Emily and Jason Featured Wedding!

Emily and Jason Barker are featured in Alabama Weddings magazine which will hit the shelves within the next week. We are so excited to have been part of their amazing wedding at Riverchase United Methodist Church and reception at Riverchase Country Club. Here are some of the photos that are included in the magazine. Congratulations Emily and Jason!

Colby - Class of 2009

Colby and my son played basketball together when they were 12...I photographed Colby and his sister way back then. Now, Colby will be graduating from Indian Springs and off to Wake Forest in North Carolina (my home state). What a joy to have him in the studio! Colby is a natural in front of the camera--we had a great time! I had a tough time choosing one favorite so I've posted three! Be sure to check out the slideshow of his photo session. Thank you, Colby! I trust you'll come back for your college senior photos. :)

Cameron at 16 Months

Baby Cameron has been coming to see me since she was 3 months old...we just did her last photo session of her baby package, and she is already 16 months old! Incredible how fast time goes by. We had an absolutely wonderful time. She has soooo much personality. What a joy to be around. Thank you for sharing her with me, Rhonda!

Here are a couple of my favorite images from the session. Want to see more?...watch the slideshow!

Favorite from Today's Photo Session

Susanne brought her kids to see me today so I could do their annual photo. It has been such a blessing to me to watch both Adam and Elise grow up. Here's my favorite of Elise. She is a dancer and so graceful.

WERC Interview

Wednesday morning I was on the Steve and Leah show on WERC! It was great fun. These two are so smart and funny--I listen to their show every day. There is a beginning to this story...Chris Amerson with JAMM Entertainment asked me to photograph Steve, Leah, and Dominick for the radio station's website. Andrew, their program director, and Paul, the station manager, also came to my studio. We all went to lunch after the photo session and talked about politics, religion, our personal lives, and the great food at Incahoots (my neighbor in Helena).

Gretchen

My Daughter

Rachel will be 13 on December 8. I can hardly believe it! Since she was out of school for Thanksgiving, we spent several days with my mother in Sunset Beach, North Carolina. The weather was wonderful! One of my gifts to Rachel was a make-over. Here's a quick photo I made of her late in the afternoon Wednesday. What a beautiful young woman, if I can say so myself!

Christopher and Tiffany Engagement Session

Christopher and Tiffany will be married exactly one year from the date of their engagement session. We wanted to take advantage of the beautiful fall colors around Buck Creek in Helena as well as the quaint locations in Old Town Helena. Here's the slideshow of some of my favorite images from the afternoon.

Autumn and Curtis Engagement Session

Autumn and Curtis haven't seen their photos yet...this is one of my favorites. I normally do not post them until I've met with the subjects, and they've viewed the slideshow in the studio. However, since Thanksgiving is fast apporaching, I decided to put up the slideshow for Autumn and Curtis to share with their families.

We had a great time in Helena even though Curtis was suffering from allergies or sinus infection. (Hope you're feeling much better, Curtis!)I have to hand it to him, he was a real sport. Buddy and I loved working with both of you! Their wedding date is January 3...it'll be here before we know it.

Thanksgiving!

My daughter and I are going to spend next week with my mother in Sunset Beach, North Carolina. It's the first beach north of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina (everybody's heard of Myrtle Beach!). It should be much fun! Since I won't be in the studio next week, I will, however, be checking e-mails ('cause how could we live without them?). My husband and son will be holding down the fort. Justin has to work (he's a chef at Golden Rule in Hoover), and my husband Buddy is staying home to make sure the 17-year old doesn't tear down the house! :)

I am thankful for the numerous opportunities I've had to be involved with so many people over the past year...weddings, new babies, birthdays, families...all celebrating the important happenings in their lives. What an honor to be asked to take these moments and preserve them for always. Happy Thanksgiving to you, and thank you for inviting me to capture your memories.

Gretchen

A 5-Year Old Model--Awesome!

I had the pleasure of photographing Jackson late yesterday afternoon. What a great time! He is too cute and did a great job changing clothes five times! Check out this kid--we're going to be seeing him in commercials and in ads soon, I'll bet!

Family Fun!

A mother and two sons...what a great time we all had in the studio earlier this week. Here's my favorite of the three of them.

Here's the slideshow of their session...we had music in the studio!

Campbell Celebrates Being One!

Campbell came in for her one year photos. We had a great time with her ballerina outfit, hats, pearls, and cupcakes! Here's one of my favorites as well as a slideshow of her photo session. Enjoy!

Jackson at 9 Months

Jackson has grown up so much...I have been photographing him since before he was born! Here's one of my favorite images as well as a slideshow of our session. Hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed playing with Jack!

Tommy and Amanda Engagement Session

What a great time we had in Helena! Amanda and Tommy are getting married on July 18. They came by the studio this afternoon to pick up their engagement session slideshow. This is one of their favorite images. Check out their slideshow!

Baby Porter

Porter at 4 months! He's such a big boy with a precious personality. We had a great time getting these grins with his mother and two grandmothers. Here are a few of the images in a quickie slideshow.

Congrats to Ana and Daniel!

