Against the Grain Photography

Kicking Off 2010!

2010-04-12T17:04:00.002-04:00

Spring is here and it's a perfect time for photos!! I met this family, who I've known for quite awhile, at the beach for some sand-a-riffic fun. I had a blast running around with these two little guys, who definitely kept me on the run!

Thanks for letting me photograph your beautiful family, K & D!!

Welcome, Baby S!!

2009-11-17T22:04:00.003-05:00

A good friend of mine (and fabulous hair dresser!) just had her third little one about 2 weeks ago. I couldn't let her be picture-less!!...okay, so maybe it was a ploy to meet the little man. And what a sweet guy he is!! He was a bit sleepy at first, but WIDE awake after that and seemed completely content to just sit and be sweet...until it was time for dinner, of course.

Here are two of my favorites:

Meet Kelsey!!

2009-08-25T21:17:00.004-04:00

I was SO excited when Kelsey and her mom set up a session with me for Kelsey's senior portraits. It's been a long time, and I was quickly reminded how much I love love LOVE to do senior photos. Babies are cute and sweet, but seniors are just plain FUN. Besides, it helps when they actually want to be photographed, lol.

Anyways, I had a great time, got some great shots, and probably kept them a bit longer then they wanted to be out in the heat. Sorry guys!! I can't wait for you guys to see the rest of 'em though!!

Cousins!

2009-06-25T22:27:00.003-04:00

This past weekend I was able to get together with a good friend of mine who always seems to come to my rescue when I need it. Her sister and nieces were in town and wanted a session of them all together and playing and just having a fun time. I'll be honest--I was a bit nervous about how I would get these images. I had visions of them all running in separate directions--crying, lol. But we had SO much fun! I busted out a bubble machine (thank heavens you guys had extra batteries and a screwdriver--thank you!!!) and we had a blast, even on the hottest day of the year.

Check out these gorgeous kids!

Don't let Miss L fool you with her seriousness here--she is a HOOT!!

Thank you K for asking me to do this while the girls were in town--I had so much fun!! :)

Meet Mr. Tieren.

2009-06-15T20:45:00.002-04:00

I finally got to meet up with Mr. Tieren and his parents for his newborn photos. He wasn't too keen on the idea for a bit, but after a bit he warmed up to the idea and was such a sweet boy!! He was all about being outside!

Meet Mr. Owen.

2009-06-13T15:30:00.003-04:00

One of my very good friends had a baby while I was in Washington State, but I was finally able to get my hands on baby Owen. What a sweet, handsome man he is!! And extremely alert, lol. So much for sleeping baby photos! But what a great baby! He's start to get grumpy after being layed down and would immediately quiet down when he had his momma. Watch out S, I think you've got a mama's boy there...gotta love 'em!!

Meet the Rhotens.

2009-06-13T15:16:00.003-04:00

I had the opportunity to fly back home to Washington State for my little sister's wedding. I had a great time getting lots of images for her and K. Besides that, it was a BLAST getting to hang out with the family again and be goofy, like sisters do best.

The best part of it all was that she couldn't say "get that camera out of my face!" because I wouldn't have taken her seriously. :)

Getting ready....

Of course can't forget the family shots!

Beautiful bride on this beautiful day!!

And some couple shots:

D and K then went on their honeymoon and came back for my sister's hometown reception. I was able to snag them for some fun stuff in good ol' Q-town.

I have lots and lots more to sort through, but had to blog a few!

Meet the Grantham's

2009-04-15T15:00:00.002-04:00

It was so great to meet you guys, I hope you had a fabulous visit at the beach. I'm bummed that "E" wasn't a big fan of being followed by paparazzi, but you guys are such a cute family and I'm so glad we got some sweet moments between all of you. It is so obvious how much "E" is loved and cherished--he is a lucky boy, and you are some lucky parents to have such a handsome little guy. :]

"I'm DONE."

I'll have the rest ready for you soon, have a good one.

