Merry Christmas - Project GIVEAWAY selection!

Hello everyone! I hope you've each had a very Merry Christmas!!!

I am very excited to announce the winner of the Project GIVEAWAY photo session. What a special woman this is and it will be an honor to meet her family. Choosing amongst such touching stories was truly one of the most difficult things I've done. I thank you all tremendously for sharing each of them with me.

Again, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!
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Ann is a pretty private person, but she has gone through an unbelievable amount of hardship over the last few years. I think a photo session with her family would be such a wonderful gift.

When Ann isn't working for us, she cares for her handicapped husband, who has had several hip replacements (and needs another), and an adult daughter with lupus in her home. She has five grown children and four grandchildren and is actively involved in all of their lives attending piano recitals, baseball games and the like. She keeps her five year old granddaughter on the weekends so her granddaughter's parents can work. Ann is active in her church and sings in the choir.

Several years ago, her home, which was a long-time family home, flooded due to the neglect of the City of Atlanta's sewage system in a park across the street. Ann lost all of her furniture and many of her belongings in the flood. The flooding continued with every heavy rain and she eventually had to give up her home and move. (The city never reimbursed her for the damage and she lost the small amount of principal that she had in the house). Then, she bought a house at a time when lenders were being overly aggressive with home loans. She was using any money that she had to care for her family, including lending a hand with medical expenses for her adult daughter who gave birth to a premature grandson who died after only several weeks of life.

Then, things got worse financially and in the housing market and Ann lost her home. She had to move to a rented home where she's lived for the last year or so with her husband and adult daughter. She took in her son's family last spring when her son lost his job. This fall, her husband received notice that he had lost his job. We just learned this news and, last weekend, they had to pack up their belongings and move in with one of her sons (who is a school teacher and has a family to support). On top of everything, she will no longer have healthcare coverage as of this winter due to the loss of her husband's job.

Ann has been through so much hardship over the last few years and we've done everything we can to support her through these troubles. She has always been very private and never wanted anyone to know of her struggles. However, I wanted to share her story with you in the event that you decide to select her family for your giveaway.

Season of GIVING!

I've purposefully paused on the blog posts so that I don't spoil the BEAUTIFUL holiday cards that clients are sending. I'm very excited to post the many, many fall favorites I have in a few weeks. It's been a wonderful holiday card season and I've had the best time with each family!

More importantly, I'm thrilled to announce an exciting new giveaway for a deserving family - and the wonderful person who recommends them to me. This year I am participating in Giving is Awesome - a grassroots organization created by Philadelphia children's photographer Kristen Kalp. The program designed to give deserving families the joy of custom photography.

I've listed the details below and invite all of you to participate!! It is a privilege to work with all of you - and to have you as friends!

Giving is Awesome
You know someone. You know someone who's experienced a tragedy, is struggling to stay afloat, is raising kids while holding down more than one job, or is volunteering selflessly despite extenuating personal circumstances. You know someone who can't afford custom photography, but who would cherish it this holiday season. You know someone who deserves a year-round reminder of their family's spirit, love, and beauty.

I want to know who they are, and I want to give them the chance to experience complimentary custom photography -- $400 worth, to be exact (Session, plus $250 print credit.) Whether it's canvas or albums, prints for Grandma, or a slideshow to watch over and over, it's in your power to give them the artwork they deserve this holiday season.

Oh, and the best part? The person who nominates the winner receives a free family photography session ($150 value)!

The rules:
* You cannot nominate yourself, and the person nominated must sincerely be incapable of purchasing my services. (Having to put the beach house up for sale does not qualify as sincere financial need.) ;)
* The nominee must reside in Atlanta and have the ability to travel to the designated session location. Tell me who you know, what they're experiencing, and why they deserve my photography. Please include a way to contact both your nominee and yourself as well.
* You must e-mail me the full story : kimdbusby@gmail.com
* The 2 winning sessions (nominee and nominator) are valid for 2010.
*Entries must be received by December 20th. The winner will be announced on December 23rd -- get nominating! I can't wait to read all of your entries!

