We began at the Compton Gardens trails.  Lovely lovely place.  Come visit, you wont be let down.

BOOM!  Work it, Melissa!!

She said “want me to lay in these?”  I didn’t have to direct this girl a bit.  She. Was. On!

This is right about when it got dark…real dark out and the wind started getting pretty gusty.  Quick snappin’ time.

about 20 minutes into shooting it started pouring hard.  I started to panic inside I must admit.  They had driven so far for this and I couldn’t let them down.  Time for some quick thinking.  Right by Compton Gardens in downtown Bentonville a new little modern art museum/hotel has opened up called 21c.  OH. MY. GATO!!  It’s gorgeous.  GORGEOUS!  I hoofed it inside and greeting me at the door were two gentlemen with umbrellas and large smiles.  I told them what was going on and asked if we may shoot for a little while inside.  They were beyond happy to accommodate us and our drippy selves.  They showed us around and let us go wherever we liked in the downstairs museum area.  I later found they normally ask for reservations and a small fee to shoot there, but they said not a word about this to me and just let me do my thing.  One girl even brought us a large neon green penguin as a prop! I can’t say enough good things about this place.  If you’re coming to visit Crystal Bridges, walk the 10 minute hike up the Compton Gardens/Crystal Bridges trail and go visit this place.  AH-MER-ZIN!!!

hey hey cutie.

in love. look at those perfectly plump and pouty lips!  delish.

We were just about to reel in this sessions when Melissa asked if I would take some of her in the rain since we were about finished and she didn’t care what her hair looked like on the drive home.  I said “well gaaaarrrrlllllyy!  Of course we can!!”  So she put her prom dress back on and out the doors we went…but not before we hit up this sweet installment.

pretty.  pretty. pretty.

These ones right here just get me.  She said she had never danced in the rain before and boy did we ever dance.  The splash pad was on and we got wet!  (no cameras were destroyed in the making of these photos )

Her face on the right….LOVE.  I like, so love it.

Would it be creepy to hang up a 16×20 of this one in my house?  It just makes me feel happy.

Hellloooooo sassy!

And I wanted to end on my favorite.  Melissa, I love your smile.  It is one of those that just warms ya better than a cup of hot cocoa and the light in your eyes, I hope never goes anywhere.  You were truly the ultimate pleasure to work with and I hope to have the pleasure again someday.  Enjoy these and your senior year!!  I know you’ll do amazing things.

the other two kids, Jake and Burrito, made a cameo appearance too!

aaaaaaaaaawe.

pretty young lady, please stop growing now.

oh. my. cuteness.

Hope you’re having a wonderful weekend!!  Thanks for stopping by and thank you mom for reminding me to take some of my own sometimes

Boy does this little gal know how to make an entrance!  Look at how that little smirk just reads “hey y’all, aren’t I just the cutest little thaang!!”  Her mama has the same little smirk.  I’ve seen it since I was about 4

Delci is my oldest friend, which you may remember me saying when I did their family session a few months ago.  I love doing shoots with this bunch.  Not only does it always result in absolutely adorable photos every time, but I get to go back to those old memories I so adore.  This time we used her moms house again for the location and it still, after this many years, makes me feel at home.  I want to always do our sessions there, ok?  Ok.  :)

Alright, enough memory lane.  Lets meet this little gal, Sydney.

TOES!

Love.

I love the contrast here in Gary’s hard working man hands and Sydney’s new little dainty baby feet

Grandmas always know how to make it better.  Always.

She is Delci’s twin.

Her big brother, Marshall.  He obviously adores her already.

My fave.

time for the other babies to be fed.  Always something interesting going on in this house it seems

I rest my case.  Gary with a snake.  If you listen real close you can hear Margie screaming in the background

Oh hey Dad!

I love you, Sydney.  I CANNOT wait to watch you grow!!

Thanks for stopping by!! Have a very merry Monday, y’all!

