Monday I was able to reopen! What better way to start back to work than with my favorite type of session to shoot, Newborns!!! Tiny, sweet, squishy newborns are my jam! They are the hardest but they are my passion.
Squishy little Lincoln was only 6 days new for his 1st session with me. Nope, that’s not a typo, he had two sessions. Occasionally there will be babies that are just not gonna have pictures that day no matter what tricks I pull to capture them, so after a while we decided to call that days session and bring him back the next day. His momma said he is normally his sleepiest first thing in the morning so for the first time ever, I started at a newborn shoot at 6:45 AM!!! The only other shoot I have done that early was a sunrise beach maternity shoot at 5:30am! I will say it was nice to be there that early, get it done and have the rest of the day with my kids, AND best of all, Lincoln slept like a dream!! He also pee’d on the same exact fabric he pee’d on the first day! lol
I love getting to meet new clients and his momma and dad were wonderful to work with. They purchased my “Baby to Birthday” package so I am excited to get to capture Lincoln all through his first year.
Below are some of my favorites from his session! The best time to book your newborn session is actually when you are still pregnant so contact me today and lets get you penciled in! agreerphotography@yahoo.com
When you haven’t worked in 6 weeks because of COVID19 restrictions and your fur baby turns 17 what else is there to do but have a birthday photo session for your cat!
I have had this cat longer than I have been with my husband. He & I have been through so much together. He holds onto my secrets, puts his paw on my hand when I cry, sleeps touching me with a paw all night, lets me hold him like an infant in my arms while he sleeps, runs to me when I come home, loves sharing whip cream and loves trying to escape outside to explore the yard. He loves my kids like they are his own, tolerated all their shenanigans when they were tiny, would be the first to their nursery room door when they would cry as infants. He truly is THE Best Cat Ever!!
We thought we were losing him 6 years ago when a vet misdiagnosed him telling us his rapid weight loss, 26 down to 5, was due to cancer and we should just keep him comfortable. Then one day we ended up on Dr Wellings schedule and she said “Why hasn’t anyone ever checked this cats thyroid?” Come to find out, he did not have cancer at all. His thyroid was working about 4 times too fast. So after trying and failing on some thyroid meds she referred us to MedVet in Columbus for radiation treatments. After that he has been healthy other than the arthritis in his hips from the muscle lost during the misdiagnosis. I am SO Thankful for that day we ended up on Dr Wellings schedule, she truly saved his life!!
Happy 17th Birthday Cheeto!!! I hope you get to nap all day in the sun while tricking each of us into feeding you even though another of us already has!
On Monday I talked about incorporating things important to seniors in their sessions, that also applies to newborn sessions. I have had parents bring in special blankets made for baby, a memento of someone passed away, sports memorabilia or items highlighting their careers.
For Miss Olivias session we got to incorporate both Saras & Jonathans careers. This was a super fun session and they were wonderful to work with, both were very at ease as first time parents.
Olivia was a dream baby for her photos and slept almost the entire time, rarely making a peep!
Here are some of my favorites from her session!
Did you know the best time to schedule your newborn session is when you are still pregnant? That way you have a better availability of time slots for scheduling. I pencil you in around your due date then we adjust the session day according to when you deliver. Contact me today to get penciled in for your newborn session. agreerphotography@yahoo.com
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How are you really handling this? Like seriously, are you being honest with yourself and your feelings right now and in the past weeks? Or are you burying your head in the sand?
I have my good days where I feel on top of it. Like the laundry is all caught up, kids aren’t fighting over school work or with each other, my sense of dread that my husband will contract COVID that day is not as high as most days, dinner is prepped, I organized another section of the house, positives thoughts fill my head that my business will bounce back from this, etc.
Then I have my bad days. The days when I truly do not give a crap the laundry is an overflowing mountain, that the kids aren’t reading as much AR as I have them scheduled to do, I don’t make my bed or even have a plan for dinner. I just want to sit and wallow in my own self pity because the world is an even scarier place right now, my business that I have sacrificed so much to grow the last 5 years is now sitting idle, and that very day, may just be the day that my husband contracts COVID at work.
I have subscribed for a while to the blog, Finding Joy and she gets really real sometimes in her messages and many days that’s what exactly what I needed to hear. She recently wrote a blog titled Lessons from Isolation and it was as if I had it told her my thoughts and she blogged them. Please click the link and read for yourselves too, I bet her words will speak to many of you. Also sign up to follow her blog, she writes so many that are very relatable, especially to moms and wives.
