Heather Swanner Photography

The "G" family

I first met this sweet family last summer and instantly fell in love with them.  I loved their laid-back attitude as much as I loved seeing how Dad interacted with his girls.  When they asked me to take some pictures of their family while I was at the beach last week, of course, I said yes.  They are between cities right now (waiting to move from B'ham to Nashville), so they decided to spend the MONTH at Rosemary Beach (one of my very favorite places!).  I am so envious!  So instead of just doing beach pictures, we went ALL around Rosemary Beach and took pictures.  I wanted to make sure we captured a little glimpse of their entire month there.  There were just too many for me to try to choose to post here, so instead of a massive post, I'll share the slideshow with you.  Maybe you can see why I love them so much!  :)  (The controls ARE there, by the way.  You just have to let your mouse hover at the bottom of the slideshow to see them...that is, if you want to pause or stop the show.  But why would you want to do that??).

The "W" family

 About an hour after I arrived at the beach last week, I hopped on my bike and headed over to meet the "W" family for some pictures.  I was a little nervous about the session since it had just stopped raining and the clouds were still looming, AND it was late in the day with 2 kids under the age of 2.  Not to mention that they had been in the car for 2 1/2 hours prior to their shoot.  The combination of these things can often make for a difficult session...especially at the beach when I know I've only got one shot to get it right!  :)  But I was completely and totally pleasantly surprised.  Both of the boys did great, and I really had a lot of fun spending my first night at the beach with this sweet family.  We took some in the gardens before heading down into the sand.  Here are a few (okay, a bunch) from our time together!

And needless to say, they were worn out at the end!

Frame Sale!

As most of you know, I am moving my studio the beginning of August, and I am trying to minimize what I will be moving to the new studio.  So, to make things easier on myself, I am having a little sale on all of the frames that are in the studio from now until the time I move.  All in stock frames are 30% off!  Christy and I will be in and out of the studio this week if you would like to come by and take a look.  We will be there for sure on Tuesday and Wednesday from 9:30 - 1:30.  If you can't get by during that time, call or email us, and we'll see if we can arrange to be there when you can.  This is a great time to stock up on gifts or frames for your home.

I also have a few pieces of furniture that I plan to sell if anyone is interested - a couple of chairs, a desk, and a couple of rugs.  Just let me know!  

We are not exactly sure what day we will be moving into the new studio.  We are having some construction done there, and it will all depend on how long that takes!  But until then, you can take advantage of the great prices on these frames!

Anderson

So, my blogging last week took a back seat to my vacation....despite the fact that I had EVERY intention of blogging while I was away.  But with all of the playing, shooting, and EATING, it just didn't get done.  So, it's time to catch up!  

I had a wonderful vacation, and I am sad that it is over.  I will post some pictures in the next few days from a few of my beach sessions, but tonight, I am posting some pictures of sweet Anderson, whose pictures I took before vacation.  She brought her brother and sister in with her as well, and we were able to get some of everyone.  I know that her mommy has eagerly been waiting to see these, so here are a few sneak peaks!

Last one for the night!

Okay, this is it for my Friday night posts.  I will be on vacation from June 19 - 26th, so if you can't reach me, that's why!  :)  I know, I know, another vacation...but it's a working vacation.  I will have some fun...and I will do some work.  And I will have some fun doing some work!  If you need anything, Christy is finally back in town and will be here to help ([email protected] ).  

An update on the mini-sessions - the Mount Laurel date is full.  I still have a few spots left for the other days, but go ahead & get in touch soon if you want them.  I have not sent out my official email as I have in years past to let people know that they are open, so you blog readers get first dibs!  I will send that email out when I get home from vacation if they haven't all filled by then. 

Have a wonderful week, check back for pics from the beach, and until then...adios!

Mary Kate

I've been photographing Mary Kate since she was tiny (around 3 months), and I saw her a bunch her first year of life.  So I had really been missing her when she came in for her 2 year pictures (it had been a full year!).  If you scroll back a year ago, you'll see her 1-year pictures.  She was so much fun, and I had a great time seeing how much she'd grown over the past year!  And it was great to meet Daddy for the first time!

Little Sister

About 2 years ago, I had the pleasure of photographing Miles, and generated one of my very favorite baby pictures.

Last week, Miles brought in his little sister, Ella, who looks JUST LIKE HIM, and a was able to get another new favorite:

And many, many others!  And check out how much Miles has grown!

Mini-Sessions!!!

I have to laugh because as I looked back at my stats for how many visitors I had on my blog last week, it had pretty much tripled.  Then I realized why!  It's because I have been promising some dates for mini-sessions!  So, for those of you who have never participated in one of my mini-sessions, it's basically just a shorter version of my regular signature session.  Mini-sessions are 20-30 minutes long and take place only on specified dates and are perfect for capturing a few great images to be used however you want (cards, gifts, pictures for your home!).  Because they are shorter, they are also less expensive than a full session!  :)  The mini-sessions for this year are $65, and there is no minimum order (regular sessions are $175 with a $300 minimum order beginning 8/09).  You will be shown approximately 15-20 proofs from your session.  These make great holiday gifts (I know, I know, it's only July!).

