Here’s my sweet little Blake…he was born way too early, but you wouldn’t know it now! He recently celebrated his first birthday where his destiny appears to be an airplane pilot! His grandfather built this really cool airplane that Blake’s mom brought to the studio…isn’t it incredible? We had a great time celebrating Blake’s birthday! Here’s one of my most favorite photos from the session…watch the video to see Blake’s numerous outfit changes including his baptism cap and gown!

Up, Up, and Away!

Emily and Caleb had one of the most personal and sentimental weddings I’ve witnessed…they were married in the chapel where her maternal grandparents had started Wilson Chapel United Methodist Church. The chapel is called The Little Sistine Chapel and is simply beautiful as you can see by this photo…

Emily and Caleb Corwin

Their officiant was flown in by Caleb’s parents–he is the same pastor who married Caleb’s parents nearly thirty years ago. They integrated a German tradition called “warming of the rings” where the family of the groom passed along Emily’s wedding band, and the family of the bride passed along Caleb’s band…family member to family member until the rings were finally passed to the officiant who blessed them before they exchanged rings.

It was a sweet and beautiful wedding; at the same time, Emily and Caleb’s friends and family are so much fun! I’m sure you’ll enjoy the video of their wedding highlights…everyone seemed to have a great time. Brandy Spears of Brandy Spears Catering did an outstanding job with the flowers and food; Glenn of Magic Muffins “wowed” everyone with his cakes; James Meredith of Coats Classic Cars made sure Emily and Caleb were delivered to Matt Jones Gallery and then to their hotel in high style with “Helen” the elegant Rolls; and Joe with Feel the Beat made sure everyone had a good time on the dance floor.

At Gretchen B Photography, our team is privileged to capture the images that ultimately are the bride and groom’s first family heirloom…we appreciate the fact that there are many talented photographers in the Birmingham area and are happy to have been chosen by Emily and Caleb to be their photographers!

Last Saturday, we had the great pleasure and honor of photographing Santa and one of his elves at LaReunion Coffee Cafe in Helena. This is our second year, and we were excited about the number of children who came to see Santa. Santa was terrific with all the kids and did everything to make sure each of them had a good experience with him. Check out the slideshow we put together with a few of the images. (If the video stops/starts, just pause it so it can load before you play it.) Enjoy and please plan to join us next year!

Sooo…are you thinking about a family photo for your Christmas/Holiday card? Tell your worst photo session story (professional or not) on my facebook page…get the most “likes” for your story, and WIN a FREE mini session with me (before November 30) and 25 custom Christmas/Holiday cards! Here’s a sample card from one of my wedding clients from 2010…

A most gorgeous day for a most wonderful wedding; October 1, 2011! Jenna Kate Smith and Drake Posny were married in an intimate ceremony surrounded by family and friends at the historic South Highland Presbyterian Church. Their reception at The Club was great fun with music provided by Feel the Beat. I loved Jenna Kate’s blue shoes! She had a dollar borrowed from her dad that she tucked into her garter, and there was a piece of fabric from her mother’s wedding gown pinned to her own. Everyone celebrated Jenna Kate and Drake’s marriage including lots of nieces and nephews! Check out their wedding highlights video, and you’ll see for yourself two people perfectly in tune with one another. Congratulations, Jenna Kate and Drake! You are fabulous! (For best viewing, please allow video to load for a few seconds before playing.)

Mrs. Amy Bolt (amylbolt@gmail.com) is the founder of Helena’s newest service organization…The Helena Belles! Their were numerous applicants, and 30 young women were chosen to become involved in the Helena community during their high school years. The Helena Belles is derived from the traditional “belles” of the south; when you see young women helping at community functions wearing the beautiful dresses of the 1800’s, you’ll know you are looking at a young woman who has chosen to be a participant in the “doings” (yes, that is definitely southern!) of her community.

