This past weekend my wonderful wife went to Atlanta for an inservice event. So I got to have a Daddy/Daughter weekend with my beautiful daughter. There is nothing quite like having quality time with your two year old daughter.

The game of peek-a-boo didn’t last long because there were more slides to explore. Emma got to slide on her first metal slide and the first thing out of her mouth was “That was fast.” No photos were taken during the metal slide because I had to help her climb it then run to the other end to catch her. It was so much fun to watch her on the metal slide.

One of the great things about September is that means that the TN Valley Fair is here.  There is a group of us that always goes either opening night or as soon after as we can.

One of the attractions we always go to see is the photography exhibit. For many years I would enter photographs in the contest, I have decided that in the recent years to focus more on my professional work and let other aspiring photographers the opportunity to take the prizes.  There are many amazing amateur and hobbyist photographers that enter every year.  I am always inspired by the work that I see at the exhibit.

It is also fun to wander through the exhibits from the local 4-H clubs. Here are a few shots of their great efforts.

The fair has become an even more enjoyable event since my daughter was born.  I love being able to share all these experiences with her and re-see them through her eyes.  Her favorite area this year was the petting zoo.

The newly hatched baby ducks and chicks are always fun to watch.

She even got to ride a pony while we were there.  She was grinning ear to ear and loved every moment of it.

Experiences like these are to be shared with others. So take some time and share the things that you love to do with your family and friends.

It’s hard to believe that Emma is 20 months old. It seems like yesterday that I was holding her in my arms and she was so tiny.  Now she sings and dances. She will get her own diapers when she needs to be changed. She has her favorite books and toys. It is amazing to see her growing up before my eyes. She loves her books and one of my favorite phrases from her is “Daddy read it” and she will bring me one book, then another and another.  Check out the song “One More Book” by the Imagination Movers, I think it was written with Emma in mind. The Imagination Movers is one of her favorite TV shows and music. She loves to dance and sing along to their music.

So I decided to try and capture a few of these things in portraits. While I believe that I captured her love of books during the photo session, it was really hard to capture her love of dancing and singing.  I hope these portraits of my daughter make you smile.

Make sure you take time to capture these fleeting moments with your family.

Let me know if I can help you create memorable portraits for your family.

We spent some time this evening making sugar cookies with my daughter, Emma. We had so much fun spending time together. I love hearing Emma laugh and giggle. It amazes me how much she has changed over the past year and a half. Last Christmas she really wasn’t interested in presents, she just liked the lights. This year she sang Santa Claus is Coming to Town and Happy Birthday Jesus on Christmas morning. It warms my heart to hear her sing.  She loved opening her presents and was fascinated by her Little People Nativity. She wanted to change baby Jesus’ diaper and feed him. It was so cute.

So I encourage you to spend as much time with your family as you can and make all the time with them as special as possible.

And what is a post without pictures.

Emma cooking with her mommy.

Trying to figure out this whisk thing.

All the ingredients gathered.

Ingredients are together, ready to be mixed.

Emma trying out one of these fake eggs.

Now what are we supposed to mix together?

Everything is mixed, ready for the next step.

Yummy cookie dough, ready to be rolled flat.

Mommy, my bowl seems to be empty.

Let the rolling commence.

This is fun. Cutting out stars.

Trees and stars. These look good.

Sprinkles are fun.

Pretty Christmas trees.

Why can’t we eat them yet?

There cooking. Almost ready to be eaten.

Looking good. Cooling off so we can eat them.

Pretty stars and trees.

Yippee! I finally get one.

How do you bite this cookie?

This is so good. ‘Tank you mommy’

Thanks for sharing in our holiday fun.  Hope you had a great Christmas with your family.  Look for new things to come from Jarman Photography in the new year.

Everyone needs to get away every once and awhile.  We decided to spend some time with my parents near my home town for a week in Michigan.  We rented a cottage on Barlow Lake for a week.  It was beautiful there.

Here is a sunrise photograph from the dock.

