A Dog and Her Mama {Old Hickory Lake Maternity Photography}

Well, I was going to post Reagan’s newborn session today, but then I realized that I never posted her mommy’s maternity session.  Elizabeth looked amazing in her maternity photos, and I loved that she included her beloved fifteen-year-old Golden Retriever, Lady, in many of the photos.  Sadly, Lady crossed the rainbow bridge a few weeks after these were taken.  I am SO glad we were able to capture such sweet photos of her and her mommy.

Maternity Session with Dog - Southern Daisy Photography - Hendersonville, TN

Maternity Session with Dog - Southern Daisy Photography - Hendersonville, TN

Sweet, sweet Lady.

Maternity Session with Dog - Southern Daisy Photography - Hendersonville, TN

Maternity Session with Dog - Southern Daisy Photography - Hendersonville, TN

I think this one might be my very favorite from the entire session.  Such soulful eyes!

Maternity Session with Dog - Southern Daisy Photography - Hendersonville, TN

Maternity Session with Dog - Southern Daisy Photography - Hendersonville, TN

Maternity Session with Dog - Southern Daisy Photography - Hendersonville, TN

One of their other dogs, Tinkerbell, wanted to get in on the action.

Maternity Session with Dog - Southern Daisy Photography - Hendersonville, TN

Maternity Session with Dog - Southern Daisy Photography - Hendersonville, TN

Once we were done with the photos inside, we ventured out into the bitterly cold and windy 20 degree weather for some pretty lake shots.  Elizabeth was such a trooper, but we were both freezing our tushies off!

Maternity Session with Dog - Southern Daisy Photography - Hendersonville, TN

Winter Maternity Session - Southern Daisy Photography - Hendersonville, TN

Winter Maternity Session - Southern Daisy Photography - Hendersonville, TN

Winter Maternity Session - Southern Daisy Photography - Hendersonville, TN

Winter Maternity Session - Southern Daisy Photography - Hendersonville, TN

Winter Maternity Session - Southern Daisy Photography - Hendersonville, TN

Winter Maternity Session - Southern Daisy Photography - Hendersonville, TN

Winter Maternity Session - Southern Daisy Photography - Hendersonville, TN

Reagan’s Fresh 48 {Hendersonville, TN Birth Photographer}

Back in March, a few days before I turned the big 3-0, one of my dearest friends gave birth to her first born.  A daughter they named Reagan Elizabeth.  I had the pleasure of visiting them in the hospital on the day she was born, and took some photos while I was there.  Isn’t she the sweetest thing?!

Fresh 48 session | Southern Daisy Photography | Gallatin, TN

Fresh 48 session | Southern Daisy Photography | Gallatin, TN

Fresh 48 session | Southern Daisy Photography | Gallatin, TN

Fresh 48 session | Southern Daisy Photography | Gallatin, TN

Proud daddy!

Fresh 48 session | Southern Daisy Photography | Gallatin, TN

Fresh 48 session | Southern Daisy Photography | Gallatin, TN

Fresh 48 session | Southern Daisy Photography | Gallatin, TN

Fresh 48 session | Southern Daisy Photography | Gallatin, TN

Fresh 48 session | Southern Daisy Photography | Gallatin, TN

Fresh 48 session | Southern Daisy Photography | Gallatin, TN

Fresh 48 session | Southern Daisy Photography | Gallatin, TN

Untitled-3

Fresh 48 session | Southern Daisy Photography | Gallatin, TN

Stay tuned for Reagan’s newborn session!

Cooper’s Cake Smash {Hendersonville, TN Baby Photographer}

This was a special cake smash session for me.  Cooper’s mommy and I are in a Facebook group together because our older children were born in the same month.  Actually, they were born a week apart!  I also did her daughter’s cake smash session three years ago.  Time sure flies!  Happy 1st birthday, Cooper!

Blue and Gray Cake Smash - Southern Daisy Photography, Hendersonville, TN

Cooper was all about his cake, and was so generous that he was constantly trying to share with his mommy.

