Shooting Star Photography

Ava is my daughter’s best friend. We talk about Ava no less than 10 times a day, starting in the morning when we wake up and at night when we say our prayers.

They are a week apart in age and as thick-as-thieves all day at school. It absolutely breaks my heart that we have to change daycares when we move, and Kate won’t get to see Ava every day :(. I guess we will just have to plan plenty of play dates on the weekends!

I was able to spend the morning with Ava and her awesome parents to capture some pictures for her upcoming birthday! I can’t believe in just 2 months our babies will be two years old!

Ava, where’s the bunny’s nose?

Baby Sally is already 3 months old! Doesn’t it feel like yesterday she was born?

She was so perfect for our session yesterday afternoon and we even got some smiles and giggles! Isn’t she gorgeous?

I think Sally looks just like her daddy! He’s obviously smitten by her…

I had to include this one of Sally and her Mimi. I LOVE the colors and the bokeh in the background. It looks a little fake, but I promise it was real! Sally’s mommy smocked this dress for her - gorgeous! What a lucky girl to have such a talented mom.

See you at 6 months old Sally!

Blakely’s birthday was yesterday!  It was about 6 months since I saw her and photographed her last and I loved seeing how much she’s grown. I love Blakely’s gorgeous blue eyes and her adorable blonde curls. She’s such a pretty girl! Happy Birthday Ms. Blakely!

See these eyes - ahhhh!

I love this one because you can see her curls, and she crossed her little feet to keep them off the wet grass!

Blakely waves, “Bye, Bye”

I finished Amelia’s session and I had to come back and share a few more because I found a few more favorites of this beautiful girl I wanted to share!

I LOVE this family picture. I’d have this one on a big canvas in my house for sure!

Hello, big beautiful eyes!

Happy Birthday Amelia! She turned one on Monday of this week.

I try not to post too many pictures of my child here because I don’t want anyone to get sick of seeing her! But today I did a “real” session with her (well, as real as I can get with my own baby) because I’m going to need some pictures for her upcoming 2nd birthday party invitations.  We had alot of fun today and I was surprised to see some of the cute ones I ended up with. Here are some I thought I’d share. And don’t worry grandmothers, I will be making you some special surprises with these :).

And my favorite from today. She looks so innocent - hahaha. I know better!

Elizabeth turns one today! Yay! I promised more pictures of her, and here they are. Just a year ago, she was a tiny little baby that fit so nicely in the crook of her mother’s arm-

And here she is now - pulling up, crawling, and trying to walk, as a new big sister! Oh how things change in just a blink of an eye. Happy Birthday beautiful girl!

I hope you have a wonderful birthday Elizabeth!

Ah, William! What a lucky boy! He was born into the most wonderful and loving family!

I photographed his sister as a newborn about about 11 months and 2 weeks ago, so I was thrilled not only to meet sweet baby William, but to see this beautiful family grow even more in the past year. I have a whole post about Elizabeth’s 1 year portraits which we caught also on Sunday, but you’ll have to wait a little bit more for those because this post is mostly about William!

First of all, how amazing is this bed??? My best friend’s father, Larry Sligh, custom made this bed for me. If any of my photography connections happen to be interested in your own version of this bed, let me know and I’ll get you his contact information. He’s an amazing carpenter, and I’m so thankful for him!

Elizabeth loved the bed too, so you’ll see some cute pictures of her with the bed on her own, but I couldn’t resist these two of her and her baby brother and the sweet love she showed him while I was there -

Of course I couldn’t help but show this perfect family portrait-

And then you have these two, which made me want to pack William up and take him home with me!

Congratulations on this newest addition to your family! He’s absolutely adorable and I  look forward to watching Elizabeth and William grow up!

Amelia turns one this week, and she is the happiest, smiliest baby! I had a hard time narrowing them down because she is the most amazingly happy and beautiful baby girl. I did my best to showcase her incredible personality here, but there are so many more! Don’t you just want to eat her up???

Happy Birthday sweet girl! I hope you and your fun mommy and daddy have a great week!

Here’s something different for you! Today I photographed a football camp that my client, personal trainer, and friend, Kevin Drake, was coaching and helping to organize.

Today was the first day of the 3 day camp held by Arians Pro Football Academy in Birmingham. They also held the high school combines, where Maudrecus Humphrey, the son of legendary University of Alabama running back, Bobby Humphrey, set a personal record of 4.34 in the 40 yrd dash.

What’s that? You can’t see the numbers? Oh, here you go…

He was FAST! Here’s Kevin giving Maudrecus a coaching tip right before he ran his PR-

Bobby was a proud dad…

Bobby Humphrey wasn’t the only legendary UofA running back in attendance today. Shaun Alexander gave a great speech to the kids before lunch.

And after his pep-talk, he took some time to spread the word of Jesus with some of the boys.

Jake’s dad - coach Bruce Arians, offensive coordinator for the Steelers- (check out the bling on his left hand)…

Jake Arians and Kevin Drake-

Kevin coaching the QBs-

Tyler Grisham (rookie with the Steelers) coaching the receivers-

Thank you Kevin for allowing me to step out of my box and do something fun on a weekday!

Kevin Drake is owner and trainer of Drake Fitness. Kevin will have more of the pictures I took from today on his site in the future so check there later for more!

Are you on Facebook???

If the answer is YES - go here - www.shootstarphoto.com/fanpage to enter my Holiday Mini Session Give Away contest. Become a fan today! Here are the details and rules you’ll find on the Notes of my fan page-

Now that I’ve reached 100+ Fans, it’s time for a contest!

Here’s how to enter-
2 easy steps-

1. Put this text in your facebook status: I am entering to win a free photo session & you can too - www.shootstarphoto.com/fanpage

2. Come back to the fanpage and write on the wall and let me know that you’ve updated your status and you would like to enter the contest.

That’s it!

Here is the fine print-
1. One (1) entry per facebook account (multiple family members are allowed, however!)
2. Contest ends Saturday, July 11th at 9 a.m. central time. One person will be randomly selected to receive the mini-session, valued at $250.

Package includes:
* 30 minute family photo-session at a location chosen by the photographer
* Online Gallery of 10-15 images from the session
* CD of high resolution files with a print release
* 25 press- printed, folded 5×7 holiday cards (winner will be able to select from a variety of card designs)

3. Contestants will be able to chose a holiday mini session in Birmingham, AL or Atlanta, GA
4. Shooting Star Photography will add the winner as a facebook friend (if necessary) to verify that there was a status update to complete step 1.
5. If the winner is unable to attend the mini-session for whatever reason, it is non-transferable or redeemable for cash or credits with Shooting Star Photography.

Any questions? Send me a message!

These Holiday Mini Session spots GO FAST!!! Don’t miss out on a chance to have yours done for free!

And since I can’t post without some pictures - here are some from this week of my daughter and godson enjoying some summertime fun: