ricky, karen, elizabeth & lauren

For the most part, this week has been cloudy and dreary.  Thank goodness we even got a little bit of rain, though probably not enough to help our shortage.  But Wednesday was gorgeous.  We had clear, blue skies and it was warm enough that I could shoot outside without shivering.  I was happy to spend some quality time with a wonderful family.  After taking pictures of her youngest daughter, Lauren, Karen decided she wanted pictures of the entire family.  Ricky and Elizabeth went along with the idea – but they weren’t exactly exited it.  In fact, Ricky stated more than once that he hated to have his picture taken.  That means he must really love Karen because even though he hated it – he did it.  And he didn’t complain at all.   The only person really happy to be posing for me was Lauren who must have model blood flowing through her veins.  She just loves to be photographed.

Here are a few pictures of the sisters . . . Elizabeth and Lauren.

I taught Lauren a very important fact on Wednesday.  To get her to relax, I taught her to say, “Diamonds are a girl’s best friend.”  She took to it quickly – which makes me think she’ll be wearing some bling when she gets a little older!

Karen and Ricky have a beautiful family.  And they interact so beautifully that my job was truly easy.

Even though it was getting dark, I wanted to finish our session by taking a picture of Karen and Elizabeth.  Their eyes are the exactly the same color – an amazing shade of green.  In fact, they are the same color as mine

courtney and haylee

Every fall I take pictures of Courtney and Haylee for their family Christmas cards.  Some years we do the entire family, but the past two years I’ve just photographed the girls.  For sisters, they are as different as night and day.  While Courtney is a brunette with dark brown eyes, Haylee is a blonde with light hazel eyes.  And their personalities are just as different as their looks.  But they have one thing in common.  Even when they don’t want to have their pictures taken, they are always cooperative and respectful.  Their mom, Lynn, stands back and lets me do my thing – and the girls always go along with what I want to do  (and without rolling their eyes, no less).  And, they photograph beautifully.
I just have one problem with these girls . . . they are growing up much too quickly!

After taking the pictures, I always design a custom Christmas card for Courtney and Haylee’s family.  This year their mom went along with my very first design – which is a first.  And, I think this year’s card is the best yet.

Now, I just need to get busy and come up with an idea for MY cards!

megan and nigel

My daughter, Megan, is a store manager for David’s Bridal. This week Megan has been in Tampa for the national directors’ meeting where they are seeing the lineup of new products that David’s will be offering. The highlight of her trip thus far was meeting Nigel Barker, judge on America’s Next Top Model. Nigel is a fashion photographer from New York. Since I don’t watch ANTM, I had to Google him to find out why Megan was so excited that he would be at the meeting. With some help from a few friends, Megan got up the nerve to ask Nigel if she could have a picture taken with him. She didn’t have her camera, so she had someone else take the picture. The quality isn’t what I would like – but here are Megan and Nigel.

This is Megan’s response to meeting Nigel, “If there has ever been a more beautiful man on the face of this earth I have never seen him.” I think I might have to agree.

happy thanksgiving!

Elise Beall Photography will be closed from Wednesday, November 21st through Sunday, November 25th.  I am going to take some time to celebrate the holiday with friends and family.  After the last 6 weeks, this is a well-earned vacation!

If you placed and paid for an order before November 20th, your pictures will be ready early next week.

If you place an order during the holidays, I will send you a revised invoice or call you with your total as quickly as possible.

I will return all e-mails and phone calls on Monday, November 26.

I have so much to be thankful for – and my clients are high on that list.  I’ve met the nicest people and made so many new friends since starting this business.  I am truly amazed at how quickly my business has grown – and all by word of mouth.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

paige

Oh, how I love the colors of fall.  In eastern NC, we don’t have nearly the hardwoods to provide color that our neighbors to the west have, but fall is still a beautiful time of year.  I wasn’t sure we’d have the usual gorgeous colors this year since we have been in drought conditions for so long.  But during the last week, fall has definitely arrived.  My backdrops are now a riot of color – from dark golds to deep oranges and reds.  I love the color so much, most of Paiges’s gallery will be in color, which is dramatic change for me.  Normally, I much prefer black and white to color.  But when the color is as beautiful and rich as it was the day we shot Paige’s senior portraits, I have a hard time converting to black and white.