Blue and Gray Cake Smash - Southern Daisy Photography, Hendersonville, TN

Blue and Gray Cake Smash - Southern Daisy Photography, Hendersonville, TN

Blue and Gray Cake Smash - Southern Daisy Photography, Hendersonville, TN

Blue and Gray Cake Smash - Southern Daisy Photography, Hendersonville, TN

Blue and Gray Cake Smash - Southern Daisy Photography, Hendersonville, TN

blue and gray cake smash - 1st birthday - Nashville Child Photographer

Blue and Gray Cake Smash - Southern Daisy Photography, Hendersonville, TN

Blue and Gray Cake Smash - Southern Daisy Photography, Hendersonville, TN

Blue and Gray Cake Smash - Southern Daisy Photography, Hendersonville, TN

Blue and Gray Cake Smash - Southern Daisy Photography, Hendersonville, TN

Well done, Cooper. Well done.  HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY!!!

House Tour

Well, better late than never, right?  After living in this house for two years, we’ve decided to sell it and build our dream home.  We accepted an offer on it last month, and it closes at the end of this month.  Since I had to take some good photos of the house for our listing, I figured I’d share them with you.

Craftsman Style House

This home was so great to us.  The boys had an enormous playroom, I had a huge photography and sewing studio over our three car garage, and we had the most wonderful neighbors.  I was so sad to leave, but I’m glad we can look to the future and the home that our children will grow up in, and hopefully bring our grandchildren to one day.

Knockout Roses

We had new landscaping put in last summer, and a couple weeks ago when I drove by the house, these knockout roses were in full bloom and looking gorgeous!  It’s too bad I won’t be able to enjoy them, but I hope the new owners love them and care for them like I would.  I’m going to be sure that these hot pink roses make an appearance at our new house.

Craftsman Style House

Here’s the backyard and garages.  The boys didn’t play out here much, mainly because it wasn’t very level, and we were right next to the woods, as you’ll see in the next photo, so I was afraid of all the creepy crawlies.  Not to mention the wasps and hornets that made their home in our yard.

Craftsman Style House

Here’s a view of the back of the house from the opposite side.  As you can see, our house was surrounded by woods on two sides.  It did make for a beautiful view, though.  Especially in the fall and winter!  (See below)

Winter Wonderland

This was a picture I took this past January, when we got 8+ inches of snow!  The most snow Tennessee has gotten in thirteen years!  This picture is currently printed out as a large 16×20 print, and hanging in our bedroom.

Craftsman Style House

Here’s the view as you walk in the front door.  The rug is from Target, about three years ago.  I was going to post a link, but didn’t see it on their website anymore.  We had that long table custom built when we lived at our last home, and it fit perfectly here in the entryway.  The family collage picture frame on the wall above it is from Hobby Lobby, and was a Mother’s Day gift from my wonderful husband a couple years ago.

White Baby Grand Piano

To the right of the entryway is the dining room.  Since we’ve never had a dining room table, we used it to house our white baby grand piano (which, coincidentally, is actually getting picked up today by its new owner).  Since we’re in our rental house while we build, we have no room for it (even though it’s beautiful), but we plan to get an upright piano once our new home is built.  My husband and I both play the piano, and I plan on either teaching the boys myself, or hiring a piano teacher for them once they get a bit older.  They tend to listen better when I’m not the one instructing them (Moms, can I get a witness?).

White Baby Grand Piano

Here’s the view of the “piano room” looking from the entryway.

Living Room

The entryway opens up into the living room.  We didn’t buy any new furniture when we moved into this house, so we just made do with what we already had.  These brown couches are from La-Z-Boy, and comfort and function trumped looks when we bought them.  The dark brown hides dirt REALLY well, and with two boys and two large drooly dogs, hiding dirt is a must when considering furniture.  The curtains and pillow covers are handmade by me using fabric from Joann’s Fabrics.  I actually made the curtains for the kitchen window of our last house, which was shorter and wider.  So I just cut each panel in half lengthwise and added some matching blue fabric to the top to lengthen them.  I think they turned out great!  The candlesticks on the mantle are also from Joann’s.  I searched high and low for candlesticks I liked, and when I saw these, it was love at first sight.

Living Room

Here’s another view of the living room from the opposite corner.  It opens up to the kitchen and the stairs.

