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~The Newest Blessing~ {Memphis, TN~Newborn Art}

Posted on October 18, 2011

We are continually blessed to be a part of the community that lives on the graduate school campus where my husband is working towards his Masters of Divinity.  While JR and I were doing a missions survey trip in the Philippines, our children were cared for by many of the people we live among.

Chief in my mind before we headed out, was to alert the unborn “Baby J” that for me to take “newborn” photos of her, she would need to wait to be born until my trip was almost over.  And she did!

Our family is blessed by her family, and we are excited that she is their newest blessing.

Introducing “Baby J”:

Hello!

{They are still trying to figure out what to think of each other.} 

“Baby J”, welcome to our community!  We will love lovin’ on you!!

~Daisha

Une Belle Famille {Memphis, TN~Family Photography}

Posted on August 8, 2011

Today I had the honor of photographing a lovely family.  These world travelers are fun and adventurous.  It was really great getting to spend a morning with them! (Although I must admit that I was a little intimidated by the fact that their 15 month old son is bilingual- french and English.)

We braved the heat and humidity and captured some great photographs that give us a sneak peek into the love they have for one another.

Enjoy your sneak peek of a few of the images from this morning:

Watch out, ladies… he already speaks french!  He’s going to be a total heart-breaker.

I am thrilled beyond words that this family waited for me to get back from Scotland for this photo session.  I’ve got SO many great photos that I love from today already!

Have you thought about investing in Life Art?  Contact me today to schedule a fun, laid-back, custom-designed session!

~Daisha

“It may rain on our wedding, but not our marriage!”~ Memphis, TN Wedding Portraits

Posted on March 24, 2011

John Berger knew just how to make his bride-to-be feel better about the forecast for rain on their wedding day.

Their wedding ceremony was not what they had originally planned, but it was beautiful nonetheless.

And because there was rain on their wedding day, we got to reschedule a shoot for a beautiful day, which we had yesterday.

I have SO many images from this session that I love.  But for now I’ll just share these…

(Yes, I was singing “The Hills are Alive” while Jessi was conjuring up “Enchanted” images.  We are weird, and we go with it.) ;P

I’m kinda glad it rained on their wedding day.  ;P

Jessi and John, may God continue to bless you as you grow in Him and with each other.  May your marriage glorify Him and proclaim to the world that you serve a risen Savior!

~Daisha

My Beautiful 3 Year Old–and GIVEAWAY–{Memphis, TN~ Custom Portraits}

Posted on February 21, 2011

***THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED***

I cannot believe that Naomi is already 3!  She is growing up and growing more beautiful every day.

She is all girl… and all tom-boy.  She is full of laughter…

… and decreasing amounts of shyness.

Naomi looks like me and has her daddy’s personality.  She is our girl.  And we wouldn’t trade her for anything.

***GIVEAWAY***

Last year for Naomi’s birthday I was looking on-line for a cute hat for her 2 year portraits.  After scouring www.etsy.com for HOURS, I came across HeartSmiles.  The owner, Abbie, and I communicated back and forth and came up with this hat:

We enjoyed working together, so she sent me some more hats!

Naomi loves wearing her hats from HeartSmiles!  I love that she looks cute without me having to do her hair!

These hats aren’t just for cold weather, either.  The “Boho” style was perfect this summer!

But there were other summer looks as well!  Headbands, patriotic, and then the custom hats we had made to go with clothes from Gymboree when our family who lives in Europe were here for a visit:

See… the boys don’t get left out either!

And if this wasn’t enough variety for you, HeartSmiles has even more in the store!  AND, you can customize the hats with colors and number of flowers.

We love our HeartSmiles hats here in this house.  Naomi even talks about “Ms. Abbie” by name.

So here’s the great GIVEAWAY:

You can win your choice of HeartSmiles creation PLUS a 20% discount on a d’Lifeful Photography Lift Art photo session AND PACKAGE!

How? (you ask)

Visit HeartSmiles shop on etsy, pick out your favorite product (or what you would customize) and come back HERE (on the blog, not facebook) and leave a comment.

Refer people to this contest too!  If I get more than 50 comments, then I will up the percentage off to 30%.  If I get more than 100 comments here on the blog, I will give away 2 discounted photo sessions!

(All winners will be chosen by Random.org)

Contest begins today and ends in 2 weeks (March 7).

