• Happy *late* Easter post from our little family to yours!!! Praising God that because He Lives, we can face tomorrow and all fear is gone. So thankful for the cross. This year is quite special because Evy grasps about 15% of the Easter story. It’s hard to explain to a three year old! One of her best responses was “Jesus lives in my back.... because I’m protecting him from getting hurt on the cross”... 😭😭😭What are the funniest thing your toddlers have said about the Easter story!?!
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    Happy *late* Easter post from our little family to yours!!! Praising God that because He Lives, we can face tomorrow and all fear is gone. So thankful for the cross. This year is quite special because Evy grasps about 15% of the Easter story. It’s hard to explain to a three year old! One of her best responses was “Jesus lives in my back.... because I’m protecting him from getting hurt on the cross”... 😭😭😭What are the funniest thing your toddlers have said about the Easter story!?!
  • Swipe to see this same spot five years ago. We had been married for five years and had just bought 7 acres of land that wasn’t even for sale to begin with. The first time we drove down this road, we just knew this was it. But it seemed literally impossible. How can you buy land that someone wasn’t selling?! We took a risk and wrote the best letter of our life!! 😂 Then, about two years later, we had the opportunity to buy the 15 acres next to us and we just felt like it was the right decision but didn’t have all of the answers as to what its’ purpose would be. Now there is a willow tree on that property, tucked away in a special little grove, where we sprinkled our second baby’s ashes and held his memorial service. This place still seems like a dream to us. I go back and forth between these two pictures and it all really seems like a dream. A lot of life has happened between these two images. A lot of people, from all different parts of our life, have walked on this dirt... for celebrations of all kinds. From client cookout reunions to over 25 baby and wedding showers to workshops to small groups to college alumni gatherings to dozens of friend sleepovers to Baby James’ memorial service..... God had a plan for this place all along. I know there is a lot of life left to live on these rolling hills in Goochland.... but tonight, as we took a family walk to the mailbox to send out Evy’s letter she “wrote” to a friend....I couldn’t help but think of how far we have come since this second photo. I’m thankful and grateful and humbled. We’ve weathered some significant storms on this property and we know there will be more to come.... but tonight, I just found myself taking in all of the goodness that can be found when we look back and see how faithful God has been. Ps. Please notice Evy’s shoe choice... it was a painfully slow walk home. 😂
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    Swipe to see this same spot five years ago. We had been married for five years and had just bought 7 acres of land that wasn’t even for sale to begin with. The first time we drove down this road, we just knew this was it. But it seemed literally impossible. How can you buy land that someone wasn’t selling?! We took a risk and wrote the best letter of our life!! 😂 Then, about two years later, we had the opportunity to buy the 15 acres next to us and we just felt like it was the right decision but didn’t have all of the answers as to what its’ purpose would be. Now there is a willow tree on that property, tucked away in a special little grove, where we sprinkled our second baby’s ashes and held his memorial service. This place still seems like a dream to us. I go back and forth between these two pictures and it all really seems like a dream. A lot of life has happened between these two images. A lot of people, from all different parts of our life, have walked on this dirt... for celebrations of all kinds. From client cookout reunions to over 25 baby and wedding showers to workshops to small groups to college alumni gatherings to dozens of friend sleepovers to Baby James’ memorial service..... God had a plan for this place all along. I know there is a lot of life left to live on these rolling hills in Goochland.... but tonight, as we took a family walk to the mailbox to send out Evy’s letter she “wrote” to a friend....I couldn’t help but think of how far we have come since this second photo. I’m thankful and grateful and humbled. We’ve weathered some significant storms on this property and we know there will be more to come.... but tonight, I just found myself taking in all of the goodness that can be found when we look back and see how faithful God has been. Ps. Please notice Evy’s shoe choice... it was a painfully slow walk home. 😂
  • Photographers... have you ever experienced a bad case of what I’m calling “bypassed beauties” in your work? Let me explain. Normally, every wedding we shoot results in a few TOP IMAGES. These images are normally a part of the same-day slideshow, the sneak peek on Instagram, maybe it’s the photo you post to announce that the blog post is live...... but beyond that epic shot or two, nothing else gets shared or highlighted! This past week, I’ve been working on re-creating our #kjconsistencycourse and I found myself scrolling through old galleries and thinking “oh my gosh these are so pretty and I completely BYPASSED them on social media!! No one even knows that I took these and they’re beautiful!!!” So then I realized, what a PERFECT time to go back through some of my portfolios galleries and pull a few “bypassed beauties” from past shoots to share on the gram while we’re all in quarantine!!! I guarantee you that you probably have so much un-posted potential living in some of your online galleries that you could have content for WEEKS!!! Good luck! Go get em’!! Ps. These images are from a gorgeous wedding in France!! Oh what I wouldn’t given to go back and get to shoot these all over again!!