We had so much fun playing around in the boat.  It was Emma’s first experience with a life jacket and a boat ride.  She didn’t like the life jacket at first, but once we were on the boat and the wind was blowing through her hair, she loved it.

As you can see she really warmed up to the boat and by the end of the week she didn’t want to leave it behind. When we were getting ready to head back to Tennessee, she waved bye-bye to the boat. It was cute.

My parents brought along there new puppy, Chloe.  Chloe is a border collie, who is 11 months old and still in the midst of her training.  This was Chloe’s first experience with a boat and water.

Along with the boat ride, Chloe had her first experience swimming.  My parents had brought along a new toy for her. The toy is designed to help dogs learn to fetch in the water.

This was a never ending game.  Chloe absolutely loved the water and always wanted to get in.

Emma also loved the water and wanted to get in as often as she could.  She would point at the lake and  say “bath”.  In her understanding, it was a giant bath tub and she loves to play in the bath.

We also got to spend some time with my grandparents, Emma’s great grandparents.  She was shy at first but started warming up to them by the end of the week.

This week left me with such a sense of wonder at how fast children grow and learn.  At the beginning of the week Emma was walking some on her own, by the end of the week Emma was walking all over the place.  I am in awe of this beautiful child that was given to Robin and me.

Click here to see more photographs from our vacation.

I had the opportunity recently to travel with my wife and daughter to Washington, DC for an inservice trip.  My wife was able to get all the inservice hours for the summer.  We had a blast visiting museums and the Baltimore Aquarium.  Emma enjoyed the museums, but her favorite was the aquarium.  It was an interesting trip.  We visited the National Air and Space Museum, the Natural History Museum, the American History Museum, and the Baltimore Aquarium.  We had a blast visiting museums and the Baltimore Aquarium.  Emma enjoyed the museums, but her favorite was the aquarium.  One day we got caught in the storm that brought a tree down at the White House and another day we were in the American History Museum when the shooting happened at the Holocaust Museum.  We were shocked when we finally found out what happened and I still cannot believe that hate and intolerance that exists in this day.

I enjoyed the chance to do some more artistic/abstract photos.  I focused finding light a creating the photographs.  And in some cases I just wanted to document that fact we were there with Emma.

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This is Emma’s first Easter and she doesn’t know what to make of it.  Here a couple of photos of her playing with her Easter basket at the Knoxville Botanical Gardens.  We had a blast walking around and finding fun places to take pictures.  I hope you all enjoy them.

Emma with her Easter lamb.

Emma trying to figure out what the eggs are.

Happy Easter from my family to yours.

We are so thankful for Christ who is Risen.

So it has been awhile since I have posted photos of my own daughter.  It is so easy to get caught up in the day to day stuff that you lose track of time.  Well, Emma is 8 and 1/2 months old and is all over the place.  She is crawling and pulling up on anything and everything.  The latest gallery of Emma photographs spans from Christmas through Valentine’s Day and includes a family shoot that my good friend Steve Chastian from Expressions Photograghy did for us.

Emma got to meet Santa for the first time this year. She really didn't know what to think of him, but she had a blast.

We had a fun time with Steve from Expressions Photography on this photo shoot. This is one of the many photos Steve took of us.

Emma and I had a fun time taking these photos even though she kept trying to crawl off the seamless paper.

If you would like to see some more photos, check out the gallery.

I recently added a backdrop stand and white seamless paper to my photography tool box and of course my daughter, Emma, was my first model.  I had so much fun working with this new setup and cannot wait to use this setup with more clients.

Emma posing in my new portable backdrop setup.

I hope you enjoy these photos.

Let me know what photographic needs I can help you with.

Emma had a very special visitor tonight.

Emma's Special Visitor

That’s right, Santa came to Powell, TN to visit with Emma.  As you can see Bridgett had to get in on the action also.  Emma was very curious about Santa.  She kept staring at him and pulling on his beard.  She really didn’t know what to think of him, but she wasn’t screaming or crying.

It was a great visit with Santa and even though it was a week before Christmas, he brought us presents.

Thanks Santa.