Is there any more magical time of the year?

Even now as a mom I can feel the magic of the excitement that my little girls have each Christmas season.  I remember I would walk up early - I'm talking like 3am early - and I would sneak downstairs and...you guys...

SANTA HAD COME.

I would view every single present and, without touching, try to guess what was in them.  Then, I would pop in this Disney Christmas Special movie and wait until 5am, when my generous (now I realize HOW generous!) parents told me I could wake them. 

What makes the holiday season the most magical is MAKING the magic along the way - looking at Christmas lights, watching Rudolph and Frosty on TV, and...meeting Santa Claus.

It is such a joy to be able to offer Santa Sessions along with Andrea Farmer Photography and to be a part of the magic that gets strung along during the holiday season.  It's so awesome to give kids one-on-one time with Santa - away from the long lines at the mall- where they can go over their Christmas list, listen to him read a book and whisper secrets in his ear.

This year we have rented a beautiful studio in Nashville that offers an airy shabby chic feel.  We will have 2-3 setups for you guys - Santa and then one or two others just for kids and family - so perfect for holiday cards and annual holiday memorabilia. 
 

THESE BOOK UP SUPER FAST YOU GUYS, SO IF YOU WANT A SPOT, GRAB IT ASAP.

DETAILS:
 

• Sunday, November 20 
• 10:30am - 2:00pm
• Booking families every 15 minutes
• $99 session fee for session only (due upon booking, non-refundable, transferrable)
• Digital & print package purchase options (email me for these details)
• Free ornament gift with early package purchase (details with pricing sheet)

Liza Hippler is a lifestyle photographer serving the Middle Tennessee area including Franklin TN, Brentwood TN, Nashville TN, Spring Hill TN, Thompson Station TN, Belle Meade TN and surrounding areas.  She specializes in families, children, babies, newborns and maternity photography. She would love to hear from you and be your Nashville photographer for your next session.

Recently, I took a brilliant photography course all about lifestyle photography.  It's funny, as I went through it, it hit home so deeply, and I found myself going, "YES! YES! THIS! SO MUCH THIS!"  

I've always found it a little awkward to do more formal portrait-style posing, and I have DEFINITELY found that children like traditional portraits about as much as they like sitting still and quiet during church...or on airplanes (unless it's just my kids loudly demanding for more gummies and an iPhone??). 

So, as I took this course and realized that lifestyle photography was very real and very legit (too legit to quit, perhaps), I was so excited.  I have always resonated with a more relaxed shooting style - one that guides people naturally into connection.  Even back when I was shooting film headshots in Los Angeles, I would give people scenarios to embody instead of things like, "Head up, chin to the left, chin down, chin up, up, more down, less up, shoulder back, don't blink, or move, more with the eyes...." (Not that my Nashville, TN business headshot clients don't get some of that, but STILL.)

ANYWAY, I was so moved and felt so like this was ME at my core, that I went out and did a model call for a few families to help me revamp my portfolio to reflect this new style.  I had SO MANY AMAZING FAMILIES respond!!  It was hard to narrow it down, so I really went with what *I* needed in my portfolio to give it a look of different families all just, well, being themselves, really!

My first official lifestyle shoot was with Nayoon and her adorable family.  She sent me photos of these ready-for-Gap-ad kiddos and I was like YES.  Haha!

And then she wrote to me and say her husband just got an old Cadillac and could we maybe use that in photos!  HELLO!! Um...YES?!

So, based on their little questionnaire, I choose a location for them.  And, I have to say, I pride myself on location picking.  I try my best to match the scene to my families, and I have had every single one so far respond that they either love that place or that, unbeknownst to me, it has special meaning for them.  It's so awesome!  

One of the things I LOVE about this kind of photography is the ease and the go-with-the-flow-ness (real thing).  So, you know, if your previously-presumed-camera-shy son suddenly discovers a complete fascination with the camera and turns into a ham, running away from the "everyone sit and snuggle" shot, it's fine!  It's totally fine, mamas!  Because LOOK at how cute...

He just kept running back and forth from me to his family, giving me all his glorious 2-year-old expressions! (And probably loving that no one was making him sit and smile!)

