Merry Christmas Callie!

Callie looked so adorable in her little frilly dress for her Christmas photos. I just thought I would share a couple of these. She is now 8 weeks old and such a happy baby!

Best friends graduate together!

Ashley and Andrea graduated in May of 2008 and came to me with a desire to have me take their senior photos. They both were beautiful models! They both had incredible eyes and was willing to try some new ideas with me. There are more sessions planned with Ashley and Andrea this spring!

Megan's Graduating!

What an amazing and inspiring senior girl! This girl is passionate for the Lord, rocks at just about any musical instrument there is, and is intelligent and funny! I am so grateful to have the opportunity to photograph Megan. Her smile and personality just poured out of each photo! Here are just a few of my favs!

It's Christmas time in the Halstead's house!

WOW! I look at these photos and cannot believe how big my own children have gotten since last year. Each of my children are so unique! When I look at these photos, I can't help but get sentimental. They are my world! I love that each one of them are at their own stage in life that is completely different from the other. Rylan, my oldest, is becoming such a little man. (Not so much little though!) He is so compassionate and creative. Jaylen is my jump start every day! Jaylen wants to do be doing something at all times. He is the one who inspires me to live each of my days to the fullest! If I could have a 10th of his energy, I would be set for life. Ethan started school this year for the first time. It is so amazing to see him become social, making friends, and being excited about learning. His passion in life right now is to be the best UNO card player in our family, and for a 4 year old, he is surprisingly very good! Addison has probably changed the most in the last year. She will have full conversations with you about her day, what she wants to wear, and how she feels. We had a day of pampering on Saturday, doing nails and hair. Now she walks around telling everyone to look at her pretty pink nails! I believe I have created a monster!

Heart Gallery Update

Here is another beautiful young boy just waiting to be adopted. I was told that he was into skating, so I decided to take him to one of the most well known skate park's Kona. From the time he got out of the car, you could tell he was excited! He ran from one end of the park to the other, telling me all of the things he wanted to do when he came back with his skates. I asked him if he wanted to find a family and he said no. I was really surprised by this because every child I have asked this question, says yes! He said he loves his foster parents and would be very sad to leave them. Kenny's foster parents are a lot older and know that they are not enough for Kenny and what he will need in the coming years. They are praying that family that already has children will take Kenny and make him a part of their family. I wanted to just scoop this boy up and take him home. He was polite, respectful, and extremely well mannered for a 10 year old. I pray that Kenny finds a good home for him to be able to transition into soon! For more information on Kenny check out the website. www. heartgalleryjax.com
Jamie

Florida vs Georgia Game

WOW... I am speechless! I just spent the entire day tailgating at the Florida vs Georgia college football game in Jacksonville, Florida. My job was to find interesting stories of people tailgating. Seems pretty easy, right? Well.... it was day I will never forget! I have never been to one of these games before and was really excited to be taking on the assignment. Me and two other staff members started the day at 10:00am, but only to find ourselves stuck in traffic. We missed our parking lot that my friend was saving us a FREE parking spot in! It took us an hour to get back to the parking lot. So we actually didn't begin our adventure until 11:30. We walked from WJCT parking lot, through R.V. city, down the entire back side of the stadium, clear down to the Jacksonville Landing, and back. We walked for close to 6 hours looking for amazing stories to write about. I did manage to be standing in the best spot possible when the Gator's quaterback, Tim Tebow, came off the team bus. We managed to get free lunch and dinner along with free drinks, peanuts, and chips. I came to the conclusion that you could come to this game and not spend a single dime all day if you wanted to. People were extremely generous with their food and drinks, even their TVs on their RVs. I had an awesome day!
Jamie

Callie is 2 weeks already!

This is the first of many sessions I will be doing for Callie. Her momma has the "Watch Me Grow" maternity, birth, newborn, and one session per month for the each year package I offer. This is the same baby I photographed in September for her big arrival! She was so precious and wanted to be wide awake during the whole thing. I have never seen a two week old move so much and be so alert. It will be so much fun to watch her grow in the next year. So check back often to see updates.

