I have always told my kids that life is a matter of making choices. We make them every day, hundreds of them; big ones and little ones, what to wear, what to eat; to smile, to frown, to praise, to grumble; to love to hate, to accept responsibility or make excuses. Life is about choices and the choices we make will effect our lives immeasurably.

Recently my daughter Lindsey and her husband Neil have been faced with some major decisions that could change their lives dramatically. Neil is a very talented young man. It seems when you have a lot of talent you also have a lot of options and you want to make sure you choose the right things in order to use your gifts to the max. The answers are not always black & white, easy or clear but I believe, with much prayer, that God will lead you in the right direction.

I am reminded of a story I heard a long time ago about a group of hunters in Africa. They went into the jungle and found a tree where there were many monkeys. They took hot coals and burned a small hollow place in the tree and in the hollow they placed a piece of fruit. A monkey would reach into the hole to grab the fruit. With his fist wrapped tightly around the fruit he was unable to get his hand back out of the hole.

The hunters easily captured the monkey because he simply would not let go. He gave up his freedom for a piece of fruit. Sometimes our life is just like that. The things we love, our dreams and hopes, are not so easy to let go; however, our plans and desires are not always the plans and desires that God has in store for us. Sometimes we have to let go in order to experience the freedom that comes in knowing we are doing God's will in our life.

God continues to bless us so much and we are so thankful for what he is doing in our lives. We have had an awesome week and would like to share a few photos from a wedding and a family/maternity session we had this week. God bless you all.

 

The first pics are from a wedding we did in High Point, NC. Lizzy and Allan were so in to each other and the families and friends were so awesome to be around. My daughter Lindsey was my second shooter. She did such a good job! I hope  she will join me again; she is so talented. The next two images are from a session with Tiffany, Brandon and Nikolas with a new baby on the way! We wish you the best and look forward to meeting the new little Hargett boy.

Life is good! Have I ever mentioned this before that I love to run? I like running for no particular reason other than it soothes my soul and helps me keep things in perspective. To me, running long distances is a lot like life. It is better to take it one step at a time, not thinking too far ahead, and make short-term goals that eventually lead to bigger goals. There are up hills and down hills and just like life you grow stronger on the hills.

My daughter started running several months ago and has decided to run a marathon. Since I have ran a few marathons myself she asked me to help her get ready for her first. We have been training for a while now doing our long runs on Saturday mornings and have worked our long run up to 20 miles. She is doing great! I think she has the potential to qualify for the Boston Marathon.

I know I have said this before but you should check out her blog La Belle Vie. She has a really good blog and I think you will enjoy it if you have or are thinking of having kids and also if you like to run. She has some really interesting links to her blog as well.

One thing for sure, I love my kids and am so proud of both of them! I played golf with Nick this morning. He is a really good golfer and I always enjoy our time and fellowship on the golf course. He is doing well with the company he works for and I have said this to others before about Nick, he is the kind of guy you can count on for anything. If I am every in a bind or need help he is the go-to guy; he is that way with his friends too.

Here is what has been happening with our photography this past week; we had a wedding at Childress Vineyards, senior sessions and bridal sessions (of which we can't post until after their wedding). Karen and I love our jobs, love capturing timeless photos and love developing relationships with the people we meet. How blessed we are!

Here are some photos from the week.

Lori & Chad's Wedding

The weather was on their side and the wedding was beautiful & fun to photograph!

Sydney's Senior Session

Sydney was really good in front of the camera, we had a great time! Thanks Teresa (Sydney's mom) and Sydney for choosing Autumn Song.

Thanks for checking out our blog. We welcome your comments.

We are so excited about our Family Portrait Month coming up in October! One BIG reason is that we will be donating a portion from each session to Operation Smile. Another reason is that we love photographing families and children!

For those of you who are not familiar with Operation Smile let me share a little info with you. Operation Smile is a worldwide medical charity of volunteer medical professionals dedicated to treating children and young adults suffering from facial deformities. Their efforts have brought smiles to thousands of children around the world. Here are a few photos of children who have benefited from Operation Smile.

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Isn't what Operation Smile doing amazing! In as little as 45 minutes, one cleft lip surgery can change a child's life forever. Each year more than 100,000 children are born with a facial deformity in Operation Smile's 26 partner countries. Last year medical volunteers provided free surgeries to over 9,000 children throughout international and local, in-country medical missions.

Rod and I have always valued the importance of giving back as individuals and through our business. We volunteer in our community and donate portrait sessions for various local fundraisers to churches, schools, non-profits and civic groups. We are really excited to support this worldwide organization, Operation Smile! To learn more about this charity go to: Operation Smile

Through our fundraising campaign with Operation Smile we can give back and make a difference to benefit children worldwide. Our goal is to raise $5000.00. Wouldn't you like to help?

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From each portrait session we will also have available "Smile Cards" which is a pack of 10 note cards with an image from the session on the front of the card and blank on the inside. 100% of the proceeds from "Smile Cards" will go to benefit Operation Smile.

A smile is universal in meaning...and pretty contagious! But what about children who cannot smile? Those who find it difficult to even speak or eat? Now is your chance to give them a smile. Participate with Autumn Song in Family Portrait Month and make a difference!

Give us a call or e-mail to schedule your session 336-475-6457 or kslate@autumnsongphotography.com

We look forward to hearing from you soon! Hey, post a comment. We would like to hear what you have to share or say about this charity or other charities.

As Karen and I have said before, one of the neatest things about what we do are the people we meet and the relationships we build. I photographed the Yates family this weekend and what an awesome family! I always enjoy watching family dynamics as they interact when I am working with them and this family is so connected and was a lot of fun. They are very grounded with strong family values.

We first met the Yates when we did Lauren's senior portrait session last year which was such a neat session. They are the kind of people that love artistic and lifestyle photography which makes them a good fit with Autumn Song. We had a blast then at the senior session and certainly did yesterday with the family session.

We look forward to a long relationship with this so very cool family. Thanks Dan, Cathi, Lauren and Daniel for being a part of our lives. Lauren, we wish you the very best in your first year at college. Have fun!

OK, I know we have been slack on posting some blogs and we are not even going to give excuses; don't we all have them! We are really trying to be more up to date with what is going on. The last couple of weeks have been really great, not only with our sessions but good quality family time too. Here is the lowdown on what's been happening this past week. Saturday we photographed a wedding. It was a special wedding because the bride's father was also the minister. I have never been touched so much as I was photographing this ceremony. Partly because I have a daughter and I know what it is like giving her away.

We decided to take a short break on Monday morning and go fishing. We got up early and waited on Bradyn, Lindsey and Layla to arrive.

Layla was eager to go and got in her little red car.

Bradyn loaded up the gear in his little escalade and off to the pond we went.

As you can see this was one time the "big one" did not get away!

After 15 minutes of "intense" fishing we gathered up our "trophies" and headed home.

Tuesday and Wednesday we photographed more awesome seniors and had a great time! Aren't seniors cool?

We finished the week with a session of the Culler girls in their grandmother's garden....very beautiful girls!

Today we went to Sparta to pick up our new puppy. We've been waiting on him for a couple of weeks. Bradyn named him "Lucky Beau".

Whew, That is it for today! Got to get ready for tomorrow's wedding. Hope it want be so long before our next posting. Have a good one!

I know we just recently posted a senior session but we are posting another one. We have been looking forward to doing Jessica's senior pictures for several years and now here we are! We did her brother's senior pics about 4 years ago. Jessica is a cheerleader with lots of personality! Here are some of my favorites.

I love vacations! Just the thought of going on one really gets me excited. Every year my family including my brother-in-law and sister in-law head out for the beach. My brother-in-law and sister in-law rent a house for the two of them and family. Karen and I rent a house and we fill it up with 12 people....I love it! We always stop, coming and going, at Chappell's ice cream stand. They have the best homemade ice cream I have ever had. It was Layla's first and as you can see from the photo she really enjoyed it! By the way,speaking of Layla, her mother has started a wonderful blog. If you are a young mother or a runner check it out. I bet you will enjoy it.Here is the link La Belle Vie. We had a great time and as usual it just passed by to quickly. I can hardly wait until next year!

We are now getting in full swing with senior sessions. It really is a lot of fun working with seniors. In some ways young people have changed over the years but in many ways they are still the same. Alex enjoys hanging out with friends and spending time at the lake with her family. Her mom told me a great story about how Alex worked her Dad to perfection to get her dog Avery. It sounds like she may be daddy's girl. It was fun meeting Alex, Avery, and Lisa. I hope you have a wonderful senior year and may God bless you in all your endeavors.

Katy and Daniel are planning on getting married some time next year. Daniel is in med school so they are waiting on his schedule before setting the date. We did their session in downtown Winston-Salem then finished up at Katy's parents' house. The arts district in downtown Winston is a great place to go and hang out. Katy and Daniel were so easy to photograph and it was fun to watch their interaction with each other. Katy's parents' house is so awesome with a lake in the back. Thanks Katy and Daniel for a fun afternoon and evening!

A couple of weeks ago we photographed Macey for her three year old session. It was the second time we have had the opportunity to photograph Macey. It is fun to watch how kids change from year to year but still keep the same characteristics. Thank you Kelly for allowing us the privilege of being a part of Macey's life and capturing her little personality. We hope these photos will always bring you cherished memories of Macey.

Karen and I photographed a very lovely wedding this past weekend. It was at the Holy Trinity Church located in downtown Greensboro. The locations in and around the church are very beautiful and well lit. Julie, the mother of the bride did the planning and I must say did a fantastic job. The reception was at the O'Henry Hotel. The band that played at the reception was called Sweet Dreams. I really enjoyed their music. They played a variety of songs but I especially liked their renditions of Barry White's music. I always like to get a little taste of the wedding cake especially when they are made by Manfred Schmidt. We enjoyed our time with Neill Anne and Butch and wish them the very best.