Sam's First Photo Bomb

I guess Sam got jealous of Buddy Ben's mad modeling skills:

and decided to sabotage him.

Sorry, Sam. Buddy Ben is unflappable!

We just changed locations and kept on shooting! We couldn't let these beautiful blue eyes go undocumented: 

It's okay, Sam. He seems to also be pretty forgiving.

Good qualities to have in a buddy! Thanks for letting me take your picture, Ben!

What I Do

A wise person recently told me that no one is going to book me if they don't know what I do. 

I know almost nothing else about this person except for that he said that and that I was pretty. I don't care who it comes from, that is nice to hear even if you are covered in bananas and/or rice cereal and it's clearly being said to cover the initial "ew" face that he made. I will take it and thank you very much for it. 

I would've thought the first thing was smart anyway. I don't have a huge advertising budget, but Facebook is free, right? While I don't want to be the person who is constantly reminding you that you need photos or offering a bi-daily special that nobody is paying any attention to, I do actually get the question, "Now what do you do?" a lot. So here it is. 

I am a wedding & portrait photographer. See? 

The next question people ask me is "what's your style?" 

Ohhh, I'd say I'm mostly Southern with a little bit of "street" thrown in. You know how it is. 

Just kidding. Seriously, I should start blogging earlier in the day before I get stupid. 

My wedding style is called fine art photography. That sounds like I'm just saying that I'm kind-of fancy pants. I totally am fancy, but that's not what it means. 

A fine art wedding photographer combines candid shots that capture the important moments of your day with more stylized, directed shots that convey the emotion and thoughtfulness that have made your day the unique experience that it is. 

While I hope you completely forget about me during your ceremony, I’ll step-in during your first portrait session as husband and wife to position you in the best light, so that it looks like you’re basking in the glow of your brand new marital bliss, and turn you just so, to present you as the sweetest, happiest couple ever, while also ensuring that your dress drapes perfectly around you. Lighting, composition, color, movement and mood – I’ll use all of these things to create a cohesive, artful collection of images that conveys who you are as a brand new married couple.

Brides often ask if I have a standard set of shots that I make sure I catch at each wedding. Why yes, yes I do! I won't write out the whole list for you here, but it consists of the big moments. The bride walking down the aisle, the kiss, first dance...all those "memory maker" moments. Then there are those details you've agonized over for the past year! You agonized over these because you wanted your wedding to represent the two of you as a couple. I get that. And I'll get those shots! 

But shooting an actual wedding is different than shooting for a magazine spread! You have a ton of family and/or friends who showed up to celebrate with you! We can't risk letting you forget your uncle tearing up the dance floor, your college roommate catching the bouquet or your sweet flower girl twirling her little heart out! 

I like bold color. 

Sometimes I like black and white. 

I love to shoot getting ready photos! 

I'll let you know if your bra strap is hanging out. 

I hope you picked awesome shoes. I love a good shoe shot.

I can design a custom wedding album for you.

I can help you choose canvases for a gallery wall if you prefer. 

So that gives you a good idea of my wedding style. We'll cover portraits another day. I hope that answers at least your first two questions! Call me if you have more! 

www.jennirobertsphotography.com/contact

God bless, y'all! 

Jenni

Good Tired

I'm tired. Sam & I play-dated today. We had so much fun, but there were puppies and baby swings and a pretty baby girl that says "nein!" (she's half German), and Sam slept hard pretty much as soon as we got in the truck! I would've liked to. But I believe The Man frowns upon sleeping and driving. Plus ordering at the Chickafila drive through would've been harder.

I guess the sun made me a little loopy, because I then brushed the grass and banana puffs off my "workout" pants and headed out to the KOKE Free Music Series. Tonight was Jason Boland and the Stragglers, and I like them a lot. And that's the most creative thing I have to say about that.

'Cause I'm good and tired. I used the very last little bit of my creative juices for the day to make this picture:

Hee. He likes playing the fiddle so much! I love how much he likes playing his fiddle! I also made this one:

I saw it on the way back to my truck. Admittedly, it would be better without the Seadoos in the background. Possibly I can edit those out. Still looks pretty cool, though. 

I'm good and tired. But it's a good tired. 

God Bless, Y'all!

Jenni

Easter Pics? Me Too! Me Too!

I actually like all the Easter pictures on Facebook. Half the reason I ever get on there is to see pictures of my friends' kids. I think that means I'm part of why the kids think FB isn't cool anymore. Oh wells.

So guess what! We took Easter pictures, too! And they are better than what I thought I would get! 

I pretty much knew that there would be a lot of this: 

I call it "Sam Chewing on Something, no. 1,896,214. That necklace Gammi's wearing is 'specially designed for Sam to chew on. He likes to chew. 

But I didn't think I'd get this: 

I believe he has just realized that we're not going to take that big pile of Easter grass away from him. I love it! He has no idea why he gets presents this morning, but he is excited about it! 

We blew mannnny, many bubbles. 

We dressed up and went to church. 

But before we could go to church, Gammi, Grandma and I had to make a run to Beall's to find some pants for Sam, since I left his in Austin. Overalls turned out cuter anyway. Plus they were on some sort of super sale and they were only $4. 

And we did lots of silly things to make Sam laugh. Including playing ball in the yard with one of the balls he got from the Easter Bunny. Y'all don't all know the Deans, but playing ball in the yard is not something we normally do. Sam thought it was hilarious, though, so we did. It probably was hilarious. We didn't catch it a lot. 

On the way up we stopped at a park in Navasota that, by some oversight of what I'm sure is a robust Parks & Rec department, still had the death traps formerly known as merry-go-rounds. Sam was unimpressed with riding on one himself. (He just ate the leaves on it) But I've never heard him laugh as hard as he did watching his daddy go 'round merrily! We tried to get video, but it's a little dizzying. 

