Announcing: Holiday Mini Sessions 2016

It's that time again! Mini Sessions and Signature Sessions are booking up more quickly than I'd imagined. That's a blessing and a beautiful thing, and I'm extremely grateful.

Click the image below to reserve your Mini Session before they're gone.  

*Updated 9/30 at 7pm: YOU SWEET-HEARTED PEOPLE. WE ARE ALL BOOKED UP FOR MINI SESSIONS THIS YEAR!! I do hope you'll reserve a Signature Session on the two open weekends I have left open until Christmas, or a weekday morning or evening. I cannot thank you enough! xoxox

Or if you'd rather have the next weekend and a morning session....

I only have a few weekend dates left open through October and November, so if you're looking to have gift prints, albums and/or cards in time for the holidays, I'd highly encourage you to get in touch with me today to reserve your session. 

If you're flexible, I can definitely offer you a weekday morning or evening. But those weekend dates are booking up more quickly than I'd anticipated. Be sure to reach out to me if you're even remotely interested in reserving a session with me this Fall, so that I can make room for you and your sweet family.

Thank you my sweet friends, for your love and support this past year. I hope to see your precious faces soon.

xoxo,
Stacey

Brand New

The biggest, tiniest grins.

The sweetest, scrunchiest yawns.

And the most adoring, loving first-time parents. 

If you'd like to schedule your lifestyle newborn session with me, I'd love to hear from you! Click here to get in touch. 

The Del Bassos: A Family Session on the Beach

This beautiful family was an absolute dream. If I could photograph them every day, I would. Adoring, brilliant parents. Crazy-smart kids. Fantastic senses of humor We met one recent evening at the Hyatt Regency on Clearwater Beach, but of course it's Spring Break here and we didn't want to fight the crowds (read: shoot around a hundred people in bathing suits). So we hopped on over to one of my favorite quiet beaches just south of CWB. Sand Key Park is one of my best little back-pocket beaches, and I love sharing it with my families. I can get so many different looks from one beautiful place. Things like that make a photographer immensely happy.

You know I adore documenting the connections between the people in my portraits. So one way I get families to think more about each other (and less about having a big camera in their faces) is to ask them questions while I shoot. Often when shooting pairs (mom with her son, dad with his daughter, etc.) I will ask the kids to tell me one thing their mom or dad does for them that makes them feel special. Or tell me one thing they love about their mom or dad. And it's a great way to find out their love languages too! See for yourself...

So I gathered that one of Mom's love languages is Physical Touch. I'll bet you noticed too? Her contented smile when she reached out for her children (and her husband) melts my heart every time I look at these. You can see that her son shares her language because when she reached out to tousle his hair, he closed his eyes and just enjoyed it. He also said that he feels loved when his dad encourages him to do his best at everything. (Words of Affirmation for the win!) And love that Dad put his hand on his son's neck too, as they were walking. The littlest one was really snuggly with her mama this evening... made my heart nearly burst. As did the sweet way daddy and his middle daughter laughed together as he was tickling her and throwing her into the air. She was delighted to be center of attention and have her turn in front of the camera, and I'd be very willing to guess that one of her love languages is Quality Time. :)

Truly, what a gem of a family. I am so very blessed to have spent this evening being inspired by them and getting to know their hearts.