Living Room

And, of course, our monstrosity of a TV.  That thing is 80 inches!  I bought that ladder displaying my quilts at a local antique shop, after searching for one for months.  I always get asked about my oversized wooden ruler that I use to measure the boys.  I found that at Kirkland’s, and it’s actually on sale right now!  The wreath next to the ruler is from Home Goods, and I have to mention my Magnolia Market metal sign my hubby bought me for Christmas this past year.  He actually bought me three things from Magnolia Market for Christmas, so now I have a little bit of Waco, TX in my home.

Kitchen

The kitchen is the next room on our tour.  We brought our kitchen table from our last home, so it doesn’t really match, but it was functional, and with two little boys, we didn’t really want to invest in a new table just yet.  I found little table and chairs under the window at a local craft fair, and now at our rental house the boys sit at it every day when they eat.  Oddly enough, when we lived here, they rarely sat there.  The gorgeous wood sideboard table was handmade by a guy in Springfield, TN.  He posted about ten of them on our local Varage Sale page, and I knew I just had to pick one up!  Can’t pass up handmade furniture made out of REAL wood!

Kitchen

Here’s a better view of the kitchen.  I loved that bookcase on the end of the island (there’s one on the other side too).  Perfect for all my cookbooks!

Kitchen

Laundry/Mud Room

Next to the Kitchen is the laundry room and “mud room.”  I have that in quotations because ideally I wanted to put in a cool bench and locker area there, but we never got around to it.  That’s something we’ll definitely have at our new house! My husband bought that aqua coat rack for me for Christmas last year from the Etsy Shop MidnightWoodWorks.  If you look closely, you can see our kitty, Lacey, getting a snack in the laundry room.

Bonus Room

If you walk up the four steps to the right of the laundry room, you’ll find the large bonus room over the three-car garage.  I used this room as my sewing and photography studio.  Couches are from La-Z-Boy, throw pillows are made by me, and coffee table is from Ikea.  Bookshelves are from Walmart, but didn’t survive the move.  We’ll be getting better quality at our new house!

Bonus Room

It was perfect for me, because it had a half bathroom, and two huge closets that I used for my hoards of fabric and photography props.  In our new house, the sewing room will be in the large laundry room, and I will have a separate photography studio, so clients no longer have to walk through our house.

Guest Bedroom

On to our guest bedroom.  I liked that this room was on the first floor, away from the boys’ bedrooms.  I made those blackout curtains for our master bedroom at our last house, and since this room came with no blinds of any kind, they certainly needed some curtains for privacy!  Bedspread is from Target, and the dresser is from Sam’s Club.  That cute little rocking chair in the corner is a family heirloom from my husband’s side of the family, and I sewed a little cushion cover for it.

Guest Bathroom

The guest bathroom was right outside the guest bedroom.  Again, this decor was leftover from our last two houses.  But it’s pretty neutral, so I don’t mind it. Both the rug and shower curtain were from Target.

Master Bedroom

Now for the master bedroom!  It pretty much stayed an empty slate above the bed, because Steve and I couldn’t agree on something to go in that wall space.  I picked out the most beautiful medallion from Kirkland’s, but once he saw it, he couldn’t get past the thought of it falling on his head in the middle of the night.  So back to Kirkland’s it went.  I pouted for at least a day over that one.

Guest Bedroom

Isn’t that dresser amazing?  I found it at a local antique shop, and I just HAD to have it!  They don’t make furniture like they used to.  This is absolutely my favorite piece in our entire house!

Master Bathroom

Here’s our master bathroom.  The storage in here left something to be desired.  This tall cabinet is the only linen closet in the entire house, and those little square drawers, once opened, are only about two inches wide.  Basically, I had to buy a plethora of baskets to store all my hair and makeup products.  Rugs and hand towels are from Target.

Shower

The shower in our master bathroom was pretty neat.  Where I’m standing is actually another shower head, but we only ever used the one, because the water pressure in this one was better.  Haha!  The river rock flooring also took some time to get used to.  Kinda painful when you’re used to standing on a smooth surface.

