Nashville, TN Family Photographer | The Kneese Family Film
A few months ago, I was able to spend a morning with The Kneese Family. They had just welcomed their 3rd daughter into the world. Their new baby was also a rainbow baby. Originally, Dawn was my birth client. She had a home birth planned and we planned to do birth videography and photography during her delivery. As her due date came, things were just stalling out over and over. Long story short, she ended up with a 4 day induction at a nearby hospital. It took that long, because she didn't want many interventions or to have the process rushed. With her doula, midwife, and husband as her support and there to fight off the doctors who wanted to rush the process, she was able to deliver her baby vaginally after 4 long days. During this time, she decided we would use the credit she had paid for her birth video to do a family film and later, a 6 month photo session.
The goal of the film is to highlight their family where they are right now. During the filming, I felt a strong sense of dreamy, dream, this is her living dream.... so the song I chose was just that. As I was editing, I came to realize that during her daughter reading to her younger sister, she is talking about dreams. I believe that Dawn having her 4th baby, 3rd daughter must feel like a dream after having a loss.
I know that God is in control and that everything works out just as it is supposed to. I am so glad for Dawn's birth and that I was able to capture this day for them. Dawn is also a Lactation Consultant at Lavender Lactation and services Nashville and surrounding areas.
I hope you enjoy their family film. It's very dreamy. To book your family film or newborn session, contact me here.
Franklin, Tennessee Family Photographer | Tucker Family
A few weeks ago, I was honored to spend a morning with The Tuckers. They live on a few acres in Franklin and have 5 beautiful children. They homeschool and garden and tend to their chickens. My favorite sessions usually involve some sort of nature, whether its gardening or chicken tending. (I always have reasons to love my sessions. In reality, I always list something about a session and say "My favorite sessions usually involve.." Because I just adore my clients so much!)
The Tucker Kids range in age from 8 - 16 or so (I do not trust my ability to recall!) and this was their first time having a documentary not-so-posed- session! The weather was truly beautiful and we began the session with some baking in one room while the kids rotated between that and puzzle making. The kids played with their swing, drew, and definitely played with their chickens. OH and they have 4 cats! (clearly they were aiming for one per kid and need another ?
I hope this family loves their photos. I always get excited for clients to see their photos and anxiously await their response! It never gets old or mundane. Doing this work is truly the best.
To book your documentary family session, you can reach me here.
Franklin, Tennessee Maternity Photographer | Dallas & Jamie's Documentary Maternity Session
Since shifting to documentary, I do not get maternity inquiries often. It's pretty rare actually. It's probably pretty hard for clients to see the story in their pregnancy. What feels like a series of days fo discomfort, sleeping, eating at bizarre hours, and getting stuff done around the house can be a season that is taken for granted. A season that feels uneventful and stressful even.But what people do not see, is the legacy and story that lies in this season of life. The story of when it was just the two of you (or more if there are kids already) and when Daddy and Mommy were just Daddy and Mommy - the story of who they were before kids....which is a season that is SO hard to remember once kids enter the picture. Later, kids will grow up and have kids of their own, and they all will become interested more in who these people were. Especially as younger people. What will our current cultural choice of photography tell about these people? If they choose Christmas Card photos and Fall photos - how will they know who they were? It probably helps to know that I have one degree in early childhood education, and another in Developmental Psychology with a minor in sociology. What I tend to do is dig into the social psychology behind our choices in this time period in regards to the types of photography we choose.okay... back to the actual session. I was able to dig deeper into the story of Jamie and Dallas while they are awaiting the birth of their first child. This helps me customize sessions to tell the story that lies there. I also wanted to capture their life with their dog.... that seems to also be a theme before kiddos... Couple gets dog first ? So I love capturing that for them. It's usually their first baby.A few things stood out to me as I got to know this sweet couple. They love to cook and are super meaningful people. Also, that every night as Jamie falls asleep super early, Dallas tucks her in. I really wanted a way to record that because lord knows that will likely go away as life changes. I think my favorite photos from their session was asking him to tuck her in like he does every night.We had so much fun really getting to know one another and chatting about everything. I am so excited to meet them soon with their newborn!
Franklin, Tennessee Family Photographer | A Summer Evening With The Cooney's
The Cooney's attend my CrossFit gym and reached out to me because they had taken a job offer in Florida and were selling their home and moving. While, the job offer was amazing, they were sad about leaving their life in Franklin, Tennessee. I have had several clients reach out to me to capture their last days at a home before a big move... it's neat to capture that for them, from the perspective of closing a chapter before a new one begins. What I am creating is a timestamp. A specific place in time before change. I think often about the social psychology effects of social media and how that has effected what we photograph. Social media has shifted our entire view of photography. For both clients and photographers. Photographers can fall into the line of thinking that a photo has to be absolutely perfect to have value, when in reality... meaningful matters far more than perfection. I will never hold back a less than perfect photo that has deep meaning for a client.