Possum Creek Bluegrass Band

2009-02-04T14:56:00.002-05:00

A friend of mine had mentioned doing photos for her husband's band one day quite awhile back. I was pretty excited, as I'd never done anything like this and wanted to give it a try, but didn't want to get my hopes up. After contacting me before Christmas, we finally all got our schedules ironed out and were able to meet up one evening. It was foggy, and a bit dark and dreary out, but we had fun. Check out the Possum Creek Bluegrass Band!

Meet the Rondash Family!

2008-12-15T15:52:00.002-05:00

Yay! I was so excited for this session! Even though it was cold and WINDY out, they did SO well!! M, their daughter, definitely knew what she did and did NOT want to do, so it took a bit of work at times, but I'm pleased with what we got. Great job guys!! And thanks for braving the weather for so long!!

Hehe, had to add this outtake. They're a pretty fun-lovin' family.

Alderman Family

2008-11-22T21:28:00.002-05:00

I cannot tell you how excited I have been for this session!! Not only is this family amazingly gorgeous, but they are some downright awesome people as well. Fun, easygoing, and some great friends. I can't wait until we move, we'll be a few miles from them and hopefully we'll get to hang out a bit more. Anyways, I am LOVING these photos!! I had to fight back from showing you too many...gotta save some surprises for when they come in!!! But here's your sneak peek...enjoy!!

Walker Family

2008-11-15T19:34:00.002-05:00

This family has a special place in my heart as they are very good friends of ours. They have the cutest almost-one-year old little guy who makes Sam look like a midget, and the most adorable 3 year old. They are English and their daughter has the CUTEST accent! Anyways, enjoy your sneak peek you guys! We got some GREAT shots!!

Portrait Party at the Beach!!

2008-10-27T21:54:00.004-04:00

So we took our party to the beach this time!! The weather was beautiful, the water was fabulous and the kids were SO full of energy!! I think a great time was had by all. Sorry it took me so long to get these up here you guys, I know you've been waiting. But I had WAY too many photos to sort through and narrow down for you. Thanks to all for coming out and sorry about the parking mixup, next time I'll know better! Enjoy!

Burleson Family

2008-10-06T22:14:00.004-04:00

This is Part I of M&C's family--they were two families who wanted to do a session the day after their kids got married. Nuts? I think so! :) Even though they'd had a million and a half photos the day before, this family ROCKED!!! I had SO much fun with you guys! I very much hope you enjoyed your stay in Wilmington and enjoy these photos documenting your time together. Now, I DO have many other posed photos, but absolutely fell in love with all of these as they're more "me" and...apparently more "you" as well by the looks of them. :)

The Nelson Family

2008-10-06T21:51:00.003-04:00

Here's Part II of M&C's family!! I had so much fun with you guys!! And thank you for the continual feed on ideas!! You were full of places and poses and it made it so much fun to be with a family who is all about having fun and trying new ideas! Good luck to M&C and it was GREAT to meet you all, your family left a wonderful impression on my memory.

The W Family

2008-09-24T22:00:00.002-04:00

Here's your guys' Sneak Peek! Don't worry, I got some good ones even if we were in the midst of a tropical storm. :) And I'm calling Bull on all this "I'm not photogenic" stuff. You guys are a beautiful family. I can't wait to show you the proofs soon!!

Baby Ashton

2008-09-24T21:55:00.004-04:00

I'll be honest with ya folks--this is my second newborn, and that's COUNTING Sam! It was a bit of a struggle for all involved (it didn't help that I left my main light at home and my main lens freaked out on me), but we got some cute ones. How sweet is this little guy?! I sure hope he slept for you, Momma!!!

Awww...this makes me get all teary eyed--this is right exactly where Sam loves to snuggle with me. There's nothing like Momma's arms. :)

And I had to include my personal favorite shot of the evening. Look how alert this 6 day old is!!! I loooove the little wrinkles, soooooo cute!

5 Months!!

2008-09-20T21:17:00.001-04:00

Happy 5 Months Samuel!!!

