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.

WE LOVE THIS FAMILY. They eat burgers with us and see Weezer with us and talk with us about friend things and are friends. Cat and Mitchell have been with us for a long time (5 times!), and Cameron has now been with us two times! Together, they all have the best colors of Converse shoes. Cat and Mitchell always have impeccable taste in glasses, and while Cameron isn’t there yet, I fully expect a super cool pair on him at some point in the future, even if they’re fake. Anyway – this year we took their family pictures at the Greensboro Science Center, which was gracious enough to grant us permission for a documentary-style family session there. We followed them through all their favorite exhibits: penguins, sting rays, giant aquarium with a shark who was really good at following photo cues, and a 2001 Space Odyssey style hallway that contained a singular ad for Big Bird which, from what we can tell, is one of Cameron’s favorite parts of the museum. We saw a red panda who defiantly turned away from me once I started clenching my teeth and talking to him in a high-pitched voice about his cuteness. We walked through some colored smoke that made Cameron look like a toddler-God. We took pictures with dinos and green screens and prisms. Then we ate garlic fries and all was right with the world. We’re happy to take pictures and explore with these guys, and so happy to call them our friends.

It’s our pleasure to welcome the always wonderful Cat+Mitchell into the CSP 4-Timers Club, and their son Cameron into the 2-Timers Club! Somehow Cameron has gone from infant-wearing-headphones to toddler-wearing-headphones practically overnight, and in that span of time Cat and Mitchell have really upped their A-game on the glasses front with Mitchell now sporting a mint green and Cat wearing ones with gold glitter. When Cat and Mitchell aren’t being great parents, they’re out being great friends to us. They’ve picked up obscure Coheed records for us on Record Store Day, and bought us tiny little striped toy cats from Ikea, and have always gone above and beyond on the friend front. We love and appreciate them very much, and are so happy to take photos of them and Cameron.

There were many wonderful little family moments during this session: bed jumping, book reading, Cameron texting while operating a feet-motorized vehicle, eating ice cream, finding and identifying every canine within a 10-block radius and shouting “DOOG” in its general direction, and splashing around in the city waterpark. But the best moment (at least for me personally) was Cameron getting onto their bed and seeing a little framed photo we took of Cat and Mitchell at their wedding. And he pointed to it and said, “Momma! Dada!” and took the frame down and held it and pointed to it and looked happy. >> insert sentimental Carolyn monologue here >> I have always operated under the assumption that someday our photos will be passed down to kids or family friends or whoever. Who doesn’t love looking at pictures of their parents on their wedding day? They were younger, more awake, well-dressed in their wedding clothes, and somehow you didn’t exist when the photo was taken. It’s hard to imagine your parents without you, so I think wedding photos always carry with them a sort of strange mystique and awe to kids of all ages everywhere. It is a great feeling knowing that Geoff and I are the ones who took those pictures. We’re enabling the kids to get a glimpse into their parents at a different time of life. I love imagining kids looking at these pictures later, and it was so so so so SO great seeing Cameron do that in front of me. >> ends sentimental Carolyn monologue, wipes away tear. >>

So anyway – we love these three guys and Biscuit the dog and June the cat and are so happy to have them in our lives as friends and clients.