After moving to Nags Head NC, a few years later in 2008 I was pregnant with my first child. After a long journey of thinking I many never have children, Noah Ryder was a miracle anticipated with a special joy that no words can describe. Although I had studied and loved photography for many years prior to this, it was the birth of my first son that reignited my love for photography and for capturing the  precious and fleeting moments of family life. And so, I bought a “fancy camera” to take amazing pictures of my newborn baby. Well, you can buy all the fancy camera equipment you want, but without the technical skill (and special techniques to learn for newborn photo shoots), you will not end up with the best images. Don’t get me wrong, I cherish my snapshots of those early days of motherhood and my first baby boy. Some may be blurred and he may be crying because he wasn’t warm enough..but they are still memories and bring me back to those special moments.

Here are two images of my son at 10 days old back in 2008. It’s a little embarrassing to show these images but it’s also fun to see how far I’ve come in my photography journey.

The three images below are of my friend’s third child, Genevieve Violet, that I took this past Fall of 2015. I incorporated family life into these images. The family lives in Kill Devil Hills, NC. Mom is an amazing gardener with a few chickens (the one in the picture is named Mary Washington), one bunny, and a few dogs. Dad is an avid surfer. Sweet Genevieve is a lucky girl.

Newborn fairy in an Outer Banks garden