Wham Bam!

In an effort to quickly wrap up my remaining sessions, I crammed three into one weekend. This is something I almost never do so I can pace my editing and still allow family time, but with the extenuating circumstances, I decided to make an exception. I honestly couldn't have had three more easy going and fun sets of clients than these three. Even though each session was so very different from the others, they all had a great time. The images speak for themselves. Enjoy!


This family of four is extra special to me. I haven't seen April in years but, being we are cousins, we saw a lot of each other when we were younger. I was honored when she called me to schedule a session and told me they wanted to travel from Houston just to have me photograph them!


When Wendy called me to schedule a session for her and her husband she specifically said they wanted something fun and different, that would really portray their personalities. This turned out exactly how I'd imagined it. I can't wait to finish up our session soon and photograph them with their other baby... Eleanor.

This is their fur baby, Samantha. She is such a daddy's girl. :)

And last but not least... a family I'm getting to know a little better with each passing mile. :) You see, Becky is my trainer. I feel like I'm rich or famous when I say that, though in all honesty without her schedules, accountability and encouragement I would not even think myself capable of running the 5 miles I ran last Saturday. But that's not all... the really special thing about this family, is their generosity. They won the bid for this session from the Heartbeat Pregnancy Center's silent auction.

This is one of my many favorites from their session. It's just perfect!

Thornton Photography is Closed

My mother has become ill and I will be needing to help care for her. I am unsure how long this care might continue, but in effort to put my family first I will be stepping back from some previous responsibilities including my business. For those of you who have already contacted me about a photo session, are waiting to view images or place an order please don't be alarmed. I will be completing my current obligations. However, please be patient with me during this time. Thank you.

Allison

Energy!

Have you heard how 'they' (I assume in this case it's child development specialists) say that a child's attention span is equivalent to their age in minutes. Therefore, a young two year old would have barely a two minute attention span. This young man was a shining example that 'they' are right. :D Young Wyatt was so much fun, and adventurous! He kept his parents and me busy constantly creating new ways to photograph him, so that he wouldn't become bored with our session.

We started out with a traditional family portrait...



Then we did some a little less 'portraitish' (yes I know... not a real word.)





This is one grandma may not be partial to... it's in no way a traditional portrait, but I LOVE how little Wyatt looks compared to Mom and Dad. This is my favorite from the session!

History

I adore photographing families that I have a history with. It's so easy to capture honest expressions when you know your subjects personally. Take these siblings... I've known them since the day they were born. Their mother and I have known each other since college and she was one of my first portrait clients when I was building my photography portfolio. It's families like these that make my job look easy.

Here are just a few images from our 30 minute mini session...

Easy Peasy!

Now that Family Portrait season is now in full swing, I'm working every Saturday until the end of October. Hint Hint... those of you who are putting off booking your family sessions, if you want a Saturday, call soon! :) I usually hire an assistant for my family portraits but decided to risk doing this one alone. It's definitely not that I like to live life on the wild side, but I knew the youngest subjects were school age, and girls. No squeaky toys or silly games would be necessary. This family was so incredibly easy to photograph, they had me considering the need to change my specialty. The images speak for themselves... just look!

Foursome

This lovely foursome was a winner of the Relationships Blog Contest several months ago. Their son took a little warming up, and typical to his age and gender he wasn't thrilled with the idea of a photo shoot, but with a little coaxing we were able to get some wonderful images. See for yourself :)

This was a great way to start, if we could have had a photo shoot with only tickling and wrestling brother would have been so much more into it. This is one of my session favorites. Just makes me want to smile and then go tickle my own babies.
Little Miss here, was not the least bit camera shy, and actually busted out with some of the best smiles when she had the camera all to herself.

Have no fear mom and dad, this is only one of many wonderful family images. No head swapping necessary!

