There’s nothing like a photograph of a newborn baby. This young family gave me the privilege of photographing their sweet baby girl. What struck me about her was her expression, it is so peaceful and angelic. I can already see her personality shining through. I predict she will be a calm, laid back, happy child – one who will just go with the flow. As a photographer, what more can you ask for?
Little boys are just awesome! I don’t know if it’s the animation in their face or the inhibitions they display, but I just love it when they let loose and wear their personality on their sleeve. This little dude did not disappoint, he came to the session with his game face on!
It must have been contagious because his brother and sister played right along with him. And I can’t forget to send a special thank you to mother nature for supplying us with the leaves.
This session was filled with all kinds of family moments and I loved every moment of it – from photographing the family to preparing the slideshow, I couldn’t stop smiling. I was even a bit giddy as I placed the order for a few beautiful canvas prints with my lab, because I just know the awesome folks at my lab are going to love these as much as I do!
Enjoy!
Charlotte Metro Area, NC Family Photographer | A New Family
It’s true, when a child enters your life, everything changes! Sure there are 3 a.m. feedings and countless diaper changes but it’s all worth it and these photos capture the essence of a young family. I just love the tender moments they share together not only between the three of them but especially between mom and dad – you can feel the love and connection they share. I think it’s so important to remember where all the love started and this young couple certainly took that time to focus on that too!
What does the color “red” mean to you? For some it means love, for others it means fire or power, but for me it means “redhead” as in this sweet little boy! How cute is he? I just love how his red hair compliments the background and brings out the warm colors. I had such a fun time with this family – the kids played in the grass and traded leaves and we enjoyed the last few days of summer. It tickles my heart to see how much this big girl loves her lil’ brother, and you can just see how much he absolutely adores his big sister. And you can’t miss the last photo at the end – it’s one of my absolute favorite sibling photographs!
This sweet family of four is full of happiness and giggles! We spent this beautiful afternoon enjoying nature, smiling and lots of exploring. As I sat back watching this family interact with one another, I wondered what were they thinking about as they laughed and whispered in each other’s ear. What were these boys smiling about as they sat in the warm, green grass? I just love to see the awe and wonder in young faces ; it always reminds me that I need to appreciate and enjoy the little things in life!
Enjoy!
The Carolinas Family Photographer | Christmas & Holiday Cards and Your Clothing Selections
Yes, the Christmas music is already playing in my car. About two weeks ago, as we drove home from a doctor visit, my 4 year old little man wasn’t feeling well, and I needed to cheer him up. So I asked Siri to play “The Chipmunks”. Now every morning on the way to school, I get to listen to The Chipmunks versions of “O Christmas Tree”, “All I Want For Christmas is My Two Front Teeth” and “Jingle Bell Rock” along with a few other classics sung by the high-pitched little animals.
But Christmas and the holiday season have been on my mind for many months already. As a portrait photographer, one of my favorite products to deliver to my clients is beautiful Christmas and Holiday cards. I’ll start designing card ideas for clients in April and May, because the photographs from their portrait session can always make a beautiful card to share with their friends and families.
Recently, a client was curious about her outfit selection, and wondered if their holiday outfits would work nicely with the Fall Foliage in the parks during this time of year. So, I thought it would be a great idea to share a few examples of holiday card designs from previous sessions as inspiration for future portrait session clients.
While some clients specifically choose to dress in holiday outfits for their portraits, I have found that almost any selection of coordinated outfits will pair nicely with the variety of Christmas and Holiday Card templates I have acquired over the years. My clients have even used images from their Spring and Summer portrait sessions for their cards, and most of the colors in my templates can be adjusted to match the color palette of my clients’ outfits. And honestly, I personally love traditional holiday outfits photographed outdoors with the beautiful Fall Foliage. The colors work well together and complement each other nicely, especially when you included the beautiful, golden Fall sunshine.
After completing one session last year, one of my clients clapped her hands with excitement and said, “Yay! I can’t wait to have my very own Carolyn Ann Ryan Photography Christmas cards this year!” It seriously makes me smile every time I think about that moment and realized my cards were “a thing”.
