S. Carter Studios

I’m not sure if you can feel it on days like today (Noah may be floating past my house some time soon) but we’re on the verge of a beautiful spring season. Now, I know, verge might be a bit of a stretch but I’d like to start ringing in the Spring with a celebration of Love. It’s fitting that Valentine’s Day is just three weeks away. So, I’d like to make it easy for you to surprise your special someone or someones (or nudge them to surprise you) with an S. Carter Studios Love Is In The Air mini session. I’m happy to help celebrate dating love, married love, the love between parents and even sibling love. I’m just a sucker, a lover of loving love if you will.

The session fee for our special is $40 and will come with an online gallery of your images. Sessions must take place on Thursday February 11 between 2 and 4 pm or Saturday February 13th between 1pm and 4 pm, contact us to get priority scheduling! We look forward to celebrating with you!

Another familiar face for today’s catch up post: Elijah. If you have time you should read this post to find out more about him and his family but in a nutshell he’s God’s gift to Ed and Carrie who love him very very much and adopted him over a year ago! I photographed him in May and was glad to chase him around this December as we attempted to get him to smile! He’s such a serious young man but when that gap toothed smile shows up he’s all little boy! Enjoy!

I first met the Chiens in 2007 when I took their wedding pictures. It was a joyful, beautiful occasion that I can still remember well. God saw fit to give them another bundle of joy in their son Stephen who just recently turned one. We met for a mini session and I’m excited to finally share the results with you!

Love this facial expression!

What a handsome and loving family. Thanks for inviting me back into your lives to capture these new and precious memories!

It’s been so hard to hold onto photos until after Christmas! I took these photos of Cole and Lydia, both of whom I had the pleasure of seeing shortly after their debut into the world. Yes, they’re the Parks kids, the most photographed family in my life. But hey, I’m okay with that. If you knew them, you’d understand! Enjoy these photos of their super crazy session.

Cole was about 2 months old when we took these photos. I’ve got to tell you, he’s quite a charmer. I was greatly distracted by his smiles and big blue eyes today in church!

Lydia is a force to be reckoned with! During the shoot she tried to climb the retaining wall and made a cozy seat in someone’s water run off.

The goal was to get some of the two of them together and I’d say we more or less accomplished that!

There may have been some bribing with marshmallows and chocolate chips.

This is one of my favorites.

I love this look on his face as Lydia leans forward to touch him. The hesitant and slightly scared face of a younger brother. Classic.

We’ll polish off this post with a look at the smile Cole flashes his mom. I am pretty sure I’d be toast if I had him hanging around all the time. I’d be content just to sit and stare.

Oh what to say about the Morris family…well, we go head to head each week, lol. They are part of the Fantasy Football leagues that Josh and I have been a part of this season. They also go to church with us and we’ve had the pleasure of watching their little family grow from two to three with the birth of little Jonah who just had his first birthday! As you can see, he’s quite the ladies man. He’s a very happy little boy with two wonderful, parents. I hope you enjoy a few photos from their session!

I think this one is my favorite from their session!

It’s no secret to anyone who knows them that the Lamontes are a special family. First of all, Danny and Lynne are just really good looking. Really. They are also fun loving, easy going and great friends. I know this first hand from being around them at several Lynchburg weddings and Nate and Bekah’s wedding in Alabama. I’ve been pestering them to let me take pictures of them since the birth of their older daughter Abby who is two now! I was so glad when we could work it out they are a pleasure to be around and they have two very beautiful daughters!

This one is a framer for sure!

Love this one.

I hope that when I have babies one day, they are as cute as this when they cry!

The Pierces are not new to our blog, you may remember their family session from last year but you won’t recognize their newest addition, Audrey. She was just three weeks old when we ventured out for updated family photos! I couldn’t believe how different Pate and Donavan looked, like such young men! As usual, they were an enthusiastic and wonderful crew to work with! Thank you guys for trusting me with these memories!

Carrie mentioned that she couldn’t remember the last time they had a picture of just the two of them. I was so glad to provide one. I think every kid wants to see pictures of their parents “way back when” and for their children, in forty years, this will be one of those photos!

A totally unprompted moment between a father and his brand new little girl!

What a crazy life they must lead, but I know this for sure, Carrie and Moose have three very lucky children whose parents love God and each other very much!

