I’ve been wanting to share some photos of the new studio for some time. But I really wanted to wait until it was a little farther along in the remodeling. I just couldn’t wait any more! I decided that it wouldn’t hurt to share pictures of the work in process. Then I can take more as it becomes more complete. This has been a dream of mine for a long time and it’s finally coming true. I won’t be using the studio for traditional portraits. I will be doing all of my consultations and sales presentations there along with newborn and boudoir sessions. I still love the fresh, fun images I get with doing children and families on location so that won’t change. I just needed a place to call home (as far as my work is concerned). I can’t wait to share more as the project progresses. The owners live in Atlanta and are “living” there during the remodel. I feel so bad for them because it doesn’t have central AC yet so they are literally roasting with 2 small window units to cool the whole building. Well, hopefully it will only be a couple of more months before it’s finished. Let me know what you think!

This is the view from just inside the front door. It's quite a mess!

This is a view to the right of the front door. It's a pretty big room that I will probably use as a waiting area.

This is the entrance into the main part of the building just after you pass through the front room.

A small storage area in the bathroom. I can see props going here!

A shot of the unfinished bathroom.

Another shot of the unfinished bathroom. I think this room will be finished last. Can you really blame them?

This was taken from the back of the building looking towards the front. If only they would leave me the big screen!

A shot of the kitchen area. They are getting ready to install new cabinets next week.

Yes that is a garage door! That is coming out and french doors are going to be installed along with a couple of floor to ceiling windows on either side.

The stair leading to the second floor.

The second floor...kind of small but lots of potential.

Another shot of the second floor looking in the opposite direction. The stairs are in the middle of the room.

Well, that’s the tour. I hope to be adding some more images as the work is completed. I really can’t wait to get everything decorated and my work hanging on the walls! When it gets closer to completion, I will start planning an Open House so I can invite all of my clients, friends and family over to get a better look. I hope you have a fabulous weekend!!

Doing a recent pet session with a truly amazing dog got me thinking about the differences between “dog people” and regular people. I never understood how someone could treat their dog like a person…or why they would want to. I’ve learned a lot over the past 4 years about dogs….and myself.

I grew up in Charleston, SC. For most of my childhood, we lived in an apartment which didn’t allow pets. My mom did a great job of hiding kittens so the Apartment Manager wouldn’t find out so I wasn’t always without a pet. However, I never had a dog. You can’t really hide a dog because of the whole pooping outside thing. But I loved my cats (even when they brought dead things up the door) and never thought anything about not being able to have a puppy. So as an adult, I’ve never been a dog person. I love all types of animals but owning a dog has always meant something different to me than “dog people.” I got my kids a dog and it stayed outside. I’d pet it on the head as I walked by but never thought much about it. Then 4 years ago, I moved in with my boyfriend and he is allergic to cats. We had a cat at the time…a beautiful Siamese that my son adored. But she disappeared the day we moved into the new house. I guess she wasn’t keen on the idea of living in a different house. After a year of not having any pets, I started really missing that great feeling when your pet jumps up in your lap and wants nothing from you but to be loved. So I decided to get an inside dog. I figured it can’t be much different than a cat. Boy was I wrong! We decided on an Italian Greyhound. He was gorgeous. He was sleek and could run faster than anything I’d ever seen. He was incredibly sweet. I was his human and all he wanted to do was lay beside me under a blanket. Me and this dog bonded from day one. But this dog was extremely high maintenance. I don’t mean we had to take him to the groomer every other week (he doesn’t have much fur at all). I mean all our lives revolve around this dog. I had never had a dog before. I thought all I had to do was take it out a few times a day and it would be trained. Um that’s not how it worked with this dog. He was stubborn, needy and scared of every freakin’ sound outside. He would literally shake and tremble for 30 minutes if a car drove by.  I had to use puppy pads in the house because he just refused to go to the bathroom outside. Several times I broke down and cried to Daniel about the dog. I couldn’t handle it. I already had 2 children and a man to take care of. Now I had this needy dog. I had to find another home for him or I was going to have a breakdown. He would always talk me out of it. He would say “Heather, you love that dog and he loves you. You can’t get rid of him.” Of course, that would always make me change my mind. Over the next couple of years, I just became accustomed to the extra care I had to put into my dog. That’s not to say that I liked it or didn’t have moments of pure insanity (ask Daniel) but I dealt with it.Daniel was right, I love my dog and he loved me.

Fast forward to the Fall of last year. My Stepfather passed away on November 1st. My family was devastated. He was only 54 years old. My children had lost the only male figure that had been a constant throughout their lives. Daniel was a great father to them but we had only been together 5 years at that point. My daughter wanted a puppy for Christmas. She had never had a pet because I always thought she was too young for the responsibility (I already had a crazy dog to take care of). But I thought if I got her the puppy, she wouldn’t be so sad about her Papa. So, I set out to find her a puppy. Daniel and I both agreed that the smaller the better so we  decided on a Chihuahua. Now, most of these types of dogs are really super ugly and “yippy.” We didn’t want that. I had to find one that was cute and acted more like a big dog. Good luck, right? It took some time but I found her the perfect puppy. I couldn’t wait until Christmas to give it to her so I took her with me to pick it up. It was love at first sight. She fell asleep holding the puppy on the way home. Ok, so now we have a neurotic dog and a new puppy in the house. What was I thinking?! Training the new puppy wasn’t that bad. She was litter box trained when we got her (yes, you can train a dog to go in a litter box!) so we just had to work with her a little to get her going outside. After a few months we decided to get my dog fixed being that he is a boy and the puppy was a girl (you know the birds and the bees stuff). I couldn’t believe the transformation in him. It seemed like overnight, he didn’t have a problem going to the bathroom outside, he didn’t try to crawl down my shirt when new people came over. He started becoming normal! Now I don’t know if it was because he was socializing with another dog and saw what he was supposed to act like or if it was the surgery. But whatever it was, I sure wish I would have done it sooner.

Now our new puppy isn’t quite so much a puppy anymore and my dog will be 4 next month. Life around our house has become pretty normal – or as close to normal as we’re going to get. We love our dogs and couldn’t imagine our lives without them. They are still extremely irritating sometimes especially when they both want to lay on me at the same time or when the have to go outside at 10pm. But I wouldn’t have it any other way. I guess that’s why I’m a “dog person.”

My dog, Duke.

Our dog, Georgia (as a puppy).

We had such a great time this weekend doing portraits in Myrtle Beach. I absolutely love taking our clients out onto the beach to have a little fun. I had such a good time with the J Family. All of the kids were totally adorable. We had a great time making Little Miss A smile. She was full of spunk and personality. I mean really…can you get any cuter than this?

I had mixed feelings about this pet session at first. I love dogs and was really excited about taking Sadie’s portraits. Then her owners told me that Sadie was getting old and sick and they wanted to get some good portraits of her before she passed away. How sad! I wanted to do a great job for Sadie and her owners but all I could think about was how sad I would be during the session. Well Sadie made sure that I knew she was just as happy as a brand new puppy. She has the greatest personality and truly loves her owners. We had a great time with her and hope that we get to play with her again really soon!