XOXO,
Stacey 

Road Trip Summer 2014 | iPhone Collection

The kids and I have been traveling this month, roadtripping to Kentucky to visit my family and then to North Carolina to visit Chris's. Thirty hours in the car with little ones? Yes, I am certifiably crazy. But we made memories. We saw my grandma who is very ill (it was hard leaving her house, knowing it's likely the last time I'll kiss her soft cheek this side of Heaven). Lila learned how to swim and Charlotte splashed and pretended she was a mermaid. Parker wanted to take home every dog he saw (bless his heart). We caught lots of bass and bluegill from the best little fishing hole ever, we sipped honeysuckle and picked blackberries and we ate yummy homemade country food. We visited my sisters and my kids' cousins and all three of my remaining grandparents. We met new friends and played with old ones, we fed bread to ducks and grilled hot dogs and paddled a boat on a pond in the twilight and touched lilypads. We watched a field of cows graze on grass and we climbed apple trees and ate fresh tomatoes and corn on the cob. We swung on porch swings and tire swings and rope swings. We caught "lightning bugs" and kept them in a jar, and we slept late and stayed up even later. We watched movies and played games and ate cake and celebrated two birthdays. We took lots and lots of photos, more than I can count. WE LIVED LIFE TO THE FULLEST. And it was beautiful.

So I thought I'd share some simple iPhone photos from our trip with you. I have a lot more from the "big camera" that I'll share soon too. I also had the honor of photographing some sweet folks from back home during my visit, so look for those to be featured on the blog in the next week or so.

“People, there's no such thing as, THE BEST CAMERA BRAND, but yes there will always be THE BEST CAMERA AT ANY GIVEN TIME. Technology will change, but not art.”  ― Ashraf Saharudin

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I post a lot on Instagram these days, because it's easier than blogging and lets me post short, one-image entries rather quickly. Sometimes I post client work, sometimes you'll see more personal reflections and my kids' memories-in-process, but whatever you see will always come with a lot of heart. If you'd like to get to know me a little better and catch up with me more often than simply here on the blog, then I'd love for you to FOLLOW ME  @staceywoods on Instagram.

Have a wonderful Friday, my friends.

Possibilities

Sometimes the most interesting parts of a photograph are the details and possibilities that are suggested.

I'm not sure what I love more about this photograph: the seen or the unseen.

I love the visible part of this sweet girl's legs and feet, as she's jumping ever so slightly above the edge of the wave... Daddy standing tall nearby to protect her and lift her should she lose her balance.  It's a quiet, gentle image of a father and daughter that I find myself coming back to again and again.

But I'm also drawn to the reflection of her, arms stretched upwards in a ballerina's pose.  That water-filled dip in the sand that suggests that she was just standing in that very spot, just before the tide washed its most recent wave up to the shore.  Just before she leaped over that wave and into the deeper tide.  Bravery and spirit, confident youth.

Daddy -- and his shadow -- planted as firmly as possible in the soft, wet sand, watching over his little girl to make sure she doesn't dance too far from his protection.  He knows that someday she'll dance a little further and further from him as she grows up, as she moves confidently into her life's path, into her own oceans.

So I'm curious... what do you see?  :)

Merry & Bright Mini-Sessions

It's Mini-Session time again!  Every Fall, I offer Holiday Minis so that you can update your family's photos if you've had them done earlier in the year.  Lots of clients see me every few years for those big milestones (pregnancies, new babies, birthdays, etc.) and then opt for a mini-session in between.  And sometimes, families who aren't quite ready for a full Signature Session opt to try a mini-session and dip their toe in slowly. So which one are you?  :)

I have THREE open spaces left:  Saturday September 28 at 6:30 (the sun sets at 7:20) and Saturday October 5 at 5:15pm and 5:45pm (the sun sets at 7:12pm).

The location we've chosen offers the best of both worlds: a lush green setting.... rows of pine trees, clusters of sea grapes, and a pond surrounded by reeds and rushes.  And it just happens to be on the beach as well... a picturesque boardwalk leading to the Gulf of Mexico, soft waves lapping over the sand, a huge stretch of white sand beach, dunes covered in sea oats and wildflowers, and even a tiki hut.  (How cool would a tiki hut be on your Christmas card this year, right?!)

To reserve your family's reservation, just send me an email using the contact button up there on the right sidebar.... ----> or give me a call at 727-698-0344.  All sessions must be paid in full to reserve your spot; all mini-sessions are filled on a first-come, first-serve basis.

I can't wait to see you!

If you have to take cover from the rain under a tiki hut....