We were honored to be the photographers for Ana and Daniel's wedding at The Donnelly House. The weather was absolutely perfect; both the bride and groom were glowing! Here's a brief slideshow of the highlights of their day. Enjoy!

Updating Blog!

I'm trying out some new templates for my blog to make it easier to view slideshows of photo sessions and weddings. Stay tuned! If you have a favorite blog template, please feel free to share.

Thanks!
Gretchen

Max is Back!

This is my second occasion to photograph sweet Max--he has changed quite a bit in a year. He was sooo much fun. I hope you enjoy the short slideshow of our photo session.

Honorable Mention in Photography Competition!

Tonight I entered a landscape in a local competition and was awarded an Honorable Mention. It's exciting to be honored among one's peers. Tomorrow morning I'll post the image titled "Forgotten City." It was taken from the famous bridge in Selma looking into the back of the city.

Gretchen

Here's the image...

High School Seniors!

Seven high school senior girls came to Helena yesterday and spent a couple of hours with me. We had a great time! Here are a few of their images. Senior portraits are so important! These young ladies are incredible--so confident about their identities. College and life will challenge who they believe themselves to be, but I am positive that these gals will make all the right choices! It was a blast playing with them!

Gretchen

Latest Engagement Sesssion

Teleah and Robert were so much fun to work with! Robert asked Teleah to marry him at Vulcan Park in Birmingham so that's where we went for their engagement session. We had a wonderful time getting to know them and are looking foward to their wedding in the summer. Teleah has some very unique ideas which will make their wedding day that much more special. Don't worry, Teleah, your plans are safe with me! :)

Gretchen

Melissa - Class of 2010

I first met Melissa when she was 9 or 10 years old when I photographed her and her brother and sister. She is graduating next year from a local high school--she has grown into a beautiful young woman. I'm so excited about our project. We are going to create images of her throughout the next year and publish a book of her photographs just before she graduates in May 2010! What an incredible honor and privilege. If you are in high school and interested in a similar project (or just one photo session), please let me know!

Thanks!
Gretchen

Booking Weddings for 2009!

After showing our work at two bridal shows, we've had lots of interest and have booked a number of weddings for 2009! It's very exciting to be able to share our passion while providing a meaningful service and product to our clients. We have weddings booked already in March, May, June, August, and November! We'll be starting our engagement sessions in the next month--when the weather is cooler!--watch this blog for some new images.

It's also time to photograph high school seniors. We are going to photograph an entire senior class next month...19 kids on one day! Should be a blast. Watch for some photos featuring some really cool kids!

Gretchen

Parent Album

This is the parent album I created for Jason's mother. It is similar to the album I have designed for Jason and Jessica--a little smaller in size with fewer pages. It does a good job of telling the story of the day! Click here to see it!

Gretchen

1st Place in My Category!

Last night I entered three photographs in a local competition and was awarded 1st prize in my category for this one, "Candlelite Angel"...yeah! Several photographers got together last week and did some "light painting" with a model (she's a photographer, too, but this night she had the incredible task of trying to stay cool while ants crawled on her arms and the humidity was about 90%). Anyway, this was my first time to experiment with light painting--it was very fun! Hope you enjoy the end product.

Gretchen

Jason and Jessica Married in Montevallo

Jason and Jessica were married at American Village in Montevallo on June 22. What a terrific location! This was our first wedding in this venue, and we really enjoyed it. It was a hot day, but the wedding party was up for playing outside. These are a few of my favorite images. You can see their wedding highlights here.
Thanks, Jason and Jessica for being so much fun! You might recognize this couple from the first page of my website. We photographed their engagement session in Jessica's home town of Helena, also home to my studio.

Gretchen

John and Kim Are Married!

OMG, what a wonderful wedding and reception! Kim and John are such a fun couple, and their friends and families made this special occasion even more special. We had a great time with them and are happy to share their "highlights" slideshow here.

Let us know what you think!

Thanks!
Gretchen

An update: Just received this from Kim--The slideshow was great!! I just finished looking at the last of ALL of the proofs. You and Buddy did a great job. There are so many good ones we can't wait to see the book.

Thanks Gretchen!
Kim

Honorable Mention!

Recently I entered this photograph in a local competition--the subject was "Water's Edge." This image, made in Helena on Buck Creek, won Honorable Mention. Yeah!

Paula and Steven Tie the Knot!

Paula and Steven live in Helena and were married at the Helena Baptist Church on 060708. It was so hot that day that we did most of our photos inside the church and the annex which has two beautifully decorated "living rooms" on the second floor. We wanted to do some casual photos in front of the waterfall in Helena. We knew the light would be fantastic around 7:00 so we asked the bridal party of hang around (I think many went to Incahoots for refreshments :)) about an hour after the reception ended. We had a great time with Paula and Steven including being invited to their house where we photographed Steven carrying Paula over the threshold! Congraulations to the both of you. You are terrific!

Gretchen

First Wedding of the Season

This couple spent a great deal of time at a beautful park so we did their engagement photos there a couple of months before their wedding on May 10. Here are a few of my favorite images from both sessions! Congratulations Rebekah and Matthew!!

Gretchen