Lisa Phillipson Photography » Atlanta Family and High School Senior Photography

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our town magazine teens picture

I had a great time hanging out with this group of Senior Graduates.  I was shooting the cover for this month’s issue of Our Town Magazine and we were ready to celebrate the beginning of summer and being out of high school forever.  Hanging out by the pool seemed like the perfect spot.  These Seniors have grown up in the Smyrna, Mableton or the Powder Springs area and started off together as preschool and early elementary students. And now look at them all grown up about to go off on their own.  Here are some favorite pictures of our time together. atlanta lifestyle teen seniors

atlanta senior photography

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senior portrait hair picture

senior portraits atlantaCongratulations to the Class of 2014 (and War Eagle, Nick!)  I can’t wait to see all they accomplish at college.

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summer teen picture pool

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teenagers pool summer picture

Our Town Magazine Cover | Smyrna Vinings

Our Town Magazine Cover | Smyrna Vinings

Read full issue of the June 2014 OUR TOWN Magazine here.  My favorite place to pick up extra copies is The Book Stop next to Bella’s on Atlanta Road in Smyrna.

“Grace Miller attended Whitfield Academy and will begin her college education at the U.S. Naval Academy.
Nick Russell graduated from Whitfield Academy and is enrolled at Auburn University (NROTC).
Shelly Eidson is the 2014 Valedictorian graduate of Dominion Christian School,
and will be joining the freshman class at the University of Georgia this fall.
Elaine Sharitz graduated from Whitfield Academy and will be attending Virginia Tech.
Mary Beth Robertson graduated from Campbell High School’s International Baccalaureate Program
and is enrolled at the University of Georgia.
Congratulations Graduates!”   –Our Town Insert

Family, Where Life Begins and Love Never Ends.” –unkown newborn sister black and white newborn family black and white newborn girl black and whiteA black and white session share from a new little friend.  This sweet little one has an awesome big sister that is cute as a button and is always making me smile.  She is going to show her new baby sister the ropes for sure. Both girls are precious and are lucky enough to have parents and grandparents that adore them.  Those early days weeks with a newborn can be exhausting. A sense of humor is always a bonus to get through it all! It often can be such a blur so I’m happy I could be a part in documenting one of the first days of this new family of four.

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Today’s session-share is my kind of school portraits.  🙂  I’ve been invited several times throughout the years to go to schools and do the “school pictures” but I don’t really specialize in that and just have never had time to fit it in either.  This Fall I was so happy to work with an awesome school that was looking to hang huge canvases (30×40) around the top of their high walls.  They have been delivered now and I can’t wait to get back out there and check them out hanging on the walls.  The best part was that I was able to just “shoot” all the kids in their natural settings and in my style as well.  I love capturing children just playing and not having to fuss too much about bows being out of place and grass all over their pants.  It is just a lot more fun and natural to me.  I had lots of favorites from this session.  I think some of those kids could be GAP models!

Christmas Gift Ideas for Children:

I’ve heard the best toys are the classic ones that have stood the test of time and also help build fine motor skills.  Blocks will never go out of style.  A block set my boys were handed down from a friend and have always loved are Kapla Blocks. They are appropriate for around 3 years old and up;  We still have them out many years later.  My boys have built some really creative things with these blocks.  The blocks are simple and wood colored but I think you can add colored blocks now too.

The above was just one of their many Kapla creations.  It would go on to have Thomas trains running through it or around it and a few Lincoln Logcabins nearby.  It was the season of constant buildings and tracks lining my foyer hallway.  I often thought we had a pretty good security system from burglars coming in the front door.  Good thing Santa comes down the chimney!

Merry Christmas!

 

 

atlanta family dog photographer

Atlanta Family Dog

I’m so behind on session shares but here is a fun one that includes the family dog.  These sweet kids are so smart, full of personality and expression. It was fun to spend time getting to know them.  I love that they brought their lovely dog to be a part of the session.  Your dog is a part of the family and why not let them be captured in time just like your children?  I don’t think I can recall any picture of me as a child with my beloved Irish Setter, Kelly.  <sigh>

Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole.       — Roger Caras

Atlanta Humane Society

 

ourtown photographer

Meet the September 2012 Our Town Monthly Cover family, The Thomsens of Vinings Estates.  With ALTA tennis starting today all around Atlanta, it was a great time to feature this fun tennis family on the cover.

ourtown photographer

We multi-tasked for this session.  Not only did we get a great shot for the cover of a magazine, we also marked the occasion of adding a new puppy to the family.  Rue, a little black mixed-breed, was adopted from a shelter just a few days before this picture was taken and is sure to be a long time family member.

Thirdly, we shot to have portraits of Grace with her new puppy and family.  Grace is graduating 8th grade this year and we plan on having some great images for her 8th grade feature page in the yearbook.

