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The Smile House – Photography by Laura Kay Wootan bio picture

Welcome To My Blog

Thank you for visiting my blog. Here you'll find my most recent client sessions as well as stories about my life and my family. Here is some information about me!

My name: Laura Kay Wootan

Age:  35 (although I am going to stop counting after this year)

Birthday:  August 5th, 1973

My Family:  I have a wonderful husband named Bryan and a six-year-old son that I love very much. My son only makes funny faces at my camera. He might just be slightly over photographed.

Education: Bachelors of Fine Art in Photography from The University of Texas Arlington.  I graduated in 1997.

My style:  I’m a journalist at heart. My portraits are story telling mixed in with classic portraiture. I strive to create timeless portraits. I believe that portraits are an investment in your family history. I believe children should see what their great grandparents looked like. I believe that every family should have a yearly family portrait.  I believe a portrait really can say 1000 words.

The technical aspects of photography are every bit as important to me as the emotions and relationships I capture. You'll never find me shooting on anything but "full manual." I make all the decisions when I'm photographing. I don't photograph on automatic and hope the camera will do a good job. 

I pose people. Photographers who claim not to pose because it looks "fake" just don't know how to pose their clients.  Not posing people can make a beautiful Mom look ten or twenty pounds heavier than she really is!!  I’m so not kidding.  Posing people is an art. You can absolutely pose people and still have them look natural and animated.   I pose my subjects because I want you and your family to look the best they can. If posing was a bad thing Tyra Banks on Next Top Model wouldn’t spend so much time talking about “the pose!!”  Posing… it’s not just for supermodels!  Posing is the difference between “snapshot” photography and real portraiture.  I believe if you’re hiring a custom photographer they should be providing you a top-notch beautiful product that isn’t something you could do yourself. 

I love beautiful light. I am comfortable shooting on location, in the studio and with natural light. I’m always prepared for whatever lighting situation I will encounter. I am obsessed with finding beautiful light and if it’s not there I can create it.

I believe without a doubt Mothers are the ultimate family historians.  Mom’s that love photography are my favorite people. I fall in love with every baby and child I photograph.  I love nothing more than to see how much they change over the years. I consider it an honor to be your family photographer.

Thanks for visiting! Please leave comments! I LOVE them!

Sneak Peek of Sweet Abigail

I have been getting some of the cutest babies lately! We had a wonderful session even though there was very little sleeping! Haha Here’s a peek of sweet baby Abigail! I had a great time getting to know this family! Thanks for coming in! See you soon!

Smokin Hawt Mom

I’m having a Fabulous time photographing friends here in Florida! Hair and make up was done by the awesome Tamara Ogden Now if it would only quit raining! Can’t wait to photograph the kiddos tomorrow! :D These are processed on my laptop so hopefully the color isn’t wonky!

Sneak Peek for Hillary – North Texas Senior

I’m in Florida for a few days but I couldn’t NOT blog these… how totally fun is this Lady Gaga image??? Meet beautiful Hillary. If you can’t tell she’s a huge GaGa fan so we just had to include some fun homage photos! Sooo many fun images I had such a hard time deciding what to “peek” with! See you guys soon! Thanks for coming in!

Sneak Peek For Amy & Richard

Meet sweeeet baby Anthony! Have I mentioned how much I totally love babies with full heads of hair?? Anthony is a handsome little man! We had a great session! I’m sure this little boy is going to sleep well tonight! I think my favorite image so far from the session is with Daddy’s totally awesome tattoo! Love this image! So cool!! Thanks for coming in guys :) Enjoy this little peek!

Sneak Peek for Birdie – San Marcos High School Senior

I had a great time photographing Birdie today! She’s simply stunning! The camera loves her too! She’s very photogenic! Here’s a couple of teasers! I can’t wait to work on the rest of these. I am also back from vacation! I’ve slowed down a little bit but now I’m catching up on all the stuff I haven’t done over the year… More blogs soon… and a contest or two!! I need to get a few more ducks in row! :)

Closed for Vacation

Just wanted update the studio will be closed from July 2nd until July 13th. We’re taking a much needed break! I know blog without photos are soooooo lame! Please forgive me. I’m behind on blogging and I thought I might catch up on blogging while on vacation until my husband gave me the stink eye that vacation is for a break… not working. Sooo I promised I wouldn’t work on vacation. Yes folks, I’m a workaholic…. I’m trying very hard to decompress!! So anyway… I might have a contest or two while I’m on break so stay tuned! (that doesn’t count as work right?? )

Much Love,
L

Sneek Peek for Amber & Tim

How’s this for some yummy newborn goodness??? Meet sweet baby Strick. I big puffy heart him. He was such a good baby!! So laid back and easy going! I’m sure this sweet little boy will grow up and be a cowboy fan!! It’s in the blood! Just two quick peeks! I can’t wait to finish processing this session!