12/52

2008-09-20T21:04:00.002-04:00

Sorry I'm running behind these days!! We're getting ready to close on our first home this week, I've been pretty busy with photo stuff, and Russ's mom and sister were visiting us last week. It was great having them visit, we were bummed to see them go. But we did all sorts of things!! I actually got to go swimming in the ocean for the first time since we've lived here, we went to an auction, I went to the optometrist, got to go out with Russ quite a bit and ride the motorcycle...ALL sorts of great stuff. A BIG thank you to the fam.

Here's my Mommy n' Me photo for the week (or two...), a tribute to my big man turning 5 months this week!

And my fav family/Daddy n' Me photo. Each evening we try and get out and take a walk before dinner to just relax and talk about our day. Now that it's cooling down, we look forward to it a lot more. Brooklyn was the one keeping us doing it, always asking for her evening walk. lol

My favorite Brooklyn photo of the week. We got her her first bike this past week and she loves riding!!!

My sweet, sweet boy. Awww...

11/52

2008-09-04T19:39:00.003-04:00

Sorry to ya'll who read both of my blogs, you get the exact same photos on each!! HA! Guess I'd better take more, eh? Anyways, so this week we gave rice cereal a try on Sam and the little piggie LOVES it!! Almost as much as Brooklyn loves to feed it to him! Between them both, they make quite the mess...

Here's my Brooklyn favorite of the week. We had a face painting playdate and she wanted to be a kitty. It was a lot better before she totally destroyed the bottom half of her face, but she was in heaven!! We're off to the store tomorrow to pick up some face paints...
My favorite of Sam this week. He has recently discovered other kids and himself and LOVES them!! The mirror is the best way to keep this guy occupied! So I had to break out the camera.
And I didn't have one of just Sam and Brooklyn together (I forgot about it, actually), so you get to see me in a swimming suit...eek. This was Sam's first experience with the ocean. He did great, considering he got sopping wet up to his armpits!! After about 10 minutes of it though he was overstimulated and passed out in my arms.
And as requested....I'm going to try and start doing Daddy & Me photos...ya'll are keeping me busy!!! Ha! I'll try and keep up though because I LOVE having all of these photos. Anyways, we like to take a walk after dinner every night, and Brooklyn never fails to remind us. So, here are all my goobers. :)

10/52

2008-08-30T22:10:00.002-04:00

We have gotten into the habit of taking evening walks before bedtime and our kids love it. It's more of a scavenger hunt than a walk as we're always finding new things and just playing on the way, but we really enjoy it as our family time at the end of the day.

This just totally reminds me that my sweet baby girl is turning into a big girl...sniff sniff. Today she took a nap in her undies and no accident!! We are SO proud of her.
I haven't really taken many of the Chunkster, but of course had to show off my new art piece to our collection. I am addicted to canvases now. They never seem very big on the wall though, so I thought a 20x24 would be big enough...I put it on the wall and...not quite. lol, but we'll wait awhile before I venture for bigger. I just had to show it off though because I am SOOOOO in love with it. I was worried that it would become outdated soon since Sam is growing so fast, but is absolutely priceless to me.
And one of both of the rugrats. I had Sam sitting in the chair and Brooklyn thought he looked bored so brought her some of her babies to play with (she only has about a million of 'em...). I soon looked over and he was up to his ears in babies, but they were both having a blast! I'm so excited for them to grow up together, they play so good now, I hope they will be close.

9/52

2008-08-30T22:05:00.002-04:00

My girl n' me in Daddy's motorcycle mirror. We were all playing outside one fabulous evening. We grilled hotdogs, made s'mores and ran and played. It was SO much fun!! This cooler weather is so nice to have so we can actually venture outside these days...

And here are a couple of my favorite kiddo shots from this week. Sam was chillin' outside while we were grilling our hotdogs over the fire, just loving it. Both my kids are total outdoors kids.
And my Goobie...sigh. I put WAAAYYY too much trust in her. She is a FANTASTIC kid and it was totally my fault as I let her play and watch a movie while I had my nose in a book and I should have known when it got WAY too quiet. Yup, that's baby powder...whoops.

The H Family.