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    Photographers... have you ever experienced a bad case of what I’m calling “bypassed beauties” in your work? Let me explain. Normally, every wedding we shoot results in a few TOP IMAGES. These images are normally a part of the same-day slideshow, the sneak peek on Instagram, maybe it’s the photo you post to announce that the blog post is live...... but beyond that epic shot or two, nothing else gets shared or highlighted! This past week, I’ve been working on re-creating our #kjconsistencycourse and I found myself scrolling through old galleries and thinking “oh my gosh these are so pretty and I completely BYPASSED them on social media!! No one even knows that I took these and they’re beautiful!!!” So then I realized, what a PERFECT time to go back through some of my portfolios galleries and pull a few “bypassed beauties” from past shoots to share on the gram while we’re all in quarantine!!! I guarantee you that you probably have so much un-posted potential living in some of your online galleries that you could have content for WEEKS!!! Good luck! Go get em’!! Ps. These images are from a gorgeous wedding in France!! Oh what I wouldn’t given to go back and get to shoot these all over again!!
  • If you are in our business course, you could hold me accountable for my lack of diversity in my recent posts.... they are all of my babies. But right now... I’m just gonna share what I love and I sure do love this little man. There is something so special about him. He’s calm but intense. Daring but a little reserved. Loud and yet chill. Excitable but also sensitive. He’s attached to me right now and I don’t hate it. He’ll crawl to me and then lay his head down on the top of my feet when he’s tired of trying to keep up with his sister. He embodies so much hope and joy to me and I can’t believe he’s 11 months old. His blog post actually went live last week and I have to say I’m proud of myself for not posting it three weeks late! I take so many pictures of my kids because I feel like everyday I’m losing a piece of their little-ness that I can’t get back but I can freeze in a way that brings me a lot of joy!! If you’re a photographer who wishes you used your gift and your nice gear for yourself and your own kids, go find a single window with a prime lens and do something creative during this down time. Not only will you be being creative but you will be documenting small but special memories during a hard season of life that you will love to have five years from now. ❤️
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    If you are in our business course, you could hold me accountable for my lack of diversity in my recent posts.... they are all of my babies. But right now... I’m just gonna share what I love and I sure do love this little man. There is something so special about him. He’s calm but intense. Daring but a little reserved. Loud and yet chill. Excitable but also sensitive. He’s attached to me right now and I don’t hate it. He’ll crawl to me and then lay his head down on the top of my feet when he’s tired of trying to keep up with his sister. He embodies so much hope and joy to me and I can’t believe he’s 11 months old. His blog post actually went live last week and I have to say I’m proud of myself for not posting it three weeks late! I take so many pictures of my kids because I feel like everyday I’m losing a piece of their little-ness that I can’t get back but I can freeze in a way that brings me a lot of joy!! If you’re a photographer who wishes you used your gift and your nice gear for yourself and your own kids, go find a single window with a prime lens and do something creative during this down time. Not only will you be being creative but you will be documenting small but special memories during a hard season of life that you will love to have five years from now. ❤️
  • I just want to thank my sweet neighbors for planting beautiful trees years ago and creating my favorite spring backdrop. This spot has seen our happiest of days and some of our saddest. If you are following me because you’re carrying a baby that you’re going to lose... I want you to swipe right and then read this: I was devastated in this photo. I was trying to figure out how to look “not devastated” in my maternity photos but also not force a fake smile because I was 7 days into knowing we were losing him. It seems so ironic that these photos were taken in the winter when the branches were bare and there wasn’t any sign of new life..... but there was new life to come. There was new hope to be found. This felt like the end of me but it wasn’t. Joy comes after mourning. I often think about what my reaction would have been if someone had shown me pictures of my current life in the past. If someone had shown me this first picture while I was taking James’ maternity portraits, I would have sobbed and thought “I still get to have a baby boy? I look so happy. Evy is so grown up and beautiful. Michael and I seem happy and healthy..... I look like I’m Okay. I actually look more than okay, I look so happy.... almost like I’m thriving..... I guess I won’t feel so lost forever... one day I’ll be myself again.....this is just a season”. Easter is coming.... my favorite part of the story is how it seemed absolutely hopeless.... darkness and pain... the unimaginable... and yet the world was on the cusp of being changed forever in the most incredible way. Your redemption story will come sweet momma. I don’t know who this is for... but I know that if I read this when I was in that second photo, it would have been something hopeful that I would have clung to in my pain. God hasn’t forgotten about you or your baby. This is just the hardest part of the story but this isn’t the finale. ❤️ #jamesmichaelalsop
