The Final Hours

The Gift Certificate sale is almost over. This is the last chance to save on portrait sessions, wedding packages, wall art, fine art canvases and more.

Know one of our clients? This is the perfect holiday gift. They can use the gift certificate to purchase anything they want.

New client? Use your gift certificate toward any portrait, event or wedding package, or any of our Gift Shop items.

Looking for a unique holiday gift for your wife or mother? Use your gift certificate for a beautiful sterling silver photo necklace. She'll love you for it!

The 20% off sale ends at 6pm today. Contact the studio at 404-966-7272 or place your order here.

Cole's First Portrait

Before heading to hear Annie Leibovitz yesterday, I photographed Cole's first portrait. This cutie is so blessed with two mommies who's love for Cole is touching. His beautiful nursery is serene and with the rain outside, the warmth of their home was soothing. Cole has three dogs who all make appearances in the slideshow below. It's only right to photograph the first "babies" in the house! The Christmas tree was another great scene that I just loved capturing.

Enjoy the slideshow below by clicking on the picture. The show is available for purchase on DVD or digital download. Simply click the DVD icon in the menu bar of the show.

Annie Leibovitz and me

I had the great opportunity to hear Annie Leibovitz speak last night at the Jewish Community Center in Dunwoody. She is on a tour publicizing her latest book, At Work. I recently saw a documentary about her on PBS and it was fantastic. Maybe you were lucky enough to see her exhibit at The High Museum last year. Tonight's book reading and talk were all about how and why she took some of her most memorable images. John and Yoko, the guards rolling up the carpet after Nixon's resignation, Demi Moore's pregnancy, and so many others. It was fascinating to hear how she originally got the idea to create staged storyboard portraits, or what she calls "Conceptual Portraits" - from a client! She was photographing poet Tess Gallagher in 1980 and Tess said that she had a horse and would like to be photographed with him. She also had masks all over her home and wanted to get dressed up. So Annie obliged and shot the image. It inspired her to start these types of portraits which have helped make her one of the most well-known photographers ever.

(iPhone picture) - waiting for the book reading to start.

Afterwords, we stayed to meet Annie and have our book signed. She was so nice to pose for a picture too.

Thanks to Marsha Brenner for the picture!

Holiday Special

Because you're so special, we're offering a special especially for you.

Gift Certificates are on sale!
That's right!
20% off all Gift Certificates
of $100 or more

The fine print: Sale ends Friday, December 12th. Gift Certificates will be mailed within 3-4 business days of purchase or you may pick them up at our studio by December 19th. Gift Certificates expire 6 months from date of purchase. Gift Certificates may not be transferred and have no cash value. Call the studio for more information 404-966-7272.

Holiday Card Design - The Stewart's

The Stewart's adorable holiday cards for 2008. White linen folded card with one image. The gray band at the bottom will not be printed. The front of the card features a black rough edge around the image which gives it a more finished look.

Memories of Thanksgiving

Really, it's hard for me to accept that it's December. I keep looking at the calendar trying to reinforce the idea, but it just won't sink in. Since I don't often go out of town on long vacations, I think our honeymoon just really threw me for a loop. I left town when the weather was my favorite - low 70's and sunny - only to return to 40's and 50's. Brrr! What happened to my northeast toughness, you may ask? I spent the first 18 years of my life in Baltimore, MD and then headed even further north to Rochester, NY for college. Four years of 8-month winters and "lake-effect snow" was enough to encourage my pilgrimage to Atlanta, but I always laughed when I saw people around town bundled up when the thermostat read 50-degrees. "You have no idea what cold is! This isn't cold!" Now, I've become such a wimp. I can't seem to get warm in our drafty house. And I refuse to go out for my nightly walks because it's just too cold!

I got a break from the cold weather over Thanksgiving when Nick and I went to Orlando to visit some of his family. The weather? Sunny and high 60's. Yay! We got to see the family, reminisce about our wedding, walk on the beach, eat a delicious Thanksgiving dinner, window-shop without coats, and the really fun part - we went to going to Disney! I haven't been to Disneyworld since was about 8 years old. (Everything wasn't nearly as big as I remember...) The Magic Kingdom was so fun. My favorite rides were Pirates of the Carribean, Peter Pan and The Hanted Mansion. Funny how I remembered The Haunted Mansion. It must have scared me so much that the memory of standing in the dark waiting for the car to arrive is burned in my memory.

