•••The L Family | Decatur Family Photographer•••

A few weekends ago, Justen and I headed to our good friends, the L family, house. We decided to take some pictures and catch up over lunch. We hadn't seen them in a few months and I was shocked by how big the boys had gotten in just a short time. Mr. F is starting to look more like a little boy than toddler and Mr. J is quickly transitioning out of the baby stage. We had such a fun time hanging out and catching up with them and can't wait to do it again (and much sooner!). Here are a few of my favorite moments from the day...

We did some fun photos of eight month old J. Such a cutie!

Mr. F loves playing with all things boy. So of course we made pillow forts and played with his train set. To say he loves trains in an understatement. :)

Then we transitioned outside to the boys tree house. Mr. L made this tree house (with the help of F, of course) and it is awesome! F & J gave me the grand tour. 

So smiley. Love this one of J and his beautiful mommy. 

•••Time For A Contest! | Atlanta Photographer•••

This past weekend I realized it had been a looooooooooooong time since I had done a give-a-way for all of my faithful blog readers. So I sat down with Justen to brainstorm all of the fun possibilities, and I think we came up with a great idea! Because I am a photographer, and this is a photo blog we thought it would be fun to do a photo contest. :) So here is how it works...

~Photo Contest: Winter~

Prize: A free one hour session!

How to Enter: Submit your favorite winter photo. It can be anything (i.e. a landscape, holiday photos, your children, etc.) that shows winter through your eyes. The photo must be your own! Email your submission to Jen at jen@atfirstsightphotography.com by Tuesday, February 2nd.

Voting: All entries will be placed in an online gallery on our Facebook Fan Page. The entry that receives the most comments or likes by the voting deadline will be the winner. Voting will open from Wednesday, February 3rd to Friday, February 5th, and the winner will be announced on Saturday, February 6th.

Good luck everyone! I can't wait to see everyone's winter photos!

**(Session must take place with in 20 miles of our studio address. Session only to include the winner and his/her immediate family.)**

•••The T Family | Dunwoody, GA Family Photographer•••

Another large family!! This session with the T family had been a long one in the making. During the summer Mrs. T had contacted me about her and her husband's 50th wedding anniversary. She and her husband were having a large party in the Fall, and wanted to get a photo of the entire family to celebrate the occasion since everyone was going to be in the same place at the same time. Unfortunately, at the last minute a few family members weren't able to attend so we posted the shoot until Thanksgiving when we knew everyone would definitely be together. As Thanksgiving approached Mrs. T called me with the bad news...another family member was unable to make it at the last minute. We determined that Christmas week was our best chance...everyone just had to be around for Christmas! Christmas came and everything worked out perfectly. I know Mrs. T was so relieved and so excited to finally get her shoot. Such a special way to celebrate 50 years together! Here are a few of my favorites from their session. 

•••Valentine's Day Cards | Atlanta Photographer•••

Will you be our Valentine? This year AFS is offering Valentine's Day cards! Here are just a few of the super cute designs available this year. Cards are available in a variety of sizes and cardstock options. If interested in having AFS design your custom Valentine's Day cards, or for more information, please email Jen at jen@atfirstsightphotography.com. 

•••The H Family | Woodstock, GA Family Photographer•••

The week of Christmas I met the H family for a very special photo shoot. Mrs. H and her brother decided to give their mom a photo shoot for her Christmas gift. She was surprised on Christmas Eve Eve morning with a picture frame telling her that she had her very own personal photo shoot that afternoon. When I met the H family at our planned location everyone seemed super excited. Grandma H had tons of  great ideas and was ready to go! The H family was super large, and with nine children you never know how things were going to go, but everyone young and younger were on their best behavior. :) I had such a fun time hanging out with everyone and the entire family was full of personality. We hung out at a great local park/downtown area and then let all the little ones have fun on a super awesome playground. The afternoon was a blast! Here is just a sneak peek at some of our fun together...

•••The H Family Super Sneak Peek | Woodstock, GA Children's Photographer•••

Just one of this fun family for now!!

Check back tomorrow for more!

•••Mr. E's Six Months | Douglasville Children's Photographer•••

Yea! Mr. E turned six months! Last weekend I headed to the C family's house for Mr. E's six month photo shoot. I had been on lockdown for the better part of three days due to the ice and snow still in our neighborhood so I was super excited to have a reason to get out of the house and see one of my favorite family's. Mr. E was adorable in his little blue jean overalls, and the C family were even brave enough to take a few shots outside in the super cold weather. I was nervous we would upset Mr. E going outside, but he seemed to love it. He kept giggling and smiling! Soon I realized though he is one of the happiest six month olds I have seen! He giggled and smiled the entire time. In the rare moments he wasn't laughing, it was because in true six month old fashion he had his cute little hands and feet in his mouth. Here is Mr. E's sneak peek...

When he would sit up I noticed he kept curling his toes. So cute!