Good Luck, and … GO!

d’Lifeful Photography Life Art {Memphis, TN~Custom Portraits}

Posted on January 1, 2011

Investing in Life Art

Our most memorable moments in life pass by so quickly. A newborn’s toothless grin gives way to the adolescent’s nervous smile. Too often we are so busy living, we forget to capture these precious moments in our lives.

Looking back over your journey here on earth, what comes to mind? The hours spent at work? Or the laughter during tickle-fights with your children? The awkward sitting-on-a-couch photo that Uncle Al snapped at a family reunion?  Or the two hours you spent with your mother and your daughter baking sugar cookies?

d’Lifeful Photography Life Art is about capturing the emotions from those moments you keep close to your heart. Life Art is a portrait of you doing what you love with the people you love.

Investing in Life Art is more than simply getting a cute photo for an album or a scrapbook.

Life Art is an intentional display of your moments.

Life Art is placing those cherished memories up on your walls. . . out on your coffee tables. . . where they greet you daily and remind you to capture your life as you live it.

To aid you in filling your home with Life Art, d’Lifeful Photography presents 3 different collections. Each one provides you with significant discounts on images and products offered.

Over the next few days I will be posting about my philosophy for Life Art, my services, as well as the classic products I will be offering in 2011.

Happy 2011!

Your d’Lifeful Life {Memphis, TN~ Custom Portraits}

Posted on December 6, 2010

Yesterday I had an amazing time photographing two lovely people who I have known for a while yet seldom get to hang out with.  Jon and Mary Catherine Schallert are amazing!

Since the idea of an urban session and a “rustic” session appealed to both of them, we came up with a new type of session:

Your d’Lifeful Life

Over a 2 hour period, the 3 of us drove to places that are important to the Schallerts and their life here in Memphis.

First stop, their home:

Next Stop:  the site of their church meetings

***Mary Catherine would like to make it perfectly clear that the types of “exotic gifts” sold here aren’t the “bad kind”.*** ;P

Next stop:  Overton Park

Boy! Was it cold!  (first really cold day this season)  After a few more minutes at the park, we headed to…

Main Street, Memphis!

Can you tell we were having fun?

And, I mentioned it was cold, right?  It got even colder…

(Last stop) By the Mississippi River:

It’s worth repeating, but this was a really fun session!

I love how this photo session really captures their life here in Memphis.  Years from now, they will be able to look back at these photographs and see their LIFE, not just what they looked like in 2010.

Starting January 2011 I will start offering Your d’Lifeful Life Sessions.  Stay tuned for the details and start daydreaming about your own session.

~Daisha

Please Don’t Bribe Your Children! {Memphis, TN~Children’s Portriats}

Posted on November 21, 2010

You are so excited!  You just booked a photo session with a great photographer.  Your head swims with ideas of how to dress the children.  And then the quiet panic sets in.

What if they don’t behave?  What if they don’t follow the photographer’s directions?  What if they cry the whole time?  What if they trade in their usual angelic disposition and become something from a nightmare?

So, you make a plan.  You will tell your children that “if they behave”, then… Chuck E. Cheese, new toy, favorite treat, whatever gets them going…

This eases your worries.  They’ll have that “carrot” dangling out in front as a reward for “good behavior”.  You begin to breathe again.

Please don’t!

I have worked with children in large settings and one-on-one for over 15 years.  I’ve seen it all.  All the bad attitudes, all the drama, all the manipulation, all the crying.

May I give you a word of advice as to how to prepare your child for a photo session with me?

Thank you.

First of all, my advice is to you:  Be relaxed.  Children feed off of our moods.  So if you are calm and easy-going, most likely, they will be too.

Second:  Don’t be worried about me judging you and your parenting.  (I know how it is.  I’m a mom too.)  My job is not to judge you.  My job is to capture your child(ren) and family as they are.

Third:  Don’t make your children wear clothing they are not comfortable wearing.

Fourth:  (and here’s where we bring in the kids)  Prepare your children for the photo session by telling them about how much fun playing with me is going to be.  Let them know, that if they follow my directions, we are going to have so much fun.  I’m a goofy girl.  I make silly sounds, faces, and trip over myself.  I sing songs and do dances.

Your children will be at their best for their photos if they are “in the moment” and playing with me.

