Lisa Phillipson Photography » Atlanta Family and High School Senior Photography

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He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.  –Matthew 28:6

I am posting early because soon my family will be eating chocolate at 7 am (Easter Bunny’s fault).  I wanted to share one of my most favorite Easter pictures from a couple of years ago.  It represents the fun of childhood and being carefree.  Also, I can only have a decent picture of my middle son in the Spring if his back is facing me.  He is allergic to trees and we fight hard to keep his eyes from swelling up shut through most of March and April every year.  Because Easter is falling so late in 2011, we are past our biggest hurdles and (fingers crossed) I might actually get a picture of him on Easter this year.  Only time will tell on how it will turn out.  I will take many pictures even if they aren’t perfect and hope you do the same!  Trust me…these kids only get bigger every year.

Before I go I have to share just one more image.  This was an Easter when my oldest (and only at the time) was about 15 months old.  Yes, they did have digital cameras way back then in case you were wondering!  I had Evan in a frilly Easter get-up and his fancy new shoes.  We took him outside for a picture but it was muddy and he threw the biggest fit of his life (up until then) because we wouldn’t let him get down in the mud.  I was laughing so hard I was crying.  Sometimes things are only funny years later but it was actually funny in that moment to me.  We have since had lots of fits and tantrums by many children at our house.  Some funny.  Some not.  I bet I will even get a few tantrums today (especially with all that Easter Bunny chocolate pumping through our veins)!  Funny how times I have changed.  I don’t have a frilly Easter get-up for anyone this year and I just hope the Polo shirt he grabs to wear is at least clean.  I might be sitting in church before I notice he never combed his hair and his brother is wearing red converse shoes with no laces or socks.

I love the missing teeth on toddlers this age.

Happy Easter!

posted in: Childhood,Musings,Photographer's Tips

Welcome to Miss Elizabeth’s Nursery.  I always love to see a baby’s nursery.  They always have such sweet precious baby things to oohh and ahh over.  Elizabeth was no exception and is lucky enough to have a wide assortment of new, old and handmade things that made her room all the more special.  Whether it is blue or pink and sometimes purple I have fun in these rooms thinking of how perfectly prepared they are in great anticipation of Mom & Dad’s new arrival.  It is such a short time that the clothes are so little and before the baby grows to throw toys all over the room.  All of it makes me smile.

I traveled to Augusta to be with little Elizabeth.  She was a little older than the typical 2 weeks but was still a perfect angel and slept a good bit for me.  That is especially important to note since I forgot my room heater!  I had a great time hanging out with her family and can not wait to see this little one grow up.  It will be bittersweet to see her nursery grow with her and turn in to a toddler room and then on to a little girl room.

Photographer’s Tip:  Take a picture of your nursery if you are getting ready for a baby to come.  Take a before and an after picture.   Your baby will not know what his or her room looked like before they came along if you do not.  I have pictures of my husband painting my nursery (3 times!) so all my kids will know that there were special preparations made just for them.  Take a close up of special little things in the room as well as the whole room before baby comes and diapers explode all over the place!  I also took pictures of gifts that were given to me when my children were born – it is so easy to do in the digital age.  I could go on and on but you get the idea.  I love the idea of sharing with children how excited you were about their arrival and what life was like way back when.  🙂

posted in: Baby,Photographer's Tips

Spring Wear for Atlanta Photo Sessions

I don’t know about you, but I’m sick of the cold and I’m ready to move on to warmer weather.  Some flowers please.  My boys pumped their fists on Ground Hog Day when they found out Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow.  That is official enough for us so we will take it.  Hope.

I love Anthropologie so I thought I would share some of their Spring wear to give us both some hope that we won’t have to bundle up to go outside soon.  Have you seen the new store at Westside Urban Market?  I drove by it drooling last week when I was on another mission with my husband. I thought it would be more fun to go back without him.  I might need the whole day.

I have booked many sessions that I am looking forward to in March and April.  I can’t wait to see some pastels and Springy colors on my Moms and I am imagining Jonquils and Spring flowers everywhere.  Fingers crossed!  I can’t wait!

Until then, stay warm!

posted in: Studio,What to Wear

The weather today in Atlanta was so wonderful.  It was such a nice change from what we experienced just a few weeks ago when we were snowed iced into our home for over a week.  I debated on whether I should post a snow picture on such a sunny and warm day.  I decided it would just be reminder of how thankful we should be to have this warm weekend in January.  Also, I wanted to share what one of my New Years Resolutions was.  I don’t typically bother making resolutions but somehow this year I made a few.  I was inspired by Tara Whitney’s 6 people 12 times blog post and decided there was no reason I couldn’t get a picture of my family every month for a year.  I love her idea of printing an album of them all at the end of the year and including some fun tidbits from each month and what was going on in our lives.

I have to say that I have no desire to be a part of the many 52 week projects I see out there by other photographers.  The secret of having your own photography business is that you actually don’t “take pictures” as much as you think you will.  And, that is okay with me.  I still do it enough that I enjoy having some down time so I can be more creative when I need to.  My family photos suffer from this so I am excited to start this new project with my family and let my kids come up with some ideas and make it fun.  At this point, my kids are very unwilling to ever get their pictures made (especially together).  I think a lot of our images will be with the self timer which is actually my greatest tip (or trick) for taking a group family picture.  Nothing makes my kids smile more than watching me set up my camera and skip, hop, dance and act ridiculous trying to get back in position before it goes off.  I’m not kidding.  Our best family photos were taken by…no one.

I didn’t think one picture a month would be too hard.  Of course, I dreaded trying to make it happen on this day.  The snow was melting and the sun was in a terrible position and I couldn’t even find where the kids were.  Why didn’t I do this 2 days before when it was cloudy and you could see more snow?  With my husband’s help I had everyone throw on some clothes.  “Some” being the key word.  Poor Kate isn’t even wearing socks and I think there are some hidden pajamas.  That is okay with me, just as long as we get the shot.  I don’t need smiles or brushed hair.  This is how we were on this particular day and I’m glad I have it captured forever.

I’ll try to include my monthly shots even if they are really really bad.  Perfection isn’t the goal…just getting the image of all of us together.  With the pressure off it shouldn’t be too hard (fingers crossed).

Now, go out and enjoy the great weather – while you can!

posted in: Musings

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