My niece Morgan... target practice!

Ok, so when I decided to take this photography thing seriously, I realized I needed some practice! I found out my beautiful niece was coming in town with my mom to visit so I asked her if I could use her to hone my skills. Abbey tagged along (see other post). We drove all over Hendersonville and the girls were WONDERFUL little guinea pigs for me! Here are just SOME of the breathtaking photos I took of Morgan...

I'm thinking the jumpy picture is going to be one of my signature shots. Morgan is a dancer, can you tell???

I know this look...

This girl has personality coming out her pores...

All-American girl...

Don't even think about it...

We had finished the shoot and were going into my house and I remembered I wanted to get some shots by a brick wall. I happened to have one - my house! I quickly took out my camera and we snapped these without a second thought. They were some of my favorites!!!

I love you, Morgie! You are a star and I'm so glad to know you!!!!

Abbey - my precious baby girl

Abbey tagged along with me and Morgan... when it was her turn, she hopped right up there and started modeling her little heart out. Oh, my! She is not shy at all. I love this child so much...

Uh huh...

Signature jumpy picture - she had to follow Morgan...

I love these shots - she just kept giving me these LOOKS...

Oh, goodness. Is this a sign of things to come?

And then she was done. That was it for her!

I love you, my beautiful, sweet, wonderful girl. You make my heart sing!!!

Prestonsburg, KY

This past summer, I went home for a few weeks to the town I grew up in - Prestonsburg, KY.

I have to be honest - when I was growing up, I thought my hometown was awful. I certainly didn't think it was beautiful... and more than anything it felt stifling.

After I left, however, my opinion of my little town changed dramatically. I began to miss it... long for it, even. The mountains were less oppressive and more impressive. And let's face it - my family was there!!!!

In case you didn't know, I got a super-duper camera for my birthday - a Nikon D60 with an extra telephoto lens. Whoo hoo! My first pictures were actually from our family trip to Gatlinburg, but I haven't really gone through those and identified which ones are "professional" enough to put on this website - I had only had my camera for a few days before we left for that trip.

But while I was in KY, I had the opportunity to take some artsy pictures of my beloved hometown. Without further adieu, here they are!!!

The above picture is such a cool shot. I'm looking in on my uncle's barber shop (which used to be my grandfather's barber shop) and somehow managed to get every single person in the shot.

For some reason, this picture of my son, Luke, looks like a picture that would be in a Parenting Magazine, ha ha!

This is a shot of the new Court House, which isn't technically "new" anymore.

I'm standing at the corner of Court St and S Lake Dr, looking at The Strand Twin. I've taken in many a movie at that place!

If you are from Prestonsburg, you will recognize this as "Fountain Corner" corner. You can see just how far I was away from "Family Dollar" and "Taco Bell"... and yet, to show how awesome my little telephoto lens is, look at the picture below:

There actually was even a better picture, but this one was more artistic. :-)

This is another shot of my uncle's Barber Shop. It's the best!!!! Uncle Gary has a Men's Bible Study there every Tuesday night and close to 30 men show up.

the cross on top of Irene Cole church

What used to be Hereford's Department Store

Pretty, pretty town.