Photographer’s Tip: Even if your school does not feature 8th graders like hers does, you can mark that milestone of graduating middle school with a family photo session.   Think of how much he or she will change before the next time they get professionally photographed which is usually during their Senior Year of High School.

What to Wear: Grace has a wonderful unique style and she originally pulled together pieces from the new 2012 Adidas Adizero line that looked terrific.  The red and black that you see in our cover was a back up.  Because you always go with what looks best on Mom first, we decided that the yellow was too much and the black with a blue tennis court backdrop was the way to go.  The pops of red here and there add some color and most importantly it is a more classic image that they can hang in their home and enjoy for years to come.  You want to reflect your personal style in a classic way so that it stands the test of time.

 

ourtown photographer

 

At the closing table when they purchased their home in 2000 the seller leaned over and said “you don’t realize it now but the best thing about your new home is the neighborhood”.  12 years later Angie and Mark Thomsen agree that Vinings Estates, Smyrna neighborhood, has meant more to them than they could have could ever have imagined.

Raising children Grace (14) and Maxmillian (11) keeps the family constantly on the go. Participating in Smyrna Soccer, where Mark has served on the Board of Directors for 6 years, both children have developed good physical skills especially in endurance running as evidenced by Grace winning her age group at last fall’s Silver Comet Trail Half-Marathon….a path she knows well having regularly visited it since being pushed in a baby jogger by her Mom and Dad. The entire family has completed the Peachtree Road Race a combined 30 times.

Fortunately for Mark his position as a VP Business Banker with PNC Bank supporting their Cumberland/Galleria/Smyrna branches keeps him in the area most days and involved with community organizations including the Smyrna Optimist Club.

Another family passion is tennis ! Mark and Angie both captain several neighborhood teams, including Mixed and Men’s Doubles. Angie’s women’s team LOVE (Ladies Of Vinings Estates) won the ALTA City Championship last fall.

Angie is a Stay at home Mom, who likes to cook, bake, and entertain, she is Senior Sales Consultant for Thirty-One Gifts – a line of personalized tote products as a home based business. Who finds most of her time is spent driving and going to sporting events, since the entire family participates in several sports, sometimes it seems like a juggling act to get everyone where they need to be.

Both children attend Eastside Christian School and the family attends Trinity Anglican Mission church on DeFoors Hills Road in Atlanta.

Recently they acquired a black Lab/Jack Russell puppy (RUE) from Atlanta Humane Society who joins their mixed terrier (GIZMO) rescued 6 years ago.

— From Our Town Monthly | September 2012

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An odd title but it is the name of the group Jen & I planned to form (being in a home full of boys) until I went and messed it up by having a girl.

I took pictures of my friend Jennifer and her family in front of their home in Mableton before they moved out of town.  I’m sad I won’t see them as often but I am happy that they will be closer to family and that the boys are excited about their new adventure.  It is times like this that I am thankful to have FACEBOOK so I know I can keep up with them and watch these boys grow up.

I met Jennifer at the Cumberland MOPS group in Smyrna the first year it started.  I have several good friends I met with that organization and one was even my son’s 4th grade teacher last year!  I can say I knew Jennifer back in the day when those two littlest boys were just a twinkle in her eye.  It seems like yesterday that they came into the world.

“Nothing makes the earth seem so spacious as to have friends at a distance; they make the latitudes and longitudes.”  –Henry David Thoreau

2008  |   2012

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Photographer’s Notes: My house is the backdrop of a lot of family pictures.  It may be the same for you.  If not, get out there and take some pictures of the place you raised your children…and look how small they were (you will say one day).  I actually love to take pictures of my home through the different seasons (flowers, leaves, snow).  Also make a point to get some shots of your car(s).  How fun is it to look at old model cars in your family’s photo’s?  Your current car will be that old model car to your children one day.

Case in point: I posted this picture on Instagram of a wood paneled station wagon I saw at Trader Joe’s in Atlanta.  I got more posts (excited ones) than I usually do because the ladies my age have a lot of the same memories about the station wagons our parents had and the memories of riding in the back.  The man that owned the car told my boys “I bet you’ve never seen a car like this.”  I told them how we used to ride around in the back often on a blanket waiting for the sharp turns so we would slide all over the place.  Raise your hand if you had the extra cool parents that took extra sharp turns on purpose for you. In firstborn fashion, my oldest said “That sounds dangerous.”  The point is it brings back a lot of memories to me because I remember getting our brand new circa 1980 wood paneled station wagon…it was N-I-C-E! I predict Honda Minivans will provoke the same feelings for him one day. Yikes.

I remember the point about pictures of your car being made by Zack Arias at one of the MOPS meetings I mentioned above.  (Hey, we all have to start somewhere.)  That was a looonnngggg time ago and now take a look at what a big time “successful commercial photographer he is.  I love his videos the most.  If you are professional photographer, you have probably seen his Transform video.  If you have not, stop NOW and watch it HERE.