Open your heart to someone this holiday season -- and thanks for giving me the opportunity to open mine.

Here we go again....

It's obvious that busy season is here! Aaack - I'm behind on the blog again!! Here are pictures from a week's worth of sessions - whew! I had so much fun with all of these beautiful clients. Gorgeous children - dressed to the nines for holiday cards! Beautiful families - blue eyed babies. And then my favorite engaged couple! :)

Sweet Baby L

Fall is always a fun, busy time......lots of Christmas pictures and holiday sweaters!! I enjoy seeing everyone in their holiday-finest......but it was so wonderful to take a little "break" and spend some time with this sweet newborn. Baby L is 4-weeks old. We tried to get some sleepy-baby pictures.....but she just wouldn't drift off for us!! I just love the onee we have with her eyes open though.....so she seems to be a pretty smart cookie already.....knowing what would be best!!

Little Punkin...

Happy Fall!!! The rain cut this session a little short last week.....but I had a great time with this little Pumpkin!!!!!

Baby M

Sweet Baby M arrived a few months ago.....and is the nephew of a dear college friend. His mom and I shared lots of fun times too - and it was so nice catching up with her. We snapped these shots quickly - as we were bumping up against little M's nap. He was a trooper - and of course those blue eyes got me again! :)

Opening Weekend

So this was "opening weekend" of busy season for me. Multiple shoots for the next several weekends!! I'm officially booked for 2009, but will send emails with any cancellations. These cuties sure set the bar high for the holiday season!!!!!

Sunday afternoon...

Below are a few shots from Sunday's session with the R family!! Such cute boys - and I just wanted to take those curls home with me!!!

Rain, rain, go away!!

At least it stayed away today! I was nervous we'd have to cancel this morning's shoot since Atlanta has had rain every day, it seems. And this was one I'd been looking forward to for few weeks now! The rain held off and M and B were lots of fun. Little B was always on the move - but I'm happy to chase around one as cute as he is!!!! And M was a great big sister - holding his hand to help him along....

Thank Heaven for Little Boys...

....especially these two!!! What adorable, well-behaved children these two are!!! Truly a joy to be around. I know their parents are proud!!!

The Prince Will Soon Arrive

These beautiful princess will soon have a little brother!!! This morning was such fun with the S family. It's easy to see how cute these girls are..... and I can't wait to meet their baby brother in a few weeks!!

And Baby Makes 4!!

I've been looking forward to this session for about 9 months now!!! I love the K family. I photographed them last year.....with their precious son. Well, now little W is a big brother! He's still as cute as can be - and I can only imagine how beautiful his little sister will grow up to be!!

Tough Little Guy

What a fun day! My morning starting off with this fun family. Blue-eyed boys....can they be any cuter??



This tough little guy actually fell about 30 seconds after this picture was taken.....and has a little bruiser below his eye! :( He was such a trooper and recovered quickly. We had lots of fun - shiner and all!! Thanks C family!!!

Christmas pics in the Summer!

One of my favorite families is working early to capture a cute Christmas card picture!! I won't post the group shots, for fear of spoiling their lovely card.....but here's a favorite of their youngest cutie!!

A great match!!

I had lots of fun FINALLY meeting Baby E this morning. Her parents have been friends of our for many years. My husband has known Mom since high school.....and we met Dad upon moving to Atlanta. Funny thing is, they didn't know each other! Sooooo, my husband and I did what we swore we'd never do - and set them up! A few years later, they've settled down and here's Baby E!


Sweet E was asleep when I first arrived.....



But she soon awoke and we had lots of fun!!!


Yep, My husband and I are definitely patting ourselves on the back - a great match!!

Playing Catch up!!!!

I can say with certainty that I've never been this far behind on the blog!!! Here are highlights from this Spring's sessions. And I promise I'll be better with posting previews from the Fall sessions. Book now - only a few afternoon slots left for holiday cards!!!