Weddington NC Child Photographer Archives - Page 3 of 4 - Charlotte Family Photographer

11 Sep

Charlotte, NC Child Photographer | Tiny Tuesday – “Someday we’ll tell you what this all means . . .”

On a rainy day in August, and we traveled to Jersey City and spent the morning at the Liberty Science Center. But upon leaving, we found the sky had cleared, and I wanted to visit the Central Railroad of New Jersey historic train station located inside Liberty State Park. It was a short drive from the museum and I knew the kids would enjoy seeing a view of the NYC skyline up close.

But when we got out of the car, my husband and I quickly glanced over and saw the Empty Sky Memorial. Of course, we immediately remembered that day 11 years ago, and our hearts grew a little heavier.

We first ventured into the train station and looked around, and then returned outside to see the skyline again. I have a bunch of images that I love from that afternoon (I’ll post more tomorrow), but as we turned to head back towards the car, we decided to walk through the beautiful Memorial standing tall between us and the parking lot. It was so elegant and peaceful. It deserved a quiet respect. As my husband took my smiling three year old son’s hand and began to slowly walk through the Memorial, I heard him whisper, “Someday we’ll tell you what this all means . . . “.

I paused for a moment with my daughter. In front of me I saw a man with a heavy heart, clutching the sweetness and innocence of childhood right at his side. When I saw their reflection in the side wall, I had to capture the moment. And yes, someday we’ll tell our children what it all means, but not just yet.

Today’s Tiny Tuesday post is in honor of all of those who lost their lives, especially the heroes who gave their lives to help save others.

15 Jun

Charlotte, NC Family Photographer | Happy Father’s Day!

“A truly rich man is one whose children run into his arms when his hands are empty.” ~Author Unknown

For all of you amazing Dads out there, I hope you have a wonderful weekend filled with lots of hugs and sweet moments with your children! Enjoy your day!

01 May

Marvin, NC Communion Portrait Photographer | Tiny Tuesday – A Moment of Reflection

This past weekend was my niece’s Communion Day and this was my absolute favorite image from the day. It was after the ceremony and we were in the lobby of the Church. I had brought her near the door to make some portraits using the window light when all of a sudden, I caught a glimpse of her bouquet in the marble wall. I took a few steps back, and there she was – the beautiful reflection of my sweet niece.

I had a photographer’s moment of glee as I made these images. I truly felt like a kid in a candy store. It was just pure happiness for me to capture a sweet moment like this.

Special thanks to my beautiful niece for all her cooperation and modeling for the day. Many more images to share, but for today, just sharing my favorite.

Enjoy.

17 Apr

Charlotte, NC Family Photographer | Published! {The Indie Tot}

Isn’t it just fitting that my first published family portrait session is with one of my absolutely wonderful clients that I have been working with for the last two years!

Today I have been published on The Indie Tot blog featuring an adorable Fall family portrait session in Historic Richmondtown. Everything about the session was just wonderful – the weather, the location, the family, and the giggly smile of their adorable little man.

Check out The B Family on the The Indie Tot here and please don’t forget to show them some love and comment on the post!!

About The Indie Tot: The Indie Tot features the best of the best for kids! We love the people who excel at creating great products for children – whether they’re handmade, eco-friendly or simply of awesome quality.

09 Apr

Waxhaw, NC Child and Family Photographer | Family Life is . . . .

If you visit and read my web site, you’ll find that I describe family life as “sweetness, love, craziness and chaos all rolled into one.” Well, that statement comes directly from my experience with my own family – my kids, my nieces, cousins, and more. Sometimes you have to embrace the craziness and chaos and just have fun with it.

I love taking Easter Portraits of my kids and my nieces, and I typically hunt for the perfect Easter outfits for my kids. But taking portraits of my own children can be quite entertaining. But I absolutely love the images we made yesterday. The craziness, chaos, sweetness and love are all here. It was completely nutty, but I wouldn’t change a thing.

Enjoy!

PS Special thanks to my cousin, Billy, for his willingness to participate in the chaos.

Outfits:

Shannon – Dress: Gap Kids. Headband: Kids Kuts in Westfield
Jack – Shirt, Pants and Hat: Janie & Jack

31 Jan

Charlotte, North Carolina Children’s Photographer | Tiny Tuesday – Expect the Unexpected

What happens when you ask two adorable little girls to gather a pile of leaves and throw them in the air? Sometimes, even the subjects in your photograph don’t know what to expect next.