Gray and Blue Elephant Nursery

Now for the upstairs.  Oliver’s gray and blue elephant nursery was one of my favorite rooms in the house.  It turned out almost exactly like I imagined it.  I made his gray chevron blackout curtains, as well as the blanket that’s hanging over his crib rail (among several other blankets).  I also made his name sign above his bed by covering 8×10 canvases in fabric, and gluing painted wooden letters to the front.

Gray and blue elephant nursery

Here’s a more straight on shot of the name lettering that I took for my Chevron Baby Blanket tutorial.

Little Boy's Room

Grayson’s room was next to Oliver’s.  He got his big boy bed shortly after he turned three.  We decided to go with a cars and trucks theme in his room, since that’s what he’s obsessed with.  Everything in this room is from Target, minus the frames, “G”, and lamp.  I just realized that I shop at Target probably more than any other store, except the grocery store.  I made the “G” above his bed by painting a large cardboard letter from Hobby Lobby and then gluing a little wooden car (also from HL) on it.

Little boy room

Here’s the view of his room looking from the doorway.  Again, I made his blackout curtains to match his bedspread.  Those frames on the wall to the left of the window were a cute Pinterest project we did, making truck pictures out of his footprints.  The rustic wooden frames they’re in are from Hobby Lobby.  I believe I found the Planes Trains Trucks & Toys canvas at Home Goods.

Playroom

And finally, the playroom.  This house came with two bonus rooms, and this one was perfect to use as a play room.  It only ever looked this clean a handful of times in the two years we lived here, but it was probably the most lived in room in our house.  I made the Alphabet Wall letters out of cardboard letters and scrapbook paper from Hobby Lobby.  My parents graciously bought the two anywhere chairs for the boys from Pottery Barn Kids.  That rack on the far wall next to the window is actually shelving for their immense hot wheels cars collection.  I made it using this tutorial on Pinterest.  Cube storage is from….of course….Target.

Playroom

Here’s another view of the playroom looking from the window.  I bought those superhero capes through a co-op, and the wooden coat rack they’re hanging on is from Magnolia Market.  Our neighbor gave us those awesome superhero pictures in the large frames, because her boys weren’t using them anymore.  I believe she said they were from Pottery Barn Kids, but are several years old.

Sunset

I hope you enjoyed my house tour!  Better late than never!  I’m going to leave you with this gorgeous sunset photo I took from our playroom window.  These sunsets were a weekly occurrence, and one of my favorite things about the house.  Once the building on our new home starts, I’ll be blogging almost exclusively on that process.  I can’t wait to get started!

Afternoon Shenanigans {Hendersonville, TN Family Photographer}

So many things have happened since my last post!  On March 9th, I turned THIRTY!!!!  I know, I can’t believe it either.  I used to think that thirty was SO old.  Like, when you turn thirty, you are a legit adult.  I mean, being a wife and mother of two boys had me doing a lot of “adulting” already, but once I turned thirty it’s like I could feel my youth being sucked from me.  Haha!  Don’t get me wrong, I still feel ever bit as young as I always have, it just feels like I have to be more responsible now or something.

Nashville Child Photographer | Southern Daisy Photography

Another big thing was that we moved from our large, beautiful home into a much smaller rental house while we, Lord willing, build our dream home.  Our new house is going to be everything we have always wanted in a home, and I will even have my own photography studio separate from our house!  That will be such a blessing!  I can’t tell you how many times I have apologized to clients because of all the toys that were scattered around, or the dishes that were left out on the counter.

Nashville Child Photographer | Southern Daisy Photography

Our puppy, Skye, is now a huge 73+ pound giant of a dog, and is steadily gaining between 3 to 5 pounds a week.  It won’t be long before she passes up Kaylee, our St. Bernard.  Here’s a snapshot of her growth so far.

Puppy Growth Pictures | Southerndaisy.com

Speaking of Kaylee, she and Skye had quite the play session the other afternoon.  Here’s a little bit of what went down.

Skye and Kaylee - southerndaisy.com

Skye and Kaylee - southerndaisy.com

Well that’s just ridiculous.  And could Kaylee look any more like a senior citizen?  I mean, she is eight years old, but she looks at least twelve in this picture!

Skye and Kaylee - southerndaisy.com

Grayson wanted to get in on the action.

Skye and Kaylee - southerndaisy.com

Not sure what Kaylee is doing here.  Probably gagging on a stick.  Don’t worry.  She’s fine.

