Jamie is a senior at Yukon High School this year, and we met in Bricktown for her senior portraits.  Love these!

The previous blog post featured Nick & Elaine’s engagement session. The day after that, I photographed Elaine’s bridals at the new downtown botanical garden area.  Now that these two are officially married (two days), I’m allowed to post her bridals showing off her dress! yay!

Nick & Elaine are my “Fun Couple” of the year. When they ask for suggestions on a fun location for their engagements, the State Fair popped into my head! This was SO unique!! I followed them around the fair, riding rides with them to capture their expressions together. Check them out

The countdown to Christmas has officially begun! Those booking Christmas portraits will have three package options this year! yay! The time to book is NOW! I am booking sessions 2 months in advance right now, so don’t wait til last minute to reserve your date!  I have a few dates left in October, and November will be filling up this month.  To reserve your date, contact me through my website www.heatherbulardphotography.com , phone at 405-261-6097, or my facebook business page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Heather-Bullard-Photography/70909604286.

Yay for fall portraits!

Holy perfect. This is baby McKenna, she is so precious! We took her newborn photos when she was a few days old, and she stayed in every position I put her in, stayed asleep, no peeing, no crying…she was perfect.  The typical newborn session is held at the family’s house, near a big window and a portable heater to make the baby nice and comfy during the session.  For this session, Teresa & Jon were worried about their window light not being bright enough. Improvise? Yes please.

New location? My garage, door open, and 106 degree heat that day.  Wasn’t bad really…had out lawn chairs out and our drinks to cool us off. Baby McKenna loved it.  She slept through the whole thing.  Daddy Jon, however, did not appreciate the heat as much. haha.  Check out these adorable pics:

Over a year ago, I photographed Chad and his family before his deployment overseas.  You may remember this:

One year later, which was just a few days ago, Chad returned home safely. I was so excited to see this family reunite!  Chad and Whitney planned on surprising their daughter after his arrival, with her opening a huge present and him being inside it!  I was so excited to capture this!

Since their arrival date/time is known only days before they show up, it’s hard to plan for a homecoming like this though. This time, it just happened to fall on a date and time that my husband was at work, which forced me to either take my two kids with me…or tell them I wouldnt be able to make it.

So, I loaded up the kids and headed to the airport. A huge group of soldiers were inside, and the kids were in awe. They love soldiers.

Anyway, usually the airport is bare when I am there to shoot a homecoming. This time was different. There were about a dozen patriotic fans waiting for them to arrive (in addition to family and friends). I dont think these people had any relation to the soldiers, they were just there to welcome them home. This made it really special for the soldiers who were arriving with no family there to greet them.

These are the moments I love:

This next photo I just HAD to take haha. Going down the escalator, my kids were just in awe watching them

Now for the really good part! The surprise. We headed to the park, got Chad into position, and waited for the grandparents to arrive with their daughter. Be aware…you may just cry.

After the first hug and kiss, you could tell how glad she was that her daddy was home. She immediately introduced him to her teddy bear, and then asked if he’d go play on the swings with her.

Welcome home Chad! So glad to see this family back together

I met with Chris and Katie earlier this week for their Operation Love-Reunited session in Bricktown. If you’re a regular reader of my blog, you’re familiar with these sessions. If you’re new here, then my last sentence probably already confused you.  To fill you in:

What is Operation Love Reunited? This is a non-profit organization I participate in- made possible by photographers who volunteer their time and services to support our deploying military.  We donate a portrait session of the soldier and their family before deploying, or candid coverage of the homecoming ceremony, free of charge.

Why I participate? I am a firm believer that to whom much is given, much is expected.  I believe it’s important to not only use my God given gift and love for photography to make money, but also to use it for some kind of charity and good doing.  I’ve also “been there, done that.”  I spent four years as a military wife while my husband was in the Infantry. We went through the deployment…I know exactly what these families are going through…and that these photos of their family members will be getting them through the day over there.  When you can’t physically see or talk to your family/kids, photos are EVERYTHING.

Other info? You can find out details about OpLove at www.oplove.org.

Anyway, back to the story.  I photograph hundreds of soldier and their families every year- which means I am constantly hunting for “their story” that led up to our session.  If you don’t have regular contact with our soldiers, you may not be aware of how often these soldiers are deployed. The majority of  the soldier’s I’ve photographed are deploying for one year.  In addition to that, it most likely won’t be their last tour.

These photos below feature Chris & Katie. I was curious as to if they had been through a deployment before, and he informed me it was his THIRD deployment in two years.  Thats a huge sacrifice. Please continue to pray for these soldier and their family, including Chris & Katie!

I love photographing sweet little babies! And to quote Forrest Gump, “That’s really all I have to say about that.”

I get asked all the time if families can bring their pet for portraits. This is a brilliant idea because: 1) The dog is a huge part of their family 2) Nobody seems to fake smile when a dog is there 3) Unexpectedness.

This Operation Love Reunited session was photographed at Will Rogers Park a couple weeks ago before the soldier was deployed.

Remember the unexpectedness I talked about earlier? SCORE! I had the whole family (including dog) posed on a bridge overlooking water when the puppy decided he couldnt take the temptation anymore. That’s right…he bailed into the water in about 2 seconds.

This water had two sections…normal…and nasty. Which did he choose?  bahahahahaha.

This bottom pic is my fav. The family had plans to take one last photo in front of this fountain. The dog was banned from this pic, but decided he was refreshed and ready for photos again! This photo was taken just as he shook off the wetness all over the family!

This soldier, along with many others, just left for a one year deployment. This family will struggle the entire year trying to adjust to him being away, so please pray for the soldier AND his family members.

If I had to pay a dollar for every blog I’m running behind on I’d be dead broke and someone would be dang ‘ole rich. Its the middle of summer, and I have been swamped with weddings, military sessions, and that thing called life. In June I photographed an awesome wedding- James & Victoria. For those of you who werent invited (ha) here’s a recap:

I don’t usually blog pics of little detail things like this, but it was so pretty

About 2 minutes before the start of the wedding, James & Victoria decided to do the “First Look” pictures. I always love it when couples choose to see each other before the ceremony. It’s not traditional, but is becoming more popular nowadays. Big upside to it: No matter how stressful the wedding day, when the couple does “First Look” pictures, they have their own little moment and forget about all the wedding decisions they’ve been making all day.

FYI: I did not pose this kissing picture…it was really that steamy. Which had me thinking….I’m pretty sure my husband and I don’t do steamy kisses like that anymore. Hmmm…

So, even though I usually have only met the bride/groom a few times before their wedding, I somehow find myself smiling, crying, and even bowing my head during the prayer. Then my assistant reminds me to snap out of it and that I’m the photographer. geesh.

And the fun begins:

If any of you readers have ever wondered what photographers do on our breaks, we either 1) Shove wedding cake down our faces 2) Bathroom break…which really involves busting some moves to Michael Jackson while in the bathroom 3) Photobooth.

I have to admit….I do all three of these. I dragged my assistant, Nikki, to the photobooth while everyone was eating their food (because NOBODY wants pics of them chewing their dinner)….and was a little embarassed later that night when we logged onto the photobooth company’s website to check them out. We learned that the bride would receive one photo of EVERY picture taken in the booth. Don’t judge me people.

Back to the good stuff:
And at the end of the night, they lived happily ever after.

Congrats Tori & James! So glad you chose me to be a part of your wedding day