Meet the Knapps

I had such a fun morning with this family. I have known Brian for many years. He was a sports writer for the local paper when I was in high school. He covered all of my games, and is a great writer. He picked a great wife in Holly. She is super sweet, they obviously make BEAUTIFUL babies! Check out the blue eyes. They were so easy to photograph. Gehrig has such a cute personality and Gibson was the happiest baby I have seen. Thanks guys! I hope we get to do it again soon!

Happy Anniversary!

Two years ago today I was getting ready to get married. I can't believe it has already been two years. They have been the most amazing years of my life. Casey is my best friend, and we have an amazing marriage. He is one of the biggest reasons I am able to do this. He believes in me, and he supports me in everything I do. We bring out the best in each other. He is the real "magic" in Ashleigh Dees Photography. I go have fun taking pictures, and then I bring them home and he makes them look great. He has worked so hard on all the background/paperwork/all the not fun stuff of getting this business started, and I just get to go have fun. We have an amazing little one who makes our life together seem complete. Casey, Thank you for all that you are to me. I love you more today than I did 2 years ago, even though I didn't think that was possible. I look forward to many, many more in the future.

***By the way, we obviously didn't take these pictures. They were done by Kirk and Lora Baxley at Fitz-Symms Photography. They were awesome!

Meet SWEET Sawyer! Sawyer and Seth's mommy works with my sister. I was excited when I got the message she wanted me to come take pictures of her CUTE boys. I had seen pictures but had not ever met them. They did not disappoint. Cameron tagged along on this shoot, so it was a little wild with a 2 year old, a 1 year old, and a 3 month old, but we all survived. Sawyer was a tough little guy and his mom was such a good sport. I had such a good time. I hope you like the images. I think they are SWEET!!!!


This is one of my favorites. Abbey found this bowl on top of Nicole's refrigerator. I have been looking for once since I saw these images.

LOVE his name!

Happy baby!

CUTE baby feet!

Such a great smile!

This was really Sawyer's shoot, but Seth was TOO cute not to get a few of him!

Little Miss Lucy

Meet Lucy! She is so freaking adorable you could just eat her up. She is SO smart and funny, and I had SO much fun taking pictures all over the square in Covington. I had a REALLY hard time choosing images to share because they were all SO good. I have been teaching with Lucy's grandma the past few years. She has been great to me, and I really wanted to do a good job for her. Thanks for meeting me in Covington! I hope you enjoy the sneak peak!

Here is a collage of some of her images:

I told you she was adorable!

Having fun in Scoops!

I think this one is my favorite. It just captures her playful personality.

Here is one of Lucy and "Grandma C!" Carol is an amazing grandma!

Announcement...

Well I wanted to fill you in on a few things that are going to with Ashleigh Dees Photography. One of the things that I love about my husband most is his ambition. He doesn't do anything part of the way. When he commits to something, he give it everything he has and wants to do it perfectly, and he has decided we will not run my business any other way. We made a huge investment in ordering a Mac computer. Casey has used macs in his tech lab at school and is confident that they have the best programs for photo editing. Starting this business has been a little costly up front, but we are already enjoying it, and I think we will see monetary rewards soon. We have also ordered an upgraded lens and have several other costly, but necessary accessories. I can assure you that we are going to do a good job!
Secondly, for everyone that offered up their families to help me get a good portfolio started here is what I am going to do for you!
If you have checked the website lately you will see an updated price sheet. I am not charging a session fee (which isn't suprising to those of you who have already had your shoot). I promised you some images on a disc, and I will definitely come through for you. I am going to allow you to choose 10 images from the session to put on a disc with copyrights to these images. If you want prints or additional images on a disc you can order them from the 2009 price list. If you would just like a disc of your entire session, you can buy this at a discounted rate of $150. I REALLY appreciate you allowing me to practice and learn from your families. This GREAT DEAL will apply to all sessions that I have taken in the past week as well as any sessions taken up until July 10th. Remember you get your session fee and 10 images on a disc for free. If you are REALLY pleased with your session and want to buy more, then you can definitely do that, and it will make me SO HAPPY!
As of July 11th all appointments will have to pay a $100 session fee and the 2009 price list will apply to all orders.
Thanks again for all of the support!