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    I just want to thank my sweet neighbors for planting beautiful trees years ago and creating my favorite spring backdrop. This spot has seen our happiest of days and some of our saddest. If you are following me because you’re carrying a baby that you’re going to lose... I want you to swipe right and then read this: I was devastated in this photo. I was trying to figure out how to look “not devastated” in my maternity photos but also not force a fake smile because I was 7 days into knowing we were losing him. It seems so ironic that these photos were taken in the winter when the branches were bare and there wasn’t any sign of new life..... but there was new life to come. There was new hope to be found. This felt like the end of me but it wasn’t. Joy comes after mourning. I often think about what my reaction would have been if someone had shown me pictures of my current life in the past. If someone had shown me this first picture while I was taking James’ maternity portraits, I would have sobbed and thought “I still get to have a baby boy? I look so happy. Evy is so grown up and beautiful. Michael and I seem happy and healthy..... I look like I’m Okay. I actually look more than okay, I look so happy.... almost like I’m thriving..... I guess I won’t feel so lost forever... one day I’ll be myself again.....this is just a season”. Easter is coming.... my favorite part of the story is how it seemed absolutely hopeless.... darkness and pain... the unimaginable... and yet the world was on the cusp of being changed forever in the most incredible way. Your redemption story will come sweet momma. I don’t know who this is for... but I know that if I read this when I was in that second photo, it would have been something hopeful that I would have clung to in my pain. God hasn’t forgotten about you or your baby. This is just the hardest part of the story but this isn’t the finale. ❤️ #jamesmichaelalsop
  • PARENTS: How ya doing?! 😳We always have kids at home but they normally have preschool to break up the week and let me just tell you... we miss it. They miss it. We all miss it. We don’t just miss preschool.... we miss our friends. We miss our community. We miss our church. We miss our freedom to go out and eat when we’re exhausted after a day of work and don’t want to cook. We miss taking the kids to the park. We miss Chick-fil-A. We miss our children freely hanging out with immuno-compromised family members. I know these things are first world problems. And we are so grateful for our situation and the minimal affects of the virus in our everyday life.... but this does affect everyone in some way shape or form and it drastically affects parents who are trying to work from home for the first time with kids. My friend Jen from @tonicsiteshop just did a video yesterday with ideas for parents working from home and I loved it! (So did the rest of Instagram!) If you have some ideas and helpful tips for working at home with kids, leave them in the comments to help us and others!! And if you need a little PANDEMIC PICK-me-UP... Evy and Micah have a new video on YouTube that will leave you wondering exactly goes on inside of three years olds minds. 😂😂😂😂link in profile!! Enjoy! Ps. @laurenmdix introduced us to Kinectic sand stored in scrapbooking boxes and it’s been the best toddler sensory activity ever!!!! Never dries up, never gets old, we bury new things for them to find daily! 🙌🏻❤️👍🏻 ps. Thanks @tylerherrinton for capturing our little people and all of their silliness.... even nose picking.
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    PARENTS: How ya doing?! 😳We always have kids at home but they normally have preschool to break up the week and let me just tell you... we miss it. They miss it. We all miss it. We don’t just miss preschool.... we miss our friends. We miss our community. We miss our church. We miss our freedom to go out and eat when we’re exhausted after a day of work and don’t want to cook. We miss taking the kids to the park. We miss Chick-fil-A. We miss our children freely hanging out with immuno-compromised family members. I know these things are first world problems. And we are so grateful for our situation and the minimal affects of the virus in our everyday life.... but this does affect everyone in some way shape or form and it drastically affects parents who are trying to work from home for the first time with kids. My friend Jen from @tonicsiteshop just did a video yesterday with ideas for parents working from home and I loved it! (So did the rest of Instagram!) If you have some ideas and helpful tips for working at home with kids, leave them in the comments to help us and others!! And if you need a little PANDEMIC PICK-me-UP... Evy and Micah have a new video on YouTube that will leave you wondering exactly goes on inside of three years olds minds. 😂😂😂😂link in profile!! Enjoy! Ps. @laurenmdix introduced us to Kinectic sand stored in scrapbooking boxes and it’s been the best toddler sensory activity ever!!!! Never dries up, never gets old, we bury new things for them to find daily! 🙌🏻❤️👍🏻 ps. Thanks @tylerherrinton for capturing our little people and all of their silliness.... even nose picking.