Funny dog - southerndaisy.com

See?  What a goober.

English Mastiff puppy - southerndaisy.com

Then there’s this precious face.  I mean, how could you stay mad at a face like that?

English Mastiff Puppy - southerndaisy.com

We just love her.  She’s been a great dog so far!

dogs and kids - southerndaisy.com

Grayson says she’s his dog, and loves her a lot more than Oliver does.  Oliver doesn’t like when she comes up to him when he didn’t invite her.  He basically likes her only on his terms.  Whereas Grayson doesn’t care what she does.  He just laughs and snuggles with her and tries to play.  It’s so cute to watch.  I’ve heard him say on many occasions, “I love you, Skye!”

dogs and kids - southerndaisy.com

dogs and kids - southerndaisy.com

dogs and kids - southerndaisy.com

dogs and kids - southerndaisy.com

Then there was the time I told him to give Skye a hug, and he did this.  Haha!  We’re still working on appropriate positions for hugging dogs.  Luckily Skye didn’t take offense.

Nashville Child Photographer - Southern Daisy Photography

Oliver would much rather play with a dandelion than take pictures with our dogs.  Which is fine by me.  It made for some great photos!

Nashville Child Photographer - Southern Daisy Photography

Love these boys.  I often get asked if they are twins when we’re out and about, and although they are almost 20 months apart, I feel like they’re twins most of the time.  The only difference is that Grayson can communicate better than Oliver and is potty trained.  Hopefully Oliver will be trained by two and a half just like his brother.  So we’ve got three months to work on that. 🙂  So far he isn’t interested.

Meet Skye!!!

Yes, I know.  Didn’t we just meet a new pet a couple weeks ago?  You did.  That was Blaze the cat, who unfortunately left home and didn’t come back about a week after that post.  I’m hoping he went back to his original home, or that someone else took him in.  I’m thankful that, wherever he went, we were able to get him vaccinated and neutered before he left.

But now I have a NEW adorable fur baby to introduce to you!

English Mastiff Puppy

Her name is Skye (named by my son, Grayson, after his favorite Paw Patrol character), and she is an 8 week old English Mastiff.  Well, she’s 9 weeks old now, but at the time these photos were taken, she was 8 weeks old.

English Mastiff Puppy

She is one of the sweetest, most well mannered puppies I have ever encountered.  She pretty much came to us from her breeder already potty trained.  In the almost 2 weeks we’ve had her, she’s only had maybe three accidents in the house.  Quite a difference from our almost eight year old St. Bernard, Kaylee, who peed in the house every 5 minutes at this age!

English Mastiff Puppy

Speaking of Kaylee, Skye absolutely adores her!

English Mastiff Puppy and St. Bernard

I think she reminds her of her own mom, since she’s so big.  Skye is always trying to cuddle with her or play with her, much to Kaylee’s dismay.  She’s never been much of a cuddler.  But Skye knows when enough is enough, and doesn’t torment her too much.  I think Kaylee is happy to have a friend to play with, even though she’d never admit it.

English Mastiff Puppy

Skye certainly loves playing with toys, and this orange stuffy is one of her favorites.

English Mastiff Puppy

We stopped buying Kaylee toys a while ago, because she never played with them.  But now that Skye has toys, Kaylee finds herself drawn to them, and is starting to love playing with them again.  She’s never been great at tug-of-war, however, and if you try to grab the other end of the rope, she’ll let go, as if she’s saying, “Oh sorry, I didn’t know you wanted to play with this!”

English Mastiff Puppy

The boys certainly love her!  They’re always so excited to help me get her out of her crate, or to give her her hotdog treat when she goes into her crate!  She’s still a little mouthy, you know, from being a puppy and all, so whenever she starts trying to bite on them, Grayson will yell, “No Skye!  No bite!”