Mini-sessions are recommended for 1-2 children.  Since the majority of the minis will be outside, I do not recommend them if your child cannot sit up on his/her own.  I also recommend doing a FULL session if you have more than one child AND one of them happens to be a just walking toddler through the age of about 2 or so!  These ages generally need a little longer to warm up and a little more coercing to cooperate & therefore may need a longer session!  :)  OR, if you have LOTS of children, you probably need a full session!  :)

Right now, I have four dates set aside to do minis.  I do anticipate adding at least 2 more dates (for a total of 8-10 more spots), but I am working on dates, as well as locations.  I REALLY would love for one of those dates to be in a field/on a farm somewhere.  If any of you have any farm/field connections, let me know & maybe I'll work out a free session!

Here are the dates I have so far:

Sunday, September 13 (3, 3:40, 4:10, 4:50 pm) - Mount Laurel 

Thursday, September 17 (8:15, 8:50, 9:30, 10) - Historic Morris Avenue 

Friday, October 2 (7:40, 8:15, 8:50, 9:30, 10) - Pepper Place/Sloss Furnace (will move to Sloss at 9:30)

Tuesday, November 10 (9, 9:40, 10:20, 11, 11:40) - At the studio in Homewood

If you are interested in any of the above dates, please EMAIL me at [email protected] with your 1st, 2nd & 3rd choices, and we'll do our best to accommodate you.  I will be forwarding all emails to Christy, my assistant, and she will answer them in the order in which they are received (she is still out of town, and this is easier for her to do than to return calls).  She will contact you to make sure you get the spot you want.  Just be sure to email sooner rather than later because these spots have gone FAST in the past few years.

Also, if you are wanting to book a regular session, please go ahead & do that as soon as possible.  There are not a whole lot of spots left on the calendar for the fall!  If you are wanting a session that will yield holiday cards & gifts, those need to be done before the end of the second week of November.  I will continue shooting after that, but I won't guarantee they'll be ready for the holidays.

Lastly, if you know of some really cool place you'd like to try out as a possible mini-session location (maybe it's your house, your in-laws' house, or just somewhere you drove by & thought was cool), let me know, and I'll see if I can arrange something.  I am ALWAYS looking for new locations!

Anna

I photographed Anna a couple of summers ago and was pleased to be able to photograph her again this week.  Man, oh, man, has she grown up!  She was such a pleasure to photograph and was so funny and COOPERATIVE (quite a rarity with what I do!  :)) .  I had trouble deciding what to show here because I just loved so many, but here are a few.

Mini-sessions are coming

For those of you who've been fervently checking the blog this week to make sure that you don't miss out on the mini-sessions for the fall, I will be posting a few of the dates on Monday or Tuesday of next week.  I had planned to do it this week, but Christy (my loyal assistant) is on vacation, and she will be in charge of getting everyone scheduled.  So stayed tuned!!

Pure 2 Year-Old Cuteness

I've been photographing Abigail since she was 6 months-old.  She has become SUCH a big girl, and I was blown away by her earlier this week!  Simply adorable!

Grant

I had the pleasure of photographing little Grant while he was still in mommy's belly and then again while he was still "fresh".  I haven't seen him since then until last week, so it was so cool to see how much he had changed over the past year.  And what a pleasant 1 year-old he is!  If only they were all this happy! :)

Here are a few from his session:

Ava and Griffin

Okay, one more post before the night is over and then I'm off to bed!  The Benedryl that I just took for the 50+ bug bites I managed to somehow not notice I was getting yesterday until after they had sucked half the blood out of my body is starting to kick in!  Anywho...despite all the itching that's been going on around here, I have been able to proof a really fun session that I had with Ava and Griffin last week.  They are the adorable children of a sorority sister of mine, and it was great being able to finally meet them in person (I've met them time and time again on Facebook - gotta love that FB!).  We had a blast, and I was reminded of just how much I love working with girls from the ages of 5-8.  They actually think it's pretty cool to get their picture made and enjoy hamming it up for the camera.  Little brothers, on the other hand, can be a little tougher sell, but I think we managed to do just fine!  :)  Enjoy!

Recent sessions

I have tons of sessions that still haven't made it to the blog, so I am going to try to catch up on a few here...and then maybe I'll post a few others later tonight!

 And this one just cracks me up for some reason.

Happy 4th of July!!!

Not a whole lot of words tonight, but I thought I'd post a few pictures from some recent sessions.  Hope everyone has a wonderful and SAFE Fourth of July!  Be sure to watch the blog over the next week.  I am hoping to have the mini-session dates set for the fall at some point next week!