Check out this warped picture of Cinderella's Castle.
My iPhone had had a couple by this point. :)

Nick and I in line for Peter Pan...
One of the few lines we had to stand in.

Me and Dumbo. I'm the one wearing sunglasses.

Disney Ducks! These were actual real ducks!
After seeing all the mechanical animals for hours, we couldn't believe our eyes.

I was talking with Nick in general about taking kids to places like Disneyworld. When kids are so young, there's no way of knowing if they will ever remember it. He wondered if it was worth spending upwards of $50 or $75 for admission, plus hotel and transportation on an experience they may not remember. Since most memories are based on the emotions you feel at the moment, I'm thinking that Disney is a very memorable place. Whether they scream on Thunder Mountain or stood in awe of Mickey Mouse, chances are if they're tall enough to ride the rides, they'll probably remember something. But more important than that is that they had fun while they were there. Since we can't know what kids will remember, isn't it worth it to have the most varied, fun, exploratory, educational, new experiences possible?

(And now for the shameless plug....hey, at least I'll admit it!) This is why photography is so important. I think we've all had the experience of not remembering something from our childhood until we saw a photograph of it. Or even more extreme, when our visual memory is directly tied to that photograph. What memories will your kids have? What will they have the opportunity to remember simply because there's a photograph of it?

Paige & Ella

Saturday, I had the pleasure of meeting Ella and Paige at their home in Brookhaven. We had a fun morning playing in the playroom (Ella's play kitchen is nicer than mine ever was), napping, eating breakfast and playing outside until the cold air got the best of us. The dogs even got in on the pictures.

Thanks for a fun morning!

Patrick

I had such a blast on Wednesday with my buddy, Patrick. After completing the Growing Baby Portrait Package, his parents contacted me to photograph another session just in time for the holidays. Since I started photographing Patrick when he was a baby, it was a great surprise to walk into the house this week and hear him talking. His mom informed me that they'd been practicing my name all morning so when I walked into the living room, I was overjoyed to hear him say, "Hi, Sara."

The entire morning was filled with activity - flying like Superman with dad, reading a book in his room, showing me how he brushes his teeth with mom every night, and then a fun trip to East Cobb Park. If you live anywhere near this park and have kids, you know what I'm talking about. They have a fantastic playground that tempted me to put down my camera and go sliding down the slide.

It's been a great season of seeing my babies growing up into adorable kids!

View Patrick's slideshow by clicking the image below. (The show is available for purchase on DVD or digital download. Simply click the DVD icon in the menu bar of the show.)

Libby & Hamilton

This is the second time I've photographed twins, Libby & Hamilton. It's hard to believe that it's been a year and a half. Here they are at the last session in Spring 2007.

Now at 4, they are animated and full of personality. Hamilton's change of emotions in a snap was so funny, his mom and I couldn't stop laughing. You'll see in the slideshow how he went from pure joy and laughter to crying and screaming in frustration and back to laughter. It's so tough being a kid!

View the slideshow by clicking the image below. (The show is available for purchase on DVD or digital download. Simply click the DVD icon in the menu bar of the show.)

Have a great time in Disney! Say hi to Goofy for me.

William's Sister, Margaret

William welcomed his little sister, Margaret, into the family just 3 months ago. I photographed William throughout his first year so it was so special to be a part of this next chapter his life and to meet Margaret.

Being a big brother means a lot of responsibility. No hitting, pushing or smothering little Margaret - which isn't so easy to do when you're a 2 year old boy and you love your sister as much as William does. When she gets a little bigger, William, I promise she'll want to play with you. For now, loving hugs and making her laugh are perfect.

Margaret is so expressive for a 3 month old. I spent the whole session watching her move her eyebrows creating completely different moods. Happy, worried, curious, cautious... So cute.

View the slideshow by clicking the image below. (The show is available for purchase on DVD or digital download. Simply click the DVD icon in the menu bar of the show.)

Tripp and his cousins

It's holiday portrait time! I love this time of year. The leaves are changing to the most beautiful colors, the mornings are crisp and cool, and I feel a great sense of newness as the seasons change and we start to look forward to the holidays with family and cozying up in front of a warm fireplace.

