Please note, these sessions are for one family, up to six people.  I cannot combine families for this special.  Sessions must be held in Greensboro.  These mini sessions will result in 10-15 final images. The deadline for holding these sessions is November 14th!!  Don’t wait too long to book this!

***prices do not include NC Sales tax of 7.75%***

****Limited spots available****

Lately, the weather here has been sweltering so Jen and her daughter, Miss A met me at the park early in the morning to avoid this humid wave that seems to keep crashing over our city.  It was a beautiful sunny day and they were wearing outfits that were to DIE FOR they were so cute!!  I don’t usually go for matchy-matchy but Jen did this just right.  So chic and stylish!!  Here is my favorite image from their session and I think you’ll agree it totally captures the love shared between this Mom and daughter.  How precious will this be when Miss A. is a grown woman?!  She will love having this!

What I love about these actions is, it encouraged me to dig into Photoshop on my own and play around.  Not only do the actions give you great results but, they also give you the motivation to expand your editing horizons and try new things.  It has helped me take my editing skills to the next level!!

There are many photographers out there whom I know, and those of you in that crowd know that I’m pretty jaded about a lot of the offerings out there.  But anything Nichole Van puts her name on I can say is going to be good.  She is a phenomenal photographer who creates awesome products and I can’t recommend her enough!!

This picture really touches my heart because my brother-in-law is such a good daddy.  And his daughter doesn’t have any trouble letting him know that she feels the same way.

And here is my sister, looking so beautiful holding her new baby boy:

And this might possibly be my fave shot of my niece EVAH!

I’m so glad my sister had another baby so I have another victim subject to photograph!!  :)

This is Wally.  He was the first one by and was immediately impressed with his habit of eating sticks which is just like my own dog, Lily.  It was so comforting to know that Lily is not the only dog who does this!

This is Pooh Bear.  What beautiful manner Pooh Bear had!!  I really enjoyed meeting this pup a lot!

This is Renee and her dog, Deebo.  They were my neighbors at the event.  :)

This is Jet.  Jet got his name because he was part of a litter of pups rescued in Kansas City.  A bunch of pilots had donated their time and their planes to fly the pups to their new homes.  So all the dogs got airplane themed names.  :)  Isn’t Jet handsome?

Now here was a girl who really touched my heart.  She is Runa and, while she’s a little people-shy, she was a really sweet girl.  She is actually available for adoption so if you’re interested in giving this lovely girl a safe and happy home, please follow this link and let them know I sent you!  www.pawfectmatch.org

This tall drink of water is named, Jaxx.  I have always had a soft place in my heart for Great Danes and there were some beauties at the event that day.  Jaxx was SO good and I loved taking pics of him.

And finally, my hat is off to the parents of this brood.  They have 3 boys AND 3 Great Danes!!!

Did you know that approximately 3500 pet stores in the US sell  about 500,000 puppies a year?  Most of them are supplied by puppy mills.  If you want to read more about how terrible puppy mills really are I encourage you to go to the following sites.  And the next time you think about getting a dog, be sure to check out your local rescues and shelters.  There are SO many dogs there who would really love to come home with you!

http://www.awarenessday.org/

http://www.prisonersofgreed.org/Commercial-kennel-facts.html

Tomorrow I have the first of several Complimentary Shoots scheduled and I’m super excited about that!!!  You will have to be sure to check back on Tuesday or Wednesday for a sneak peek or two from that session.  It’s going to be great, I can feel it!!  For those who are interested in a Complimentary Session, please read HERE and, please be advised that I only have ONE space left for the Complimentary Sessions!!!!  They filled up so fast.  Please be sure to look at the other special offer at that link though because it’s a real value, too.

I have another exciting announcement to make but it will have to wait until tomorrow!!!  Until then, enjoy this pic of my shaggy-haired oldest child.  Doesn’t it make you think about that Coke commercial from the 70′s?  I’d like to buy the world a Coke….or am I TOTALLY dating myself with that?!  LOL!!!

I hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday season thus far. We are gearing up for New Year’s Eve around here. The boys have asked me if we could have a “Party” and I said yes. Really, it will just be the boys and me and Sean but that’s party enough for me! I’m wondering if anyone has any big New Year’s plans this year? Do you have a tradition that you observe every year? Please share!

I’m going to spend the rest of the weekend getting your gallery ready so you can view the rest of the awesome photos we got this morning. I really had so much fun watching her oooh and ahhh over the bubbles, gather rocks, and run with carefree abandon through the tall grass in the park. We had to reschedule this shoot TWICE because of the crazy weather here but it was well worth the wait!

In addition to that, I’ve got some other things cooking and you will just have to stay tuned and see what else I’ve got up my sleeve!!

Hope all is well in your world!

The bride had a “Man” of Honor! How wonderful and unique is that! His picture is included with some others below for you to enjoy.

In other news around here, I have something big cooking for this weekend. Any idea what it could be? A wedding! I have the privilege of being the wedding photographer for undoubtedly the cutest, sweetest, most-in-love couple on the PLANET! We met on Sunday at the chapel where they are planning to wed. It was my first time at this particular spot and it was also the bride-to-be’s first time seeing it! They live in Jacksonville, FL and are getting married in Raleigh, NC. From my own experience, I can tell you that planning an out-of-state wedding can be very stressful and angst-ridden. It’s enough to put any bride on edge. Well, this bride, this couple is anything but! They are so fun, relaxed and in love with each other that one cannot help but be relaxed in their presence. As we were leaving, the groom spotted this tree and thought it would make a great photo op so I was happy to oblige. Here are a couple of shots of them that we just grabbed sort of impromptu on the way off the property. I cannot wait for Saturday!!!

We had a blast and I hope they will come to me again the next time Page is back home visiting her family!

My next session was on Saturday at the same park. These two children were also a lot of fun but in a different way. One was reserved and one was wide open! It was interesting to see them together when their personalities are so wildly juxtaposed and, at the end of the session, crazy faces and funny sayings took hold. I love it when even the quietest kids get silly with me! Here are a couple of my faves from this session, which I am still editing:

This one was so sweet with her telling a little secret in his ear:

They also brought their dog, Noah out to play with us and we all had a really good time. It was a perfect day.

This week, I’m heading off to NYC. We’re really excited and I can’t wait to get back and share some pics with you all! Have a wonderful week!

This is my niece. At three years old, she is already complicated and intense and I absolutely adore her. She’s plucky and spunky which will serve her well as she gets older.

Here is my oldest who, just this past Saturday turned 10. I can’t believe it has been 10 years already. He’s developing his own style (see the wristband?) and is so grown in many ways that it takes me by surprise.
I love when I can catch him making a silly face like this:

And here is my youngest. Talk about complicated and intense, this little guy can really pack a wallop. One minute he’s all sweetness and light and the next…well, let’s just say he’s passionate. ;) I can’t imagine my life without him in it because he’s funny and lovable and always ready to snuggle. My oldest is a little too cool for that now.

My niece is really starting to dig the fact that I’m a photographer and, if she sees me taking pictures of the boys, she will ask me to take her picture too. Then she immediately wants to see it! “Oh, that’s good, Wee Wee.” That’s what she calls me. Wee Wee. Love it! I hope I’m 80 and she still calls me that! Anyway, she asked me to take this pic of her:

All of these children bring so much fun and brightness into my life! I just wanted to share a little bit of them with you, too!

This is a Father’s Day gift to the dad in these pics. He wanted an updated photo of all of them and I think we got several winners! Here is one I liked quite a bit:

And this one was the best, I thought….

Seriously. Could they BE anymore good looking??? Sheesh. And they’re extremely nice folks to boot.

Oh! I took a picture of my mom for her Facebook page and just wanted to show her off a little bit. I think my mom is very pretty and doesn’t look her age at all.