Happy Tuesday everyone! I want to introduce you to a series of blog posts I’ll be doing about what I feel defines S. Carter Studios perspective and style. There are so many wonderful talented photographers out there and many on the horizon. I hope that through these posts you’ll get to know more about S. Carter Studios and what we strive for as you consider letting us be a part of your family for a session, for a wedding or for a life time. I’m calling these posts By Definition. The topics covered will hopefully help you to understand how we define ourselves and why there are some things that we consider standard at S. Carter Studios. We strive for quality with our clients and have a purpose for how we do things because time is too valuable to waste during shoots. I hope you enjoy the series and that it helps you to understand this wonderful gift God has given us!

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By Definition: Kissy Pictures

Who would have thought kissing would ever go out of style? Strangely, it’s true. If you follow blogs of photographers across the industry and all over the country you’ll see what I see and that’s a mysterious lack of kissing pictures. Don’t get me wrong, their blogs are great and the photos are beautiful but overall photographers seem to be nixing the kiss. I once had a person say to me, “Your couples all seem to kiss a lot!” This caused me to smile and reflect… I guess my blog is stacked with photo upon photo of the kiss in its various forms: on the cheek, on the forehead, on the nose, on the hand, right smack dab on the mouth. I began to wonder, hmm, what is it that I seem to love so much about the kiss? Then I realized IT.

Kissing is like sharing a secret. When I committed to marry Josh I agreed to only share my kisses with him. I knew from that moment forward, God willing, that he would be the only man that I would share moments like that with. He and I have a secret that no one else can come close to understanding and that’s the chemistry between us! I love kissy pictures because when a man and woman commit to each other, in that long term rocking chair and gray hair kind of way, they save part of themselves for just one other person. So, why would I only have them stand next to each other, near each other, or across from each other, which they can do with almost any person in the world when I can ask them to joyfully do something they have agreed is just between the two of them? Kissing is romantic and it’s fun and I love it. So, that’s why kissing pictures are part of the S. Carter Studios standard. Here are a few of my favorites from over the years.

Plus, I don’t discriminate, I love engaged kisses

Melanie & Tim

Maria & Mark

Emily & Zach

Gavin & Kelsey

Bryant & Amanda

Jake and Patsy

… and married kisses…

Eric & Traci [we share the same anniversary date of March 13th!]

Mark and Maria

Laura and Ryan

Nate and Bekah

Adriel and Amy (and Papa Joe)

Chase and Kalina

… and family kisses!

The Parks

The Allens

The Mengs

The Oberneders

The Lamontes

Thank you for taking the time to read this post, I hope it helps you understand more about us! Sabrena, and the S. Carter Studios Team

It’s been thirty years since Chrissy and Jack lived in Lynchburg. Their oldest son had attended VES and the whole family came from the Outer Banks in North Carolina for the event. She found me online somehow and contacted me about a family session while they were all together! What I’m learning about families is that the older the kids get the further and far between family photos are let alone family sessions. I was happy to have a spot left for them in the Fall Mini Session marathon for this past weekend and they were great to work with! Thanks guys!

Mom & Dad

Three handsome boys

It was fun to discover that when I went to OBX for Jake and Patsy’s wedding I literally drove past the Brady’s home!

October 14th is a nice round number. It’s always been special because it’s two days after columbus day. It’s also been special because it’s my little brother’s birthday. I found out that he has a birthday twin, which is a very fun thing if you ask me, and her name is Jenny. She also happens to be my intern and you all haven’t heard much about her so I thought I’d take time on 10/14 to tell you a little about both of them!

My brother is 14 months younger than I am. In my head I think he’s at least two years but it seems crazy to me that he’s 23 today. He’s been my partner in crime / mortal enemy for over two decades and has the power to charm me even when I’m at my angriest.

Yes, we were both much chunkier then.

It’s been a pretty wild and fun ride. He’s the kind of guy who risks getting arrested on your wedding day to keep one of the bridesmaid from getting a silly parking ticket. He’s one of the best navigators I know and he loves his family more than we deserve.

Happy birthday to you Christopher Andrew. I love you!

Part 2

I’m sure you’ve caught my illusions to a wonderful, talented assistant. Her name is Jenny and she’s the eye behind Paper Napkin Photo. It’s been such a wonderful experience working with her and I’m so proud of how far she’s come during our time together! She doesn’t sleep enough and has this crazy thing for measuring wounds with clipboards but I think I’ll keep her around. Thank you Jenny for all your hard work this summer and fall, I don’t think I would have made it through a few of these things without you!!

Here is Jenny, we haven’t taken any head shots yet but here are some photos of her in action!

Happy birthday to you Ms. Jenny!!

I’d show you how I can balance a birthday cake on my head but I have a feeling that would be dangerous.

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