Christine's boys

Christine and I went to high school many years ago, and we have not seen each other since then, so I was very happy when she said she wanted me to take pictures of your boys. She has 5 year old twins and an 8 year old big brother. They are adorable and so sweet. As you can imagine, there were many things 3 boys would rather do at the park than take pictures, but they were great and let me get some good shots before they started playing. I hope you enjoy the images!

The twins:

These next 2 are SO fun!

All 3 boys!

Boys will be boys! :)

SO SWEET!

What a great BIG brother!

fun in the pool!

Sweet boy!

Thank you!

After several pleas for volunteers to build my portfolio, I have had an overwhelming number of people offer up themselves, their families, and their kids. THANK YOU! I have set up a number of sessions in the next few weeks, and I am very excited about getting some experience with people outside of my own family. I have booked almost all of the free sessions I will be able to do. Again, thank you for your support and encouragment.
Thank you to my sweet technology-loving husband, who has put in HOURS on my new website. If you have not seen it you should go check it out. It is amazing: http://www.ashleighdeesphotography.com/
I have my first shoot tomorrow in Covington. Casey will be out of town for a basketball camp, and I had planned on staying with my parents. I have 4 shoots in 3 days (I told you the response was overwhelming!), so very soon you will be able to see the highlights of my first few sessions. I can't wait!
Lastly, I don't ever want to forget the real reason I made this investment, my little man. He is the reason we do almost everything we do. He is such a fun, amazing little man. I am posting some pictures from the last few days just so you can see how much fun we have.

Here is my inspiration...

Here we go...

I have always been passionate about pictures. I have BOXES and BOXES of them all over the place- in my extra bedrooms, in my mother's attic, and my house is covered. It is rare that you ever find me without my camera in my purse, and I know I went through hundreds of disposable cameras while growing up. When I got married the one expense I didn't hold back on was my photographs. When I was pregnant, we took pictures weekly to document my belly growing and then got maternity pictures made as we approached the end. My son Cameron has probably had more pictures taken of him in his short 14 months on earth than most people have in their entire lives. I cherish pictures. They inspire me. There is something so amazing about capturing a moment forever, and I want to do that for others.
So with much encouragment from my husband, I am excited (and a little nervous) to say we are starting a photography business. For now, we will do it on the side, which is enough for me. I am not confident enough to drop everything and only take pictures. I enjoy teaching, and I don't know that I will ever be a full time, professional, photographer. My desire is to provide beautiful, real pictures for my friends and family to cherish. I have experienced how quickly children change and grow, and I want to provide people with an affordable and creative way to document all the milestones and memories.
As with any business there are start up costs, and it hasn't been cheap! Casey has researched cameras we bought an amazing Canon. We have also gotten a few lenses and other accessories to get us started. He is amazing on the computer, so I am going to take pictures while he does the editing. I think we make an amazing team.
We will soon have our website up and running for our future clients. While we are working on that, I will be working on building a portfolio. This is where my friends and family come in. If you want to trust me to take some pictures of you, your loved ones, your family, your babies, PLEASE let me know. I will be more than happy to come snap some shots, let Casey edit them, and give you a little taste of my style. All I ask is for you to let me use your photos to build a portfolio in return. I have PLENTY of my sweet little model and will continue to shoot him daily, but I think there needs to be some variety.
I'm sure there will be challenges, and I know I have so much to learn, but I am really, really excited about this new venture we have decided to take.
If you are interested in allowing me to gain some experience through photographing you, your family, or your kids, please email me at ashleighdeesphotography@hotmail.com. I would like to get some good shoots in before we return to school! Thanks for your support!
Ashleigh