Another super adorable thing Grayson will say to her is, “Hi Skye!  It’s me, Grayson!”  And he’ll say it over and over to her, looking at her like, “Why aren’t you responding?”  Haha!  Maybe it’s just me, but I think it’s the cutest thing. 🙂

Puppy Growth Pictures - English Mastiff

I’m going to try to remember to keep taking growth pictures of her every 1-2 weeks, so we can see how much she changes over the next year.  At 8 weeks, she’s already 20lbs!  She could get up to anywhere between 150-200lbs!  Her mom is 160lbs, and her dad is 230lbs, so she’s going to be a big girl!  She’ll definitely pass up Kaylee, who weighs around 95lbs.

English Mastiff Puppy - Puppy Photo Shoot | Southern Daisy Photography

And, of course, you knew it was coming!  I couldn’t have a new baby in the house without giving her a proper “newborn” photo shoot!  Doesn’t she look adorable and hilarious at the same time?  I doubt she’ll even be able to fit inside this basket in a month!  Maybe I should try, just to see the difference.

English Mastiff Puppy - Puppy Photo Shoot | Southern Daisy Photography

Here’s a closeup of her face.  Isn’t she just so smushy and squishy?  I even put one of my newborn headbands on her.  Hehe!  Ok, enough photos.  I’m going to go squish that cute little face before bedtime.  Stay tuned for more Skye posts, and to see how she grows!

Chevron Quilt {Free Pattern}

Chevron Quilt {Free Pattern} - southerndaisy.com

I love chevron.  Many a curtain or pillow in my house is, or at one time has been made out of chevron fabric.  And I’m sure many of you remember the Chevron Baby Blanket I crocheted for my son.  So it’s only natural that my second quilt would be a chevron quilt.  (I guess I never blogged about my first quilt.  I’ll do that in the next few days.)  This quilt was relatively easy to make, thanks to the pattern calling for fabric strips instead of triangles.  And since I quilted it by just stitching 1/4 inch from each seam, I had it finished in about 2 weeks.  It probably would have taken less time, but you know……I’m a mom.  I don’t have much free time these days. 🙂

I picked up two fat quarter bundles (5 fat quarters in each pack) with coordinating aqua and silver fabric from Hobby Lobby, as well as some plain white fabric for the background.  I still needed 3 more coordinating fabrics to make the quilt the size I wanted, and luckily I had some fabric in my stash that matched perfectly.

**Here is the free pdf pattern I used.**

Chevron Quilt {Free Pattern} - southerndaisy.com

Once I had all my fabric cut and the blocks sewn together, I arranged the rows in an ombre´ pattern (light to dark).

Chevron Quilt {Free Pattern} - southerndaisy.com

Then I sewed my blocks into rows.  For this pattern, your rows are diagonal instead of horizontal or vertical.

Chevron Quilt {Free Pattern} - southerndaisy.com

Then I sewed my rows together.

Chevron Quilt {Free Pattern} - southerndaisy.com

I was so happy when my quilt top was completely sewn together!

Chevron Quilt {Free Pattern} - southerndaisy.com

Then it was time to make my quilt sandwich and baste the three layers together.  That’s a lot of safety pins!

Chevron Quilt {Free Pattern} - southerndaisy.com

As I mentioned before, I quilted the quilt (ha!) by stitching 1/4″ from each of the seams to accentuate the chevron pattern….and because it was easier and less time consuming than free motion quilting.

Chevron Quilt {Free Pattern} - southerndaisy.com

Lastly, my favorite part of quilt making — hand sewing the binding.  This is the part where I can just sit and relax watching TV with my hubby, while mindlessly sewing.

Chevron Quilt {Free Pattern} - southerndaisy.com

I love the way it turned out, and I’ve gotten so many compliments on it.  And it’s HUGE!  So my hubby and I can easily snuggle under it together.

Chevron Quilt {Free Pattern} - southerndaisy.com

Chevron Quilt {Free Pattern} - southerndaisy.com

I chose a cute aqua and white polka dot fabric for the backing.

Chevron Quilt {Free Pattern} - southerndaisy.com

As I was taking photos, our cat, Lacey, decided the quilt would make a nice soft place to lay.  Silly kitty!

Chevron Quilt {Free Pattern} - southerndaisy.com

Here’s the full view of the quilt.  I really struggled with where to put that dark aqua stripe.  And even now, I’m not sure it’s in the right spot, but there’s nothing I can do about it now!