Here is a bit of back story as to why I did this session this way.  You all know just as well as I do that the world of camera phones has so very drastically changed over the past couple of years.  The phones are better the cameras are better, the images are better, the quality is better…its just better.  Please don’t get me wrong here, I still LOVE my SLR and will always use them, BUT my phone is always ALWAYS by my side.  I use it throughout the day, all day, to document my day (or son as you well know) while we are at home or on the go.  It’s easier to just pull that puppy out and snap a few cool shots and quickly put it away to move on to the next task.  I would like to think that a lot of the images I snag with my phone and bombard y’all with daily are pretty Ok actually.  Id even venture to guess that some folks may not even be able to tell the difference sometimes if an picture is an iphone image or fancy camera image.  Now, this doesn’t mean that it’s not work.  I still look for the right angles and sometimes put myself in some pretty tricky positions to get “the” shot.  It’s just an easier, quicker, and more relaxed way of documenting then having to carry around your heavy camera bag all day

SO, I have been thinking for some time now how fun it would be to do an entire session just using my iPhone, but WHO in their right mind would agree to let me do this…especially if they are paying me big bucks to do it?  Well I have always said and firmly believe that a great photograph has little to do with the camera used.  It’s all about the eye.  The feeling a photograph gives you.  Thats whats important.  Yes, its handy to know your camera, but that can be learned.  Knowing what looks good and being able to capture that, well thats inside you!  So, when a few weeks ago my friend Stephanie and I were having lunch and she proposed I do an all iPhone photo session of her and her new baby, Ava, you can imagine how thrilled I was!!  Stephanie is also a photographer, and a darn good one at that, and over the last couple of years we have began to build a pretty great friendship. She is so wonderful to talk to and such a joy to just be around.  I love being able to talk shop with her, as were both in the same stages of building out businesses.  She shows me things I never knew, and I hope I can do the same for her.  I am so so so excited to stop typing now and show you the photos from my session with her yesterday.  All shot and edited with my iPhone.  I used Pic Tap Go! to edit them all on my phone.  If you haven’t downloaded this app yet…shame shame Check it out.  You will be amazed with the fun things you can do with the app and how friendly they are.   They are continuously giving props on their blog and instagram to their users.  Ok Ok. enough talk.  Lets get to the meat of the post!!!

Well, when I first arrived Sweetcheeks McGee, AKA, Ava was getting ready to have some lunch so I took Mac out back and had some fun with Penny and Indy (I hope I spelled Indy right, but heck, It took me all day to remember he was a boy so im not surprised if I didn’t ) Lemme just tell ya, Penny here is a ham and a half.  She snuck her way into so many shots it was hilarious.  I loved every moment of that just B T dub.

and then theres Indy.  sh..HE wanted me to play with this here stick, but wouldn’t let me have it if I had my phone in my hand.  That didn’t work out for either one of us as you can see, he has the stick and I have the pic.  Oh well.

After a quick round of Pic Tap Go, Ava was ready for her time in the spotlight.

Holy cannoli.

quick mama cuddles before we venture to the great backyard!!

feet feet and more feet.  I like feet!

If you come home and find that half of these hostas are missing….it was Penny…not me….

“put down the phone and ill let throw me this ball”

Oh how I love this one.  Stephanie has a smile that is sure to brighten any dull mood.  I adore.

Isn’t it just so very apparent how IN LOVE she is with her? Such a great mama you are.

well, I just simply melted everywhere just now. Thanks Ava!!

…and she finds it humorous.

“why you did that?”

THE BUBBLES!!!!

Well there ya have it.  A session, and a pretty dandy one if I do say so, ALL WITH AN IPHONE!!  Now I suggest you run out now and photograph everything you see Theres no reason not too!!

I hope you had half as much fun viewing these as I did taking them.

Thanks Steph.  Hope you love!!

Mel.

Before I get this post rolling, I would like to start this by asking you to just take a moment and give Alisha and Jake a round of applause for keeping so many humans alive and happy  Really, they are both really amazing, giving people.  We could use more like them in the world.  If you feel like you have seen them on my blog before, it’s because you did!!  You can view our session from two years ago here.  It’s crazy to look at these and see how much they have all grown…and how much Ive grown in my editing and way of shooting as well I had a lot of fun with this lively group and hope you enjoy what came from our little adventure into the woods!

those lashes!

those freckles!

pretty eyes can I just say I wish I had this hair right now.  The cut, the color.  All.  20 year old me would have it, 30 year old me is too big of a wussy

And for the newest member of the Davis crew!!  Holy cuteness f’real.

I had a blast with you all, you’re quite the handsome family.  Thanks again and I hope you enjoy!!