Ahhh... brotherly love. Don't you just love how big brothers show affection to their sisters. He kept telling his mom that he HAD to have his hand there so she wouldn't fall. Putting his hand on her shoulder was not good enough. :D

Returning from Vacation

My husband and I dropped our three children off with his parents and then boarded a plane for a 6 day anniversary trip to San Francisco. The weather was beautiful, and after a day or two I stopped feeling like I was forgetting something. Going from a busy life with three children where you constantly remind little people to put on shoes, go to the bathroom, buckle up, get out, don't grab, sit down, mind your manners and lots more... to traveling with a handsome grown man who can care for himself, and actually looks out for me most of the time, took some adjusting. We had a wonderful time doing lots of grown up activities like hiking 10 miles in redwood covered mountains, driving and touring wineries in Sonoma and Napa, exploring the tide pools on the beach and then of course eating dinner whenever WE were hungry. Unfortunately upon returning home, it took me at least a week to settle back into my routine and my real life. Room service will spoil me more quickly than anything else!


I do apologize for not mentioning my leave of absence prior to our departure, but I did return emails and phone calls periodically so hopefully no one thought I'd dropped off the planet never to be seen again. Those that have young children know how difficult it is to pack a family of 5 and get them out of the house with everything necessary for a week long trip, and honestly, I completely forgot about my blog in the midst of all the chaos.

If you've read this far, thank you for sticking with me, and I am indeed back and working too. I'm booking into October with only 1 Saturday left in September so if you're considering fall family portraits, don't wait too long. Email me at allison@thornton-photography.com soon!

July Newsletter

For those who are not on my mailing list, or have missed it, the July Newsletter is out. To view a larger version, simply click the image below.

Another Fashion Friday

If you haven't been looking carefully over the last few weeks you might not have realized there are some rules to planning clothing for family portraits. As a general rule, it's best to choose two colors for everyone to wear. And no one person in the group should wear one of those colors. Different shades of the same color palette are acceptable and encouraged. Notice in the image below, I've used shades of blue and brown and even though not all the colors match exactly they coordinate well.

Family

Last weekend I had the honor of photographing a family portrait for some business owners here in Nacogdoches. It was a very nice change of pace photographing a family with only grown children. I left the house with a nagging feeling that I'd forgotten something important. Then I realized, it was my bag full of colorful squeaky toys that are necessary to keep the attention of my littlest subjects. Aside from 100% humidity and saturated ground, Saturday was a beautiful morning for portraits!

Fashion Friday in July

Here we are in July! It's hard to believe we'll be celebrating Independence Day on Sunday! I've found are some light summer colors and clothes for those hot July portraits. Enjoy and have a fabulous weekend!

It's Friday Again!

I'm beginning to wonder if purple is a popular color right now, or if it's just one I'm really attracted to right now. Here's another take on some purple hues. I promise, next week... no purple! :)

Family Vacation

My family and I are leaving for 5 days to travel to see relatives. We're excited about some time away from our usual routine, and sweet time with those we love and rarely see. Thornton Photography will therefore close Friday, June 25, 2010 and will reopen on Thursday, July 1, 2010. All messages and emails will be returned as quickly as possible on Thursday.

Contest Winners!

Thank you all who participated in this year's contest! It was so fun to watch the votes come in and to be honest, it was fairly close for the first day or two. In the end though, with 62 votes there was no doubt image #3 (Kimberly and Rebecca) were the winners. Image #4 of Jonell and baby Jenna came in second place with 24 votes. Third place goes to Image #5 with 12 votes! Way to go Andi!

Your gift certificates will go in the mail this week! Enjoy!

Fashion Friday (Late) + Contest update

Well here it is Saturday night, and I'm kicking myself for not having done this on time. Maybe having last week's post early will help soften the disappointment from this one being late. :)

I also wanted to be sure to thank every one who participated and voted in our blog contest! It is now closed and I'm tallying votes now. Winners will be announced on Wednesday!

Now, for the post... these colors are for those with vibrant personalities and who aren't afraid of a little color. No one ever said family portraits needed to 'match'. However, I believe it is important to coordinate and plan colors that work well together.

Let The Voting Begin!

I just want to say how proud I am of all those who chose to participate. These are great images and just seeing the love shared in each one makes my heart smile.



Here are the five entries in random order. In order to vote for your favorite, simply send me an email via the 'contact' page on my website at http://www.thornton-photography.com/. Don't forget to tell me what number image you want your vote to count towards!

1.


2.


3.

4.

5.