Chevron Quilt {Free Pattern} - southerndaisy.com

Another regular photo bomber is my son, Grayson.  See his arm?  Right as I was taking this picture, he jumped over and said, “CHEESE!!!”

Chevron Quilt {Free Pattern} - southerndaisy.com

So, of course, I took his picture.  Little cutie pie.  He loves these jammies, btw.  He calls them his “baby jammies” because they’re the onesie kind that babies wear.  He’s standing in front of my new love.  I picked up this beautiful, handmade, rustic table on my local Varage Sale page yesterday.  I think Joanna Gaines would approve.  My new motto for home decor is, “If I couldn’t see it on an episode of Fixer Upper, then it doesn’t belong in my house.”

Well, I hope you enjoy this free pattern, and please let me know if you have any questions!

Before and After

Besides God and my family, photography is my biggest passion.  I picked up my first DSLR camera in 2011 — a Canon Rebel XTi that I bought, along with some lenses, from my extremely talented sister-in-law and wedding photographer, Stacey Pentland.  Seriously, she’s amazing.  I would know.  She photographed my wedding in 2011, and if you’re getting married in the Bay Area in California, you should definitely consider hiring her to capture your wedding.  You won’t be disappointed!  I know I wasn’t!

Anyway, I’ve since upgraded to a Canon EOS 5D Mark III and have tried to learn as much as I can about photography and editing in the past 4+ years.  I am mostly self-taught, and my only education has come from some online video tutorials.

My favorite part of photography is post production, or editing the photos.  I love taking a mediocre, or even sometimes a horrible, seemingly unsalvageable photo, and turning it into something amazing.  (Although I try my best to get it as close to perfect straight out of the camera as I can.)  I always start my editing process in Lightroom, and then change over to Photoshop.  I would say I do about 10% in LR and 90% in PS.

So, without further ado, I wanted to show you some of my favorite before and afters.

Before and After - southerndaisy.com

This photo was taken at a local pumpkin patch, and the sky was so beautiful that evening.  It was getting pretty dark, and I knew that if I set my camera to expose for the subjects (Grayson and me) so that we’d be bright enough, it would blow out the sky and make it just a bright white, instead of showing any of the beautiful pink clouds.  So I exposed for the sky and hoped that I could fix it later.  Thankfully, I was able to.

Before & After - southerndaisy.com

Here’s another fun one.  I had to expand the floor, delete the cable, make the floor a darker, warmer color, among other things.  This photo turned into one of my favorite photos I have ever taken, and it was even featured on Greater Than Gatsby’s Facebook page!

Before & After - southerndaisy.com

This was a shot I took of our boys playing on the beach in St. Augustine during our vacation this past summer.  The lighting was just perfect, and the sky was beautiful, but I underexposed just a bit to make sure I didn’t blow out any part of the sky or beach.  I love how it turned out.

Before & After - southerndaisy.com

This one was quite a challenge.  I don’t typically shoot families in my studio.  Normally it’s just newborns and babies one year old and younger.  The reason for that is because I don’t have any backdrops big enough for more than one person at a time.  Trust me, I want to by ALL the backdrops!  But at the moment, I can’t justify spending the money when I’m only doing about 8-10 sessions a year.  (I’m taking this time to focus on raising my two crazy boys while they’re young and not in school).  Normally when I take my parent shots, I have them standing in front of my tan wall, which acts as a backdrop.  But for this photo, I had them sitting down so that they would all be on the same level.  I must have a lot of confidence in myself to think that I could pull this off, when I looked at the back of the camera and thought, “Yah, I got the shot.”

Before & After - southerndaisy.com

And of course, a before and after post wouldn’t be complete without a composite of my two crazy, hilarious, lovable boys.  Rarely do I ever get a good shot of them both at the same time.  So more often than not, I have to swap out heads, bodies, you name it.  Anyway, this was their official Christmas picture that I took for the calendar I make every year for their grandparents and us.  This was “December.”  As you can see, Grayson was not cooperating while sitting next to Oliver, so I had to take his photo separately and then swap his body into the photo with Oliver.  These boys make me work, I tell ya!

Anyway, that’s my fun little before and after post for today.  I wasn’t sure if this would be my last post of 2015 or my first post of 2016 since we’re nearing midnight, but it looks like 2015 it is!  I wish you all a very Happy New Year!  Stay safe and take lots of pictures!!!