I loved everything about this session with these two beautiful little girls. The older sister has such a gorgeous smile, beautiful eyes, and she just seems to light up in front of the camera. The younger sister is full of spirit, energy, and a complete bundle of fun!

I also loved the colors here – their mom did a fantastic job with these adorable outfits. While the outfits are completely different, the colors pair nicely together and just pop against our late Fall backdrop.

So, these adorable girls gathered their leaves as requested, and stood really close together ready to toss them into the air. The older one threw her pile up in the air immediately after the first image was shot and honestly before I was completely ready.

But the little one waited just a few seconds more and tossed her pile a little lower (therefore partially in her big sister’s face) – catching her sister completely off guard. And then, this little munchkin was so excited with the leaves raining on their heads that she just starting giggling and running circles around her big sister.

The bottom picture captures a moment of sheer happiness and also one of surprise. What I love most about the images though is how much they made their Mom giggle when we sat down to review them together. Even to this day, everytime she sees that second image, she chuckles remembering the moment. We didn’t expect what happened, but it makes us both smile (and laugh) to remember that feeling of happiness.

30 Dec

Marvin, NC Family Photographer | Fun in the Fall

It’s time to post another session from earlier this Fall. I love clients that keep coming back and giving me a chance to see how much everyone has grown. This is the third year that I had the pleasure of working with this family and capturing adorable moments with them. This year, we chose to meet at Memorial Park in Millburn, NJ, and I was very happy with the different backdrops available at this location.

I love working with families that know how to have a great time together. While the older children were a little more quiet and reserved (and truthfully, just really mature for their age), the little guy definitely showed his true colors and brought out the giggles from everyone else. He just loved playing it up for the camera, too! Can you tell? And everyone had fun when they were asked to play and jump in the leaves!

Enjoy!

19 Dec

Weddington, NC Children’s Photographer | Days to Warm Your Heart

It was mid-October and around 80 degrees, and I had a portrait session scheduled with an adorable family of FIVE boys. Yes, five absolutely wonderful little men. I know their Mom was nervous about the session, not just because she wanted adorable pictures, but she had purchased long sleeves and corduroy pants for them to wear for their holiday portraits, and now it was 80 degrees and the perfect weather for shorts. But, her guys proved she had nothing to worry about.

It wasn’t the sun that warmed my heart that day, but it was the sweet smiles and unbelievable cuteness from these little men. The older boys were so polite as they asked questions about my camera equipment, and helped me carry items as we moved from location to location in Historic Richmondtown. And the little guys just completely stole my heart with the twinkle in their eyes. I know everyone that knows this family would agree that their parents are doing an incredible job raising this family.

Here is a sampling of the images we made that warm October day.

15 Dec

Marvin, North Carolina Family Photographer | Time for some cuteness!

I posted on Facebook yesterday that I have 17 sessions that need to be added to the blog all the way from October through now! 17! It was an incredible and amazing season and I just loved all the time I spent with my clients capturing the cuteness. Even the chaos was fun. I really loved every minute of it.

I just received a comment on my Facebook page from a wonderful person that was excited to see all the cuteness. So, here is the perfect start for sharing cuteness! This gorgeous little lady has been a client since she was just a few days old, and now she is almost two. And she gets more adorable each time I see her.

Enjoy!

15 Nov

Charlotte, NC Child Photographer | Tiny Tuesday – Thanksgiving Inspirations

Charlotte, NC Child Photographer | Tiny Tuesday

This week’s Charlotte, NC Child Photographer Tiny Tuesday post is about more than just a photograph of a cute little girl. This story is about how this sweet little one inspired her parents and many others to do good in their community around the holidays. With Thanksgiving approaching next week, I felt this was a really sweet story to share and I’m including my favorite image from her portrait session last October.

Olivia’s parents wanted to teach their daughter the true meaning of Thanksgiving and what it means to appreciate and give back. In November 2010, they set a goal to help feed four families a full Thanksgiving meal with all the extra trimmings. But after chatting with Olivia, she increased their goal from four to ten families. Olivia’s philosophy was simple and sincere: “If we are going to help people, we should try to help more people.”

So, Olivia’s father launched an effort through friends and family and in just two weeks, they were able to raise enough funds and collected enough food to feed 34 families a full Thanksgiving meal last year! They had funds come from New Jersey, New York, Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico and England. This year, Olivia’s father increased their goals, is working with more families, and had even offered to chat with others to help them get a similar effort going in their own community. Based upon his personal experiences, he notes “you will certainly receive so much more than you give.”

