Holiday Letter Stuffing Time!

Yeap, that time of the year again. Where we sit in the living room, surrounded by Holiday Cards, envelopes, stamps, return labels, address labels, our annual letter... the whole Holiday card display so that we can go happily about signing cards, stuffing envelopes, sticking labels... you know the drill.

Here is what that evening looked like at our home...

The personal stack.

See Santa's little helper behind Rich to the left of the image? -- Not helping much really, but always there :)

The business stack (well, part of it really).


Aaahhh, we just have a few last ones we did not have current addresses for and we should be done :)

Happy Holidays to all!

A.-

New Toy

The new canon 5D Mark II!

After months of waiting yesterday I got the call I have been waiting for. My new camera was ready for pick up at a local store... and so I dashed over and brought it home.

I think my husband is even more excited than I am about it! He spent hours playing with it and reading the manual.

See? I grabbed it, shot a few frames, went ooohhh - ahhhhh and gave it back to him... because he is the techie in this household and he reads every little thing in the manual, figures it all out, and then he explains it all to me. I do much better that way :)

It is an amazing camera especially in low light conditions (thing weddings here :) -- Of course we wished the auto focusing system in low light conditions was better, but hey, this camera can "see" when it is almost dead dark!

Here are a couple of shots.

Rich shot this image of me at ISO 6400, 1/15 at 1.4 with a 50mm lens. All lights off in the living room, my face only illuminated by my Blackberry.

I shot this of Rich, standing in the living room with only the light that spills off the flood light that is really pointing the other way into the street, so this is just the light that spills inside the house!

This was also ISO 6400 at 1/15 1.4 with 50mm lens.

We'll be playing much more in the upcoming days and I am sure I'll post some new images as well.

For the time being, I just wanted to share :)

A.-

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving came and went and I am finally posting this. Whew. Still running behind on my posting, but here we are at last!

My husband Rich and I drove up to Asheville, NC to spend Thanksgiving at my mother-in-law’s, Isabel. My husband’s sisters, Marie & Rachel, were also there with their husbands and kids, so it was quite a crowd, but we all managed to survive.

I love going to Asheville, although this time around I was sick an not at the top of my game... but that did not stop me from capturing some of our family memories.

Mia (7) spent quite a while playing Cat's Craddle with Uncle Rich, who is the family expert. And she also enjoyed hanging out with her cousin's dog, Winston (the most adorable dog ever! -- together with my friend Christina's dog, Max that is :)


while Sam (5) played memory with his mom Rachel, or enjoyed the gorgeous weather playing with his new remote controlled car --photographed by Rich--

And here isTaylor (3) in her favorite "spot" and giving me her favorite "look" :)

Of course some of the adults had to attend to real important things...

well, there was actually one adult doing something extremely important...

my brother-in-law Scott, frying the turkey... yum!

You have to undertsand, this was not just a casual come-by-let's-eat-turkey situation... my mother-in-law had an expert plan all laid out!

including a super cute centerpiece

and the ultimate hostess touch; place cards -- expertly done by Mia...


Finally, Scott brought the best in and proceeded to carve!

After which we all "graciously" danced around the kitchen island to come out with a perfect Thanksgiving dinner plate.

After which, of course, there was...

Here are some of the players...

Rachel, Isabel, Rich and Marie.

Chris, Rich and Scott. The brother-in-laws.

Me? as usual, behind the camera. I guess I"ll have to ask Rich to get the sisters-in-law next time :)

I hope you've enjoyed my Thanksgiving tale. Next tale will be Christmas, which we will celebrate at the home of John & Maureen Salviski, my friend Christina's parents.

Until then, continue to check back for some more client postings and Andrea Taylor Studio news!

A.-

Myers is one!

He turned one on November 19, and mom & dad wanted to capture this time in his life with some professional photos... here enters Andrea and her camera into their home in Mableton, Georgia to photograph this:

Still drooling?

I know, I had a hard time not grabbing him and pressing his cheeks like an old lady :)

Isn't this the ultimate happy family?

Now, tell me you can keep a straight face with this super mischievous look?

or how about the "not doing anything" look while he holds my lens cap?

It was a fun session with an amazing family that I am glad I got to meet. They were super relaxed and went with the flow and I think we all really enjoyed the session. At least I did!