2008-08-23T22:11:00.003-04:00

I was soooooo thrilled when these guys contacted me to do a family session (and even more thrilled when we struck up a deal for Mommy H to do my family's hair--anybody in Wilmington need someone for hair stuff? Contact me, I will hook you up!!! She ROCKS!). What a gorgeous family, right? So not only are they gorgeous and super duper nice, they are a lot of fun and we're up for anything. AND (yeah, I know, it gets better!) their girls did SUCH a great job. It was almost a 2 hour ordeal and not one complaint!! Thanks you guys, and hopefully you all are feeling a bit better...

8/52

2008-08-21T22:17:00.007-04:00

So yeah...I am REALLY slacking. I should be on like...week 10 by now. Oh well, it'll be a long year. :) And if you haven't noticed by now, I'm all about the "real life" shots for these things. If I stress about trying to get that "perfect shot", it ain't never gonna happen! So ignore the I-haven't-been-outta-the-house-in-two-days look I've got goin' on. And if you can't tell by the shampoo bottle in the background, this is bathtime--I just had to prop my camera up on a half-empty toothpaste bottle, on top of the counter (hence the counter showing in the bottom half). We love bathtime though (all except the getting clean part...).

I've also decided that in addition to my Mommy & Me photos I'll post my favorite photo of my kids this week.

Here's my Chunker. At almost 4 months old, this kid is nearing (if not there already) 20 pounds. He is also the sweetest, easiest, smiley baby. And such a momma's boy....I loooove it. His big accomplishment this week is that he's figured out how to grab things. Woo hoo!!

Here's my Goobie. She wanted me to take a photo of her "mad face". What a sweetheart she is. This week she's taken to calling us all "Honey" a lot. I never realized that I called her and Sam "Honey" so much until she started saying it.

Happy Birthday Miss Tanis!!

2008-08-16T17:08:00.003-04:00

Happy Birthday Tanis!! I sure had a blast racing and jumping and spinning, oh yeah, and taking a few photos here and there! :) Thank you for letting me capture you as a 5 year old--you were a fabulous model and sure know how to turn the 'tude on! Here's a sneak peek of one of each of your cute outfits. We can't wait to see you at your birthday party!!

Waiting for Baby G.

2008-08-13T08:42:00.003-04:00

This session started off a bit crazy at first as I went to the WRONG ISLAND! Then a storm moved in and those sunset photos that J wanted went out the window, but there were some amazing clouds. And I cannot say enough great things about this couple--they were a complete DREAM to photograph!! And you can tell just by talking to them that they will be amazing parents--what a lucky little boy to be born to this couple! Thank you guys for opening your makeshift home to me and letting me invade--and a special thank you to the clothing holders and "backdrop stands"!! :)

6/52 and 7/52

2008-08-10T17:00:00.001-04:00

Meet my Family!

2008-08-10T16:47:00.003-04:00

So I declared today as Family Photo Day. Can you hear the groans? Yeah, it was tough, especially because I couldn't look through the camera for these...just set 'em up and click the remote and pray for the best. I was pretty happy with most of 'em! So meet the absolute loves of my life...

Crazy ol' me.

We'll be married 4 years (together for 8) next week and I am soooo glad I married this dude.
Family Feet Shot!!
My sweet, sweet Momma's Boy.

Me n' my Ragamuffin!!

Baby Nick.

2008-08-10T16:44:00.001-04:00

Thank you L for letting me have fun with Baby Nick!! You know he's just about the cutest little guy ever. We had a blast hanging out with you guys and can't wait to talk some more about that cruise.... :D

Only 2 Sessions Left!!!

2008-08-05T22:26:00.003-04:00

THANK YOU to all of you who have booked sessions with me this year. I have enjoyed getting to know you all and look forward to getting to know those of you I haven't met face to face yet. I absolutely love working with all of these great families and hopefully have helped you create some great memories.

I just wanted to let anyone know that I have two open spots for sessions this year--November 29th and December 6th. If you would like to get your family portaits done for Christmas cards, book your session now before the spots have filled up. I will be starting sessions up again beginning January 10th, 2009.

Thanks again!!

5/52

2008-08-03T11:06:00.002-04:00

We went to the Children's Museum this last week and I thought I'd try and get our weekly photo there. Granted you can't see much of us, we're there, acting like our crazy selves in the fun house mirrors!!

