Cat and Mitchell are two very good friends of ours. They’ve been photographed 6 times by us (insert lots of happy, nostalgic tears here) and we love love love them. Our relationship started out by us photographing them in unusually frigid weather for their engagement session in Greensboro, progressed to me jumping in a bouncy castle with Cat during a break in shooting their wedding, and now it’s devolved into me complaining about kidney stones to them at a Weezer concert. So they’re quite special to us, and now so are their children. Their son Cameron is seriously *the* sweetest and most adorable kid. Look at him. Look at him! He is constantly a smiling, happy, joyful little dude who is so sweet I could cry. He let me win at Candy Land. What 3 year old does that? He’s the best. (Note: did not let his parents win at Candy Land, definitely beat them by a landslide).

Sarah, his newfound little sister, is adorable and excels at looking cute, wearing baby Hawaiian print shirts, and staying awake until the exact moment I start eating lunch. Together, they are an unstoppable brother/sister duo I adore. We got to meet her and hang out with Cat and Mitchell for a day at Mitchell’s family’s new house in Kure Beach. This day mostly involved us discussing and worrying about rip tides, sharks, flesh-eating bacteria, and brain-eating amoebas before we finally were all brave enough to swim. Happy to say that none of things we worried about came true. However, I did break into hives for no reason and had to go in (it’s always the things you don’t see coming, isn’t it?). But – all’s well that ends well. We had a beautiful day at the coast with this family of four and we love them. Also, new family rule: no pictures ever again of any of you unless you’re all wearing matching Hawaiian outfits.

Prepare for two really cute two sessions in one! :) A wonderful woman named Melanie called me a couple weeks ago to set up a portrait session for her 11-month old son, Gregory, and her two dogs, Kuma and Bella. Therefore, this is half toddler-portrait-session and half dog-portrait-session… the best of both ridiculously cute and cuddly worlds! :)

We’ll start with Gregory first! Gregory, who is such a photogenic toddler and lover of the camera despite his cold at the time, is the happiest toddler in the world. He didn’t cry or get upset once, even when he was tired! He laughed and smiled the entire time. Even when he finally did get tired, he just sort of rubbed his eyes and looked like, “Uuuggghh… so tired… but I must… keep… posing…”. He’s clearly a baby modeling natural! I loved this little fella!

Raleigh baby photographer

Raleigh portrait photographer

Raleigh portrait photographer

This is Gregory’s “Blue Steel” face… all CSP clients have one, even the babies.

toddler portrait

toddler photography

toddler portraits

And enter Bella! Bella is a large (very large) black and furry dog of unknown origin. She is a total sweetheart (her patience exhibited below) and Gregory just loves her.

baby and dog portraits

Bella and Gregory get along. Kuma, ehhh, not so much. :) Kuma gets along with Bella, but not really with kids. She just does her own thing being A REALLY CUTE (but tiny) dog that looks like you took a Husky and shrunk them down with a shrink-ray and made a pocket sized version (technically called the Shiba Inu breed). Look at that face!

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Enter Gregory+Kuma+Bella’s incredibly kind and beautiful parents, Melanie and Mark! Melanie is a software architect and Mark is a lawyer, and combined their children will be very smart and professional! Look at Gregory’s face below… he knows how to work it for the camera. :)

Family Portrait Photographer

Toddler Portraits

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todder portraits

Raleigh portrait photographer

Raleigh portrait photographer

Look at this little dog! Ohhh, Kuma, I just want to give you lots of hugs but you kinda just do your own thing by yourself and I respect that.

Raleigh dog photographer

So Bella originally was supposed to be 40 pounds full grown, but she obviously became much much bigger. No one is sure of her breed… all we know is that she’s very soft, furry, and giant. But she is so cute! I love her ears. She can look pretty wolf-ish sometimes and is just adorable!

Raleigh pet portraits

pet portraits Raleigh NC

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large black fuzzy dog

shiba inu

raleigh pet photographer

I had a great time on this shoot and it was a pleasure getting to know and work with this beautiful family! :)