I’m really keeping my fingers crossed that I look that good when I’m her age.

Hope your weekend is going well!

So this weekend, I took a little drive out to the country to photograph the family of a friend of mine from high school. Thanks to Facebook, we reconnected and she hired me to shoot some pictures of her little ones. We had a blast! They live on an amazing piece of property and were kind enough to give me the tour around via pickup truck. It was quite a day. The kids were so much fun and full of life. Her daughter was really not too sure about the picture taking process but I got several that I really, really liked. Her son has the most amazing colored eyes you have ever seen!!! I included a pic below that I absolutely freaking love that is an up close shot of it. Seriously, I’m going to get that one blown up big and put it in my office!!

Take a look and please leave some love if you feel so inclined. I had another shoot last night and will have some pics up from that one soon as well. :)

This was the view I had most of the day. She was so quick! Every time I thought I had the perfect shot of her face she would catch me and turn and run away!! So funny!

And another….

Here is one I love of the two of them together. Again, you can’t see her face (which totally cracks me up) but the expression on his face makes this image for me.

And, without further adieu, here is my favorite. It’s not traditional at all and I love everything about it!

It was so much fun to see my friend and get all caught up on our lives since high school. I really hope they enjoyed themselves and these pictures as much as I!

While looking at these photographs, I realized that the advent of digital photography and Photoshop has taken photography to a place that, sometimes I’m not so sure how I feel about it. We photographers spend so much time trying to get the perfect photo, without blow-outs, hot-spots, shadows, underexposures and the like that it’s possible to miss a beautifully perfect, imperfect photo. I cannot put examples from the article here to further illustrate what I’m saying but, once you follow that link and view the slideshow you will know exactly what I’m talking about. The pictures of Marilyn Monroe have at least one of these “faults”. For a portrait photographer, families don’t usually want perfectly imperfect, and for the most part I get that. They want images of their family and loved ones that they can see. For myself though, it has really made me want to get back in touch with my more artistic side and capture the moment as the Life Photographer did in these unpublished photos of Marilyn Monroe. I think this feeling is also why I tend to be a pretty straight editor of my photos. Don’t get me wrong, I love photos where people have so artfully manipulated them in Photoshop that it’s impossible to discern what is real and what is not. I just don’t see things that way. I wish I could but even when I try, it just doesn’t work for me.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go dig up some of those old books and look through them for some photographic inspiration. Please go look at the slideshow! Hope all is well in your world!

Do you know, when his mother saw these pictures, she screamed and cried at him because his eyes were closed? How in the world could the poor boy have helped that?? It didn’t matter that she had taken a million of her own photos and that my parents had taken a million to boot. She was HACKED that this particular picture looked like – ahem, poop.

Thankfully, kids have other options today. Today’s prom photographer is probably shooting digital so the eyes-closed shots are less common I would think. In addition, kids can get together and get group shots done at their home by a professional. This weekend, a friend of mine invited me to take pictures of her daughter and 13 of her closest friends before prom. I didn’t get many because I didn’t want to intrude on the other parents trying to get photos of their own kids but I did get a couple that I really liked.

I can’t put my finger on exactly why I like this one so much but, I just do:

And this one is my absolute fave of the whole bunch. It has a Rat Pack kind of feel to it and I really dig it.

It’s too bad there wasn’t enough time because I had a lot of really cool and fun ideas to shoot. There’s always next year!!

Hope all is well in your world!

I have to tell you, our experience at the Chimpanzee Observatory was pretty amazing.  This fellow was sitting right in front of us and just stared back at us through the glass, looking at each one of us.  My sister smiled and nodded her head at him and he nodded back!  Then we noticed another chimpanzee coming up and my sister pointed in it’s direction.  Our friend turned his head to see what she was pointing at!  I know that they are tremendously powerful animals but they are obviously very intelligent as well.

We had a great time together, all the kids got along great and my mom took us all out to lunch afterwards!  I doubt we’ll wait so long between visits next time.  Hope all is well in your world!