Merideth

These are some more of the shots that I got while my family was together over Christmas. This is my brother's daughter, Merideth, a cowgirl at heart. I called my brother to ask if Merideth could model for me while they were in town & asked him to have her bring her favorite cowboy boots & hat...well, he forgot the hat, but we got some excellent shots anyway. I am so happy that she modeled for me because I really needed some nice teen shots for my portfolio & with Merideth's beautiful face & natural posing I got so many good shots that it will be hard to choose which ones I will use on the website. Of course, with her being fourteen, her parents love the ones of her smiling the best because of the rarity of those glimpses.

Trey, Trevor & Becca

I took some shots of my family while we were together over Christmas. Mickey set up the black muslin backdrop & lights at my sister's house & we had a fun little photo shoot. These are a couple of my favorites. These are my sister's kids, Trey, Trevor & Rebecca. Again, I think my favorite thing about these shots is that each of their personalities shines through. It was a great time to get a family picture of the three of them again...the last picture they had made like this was one I took when Becca was about 3 years old!

A Few New things

There are a lot of new things to update you on. Most importantly, we have decided to change the name of the business from In The Moment Studios to Emily Rainey Portraits. Mickey & I have been reading up on starting a photography business (probably a good idea if you intend to actually be successful with your photography business) & one of the things we learned is to name your business carefully. In The Moment Studios was just not specific enough & sounded very mall photographyish to us. So we went with using my name & there's no turning back now...business cards have been ordered & are in transit as I type. Thanks to my dear Mickey for using up precious study time to design a new logo & business card for me this weekend!

I also have two new backdrops in...black muslin & a roll of white paper. Now backdrops are not my favorite choice to use with my style of portraiture, but I do look forward to using them with newborn & other family posed shots like that. Of course I had to try them out, so I enlisted the help of my oldest kiddos as models.

These last couple of shots of Ian I manipulated the contrast in Photoshop to give them a very high key look. The more I practice, the more I see that I like the results so much better when the expressions & poses are natural & just captured, not forced.

Last, but not least, the most exciting news is that I received an early Christmas present from Mickey...a new Nikon portrait lens! I am very excited to get some shots with it & when I do you'll see them here first!

My Kiddos

Of course I couldn't create my own photography blog and not post shots of my own kids! Mickey and I have three children...Grace is six (going on 30), Ian is 4 and little Cullen is 18 months. Gracie keeps everyone around here (and apparently everyone in her first grade class as well) on their toes. Her favorite weather is snow, so I have included a shot from our one snow day back in February. Ian is the epitome of boy...rough, rowdy, fearless, yet very tender-hearted and so loving. Now, my little Cullen is just about as cute as any kid can get, but I have dubbed him the "world's worst model" because I have the hardest time getting any shots of him. He loves his mama and always comes to me instead of staying still in a spot that I can actually take some pictures of him. I did get a couple of shots of him yesterday that I like because they show off his big boy haircut.

Zach and Sam

Now, these handsome devils are two of my nephews, Zach and Sam. I'm sure you'll see plenty of shots of these guys along the way because their mama is my dear friend/sister-in-law/booking agent and she is always up for a photo shoot with her boys. I took these on the same day in Jackson that I took Sahara, Bria and Tirza's shots. Both Zach and Sam have fall birthdays, so Angie wanted pictures of them that showed the autumn season. She chose casual sweaters and jeans to dress them in, which worked wonderfully in the outdoor setting. I will say that this shoot was a little trickier because my boys were along for the ride as well, bringing the grand total of busy boys to four. While I was taking pictures, either Angie or her husband, David, would keep the rest of the boys from injuring themselves (or each other) while the other one helped keep my model entertained. Whew! Now that was somethin'! I was happy with their several of their shots, but my heart just melts when I see these little guys holding hands.

Sahara, Bria and Tirza

So I mentioned how my husband is acting as my booking agent...well, my dear friend and sister-in-law has also taken it upon herself to tout my newfound need for photography subjects to all of her buddies. Although I may joke, I truly am grateful to both Mickey and Angie because along with these experiences comes loads of encouragement from them both, so Thanks Mickey and Ang! Anyway, one of Angie's friends has three beautiful girls, Sahara, Bria and Tirza. We headed to a beautiful church in Jackson, Tennessee the first Friday in November for an outdoor photo session. Now Miss Sahara could hire herself out as THE perfect model since she is "on" at all times and was, therefore, a breeze to work with. Bria is just adorable and I love her unique look. I had just gobs of great pictures of both of them. Miss Tirza, age 2, on the other hand, took some creative coaxing and bribing to get her pictures. In the end, these pictures captured each of their personalities, which is a characteristic I want in all of my photography.

Miss Bria

Miss Sahara

and Miss Tirza

Kevin and Anna

In an effort to get some practice and some unique shots for my portfolio, my husband has become my booking agent, so to speak. One of the guys he works with, Kevin, and his new bride, Anna, love tennis, so my beloved seized the opportunity for me to take some "couple" shots. We waited until the 100 degree days were behind us and set up a photo shoot on the tennis courts at the gym where we are members. These courts made a nice venue because the courts themselves are blue (and as an added bonus, we already had childcare there). Kevin and Anna were great models because they are a such fun-loving couple. They had no problem letting me experiment with different angles and poses. I love the way their personalities come through in these shots.

Here We Go

I love photography...always have. My high school job was as a sportswriter and photographer for the local newspaper. But this summer my hobby gave me the opportunity to photograph a wedding and the wheels began to turn. The idea of In The Moment Studios is now in progress. Now, I wouldn't even say that I'm started...I'm still working on getting experience and learning a ton about lighting, posing, trying to get a kid to be still for one second while I snap this picture! You know, stuff like that. This blog will be my way of documenting the process of my pursuit to become a photographer and eventually will be a part of my website. In these first posts I'll put up some of the photos I've taken since this summer beginning with Lauran and Kevin's wedding, the event that kicked this whole thing off.















The beautiful bride, Lauran, is the daughter of a friend of mine from church. She and Kevin are a sweet, young couple that allowed me to photograph their special day. They are both in seminary and were a great, very laid back couple to work with. It was a wonderful opportunity to gain experience photographing a wedding without the pressures normally surrounding such an event. I was grateful for the unique opportunity and pretty pleased with the results.