Happy 3 Months, Samuel!

2008-07-22T14:57:00.003-04:00

My sweet Momma's boy is 3 months old tomorrow!!! I love you Sam!!

And yup, Waiting for ANOTHER Baby Brother!!

2008-07-19T23:02:00.004-04:00

Thank you ladies for coming out to the beach! I hope you enjoyed our session as much as I did. "C", you did such a great job and was a blast to work with--you took direction so well and were so patient and were up for anything! And I could have taken little "E" home with me!! You have an absolute sweetheart on your hands. I hope we can get together again in the future, even just for fun! I'm sure my daughter would loooove to play with "E"!!

Waiting for another Baby Brother.

2008-07-19T22:55:00.003-04:00

Thank you guys for meeting up with me!! You are such a gorgeous family and a photographer couldn't have asked for a better family to work with--so laid back, ready for some fun and up for anything! I could have photographed you guys all day! Can't wait to meet the new little man!!

Waiting for Baby Brother.

2008-07-19T22:32:00.004-04:00

Thank you so much for the practice!! I had a blast with you guys (what's new? lol), even if we were roasting!!! I don't know about you, but I think we need to head back to the beach WITHOUT a camera soon, that water rocked!!!!

4/52...and my new favorite photo!

2008-07-19T22:29:00.003-04:00

My hubby is still learning the finer points of photography, hence the blurriness. I'm just happy he's willing to learn!!! :D These are Brooklyn and me doing one of her favorite activities...being outside with Mommy and Daddy.

And, my new absolute favorite photo of my kids. It 110% captures each of their personalities at this stage of their lives. I am in love.

3/52

2008-07-06T16:55:00.004-04:00

Taken at a Rugby tournament we went to watch. Didn't get a whole lot of watching out of it, as Brooklyn preferred the toys to some grown boys tossing a ball and each other around. I was able to get this shot with my sweet boy, Samuel who is currently 10 1/2 weeks....and the size of a 6 month old. He is such a momma's boy, I love it.

Photog Meetup.

2008-07-04T11:01:00.002-04:00

We finally got to meet up with my friend Barbara (check out her stuff here) and her kids Meredith and Eli. We had so much fun!! The girls loved each other and had a blast and entertained each other while we followed them around like paparazzi. The boys both snoozed almost the entire time. And we had pretty much free reign of the Cotton Exchange! Thanks again Barbara! We had a blast.

Waiting for Baby Lily

2008-07-01T22:30:00.003-04:00

I love having pregnant friends. It's always fun to get together and have fun documenting this last stage of pregnancy. Thank you "A" for letting me show your belly off to the entire neighborhood! :D

2/52

2008-06-29T18:01:00.004-04:00

Definitely not the most "correct" photo, but the memories it reminds me of are absolutely priceless.

52 Week Challenge - Week 1

2008-06-21T23:46:00.003-04:00

Alrighty, so I decided to do this 52 week challenge that basically consists of me being in front of the camera more. Yikes, scary, I know. So each week I have to take at least one photo of me with at least one of my kids. What a great idea (even though it'll be a headache...). My kids have a million photos documenting their childhood, but rarely any with me. Kinda sad, huh? So, what the heck, I'll give it a shot! Here's Week 1!

Lil' Miss Reese

2008-05-29T21:39:00.003-04:00

A sneak preview of Reese, the big two (and a half almost!) year old! She did so well--my two year old can't stand this for more than a few minutes, let alone a half hour to 45 minutes!! Yeah! Way to go! And a huge kudos to her mom and the babysitter (such a smart move!). Thanks guys for giving me the opportunity to finally get to shoot downtown!! I loved it.

And the one decent shot I got of big sister.

Sneak Peek!

2008-05-26T12:12:00.005-04:00

A big thanks to Carrie for hosting a successful Portrait Party! It was great getting to know you better and I had a blast with the families and especially their beautiful children! Thanks for putting up with me guys--I'm still trying to get the hang of this studio stuff, but am loving it!! Anyways, here's a quick sneak peek of some of the goodies I got...enjoy!