In August, I had a day of mini-sessions to support the Cook family in their adoption process. Each of the families that came out to support the Cook’s were amazing families that wanted to help their friends.

The second mini-session of the day was for the Loveland family.
Enjoy their photos.

If you have an idea for an opportunity to give back to a family or the community, please let me know and I would love the chance to be involved.

It’s not often that I get an opportunity to photograph three genrations together. It give me great joy to see families that set aside time to get together and enjoy one another. I had a blast meeting and photographing the Willoughby family. They were such a fun group to be with and talk to. I had so much fun playing with their kids and getting to know them.
We meet at the Knoxville Botanical Gardens for our session and wandered through they stone terrace and the beautiful gardens. Throughout the session, I had the privilege to watch this family love on one another. We finished the session out by letting the kids get dressed up in their University of Tennessee orange gear and play in an open field.

Enjoy the photos.

I love every opportunity I get to photograph anything. But when I photograph people, it rejuvenates me and makes me love my job even more. On top of that, when I get the opportunity to photograph a newborn, I am left in awe. Photographing a newborn always leaves me with a sense of hope. Hope for what that child will accomplish with their lives, hope for the people who will be touched by the innocence of that child, and hope that this world will be a brighter and happier place because of this child.

I recently had the joy of photographing Levi. He is such a sweet child and cooperated with me in every image I wanted to create. Some people are frustrated or put off by a crying baby, but I just roll with it. When a baby cries, especially a newborn, they are just trying to tell us they don’t know what is going on. They just want to be reassured and comforted. So what do I do when I’m working with a crying newborn, I work the tears into the photography session. This is part of the growing process and to me can create some of the most beautiful and touching images.

Enjoy the photographs of little Levi.

I had the wonderful opportunity to photograph Miss ‘B’ again at six months old.  You might remember her debut on Jarman Photo. She was so curious in her first photo session with me that she didn’t want to go to sleep.  This time around was a little different. She really didn’t want anything to do with having her portrait taken.  I really love the opportunity to see and photograph children as they grow up. Especially in the first 18-24 months of their lives, they change so much. They develop their own personalities and attitudes, they get their bearings when walking and they discover the joys of laughter.

I was able to capture many sides of Miss ‘B’ during this session. Enjoy the photographs.

Earlier this month, I had an amazing photo session with a cute almost 1 year old.  This session came about through a silent auction to which I had donated two photography sessions.  The auction was to benefit some good friends who are in the process of adopting a child from Ethiopia.  Little Miss Zoe was such a precious little angel. She was shy around me at first but quickly started to open up.  I found out that she loves the theme song from the Office and once I found it on my phone she was fascinated by it.  This session took place at a close friend of the family’s house, who decorate every room and the exterior of the house for Christmas.  The house was beautifully decorated and outfitted with a uniquely decorated tree in almost every room.

I had so much fun photographing Zoe.  Enjoy the photos.

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.

There are some days I love being a photographer and there are others where I can’t think of doing anything else. Photographing Baby Kinley was one of those days that I couldn’t imagine doing anything else. She was such a perfect little model for us, letting me pose her the way I wanted her to be, then moving the way she wanted to be. Oh well, when working with little ones you learn to go with the flow and create beautiful images no matter what.

I’ve known this family for years and was very excited when I heard that they were pregnant. It is truly amazing the way God choses to bless families. Having a child or another child changes many things for parents, but to me it shows the truth of God’s love for us.

Let me introduce Miss Kinley to you.
She was wide awake at the beginning of the session, but was very cooperative.

Isn’t she just the cutest little baby you have ever seen?

I just love these with her big sister. Can you feel the love?

And I’m a sucker for daddy-daughter photos.

I love her facial expression in this photograph. Do you think she is going to be a ‘daddy’s girl’?

And finally we have a new Lil’ Vol.
Mommy and Daddy are big University of Tennessee Volunteers fans and I just love the way these turned out.

I hope you enjoyed these photographs.

I had the wonderful opportunity to photograph Colton a few weeks ago. Even though he was only 13 days old at the time of the photo session, he was a perfect gentleman. The only time he was fussy was when he was naked, but who really wants to be in front of a camera without clothes on. His big sister, Madison, was such a big helper for me. She even took a few of the photos.

I love the look of a baby’s hands and feet and all their little body parts.  They seem so fragile and innocent as babies.

This is one beautiful family.
Madison is a beautiful girl and a great helper to her mommy. She is going to be a wonderful big sister.

I love the opportunities I get to share these wonderful moments with families. It amazes me how quickly children grow up and what they learn to do and say at young ages. My daughter recently turned 2 and it surprises me on a daily basis the understanding that she has and the phrases that she picks up.

Remember to capture those moments and get those images printed.

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.

I had the wonderful opportunity to photograph two families recently at White Pine Acres, a Christmas tree farm in the Karns community.  It was a beautiful tree farm with trees of all ages.  They had many ready for cutting and a lot more that were still growing. If you are looking for a real tree this year, stop by and see Jim Stevens.

First up in this session was Tim & Carla and their 2 daughters.

Tim, Carla, Hannah, and Micah were such a joy to photograph. We had a blast joking around and laughing together.

I will admit I was a little nervous on this session. Tim is an elder at my church and is someone I respect. So you can understand my nerves. But I shouldn’t have worried, we had a blast and got some great photos.

Next door to this farm was an open field with an old gate in between. I love it when there are items that lend themselves to the photographs around the area. It makes my job so much easier.

The next family is one that I have had the wonderful opportunity to photograph on a couple of occasions. Check out their previous session. I have really enjoyed getting to know this family better through photographing them and attending church and lifegroup together.

The boys were so well behaved and were ready to be photographed when they got there.

Steven and Amber have two great boys and it’s so much fun watching these boys grow up.

We were lucky to get them both to sit down and stay still for just a minute. But you can tell that Zachary loves his little brother.

Zachary liked the old barbed wire fence that separated the tree farm from the field.

And not to be outdone by his older brother, Luke wanted to stand by the fence also.

Thank you Tim, Carla, Hannah, Micah, Steven, Amber, Zachary, and Luke for letting me photograph you.

- Kortney