All in all, Sam likes Easter. 

Even with no candy in the eggs. 

God bless, y'all!

Jenni

Sam is Grown.

He's off to college next week. He may be the only one there crawling, but he seems so old now! Here's his first month by month picture:

Look how skinny! Oh my goodness he's so cute.

And now here he is in his six month pics!

Wait - this takes a little explaining. Sam loves his yellow lamp. He wants to get it sooooo badly almost every time we sit down in that chair. His six-month photo session was no exception. He knocked everything else off the table, and then went for the lamp...with everything he's got!

Those shots are cute, but they don't show the 6 on his shirt, and I was getting nowhere with sitting him down and trying to redirect his attention. He's a very focused little boy.

So I gave him the lamp. I know - Mom of the Year. I did unplug it at least.

And just look how happy he is! I have bought that child toys. Y'all have bought that child toys! Looks like Fisher Price has missed the mark on what babies actually want. I don't think anything in the world could've made Sam happier at that moment than getting his hands on that dang lamp!

Except maybe getting it in his mouth.

That's where the photo shoot ended. Gotta draw the line somewhere.

Sweet Truffles & Even Sweeter Austin Wedding Vendors!

If you follow me on Facebook then you probably already saw the Sweet Truffle styled wedding that I shot with Posh Bridal Lounge last week for Valentine's Day. I love that Posh Bridal Lounge was crazy enough to go for the idea in the first place, but I love how great they were to work with even more!

So this post is here to say THANK YOU to all the Poshies and vendors that made it possible! We got our beautiful dress from Signature Bridal Salon down in Bee Cave. The owner, Ashley, made choosing our dress so easy and the space was just the sort of place you picture going to find your wedding gown! We're going to have to do a lot more shoots with them because there were so many dresses that I wanted to use!

Signature also provided the sweet bridesmaids' dresses and, if you didn't recognize it already, all of the jewelry came from Kendra Scott.

Okay, let's get a closer look at all the beautiful floral design from Shannon of The Willow & Vine.

Her floral design really brought everything together. I gave her very little to go on - just a "feel" that I was looking for and she totally delivered despite the fact that I asked for things that were not exactly easy to get in February!! All the vases and vessels you see are hers, too.

Do you notice the all the pretty backgrounds? They are part of the pretty scenery at Olive & June on 35th Street. You would never know that there's actually a Burger King right behind that bouquet in the top photo! Their walls and big oak trees make it feel like it's not in the middle of town! Their third story event space is so perfect, it makes me want to throw a big party! You're all invited!

Also in those photos are our pretty linens and place settings from Premiere Party Central. Their south location is right around the corner from my house, so it was so convenient for this shoot since I was toting a 6 month old along with me! I alotted 30 minutes for picking up linens and the place settings, just because I had no idea how long it would take them to check things out to me. Five minutes. We were there all of five minutes! They had everything ready. The longest part was double checking they had everything I needed.

Want to look as gorgeous as these girls on your (or your friend's) big day? Miss Brizy Tait at the Beauty Jar did hair and makeup for us - in record time, in fact!

Don't you loooove our cake topper?! I was so thrilled to find these at HelloPlumStudio on Etsy. I searched and searched for conversation heart cake toppers before I found these. These are the cutest ones out there. I promise.

Last but not least, our pretty little macarons. Thank you, Hello Macaron for these lovely little treats that added so much to our dessert table! I've made macarons, y'all. Let me tell you, if you want macarons at your wedding, do not try to DIY them. Buy the macarons. Worth it.

Of course, I couldn't have wrangled any of this without the girls at Posh! Thank y'all so much! I love your willingness to go above and beyond and all the little touches you brought to the shoot! And our dresses would've looked a little lackluster without the lovely models that came out to "play wedding" with us! Y'all were beautiful! And I really couldn't have managed it without my brother, who acted as "manny" for the day and held Sam while I worked!

Y'all are great. I love ya! Let's do it again!

God bless y'all!

Jenni

New Year! Same Me.

Whew! January is kinda wearing me out. Not because of the five-month-old at my house. (although, yeah, that too.) Not because I have sooo much going on with photography (a manageable amount, I'd say.) Certainly not because of the new thrice daily exercise regiment I've started. ('cause I haven't.)

It's because everybody wants me to be a new me this month! Whew! Y'all, I love lists and goals and exciting new projects, but I am gonna have to take a break from all the excitement that everyone has for January right now! If I only had one website/Facebook page/blog/tv show/whatever that was pumping me up for a new year, I could get behind that. Even two would be alright! But I follow so many blogs and pages and etcetera, that my eyes are getting a little crossed with all the (slightly) different ways for me to be new this month!

I was kind-of okay with the me I was in December.

I think I'll keep going with that me.

Something that encouraged me in this was our first Sunday School lesson for the year. We talked about a list of people Paul greeted in one of his letters. (sorry! I was holding Sam, not sure which letter it was!) He had a little description of each person that he held so dear as to send a greeting to. Several were described as hardworkers, faithful friends or servants of the Lord. Not a flashy miracle worker or water walker or famous blogger among them. Our teacher described them as getting up and doing the faithful thing. Every. Day. That relaxed me a little bit. I don't have to worry about making 2014 my most exciting year ever! It will be plenty exciting and wonderful if I just do the faithful thing. Every. Day.

Now if I had gotten to shower today then I would maybe put up a picture of me being the same 'ol me. However, this little booger:

is getting teeth. And apparently that requires constant companionship. It's hard working, getting teeth. So I played with him instead. Luckily he doesn't mind a little stankity stank. I'll shower later.

Love y'all! New year! Same you!! Have fun with it!

God bless y'all!

Jenni