bobbie

I had the best time yesterday with Bobbie. It’s just hard for me to believe she’s already a senior. I remember seeing her as a little girl – now all of a sudden she’s a grown-up, young lady who plays lacrosse, swims and has already decided where she wants to go to college next year. I think this means I’m getting old! Bobbie is as cute as can be and has a ton of personality. She lives in a beautiful area so she wanted to shoot there. I convinced her to go to the park to take a few pictures before shooting on the water near her house so that we could have more variety. We had plenty of time, so she went along with my suggestion. I hope she likes the park pictures because I surely do.

Here are a few from the park.

While we were at the park some large, ominous clouds came from nowhere, so we rushed back to Bobbie’s house to get some pictures on the water. Luckily, it never rained and the clouds cooled things off a bit. We have had the dreariest, cloudiest weather lately. It makes it hard to get really good light and nice backgrounds, but a beautifully landscaped yard and lots of water certainly helped. It was an absolutely beautiful location – so beautiful that I threatened to move in! Here are a few more pictures of Bobbie in her element.

I’ll stop here or Bobbie’s sneak preview will be her entire gallery! I just love my job

lexie and katie

Tonight was my annual photo session with two of my favorite people, Lexie and Katie. We were going to try something new tonight, so I was very excited about my trip to the beach. I was, however, a little concerned about what we would find at the beach. The storm that pummeled our coast this week did quite a bit of damage to the beach and dunes at Topsail. Even though I had seen news reports and pictures in our newspaper, I wasn’t prepared for how much the dunes had been eaten away by the wind and waves. I had checked the tide tables and knew that we would be getting to the beach at about high tide. But that usually isn’t an issue. Tonight at high tide the water came within a couple of feet of the dunes. There truly wasn’t room to set up for portraits except at the end of the public access crossover. I positioned myself right in the middle of the dune at the crossover, while Lexie and Katie were at the high tide mark. I still had to use a much wider angle lens than normal to get them in. I hope they are able to push some sand to shore up the dunes quickly because another storm could be disastrous.

The something new I wanted to try tonight is actually an idea I stole from a couple of very talented and cutting edge photographers, John Micheal Cooper and his wife Dalisa, of AltF Studios in Las Vegas. They do it SO much better than I, but I’m going to keep trying until I get it right. Their idea is to show their clients as they are – with the things that are important to them. I tried it tonight with Lexie and Katie. I asked them to bring props that were things they used in their everyday life – what they like to do. Like JMC, I used an inflatable couch (which took a bit longer to inflate than expected) and had them settle in and get comfortable. Here are a couple of my favorites.

Lexie is very creative in both music and art – so she brought her keyboard and sketch pad. Katie is a cheerleader and candy addict – so she selected candy and pom poms for her props. Both are teenagers, so cell phones play a very important role in their lives. Lexie is a talker and Katie is a texter. I hope that when they look at these pictures years from now, they’ll remember what was important to them at this time in their lives.

Later, we did some portraits of them together and separate. These girls were such good models for me. Lexie even smiled for me, which she would really rather NOT do. I love her serious look, but I wanted a smiling picture to show those gorgeous teeth. Katie is always fun to work with because she actually likes to have her picture taken. And she’ll do whatever I ask, as will Lexie.

In the last two pictures, you can almost see how high the tide was – and this was after it dropped. The debris you notice behind Katie’s head is actually about a foot before the beginning of the dune grass. The high tide mark is just below Lexie’s hip. That’s as high up as we could go without getting on the dune. And, I was very careful to stay off of the very fragile dunes. I love our beaches so I hope we’ve seen the last of northeasters for a while!

I had a great time photographing Lexie and Katie tonight and am already thinking about what we can do next year!

bryan and victoria

I am finally getting the time to post some of the pictures of Bryan and Victoria that I took in Southport on Saturday. I have only been to Southport a few times in my life – but I hope to go back more often in the future. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Southport, it’s a quaint little village just south of Wilmington and the mouth of the Cape Fear river. When you look across the river, you see Oak Island and Bald Head Island. And there are two ferry landings in Southport. One ferry takes you to Fort Macon at south end of Carolina Beach and the other goes to Bald Head Island. When you arrive in Southport, it is almost as though you have stepped back in time. It’s wonderful.

Bryan and Victoria are enjoying their life in Southport, as I would if I had the opportunity to live there. They ride bikes all over town and spend a lot of time out in the boat. They also spend a lot of time at Provision – a restaurant on the water that is popular with tourists and locals alike. Southport is a quiet little town perfect for starting a family (get the hint, Victoria!).

Bryan would have probably rather been doing anything other than having his picture taken – but he was very cooperative. The weather, on the other hand, wasn’t. It was extremely overcast and even a little chilly. There wasn’t enough light to get the pictures I really wanted, but I was still able to get some good shots of Bryan and Victoria. So, here goes . . .

This is Bryan. He is the only boy in his generation on my side of the family. He has six girl cousins who all adore him. And it’s easy to see why. He’s great fun to be around and the sweetest of all of all the kids.

And this is Victoria, his bride to be. Victoria is one smart cookie – partly because she’s marrying Bryan. But mostly because she’s about to graduate from ECU with a Masters in Occupational Therapy. She has been in college for what seems like forever and is a marvelous student.

Here are some pictures of Bryan and Victoria together and a couple with their first born, Hank.

Bryan and Victoria are perfect for each other. As I mentioned in the Hank post, we all fell in love with Victoria when we first met her. She just fits in with our family so well, we knew she was “the one” long ago. I am so excited about their wedding because I know it will be just as special as they are.

handsome hank

Yesterday I made the trek to Southport to take engagement pictures for Bryan and Victoria. Bryan is my nephew and his wedding will be the first for this generation of our family. If that isn’t exciting enough, we love Victoria. In fact we love her so much that a couple of years ago we told Bryan that if he ever broke up with Victoria, we were kicking him out of the family and keeping her! She has fit seamlessly into our sometimes odd family group.

