again for helping us preserve our family's history!

Kelly and Alex Buhler: I love all my photos so it's hard to chose just one! I really love the one of me and Alex with my grandparents. My grandma died not long after the wedding and I'm so glad that she could share out special day and that the whole family was together for our occasion.

[Editor's Note: So sorry about your loss Kelly. :( This photo just makes me realize how important our jobs is!]

The Bumbaloughs: To me it captures a lasting memory of how close the kids are now, their unconditional love, and it is my hope that they will remain close as they get older.

The Goforths: This captures the true Graham, always entertaining and wanting to be the center of attention. Thanks for all the great photographs!

Christine and Eric Lewis: We love the contrast between all the nature around us and we're standing there in a wedding gown and tux. We like how we are standing leaning towards each other, with my ring showing but not obviously trying to be in the picture, making the picture more relaxed overall. And we like remembering how we "escaped" the reception to run up the hill to laugh with each other in this little area that seemed private.

Danyelle and Michael Bachelder: We liked this one because it has the beautiful background of Whitestone, as well as our guns which was and still is the talk of our wedding and of course us on our big happy day. Thanks again for the awesome job you all provided we are soooo glad we found you guys.

Missy Speaks (senior session for Laura): I like this one because it is such a soft picture of a very sweet girl. You see her personality so much. She is shyly looking down, has her cross necklace on that shows her faith and a little smile to show her humble joy. And lighting was great!!Thanks for making the session so much fun and easy for Laura and for the GREAT pictures!

Whitney Hall and Jonathan Alexander: The posture is very "us." We feel it truly captures our personality as a couple. If you were to see us on any given day, this is probably what it would look like. :)

The Herrings: I love the way that you captured the different identities of each of the girls with that specific pic! I love how the sun is shining through behind the girls. I especially love the water that has risen as they jumped in the wet grass! Thank you for marking the moment with our family!

Tara and Steven Jenkins: We wanted our guests to be surrounded by the beauty of the Smoky Mountains. This picture captures everything we love about the Smokies. And who doesn't like to soak their feet after wearing heels for 12 hours?

Alyson and Dusty Young: It looks like something from a storybook and it's so adorable!

The Leonards: We liked this photo because the picture turned out so natural in the scenery and in the pose. It really captured the love that Cooper has for Olivia while he is holding her as her big brother, almost as if protecting her and stating "she is my little sister". It also shows Olivia's bright personality and how her smile lights up the room. Thank you for that memory.

The Conners: I really love them all. If I have to pick a favorite it would have to be this one because of the expression on Wyatt's face. It's priceless!! Not sure what he was laughing at, but I'm thinking that it was from Danielle dancing, in the middle of the street, singing "She hit the floor, next thing you know, shorty got low, low, low...." Thanks guys, for an awesome family shoot and for such a fun year being your Ass. Pho. (aka Associate Photographer). :)

The Smiths: This is our favorite photo because...well, its a damn good one :) We have great eye contact, hands on baby belly and the background is to die for really, but most of all... you all captured our love for each other and the greatest love of all - our son Jax! Thanks gals!

Maleia and Nick O'Neal: We love that the new church and steeple are included. The clouds really add to it because they look awesome. And you can see my gorgeous bouquet as well as the details to my gown really well!

The Yarnells: You all caught a perfect moment. The laugh is real...the lighting is incredible. It's a photo we will treasure forever.

The Bishops: This picture shows Ellie Kate's true joy and spirit. She's such a happy girl and it shows here!!!

The Martinezes: She looks so peaceful and this is still the expression on her face when she sleeps. I love it. I also love the colors of the white with the red basket behind her. It's not only a great picture of my adorable baby--I think it looks like baby art too.

Katie and Will Burkhardt: This photo was instantly our favorite. We just love everything about it. It captures the beauty of Whitestone and makes us look pretty darn good too!

Cari and Seth McNelly: Well first, there are TOO MANY AWESOME PHOTOS of our wedding day to say just one is our favorite, but we picked this one because it's of us alone with "our tree" and the bright lights from the tree in the background look positively magical. Our wedding day was so phenomenal and so perfect in every way that it too was magical so this photo, to us, best depicts the magical feeling of our big day. :)

The Hurts: We picked this one because it accurately reflects our family in a natural setting. The expression on each one of our faces truly represents our personalities.

Slosh (Sloan+Josh): We love this photo because it captured such a beautiful, private moment between the two of us. Wes and Danielle made it so easy to be ourselves, and we think this picture really shows the love we have for one another.

The Hefferns: This picture just captures where Elliot is at this point in time perfectly. He's busy and always on the go, but always just as sunny and happy as can be. Oh, and those blue eyes get me EVERY time.

Jessica and Randy Fly: It's peaceful, pretty, love in God's prettiest place on Earth.

Traci and Eddie Lail: I think the smiles we have here seem to be shining from within.  You know what I mean?  You can see our smiles and happiness in our eyes as well as our facial expression.  I guess there is truth in happiness. ;)


There you go! Thanks to everyone who sent us their favorites! It's always interesting to see things from the client's perspective. Danielle and I sometimes love our photos for entirely different reasons. We might just look at the lighting and composition, but only the clients know what they were thinking and feeling when we captured those moments. That's why I love doing our year-end roundup this way. I hope you enjoyed it! :)

Happy New Year!!



