Heather Swanner Photography

More beautiful girls!

On Monday, I was pleased to get to photograph Moira and Kelcie again.  The last time I photographed them, Kelcie was 3 weeks old, so they both have really changed so much!  I LOVED their outfit choices for this session.  "What should my kids wea?r" is the question that I am asked the most before a session, and I always tell parents to put them in something 1) that is comfortable, 2) that looks like something they would ordinarily wear, and 3) that is not stuffy or serious.  I cannot stress that enough.  I find that kids are much more comfortable in comfortable clothes (makes sense, huh??)!  And I LOVED the bright colors the girls wore.  A lot of people shy away from bright colors in pictures, but I think they make the pictures much more exciting!  And they really accented these sweet girls' fun personalities.  Again, I had a really hard time narrowing down what to show!

Oh, and yes, the little one broke her arm before the shoot, but mommy came up with a cool way to wrap it up!  :)

  

Shelby and Molly

I had so much fun with these sweet girls last week!  And a TERRIBLE time trying to narrow down their pictures because I loved so many of them.  Here are a few from their session:

Craziness

Okay, I didn't realize it would take me this long to post again, but life has seemed to get even crazier for me over the past week or so.  I have come to realize that the only thing normal in the Swanner house is insanity.  We made a quick decision to buy a new house last week, which means that now we have to sell the one we have now!  So my past week has entailed running around collecting paperwork and cleaning out my completely overstuffed closets so that no one will know how I REAlly live around here!  You know that episode of Friends where Monica doesn't want Chandler to unlock her closet?  That's pretty much the way I live.  Not so good when you are trying to sell a house.  Which, by the way is an awesome house that I have extremely mixed emotions about leaving.  We essentially built this house and brought both of our babies home to it.  And it's in the perfect location.  So why are we selling??  Because again, I think we thrive on insanity around here...and we got an amazing deal on some land to build (yet again) on!  And while we build, we will live on the funky little house on the adjacent lot.  So if you know of anyone searching for an awesome 4 BR/4 BA house in Hollywood (Alabama, that is), let me know!

On another note, I've been doing some shooting around here as well.  I was supposed to have taken little Reid's pictures a couple of months ago, but unfortunately had to cancel because of my father's death.  So I was excited that they rescheduled and we were able to get together last week.  He was a little bigger in the pictures than we had originally planned him to be, but he was also adorable, so it didn't really matter!

He was such a happy baby!  I enjoyed meeting all of his precious family last week!

Hallie Claire

I have had the honor of photographing Hallie Claire since she was just 5 or 6 months old.  She is now 3, and I was so excited to get to photograph her yet again.  It has really been fun watching her grow up over the past 3 years.  She is beautiful both inside and out!  She has such a range of expressions, and we had a blast in the studio last week!  I had a really hard time narrowing down which pictures to show because there were just so many awesome ones!  

And I had a really hard time deciding whether to show the next picture in color or b&w, so you get it both ways!  I LOVE these soulful looks!

Lots of babies!

I had a lot of babies in the studio last week!  All of them were at that awesome stage where they sit up but don't go anywhere!  Too bad that stage doesn't last longer.  I had previously photographed two of them as newborns and one as a 3 month-old, so it was fun seeing how much they had all grown.  Here are some of their pictures:

Madison & Kaitlyn

I had the pleasure of photographing Madison almost 2 years ago when she was just one, and this week I got to see her again, as well as meet her 1 year-old sister, Kaitlyn.  These girls were so sweet and so much fun.  It's fun for me to look back at pictures of Madison when she was one and see how much Kaitlyn looks like her at that age.  I'm so glad that I was able to reconnect with Madison and get to meet Kaitlyn!

 

Just my Kids

Easter Sunday, my kids gave me a grand total of about 5 minutes to get some pictures of them all dressed up.  Surprisingly in that short amount of time and in the dappled light of noon, we managed to get some really sweet ones.  I posted these over on facebook, but I thought I would share a few of them here as well.  I am proud of my babies!  

I promise that I have not disappeared!

It seems like it has been FOREVER since I have posted anything.  I had every intention of posting last week while I was out of town, but I got so involved in what I was doing at Learnfest, that I just didn't have the time.  Then when I got home, I lost my internet connection for several days.  I am finally back online, and of course am having to get caught up (as usual, I know, I know!).  

