About the Cover Photographer
April Estes is a Paulding County native and has lived here her entire life. She is a 1998 graduate of Paulding County High School where she met and dated her high school sweetheart, Michael Estes, until they were married in 2002. She has been married to "the most wonderful man in the world" for nearly 9 years and has been blessed with 3 more loves of her life; Landon age 5, Easton age 3 and Marlow age 1. Michael is a Paulding County Firefighter and has been with the PCFD for almost 7 years.
April went to Kennesaw State University and graduated in 2002 with a BBA in Finance. After graduation, she began her career at a local bank where she worked in Commercial and Construction Lending, while acquiring her Residential Real Estate license as well. A couple of years later, she had her first son who forever altered the direction of her life. Although she always had an interest in photography, this is where her passion grew while trying to preserve and capture every sweet little moment. She began classes at the Showcase School of Photography and officially opened her own photography business, Reflective Images Photography in 2007.
April is a creative on-location photographer and specializes in maternity, newborns, toddlers & children, senior portraits, families, engagements and weddings. She has truly found her passion and is so thankful for the business God has blessed her with, the friendships it has allowed her to develop, and the opportunities it has provided for her family.
April Estes
Reflective Images Photography
www.reflectiveimagesphoto.com/blog
770-363-7986
On the Cover
Happy Birthday, America!
On this month’s cover we are honoring the 235th birthday of our great nation. To help us celebrate are several of Paulding’s young residents. They are from left to right; Logan Whitaker, Kyla Whitaker and Megan Warlow.
Kyla and Logan Whitaker
Kyla, age 8 and Logan, age 6 are the children of Alisha and Caleb Whitaker of Dallas. They have a younger brother, Mason who is age 4. Kyla is very intellectual and won 9 awards in her school this year. Logan loves to play baseball, and is currently ranked 4th in Paulding County among the 5-6 year olds. He’s made the all-star team two years in a row. Both Logan and Kyla were on the all A Honor Roll this year at their elementary school.
Alisha is a life long resident of Paulding and is a stay home mom. She is very excited to be starting nursing school in the fall and looks forward to becoming an RN. Caleb works for Scofield, LLC where he helps build and maintain the machines used for the production of concrete stains. This fall, he too is going back to school with plans to become a Doctor of Pharmacy. Little Mason will also begin school for the first time, so all the Whitaker’s will be in school this fall.
They are a very devoted family and love spending time together at the lake or by the pool. They are very sport oriented and spend a lot of time at the ball field. But once a week, they have a family game night usually playing UNO.
Megan Warlow
Megan, age 5 is the third child in her family and is the fifth generation of lifetime Paulding women residents still living; including Megan’s sister Rachael, her mother Shannon, her grandmother Cathy Andrews Gardner, great-grandmother Barbara Hicks Andrews, and her great-great grandmother Virginia George Hicks.
Her parents are Shannon and Donny Warlow. They were married in 1996 at the New Georgia Baptist Church, which happens to be the same church Shannon’s parents were married in 1978. Donny works at Georgia Pacific as a production planner, and Shannon caters with her Aunt Lori Bomar's business - Atlanta's Finest Catering, as well as working for Darden Restaurants. They have two more children, Rachael age 12 and Collin age 9.
The Warlow’s are very supportive of each other. Shannon, Rachael and Megan enjoy horseback riding and spend many hours a day with their horses. Donny and Collin prefer their own interests which include any type of sports or hunting. As a family they enjoy spending time at the lake or the beach, or just enjoying a quiet moment together.
We want to say a very big THANK YOU to the Whitaker, Warlow and Estes’ families for taking the time to organize this special shoot. They found some beautiful vintage outfits, accessories, and even make a REAL cake! Also, we appreciate the wonderful props, including the beautiful red velvet sofa. Everything was perfect!