Miss Camille

Camille turned 6 months at the beginning of April; perfect timing for beautiful spring weather! She is full of personality and if her mommy or daddy beat boxes then she smiles and laughs instantly. What a fun morning with the Butts family. www.laurenpigford.com

Double Decker Arts Festival 2014, Oxford, MS

Since 2001 my friends and family have encouraged me to apply and participate in the Double Decker Arts Festival in Oxford, MS. I have always said that I wanted to apply and every year in November I would get an email saying that they were taking applications and then I found every excuse in the world not to apply. Here are some of the most common excuses: "I don't have any artwork ready, I have not painted in years, I don't have any extra time, It will probably will rain if I did it...." The excuses go on and on. The fact is, I have not consistently painted since 2001 and I sure as heck lost a lot of technique I once had. I did some paintings here and there throughout the last 13 years but I found out as soon as I tried to paint it was like my hand no longer worked and I was sluggish; not as "talented" as I remembered. This year I decided that the only way I would find time to paint and regain my painting strength and technique was if I was forced to paint. In November I received my email that Double Decker was taking applications and that same day I submitted my application. Surprisingly, I did not start a single painting. I did not start a single painting until March 8th after I had been invited by the jury to show my paintings. I had 6 weeks to get a massive amount of painting done. Each weekend I had a goal of how many paintings I needed to finish. Each weekend I fell short of that goal because I was not as speedy as I once was but I began to realize not only was my technique slowly coming back but I believed it was better than it had ever been before. Tomorrow I will be venturing down to Oxford with 17 paintings I am very attached to! With each painting my technique grew and I hope I'll be able to sell just one! I am excited and honored and I cannot wait to be back in Oxford, a place with so much culture and energy. A crowd of more than 55,000 is expected and the weather is going to be beautiful. Wish me luck and if you plan to attend come by booth 141 near Proud Larry's because that's where I will be all day!

Delta Cotton Field 36 x 24 Oil on Gallery Wrapped Canvas

30 x 24 Old Barn Oil on Gallery Wrapped Canvas

Sky of TN Mountains 14 x 11 Framed Acrylic on Canvas

Barn during Fall 11 x 14 Framed Oil on Canvas

River Sunset 18 x 24 Framed Oil on Canvas

New Day 30 x 24 Oil on Gallery Wrapped Canvas

Lexington Morning 24 x 20 Oil on Gallery Wrapped Canvas

True Colors of a Horse 18 x 24 Framed Oil in Canvas

Morning Sky 30 x 24 Oil on Gallery Wrapped Canvas

Fight or Flight 20 x 16 Framed oil on canvas

Walk of Champions 14 x 11 Framed Acrylic on Canvas

Grove Chaos 11 x 14 Framed Acrylic on Canvas

Faulker Home 14 x 11 Framed Acrylic on canvas

The South's Lyceum 14 x 11 Framed Acrylic on Canvas

www.laurenpigford.com

Bella & Baker

When the Holidays Come around Every Parent wants Christmas Photos AND Christmas Cards! Meredith emailed me and we arranged a time for her adorable little girl and boy to get their photos done. They have the most blue eyes of anyone I have ever seen! Just Beautiful and so sweet!

Brittany Bridal Portraits

The Rainers

Let me state the facts, My niece, Presley, and my sister, Erin, are the reason I started my portrait photography. I took their first photos together back in April and since then I have filled up my weekends and some weeknights with family portrait shoots. This time it was the entire Rainer clan, Erin, Presley AND Ryan. We took photos in Madison and Canton, MS! They are too cute and I love these family photos! Lucky for my sister to have free portraits for the rest of my life!

Huddy, Kim & Lockwood

I love photographing new families, and friends! Kim is my sister's best friend and we are all college friends. Her little boy Hudson just turned 1 and she decided it was time to get photos of her little family. I was thrilled to do the job and love looking through their photos!

Huddy is such a happy little boy and Kim and Lockwood are just good looking but a wonderfully happy couple!

Elizabeth

I am a person who absolutely LOVES cameras! I love being in front of them as much as being behind them. Sometimes I wish I had a double of me to take photos of me with my family, horses, etc. Every now and then I meet people who absolutely HATE having their picture taken. That is where my job gets hard. How do I make my subjects relax, be themselves, be happy, comfortable, and get amazing shots? The answer: I wait, and wait, and wait, and wait until those moments happen and then I snap.

Elizabeth is such a beautiful girl. Even her pouty face makes my heart melt. I looked through her photos and smiled over and over BUT there was not that happy face that we needed to get for a 20 x 24 canvas to hang on the wall next to her three older sister's portraits. What did we do, we scheduled additional time on another day and at a different time of day. The result was tons of tears, "I don't want toos" and stomping the feet. Gina, Elizabeth's mother, and I just laughed and decided to just stop and let her play for a while. After about an hour of her playing and several smiles I told Gina to take her back along a wooded path and I would use my telephoto lens, hide behind the trees and act like paparazzi! IT WORKED! We got some of the cutest photos of Miss Elizabeth and now Gina can have a 20 x 24 canvas portrait of her baby girl with a happy smile on her face!

I don't make a moment happen for the perfect photo, I wait for that moment to come to me!