Always Portraits by Sally, Newborn, Children, Family and Wedding Photography

This past week I had the privilege of working with some members of our community on the Christian County Junior Miss for 2011, a preliminary of the America’s Junior Miss Scholarship Program. Junior Miss awards scholarship to young women who have distinguished themselves at school and in their communities. Girls who go through the program get an opportunity to develop their interview skills and build self confidence on stage and in front of their peers.

This program was just the start for the winner, Tiffany Yeddo, who will go on to state. The winner at state level will compete with girls at the national level in Mobile, AL next June where they will compete for a share of at least $150,000.00 in cash scholarships.

Junior Miss will be changing it’s name next year, but will be open to girls between their Junior and Senior years of high-school. Holly Hampton and Laurie Sanderson are our local co-chairs of a committee filled with family, friends and associates, all wishing to see these young women succeed!

For more information visit our Christian County’s Junior Miss Facebook page, or their website.

Once again, congratulations to all the young women who participated this year!

Good Day to all of you! So, I’ve been VERY absent from blog posts for awhile! As we all do from time to time, I just went through a season in my life that left me stressed to the max and unable to concentrate on even small tasks. Anything that didn’t have to be done, well, it just didn’t happen. I’m happy to report that God is good, and life is back to a happy place and things are going well again!

I’m SO excited to announce that my little sister (one of 5 sisters haha), Jenny, has written a song for my website and to touch the heartstrings of every mom and dad… Always, is the name of it. I’m proud and did I mention, excited!? She and Patty Jo, another sister (and no, they aren’t really twins, but everyone thinks they are) sing it together in this recording. Jenny is playing the guitar, and Patty Jo is playing the bass. I’m working on getting the songs ready for digital downloads, but for now, you can just listen while you browse. Check it out!

In a person’s life there are few moments who really define who we are. Moments and events that forge us into the people we become. {P} and {S} allowed me to become part of their lives last summer and hired me to be their wedding photographer. I had recently been through some rough events within my own family (which if you read old posts you know) and I found kindred spirits in these two and a desire to do better than I’d ever done before! They were married in Oct at her Grandmother’s home in North MO. Since I am from a small town near there, it was meant to be! I had built in baby sitters at my parents house and a place to stay. It was a wonderful party, the wedding was, and I felt like a part of the family.

Now, a few months have passed and {P} was given deployment orders, as is the norm for a soldier in this decade. I knew that {S}’s heart was breaking and I just felt that there are some pictures that NEED to be taken, and these were in that category. She gladly took me up on the offer, and though I felt a bit like an intruder into this intimate time between soldiers and their families, nothing could have kept me away.

As I stood there watching her and her husband holding onto every last second of the time they had, my heart melted. This was indeed true love, the kind that lasts forever. But the inevitable had to happen, and right on schedule, the role call began. As the buses pulled up and tears were harder to choke back. They kissed one last time and as his hand slipped away, I heard her gasp. The rumble of the buses, the smell of diesel fumes hanging in the air and the overwhelming emotion from everyone standing around me will permanently be imprinted in my memory. As the buses pulled away I hesitated to hug her, standing there, I wanted the feeling of his arms around her to last to the very last second. No words… I had no words as she cried on my shoulder. My  tears fell easily now too. “Does it get easier?” She asked. “Mentally it does.” I told her. “But in here, in your heart, it always hurts this much.”

Dads, Mothers, Wives, Husbands and children…. we’ll all be waiting for your safe return. God Bless, my friends.

So, we made it through the holidays, and some of you are still slightly dizzy from the whirl of activities that is Christmas and New Year’s. If you’re anything like me, not everything you planned on doing got done. For me, one of those things that didn’t happen was holiday cards…. I know, the photographer didn’t get pictures out to family! So, as in years past, I’m going to make up for it with a Valentine! I’ve always loved Valentine’s Day. Started when my sisters and I were little (there were three of us at the time) and we would make valentines for each other all month. Secretly placing them for one another to find and trying to hide who might be sending them. Silly now, but those were great times!!!

Now, I bring that love of Valentine’s Day to my work. I found some great template designs and have tweaked them to work for me. They’re “confection valentines” which means that they’re meant to fold in half and be stapled around a treat. Either a sucker or the top edge of a small bag of goodies. I will post actual product pictures once they arrive next week. In the meantime, these are some of the designs that I’ll be using. Each one will be personalized in some way to your child. Call Sally or Amy to schedule your session! Hurry, this special ends Jan 29th!

This is the 3rd time I’ve had the extreme pleasure of capturing this little girl’s milestones. She was teething and kinda grumpy, but Oh, SO adorable! I LOVE her eyes, and look forward to the times I get to photograph her! Another one for the portfolio! Thank, {K} for letting me come to your beautiful home once again!

Fall is officially here!! I LOVE FALL!! The cooler air, the leaves changing, the new clothes, the smokey smells, the harvesting, the festivals… all of it! This year I’m going to be offering a special Oct 31-Nov 1st. I’m privileged to be able to offer exclusively, Sugar Grove as the venue for these! I’m SO excited!!! It’s absolutely beautiful! Check out the location here. I’ve already booked several of these and sessions ARE limited, so if this interests you the booking fee is $75.00 which includes a 45 min lifestyle portrait session and a $50.00 print credit toward your order. My normal sessions are $120.00 with the print credit, so you can see the value, PLUS you’ll be getting your portraits made in a location that isn’t publicly available!!

Contact me today to schedule your session!! Weekend and evening appointments are available. To view my full price list, please click here.

Oh, and I almost forgot!! I have already put the choices for holiday cards up on my website. You’ll have to use your imagination a bit because they don’t have your image in them yet! What you’re looking at are the fronts and backs for a folded card. They are completely editable, so we just choose one and your image and go from there!! Check them out here. I’ll have gallery wrap and album samples up closer to November. Waiting on the graphics!! Enjoy your fall break!!

This weekend I was privileged to be the official photographer for the Christian County Jr. Miss Scholarship program. It was a real treat to watch these beautiful, talented ladies strut their stuff and compete in talent and physical fitness. I will be uploading pictures from this event over the course of the next few days. To check them out please visit my website and once inside, visit the “featured” page to see all that are up so far,  or follow this link http://alwaysportraitsbysally.com/index2.php?v=v1#/featured/ right there. Thanks girls for such an awesome time! You were gorgeous, and your attitudes were AWESOME! My hat’s off to all of you!!

I’m so excited to share this post! It hasn’t been very long that I’ve done “modern” newborn portraiture, and every time I do I learn something new… or in some cases experience things for the first time as someone other than the mom. This is the first time I’ve had a model for my little girl hats with their big flowers. Oh so cute on such tiny faces!! We didn’t get to try out all three colors… turns out my dear daughter had tried two of them on and kind of stretched them out for a newborn head. Even so, baby {E} gave me a few cute smiles and made my day! Thank you so much {T} for having me in your home to capture your new baby girl’s first weeks. I had fun! Sorry I was so chatty…. I don’t do good with quiet! ha ha! Hope you enjoy your preview!

I was asked to come and take some family and couple shots for this wonderful couple after they found they were missing some of the pictures they really wanted from their wedding day. They were so gracious and warm and have been so patient with me during this past month while I’ve dealt with my injury. Congratulations to you both!! I wish you many happy years, and thank you for letting me be a part of your beginning!! God Bless!

I recently got the opportunity to take pictures of these three beautiful sisters! Hoping their mommy likes this little preview. Thank you {V} for letting me come to your beautiful home!