PS! We accidentally left one out! And I feel horrible because the bride is one of our biggest fans! Sorry Krystal, you know we didn't do it on purpose! Here's your favorite...
Kristal and Charles Powers: I will never forget the look Wes got on his face when I said I wanted to stand on the swing. And when he said "Just so you know if this goes horribly wrong remember it was all your idea". I got a priceless image that I absolutely LOVE... oh and nothing went wrong at all!

Thanks Kristal! And again, sorry you slipped through the cracks. :)

A New Look For a New Year...

Out with the old and in with the new!! (And before any of you wise acres pipe up, no, that doesn't mean Danielle is getting rid of me!)

With the change of the year comes a new look for us. Danielle and I finally have a bona fide, professional logo. Wait, what? You liked our old logo with the swirly "h". Well, we did too, but we thought it had run it's course over the last 4 years or so. We always liked it, but I don't think either of us "loved" it. It was something I created by trial and error and it did the job. But we felt it was time for change.

So when we decided to open up a studio/meeting space/office/gallery/movie theater (oh yeah, our screen is that big) back home in Maryville, we decided to take a look at our branding. The first step, a new logo. We've actually had this done for a couple months now (you may have seen it if you've been on Washington St. in Maryville), but I've been so dedicated to getting our client work done that I haven't had the time to give it a proper debut.

One last time, the swirly "h"…

We'll miss you swirly!

And introducing (as if you haven't already seen it in the header at the top of the page), the new logo!

Don't you think it has that new logo smell?

It's a smart blend of a nice clean logotype and the custom mark (the square thingie). The mark has several meanings… see if you can guess what some of them are. Danielle and I love this thing and we have one man to thank for it, John Fischbach at Graphic FX in Maryville. John totally thought outside the box (no pun intended) and put up with all the changes we put him through. A true artist and professional… I can't recommend Graphic FX enough if you need any design done.

So there you have it. A new look for a new year. And that's just the beginning… hopefully a new website and a new blog are in the works as well (I've already changed the color scheme on both, but that's just the tip of the iceberg). Rebranding in scary, but fun!

And make sure you come back tomorrow! Our annual "Client Favorites" roundup will be posted. See what were some of our clients' favorite images and hear why. :)



ps: Let us know what you honestly think of the new logo… we'd love the feedback!

Merry Christmas from the Hopes!

Merry Christmas everyone! I'll keep it brief, because there's still 4,784 things I need to get done before family comes over tonight. But we wanted to wish each and every one of you a happy holiday and hopefully make you laugh a little...





We wanted to go for something funny this year on our Christmas cards. The sad thing is, the front image (in cheesy Christmas attire that we had made at a nameless box studio), isn't too far off from our daily life. ;)

And, of course, it just wouldn't be a Christmas blog post without sharing one of Danielle's favorite traditions:

So from our crazy family to yours, we truly hope you all are blessed this Christmas season! Thank you for being our friends and for supporting our business this year!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT (or morning or day or whatever)!!

Kingston Wedding Photography - Jessica +Randy 10.30.10

This is it! The last wedding of 2010! What a crazy, wonderful year and I can't think of a better wedding or a better couple to have photographed.

Randy and Jessica live in the Memphis area, but have a bunch of family in Knoxville so they chose the gorgeous Whitestone Inn in Kingston for the wedding. And bonus points for me because this was a wedding I booked while Danielle was down and out after her tonsil surgery earlier this year… if you know me, you know I don't talk on the phone to clients. For some reason, talking to a girl on the phone turns me into a bumbling, stumbling thirteen year old. It's not pretty; trust me. But I powered through and Jessica and I hit it off and I'm so glad they picked us to photograph their wedding. It was a beautiful day!!


I spotted this different angle on the Chapel on the way up the hill.


Randy tying the tie.


And Jessica getting her hair done.




Looking good, Doc!


Almost as good as your gorgeous bride!


Beautimus!




We still had a little fall color to play with.


And play we did.


I bet you can't guess which one of us photographed this one?






Beauty!






Just a nice stroll down a scenic autumn lane.






Randy and Jessica's daughter was the flowergirl… she got a little stage fright on the way down the aisle.




Zoom zoom.


High five!




Even though they saw each other beforehand and we did a bunch of photos, I still had a to play for a couple minutes before the reception.




And I'm glad we did. :)


Some of the "sweetest" ring photos I've made.


And yes, I cleaned the caramel off after.


Whitestone has some of the best food of all the venues we photograph in. Chef Bobby and his crew do amazing work!


I called next, but Randy couldn't lift me.


TowelWars!




These boys knew how to get down.


Somebody's happy.




They walked up the steps to fireworks. That's them, blurry in the middle, making their way through the crowd (this was a four second exposure).


Daddy!

Congratulations Jessica and Randy!! Best of luck to you both!

And congrats to Danielle and I… with this post, that wraps up the 2010 wedding season!!! We survived another year!! Phew. What a sigh of relief. It will be nice to have a little down time. Well, at least for a couple weeks... the 2011 wedding season starts for us in the middle of January!

Stay tuned for our annual Christmas blog post!