And I just love cards that include images on the front cover, inside and even the back of the card. While I will include my logo on the back of all of my cards, I still love including a sweet and storytelling image on the back of my clients’ cards (and my own too). Sometimes, the back of the card is my favorite. Here are a few of my favorite Back Covers from last year’s holiday cards.
Hope these cards help to inspire your next portrait session and I continue to look forward to creating more cards for my incredible clients!!!
Vendors: Christmas and Holiday Card Templates from Design Aglow
OMG!! This one year old boy is such a cutie pie! I don’t know what I love the most – the red shoes, the images of his hair blowing in the breeze, the cute vest or the checkered bow tie! He is clearly a budding model already demonstrating he can handle multiple locations, wardrobe changes and props! This family is as sweet in person as they look in these photos – I’m smiling right along with them. Oh and let’s not forget this all takes place in my favorite city, New York City.
Wait til you see these images, you’ll be saying … “OMG!”
Enjoy!
Vendors:
Bowtie and Tie: William & Sally on Etsy
Things that go perfectly together – warm sunlight, green grass and leaves that are starting to fall and a family portrait session to bring everything together – sounds like a perfect day to me.
I love the closeness and playfulness of this adorable brother and sister. You can tell that they adore each other and are truly best friends.
While I love images of giggly little ones (and we had a bunch of these), sometimes I am absolutely drawn to the simplicity of a quiet image like that the close-up of their sweet little girl. The combination of her beautiful eyelashes and gorgeous little curls sparkling in the afternoon sunshine is mesmerizing. Makes you want to linger in a peaceful, quiet moment.
Enjoy!
Could you imagine a better gift for a 40th wedding anniversary? Three thoughtful sisters wanted to provide their parents with beautiful images of the entire family together – parents, children and grandchildren all together. I love these sessions, because this is what family is all about. It is so important to have these images. While Grandma and her girls will treasure these images today, they will also create beautiful treasured gifts for the three little ones in front in another 40 years.
I’m so thrilled and so very grateful to announce that I have earned two prestigious Accolade of Excellence awards in the Wedding and Portrait Photographers International 2013 First Half Image Competition. This is an incredible honor to have my images receive these awards and be included among some of the best in the photography industry.
I’m so thankful everyday that I get to do something I absolutely love, and I’m so very grateful for my amazing and wonderful clients!
In January 2011, I worked with the very talented Leslie Vega of Leslie Vega Design to help design the look of my brand starting with my logo. She knew my style instantly, and when we were finished, we had a logo that I have loved for the past couple of years.
But as I sat back this year, I felt it was time for a change. In the last two years, my focus has been family portraits and encouraging Moms and Dads to jump into the photos, and that hasn’t been reflected in my logo and branding. And so I reached out to Leslie and asked for her assistance again. I wanted the overall look and feel to remain consistent, but felt the logo need to grow up a little bit. Leslie knew exactly what I needed and I’m so thrilled to unveil my brand new logo for Carolyn Ann Ryan Photography . . .
Leslie and I will be working on a couple of additional projects to update the look and feel of my blog and web site, and I look forward to sharing those with you, along with more adorable images from recent family portrait sessions.
Hope you have a great start to your week!
Just wanted to wish all of my wonderful clients and friends a very Happy Father’s Day! I’m so blessed to have met so many wonderful Dads and Grandfathers while photographing families, and I can’t thank each of you enough for jumping into the photos with your family and children. Here is just a sample of the amazing images I have been able to create thanks to all these great Dads and Grandpas that just love to have fun with their children and families!
And this wouldn’t be complete without sharing images of my absolute favorite Dads and the most important Dads in my life. Special thanks to George Buhl from Black Thumb Studio for photographing my husband’s entire family at a wedding last Christmas, and to Jessica Wernes from Dewdrop Photography for photographing my entire family this past Mother’s Day. I love family portraits and so grateful to the wonderful photographers that photographed my family so I can be in the portraits with them!
And thanks to my husband, my Dad, my father-in-law and my two brothers-in-law for being the best Dads that I know. You are all very loved and we are lucky to have you in our lives. These little munchkins are blessed to have amazing fathers and grandfathers!
