Meaghan and Alex’s wedding in 2016 was a fan favorite, but also a photographer favorite. His suit! Her dress! The fall leaves! The venue! The colors! Literally everythinggggg was beautiful and fantastic and gorgeous and these are two hella stylish people. Well they just had a hella stylish baby named Helen who is ADORBS and likes French things, pulling at her dad’s beard, throwing up on everyone, smiling at the cat, and grabbing emphatically toward camera lenses. Also, 80s campers. Their house is awesome and I was fully expecting it to be great, but then Meaghan conveniently didn’t tell me about the CHICKENS which made it even more awesome because every portrait session is better with chickens (also large orange cats named Stewie who insert themselves into every picture). So I was pretty happy photographing a handful of animals (also Jemma the husky-corgi mix and Quinn the hound-terrier mix!) and a handful of very lovely people and also my first 1980s camper. Much thanks to Meaghan and Alex for always keeping things stylish and fun to photograph in every way, even while being actively vomited upon.

Little James recently turned one year old, and every good one year old worth his salt has a totally awesome Batman jacket. James came with sunglasses, little adorable canvas shoes, a heavy appetite for goldfish crackers and ice cream, and two fabulous parents who like 90s rock as much as we do and were able to hold actual conversations about The Presidents of the United States of America and the Counting Crows. Also the Batman soundtracks (of course!). We met at the fountain in downtown Cary and walked around with these awesome guys, hitting up a flowering tree or two and doing our best to avoid grass (James, new to walking, has an extreme grass-aversion. He won’t walk on it, won’t touch it, and has a zero grass tolerance policy). There was also much cat discussion (this family has two, named after cheeses) and a lot of airplane noises made in the direction of James in attempts to get him to smile while we were in the vicinity of grass (which worried him). So here are some pictures of this adorable little boy and his parents, celebrating his birthday and his newfound walking skills and shunning grass at every turn. Happy birthday, James!

My notes going into this session said: “Elaine is good at finding four-leaf clovers, hates zombies. Henry = possible lead singer of Journey cover band? Charlotte likes to sing.” Turns out that Charlotte DOES like to sing and dance, and she prefers both of those things to be done to Hall & Oates and/or the Beastie Boys. I’ve never seen anyone dance so dramatically around a living room to “She’s Gone” besides myself. In a rainbow tutu nonetheless! John Oates would be so proud. We had a lot of activities to do on our roster, so unfortunately we did not get to hear her sing “Sabotage,” but maybe in the future (one can dream!). Charlotte is an outrageously smiley adorable small child who I want to scoop up and pat on the head.

Her parents are equally as adorable by themselves and together, but I cannot scoop either one of them up because they’re taller than me. Elaine did not spot a four-leaf clover during our shoot, but to be fair, we did not have her look for any. She was kept safe from any and all zombies. Henry, it turns out, was not a lead singer of a Journey cover band, but instead pretended he was for many years, just subtly and occasionally and vaguely enough to fool everyone around him. This went on for long enough that by the time people found out, they liked Henry despite the fact that he was never in a Journey cover band, and he got away with it. I’m taking notes on this plan of deception. Together, all three of these humans are really, really great and make a terrific marching band.