Paige is friends with several of the seniors I’ve shown in the past few months.  It’s fun to hear my seniors discuss their friends and their pictures.  Like many of my seniors, Paige is a very busy young lady.  Between work, school and extracurricular activities, it was difficult to find a day to do her portraits.  But luckily, the weather cooperated and we were able to shoot on Sunday.  Actually, the weather couldn’t have been better.  And Paige was so pleasant to work with.  She was agreeable to everything I mentioned and had some ideas of her own.  Her mom and grandmother came along, but they stayed far away from us.  It was such a beautiful day, they enjoyed the park while we worked.

Here’s a sneak preview of Paige’s gallery.  Hopefully this will keep her family satisfied until I can post her gallery after the Thanksgiving break.

george, lori and the kids

Saturday, I spent a little time with some old friends, George and Lori.  I’ve known Lori since she was in early middle school.  Her mom and I are bridge buddies.   Lori won a permanent place in my heart with a letter she wrote to my daughter many years ago.  I’m not sure if she remembers it, but I surely do.  I knew George only slightly when he and Lori met and fell in love, but got to know him better after they married.  For a little while they even lived across the street from me.

When I got to the park Saturday, I was amazed at how much Ian and Emma have grown since I took their pictures a couple of years ago.  They are the cutest children and just full of personality.  It was great getting to know them again.  We had to move quickly because some clouds moved in and it started getting dark a full half hour before normal.  But we had lots of fun and captured some memories for this special family.

First, I took some pictures of the entire family.

Then, I took a few pictures of just the children.

But Ian and Emma were not happy just sitting passively by, having their portraits made.  Oh no, they wanted to get in on the action and actually take the pictures.  So, I let them peek through the viewfinder and actually take a picture or two.  This is one of Emma’s.

I knew my competition would be young photographers, but this is ridiculous!  I wonder if Emma will want royalties.

jason + tracy

Monday, I went to the beach with Jason, Tracy and their adorable children. This wasn’t the first time I’ve taken pictures of this family. I shot Jason and Tracy’s engagement pictures, Tracy’s bridal portrait, their wedding, and family portraits a few years ago. However, this was the first time I had photographed little Jason. Oh my, is he a cutie! Gracie has always been a beautiful, sweet, calm, quiet, very well-behaved little girl. Other than being well-behaved, little Jason has none of those characteristics.

Gracie sat where I asked her to, smiled on cue, and was an angel. This is what little Jason wanted to do.

He loved carrying my little stool all over the beach. He would move it a couple of feet, put it down, and sit down. But, before his little bum touched down, he was back up and moving a couple of feet one way or the other. I’ve got a feeling he slept really well Monday night. We just let little Jason do his thing and I snapped away as I got the opportunity. He was so cute, I enjoyed watching him work.

Here are a few portraits from their session

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I’m so glad I had the opportunity to spend time with this family. It’s hard for me to believe that Jason, who I watched play middle school basketball and soccer, has two children. It makes me feel really old. But, it makes me so happy to see such wonderful parents who enjoy their children the way Tracy and Jason do.

gwen

 

 

Gwen probably holds the record for the most times a session has been rescheduled! She first called back in the summer to schedule her senior portraits. It’s hard to remember all of the times we had to reschedule, but here are a few:

• We were going to shoot at the beach – and the weather forecast was for 99 degrees at 6:00. That’s WAY too hot when you factor in the humidity. Heck, that’s too hot if there is NO humidity, which just isn’t the case in August in NC.
• We were going to shoot at the beach, but the wind was blowing about 30 MPH. Hmmmm, not good for hair. We rescheduled to shoot in town – but the wind was blowing too hard in town, also.
• Eastern NC has been living in drought conditions for months – but it rained on the day Gwen was scheduled. What are the chances?
• While throwing footballs at half-time, Gwen was hit with one giving her a big black eye.

