Julia+Adam Maternity Session

Hey all, here are those awesome maternity photos I promised. We met Julia and Adam for some fun photos of the two of them together with their future kiddo. We had originally scheduled the session a week earlier, but the effects of one of the hurricanes (I don't remember which) cancelled the session. We rescheduled and none of us put two and two together that it was the Friday before the UT-Florida game! So we had to do a little improvising and change a couple locations. But it all worked out and I think we captured this beautiful couple's love they have for each other (and the soon to be newbie) just fine.

Some of my favorites...


They're such a good looking couple. I can't imagine how beautiful their little girl is going to be.




I'm sure these bricks were very comfortable. Eh, it made for a nice image anyway.


Yeah, artsy baby!




One hot mama (to-be).








In focus.




Hello in there!








Julia and Adam, I hope all is well! That baby girl should be here soon.

Let us know what you think! More updates are down the road. Stay tuned.

-Wes

Happy Birthday Blog!

Yep, our blog is a year old. It's hard to believe. They grow so fast! It just seems like yesterday that had we some funny stories and awesome photos that we wanted to share with the world. Okay, maybe I'm going too far with the blog-baby analogy. But it is cool that we've been doing this for a year now. It's one of the best things we've done because it's enabled us to stay in touch with all of you, our friends and families. And I've got some big ideas for this next year. Once things slow down a little in the winter, expect a facelift. We're talking a new look, bigger photos, new menus, etc. Some of you may have noticed that the address has already changed to www.hope-blog.com (though the old URL still works). Big things are in the works!

To commemorate our blog, which has been an avenue of not only our latest work, but a way give you all a glimpse into who we are, I thought it would be cool to post some photos we did a couple weeks ago of ourselves. I know, I know, there's been a lot about us lately. But you know, having a new baby will always make you turn the lens the other way. Danielle wanted us to do some lit portraits of us with Amelia just like we do for some of our clients. So we converted Maddie's bedroom into a mini-studio and let Danielle's mom, and occasional Hope Photo assistant, Kathy, press the button once I got the camera set up (well she did so for all the images I'm in).

Let me tell you, I have a new appreciation for what our clients with newborns go through. It's tough posing and dealing with a sleeping/screaming/peeing newborn. Not to mention a 3-year-old.

We did get one nice one of the four of us.


And then we had to be silly. This was Maddie's idea, I promise.




Baby. The other white meat.

(Yep. That's wrong on so many levels.)

My girls.


Peaceful for attempt one.


Make adjustments. Attempt two. Peacefulness gone.


Danielle says she whines like her Daddy.




Butt.


She made the cutest little drunk "goo" sound when I took this one.




Maddie wanted to be my test model for the next lighting setup.


Man, am I going to be in trouble when they hit high school.


Our little monkey.


My favorite.


Okay, I do it with every blog post with a baby. It's time for "What's That Baby Thinking!"...

[In Hollywood Diva voice]
"These bloomers are WAY to big for me! Wardrobe! Where's my agent?!?"


[Italian tough guy]
"I no lika pictures, capisca? Fuhgettaboutit!"


[Jerry Lewis]
"Hey lady!!"


[Ashton Coocher] (whatever, we all know that's how he really spells it).
"Hmmm. If I could just roll off this bean bag, and learn to crawl, I could probably make it to the door before they would notice. Swipe Dad's ATM card and then off to Vegas baby!"


"I'm bored. Where's the boob juice?"




Danielle grabbed the camera thinking we would retry this photo. Here I am saying, "She's about to cry! Give me the pacifier!"


Two minutes later...


Since she was born, Millie has this little Batman logo appear on her forehead when she is really mad. And not old school Batman, but the new Dark Knight Batman. Caped crusading and crime fighting in her future? Only time will tell.


That's all for now. Feel free to scroll back through the last year if you haven't been following the blog for a while. Thanks for stopping by and check back in a day or so. I've got some great maternity photos to share!

-Wes

The Tennessee-Florida Game 9-20-08

Alright, this post will be light on words and heavy on photos. I've got a ton of work on my plate, but I needed to get these images moved out of the way so they're jumping to the front of the blog line.

Last Friday, I was contacted by a magazine in Florida to cover the Tennessee-Florida game. I jumped at the chance since that's one of the few things I miss about working at a newspaper. I covered UT games every year for 10 years while working at the Daily Beacon and the Daily Times, so last year was a little sad for me since it was our first year doing this full time and I didn't get an opportunity to shoot a game all season. Danielle said I was like a kid in the candy story Friday night preparing for the game!

Yeah it was a sucky game if you're a Vol fan, but I was just stoked to be back on the field again, deafened by the roar of the crowd and roasted by the afternoon sun. I have to admit, it was a little strange focusing on the visiting team instead of my alma mater, but I got some great images nonetheless (it helped that Florida beat the crap out of the Vols).

Here are a batch of some of my favorites (although I wanted to show you all 1200 I shot):

[NOTE: Remember that we own the copyright to these photos. DO NOT steal these pics and use them anywhere else. I hate that I have to say that, but I've found my photos of the Eric Berry and Aryan Foster scattered all over the net since my blog post a few months ago about a freelance assignment for another magazine. Don't steal. It isn't cool. And I really don't want to have to hunt you down. Thanks!]

I'll start off with a little self-portrait. A BIG thanks goes to my buddy Patrick Murphy-Racey for loaning me a 400 (that's the big white lens you see there). I sold off my biggest telephoto lens long ago because I couldn't justify keeping such an expensive hunk of glass when I just wasn't using it that often. Yeah, I could have gotten by with what I have, but I wouldn't have gotten nearly the amount of great moments without this lens. Thanks again Pat!


Four separate frames from the student section.


The Honor Guard prior to kickoff.


Alright, here's where I'm going to slack off. Instead of taking the time to tell you every guy's name, rank, and serial number, I'm just going to let the photos do the talking.








The Vol is Brandon Warren... I covered him when he played at Alcoa a few years ago.


Gettin' stuffed. This pretty much sums up the Vols Saturday.


Everyone always asks me what it's like being down on the sidelines. It's work. A lot of kneeling, running up and down the sideline toting heavy gear, dealing with morons who shouldn't be there, the heat, the noise, the pressure to get "the play"... it's not easy that's for sure. But it's still a ton of fun! Here's the view during a timeout.




























There you go. I hope you enjoyed them (better than the game at least). Be sure to let me know what you think. Maybe things will start to look up for the Vols this season. And maybe I'll get hired to shoot more games. I certainly wouldn't mind!

-Wes