Laura Negri Photography // Fall 2011

We had the luxury of getting our pictures taken by the ever talented Laura Negri Childers last month, and I could not be happier with the way they turned out. The setting was a path to a polo field near by parent's house. It was 4 o'clock in the afternoon on an Atlanta bluebird-sky day, so the light on the fall leaves was amazing. And Laura captured it perfectly.



My sweet boys. They were total rock stars. There was barely any protest over outfits, no tears and they turned on the charm for the camera. We did bribe them with the promise of candy for good behavior, but nevertheless, they came through like champions.





My sweet girl was mighty uncooperative for the first part of the session. When she gets a bee in her bonnet, it's hard to get her to do anything. Thankfully, she came around towards the end and we were able to get some shots where she wasn't glaring or crying [ie, the first picture; if someone wasn't holding her up like that she would start crying]. But I think that's honestly what makes the pictures so special -- that they capture this particular moment in our life as a family with a 2 year old who is wild, knows her own mind and isn't worried about conforming to what we want her to do. She just is who she is and I love that.



A big thanks to Laura for her amazing work! Hop over to her blog to see more!

Little Darlings

I spotted the amazing photography of Sharon Montrose of The Animal Print Workshop the other day, and wanted to pass the link along. The newest collection is called Little Darlings, and really the name says it all. I also couldn't help being lured in by all the other collections, too, though.

Exhibit A:

Piglet. Oh my goodness. Where do you even start with this one? I think if he were hanging on my wall looking at me it would be impossible to be sad.

Exhibit B:

Kitten and Feather. I know one little girl in particular who is obsessed with "kitty kats" and would love to have this one where she could see it and point to it and name it over and over again.

There are many, many more incredible photos on the site sure to put a smile on your face! Starting at $25, they'd also make great holiday gifts.

[All images from Animal Print Workshop; First seen on Black Eiffel]

Country Road

I love these photos from Country Road. The settings, clothes, photography -- everything goes together so darn well.



Two boys and a girl -- you can probably guess why I was drawn to these two:



These last ones would be great ideas for party photo booth sets or yearly/monthly photos:



If I had had the foresight way back when it would have been really cool to use one little chair for yearly pictures of all three of them growing up. Ah well!

[Images from Country Road via Little & Brave; see the 10 years of Country Road Kids photo retrospective here]

T to the G to the I F

Hello, blogland! Has it really been a week since my last post?? It just doesn't seem possible. I'm afraid posting is going to get a wee bit sparse over the next couple months with holiday card season gearing up. I'm going to try and post at least once a week, even if it's just a snapshot of the whirlwind that is the studio this time of year. Or you may get lucky and it'll be completely random. You just never know!

Speaking of random, I came across the site of photographer Hallie Burton this week, and it is beautiful. You should definitely check out her portfolio over the weekend. I was totally inspired by this living room:



See those portraits by the fireplace? Yes. Please.

I'll be back next week, announcing new holiday designs and some other nifty things going on around here! Have a great weekend!

Dear Photograph

Take a picture of a picture from the past in the present.
That's what Dear Photograph is all about.
Here are some that caught my eye:









Submit your own -- it would be a fun project to try and create!

A Burning House

I'm going to give you something to do over the weekend: peruse the pages of The Burning House! You guys, I'm fascinated with this site. I think it's the combination of liking to know what other people value and liking good photography and styling.





Have you ever thought about what you would grab first in a burning house?

[All images from The Burning House]

Best Hospital Newborn Pictures Ever

I don't know about you, but the newborn pictures they offered me of my kids at the hospital looked nothing like these. They were more of the alien/weird lighting variety.



That hair. Those cheeks. Really? I could just eat him up.

Oh, Baby!

I'm excited to announce new baby designs! Designing for baby is one of my favorite things, so I hope you guys enjoy the new ones [a small little sampling below] as much as I enjoyed creating them.



In other news, I've recently partnered up with Atlanta based photographer Laura Negri! Laura is the talented photographer behind many of the photos used on my site. We are joining forces to offer custom card packages that include photo reproduction rights and top-quality printing. I'm thrilled to be working with her and her clients.

And P.S., the top photo was taken on M's baby orange tree that has just started to bloom. In my opinion, there are few things better than an orange blossom. Spring has sprung down here for sure!

And P.P.S, speaking of Blossom, did any of you used to watch "Blossom?" I thought she was the coolest with her flower hats and 80's pants.

Inspired By [Johnny Miller]

This past weekend, I found myself lost scrolling through the pages of Johnny Miller's website. [Wait, does that sentence make sense? You can find yourself lost somewhere, right?!] The compositions, colors, lighting -- incroyable...





and sometimes downright delicious...

Picture Perfect Boy Room

Picture-lined walls against soft colors and natural wood floors make this such a soothing yet fun looking place to be. And the chalkboard with lighting is totally awesome.



[Images from photographer Anitta Behrendt]

The Polaroid Portrait

These Polaroid portraits by Jen Altman are ethereally beautiful.



Her home was recently featured on Design Sponge. My two favorite parts? Her dining room and the "wall of love."



[that back wall is stunning. so are the chairs. and the light fixture. and the table.]



[jen made this for her daughters for when they start missing their friends and family. such a great idea!]

Check out the full gallery here...

And this one, too.

Are there words? It brings tears to my eyes. Her beautiful, milky white, baby skin, her little tongue sticking out [which is usually how she rolls], the sweet smile, her baby curls -- she has been perfectly captured. Thank you, Laura!

The Fam

Just saw this picture from our photo shoot with Laura in August. She's amazing. You can't tell this from the photo [one of the reasons why she is so good] but at this point we were just trying to hold things together. Spencer hated his shirt. Maggie wanted to crawl all over the place. It was hot as all get out. And she got it anyway! I haven't seen all the pictures yet, but after seeing this one, I cannot wait...

Housework

Just so you know, this is exactly what I look like while I'm hanging around the house, you know, ironing, washing dishes, etc...







[Beautiful photography by Olivia Graham]

Cole Haan // The Inspired Life

Remember this book that I mentioned a couple of weeks ago by Todd Selby? I just saw that he photographed a new ad campaign for Cole Haan called The Inspired Life...







I gotta tell you, those Little Bert chairs in the top picture? On my wish list!

In Their Places

I'm sure you've heard about the Selby website, and now there's a book called The Selby is in Your Place [available on Amazon], which is a collection of spaces photographed by Todd Selby. It includes peeps like Simon Doonan and Jonathan Adler, and shows homes from NYC to Tokyo to London and more.





To me, one of the things that makes The Selby so fascinating is the quirkiness of the images -- most really do look like you just stumbled upon [ie: the shower scene, above] these chic bohemians livin' it up in a wonderfully peculiar flat somewhere. Plus, could a table of contents [below] get much better?





[All images from the sneak peaks of the book on theselby.com]

My Big Night Out

If the phone rings at our house anytime after 8:00 pm, I wonder aloud "who could be calling so late?" But Saturday night, my friend and neighbor, Bev, invited me to go to dinner with her at the home of Maggie Taylor [some of her work pictured above] and Jerry Uelsmann [some of his work pictured below]. I think this was my first late night out since we moved here. I'm totally not kidding. Anyway, these two are incredibly talented artists/photographers, as well as kind, generous and fun people. We started the evening touring their studios and capped off the night singing "Bohemian Rhapsody" to the tune of their pianola. What could be better?!








Maggie also has an illustrated edition of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland that is stunning. It's available for purchase at Modernbook. The images below are from her Almost Alice series.





It was a perfect way to be out past my bedtime!!