Meet Blaze!!

A few weeks ago, on the night of the Paris attacks, a stray cat wearing a purple collar came to our back door around 4pm and started sniffing around the trash bag I had placed out there.  When I opened the door, he ran down the steps and then looked back.  I squatted down to the ground and made a couple kissing sounds and held my hand out.  You could almost see the joy flood his little face.  “This person is nice!!!”  He ran over and immediately started purring and rubbing all over my hands and my legs.  I had never seen him around the neighborhood before, but he felt pretty boney, so I decided to put a little food out for him.  Before I could even get the food on the ground he started gobbling it up, meowing and groaning as he ate.  Boy was hungry!  I went back inside and continued going about my day with the boys, but he just stayed on our patio, right by our back door.  After a little while he started pawing at our door, begging to come in!  I recorded this video of him.  (Don’t mind my chipped red nail polish)

I obviously couldn’t just let him in.  I mean, we have two other cats as well as a St. Bernard.  I don’t know who this cat is, where he’s been, or what he’s been exposed to; not to mention, our female cat is not the most accepting of new feline friends.  I figured he’d finally get bored and go on his merry way.

Well, the next morning, he was still on our patio, so I decided to take some pictures and make a flyer to put around our neighborhood.  I also posted his picture on a local lost & found Facebook page and on Craigslist in the lost & found section.  I mean, he was wearing a collar and was super friendly, so he had to belong to someone, right?

Blaze the Cat

Blaze the Cat

By the end of the week, no one had contacted me about him, so I brought him to the vet to have him scanned for a microchip and to do an overall wellness check.  The vet said he was about 1 – 2 years old, and except for some ear mites and a few fleas, he was relatively healthy, if not a little skinny.  I asked how long I should wait for an owner to come forward before deciding whether or not we should keep him, and he said about a week or two.

Well, two weeks later there was still no owner, and he was still hanging around our house all day, every day.  So what did I do?  I called our local low cost spay and neuter clinic and made him an appointment to get snipped!  My husband made him an awesome insulated cat house for our back patio, and he has slept in it every night.  Even on the coldest nights it’s SUPER warm in there!

Blaze and Oliver

The boys love him, and he loves hanging out with them when they’re playing outside.  We named him Blaze after the boys’ favorite character on “Blaze and the Monster Machines”, their favorite show.

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He is extremely snuggly…almost annoyingly so (possibly from being starved for attention the past few months while he was a stray).  He has claimed me, or imprinted on me, or whatever you want to call it.  I’m his person, and I can’t sit outside without him jumping on my lap, climbing on my shoulder, or rubbing all over my legs, arms, head, whatever body part is within his reach.  What can I say?  He’s a ladies’ man…and I’m pretty awesome.

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Blaze and me

He’s been a really special addition to our family, and we’re so lucky that he chose us.

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A Minion and a Train Conductor {Hendersonville, TN Child Photographer}

After almost a year after my last blog post, I’m finally back!  The boys are now 3.5 years and 21 months old, and are the best of friends.  This year was their first official year of trick or treating on Halloween, and they had a blast!  Grayson led the way through our neighborhood, saying “This way!” as he would direct us to the next house on our street.  Oliver trailed behind saying “More teetee (candy)!”  Thankfully, even though the weather forecasted rain all night, it stopped long enough for us to trick or treat around our entire neighborhood.  Needless to say, we had some very happy (and hyper) boys after collecting all that candy — of which I’m still trying to keep hidden.

A couple days before Halloween, I decided to take the boys to the park and do a mini photo shoot in their costumes.  Grayson wanted to be a minion (Despicable Me) and Oliver loves trains, so I decided that he would be a train conductor.  I made Grayson’s hat, and found his minion jacket at Kohl’s, which worked out perfectly!  You can find Oliver’s train conductor costume on Amazon.  So without further ado, here are some of the photos from their costume photo shoot.

Halloween Costume Photo Shoot

Minion Costume

Train Conductor Costume

Train Conductor Costume

Minion Costume

Minion Costume

Train Conductor Costume

Halloween Costume Photo Shoot