Fashion Friday (early)

The blog contest entries will be posted early tomorrow morning, so I wanted to go ahead and get Fashion Friday up a little early this time. This week I've created a softer color palette using pinks, greys, and shades of purple. Notice how even jewelry and shoes can be used to tie colors together.

Contest Update

I'm so excited to have five contest participants and even more thrilled that two of them have never actually had a session with me! This is going to be so much fun! I'll post the entries on Friday morning and open voting at that time, but I figured you all might like to know what you'll be competing for. :)

The first place winner will receive a gift certificate good for a full portrait session and a 16x20 wall portrait.


The second place winner will have his/her choice of a gift certificate for 50% off a full session and a 11x14 wall portrait OR a gift certificate for a 30 minute mini session and a 11x14 wall portrait.

The third place winner will receive a gift certificate for a 30 minute mini session and a 3x3 mini album with 10 images.

On Friday morning check my blog to see what number your image has been given then visit my website at www.thornton-photography.com and send me an email from the 'contact' page telling me which image you want to vote for. Throughout the week you can increase your chances of winning by emailing, Facebooking, bribing and begging your friends and family to do the same. Only votes sent via email through my contact page will be valid. As much as I love having comments on my blog, any comments used for voting will not count. Please play fair and only send one email per household. I will be verifying IP addresses to ensure emails are indeed coming from different computers.

I will keep an email folder for each contestant and all emails will be tallied to determine the winner. Voting will close June 18th at 10:00 p.m. CST. If you have any questions regarding the contest you're welcome to contact me via phone or email.

First Fashion Friday

As promised, beginning in June you can expect a post every Friday with clothing ideas for your next family portrait session. This collection uses shades of bright green and blue mixed with a little white and denim for a comfortable summer combination.

Gobel School of Dance presents Swan Lake

I'm 32 years old, a wife, and a mother of three children. I am a grown woman who only last weekend learned something new about myself. I absolutely love the ballet! Last year the Gobel School of Dance performed excerpts from different presentations, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. This year, they performed three acts from Swan Lake and I honestly thought it was better than the movies. I have since informed my husband that until our daughter is a bit older, he needs to take me to the Houston ballet at least once a year, and I'll be attending more local productions for sure! Here are a few favorites that I've had a chance to edit. There are many many more (over 300 actually) where these came from, but it'll take me some time to sort through them all.

May Newsletter!

Click image in enlarge.

"Sharing" Blog Contest

As many of you know, my website has a portfolio section divided up into categories. One of my favorites is the “Sharing” section. This section is jam packed full of people “Sharing” their lives with each other. Relationships are vital to life here on earth. The way we love and treat one another speaks volumes to those around us. Some recent events have had me contemplating how uncertain tomorrow really is, and how much we each should treasure the gift of today. It seemed only fitting to theme my blog contest accordingly. This year I want you all to send in images of the relationships in your life. Images with cameras or phones are both welcome. I’ve included some images taken with my phone to get your ideas stirring. There are, however, some restrictions… so read carefully. 

1. No professional portraits may be submitted, these must be snapshots!

2. All submissions must have been taken sometime after December 31, 2009. (my goal is to encourage everyone to take recent photos of the relationships most dear to them)

3.All entries must be of YOU and your loved one(s). That’s right, if you’re submitting the image, you must be in the photograph. I prefer to have faces visible, but will accept an image if you are recognizable. If it’s just your foot in the corner, it doesn’t count! :D

4. Subjects in your entry must be people you care about. (parents, spouses, children, friends etc) You and your car don’t count… no matter how much you love your car!

5. Only one entry per household.

6.All entries must be received by Tuesday, June 8, 2010 at 10:00 p.m. Email them to me at allison@thornton-photography.com

Once I receive at least 5 entries I will post them on my blog. Then I encourage you to email all your friends and family and have them vote for your entry. Voting will be the same as last year. In order to vote, you must send me an email via the contact form of my website specifying which image you’d like to vote for. Voting will close after 7 days and winners will be announced shortly after.

Prizes will include a free “Sharing” portrait session, a 16x20 wall portrait, discounted sessions and other prints or print credits!

So start snapping images of yourself with those you love, and digging through your iPhone photos, recent picture files, or camera cards. I can’t wait to see all the wonderful entries! Here are some of the favorites I’ve pulled off my phone.