What I think of when I think of time stamps are ... houses we used to live in or an old couch we had. I photograph that couch if its in the frame my client's are in and I think ahead 20 years, on them looking at their photos and saying "Remember that couch?!" Or in this case... their littles probably won't remember their house at all. But these photos will give them some form of memory.
I think about timestamps and how we currently capture maternity clients. We get them dressed up and place nearly all of them in some sort of outdoor scenery. This is beautiful, and has value.... But there is no story there. When I think of my mom being pregnant with me I think of her telling me the story of her standing on her porch in the 80s smoking a cigarette, barefoot. It was super hot and that day a big breeze blew through. She enjoyed this breeze but later found it out was a tornado on the other side of town. ? Oh, the 80s!!! But How I wish I had a photo of that! A timestamp of then. of her in her REAL self. What good would a photo of her dressed up in a field be to me? There is no timestamp there, except for the timestamp of "back when we dressed up for maternity sessions and stood in fields" ?
I never want to knock anyone's personal choices or the photographer's work, and I only mean to happily discuss the social psychology of photography.
I love photographing this family. I wanted to tell the story of how they had fun on their land and how connected they were. and I really wanted to show the kiddos that their parents LOVED playing with them. It is so important to capture the parents for the kids not just the kids for the parents.
Enjoy The Cooney's photos!
Nashville, Tennessee Family Photographer | Big brother meets his baby sister for the first time
In the early spring, a friend was awaiting the arrival of her second baby. Her first baby was a boy and now, she was expecting a little girl. Her journey into parenthood was a rough one, needing IVF for both. She always thought that would be the hardest part of her journey. But her baby came early at 34 weeks. In the night, she had to rush to the ER where she had an emergency C-section. Crystal had been planning a birth without any interventions. So this was a very traumatic situation. Baby girl (Noah) was in the hospital for a few short weeks. When she was ready to come home, on a whim, Crystal asked if I could film them coming home and Shepherd meeting his baby sister. As luck would have it, I was available. So we made it happen and it was truly EPIC! I am not sure many brothers respond to meeting their baby sister as amazingly as Shepherd did. He was all decked out in his space suit, ready to meet his baby sister! Check it out!
You may recognize this hilarious boy from his moving portrait.
Contact me here for your own film!
Bringing Home Noah June Hinz from Jennie Pyfferoen on Vimeo.
Franklin, Tennessee family photographer | maverick’s moving portrait
This year I began playing around with a new type of film called moving portraits. A Moving Portrait Film is usually centered around one main subject, capturing details of that person and their environment. I love making these of children. It captures them and their entire personality in the developmental stage they are at. I spend about an hour filming and photographing them and then we do a sort of interview. The younger ones make these interviews really fun with their unpredictable answers.
My first moving portrait was earlier this year of Shepherd. This time, I captured a 2.5 year boy, named Maverick. It was so fun filming and photographing him playing and doing what he does best. We sat down for the interview - which is hard for me because I have to try to not laugh, while taking video and audio! But boy was he hilarious with his "NO, YOU!" answers.
When I arrived, Mav was cooking his own eggs. I love that about this family, they give so much room for toddler independence! Once he was done cooking, he went to eat with daddy. and then off he went to play!
The best part was after my put my camera away, he had to potty and off came the pants. I sure did whip it out and photograph the scene!
Maverick | June 2022 from Jennie Pyfferoen on Vimeo.
Nashville Family Photographer | Shepherd's Moving Portrait
This year I began playing around with a new type of film called moving portraits. A Moving Portrait Film is usually centered around one main subject, capturing details of that person and their environment. I love capturing these kiddos in this fun age of toddlerhood, just before school starts. They have such wild imaginations and are generally wild (more so boy) at this age. Capturing Shepherd's true inner personality was so fun. So much so that I had to constantly make sure I didn't laugh and shake the camera!
Dadda and Shepherd also have a band! That part was probably my favorite. When he counts, I nearly lost it. Enjoy and plan to laugh, a lot.
Shepherd | A moving Portrait from Jennie Pyfferoen on Vimeo.
Franklin, TN Family Photographer | A Morning with the Rains Family
I first filmed and photographed The Rains family 4 years ago, when their daughter was a newborn. It was a beautiful film.
Being asked to film them again, was a true honor. I love my clients dearly and am blessed that pretty much all of them hire me repeatedly, most of them annually!
For this film, we captured their beautiful family right now with a 4 year old. Mary Patton loves baking cookies and swinging on her swing set in the backyard. She and daddy love having tea parties and she loves jumping on daddy.
There were so many beautiful moments between this family. From giggles to quiet snuggles, it was a beautiful morning. She loves reading books, jumping on her bed and telling stories in her southern accent (which was entertaining to capture!)
When I was editing their film, I wanted to tell the story of the joy Mary Patton emits as well as the wild 4 year old she is at times. Their family connection was evident. I hope they treasure this film and the photos for years to come.
You can hire me for a family film here.
The Rains Family | July 2022 from Jennie Pyfferoen on Vimeo. 