About a month or so ago, I received a Facebook message from a friend letting me know that The Promise Walk for Preeclampsia was looking for a photographer to photograph their event. Now, I specialize in family portrait sessions, and not event photography, so I initially wasn’t inclined to reach out. Plus, I already had a session booked that weekend, and so this would mean more time away from my family. My promise to my children is that while I do work most weekends, I will only book one session per weekend, so the other day is for them.
But then I remembered the reason my friend was involved with the Preeclampsia Foundation. Sadly, she had Preeclampsia during her first pregnancy years ago, and she nearly lost her own life, and she did lose her little baby girl. Remembering her email that explained what happened to her that horrible day when she was about 8 months along in an uncomplicated pregnancy, broke my heart all over again. And while she now has 3 adorable boys, her heart will never forget her baby girl. And so I reached out to the Foundation, and I agreed to be their photographer for the day, because it was just something I had to do.
It turned out to be an incredibly inspiring day, and I met a ton of wonderful people, who smiled despite the torrential rain, and who cried together as we listened to the stories from the speakers. I learned more about the symptoms of Preeclampsia, which every pregnant woman should know, and I learned about the life of Lauren Bloomstein, a sweet woman who lost her life to Preeclampsia after delivering her beautiful baby girl. I now want to be more involved with this organization, and I hope to be available and invited back for future walks. And I continue to pray for the families that have been impacted by Preeclampsia, and I hope to help spread awareness to help save lives.
I created this slideshow with my favorite images from the day and shared it with the race organizers. I invite you to take a couple of minutes to watch, and also ask that you learn more about Preeclampsia and its symptoms from the Preeclampsia Foundation.
The Promise Walk for Preeclampsia – Cranford has raised nearly $50,000 for this cause and I know they were hoping to raised another $500 to reach that $50,000 goal. If this slideshow and the stories inspire you, and you would like to donate, you can do so by clicking here. Thank you for your time.
PS – One of my favorite parts of the day was meeting a mother who told her little girl that they weren’t just walking in the rain that day – they were going “puddle jumping” instead. She turned the rain into rainbows for her daughter and everyone else that got to chuckle while watching that sweet girl have a blast jumping in every puddle she found. And yes, you can find the adorable “puddle jumper” in the slideshow.
Hope she brings a smile to you on this rainy day.
I love the magic hour just before sunset when the sun is low and just sparkles on everything. It can make something as simple as bubbles look like fireflies dancing in the sky.
This portrait of my daughter was taken just this weekend at a friend’s Memorial Day BBQ. The sound of children filled with the air with laughter, giggles and yes, the occasional screech, scream, and squeal (often coming from my own children). But it was a gorgeous day to be with friends, and the children just loved a great day to play outdoors while the parents enjoyed good food and good company.
Even my 7 year old couldn’t resist a chance to play with bubbles, and I just fell in love with this photograph of her. She looks mesmerized by the bubbles, or maybe she is enchanted by her own reflection in my lens. Either way, the light was beautiful and this is my Tiny Tuesday favorite photograph.
Enjoy.
Charlotte, NC Family Photographer | Extended Family
I believe in family portraits and I love, love, love getting parents into the photographs with their children – regardless of the age of the children. Therefore extended family portraits have an absolutely special place in my heart!
I was so excited when my client booked this portrait session with her sister as a gift for their Mom. We now have all of Mom’s loved ones in one photograph, along with many others to complement and surround her full family portrait.
The family did an amazing job with color coordinating their outfits for the session after our consultation. When I arrived, I was so excited to pair their style with the beautiful morning light and the leaves that were just starting to appear on the trees in the park.
But would you be believe it was just 40 degrees that April morning! It was quite the chilly start to our day! We rotated family members in and out of the portraits so they could each put their jackets on for a few minutes and keep warm! But you would never know looking at the smiles on their faces how cold it was that day! I think they were just so happy to spend a weekend together.
The entire family was just wonderful. Everyone needs a beautiful full family portrait with grandparents, parents and children all together!
Enjoy!