Thanks Greer & Jonathan for allowing me to capture these family memories!I hope to continue to see Myers as he grows into a little man.

A.-

Welcome Lawson

Yes, I continue to be behind in my Blog postings!

But I am doing my best to catch up... so here is a session I did just a few days before leaving town for Thanksgiving.

I went to Norcross to photograph the cuttest little newborn baby: Lawson


Isn't he just adorable?

I love his room, it has a real happy feel to it.


I met Aimee and Lawrence when I did their "expecting" session a few months back, so I was thrilled to go back and finally meet Mr. Lawson. He did great and graduated with honors from his very first professional photography session :)

Here are a few images with mom and dad, who looked like they had been sleeping pretty well... although that was not necessarily the case ;)




Thank you Aimee and Lawrence! It is always an honor to be invited into my client's lives and homes to capture moments that are so special and unique. I hope these images help you remember this time in your lives forever.

Andrea.-


... and I will soon be posting about my new clients in Mableton who have an adorable little boy that just turned one! Keep an eye on the blog!

Taylor vs. Andrea

... and I think we can to call this one a tie!

This sweet little girl turned one on October 29th. I started working with Taylor and her family last year, not long after she was born, and did a package of 4 sessions thought her first year of life. If you look back in the blog postings you can see that I photographed her sweet and tender as a cute little baby gir, then like a more alert and active baby and afterwards we got to her crawling times.

But Gosh, was I not really ready for this last session!

Doug, her dad, warned me she had started walking and was already pretty fast and unstoppable -- "bring your sneakers" was all he said. And he was so on target!

This little lady made me run up and down all over the house to capture this very special time in her life. And even though she made me work hard for my money, I am happy to say we got some really nice images (albeit a very tired photographer :)

Here are a few of my favorite images of the day.

So yes, looking at this ultra cute girl you just cannot resist right? anyone would have run around for this!

Thanks again, Doug, Rayne & Taylor for allowing me into your home and your lives to capture these moments for you.

I look forward to many more years of Taylor growing up.

Andrea.-

Where have I been?

... evidently, not blogging!

I guess this will be my one New Year resolution. I am not writing so I shy away from blogging. But I know I need and want to be more present so I will make it a point to blog more in the coming year. I will also engage the help of my clients and friends to make this a more participative space, where I can share more than just the last sessions I shot.

So, keep an eye on the blog for a succession of posts on the latest from Andrea Taylor and Andrea Taylor Studio!

A Beautiful Fall Session

I love the fall... and I love to have the opportunity to do sessions outside with the beautiful foliage turning.

That is exactly what we did with McKenna and her parents a few days back at Autry Mill in Alpharetta, Georgia.

It was great to see the all of them again. I first photographed McKenna and family at their home in Gainesville in October 2006.

This was then...

And this is now...

McKenna is a hard-core animal lover! She was so cute... any animal she saw she wanted to go chase and play with (squirrels were luckily too fast for her :)

But she found these ducks and she spent quite some time playing with them...

It was really nice to chase McKenna around and photograph her again. She is at the "silly faces" age, but after she became more comfortable (and I became goofier) she was just her natural self :)

Thanks Gina, John & McKenna for coming out to play with me!

A.-

Christa & Matthew

A beautiful Autumn day in an amazing location.


A gorgeous bride.


And a handsome groom.


Starting their family history together as a couple, on October 25th.



Surrounded by those who love and support them.


It was as simple as that, and as amazing as that. A truly adorable couple, Christa and Matthew had the most beautiful wedding day in Big Canoe just a few days ago. I was constantly in awe of the amazing decorations Christa's mom put together... wherever you looked there was a detail that made the place special and unique.




But most important of all, was the feeling of love and celebration that was felt all day long as family and friends witnessed such an important day in Christa & Matthew's lives.

May you live a life full of love and joy and remember this day for years to come.

Thanks for allowing me to be a part of such a special time in your lives. It was a true honor.

Please also see Christa & Matthew's Slideshow by clicking here.

I personally want to thank Scott Wang for working with me and getting some fabulous images and to my husband Rich, who continues to get better and better images and whose immense help throughout every event I could not do without.

I want to invite everyone to leave comments below, not only for me, but for Christa and Matthew as well.

Thanks,
Andrea.-