nolen photography

introductions…

erin — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 22:39:48 +0000

After weeks and weeks of being told that he would come early, Keilor Elias made his arrival in the world last Saturday morning just two days shy of my due date. That being said, he made his entrance with quite a lot of drama and excitement! I woke up around 4:15 Saturday morning and had a contraction that was much more painful than the ones I’d been having for the last few weeks. I knew that it was different and woke Corey up to go to the hospital. One of the doctors had told me that he thought I would have a quick labor and to get to the hospital quickly once the contractions began. Because of that, I was determined to just show up at the hospital rather than calling first because I thought they would tell me not to come until my contractions were closer together. We arrived at the hospital around 5:15am and were eventually told that I was not in active labor (despite contractions 5 minutes apart) and that we should go home. The nurse said that she thought I might be back that afternoon but that if nothing else, I would be back for an induction within a week. There’s not a lot you can do when they kick you out so we left! It was about 7am and we came home. Needless to say, I was definitely in active labor and progressed so quickly that my insane screaming and absolute insistence led Corey to take me back to the hospital within a matter of minutes. We didn’t know what was going on or have any idea how close I was to actually giving birth until we got back there. As I was begging in agony for an epidural, the nurse eventually told me that there was no time and that they were just trying to wait for the doctor to arrive so that the baby could be born. The doctor left her house at 8:15, arrived in the labor and delivery room around 8:20 and Keilor was born at 8:40. Insane. Traumatic. Painful beyond comprehension. But unbelievably wonderful, exhilarating and incredible too. Keilor is amazing and we are so overwhelmed with God’s tremendous generosity to us. Grayben loves his little brother and has done so well thus far. We are truly without words at the grace we have been shown in these two little boys. More pictures to come soon. As always, our families are caring for us in such selfless ways and we would not be making it right now without their help!

The Lord has done great things for us and we are filled with joy. Psalm 126:3

family photo shoot: summer 2010

erin — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 21:06:34 +0000

I would be so excited if I had some baby news to share! We are still waiting for baby boy to make his arrival in the world. The doctor tells us that should be any day now but as many of you know, he has been saying that to me for three weeks now! After waking up still pregnant every day, I have finally figured out that baby is going to come when it is time and not one minute sooner.

Here are a few pictures from a session I did a few weeks ago with some of our good friends.

family photo shoot: summer 2010

erin — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 19:09:37 +0000

I will never get tired of meeting new people and hearing their stories as a result of photography. What a tremendous gift to have the opportunity to capture people’s lives. A lot of people don’t know that I participate in a website called Celebrating Adoption that links adoptive families with photographers willing to offer a free photo session. I think it is an awesome way for adoptive families to make sure they capture their story in photographs. Adoption is one of the most important things in our lives and we will gladly give whatever we can to helping other families celebrate such an amazing journey. I was honored to meet this family below and spend a little bit of time with them last week. What a beautiful and brave girl she is! For more information on Celebrating Adoption, click here.

Rusty & Natalie: July 10, 2010

erin — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 01:10:19 +0000

Rusty and Natalie were married on a classic July afternoon. The day was filled with so much love and laughter. It was also filled with pregnant women as two of the bridesmaids as well as half of the photography team (me) were all about seven months pregnant! Natalie wanted her day to be filled with bright colors and it was a perfect way to show her joyful and sweet spirit. We are always so grateful to photograph such happy days! As always, Altadena Valley is one of our favorite churches to shoot in Birmingham. I get asked about this church all the time and it truly is a wonderful venue for a wedding.

Natalie’s uncle had a liver transplant the week of the wedding and wasn’t able to attend the big day. Though the family was overjoyed that the transplant had happened, they were so sad that he couldn’t be there. One of the most special parts of the wedding day was when her uncle called while she was getting ready to give his love. There was not a dry eye anywhere!

family photo shoot: summer 2010

erin — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 14:03:57 +0000

We all know how hot it is and has been all summer long. I have to say that I really think this was the hottest shoot (so far) of the summer. I know it’s quite a coveted award! Still if you had a shoot or wedding with us this summer and you were really hot, you can be thankful to know that you did not have the absolute most humid and scorching day! They were all great about it and I truly love the pictures that we got. I had the hardest time narrowing down what to post for the blog so if you want to watch their slideshow, click here.

newborn shoot: summer 2010

erin — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 02:56:26 +0000

Since we’re waiting for baby around here, I thought I’d post a newborn shoot from this summer. These sweet girls were precious in every way. Here are a few pictures we got during our time together…

brothers. summer 2010 photo session.

erin — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 03:34:58 +0000

My goal for today was to do blog posts of all the sessions that I edited today. That included these cute brothers, one adorable red-headed one-year-old, a newborn baby girl, a senior shoot, an engagement session and a fun shoot with a college sophomore. It was a busy day! After shooting an amazing but late night wedding yesterday, I just don’t think I can keep my eyes open long enough to get all the posts up that I’d love to share. So for now, enjoy these sweet boys. As we anticipate our own little brother around here, it brought me so much joy to do this photo shoot and see these boys love one another! Here is their slideshow if you’d like to see it!

steven & amy: june 12, 2010

erin — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 02:10:39 +0000

This is one of those weddings when I really should just be quiet and let the pictures speak for themselves. Everything about Steven and Amy’s wedding was beautiful. Every detail was thought through, from the smallest (a personalized hanger for the wedding dress!) to the largest. Not to mention that the location of the Alabama Theater was amazing! All day I kept feeling like Amy and Steven were movie stars–just so gorgeous and classic looking in the most perfect location. Here is the best part about all of this–Steven and Amy are completely down to earth and so much fun to be with. Not to mention madly in love. I could go on and on…but instead I’ll let you see the pictures…

To see the entire slideshow, click here.

Amazing spot for a first look…

Movie stars, I promise…

looking ahead…fall photo sessions 2010.

erin — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 00:51:23 +0000

It is totally crazy but I have only about 5 weeks until my due date! We cannot believe that there will be another baby in our family in just a few short weeks. We have tons to do before then but we are also excited about making plans for the fall. As most of you know, fall is one of our favorite times as photographers. I love it because it means that I get to see so many of the families that I only see once a year–I love reconnecting and seeing how all the kiddos have grown and changed. I just wanted to give a couple of updates about our fall schedule. We’ve decided to allow more Saturdays for portrait sessions than we’ve been able to the last few years. I hope that will be helpful for lots of you who need weekend dates. Also, Christmas card samples will be up before you know it! I’m already excited to show you this year’s designs. For those of you newsletter subscribers (if you’re not, you totally SHOULD be!), remember that there are a few more days to take advantage of this month’s awesome deal!

family photo session. summer 2010

erin — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 19:22:47 +0000

Love these boys. I have been photographing Owen since he was just a little guy and now even his baby brother is getting so big! Owen is full of life and loves to explore and figure out the world. I am sad that I never posted Henry’s first photo session last fall because even then you could see his sweet sweet spirit and the calmness that just comes from him. I know sweet is an overused word but seriously, I think Henry has some of the sweetest expressions I have ever seen! I could just eat him up. We had a great time last month and managed to catch the last of the hydrangea blues! For their slideshow, click here.