Finally, FINALLY, we were able to actually take a few pictures Sunday afternoon. It was a beautiful day – not a cloud in sight and only a very light breeze. We chose to shoot downtown because we were worried that it would be too cool on the beach. We went to a lot of the same places I’ve been shooting lately, but I decided to try a location that I haven’t used for a while. I shoot in downtown Jacksonville often, and have never had a problem. But Sunday, things got a little bit scary. Gwen had just gotten positioned and I had taken 1 picture when we heard loud voices coming from down the street. The language got more profane and the voices got louder and louder, so Gwen and I decided it was time for us to leave. We jumped in the car and were pulling away when Jacksonville’s finest arrived on the scene. We aren’t sure what was going on, but we didn’t want to be anywhere nearby. Thankfully, we were able to finish the session with no problems. Here are a few of my first picks from Gwen’s session.

 

 

sarah and jenna

Years ago, when I was first trying to improve my photography skills, I begged my friends to let me practice on their families.  And luckily I have a lot of friends because at the beginning I had a LOT to learn.  I still have a lot to learn, but I have definitely improved since those early years.  Back then, I never considered that photography could be a business.  At the time I just wanted to improve my photography so that my scrapbooks would look better.  But I studied, practiced, and worked extremely hard.  I invested in quality camera bodies and lenses – but most of all I invested my time.  My skills improved enough that people were actually willing to pay me to photograph them – so Elise Beall Photography was born.  And now, my photography business takes so much of my time that I don’t have the time to scrapbook anymore. There’s probably a moral to that story somewhere, but darned if I can figure it out.  I’ve just gone from one passion to another – which keeps me on my toes.

Sarah and Jenna were some of my first models.  I wish I had pictures to show of them when they were much younger – but that was the old days when I was shooting film.   I’m not sure exactly how long I’ve been taking their pictures, but it has been at least 6 years – maybe more.  The thing I remember about them most was how kind and sweet they were to each other – and to me.  I don’t have experience with sisters, but I can tell you that my brothers and I definitely were NOT kind and sweet – especially to each other!  I remember one year their mother, Laura, promised them that if they were good, she would take them to the newly opened Geoffrey.  Jenna just couldn’t understand why I wasn’t excited to go to Geoffrey with them:-)  It’s always fun to photograph Sarah and Jenna because they are still just as sweet as they were when they were little children.  And, I can always get Jenna to giggle by fussing at her mother when she gets in my way.  These girls are just growing up a little too quickly for me.

Thanks, Sarah and Jenna, for putting up with me through the years.  You’re great!

lindsey

Friday was a gorgeous fall day.  The sky was brilliant blue and there was just a little chill in the air.  In other words, it was a perfect day for outdoor portraits.  At first, Lindsey wanted her senior portraits done at the beach.  But when it turned cool, we decided to shoot in town where it would be a little warmer and less windy.  I think that was a great decision.

Lindsey was great to work with.  She has huge blue eyes and a beautiful solemn expression.  And like nearly all of the seniors I work with, she was open to all of my suggestions.  I really like young ladies who will do things MY way.  That never happened much with my own child!  Thankfully, Lindsey liked the locations I picked out.  I need some new places to shoot – so if anyone has any ideas, let me know.

I’m several days away from completing the edit on Lindsey’s session, but here are a few of my early favorites.  Of course, my favorites change regularly.  Every time I edit another picture, it becomes my favorite.

I really enjoyed working with Lindsey.  And it was nice to get to know her mom, too.  One of the things I really love about this business is getting to know new people – and showing them how beautiful they are.