Today on the blog, we sharing some recent portrait work. Portrait photography for us ranges from our typical commercial clients, to high school seniors and families (especially in the fall months). Today’s blog post is made up of University of Arkansas School of Art Faculty members, insurance brokers, lawyers, families, high school seniors, individuals featured in AY Magazine, investment firm associates, a couple celebrating their 25 year wedding anniversary and new associates for Marlon Blackwell Architects. Although most of the stuff we share through our social media channels is commercial work, we feel it is important to note that with regards to portrait photography, we love to work with families, high school seniors and other individuals as well.

Cheers, friends!

There's not much I could say about the Mooney family that hasn't already been said. From their organization 99 Balloons, to their Atypical Podcast, they are well known and well-respected.  As an outsider looking in, it's easy to see the love that this family has for each other and for the world around them. They are an inspiring bunch and the life they live should challenge us all to see the people around us differently and beautifully.

 It's always a good time hanging out with the Hobbs family. Austin and I have been friends since college and his current role as an art director allows us to work together on projects from time to time. They recently finished building a house on their land near Lake Atalanta in Downtown Rogers and they also...

Say hello to the Hansen Family. As you can see, they reside in the beautiful town of Siloam Springs and they are extremely happy about it. A few weeks ago, I had the distinct privilege of hanging out with them, camera in-hand. I can't put put this family into words because any words I use would not do them justice. But I love them, I really do. Here's a few images from our evening together. Enjoy. 

Say hello to the Dennis Family. Pictured above is Mike, Heidi and Eli. Heidi and I are college buddies and Mike and I are bicycling buddies. I had the privilege of photographing their wedding years ago and just recently, I had the opportunity to hang out with them again and photograph them as a family of three (plus the grandparents). Here's a few of my favorite images from the evening. Enjoy. 

Say hello to Jon, Kayla and Laurel June Knox. The Knox's are incredibly close friends of myself and my family. They live on our street, they have keys to our house and given the circumstances surrounding the past year of our lives, they have looked after our house, our yard and our dog WAY too many times to count. In just a few short weeks, they will welcome their daughter, Laurel June Knox into the world and for that, we are super excited and very grateful. Here's a few images of our dear friends in this wonderful stage of life. Enjoy!

Say hello to the Reeves family. On the day that we met for their family photos, it was bitter cold and it snowed. Of course, they wanted to just meet anyway and I happily obliged. Here are a few of my favorites from the day. Enjoy!

We always enjoy hanging out with this wonderful family. Their spirit of adventure, their sense of humor and their overall awesomeness make them great friends and fun photography clients. Here's a few images from our recent evening together. Enjoy.

Meet Shane and Alyssa. They're newlyweds and since their wedding took place in Ohio, they were unable to get any photos with their dog, "Motley". To solve this problem, they hired us to create some family portraits with them. Here's a few of our favorites. Enjoy!

Say hello to Kristen Thomas. Many of you know her beautiful face from weddings over the years, where she would help photograph and also assist me. And if you’ve spent any time at all with her, you also know her sweet spirit, her contagious laugh and her absolute love for children. It’s probably good that she loves kids so much because she’s got two of them.

If you’ve been following our story at all, you know that last weekend, I rushed her to the hospital in the middle of the night because her water had broken prematurely. Right now, she’s on permanent bed rest until the twins get here. I’m so thankful we took a day last week to venture out into the great Arkansas outdoors and create some maternity photographs of her. She was a trooper the whole time and often ventured around against my wishes (typical).

Here are a few images from our treasured time together. Thank you again for all the love, the prayers and the support you have shown the two of us and our two kiddos. Pretty soon, they’ll be here! 

Say hello to the Burgess family, party of five. A couple weeks ago, I had the opportunity to hike around Tanyard Creek with them and goof off, all while documenting the experience with my camera. And after the hike, they broke out their musical instruments (because nearly all five of them either play one or sing) and rocked the invisible outdoor stage. And to any golfers who happened to be playing through the nearby course...you're welcome for the free concert. Enjoy the images and Happy Weekend Everyone. 

Meet a few of Northwest Arkansas' "Super Moms". These wonderful women were recently highlighted in 3W Magazine for their generous spirits, successful careers and wonderful kiddos. We had to the opportunity to create the images for the article and today, we thought we'd share a few of our favorites. If you'd like to read the article, you can view it here. Cheers!

If I had to pick one word to sum up the year, I don't know what it would be. I suppose you can't pick just one word to sum up anything. They say a picture is worth a thousand words.  And this blog post, with it's "20+" images would mathematically be more words than I would care to list out here. But hopefully, these images in some small way, begin to describe how much fun we've had being creative in 2013 (and quite possibly, late 2012). We're truly thankful for this last year and we're very excited for the next. Onward and Enjoy. 

Happy 1 year Anniversary to Derrick and Erin.  A few weeks back, this fun couple decided to celebrate their anniversary by taking a little trip from their home in Norman Oklahoma to the quiet, quaint town of Eureka Springs Arkansas. And while they were there, they invited me and my camera to come hang out for a bit. Here's a few images from our afternoon together. Enjoy. 

We love it when families want something other than traditional family photos. It was the McCormick's first time to get family photos done and they wanted something out-of-the-ordinary. Challenge accepted. We messed with some time travel options but in the end, we decided it would be easier on the kids to just visit a closed down dinosaur park instead. Here's a few images from our adventure. Enjoy. 

Say hello to John, Darby and Scout. This wonderful family came down to Arkansas for a visit with some friends and decided that they needed some family photos. We were happy to oblige. Of course, the weather wasn't so cooperative towards the end as it turned rainy and cold(er). That's ok, we had a blast anyway. Here's a few images from our afternoon together. Enjoy.

Life is beautiful. And this time of year, that beauty is especially evident in the emerging fall colors and the family photos that include them. But that doesn't mean life is always fun or easy. Meet the Ford family. They're a wonderful family with 3 kids (Joe, Jackson and Audrey), who happen to be triplets. But that little part about life not being easy became reality when all 3 kids were born premature at 26 weeks. The kids pulled through but towards the end of their stay in NICU, Audrey suffered from two different infections at the same time and barely survived. During that time, she sustained a permanent brain injury due to the inconsistent flow of blood to her brain. Her official diagnosis is Cerebral Palsy and Cortical Visual Impairment. 

It's easy to get overwhelmed with medical terms and restrictions and in the process, forget that a person is a person like you and like me. When the Ford's emailed me details of Audrey's history and diagnosis, that particular paragraph in the email was followed by a paragraph describing her as "the silliest little girl". She loves to laugh and smile and she loves to be around kids her age. She loves sweets too. In fact, she's going to be "cotton candy" for halloween this year.

What's even more amazing to me is how this family overcomes the obstacles and limits and has a life that I would call very normal and active. For photos, we went on a hike and everywhere we went, all three kids went too. My time with this wonderful family was a sweet reminder of how a hard story can also be a beautiful story. 

If you've ever come into our studio and seen a gigantic print of a young family holding their children upside down, you may recognize these images. This is the Hobbs Family. They've grown by one since last we photographed them, so it was about time for another visit. Here's a few of our favorites. Enjoy!

Lindsay Koehler is a fellow photographer from Conway Arkansas. (http://lindsaykoehlerphotography.com)  She creates stunningly beautiful images of families and kids. And yet, it had been a loooooooooong time since she and her wonderful family had been in front of the camera themselves. So we decided to hang out at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art on an evening when there was no one else around and create some memorable images. Here's a few of our favorites.