I’ve photographed Abbi and Olivia at all sorts of important stages of their family now and I’ve built up quite a documentary archive of their beautiful life. They have two boys who are ADORABLE. One who is addicted to anything adrenaline-filled (anything involving wheels and a helmet, as well as jumping on the bed), and one who is currently addicted to the lighter things in life like bubbles and blueberries and sink water. Older Brother looooves teaching Younger Brother new things, and they cook together in their little outdoor kitchen and play together on their wall full of Household Stuff (old telephone parts, faucet handles, Master locks, keyboards – truly a gem of a DIY kid toy). Abbi and Olivia are constantly on the move after these fast-moving small humans, currently in the important stage of family life called “trying to keep up with very active kids.” And bounding around all of this, fast moving kids and fast moving moms, is Basil the German Shepherd, who is constantly trying to catch sunlight coming off of any object (usually my camera on photo days). It’s a joyful time in the heart of this little sweet family, and I’m glad I was there to capture the days of being little and carefree for these boys and their mamas.

These friends! The last time I photographed Quentin and Lady was back in 2012, and while we’ve stayed in touch, it was absolutely delightful to see them in person again. They wanted to have some photos taken of them in their incredible backyard garden and zen space with their two rescue dogs Ruthie (bigger pup) and Lily (smaller pup), who are the World’s Goodest Girls. When I say their garden is incredible, I mean their garden is incredible. It’s like a tiny Duke Gardens but with fruits and vegetables and wildflowers in addition to the magnolias and everything else. There are paths and birdhouses and bird baths and a firepit and a beautiful dinner table and a large grassy space that makes you want to lie down and roll around on it, which is exactly what Lily and Ruthie like to do. We walked around the garden and ate strawberries and chocolate mint and talked about birds like the old people we are. It was a beautiful afternoon spent with two beautiful people and two beautiful pups.

These are our BUDS. Always happy to photograph them as clients but more happy to photograph them as some of our best friends. Last year we did an on-location shoot but this year we went back to their house because SamSam, their dog, felt left out and missed me too much. I don’t know what to say about these folks that I haven’t said before but it bears repeating that I love them and I’m grateful to have friends who are family down here. We watch a lot of bad movies and occasionally some good movies and we celebrate holidays and birthdays and go through good things and bad things together and sometimes I take their pictures. Their oldest son and I are buddies – we hang out at Geoff and Jon’s softball games together where he tells me important things like “I went to Target today” and asks the hard hitting questions such as “How far is your house from here?” and about 50 other questions that start with “why” in an hour’s time. Their youngest son, who has been slightly more wary of me, is now big smiles and I’m pleased to report that he voluntarily ran up and pushed me during this session while giggling and running away, which is his first voluntary interaction with me. Soon we’ll be best buds too. However, their first and oldest child, dog SamSam, will always make sure that I’m her best friend first and foremost and will bowl over all children and people in the process (I’m going to pretend she’d do this even if I didn’t give her treats).