My Best of 2018 | Top 9 of Instagram | Atlanta photographer

Last year I did a blog post sharing my Top 9 photos of 2017, and I thought it’d be fun to do the same type of post for this year as well.

Below are my top 9 photos on Instagram for 2018 as determined by the Top 9 app:

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It’s safe to say that similar to last year, my self portraits are pretty popular on my feed. I also have a few photos taken of me by someone else that made the cut, and the photo of my beautiful friend Tia in the middle row and to the right.

I’m glad people love seeing my own face on my feed, but I also want a chance to share my own top 9 photos I’ve taken this year.

So here’s my own personal top 9 favorite photos of 2018 (IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER):

  1. True love reflected

    This photo from one of my beautiful, intimate, in-home maternity sessions is hands-down one of my favorite images I’ve ever taken. Alicia and Brandon’s session kicked off my 2018 season in the best way. Seeing this couple so in love and ready to welcome their 2nd child into the world absolutely warmed my heart and I’m glad I got to be a part of their journey and freeze these moments for them. (Plus their oldest daughter is totally adorable and already a little model. Seriously, go see for yourself).

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2. A moment in the sun

This photo was recently featured in National Geographic’s best photos of 2018 from the Your Shot community and it’s always awesome to see someone else appreciate a photo that you’re in love with as well. This is one of my favorite photos from a styled shoot I did with a model, Imani, at Cascade Springs Nature Preserve trail here in Atlanta. You can view more of the photos from this shoot HERE.

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3. A city vibe

Kari is hands down one of my fave models to work with (which is clear from the multiple sessions I’ve done with her now). I’ve been wanting to shoot a session at High Museum for the longest, and I finally got the opportunity to put one together with Kari. She was basically an entire mood for the whole session. You can view more photos from our session together HERE.

Kari-Twyman-model-at-High-Museum-by-Atlanta-portrait-photographer-Chanel-French.jpg

4. A fun paint fight

Shelbey and Nick hands-down win the award for the most creative engagement session idea I’ve photographed yet. When Shelbey contacted me, she expressed how she and Nick like to spend their down time painting together, and how they wanted to incorporate that into their session. So we set out to Morningside Nature Trail to do just that! It was so fun capturing these moments for them that I know they’ll cherish forever.

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5. Sun flowers and sun smiles

This is one of my fave photos I took during my workshop I held back in October of this year. It was a small, intimate workshop geared towards photographers who were ready to push themselves creatively. We focused on their decision making skills when setting up a shoot and boosting their confidence as photographers. It was an awesome experience from beginning to end, and I can’t wait to do it again. But first, I’ll be teaching a class at Clickaway in February that I’m super excited for - I’ll see you there if you’ve already grabbed your ticket!

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6. An intimate portrait

Earlier this year I got the chance to experiment with using a softbox while shooting, and a friend of mine was gracious enough to model for me to practice lighting. I ended up leaving our mini-session with some of my favorite portraits I’ve taken this entire year, this one included. (You can see one of the other portraits in the grid at the top of the page from my Instagram Top 9).

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7. A quiet moment of love

Another maternity session I’ll always cherish that I did towards the beginning of this year. Dominique and Daryl are a fun couple who were welcoming their first baby girl into their family, and I’m honored they chose me to create these beautiful images for them. I was in love with their home’s decor, especially their gorgeous and HUGE bed. I knew right off the bat I wanted to capture a few sweet, intimate moments using the bed as the backdrop and this photo is one of my favorite maternity photos I’ve taken to date.

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8. A boss lady

I did Krystal’s maternity session back in 2016, and we created some beautiful images together. So I was super excited when she booked a headshot branding session to capture photos for her heels fitness brand - The Stiletto Girlz. We met up at The Shops Buckhead and worked together to capture images that personified her brand perfectly.

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9. A few passions combined

I chose this last image as one of my personal Top 9 for 2018 because it shows a few of my favorite things all lumped into one image. Firstly, my love for doing flatlays. I enjoy putting flatlays together when I’m sharing a book I’ve just recently read, but I also use them to show bits of my personality and things I love in general. For this flatlay I decided to share a couple of pages from my bullet journal which I use in place of a typical daily planner. This flatlay also showcases two things in my daily life that I really love: comfy socks (these were a Christmas present from a friend) and a good cup of hot tea (my fave at the moment: Chai Rooibos from Yogitea). I figured this photo was a good note to end my top 9 of 2018 on because it shows you a bit of who I am all rolled up into one.

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If you’re interested in creating you own grid of top photos of 2018, HERE’S where you can go to find out your own top 9 posts of Instagram. I would recommend downloading the free app because it works 10X faster than the site.

What were some of your top moments of the year?

Share them below so we can appreciate all the good times of 2018 together!

I encourage you to go through the photos you captured this year and reminisce over all the wonderful moments that happened.

I even encourage you to share them on instagram (and feel free to tag me so I can see!)


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