My biggest take aways from that days blog was in needed reminders of things I knew deep down but never wanted to give myself the grace to feel or deal with.
Give yourself and others Grace. It’s okay if we have bad days where we are wearing the same leggings as yesterday and dinner is a frozen meal from the deep freezer. It’s okay if you want to sit and binge your favorite tv show and eat from your secret chocolate stash after everyone goes to bed. It’s okay if the click list person isn’t the peppiest when you pick up your order, they may be have been yelled at by a previous customer or are worried about their own health. Just offer a smile and tell them to have a nice day and stay safe. It’s okay if your friends don’t return texts quickly, maybe they just do not feel like chatting that day.
What is really important in life. Truly I think this topic will end up being a whole blog in itself at some point, but it’s shown, not just me, but everyone in the house, that we truly have everything we need right here under our own roof. From food, be thankful for what you have in the pantry and eat it even if it is a weird meal idea. This has been the best time to eat all those random foods you have in the back of the pantry. Clothes, be thankful you have comfy warm comfy clothes to lounge around in. Love, be thankful that you have a warm loving safe home to be in because too many are not that fortunate.
Hold on to that Hope, that tomorrow and each day to come, will get better. This one is so hard for me. I know we still have not had the worst of this horrible virus, but each morning when I’m watching the birds and squirrels out my home office window (I have hit old lady status and love watch them almost every morning), and notice how much my peony is growing and coming back to life after being eaten into the dirt by deer last fall, hope is a word that comes to mind. That there is a smidgen of hope that things will get better and we can come back out of this “COIVD19 dirt”, stand tall and feel safe in the outside world again.
Find something to be thankful for each day. Even if it’s something little like your coffee tastes great today or your kids put their laundry away without you asking them.
What are you thankful for today?
Cover photo captured by Autumn Branscome Photography in Princeton WV
I had about 2 weeks of Easter studio sessions before non essential businesses in WV were forced to close our doors. Do not worry, I will still be offering these for at least one month when I am allowed to reopen so you will not miss out on getting your little ones portrait captured in their Easter outfit they wore into your living room that day lol.
If you would like to be added to my scheduling list please send me an email at agreerphotography@yahoo.com. I can’t wait to get back into the studio and see all my sweet littles!
Stay Home and Practice Social Distancing so I (& many others) can get back to work ASAP!!!
Well Hello! Yes I am still around and I am shocked when I logged in here and saw that it really had only been a year since I last blogged! Seriously thought it was longer than that. If you can say something about my blog style, I am consistent with being inconsistent in blogging. I mean I have always been told “blog for business” “if you don’t blog you won’t reach your customers” well obviously I have not been blogging and still thankfully have a steady business. Or should say HAD a steady business until March 24th when the governor shut us down for being “non-essential.”
While truly I am loving this time at home. I have cleaned out closets, the garage, and sold things we no longer needed, I think we all need our busy lifestyles back. My daughter misses her friends, school and gymnastics. My son is missing his last 1/2 of 8th grade, he is most sad about his last season of track. I miss watching my kids compete, I absolutely love watching them challenge themselves and seeing the pride in their smiles when they do better than they anticipate. I miss my husband having a “normal” work week. I miss photography. I miss my all my AGP babies and little ones! More on what we all miss later on another blog. Yes I plan to do more blogging since I am caught up on editing for the first time in what seems like forever.
Can I go back to early March? Pretty Please? Can I go back to that facial room at His & Hers with Stephanie discussing all this Corona Virus stuff and telling her “Hey I am not going to worry until Reg worries because he literally never worries about anything unless its a stopped skyliner at Disney or an airplane ride.” So we go on, she’s doing all her magic stuff to my face to hopefully make me look younger and well rested and we are talking about her upcoming Disney girls trip. She shares a love for Disney just like I do, perhaps hers is possibly bigger. She is an “Epcot Mom” and I am a “Magic Kingdom Mom.” Don’t know what those are, look them up lol. We were saying “Oh Disney NEVER closes, ever for hurricanes, you’ll be fine to go, just wash your hands.” She finishes her magic, my face feels soft like a baby butt and I go back to the studio.