And then there was his beautiful sister, who is 5, and really, when you're a girl and you're 5, things are a little more serious, right?  You want to look beautiful and twirl and talk grown up talk.  (I know, I have a 6 year old girl.)  And so she did. 

It's so fun for me to see how siblings interact.  Having two girls (who are a little nutty...or a lot nutty, depending on the time of day) and their love-you/get-out-of-my-face relationship, I love being a witness to other siblings and watching them (and capturing them) simply play together.

It's important to me to always get a few shots of mom and dad together.  I mean, that's how it all started, right?!  Just two people and then BOOM, a baby.  And, just like in life, the focus goes so much on family that we can forget to the core connection of mom and dad.

And then it's time to melt your heart.  Mommy with her kids and daddy with his kids.  Being a parent, I understand every look of love and look of "stop it" that parents give.  And I know every look of "Mommy, you're the best" and "Mommy, you're so annoying."  And I understand how our hearts are now running around outside our bodies.

Something that I find very important, too, is to get some shots of mom all by herself.  Man, moms hold down some FORTS, don't we?  And rarely, RARELY, are we ever in our own photos, let alone get a shot of us as we are today, a wife, a mom a warrior (cheesy, maybe, but whatever).  Kids should have photos of mom to look back at.  And mom should have photos to look at say, "Yes. This is me.  I feel good where I am."

Liza Hippler is a lifestyle photographer serving the Middle Tennessee area including Franklin, Brentwood, Nashville, Spring Hill, Thompson Station, Belle Meade and surrounding areas.  She specializes in families, children, babies, newborns and maternity. She would love to hear from you and be your Nashville photographer for your next session.

This past April was my first annual Celebrate Mothers Mini Session Event.  It was three days of just mamas and their babies (of any age!).  Along the way, I learned a few things I'd do a teeny bit differently next year, but what I got out of it the most was HOW MUCH LOVE there is between mothers and their babes.  Oh, my.  Each session left my heart warmed!  And so did the COLLAGES!

My first session was with Lisa and her girls, Kate and Anna.  Anna is now THREE and I also got to shoot her six month photos (see them HERE). If you look, you'll see some things never change - she broke down during that shoot and she broke down during this one!  One of the things that endears me most to Lisa is how she loves the photos of the kids losing it!  It's just such a natural part of motherhood/childhood - I love mommies that embrace it!  (See Anna down there in the corner?  Still so pretty through all the tears!)  We got her to smile eventually, though.  The shoot was in my backyard, so we had her hop on the YELLOW swing (much more desirable than the green one, you know), and that improved her mood immediately. 

By far my favorite "perk" of this session was the mother-child collages.  Each mother wrote a little letter to their children describing what they wanted to remember about each child at this age, and each child drew or wrote (or both) a love note to their mom and then they got a complimentary 8x10 of their collage.  Isn't it adorable! 

For the first few people who signed up, I had a gift.  I let them purchase a $1 gift session to give to a mom in their lives who meant something special.  Lisa chose one of her daughter's teachers, Michelle.  Then she showed up with HER mom, so we had three generations!  So sweet!  Little Chandler (isn't that a great name?) was the sweetest - and look at those eyes!!  

Here's Michelle and Chandler's collage:

I'll be sharing the rest of the sessions soon!

It's the CUTEST time of the year!  Valentine's Minis are a wonderful way to document your kiddos post-holiday.  Not too much out-of-pocket and low stress.  Hearts and red and love and CHEEKS!  (Because I know I'll see some chubby cheeks!!)

Details below.  TO BOOK, use this contact form or send an email to liza@lizahipplerphotography.com

Here are the details:

• Saturday, January 30th
• 10am - 12pm
• 15-Minute Sessions
• 8 Edited Digital Images
• Photo Print Release
• Online Gallery
• $150 All-Inclusive
• Album and prints available for additional purchase
• Adorable Valentine's themed set-up with cute props at in-home studio in Cool Springs.  Relaxed atmosphere with all the amenities of home (because, well, it IS a home)!

AVAILABLE TIMES: 10:00, 10:15, 10:30, 10:45, 11:00, 11:15, 11:30, 11:45

*mini sessions are open to children only, no parents or newborns