This is the 3rd year I have photographed Tripp and this year his cousins joined him. The range of ages (2 - 11 years) made for a lot of excitement. It was a cold morning but after running around a bit to warm up playing hide-and-go-seek and duck-duck-goose, we had a great time on Roswell Square.

Some pictures from years past...

2006


2007

And here's this year's slideshow... Enjoy! (Click the image to view the slideshow - Contact the studio to purchase this slideshow on DVD.)

Thanks everyone for a fun morning! Next time, I'll bring the hot chocolate.

Reese's Second Portrait

At long last... it has been a while since I shot a portrait! Wow, marrying Nick and going on a 16-day honeymoon was the best thing that's happened to me in my life, but getting back to the little ones who make me smile everyday has been humbling. I must admit that it would be fantastic to be on perma-vacation, traveling to new and foreign lands, exploring nature and societies, and visiting my growing family, but being back and having this first portrait upon my return (and FIVE next week!), I am reminded that my responsibility is clear. Documenting families, little ones growing up and most important, the emotions that we all feel when surrounded by protecting and loving families is both meaningful for families and so satisfying for me. I am so lucky to have found my passion and especially people like you who appreciate what I do (and will pay for it!) I am so grateful to you for trusting me with the great responsibility of documenting your families.

This is Reese's second portrait for the Growing Baby Album Package and although I was hoping she'd remember me from months ago, when she woke from her nap to find me photographing her, she was quite puzzled. Her curiosity was adorable and the rest of the afternoon was active and fun. Reese is now standing and push-walking. You know, she can't quite walk on her own, so she needs some help, but she is on her way. My guess is that when I photograph her third portrait in a few months, she'll be rollerblading. Ha!

Enjoy the slideshow! Click the picture below.

Honeymoon pictures - sneak peak

Nick and I are putting together the hundreds of images we took in Belize with a journal we wrote each day. I am so glad that we took the time to write everything down because it's already feeling like a blur. We want to do an album where we can mesh the two together. That will probably take quite a while and we'll probably keep it to ourselves anyway, so I thought I'd start posting some pictures from our trip. Here's the first.

I would have been happy doing this for another week!

Wedding Pictures!

Back to work! But I am still in dreamland a bit. The wedding was amazing and the honeymoon was incredible. As you probably assumed, I was seriously anxious to see the pictures from the wedding. Chris and Katie did an AMAZING job and already put up some of the pictures. I snagged them to show you.

My gorgeous dress! I loved it!



My mom surprised me and brought the handkerchief that my grandmother gave her for her wedding. Good thing I had it during the ceremony! Isn't the detail amazing?




Nick and me, happy as ever.


While my grandmothers weren't there in body, their spirits were. We attached my Grandma's ring and my Mimi's earring to the bouquet. I remember both of these pieces of jewelry vividly on my beautiful grandmothers and knew that they were with me that day.


My wonderful parents....


The kiss!!


Married!


Our beautiful flowers by the amazing Susan Sleeper at Bold American. She was so fantastic at translating my vision into something even better. We wanted to bring the outdoors in and create a really cozy and comfortable reception.



The cake was chocolate, of course. And the design was taken from our invitations. Our guests loved the cake and even said it was the best wedding cake they'd ever had. Thanks to Baker's Man.


We took swing lessons for our first dance was some fantastic instructors, Liz and Jeff. (Photographed their portrait for their wedding invitations.) We were so excited to show everyone what we had learned and show off a bit. I just love everyone's expressions in this picture and my flowing dress!




Dancing with my dad. This is the most genuine and wonderful picture I've seen of my dad, ever.


Nick, of course, played a few songs for me toward the end of the reception. It was a real treat for our out-of-town relatives who rarely, if ever, get to see him play.


Instead of having a final exit which seemed sort of weird since we were staying at the hotel that night, we decided to hand out bubbles to everyone to enjoy a last dance. It was such a surreal and dreamy moment that I'll never forget.


More pictures to come... Plus some honeymoon pictures so check back...

Married and off on my honeymoon

Nick and I are married! The wedding was more amazing than I ever
imagined. All the months of preparations paid off. So many wonderful
memories from the whole weekend. So I'll just share some of them.

Elegant and simple maroon, rust orange, and chartruese green (and
mint!) flowers, our beautiful hand-made chuppah (made by my talented
Aunt Audrey), my gorgeous dress (loved wearing it so much and was so
comfortable in it that I didn't want to take it off!), our awesome
first dance (Lindy hop swing!), and magical bubbles for our last
dance. But the best part was being surrounded by all our family and
friends. We felt so much love it was incredible.