Disclaimer: Her facial room is a lot more relaxing looking than this, this was just the only photo of it on hand right now since she is closed down also. Book one with her, try it for yourself! #beautybybatton (Stephanie Batton @ His & Hers Day Spa)
Welp 3 hours after saying “I won’t worry til he worries” all hell broke loose!! He calls, saying call your Dad tell him to stay home, the kids need out of school and it needs closed, you can’t take the girls out of the hotel this weekend for Alee’s birthday trip, it’s going to get bad quickly and no one is prepared. Talk about panicking, again my husband again never worries, so I was like “oh Crap here we go!” For petes sake, I was at lunch a week prior with my bff and we were laughing at Corona memes and now we are buckling down and feeling the need to buy a toilet paper!
Text Stephanie like “ummm ya remember what I said this morning, now it’s time to worry.” Call parents and tell them to stay home. Go to the school ask about how absences will work if there is an impending pandemic coming and they don’t close. Figure out how to pull off a great birthday weekend for your 10 year old since you shouldn’t be in public. Stay calm on the outside because you can’t pass your fears onto your kids, but on the inside you are crumbling because of all of these unknowns.
Do you remember the time when you realized all of this was a lot more serious than you initially were thinking?
Cover photo is of my view each morning. Don’t diss “ohhh she has a Christmas tree up!” Listen, my big momma 12 foot is gone and packed away, this is a little pencil tree that only has my antique ornaments on it and it makes me smile.
Throwing a pic of Disney from February in here because I love it and miss is so much! See ya real soon!
Highlighting my love for Fresh 48s again with a throwback to the Vintorini Family! They are so fun and so genuinely sweet & kind! I adore them!!! Sarah is so down to earth, real, & honest about motherhood! She is open and honest about all of the everyday trials and tribulations moms go through. I love chatting with her!
I have included some of my favorites from her session below, as well as Sarah’s own words on her Fresh 48 experience with me! They also ended up booking a Baby to Birthday package too!
Watch my blog on Monday for a big sale on my Fresh 48’s!!!
“I likely would not have considered scheduling a Fresh 48 Session if it were not for the gentle nudging from my dear friend. I had no interest in a maternity session so my friend kept asking me to consider a Fresh 48 instead. I have to admit, the thought of professional pictures right after giving birth did not initially appeal to me, but after looking at the numerous samples my friend kept sending me, I slowly became interested. I was about to give birth to my second baby, my 10-year-old daughter was about to become a first-time big sister and our family would be welcoming the first grandson. We were all completely overjoyed and the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to capture those first moments. Even though the session was not at the top of my priority list initially, it ended up being such a blessing. It may sound silly, but knowing that I had the session scheduled made the entire birth experience so much more relaxed for me. As a mom, I always have this nagging stress of trying to capture the “perfect picture” so I often feel distracted. Knowing that Amanda would be at the hospital soon allowed me to really live in the moment and leave the “perfect picture” stress for her. I cannot help but get tears when I look back on those precious pictures. It was a defining moment in our family and we have beautiful, genuine and raw pictures capturing it all.” ~ Sarah
Well in the internet world it’s “Throwback Thursday” so I am throwing it back to my first birth/fresh 48 session with The Murray Family. Actually in this case it would be a “Fresh 8 hours.” 😁 The Murray’s have been clients of mine since we welcomed Miss Tatum Olivia into the world that fall day. We went into this day hoping and praying for me to be allowed into the OR with them but the nurse that day was not having it at all, and believe me it was not without begging!!! So I waited right by the elevator door so I could capture that first moment when her Daddy brought her to the nursery. I will never ever forget the nervousness of Todd waiting to go down to the OR & the giant smile of pride and excitement Big Brother Jake had when he first saw his baby sister!
Look through these highlights from the day and then take a moment to read Stefani’s thoughts on her session below…
“I have two children that are 6 years apart in age. When I was pregnant with my daughter, I often thought about the delivery of my son six years before, and the one thing that always stuck out in my mind was how I wished I didn’t have to worry about taking pictures that day, or making sure someone was taking pictures while I was in the recovery room from my C-section, or that I don’t really have any pictures of the first moments I met Jake after returning from the recovery room.
We knew I would be having another C-section with our daughter, so I talked with my husband and we decided to have the day documented in a way that it caused no stress to us, and we could focus on bringing our daughter in the world.
