If I had a dollar for every time I heard a woman say something like ” I haven’t had a nice photo of me taken since my wedding pictures.” I’d be loaded! Let me introduce you to this mom of 5, she loves being a stay at home mom, she loves homeschooling her kids, she loves being a wife. What she didn’t love was not having photos that showed her at her finest. It’s really not necessary to get glamed up on a daily basis, there’s nothing wrong with that, there’s nothing wrong with getting photos of our daily reality. But do you really want all the photos you have of yourself to be random snap shots? Don’t you want meaningful, purposeful photos that show you at your best? I can’t think of any reason not to have them done, can you? As I chatted with Carla about what she wanted from her photo session, she basically said, I just want to look beautiful, feel beautiful, I don’t have any really nice photos of myself,” I’m not just a mom, I’m a woman.”
We went shopping and found this dress on sale at Dillard’s for about $20, if I remember right. The peplum top was $30 Lol. Did I mention we shopped with 6 kids, are we crazy or what haha! -Hair, make-up, and styling done by me. 
“My sister in law DeAnn has been talking to me about taking pictures for years. I always wanted to have my pictures taken and thought it would be great. She talked about it, but somehow I just never scheduled it. I would review a list of reasons why I shouldn’t do it / it wouldn’t work. I will share with you my concerns so you can see how lame they were (or how un-lame they were but how she put me at ease!) It took me a long time to admit this was probably the biggest reason, but I never made myself a priority. There was always something else that was more important than taking pictures of me. Mom is always the last on the list of people and things that need attending to, am I right? (I mean, really, how self indulgent, right?). There are far more important things to get done (and pay for) than pictures of mom!!! Maybe deep down there was a part of me that was just self conscious of how those pictures would turn out – that they would reveal I truly was a frumpy mother of 5 that was nothing of the stunning girl that met a young man at a dance 14 years ago. In politically correct terms, I would be called extremely “practical” or “frugal”. I think I almost choked when I heard what professional photos would run for. I figured for that price I could tolerate my 13 mega pixel camera phone. I was amazed at the breadth of difference between the two! I had literally NO IDEA how complicated it is to take an AMAZING picture. Through a series of conversations, observation over the last several years, and having her take my pictures, I was blown away by how many things have to be worked out: lighting, equipment, location, body positioning, the difference jewelry can make, etc etc!!! (I felt ridiculous with some of the poses or things she had me do, but those were some of the best pictures! SHOCKED. SPEECHLESS. AMAZED. That is how I felt when she showed me the pictures. It was a perfect mix of “Is that me?” and “I can’t believe how good I look!” to “Do I actually look like that??” I can see why DeAnn quotes that every woman should have one good picture of herself at least every 10 years” My husbands comment when he saw it said it all: “Wow!!!! Ouch, I think I just burned myself while looking at her because she is so hot!” Ultimately DeAnn has a combination of talent, skill, experience, equipment, and creativity that won me over. :0) Yes, I realize how lame my excuses are, so I am not sure why it took me so long to have her take my pictures!! Probably because I didn’t think they would turn out so amazing.” – Carla 
I don’t know why, but when I first started doing these kinds of portraits I didn’t really think to ask husbands what they thought. As I did get feed back from women I kept hearing about their husbands reactions and well some of it wouldn’t be appropriate to share hehe. “Surprise and excitement filled my heart as I first viewed my dear wife’s photos. Instantly they reminded me of the gorgeous young woman who had taken my hand in marriage those many years before. They are the outward expression of the beauty and love she holds in my eyes each day, but is easily forgotten with the daily burdens of family life. I am so grateful for DeAnn’s gift in photography that made it possible to capture this feeling for all time. I would encourage any husband to call DeAnn and plan a special day for his wife to do a photo shoot. He will never regret it!!” -Doug