But there was another reason I was looking forward to my trip to Southport yesterday. Bryan and Victoria got a black lab puppy a couple of weeks ago and I hadn’t met him in person yet. I have a soft spot in my heart for black labs since our beloved Trevor was a black lab. Trevor has been gone for a lot of years, but Rusty and I still remember him fondly and talk about him often. And let’s face it, there are few things in the world cuter than a puppy. And Handsome Hank is no exception.

Bryan and Victoria will get a post later, but first I need to show off my new grand-nephew, Handsome Hank. He is absolutely and positively adorable. He is only about 8 weeks old, so he is a tad bit clumsy. When we first arrived at Bryan at Victoria’s house, Hank came out of the front door and tumbled down the last two steps – landing at my feet. What an introduction! He doesn’t run – he lopes – with those big paws reminding me of a young Clydesdale. And as puppies do, Hank tires out easily.

We had been shooting for a little while when Hank crawled up on the swing and decided to take a nap.

Hank was just worn out! But, we decided we wanted to wake him up to get some pictures of those big brown eyes, so Bryan prodded him awake.

He picked his little head up, looked around to see what was going on, and immediately flopped it back down and went back to sleep. I guess we just weren’t interesting enough to hold his attention.

And Hank wasn’t sleeping on just any park swing. This is the swing where Bryan proposed to Victoria back in January. And to mark the occasion, he put a plaque on the swing for Valentine’s Day. Isn’t that the sweetest thing ever?

We can’t wait for the wedding and to have Victoria as an official member of the family. Bryan and Victoria will get their own post in a while, but the newest member of the family took priority this morning.

And Anne, Hank assured me that he loves me more

Jessica

I was in heaven last weekend – shooting seniors two nights in a row!  Jessica decided to shoot in a local park and we couldn’t have asked for better weather.  However, we could have asked for a few less people!  There was a big cook-out going on, as well as kids playing at the playground, and multiple people fishing along the river.  But, we were still able to find some prime spots with a little privacy.  Jessica, like all of my seniors, was great fun to work with.  She didn’t get stressed and had a  very positive attitude.  A few times when I was working on poses, I asked her to show me some attitude.  I am nearly sure I heard her mother smirk behind me   I haven’t met a 17 year old girl yet who couldn’t show some attitude – and I love it!

Here’s a sneak preview from Jessica’s session.

Jessica is planning to go to UNCW next year.  I’m sure she’ll love it there.  My daughter liked it so much, she didn’t want to rush through.  Megan told me college was much too much fun to finish in just four years!  For Jessica’s parents’ sakes, I hope she doesn’t feel the same way.

PS – Megan did finish in just four years, but she still loves Wilmington and I think it would take an act of Congress to get her to move.

lindsey

After several days of clouds and rain, today was a gorgeous day for a senior session on the beach.  I met Lindsey and her mom at Topsail at my favorite time of day – about an hour before sunset.  I’m not sure about Lindsey, but I had a wonderful time.  If it hadn’t gotten dark so quickly, there is no telling how many pictures I could have taken!

While Lindsey was changing, her mom and I had a chance to talk.  She feels exactly the way I did when my daughter, Megan, was a senior.  She said she couldn’t believe she was on the beach having Lindsey’s senior portraits made.  Even though it was eleven years ago,  I remember that feeling well.  I was so happy to see Megan grow into a mature, confident young lady – but so awed that 18 years had flown by so quickly.  I’m sure that’s how Lindsey’s mom feels, too.

Lindsey is a beautiful, peppy, blue-eyed blonde – so the beach was the perfect place for her shoot.  And she was so comfortable and natural in front of the camera, she made my job very easy.  Here’s a preview of Lindsey’s gallery.

Lindsey is hoping to go to my alma mater – The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  I hope she does, too.  It’s a great place to get a fine education.  And there is always room in eastern North Carolina for another Carolina Girl – best in the world!

sarah

Sarah was scheduled for her senior portraits this coming Saturday. Earlier in the week when I saw that Hanna might be coming for a visit, I called to see if Sarah was available on Wednesday – yesterday. I try to be an optimist when it comes to weather, but it’s hard to be optimistic when there is a 70% chance of rain! Sarah and I had already had to reschedule once because of weather, so luckily she was available yesterday. Sarah, her mom, and I took a trip to a local park and had a great time making some lovely portraits. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, so we had to wait a few minutes for the sun to drop a little which gave us time to get to know one another. One of the things I like most about photography is getting to know my clients. I have met the nicest people photographing them! Sarah is cute as a button and has a sparkling personality. She was a joy to work with – as was her mother.

Sarah was referred to me by one of last year’s seniors. To keep my overhead (and prices down) I don’t spend any money on marketing and advertising, so I really depend upon my clients for referrals. I’ve been exceedingly lucky that my clients love their portraits and happily send their friends to me. To thank my clients, I’m even giving a small bonus for referrals. If you are a previous client – call me and I’ll share the details. And thanks, Ali, for sending Sarah to me. She’s GREAT!

I couldn’t wait to see Sarah’s pictures, so I downloaded and started editing tonight. I have a lot more work to do, but here are a few of my favorites.

I can’t wait to hear what Sarah and her mom think of her portraits. They were both very complimentary of my work and said more than once that they knew the portraits would be beautiful. Whew, I was glad to see that they were right. I love a lot of Sarah’s proofs. Now, back to work.

Stay dry!