Eli's Photography Blog

Happy Birthday Mom!

Wow I’m sure doing a lot of personal blogs lately, I guess I’ve been spending a lot of time with my family recently. That’s not a bad thing right? I’m actually really happy that I can spend so much time with my family, after all, they do mean a whole lot to me. Today is my Mom’s Birthday. We celebrated this weekend with dinner and gifts, and while I was visiting we got a little bit of a flurry. Of course I had my camera and asked mom if she would let me take a few photos of her. At the time, I was just snapping away, quickly composing the frame, adjusting shutter speed and aperture, just doing what I do without thinking much about it. Today, now that I’m looking at these photos and posting them on my blog, I’m realizing how special these photos are to me. Honestly they’re priceless. Happy Birthday Mom!

Arkansas Portrait Photographer

Mom's Portrait

Jaycee Alice – Newborn Portraits Arkansas

Candice really has been with me from the beginning, she’s been a loyal client and friend for over the last two years. When I was first getting started in photography, Candice helped me build my portfolio by letting me photograph her bridal portraits. After Candice and Ray got married in 2008, it wasn’t long before their family began to grow. I was super excited that Candice still thought of me to do her maternity photos. That really is the biggest complement that I receive, when I take someone’s photo and they are so happy they come back. I hope that I will continue to be a part of Candice, Ray, and now baby Jaycee’s lives and I plan to continue to deliver photos that will make them smile. Thanks again Candice, for letting me be a part of your special moments, you certainly are a special part of my life.

New Parents

Baby Alphabet Blocks

Arkanasas Newborn Photographer

Baby Details

Newborn Portrait

Newborn Portrait Photographer

Tuesday’s with Eli – Roadtrips

I have always loved road trips.  For one thing I do some of my best thinking on the road. All the distractions of the “day to day life” are taken away when you only have one simple task to do…Drive. Because I had dated Leslie for 3 years long distance, I got pretty used to long drives. I really only need a couple things to make me happy on a road trip: Plain sunflower seeds, bottle water, possibly a Rockstar Energy drink, and if it’s a really long drive… an audio book. These simple things make all the difference to me if I’m driving by myself. However, if I have a driving partner, that is something else. This weekend Leslie and I took a roadtrip to Nashville, Tennessee, her hometown. We we going there for her sister’s birthday dinner at her grandparent’ house. The weather was really nice the whole weekend, just a bit chilly, but made for a super pretty drive most the way. I was major excited to listen to my new audiobook “Never Eat Alone” by Keith Ferrazzi, and the 11 hour drive was a perfect fit. I’m glad Leslie didn’t mind either. As long as the narrator has a non-annoying voice we’re good, haha. It was a good book, I definitely recommend it to anyone wanting to get a little better at networking, and not in an artificial way, but in a genuine making friends and lasting connections kinda way. My friend Geoff Duncan recommended it to me, and I’m sure glad he did. Now I say pay it forward!

Here’s a quick little photos Leslie grabbed on the drive. Have a great week!

Eli

Road Trip Sunset

Tuesdays with Eli – Fun in the Snow!

Yesterday I blogged about the engagement portraits I took of Danielle & Jordan on Saturday. I told you guys that if they didn’t want to get out because of the weather, I was gonna be stupid and get out anyways just to shoot some portraits of Leslie & I in the snow. But because Danielle & Jordan were such awesome sports, they wanted to shoot their engagements, plus shoot some of Leslie and I too. I have to say, I really liked the idea because shooting my own portraits with a tripod and remote is not the easiest thing to do. I was a little reluctant at first though, I didn’t want to make my clients work for me, haha, but Leslie didn’t mind. She always wants great shots of the two of us. She thinks that we don’t have enough photos together because I’m always behind the camera.  So, after I did some photos of Danielle and Jordan, I showed them some of the basics on working my camera and they were ready to go! After I looked at a few of their photos, I was shocked. I better watch out, because Danielle & Jordan may be the next dream team photographers to take my job. Leslie was ecstatic, she couldn’t stop talking about how great the photos were. It was a lot of fun shooting in the snowy environment, but it sure was different letting my clients photograph me.
So there you go, my second “Tuesday’s with Eli” post and I’m already getting my clients to shoot for me, haha. Stick around, who knows what what craziness I’ll have next week.

These first few I shot of Leslie before we met up with Danielle & Jordan.

Arkansas Portrait Photographer

Arkansas snow portraits

Eli Murray

Couple Portraits

Snow Portraits

Happy couple

elimurray photography

Seriously aren’t these great. Leave Danielle & Jordan some love and let them know what you think of their skills.

Engagement Portraits in the Snow – Arkansas Photographer

I really do have some of the greatest clients. I’m always telling myself how thankful I am that I’ve been blessed with awesome clients that love my style of photography and match my easy going personality. Last Saturday I was scheduled to shoot Danielle & Jordan’s engagement photos, little did we know at the time of planning, that Arkansas weather would have other plans in mind. The snow, sleet, and icy roads didn’t stop us though. Jordan & Danielle may have needed just a little bit of convincing and I did have to pick them up because they couldn’t get out of there driveway. But I know that once we made it out, they were very happy that we stayed with our decision to shoot on Saturday. The snowy white scenery made for a super unique setting. It was very cold, don’t get me wrong, but we may not get another snow day like this here and I knew I couldn’t pass up this opportunity. My back-up plan if Danielle and Jordan wanted to re-schedule, was to brave the weather anyways and shoot some portraits of Leslie & I, but when I was telling Danielle this, she reminded me that she was no stranger to cameras. You see Danielle & Jordan both have backgrounds in production and photography, and they were more than happy to take a few photos of Les & I in the snow. More on that tomorrow – “Tuesday with Eli Post”
So here are Danielle & Jordan’s engagements. Enjoy!

Vintage Engagement Photographer

Arkansas Snow

Vintage Engagement Portraits

Pine Cone Snow

Arkansas Portrait Photography

Couples Kiss

E-Session Snow

Winter Portraits Little Rock