Bald Head Island

Tory and I just returned from our weekend getaway (minus the kids!) at Bald Head Island. We were officially celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary, which was in May. We had the best time and I just fell in love with the island, so of course that means you're going to have to endure the photos. :) Let me preface this by saying that I make no claims to be a nature/landscape photographer but I did try to capture the trip for memories sake.

We stayed at a lovely bed and breakfast on the harbor called the Marsh Harbour Inn.

The rooms were very cozy with real beds and hardwood floors.

We had a little balcony that overlooked the harbor.


As I'm sure you all know, you reach Bald Head Island by a 20 minute ferry ride and there are no cars on the island. Everyone travels by golf cart (and wow did we see some awesome looking golf carts!). We spent lots of time cruising around the island on the golf cart stopping at whatever interested us.
We relaxed on the beach.

Whenever we called home they asked if we had bad weather, but it was beautiful there!


The unique thing about Bald Head (besides the lack of cars) is that in addition to miles of unspoiled beaches there is a huge forest right in the middle of the island. There are beautiful homes tucked into the forest along with nature trails and golf cart paths.

We walked a few of the trails.


We also stopped at the lighthouse "Old Baldy" and walked all 180 steps to the top.

Tory looking out the window about halfway up.


Saturday evening we decided to have an early dinner and then try to catch the sunset at the mouth of the Cape Fear river.
We had a little fun with our evening shadows while waiting for the sun to go down.

We also tortured a few fisherman packing up for the day.


Then the sun started to dip in the sky and I tried my hand at sunset photos.



The last shot before it dipped behind a cloud and set.


And the last shot today as the ferry was taking us back to Southport.


I thought the island was wonderful and so relaxing. I am determined to take the kids there for a vacation one day! If any of you out there have a house on Bald Head and want photos...call me. :) I hope all of you had a wonderful weekend as well. I have more sessions this week and I'm sure will be sharing some new client photos very soon.

Baby Fever

**Warning--If you are prone to "Baby Fever" you may not want to view the following images.**

If these two cuties aren't enough to give you a little "baby fever" then you can definitely consider yourself done with babies for good. :) We have absolutely no intention of any more children, but I do LOVE to get my "baby fix" when newborns come into the studio.

The two newborns I photographed this week were about as opposite as you can get, but they were both beautiful and so much fun. Lauren was around 9 pounds at birth. She is four weeks old in these images and at least 10 pounds according to her parents. She was wide awake for much of the session, but did take a couple of "power naps."








Ella was around 5 pounds at birth and 2 weeks old in these photos. She was one of the tiniest and sleepiest babies I have ever photographed. I tried to use a "size reference" in some of the photos so you can get an idea of just how tiny she was. The feet with wedding rings photos give a good reference to how big her mother's rings look on her little feet. The photo of her with her mom also gives a good reference.








Both of these sweet girls were so expressive to be so young, so I hope to see them back at three months old and see how they've grown.

By the way, if you viewed these images even after my warning and are now suffering from an unwanted case of baby fever, never fear. Just come spend a few hours at my house and I'm sure we can cure it right up. :)

Which leads me to my next order of business for this blog post. Tory and I are headed to Bald Head Island tomorrow for a much needed weekend away. Our 10 year wedding anniversary was in May but I wasn't ready to leave Stella overnight just yet at that time. Now we are ready and looking forward to a nice quiet weekend, although the huge storm brewing on the coast may put a damper on things! All emails and phone calls received after this evening will be returned on Monday.

Cuteness Overload

First and foremost, I'd like to introduce you to my new neice, Kylie Alyssa. My sister-in-law and her husband welcomed Kylie into the family on September 16th and she had her first official photo session on Saturday at 4 days old. She is a doll and we are so happy to have her as a part of the family!



This is her with big brother, TJ. If these were mine, this would be huge in my house! :)

I've had this shot in mind since I noticed her daddy's tattoo (that's their last name)...he was a great sport to indulge me!


Carter was the winner of the blog contest where my kids picked the photos they liked best. Remember, Grace picked Carter standing beside a lego spongebob. He won a free session and a free 11x14 print. Carter loves skateboarding so we incorporated that into the session!






This sweet four month old is the daughter of a friend of mine. Mom likes simple and classic so that's just what we did. Little Zella Ann is baby number three in her family and was so happy and content. She let me photograph her and chat with her mom as long as I wanted. :)





This little seven month old was so cute I could hardly stop gushing over him long enough to photograph him. The rolls, the skin, the fuzzy hair...my goodness. His parents and big sister were probably thinking "Yes, we think he's pretty cute too...now take his picture please!"






I didn't know if I'd ever get to meet this sweet, young lady. Her session was rained out twice, but the third time was a charm. I think she was worth the wait!





It was time to get my sister's kids in front of the camera again--so here's the diva and her brothers.

DJ is 15 and way to cool for me and my camera. :)

Dalton is 7 and loves the camera...for now.

Paige is 18 months now and still the diva. It took her a little bit to warm up but once she did, she was great!




This little two year old cutie almost wore me out at Tanglewood. Last time I saw him he was barely walking and this time I could hardly keep up with him!






Whew! Did you make it through all of last week's cuteness? If you enjoyed any of these let me know....blog comments make my day! :) I hope to update again soon and it seems to me to be about time for another contest so stay tuned...