I’m thrilled to say that my family contributed to their effort last year and again this year, and we are hoping to join them this weekend as they gather and sort all the food into boxes for distribution on Monday and Tuesday. And it’s all because of this adorable little smile below. This little sweetheart has inspired a whole community to give thanks in a wonderful way and help other families that couldn’t afford to enjoy Thanksgiving, celebrate with a wonderful feast.

So, now I’m curious, who else will this little girl inspire? If you can, please consider donating to your local food banks or other charities this coming week and help others enjoy this holiday. It doesn’t take much. It just takes a start.

08 Nov

Waxhaw, NC Children’s Photographer | Tiny Tuesday – Favorite Moments

Today’s Waxhaw, NC Children’s Photographer Tiny Tuesday post has two images. These were taken in July 2010 while my family was visiting a friend in Pennsylvania. Our friends had beautiful light in their backyard and thankfully I brought my camera.

Photographs don’t always need to show little ones looking at the camera smiling. In this case, you don’t even need to see faces. For me, the first image captures a moment. My little guy gives amazing hugs. And when he runs around, he’ll run right up to one of us, grab our legs, bury his head and squeeze real tight. Just looking at this image, I can feel his amazing squeeze. And I just love watching moments of my husband being a cute Dad. While this may be a moment that happens often during these toddler years, it’s a moment I love to see again and again, and I’m thrilled to have captured it in this sweet photograph. Someday, when our little guy is bigger, maybe even as tall as his 6’3″ Daddy, he’ll love this image, too!

The second image is just a sweet portrait of a smiling Daddy and his little man. I love the little one’s eyes and the beautiful light in this image. These are my favorite men.

05 Nov

Vibrant Waxhaw, NC Family Portrait Session | Childhood Enclosed

Lately, I find myself constantly saying how much I love my job. When you get to see smiles like these on a regular basis, how could you not love what you do?

A few weeks back, I met this adorable family and we had a wonderful afternoon. The sun was warm and shining in early October, and the light was just perfect everywhere we went. We started at their home in the backyard, which gave the family dog an opportunity to jump in a few images, and then we headed to a park in Edison, NJ after a quick clothing change. I love watching a family just have fun together. You can see the happiness and smiles just shine through in these photos!

25 Oct

Professional Matthews NC Child Photographer | Tiny Dancer

Starting this week, I’m introducing two weekly blog posts. Every Tuesday will be Tiny Tuesday where I post favorite images from sessions over the last few years and talk about why I love the photograph. Later this week, I’m going to start Favorite Fridays where I will share a favorite toy, children’s store, educational item or service related to children. I do expect that many of these will be local to my area and my clients, but some may be national or online items.

I do hope you enjoy these posts and I welcome feedback and comments.

This week’s Tiny Tuesday share is an adorable little girl caught spinning in the grass. As we started our session last Summer, she was a little shy and I needed to get her to warm up to the camera. I noticed her dress was perfect for spinning, so I backed up to give her some space and also a feeling that I wasn’t right on top of her and asked her to just twirl. What little girl doesn’t love to twirl and watch her own dress spin in the breeze? The result was this adorable image, and the remainder of the session was just wonderful. I love the timeless feel of this image. For me, it captures an innocence and sweetness that is a part of being a little girl – just a moment lost in their own world spinning in their dress.

06 Oct

Marvin, NC Photographer | Childhood Enclosed

Just another day when I love my job. Full session with my own munchkin and pumpkin. All I can say is – – I love these kids.

27 Sep

Waxhaw, NC Child Portraits | All Smiles

Have you ever seen a photo of your children that you just kept going back to look at it over and over because you loved it so much? A photo that just makes you smile really big everytime you see it? You know, the photo that makes you stop and say to yourself – “Wow, these guys are mine and I love them so much! They may drive me nuts sometimes, but just look at them, they are awesome.”

Sometimes, all it takes is just one image to give you that feeling, and I was so happy to capture that one image for myself this weekend.

These guys love to run. They squeal and giggle as they are running, and I think this image just shows my munchkin and pumpkin at their best – happy together.

This is why I do what I do. Because, sometimes, you get a picture that will just make you smile everytime you see it. I love when it happens for me, but I also really do love when it happens for my clients, too. There will be more to share from this session, but for now, here was favorite.