Yesterday, the 30 young women attended their orientation at Magnolia Manor. I have just become one of the Helena Belles’ sponsors and was delighted to meet all of them. I invited them to the studio to have facebook profile photos made, and they all came! What a delightful group of young women! I have created an album of their photos on my facebook page; please stop by to acknowledge their commitment to our city and surrounding area.

Amy Bolt is the founder of Helena Belles; please visit their facebook page for more information.

Saturday night was Hoover High School’s homecoming, and my daughter attended with several of her friends. I was delighted they wanted to come to the studio for photos…we also took the opportunity to create some fun images at Buck Creek’s spillway next to the studio. This is a very down and dirty slideshow–I did the quick editing and made the slideshow for Rachel to share with her friends. Watch for more images soon! Enjoy!

Okay, so today I’m going to share something very personal. My husband and I were married five years ago…he gained a wife and two children; I gained a husband and his son and daughter-in-law. In the past five years, my son became a man and moved away from home; my daughter, now a sophomore in high school, is almost sixteen and will be driving soon. And then, four months ago, Buddy’s son and daughter-in-law blessed us with Cooper!

Cooper is a very personable baby…he is very happy (most of the time) and enjoys spending a lot of time with his doting parents. Weldon brought Cooper into the studio last week for our baby modeling session for one of my clients, Little Trousers. The Auburn themed outfit on Cooper was made by Tiffany Bell, owner of Little Trousers…too cute!

While he was here, we took advantage of our time together to create some images for mom and dad. You may notice that a clothing change number 3, Cooper is beginning to show some signs of ‘I’m ready to go home now.’ As proud “Gigi,” I would like to share with you our baby Cooper.

This morning, I received this sweet note from Tracie, one of the family members we recently photographed in Hoover. Just had to share! Also, I’ve posted their favorite image and a slideshow of their session, and I think you can see that we all had a great time. It started raining (a lot!) after we were together for about 10 minutes–we all decided to wait it out since three members of the family are from out of town and would not be available again. Fortunately, we were able to take advantage of the beautiful light that often appears after a rain!

Tracie ordered a book of images–I can hardly wait for her to see how the book looks! I love wall art and coffee table books–both well suited for their own purpose. Tracie has her own blog, and I encourage you to take a peek…her interests are varied so her blog has something for everyone.

“Our time with Gretchen was a wonderful experience. Coming together with family and all of its dynamics can sometimes feel like a chore but with Gretchen’s fun-loving and accepting professionalism our family has ranked our experience with Gretchen number two in quality time together with an after effect of lasting joy second only to the birth of the youngest in our clan, Filly, who is currently nine years old. Eventually we relaxed into the process and began having fun. We started poking fun at each other as all families do and to our surprise our camaraderie did not end with our photo shoot. While visiting Gretchen in her studio to view the photos in her living room setting complete with large screen monitor for viewing and comfortable sofa and chairs our family relived and created new moments of quality time together with lasting joy. The best part of all is being able to choose which pictures please you the most, taking them home with you to relive and create more wonderful, loving memories over and over and over. Our family thanks you Gretchen from the bottom of our hearts and wish you well in your photographic journey.

The Talmadge Family”

Casual Family Portrait

Lauren is one of our high school representatives (want to be one? email me for an application!) who agreed to go play with us while we used a new off camera flash softbox. Using off camera flash correctly is the best way to create very natural looking portraits without harsh shadows. We shot Lauren late in the afternoon and were happy to have more than a few clouds. Lauren wore her dad’s cowboy hat and really had fun modeling it. The old wood on the log cabin, the barn, and the outhouse all provided cool textures and color for backgrounds. We laughed while Lauren pulled the petals off the daisy and ended with “he loves me not”–Jamie, I covered your back…I’m sure she pulled two petals off at once!

Here’s one of my favorite images from the day, although it was very difficult to choose so I’m also posting a slideshow of our afternoon. Enjoy!

Contemplation