I had seen a couple of my friends post pictures they had taken with Amanda, and they were all so cute. I knew she was a momma herself, so I had faith that she would understand where we were coming from with our requests. We met up with her one day and we learned that not only was she a parent herself, but also has a history as nurse, so she was 100% comfortable being in the operating room with us, if the doctor would allow it! I left that day feeling so excited and relieved knowing our documented memories of that day were in good hands.
We communicated several times leading up to Tatum’s birth, and discussed what would happen if I went into labor before my scheduled operation date. Thankfully that didn’t happen! Amanda arrived at the hospital shortly after we were taken into our prep room, met our families, and started snapping. We already knew that my doctor wouldn’t allow her in the operating room, but she tried until the time they wheeled me off to convince them! She sat with my husband while they waited for the nurses to bring him to the O.R. – and reassured him that they didn’t forget about him when it was taking a while for nurse to retrieve him. She was waiting by the elevator when my husband came off with our daughter. Every moment that I missed (our family in the waiting room, Tatum’s first bath, holding her daddy’s finger for the first time, my son’s adoration, as well as our family’s’ – ALL of it) was caught on camera, thanks to her.
What I appreciated the most about this experience was when I was brought back to our hospital room. I had a less than desirable first stage of recovery with Tatum, and I was a mess. She helped calm me down and when they finally had me settled and Tatum was brought to our room, my husband and I were able to just relax and absorb the entire moment without having to stop to capture it. That is something I will always be thankful for. The same continued as we brought in my son to spend time alone with us, and then the rest of our family. The entire experience was so beautiful – and we now have those memories forever.
Of course, our families took some pictures of the day as well, and sure, that could have been enough. But when she sent me the picture file of our delivery day, I cried so many tears of joy because that was exactly what I wanted. Hiring Amanda for this day is a decision I will never regret – what we received from her is priceless!” ~ Stefani
Are you ready to get your Birth or Fresh 48 scheduled yet?????
Did you know that I offer many different packaging options for my Mommas to Be? At AGP you can choose from some different packaging options that give you some savings by securing sessions for the first year of your new little blessings life.
The bundles are Belly to Baby and Baby to Birthday. Belly to Baby includes the following sessions… Maternity, Newborn, Sitter (6-7’ish months) & First Birthday. Baby to Birthday includes… Newborn, Sitter, & First Birthday. In both bundles the Newborn can be switched for a Fresh 48 Hospital Session or a Fresh 48 can be added on for 25% off.
The Williams Family was one of late ’17 to late ’18 Belly to Baby clients. We shot their Belly and Sitter Session at her brothers beautiful farm, Newborn was in the studio and for Wyatt’s First Birthday I went to their own family farm to capture him with his dog Cowboy and playing in the rocks.
I asked Brittany for some feedback on her Belly to Baby Package… “Honestly I wouldn’t change a thing! It took the stress out of worrying about scheduling and paying for pictures after having baby considering they were furthest from my mind. Lol. And I think the price was reasonable ! What I loved the most was convenience and of course the outcome which was amazing ! And the next time around lord willing I’d love to do the fresh 48 because I didn’t know how much work a newborn session was. Plus add into that recovery from a c section. I think it would’ve been easier at the hospital.”
I will be blogging about Fresh 48’s and more Newborn specials so stay tuned!!! Fresh 48’s are on Sale through February!!!
Here are some highlights from our sessions together…
My last newborn of 2018 was also my first newborn of 2019!! Why both you ask… Because he is a Griesacker brother and Griesacker brothers do not care for photo sessions at all! Christopher preferred to be held by his momma over having his photo taken so it took 2 sessions.
The Griesacker Family has been a client of mine for a while. Three years today actually! Thank you Facebook time hop for reminding of middle brother Dallas’s newborn shot on this day.
No matter the challenge these sweet boys throw at me each session I love it! We have had family sessions where I shave run and chased them outside, studio sessions where I have just captured lifestyle type photos of them playing with toys and Santa sessions where the only photo we could get is of Dallas standing at the door and Joseph on the floor both ready to leave. I tend to overshoot their sessions to catch that one shot that will make their momma cry because she thinks we aren’t getting anything.
Tiny little Christopher gave me some tough faces to show his disgust with taking photos but then gave a couple sweet faces for his momma to cherish too.
Enjoy some highlights below and click here Christopher Newborn to view his full session.
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Amanda Greer Photography 