Sneak Peek for Sarah & James – New Braunfels Family Photographer

Wire-haired Dachshunds and a sweet bald little man. Two of my great loves!!  We had a fabulous session today! I am blessed to have such a fun job! Thanks for coming in! See you soon!

Sneak Peek for Matt & Kristi -New Braunfels Family Photographer

I’m always happy anytime I can put a baby in a tutu! Wednesday was no exception!!  Just wanted to share two quick peeks for Kristi & Matt!  Thanks for coming in! See you soon!

Sneak Peek for Megan & Matt

A pretty girl, a handsome boy, a 100 year old barn, a horse and an afternoon with beautiful light! It was a great day. :)   I had a wonderful time out in the country with Megan & Matt.  I’ve never seen so many grasshoppers in my life! Haha  It truly is a joy to photograph young couples in love! I had a really hard time deciding which images to share!  I had so many favorites from the day.   Here’s just a quick peek from this awesome engagement session.

Sneak Peek for Holly Jo

Just a few quick peeks  for Holly Jo.  We had a wonderful session the other evening… it was totally worth the mosquito bites!  Thanks for coming out guys! See you soon!

Mr. & Mrs. Brereton – Texas Hill Country Wedding

I just had to share a few quick teasers from this wedding!  I had the pleasure of photographing Savannah & Richard’s wedding on Saturday. It was held at the beautiful River Bluff Hall in Center Point near Kerrville.  The wedding was beautiful with lots of heart felt tears and sweet words.  Savannah and Richard and all their friends and family were so much fun to hang out with!!  So many funny stories!!  This couple are also so very loved by their friends.  You could really tell how genuinely happy everyone was to celebrate this wonderful day! Congratulations! it was wonderful to be part of your day!

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Some of the pretty details! Savannah loves Penguins and that little guy held their rings! Too Cute!

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I love Richards look here as he see’s his beautiful bride coming down the stairs!

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Savannah used her Maid of Honor Jessica’s cell phone to read her vows! It was so funny and her vows were perfect! Everyone laughed and cried!!!

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Another sweet moment! I love how happy Savannah looks!

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We got to do a few couple portraits! Love this one! Savy is so photogenic!

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Okay so it was totally dark and grey and no color at all in the sky but with the magic of photoshop shazam!!

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Love this one too!

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They played nice.  Mostly! LOL

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First dance!

I’m Out of Town Expanding my Brain!

I was soooo busy getting senior orders out I can’t believe I forgot to blog about being out of town. This week I’m expanding my brain at the ever wonderful www.TexasSchool.org with over 1000 other awesome photographers from around Texas and the world! I will back in the studio on Tuesday. I thought I might be able to have more access to email however the internet in the hotel is painfully slow. I’m sure the many many many photographers on the network are part of the problem. None the less I will be answering them as I can. I would normallly post an image too because blog posts without photos are so lame but I can’t get it up upload!! I will be back soon though…. and I will be blogging many sessions too! Much Love – Laura

Sneak Peek for Sierra – Wimberley High School Senior

I’ve had the pleasure of photographing Sierra a few times as a cheerleader for Wimberley High School but yesterday was extra fun! Pretty girl, great location! What’s not to love??? But wait there’s more!! She brought her handsome boyfriend Brook with her! They’re so cute together! I have to say I just love love love the image with her pretty lashes! I just love eyelashes! So pretty! See you guys soon!

Sneak Peek for Stacie – Texas State Graduate

Who needs stinking sunshine?? Haha I am sooo glad we ventured out in the misty rain! I love these images! Meet beautiful Stacie she’s a senior at Texas State. I just love spring wild flowers in Texas! Just two quick teasers! Thanks for coming in! See you soon!