Last week was an amazing week, and I was so honored to be in the presence of four fabulous rock-star photographers (no, they don't photograph rock-stars, but they, themselves are the rock-stars of photography!).  In addition to being taught by these four amazing women (Audrey Woulard, Tamara Lackey, Laura Novak, and Lena Hyde), I also met some great photographers from around the world.  I have SOOOO many ideas of where I would like to take my business and things that I would like to do differently.  I can't wait to start putting some of these new ideas into practice and just really creating a better version of me!  :)  Now, if only I had more time.....  One of the most important things that I got out of this workshop is the importance of achieving balance between my family life and work life.  All of these women seemed to be so balanced in both of those areas, and it really gives me something to aspire to.  So, when I find myself working every night until midnight and on every weekend, I am going to remind myself that I MUST REMAIN BALANCED!!!  :)

So, look for some changes over the next couple of months in the way that I do things.  I am really excited about them.  I also have a new website in the works and hope to have it ready really soon.  It's been in the works for quite awhile and is essentially ready.  I am just waiting on approval on the music that I am using...and for those of you who know me, the music is really important to me!  There will also be a few pricing changes (it's just that time of year again!), and I will let you know about those as soon as I get it all worked out!

Lastly, my schedule is REALLY booking up for the summer.  I have a very limited number of sessions left for this summer, so if you are interested, please go ahead & get on the books.  I will be taking a few weeks off at the end of the summer to spend with family (remember, I'm trying to have balance!) and to have some time to implement some of the new things I want to do.  I will be opening my fall schedule in just a couple of weeks, so keep that in mind as well.  I have had lots of people asking me about that.  Remember that those fall dates go fast, and once they fill up this year, I won't be opening any more (more balance!).  Okay, and really one last thing....I am going to the beach (30-A area) for two weeks this summer & will be doing a limited number of sessions there.  I will post more info on that next week, so if that is something you are interested in, keep checking the blog!

I will leave you with some pictures that I took before I left town.  I was so excited to finally get outside for pictures!

Okay, seriously, I'm not taking another vacation right now....

but I WILL be gone next week.  I am so very excited to be attending the Learnfest at the Chateau Elan outside Atlanta with some of the best photographers in the US.  And, okay, the Chateau Elan IS known for its spa and vineyard, so maybe there will be a little bit of chillaxin' going on, but for the most part, I will be doing photography stuff all day for 4 days.  Very exciting!  With that said, I won't be answering my phone (or emails) next week, so give me a little time to get back with you.  Hopefully, I will come back refreshed, renewed, and creatively inspired!  So, until then, I'm out.  It's almost 2 am, and just a bit delirious from looking at pictures all night (yes, this is what I do on Saturday night....well Sunday morning now!).  I'll do my best to post at least once while I'm gone!  :)

Ella Kate

It took quite awhile for her to settle down, but after a couple of hours, she finally gave up and went to sleep!  And when she did, we got AMAZING results!  It took a little while, but it was well worth the wait.  The "cross" picture is one of my favorites ever.  Maybe because it's that time of year....maybe because it's everything my dad stood for....I don't know exactly why.  I was just moved as I was taking that picture and even more moved once I saw it.  Okay, enough posting for one night.  Maybe I'll make it to bed before midnight!  :)

Owen and Libby

These children are very dear to my heart even though Saturday was the first time I have had a chance to meet them.  I have seen them on Christmas cards and in birth announcements, so I was excited to actually get a chance to see them in person.  They are the children of a very close friend of mine from high school. Unfortunately life has happened to both of us, and we just haven't gotten together since our kids were born.  So it was such a pleasure when Daddy "facebooked" me to tell me that they were driving down for the weekend from Nashville and wanted to have some pictures done while they were in town.

I REALLY wanted to do the pictures outside (I start getting very antsy for outdoor pictures this time of year), but the weather just didn't want to cooperate.  I had gotten the studio all set up, when all of the sudden, the sky cleared and the sun peaked out.  So, fortunately, we were able to get outside and do the pictures.  It was still a little soppy, but, hey, I got my wish!  And I got to spend the morning with an old friend as well as some new ones.

And by the way, the little one is just 1, but you'd never believe it with all that hair!

Rutland

I met 6 week-old Rutland last week right after we got home from Utah.  He was a little older than most of my newborns, but did great!  He even practiced some of his new smiling skills with me (real ones....not the gas ones that mommy thought they were! :)).  

Still playing catch-up....

This is Vanna.  She came in before my vacation and was just the cutest thing.  Poor thing fell asleep in the car on the trip over and was NOT AT ALL happy about being woken up for pictures.  It took a little while, but she eventually came around...and we got some sweet pictures.  You can see a little bit of the way she was initially feeling in the first pic!