At Home // Anna, John, and Lou.

We spent a lazy Sunday morning at the home of incredibly talented illustration artist Anna, her awesome husband John, their little adorable almost-two-year-old daughter Lou, and happy pup Keva. We knew we’d like them based on Anna’s artwork, but we liked them even more when we saw their house, and even more when we saw their giant red stuffed squid pillow, and even more still when we saw three little dolls all made to look like the three of them even complete with John’s tattoos (a family friend made them). They have a striped tent! They have a little plastic toy Fisher-Price camera! John made Lou a puddle from a hose for her to jump in but she kinda just wanted to throw boats in it! Lou has learned family responsibilities like feeding the dog but just kinda gets dog food all over herself but it’s really cute! Anna can draw bunnies from chalk faster than anyone we’ve ever seen! Go, go admire their cuteness.child laughing with mom and dad child reading with parents girl hiding behind bed dad lifting daughter up parents reading with daughter family family photographers in raleigh durham little girl in house girl looking out window striped children's play tent striped play tent mom in play tent child climbing up to window child looking out window little girl looking out window little kid looking out window teaching child how to tie shoes family dolls family play tent family portrait photographer child with tent mom walking child down the stairs lifestyle family portraits north carolina day in the life family portraits raleigh little girl sitting on stairs mother and daughter child coloring child coloring family coloring at table candid family photography day in the life family portrait session fisher price vintage camera toy daughter talking to mom in living room little kid feeding the dog little kid and dog food father and daughter child playing in living room mother and daughter laughing dad spinning top for daughter family dog piggy back rides girl reading book dad playing with daughter on couch child in kitchen kid putting on rain boots father putting raincoat on daughter little kid in raincoat girl in raincoat candid family portraits durham nc girl rainboots lifestyle family portraits puddle jumping playing in puddles playing in puddles girl in raincoat in puddle family dog playing with chalk playing with chalk girl in raincoat

At Home with Brad and Johanna // A Family Session

On this shoot the six-year-old son developed a hand-written Star Wars test to present to Geoff before we got to the house. If Geoff were to fail it, we were to be kicked out of the house before the session began. There were a few questions designed to stump, but thankfully Geoff passed with flying colors and we were able to document this awesome family of four. :) So meet Brad and Johanna, and their kids Laurel and Sam! We love Brad and Johanna, but I fear that we had way too much in common with their kids (Goonies? Yes! Star Wars? Heck yes! Indiana Jones? You guys rule! Legos with extra Yoda heads and Chewie torsos?! Alright!!). At one point it was determined that Geoff (who wore his Star Wars shirt for the occasion) would make the best babysitter ever. We gave them a few pointers (namely that they need to watch Back to the Future and Phineas and Ferb) but overall we have to say that these are terrifically well-rounded kids who are solidly in touch with their late 1970s, 1980s trivia despite being born a solid 30 years later. We’re impressed. 

So we hung out with these guys at their awesome lake house where they showed us their Star Wars legos, played violin and cello for us (they are awesome!), introduced us to Yamslam, and showed us around their super cool fishing dock on the lake. In return, we piled all four of them into a hammock and hoped we wouldn’t need to use our liability insurance. We laughed, we cried, Carolyn got hit in the head with a whiffle ball. Brad and Johanna introduced us to the concept of mail-order bacon, and then we went home. We had a fantastic time hanging out with these four amazing and talented family members… and we rest well at night now knowing that somewhere out there exists a family that still plays baseball, board games, and instruments. They fish, have fires, and at the end of a long day, they all sit down and cuddle up with some nice early 80s Harrison Ford.