We're sitting at the airport waiting on our flight to Belize! I
probably won't be able to write from there, but I'll be sure to post
pictures and more memories when I get back!

Carter's 2nd Portrait

Carter has one of the warmest and adorable smiles I've ever seen and his parents are so sweet. I have just loved getting to know this family. Photographing their dog, Hiro, at the last session was a lot of fun too so I had to keep up with that tradition and stole some moments of him as well.

Carter has grown a bunch since I last saw him and reminded me of how much the feeling of the portrait sessions and the images change from session to session. As little ones grow, the level of energy and action increases and it's so fun to watch and document those changes.

Enjoy the slideshow! Click the image to view the slideshow.

This is the official last post before my wedding but I'll try to post some updates throughout the next few weeks.

Holiday Card Designs

With all the beautiful weather we've been having, we've been getting a lot of calls and emails about our holiday cards. So I thought I'd post the catalog of designs. I've posted the full catalog in the sidebar on the right, so feel free to take a look and contact us for information about ordering.

We have a great selection of new designs that we are really excited about. Please keep in mind that all of these can accommodate custom text and many designs offer different color options. The sky's the limit. Changes start at $25 per change per design (excluding inputting your family's names - there is no extra charge for this.)

For current clients, you're welcome to choose pictures from your most recent portrait session or event. For new clients, if you'd like to book a session in order to purchase cards, the deadline for all portraits sessions is November 15th. November 22nd is the deadline for all holiday cards and gift orders.

October Newsletter

Click here to read our latest e-newsletter - released TODAY. Topics include holiday gifts, our Best of Atlanta award, deadlines for the holidays and a proper introduction of my new assistant, Jessica.

If you'd like to stay "in the know," sign up for our newsletters here. They go out about once a month and we NEVER share your information with a third party.

Sisters: Nicole & Sofia

Oh, how I love photographing sisters. Since I never had one, I just love capturing this amazing and wonderful relationship. Nicole and Sofia are great friends and have so much fun together. I was a bit curious to see what would happen when I asked them to hug, knowing that if someone had asked my brother, Jeff, and me to do that at their age, we both would have said, "EW! No way!" But these girls were so happy to be close to each other, even if Nicole decided it would be fun to lift her sister up by her head, it was still a really fun moment.

Love this fun picture of them playing in the grass. Enjoy the slideshow! Click the image below to view.

Who can I talk to??!

We are getting SOOO close to the wedding! Only 10 days left. My last day working will be this Saturday so if you need to reach us about scheduling a portrait session, placing an order, inquiring about our wedding photography, or general questions, please contact my fantastic assistant, Jessica. Jessica (at) saraphotography.com. She will be happy to answer any questions you may have until I return on November 3rd.

A couple more posts to come before then....

Merrick's Smile

Saturday was another great day at Piedmont Park. I knew from the time we met at our planning meeting that Merrick was going to be a lot of fun. She was smiling and laughing and having a great time just hanging out in the studio. The portrait session didn't disappoint. :) I met Merrick and her parents at the park and had a wonderful time capturing her adorable smile. I love this first image of her snuggling up with her dad. So precious.

Click the image below to view the slideshow.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all the MOT's! Tonight begins Rosh Hashanah in the Jewish calendar so we'll be closed tomorrow to celebrate this important holiday. We'll be back in the studio Wednesday morning at 10am.

Best of Atlanta

Creative Loafing's Best of Atlanta results were announced last week and we won Best Local Visual Arts Blog again! Woohoo! Thanks to everyone who voted!

Liz & Jeff - Engagment Portrait

Nick and I have been taking dancing lessons for our wedding in.... 16 days! Wow, I have so much to do! Anyway, we love our instructors. They are so fun and great teachers. So when they told us at our second lesson that Jeff had proposed just days before, we were so excited. It's been fun comparing wedding planning notes with Liz and sharing in all the excitement. So when they asked me to photograph an engagement session for them, I instantly said yes. They are planning to use one of the pictures from this session in their wedding invitation. Good luck with that you guys! There are a bunch of really great ones and I don't know how you'll decide!

Since they were dance partners before they started dating and haven't stopped dancing since, we had to include some fun pictures of them dancing together.