...then make sure you do so with a super cute and fun family with a great sense of humor!

What an amazing family!  They were such good sports about our infamous Gulf of Mexico / Tampa Bay evening thunderstorms, even despite dodging buckets of rain and having to take cover inside a tiki hut on the beach.  Not quite what we had in mind for our session, of course, but I think we got some pretty awesome images from our time together.

Best of luck to Drew and Morgan on your senior year!!  I hope it's your best one yet.

My Birthday Boy

Today is my love's birthday. (Well, yesterday, by the time you read this.)

That's us, circa July 2000.  It was our first wedding anniversary, and we'd gone back to the beach where we'd said our vows the year before.

Chris deserves a bit of attention today, because without him, I probably wouldn't be here at all. His quiet encouragement for the past 14 years, his dry sense of humor when things are chaotic, his sensible perspective despite all of The Crazy I bring... these traits are beautiful to me. I am so proud, and so glad, that this man is mine.

That baby girl isn't Charlotte... it's baby Lila.  ;)

I am the mushy one who can stretch out a compliment a mile long. / Chris quickly gets to the point about what he likes. But he is sweet and sincere, and his "All my love, Chris" card signature is every bit as beautiful to me as a poem.

I love to try new things. / My husband is as predictable as the hands on a clock.  He will deny it outright, but truly, his routine = solace.

I am creative and so messy. I love pens and notebooks and flowers and frames and images and anything lovely to inspire me while I work. / His most-used tools are spreadsheets and calculators, and he has nary a photograph on his desk.  (Especially shocking to me, considering my profession and the abundance of photographs we have in our home. But I digress.)

I am forgetful and flighty despite my very best intentions. / Chris is dependable, true to his word every time. If he says he'll be there at 7pm, he pretty much guarantees it.

A lot of times my introverted-ness comes out, and I tend to shy away from crowds, or at the very least hold back, smile and just people-watch until it's over. / Chris is most definitely Mr. Life of the Party.

We are opposite in so many ways, but the things we have in common far outweigh our differences.

Together, we helped God create the three most beautiful children on the planet.

We both enjoy a delicious steak.  He's even coming around to my way of grilling cooking them, I think. Maybe. Possibly?

Music is essential to our lives, every single day. We have so many songs that we connect to.

We love Dallas.  Not the city, the TV show.  (We used to watch old episodes of the original Dallas together, on the Soap Network years ago.  Rest in peace, Larry Hagman.)  I rarely watch anything on TV, but I have to admit that I look so forward to Monday nights, snuggled up next to Chris on the couch.

We can't imagine living any distance away from the beach.  We've both experienced snow, sleet, and "iiiice storms" enough to know what we like. That sweet, salty air in our lungs is necessary for us to breathe, now.

We try and trump each other by rattling off funny movie quotes at the most well-timed (or ill-timed) moments. Usually something from a corny slapstick movie.

A little Johnny Cash, some comfy chairs on the patio, a bottle for him and a glass for me, always make for the best date nights ever.

And he is never more attractive to me than when he's being a good daddy. Which is pretty much all the time.

We are yin and yang. Peanut butter and jelly. Oreos and milk. Tarzan and Jane.  :)

Happy 44th Birthday, my sweet southern boy.  I'm yours forever.

xo, Stacey Jo

A beautiful family showcase on this gorgeous Friday.

Happy Friday!!  I just wanted to share a sweet client session as we finish up their print order.  They had such great style, and I loved their laid-back, fun, vibe.

Whew.  So I had more than a few favorites.  They were such a lovely family though, and it was hard for me to resist posting them all.

I hope you have a beautiful weekend, friends!

The Almost-kiss in the Almost-dark

I'm preparing this sweet family's gallery to go up, but I have to stop and share one of my favorites with you.

We were losing daylight quickly, and maybe that's what grabs me the most about this image... that tender almost-kiss in the almost-dark. Makes me swoon every time.

-Stacey