At Home with Rachel+Kevin // Lifestyle Family Shoot

It is so much fun to have repeat clients, and even more fun when you get to see newborn brunette baby clients turn into blonde big sister clients who have a whole lot to say. We revisited the ever-wonderful Rachel and Kevin (whom you may know from their first newborn shoot with us a couple years ago) and joined them in welcoming new baby boy Jonah into their lives. This also involved reuniting with previous Baby Evelyn who is now Big Sister Evelyn. Previously, she had done a whole lot of sleeping and eating. Now, her days primarily consist of running frantically from room to room, hiding from you in a cardboard box castle, eating string cheese, and jumping on the bed because the photographer asked her to, thus creating a terrible downward spiral insistence to always be jumping on the bed that I suspect Rachel and Kevin might still be dealing with to this day (sorry guys).

Jonah is currently in the Whole Lot of Sleeping and Eating Phase so he’s slightly less energetic than Big Sister at this point, but I’m sure that he’ll progress to the String Cheese Phase in no time (and hopefully Evelyn will have forgotten about my bed jumping request by the time he gets there). A big thank you and congratulations to the wonderful Rachel and Kevin – you guys are awesome and your family is really cute.

Christie+Noel+Matlock // Anniversary Session

It’s been 2.5 years since Christie+Noel got married and they decided to do some anniversary photos! We think anniversary photos are great because they’re all about documenting you without the pressure of OMG A WEDDING or OMG MY MAKEUP or OMG SAVE THE DATES and generally everyone is significantly more chill. Pretty sure Christie and Noel would’ve been chill anyway, but no one is anywhere near as chill as Matlock. Matlock is their adopted lab-mix dog. He’s huge (possibly mixed with some Great Dane? Mastiff? Godzilla Dog?)His bark sounds like he’s the size of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. I’m pretty sure I could ride him around like a small horse and my feet would only have a 50/50 shot of touching the ground. When you actually meet him, though, he is the sweetest dog in the worrrrld and you can tell, if he had opposable thumbs and could also negotiate on your behalf, that he’d do anything for you. Matlock enjoys belly rubs, being incredibly clingy to his parents, and hiding his tennis ball underneath the house where you cannot take it from him, ever ever.

Christie and Noel enjoy Matlock and each other and good television and traveling. Together we ran around and talked to some ducks and got Christie repeatedly tangled in her plaid blanket/scarf that I proceeded to wear the entire time they weren’t using it because it was cold. All of the leaves in the Raleigh/Durham area should have been gone by this point in the year (this shoot was on November 20th), but due to the extreme drought we’ve been having, they hung on for this session, which is probably one of our most colorful leafy sessions to date. We had the best time getting to know these guys and their large furchild. Happy anniversary to two beautiful people!

Portraits in Raleigh: Stephanie

This lovely client found her way to me by inquiring about real estate photography for one of her clients. I referred her to someone else, and shortly after received another e-mail from her… this time asking me to take her portraits. :) When she told me about her company and products, I was so excited. Stephanie Wetzel is the brains and beauty behind Trading Pounds, a business centered around her recent weight loss (she’s lost over an amazing 170 pounds so far since January 2010!). She’s already written and published one cookbook and is in the process of writing her second. Trading Pounds includes a blog, free e-books, and other personal coaching tools. Stephanie wanted some new photos to show her kick-butt new look and I was more than happy to help. She’s a ridiculously fun girl who has two cats, is a self-described nerd, and whose favorite recipe is pot pie with rosemary. :)

Along with her entourage (manager Elise and best friend Travis), we went into the naturey parts of a local park per her request to photograph Stephanie looking gorgeous. This was my first shoot of 2012… held on one of the coldest days in Raleigh I’ve encountered in a long time… and we all had very limited motion in our extremities by the end of the shoot. :D Thank you for your bravery, Stephanie… and for your awesomeness and help, entourage!