Enjoy the slideshow! Click the picture below to view it.

See you at the next lesson!

Elias's Laughter

Sunday continued with beautiful weather and another fun portrait with 6-month-old Elias. Elias and his mom are visiting Elias's Aunt and Grandma from California and it was a joy to meet them at a park in College Park. Toward the end of the portrait session, something made Elias laugh and laugh and laugh. In an unusual turn of events, Elias's laughter actually made his family (and me!) laugh too. Usually its the other way around so this was a fun change. Love that sincere and happy moment.

Hope y'all are having a wonderful time at the beach! Here's your slideshow!

Four-legged Friends and Boundless Mia

Friday evening's portrait session was with my neighbor Carole. We did some quick professional headshots and then headed outside for some pictures with her favorite buddies. Don't the pups look like they're smiling?

Then Saturday morning I met the unstoppable Mia. She is so much fun, full of energy and loves to dance. The funniest thing is that her mom thought she may be shy and hiding behind her mom's leg the whole shoot. Boy, was she wrong! Mia is definitely coming into her own as a beautiful and talented 6 year old. Just love the carefree fun expressed through the pictures. Click the image below to view the slideshow.

More to come soon. Had a really fun portrait this afternoon with a fantastic couple - our wedding dance instructors, Liz and Jeff. And yes, there was dancing involved.

2 year old Clark and his trucks

This was a record-breaking weekend for me. 4 portraits in 3 days! Woohoo! I LOVE the fall! And how perfect was the weather?! Just amazing. I've gotta get out into it this evening - now if I could only find some gas. :)

The first portrait of the weekend was Friday morning with Clark. He is an adorable 2 year old who loves trucks. The large dump trucks that were at Piedmont Park (expanding the park and building the infamous parking garage) would have been an ugly interruption for most clients, but Clark was so excited to see them rolling through and happily boasted his knowledge of colors of each truck as it passed.

I love his innocence and playfulness that came through in these images. Click the image below to view the slideshow.

Thank you Clark and Jackie!

Fun with Words

These are all the most common words on my blog...Funny that I like the word "much" so much. Ooops, now I've used it 2 more times!

Found this awesome site at another photographer's blog, (Melissa Jill), who in turn found it on another photographer's blog (Matt Nicolosi). I guess this goes to show that we all sometimes need a mindless break from work. You know you do too, so give it a try!

Go to the site, www.wordle.net, enter a blog address or RSS feed and the program will automatically generate word art from the most used words on the site. Then you can change colors, font and even the direction of the words. Matt actually put in Obama and McCain's sites and got some interesting results.

Happy Friday!

Start a new tradition

We've been working on carrying some new and exclusive items just for the holidays since August. It's always strange to think about snow, Christmas, Hannukah and New Year's during the summer heat, but we are really excited about these new items. Check it out...

The snowflake ornament is made of solid pewter and features your favorite picture front and center. Perfect for little hands and feet, a close-up portrait, or a picture of someone sitting pretty like this one.

Then there's the keepsake year frame that features a larger picture and your choice of a 2007 or 2008 charm.

Either can be added to any portrait package or ordered from your portrait session from earlier this year.

Start a new tradition and purchase one every year. Imagine your Christmas tree as your very own photo album. Or when you go party-hopping in December and are taking a bottle of wine to your friends' and family's homes, add these to personalize your gift. They'll love that you thought to give them something special.

Deadline for all holiday orders is Saturday, November 22nd.

Check back soon for more information on holiday ideas and gifts, and click here to join our mailing list to get the information delivered right to your inbox!

Pins & Needles

Hope you had a fun holiday. My long weekend was great. Got a ton done on the house (yay for our brand new shed and being able to get all our tools out of the house!) and a bit on the wedding (less than 6 weeks to go!), but I was struck with a nasty cold on Sunday. When many people may feel themselves getting sick, they decide to load up on vitamins, fluids and rest. I decided to skip that third item and try to do as much as possible for the yuckiness set in. I managed to mow the lawn, organize some more things in the shed, continue designing on our wedding sign-in book, change the light bulbs in the kitchen and go grocery shopping. I'm crazy, I know. So now I sit in my studio working away, unable to speak because my throat hurts so much. At least there's email and "quiet" productivity. Here's a hot tea and Ricola lozenge toast to feeling better ASAP.