Mr. E says bye and he will see you guys again in three months! :)

•••Become a Fan! | Atlanta Photographer•••

At First Sight is now on Facebook. Click here to become a fan! :)

•••Beau & Bella: Winter Style | Atlanta Photographer•••

The last few weeks have been frigidly cold here in Atlanta. Most days our little family of four just hung out inside by the fire, but like most furry children (and non-furry children) being stuck in the house after a few days got old to Beau and Bella, and they began acting out. We lost a few rolls of paper towels, the Christmas tree and everything on it became a new chew toy, and Beau learned how to lift the toilet seat himself to drink the water out of it. Justen and I would put on about sixty-five layers of clothing with intentions of walking out their energy, but Beau and Bella being the pampered pooches they are made it about 200 feet before they decided that playing in central heating was much more desirable. Well Justen found a solution! I was working in my office one afternoon and I hear Justen come in laughing. I turn around and see he had dressed Beau and Bella up in their own matching winter coats. I died laughing and being that it was my office, and there are no shortage of cameras in there, I grabbed one and took a few quick snapshots.

Bella loved hers...she kept smiling. :)

The verdict is out on Beau. He was warmer yes, but I think he wanted something more his style...maybe more pink? :)



Bella decided to give Justen a big thank you for her new winter look...

•••Give A Day. Get A Day. | Atlanta Photographer•••

My little sister, Chris, is an Environmental Scientist for a large company based here in Atlanta. I am not sure what her day to day activities involve, but she travels a lot along the east coast testing things, and when she comes to visit my house it has apparently given her license to dig through my trash and give me lengthy lectures on recycling (side note: we do recycle, but an occasional stray gets a talking to). She also helps head a volunteer organization out of her company that monitors quarterly clean-ups for a local park in Alpharetta. Last week while Chris was in Florida I received a very excited phone call from her. She informed me that Disney is doing a promotion called Give A Day. Get A Disney Day. From January 1 to December 15, 2010, if you volunteer for one day at an organization like Chris's you will get a free pass to your choice of Disney World or Disneyland. They will be giving away the free tickets to the first one million volunteers who sign up (children 6 and up also eligible) and complete a volunteering session at one of their participating organizations. There are a wide variety of organizations involved, and the website lists how many/what type of volunteers are needed with in your area. To see a complete list check out the Give A Day website, and for more information click here. What a great way for you and your family to give back to the community and earn a day of fun at the same time! Thanks Chris for the info, and I can't wait to hear everyone's fun volunteering and Disney stories!! :)

•••Miss S Turns 2! | Atlanta Event Photographer•••

Happy Birthday Miss S!! I was so excited when the P family asked me to take photos of Miss S's birthday party. Birthday parties are so much fun and one of my favorite things to photograph. Just before the holidays, Miss S celebrated her 2nd birthday with all of her friends and family. She hosted her birthday party at a fun place called Gymboree, which was super cute play gym and seemed like so much fun for the little ones. It was a blast watching Miss S enjoying each piece of equipment and playing all the games with her friends.

Mr. and Mrs. P did a fabulous job decorting for Miss S's birthday in the sweetest cupcake theme complete with individual large cupcakes for dessert for everyone. Yum! If I ever lost sight of Miss S, all I had to do was look for a large pink cupcake balloon. Miss S loved the balloon and carried it around with her the whole afternoon. It was so cute! :)

Here is a sneak peek into Miss S's 2nd Birthday Party...

Time for cupcakes! I loved watching all the party guests eating their large cupcakes. They were so excited to see how big it was and most dug right in as soon as it was in front of them. It was adorable to look around and cute two year old faces covered in frosting. :)

Happy Birthday Miss S!!!

•••Coming Soon... | Atlanta Event Photographer•••

•••Giving Is Awesome: Winner Update | Atlanta Photographer•••

I wanted to update you guys about the Giving Is Awesome giveaway. This year, I received a total of 17 entries! As I read over all the nominations, my heart was so touched. It was very difficult to read about the many who had lost jobs, lost homes, lost children/loved ones over the last year. More than one of the nominations had endured multiple losses or hardships, and often at times simultaneously. I realized just how difficult 2009 was for some individuals and am happy to help at least in some small way.

On New Year's Day, I enlisted some family members to help choose the winner. After much debating it was finally narrowed it down to one. I contacted the winner on January 2nd, and tears were brought to my eyes to hear just how excited they were about this gift. They are most definitely a very special family that deserves to have such special memories available at their fingertips, and I look forward to being a part of their lives.

Several of you have emailed or messaged me interested in knowing the winner and the story itself. For the last few days I have gone back and forth over whether or not to share the winner's story. On a daily basis, I try to keep as much anonymity for my clients as possible, and after much thought I have decided for the winner's own safety and privacy that I will not share their story or the nomination email I received. I can say that they are a true inspiration and that I hope 2010 will be a year of wonderful new beginnings for them. :)

Thank you again for all the wonderful nominations and I hope to participate in the Giving Is Awesome give a way again this year as well.

Jen

•••Miss K is Nine Months! | Atlanta Children's Photographer•••

Over the weekend, I met Miss K for her nine month session. I couldn't believe it when I looked on my calendar and noticed it was already time for her nine month shoot...I feel like it was just six months yesterday! I met the S family at their home. We had made plans for another location close by but the cold weather made us change our plans so that Miss K wouldn't be uncomfortable. Their house is in a really neat neighborhood and it had this cute bridge close by that we hopped outside to. I think Miss K actually didn't mind the cold and wind...she kept looking around and checking out the bridge and didn't make a peep. The rest of us needed to get warm though and after a few minutes we headed back inside. :) After all our shoots, you can tell Miss K definitely has posing down. She was so good, and I loved when she did this squishy little face before she smiled big (see above). Here is Miss K's nine month sneak peek...