When you bribe them with an exciting something after the session, they will be looking forward to that instead of the photo session being the exciting adventure.  Let the photo session be the exciting fun thing they are doing that day!

Fifth:  Make sure your child(ren) are not coming to the session hungry or thirsty.  But please don’t (unless other arrangements are being made) bring food or candy or drinks along with you to the session.  Once they come into the child’s view, it’s hard to keep them out of the photos.

So really, my advice can be summed up with:

Relax

&

Don’t bribe

Simple.

You are trusting me to capture the moments of your life.  Trust me to be entertaining enough for you and your children to have a good time and lots of giggles and smiles.

Ok, just had to get that out there…

~Daisha

The Holidays are Coming…{Memphis, TN–Child & Family Portraits}

Posted on November 18, 2010

The weather!  The weather these days… One day it will be lovely and sunny and the light is perfect.  On those days I have no photo sessions.  But the next day, I do have a session scheduled.  And you know what weather we get for our session?

Rain!

But you know what?!  The family I photographed in the rain (and inside for a bit) on Saturday is so cute that it didn’t matter. 

And as it REALLY started to rain (instead of just mist) we went inside and I got these photos of this little guy who I’ve had the honor of photographing all year.  *** I’m loving watching him grow and change! ***

Can you handle how blue his eyes are?  He’s SO cute!!

That session was Saturday afternoon.  Sunday the weather was GORGEOUS.  And Monday I had another session.

20 min. before the session started, the mom called to ask if clouds were a good or bad thing for a natural light photographer.

I assured her that I’d still be able to get great images, there just wouldn’t be any sun-flare or star-bursts in our photos.

The cloud cover provided nice, even lighting and the girl’s lit up the photos.  And I could make up a full session of images out of our mini session!

ALSO…

Yesterday my printing company announced that they will now be carrying Luxe Cards.  I LOVE the way these look.

So, I designed two different cards last night with the photos from the girls mini session.

If any of my clients from this year are interested in me designing a custom Luxe Holiday card, e-mail (of facebook-message) me and we will start the ball rollin’ to get these to you at the beginning of December.

~Daisha

We’ve been waiting for this one… {Memphis, TN~Newborn Portraits}

Posted on November 12, 2010

We met this lovely family when the recently moved here from working in China.  Rachel was pregnant and hadn’t been seen by a doctor in months.  And, being new to town, finding a doctor took a community.

But last week, later than his family would’ve hoped, this little blessing made his debut.  And I got to photograph him and snuggle with him today!

***I have found that I LOVE newborn sessions.  I get to cuddle tiny little newborns, revel in their cuteness, and hand them back to their mothers.  It’s PERFECT!***

He was definitely worth the wait.  You can tell from the way his mother dotes on him to the way that his father proudly shows off his son to the neighbors.

Here’s the sneak peek at the newborn mini session:

(and this photo makes me wish I hadn’t been so obsessed about NOT being in front of the camera when I was a “newborn Mom”)

Congratulations, guys.  He’s perfect!

~Daisha

Dallas PicturePolooza! {Memphis, TN~Family Portraiture}

Posted on October 22, 2010

What a week!

I was all geared up for fall pumpkin family photos of my kids with my newest nephew, but it was in the mid-80′s in Dallas this week!

Pumpkin pictures still turned out cute, but they didn’t get to wear the clothes I had picked out.

But I got a nice family photo of my sister and her fellas…

See?… Nice and “October-y”, right?  (Ha!)

But beautiful…

The next afternoon, I went back for a family session with this beautiful family:

See this cutie?

She makes some AWESOME faces.  And was quite the trooper when I literally put her in a flower-bed.

You can tell her parent’s love her SO much!

This is one cool couple.  I had so much fun photographing this family!

The next day I took the kids with me to shoot the Bills.  I was explaining to my kids as we drove out to their home, that I’ve known this family since I was a teenager.  (I love how photography gives me reasons to visit with old friends!)

Here *most* of them are loving on one of my living examples of biblical womanhood.

Deborah– Thank you for being an example of being God’s woman as you raise your family, support your husband, and influence the world around you.

I had a special request from Mr. C that there be some black and white photos.  So… here they are:

And then… because it’s too cute NOT to share…

Whoo!  Long post.  I hope you enjoyed it.

Now to re-coop from the trip and do laundry… (and sleep!)

~Daisha

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