A fun little family!

So Amanda and Adam were good friends of mine in high school. We kind of lost touch during college, but thanks to the magic of Facebook we caught up with each other last year and picked up right where we left off! Well, sort of. I mean you miss a lot in a few years- turns out Adam and Amanda got married and had a precious little boy. But we became instant friends again anyway!

We met up in South Carolina for a photo session the weekend of their son John Dickson's second birthday and what fun we had. I took an outrageous number of photos- at least twice what I normally shoot. (And there is my excuse for taking twice as long to get it posted!) But I really couldn't help it. Amanda and I have been planning this session for oh, like, seven months and the excitement just went to my head. And my trigger-happy index finger. Here are just a handful of my favorites!

This is John Dickson and I love him. And his hat.








As if John Dickson isn't enough fun, baby brother Henry will be making his debut in July. Amanda is due just two weeks after me- yay for newborn buddies!

















Someone had entirely too much fun beating up his parents

















I have never ever had a photo session where I spent so much time trying not to fall over laughing. Seriously. It was so fun to work with old friends and catch up over breakfast afterward. I still haven't fully accepted that they live in Greenville and we live in Baltimore and we can't hang out. Boo. : (

But I am super excited that next time we are in SC our little baby will meet their little baby and BOOM they'll be instant pen pals!

Anyone need an airbrushed t-shirt?

This morning I woke up to the sound of the ocean crashing off my balcony, climbed out of a king-sized bed I don't have to make, and ate a chocolate-covered donut appetizer before heading out to find some breakfast. Not too bad if you ask me.

Dylan has a teaching conference in Ocean City, MD this weekend so I came along for the ride. (He used to come along to MY conferences when we lived in South Carolina while I was working full-time and he was in grad school. I would have to go to seminars all day while he watched TV in the hotel room. It's kind of fun being on the other side!)

I found myself at Panera this morning and have spent the past few hours looking at this face





while I wrap up editing my most recent session. I think I have a crush on a two-year-old.

More on that soon. In the meantime, I cannot BELIEVE how similar Ocean City is to Myrtle Beach, SC. It is no secret that Myrtle Beach is not my favorite place on the planet, but driving up and down the "strip" past 8,000 cheap souvenir shops and tacky restaurants has given me an odd pang of homesickness. Add in the boardwalk and the airbrushed t-shirts and it's like a parallel universe. If I wasn't positive I was in Maryland I would be positive I was not.

Wish the weather was warm enough to enjoy the beach, but then again that means I wouldn't be getting any work done...

Speed racer

"What do you mean you want me to hold still???"





It's amazing how much little boys change in a few short months. Somehow I don't remember quite this much sprinting at our session last summer. But it was fun! Most of the night looked like this:








But every now and then when we glued Seth's cute little plaid shorts to the top of a tall brick wall, we got a few of these:











And then it was back to business- playing!














(Though he did take a break for an orange)





As Seth ran circles around the USC Horseshoe and Zackary followed close behind, I got a few extra minutes to spend with Tonya and Scott. LOVE these shots of them.








As I was editing these I realized how lucky we got- we moved their shoot up a day at the last minute. If you live in South Carolina you know how bad the pine pollen is and how suddenly it shows up. If we had tried to do this Friday as originally planned, everyone would have been bright yellow!





As always, I love the chance to catch up with my "regulars," and it is safe to say this pregnant photographer got her cardio in for the day. : ) Thanks guys! Stay tuned for one more SC shoot coming up on the blog in a few days!

Some "good ones"

As we wrapped up this session Brennen looked at me and said, "Well, I hope we got some good ones." I told her I thought this was our best shoot yet, and I meant it. I think parents often worry that energetic kids make my job more difficult, but they are what make it so much fun. I've been photographing her and Paul and their kids for two years now, and I knew right away this session would be my favorite of their family.

I almost died several times during the editing process. The lighting and location and beautiful children were enough to do me in, but fear not, the baby and I are alive and well. Please enjoy the following assortment of my favorites- just a few of "the good ones."





You might remember little Heath- he was my last client in SC before I moved. He's grown so much since August!








And then of course Emily and her curls that I can't get enough of








I love everything in this image. Would it be strange if I hung this as a large canvas in my front hall and pretended it was my family?





If my baby is a little girl I want a wall grouping just like this in her bedroom














I may have gotten a little carried away with the Heath images, but since I won't be in town for his first birthday session I wanted to make sure we got plenty at 10 months!





As soon as Heath learns to write I would like his autograph. I think this is the future of South Carolina football right here











Brennen, hope the extra-long post makes up for the delay! And everyone else that is waiting, yours are coming soon- I'm almost caught up. : )

Sunshine fairy

I am so so excited to post this session. But right now I can barely keep my eyes open and I have a super long day ahead of me tomorrow so the rest will have to wait (sorry Bren!) More soon!

I'm adorable.

Hi, my name is Carson. I am ten months old and really cute, and even though I wasn't feeling my best on picture day I am still quite adorable if I do say so myself.








What are you looking at??








Don't mess with me. I can be tough if I want to.





But let's be honest, I am a happy kid.





And I really love my parents.





Who wouldn't? We are an adorable family.








And I have a special place in my heart for my Grammy- can you tell by the look in my eyes? I didn't want her to leave my side the entire photo session. I have a feeling I have her wrapped around my little finger.





Now if you'll excuse me for just one minute, I need to take this very important call.





Well that was fun. Time to celebrate with a lollipop! Either end will do.





So there you have it! Proof positive that Grammy is right- (even on my most mellow days,) I am still one of the most precious little guys you will ever lay eyes on.