Summer is my favorite time of year because it means great families like the Rickelmans come on vacation and I get to spend a night on the beach! This is the second time I’ve been fortunate to work with this amazing family and it’s amazing seeing how much Sawyer has grown in the past two years. Having family photos done while you’re on vacation is such a great time because everyone is so relaxed and has a blast!
Waking up before the sun is not something I normally do, but I will gladly make an exception for sunrise beach sessions on Emerald Isle. We met Ms Q when she came in for one of the specials we offered in July and she loved her session so much she decided to go ahead and have a full session on the beach and we’re so excited she did.
We met before the sun came up at a great little spot and walked to the beach together, chatting along the way. With boudoir sessions we tend to bond on a different level so it really ends up feeling more like friends hanging out and a photo shoot happens. Another great perk of getting to the beach so early, it was nearly deserted, giving us plenty of privacy most of the session. Since the beach is public, we do keep things a bit more modest than a studio session but we were still able to get the shots we wanted!
Litalee was with us to provide a helping hand with lighting so some of the images are natural light but quite a few were done using “OCF”, or “Off Camera Flash”, a great lighting technique that allows us to capture amazing details in both the sky and subject, in this case Ms Q.
I have known Violet’s mom since we both moved here a couple of years ago and I was so excited to finally have them in front of my camera! Violet’s mom is as obsessed with Disney as I am, if not more so (is that possible?!) so when she said she had an Alice in Wonderland theme in mind, I knew it was going to be amazing! Cat was the one who brought everything, including making the cake herself. The small details are amazing when you look closer you notice more and more. In addition to the dress, there’s a mischievous Cheshire Cat chilling in the background, the clocks, the birdcage, even an actual tea set, everything was so well planned! We chose a location in Jacksonville that has gorgeous light and set everything up. Lil miss wasn’t too sure about staying in one area but seemed to have some fun during all of this!
(Don’t worry, the candle is totally edible!)
Check out more images in her Facebook album!
Ansley’s mom had reached out in the fall about scheduling her senior session and with everything going on in a senior year we decided on spring photos. Of course, Covid happened but we were able to schedule her session once restrictions eased up a bit and followed the protocols!
They decided on downtown New Bern, which is one of my absolute favorite cities and has some amazing hidden gem spots. We played around with outfits, spots, and lighting thanks to my awesome assistant, Litalee.
Ansley is a super sweet girl with so much joy, even with everything that’s been going on lately.
Congratulations, Ansley!
My corner of the world is opening back up, slowly & surely, and a lot of the beach rentals are allowing their guests to keep their reservations. We would love to capture memories of your time at the beach! Whether it’s your whole extended family, you & the kids, or perhaps just you & your significant other, the beach is a fantastic place for a photo session. The natural light during golden hour, and the waves coming off the Atlantic Ocean are gorgeous. Here are just some images from sessions at the beach!
If you are interested in booking please reach out directly, we’d love to get you on our schedule!
The Governor has said in recent press conferences that businesses that are able to maintain proper social distancing can reopen so that means we are open for sessions! To celebrate I’m offering Name Your Own Price sessions! You can give me your budget and I’ll tell you your options OR you can pick out the specifics of your session yourself and I’ll tell you what the price for your custom package is. Choose your session length (20, 30, 45, or 60 minutes) and how many high resolution images with print release you’d like (1-20). All sessions come with social media files of all edited images & a gallery app, too.
Full details: must be in the Jacksonville or Swansboro areas for a session less than an hour, available for sessions set between May 11 and May 29th, minimum $100. Cannot be combined with any other offer, discount, special, incentive, or deal. Available for couples, families, children, and maternity. Not available for seniors, homecoming, boudoir, elopements or mermaid sessions. Additional high resolution images will be available for purchase after your session.
This day was SO much fun! If you haven’t already, you can check out my previous two blog posts about this styled session here and here. It was held at Tryon Palace in New Bern, a beautiful city with a real small town feel. The models are Jenny Pearson (IG) & Billy Vaughn and it was organized by Reatta Oxendine.
Jenny & Billy were actually the models I photographed first that day and one of the very rare times I’ve done anything other than a homecoming in direct sunlight that wasn’t golden hour. To be totally honest, I actually liked it and I’m glad I was able to have them look at each other a lot to avoid really harsh shadows on their faces in addition to squinting! Unlike the last couple I posted, these two are a real life couple. Like the last couple I posted, they are super sweet & fun to work with.
Remember that styled shoot I mentioned before? This gorgeous couple was a part of the same styled shoot! The theme was French Provincial and held at Tryon Palace. It was organized by Reatta Oxendine, makeup by Breanna Pridgen Beauty (FB), hair by Mercedes Quinn(FB IG), models are Molly Stone & Vlad Gregorovitch.
These images are supposed to be an “elopement”, when a couple goes off on their own and gets married, sometimes in secret, but usually without a large ceremony and reception. To complete this idea, she is in a wedding gown & he’s in a suit. Here’s the thing, they aren’t an in real life couple, they are actually amazing last minute models who were able to fill in when the original models got sick and didn’t even meet until she was already getting her hair done! They were so much fun to work with, very silly. Unaware we didn’t know about this, when someone asked how long they’d been together, Molly joked “2 years!” and waited for a laugh and then had to explain they met that morning, which shocked everyone there!
I’m not sure how styled sessions normally work, but whenever I would see a model not in use, I would jump to them and work with them either one on one or with a couple of other photographers (there were about 20 there that day!). My familiarity with the Palace grounds definitely paid off and I was able to grab Molly, Vlad, Mercedes (who, after doing hair for the models was kind enough to be my lighting assistant for the day), and another photographer and took them to the cannon and the gazebo that are almost hidden gems.
The Palace is an amazing location for your wedding or special event as well as photo sessions! Whether it’s an elopement, engagement, maternity, or even boudoir, I’m always up for a session at the Palace!
Elopement groom holding his bride while he leans against a cannon with the back of Tryon Palace in the background.
As a photographer, there are many different ways to have sessions. My most common are client sessions, when you come to me and we plan your session together. I’ve also done a few sessions with models where we come together and create magic. For the first time ever, I took part in a Styled Session with a group of photographers that was organized and put on by an event coordinator. In this case, the coordinator was Reatta Oxendine and the location was one of my favorites: Tryon Palace. You may recognize the palace from this maternity session and this boudoir session. The model is Taylor Gales Henderson (IG), makeup by Alicia J Sawyer (IG) hair by Mercedes Quinn (IG FB), Lingerie provided by Sarafina Dreams (IG FB Etsy), bouquet was done by Mother of Wild Flower House & Event Co (IG FB Website). As you see, there were a lot of people involved in this session and there were about 20 photographers there so there was a lot going on, including other models, too! I’ll be posting those separately so be sure to keep an eye on the blog!
I have been looking forward to Ms L’s session for a while now and when we realized how soon Mercedes was moving we knew we HAD to get her session in before that happened. Ms L make look familiar, yes, she is exactly who you think she is! Being her session and being on hand for all my other sessions, she knew a lot of what we’d be doing well in advance so there were moments where I’d start explaining what I wanted her to do and she just snapped into it, it was fantastic and a little disconcerting to be totally honest. It was like she was reading my mind!