Heart Gallery Update

God continues to grow me and mold me every time I have a session with a child from the Heart Gallery. When the day began, I spoke to the caseworker and set the session to be at the zoo. My email had informed me that I was taking photos of a little 6 year old girl. My mind was spinning with cute little photo ideas that would be easily done at the zoo. When much to my surprise and complete enjoyment I met Aier. Her name is a beautiful as her smile and warm as her soul. She was incredible teenager! She had her hair pulled tightly up in a 1990's mohawk and had her iPod jammin'! She was ready for me to make her feel like a movie star! I was stoked! If you would like more information on Aier and her story, please visit http://www.heartgalleryjax.org/. I have another session schedule with a 10 year old boy very soon, so check back for his photos. As well as November 8th and 9th will be the Salut Our Soldiers Day and the FSS and the Heart Gallery will be hosting a day for the military families. The gallery will be on display for all to see, plus I will have a booth stationed there. Those that come and find me receive a free photo session for the Christmas holiday!

She's here!

Words cannot express the joy I felt taking these photographs. This was my first birth photography session and one that I will continue to cherish and remember forever. Mom came in on Monday morning to be induced because she was a week over due. She had a few contracts and some minor changes but for the most part, Monday had no progression towards delivery. So they gave mom a sleeping medicine so rest for the night and then try to tackle things again first thing in the morning. Tuesday morning brought lots of walking! Finally the doctor decided to break her water and give her the pit to try and help move things along. Sure enough, here comes Callie Braden, 8lbs 3oz, 20 inches long, born on Tuesday, September 16th in the evening at 8:35pm. She was beautiful! Mom and dad were so happy to have her finally here! Congratulations Bri and Bryan on your new addition to the family! Thank you so much for allowing me to capture your most intimate moment.
You are in my prayers,
Jamie

Fitness For Life!

So you wanna be motivated to get into better shape? Then set a photo session half way to your goal! This incredibly amazing man is my husband! He has been working out for 45 days on a program called P90X. He will be turning the big 3-0 next month and decided that the next 30 years of his life was going to be in good health and in shape. He has done so well! I am very proud of him! He asked me if I would take some photos of him to add to a group that he belongs to. I couldn't pass up the chance to take photos of my husband. So enjoy! Jamie

Heart Gallery of Jacksonville, Florida

Great news! One of the kids I have photograhed has been placed with a family! Praise God! This has been an amazing experience for me. Getting to know young people who are in foster care and having the privilege to photograph them in a way that portrays their personalities and reflects who the individual is on the inside. I now have had the privilege to photograph 5 children, however, I have two more planned for the month of September and several more coming our way. Our governor, Charlie Crist, just did a huge unveiling of the state's largest Heart Gallery in Tallahasee, Florida. Jacksonville was named the largest Heart Gallery in all of Florida with over 500 children photographed. If you are looking for more information on the Heart Gallery or would like to learn about how you can adopt a child that is in foster care please see their website at http://www.heartgalleryjax.com/. Check back later on for more photos of new children needing families to love them!
Jamie

Megan


Joneisha


Alexis (Has been placed with a family!)


Mikal


Douglas

Amanda & Jason

This was a very special session to me because Amanda is my sister-in-law and best friend! She is beautiful to photograph and so was little Jeremiah. He will be due in October unless preterm labor strikes again. We took these photos in two locations. One was at a small park in Chattanooga, TN and the other in the studio. It was nice to try a new outdoor location, since most of my sessions are in Florida, it was nice to be able to take a different approach to what we photographed. There was so much character in every fence post, barn door, and flower. It was hard not to pull over and take a picture in some stranger's yard. There are a lot more photographs to edit, but these were some that stood out to me right away. Hope you enjoy! Jamie