I was like, oh hey wind, thanks for making my job way more fun and awesome!

And then she started busting out this face and I died.  Her eyes.

stop it Anna, just stop it.

Oh my gato! I can’t handle it.  I love this.  I am in love with is.  In love.

oh ya know, just being rad.

Holy smokin’ hottie.

Im loving the red with the green.

Anna, thank you for agreeing to keep shooting when I saw we were about to miss out on this outfit.  You were a joy to hang out with and shoot.  I hope you love these as much as I do!!

Sara, I hope you don’t hate me for this, but I think you look adorable and your eyes are shining like the diamond on your finger.

This ring box was the one her mothers ring came in!  I love that.

I would like you to take notice of the smile right there on her mothers face.  It is ALWAYS there.  Nancy, you are one of the nicest, warm welcoming ladies I have had the pleasure of meeting.

Sara loved the folds in her dress and I loved the va va voom curves they gave her!!

a vision.

A beautiful gift from Richards grandmother.

Patiently waiting to see his lady for the first time.  He’s adorable.

They’re perfect together.  Just perfect.

Admiring those new rings while waiting to head to the reception.

Sara’s dad gave THE FUNNIEST speech I have heard yet!!

oh. my. holy lots of love.

Thank you, Anna.  You made me cry

Cuttin’ a rug in some fabulous silver shoes!

Marc was not only great at the robot, he was also a splendid driver getting me to the reception.  Thanks again for proving your family wrong and not killing me along the way

The family ties and friendships were so strong at this wedding.  I wish you all the very best in your life, thank you for letting me take part in this huge piece of it.  It was truly a pleasure and a joy to capture.  Cheers!

Say hello to Braxton, the newest little member of the Clark family!  You may remember Mandy and Calvin if you have followed my work for a while.  I shot their engagements, wedding and bridal portraits and now I have had the honor of taking photos of their sweet sweet little baby who was born just a month ago.  He is just simply a squishy little bundle of perfection.  Seriously.  He was so calm and relaxed and just let us do whatever we wanted to do with him without a fuss at all.  Oh, and how great is this little Dr. Seuss inspired room of his?

Ok, let’s look at him and just smile

those little lashes poking out.  sigh.

oh gosh.

so he wasn’t terribly fond of this moment, but as soon as momma and pop came to the rescue, all was right with the world again.

see.  all better!

The perfect family.  Grover (the pup) was such a good little guy.  He just watched and joined in at all the right moments.

nothin’ like mamas arms.

I love LOVE LOOOOOOVEEEEEE this photo.  It pulls at my heart and makes me almost want to tear up every time I look at it.  Just Calvin looking at Braxton with such joy and amazement.

you may have heard me say before that Im not real into putting babies in baskets.  I just like to capture the interaction between the parents and baby.  Forget I ever said that will ya?  Calvin fly fishes and we used this neat little basket and net as props in Mandy’s bridals and it was really pretty and fun, so of course I was all for it here…and i LOVE these baby Braxton in and basket photos.  love them.

see!?!  SEE!!??

oh. my. goodness.

favorite.  most favorite.

no wait…maybe this one is.

errrr, perhaps this one.  ;)

I can’t pick a favorite from this session really.  I love them all!  I hope you guys love them too.

Congratulations again, Calvin and Mandy!! Enjoy every single little moment.

Now some of you, in fact any of you, may not know what Style Me Pretty is or why it’s so exciting that this is happening. Well, I’m here to tell ya now! Style Me Pretty has quickly become one of the top wedding sources on the web. I mean right up there with Martha Stewart and Real weddings! Thousands of people visit this site daily for inspiration for their big day. Over a million each month. That’s a lot of folks, folks!

For a wedding photographer trying to expand their business, submitting their work is a must. This is the FIRST wedding I have ever tried to submit on this grand of scale! I aimed high honestly thinking I was a crazy person for doing so, but thanks to Scott and Sara for putting so much love and attention into their day, we have made this crazy thought of being able to show the world the hard work spent, a reality!!!

If you haven’t seen already, here is a link to the feature, and thank you again Style Me Pretty and Scott and Sara!!! http://www.stylemepretty.com/2013/01/09/fayetteville-arkansas-wedding-from-mellow-yellow-photography/