  • Swipe for your daily reminder that everyone else’s quarantine life isn’t as happy and perfect as it may seem on Instagram. I mean, the setting was magical and we were so hopeful.... but no. Not even one photo of all of them looking decently happy. We’ve had lots of moments of meltdowns and I know we have many days ahead of us in our current situation. I’m an extrovert and I hate the distance. I miss the gym, I miss church community, I miss friends and going out to eat. I hate seeing our students who are struggling. I hate seeing people fighting over how serious this is online. I hate watching the news. I really despise all of this..... but. There’s always a but. ☺️Pain lasts only for the night and joy comes in the morning. This won’t be our forever.... and there are people in our town, our state, our country and our world who are fighting for their lives.... not just fighting the virus... but fighting a battle in their minds, a battle in their hearts, a battle to feed their kids, a battle to pay their bills. This time is unprecedented. Don’t lose hope friends. Take it seriously. Love your children. Have patience with your loved ones. Pray for healing and hope. He hasn’t forgotten us. He is for us. This isn’t our final battle.... this isn’t our last painful part of life... but it may be the last one where we show up hopelessly. What if you looked back at COVID-19 and could say “That was when life changed for me.... that was when I started to see hardship with a new lens... and I suffered ... we all suffered... but I suffered strong. I showed up differently this time. My kids noticed the change. My spouse noticed the change. I noticed it in myself. And I’m grateful. The rest of my life is forever changed because of that season of life and what I learned...” Whew. What if that is what we could say at the end of this?? So, how do we get there? Start by choosing not to believe that everyone is having the most perfect quarantine experience and you’re not. The internet will do that to you if you’re not careful. Maybe this is your first step to showing up differently.... choosing to realize when Instagram is stealing your joy and distorting your perspective of others. ❤
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    Swipe for your daily reminder that everyone else’s quarantine life isn’t as happy and perfect as it may seem on Instagram. I mean, the setting was magical and we were so hopeful.... but no. Not even one photo of all of them looking decently happy. We’ve had lots of moments of meltdowns and I know we have many days ahead of us in our current situation. I’m an extrovert and I hate the distance. I miss the gym, I miss church community, I miss friends and going out to eat. I hate seeing our students who are struggling. I hate seeing people fighting over how serious this is online. I hate watching the news. I really despise all of this..... but. There’s always a but. ☺️Pain lasts only for the night and joy comes in the morning. This won’t be our forever.... and there are people in our town, our state, our country and our world who are fighting for their lives.... not just fighting the virus... but fighting a battle in their minds, a battle in their hearts, a battle to feed their kids, a battle to pay their bills. This time is unprecedented. Don’t lose hope friends. Take it seriously. Love your children. Have patience with your loved ones. Pray for healing and hope. He hasn’t forgotten us. He is for us. This isn’t our final battle.... this isn’t our last painful part of life... but it may be the last one where we show up hopelessly. What if you looked back at COVID-19 and could say “That was when life changed for me.... that was when I started to see hardship with a new lens... and I suffered ... we all suffered... but I suffered strong. I showed up differently this time. My kids noticed the change. My spouse noticed the change. I noticed it in myself. And I’m grateful. The rest of my life is forever changed because of that season of life and what I learned...” Whew. What if that is what we could say at the end of this?? So, how do we get there? Start by choosing not to believe that everyone is having the most perfect quarantine experience and you’re not. The internet will do that to you if you’re not careful. Maybe this is your first step to showing up differently.... choosing to realize when Instagram is stealing your joy and distorting your perspective of others. ❤
  • This is coming to the blog today!!!!!!! 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻 #kjbrides #kjcouples
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    This is coming to the blog today!!!!!!! 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻 #kjbrides #kjcouples
  • Of course this is what happens when I try to do “cute mom things”...... my son plows over my crafts and destroys everything instantly! 😂🤦🏼‍♀️😂🤦🏼‍♀️😂 seriously though, I’ve always appreciated @themamanotes because Caitlin and I share so many mutual friends but I also just love her dedication to creating and sharing amazing content! Definitely give her a follow if you have kids to keep busy the next 13 days!!! (Ps. We also love @busytoddler!.... and also.... not sure how I missed that I accidentally posted a third pic... it has nothing to do with this post other than the fact that Graham has gone from being my chill, sit-and-stare child to a little tornado of curiosity!!!)
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    Of course this is what happens when I try to do “cute mom things”...... my son plows over my crafts and destroys everything instantly! 😂🤦🏼‍♀️😂🤦🏼‍♀️😂 seriously though, I’ve always appreciated @themamanotes because Caitlin and I share so many mutual friends but I also just love her dedication to creating and sharing amazing content! Definitely give her a follow if you have kids to keep busy the next 13 days!!! (Ps. We also love @busytoddler!.... and also.... not sure how I missed that I accidentally posted a third pic... it has nothing to do with this post other than the fact that Graham has gone from being my chill, sit-and-stare child to a little tornado of curiosity!!!)
  • OOOOOklahoma.... where the trees are blooming early and the rain held off just enough for us to capture seriously gorgeous images for @melaniefosterphoto ‘s engagement session!!!!! Congrats you two!!!! #kjcouple #kjbride ps. Prepare yourself.... I have too many favorites!
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    OOOOOklahoma.... where the trees are blooming early and the rain held off just enough for us to capture seriously gorgeous images for @melaniefosterphoto ‘s engagement session!!!!! Congrats you two!!!! #kjcouple #kjbride ps. Prepare yourself.... I have too many favorites!