I've often said that great photos aren't just what we look like, but who we really are.  This mama and repeat client has few photos from her own childhood, so she makes a point of getting them for each child's birthday.  The little girl in this photo, like many her age, is enthralled with princesses, dress-up, and stories.  So Tammy created a session just for her, with that theme in mind.  Tammy does an excellent job with conceptual shoots and would love to hear any idea you have!  

I put a high priority on my own personal family photos.  When I'm old and these days have long passed, the only things I'll have from this time in our lives are our memories and our photographs.  My children are young and their memories of this age will be fuzzy.  Having something concrete will be more meaningful to them as they grow up.  I know that intellectually, people know this. However, I see more and more women delay doing it.  They get caught up in not knowing what to wear, or not liking themselves in photos, or wanting to first lose ten pounds, or cringing at the thought of getting their families to cooperate.  The truth is: none of those things really matter.  Family photos aren't about looking like some fantasy version of perfect.  They are supposed to be exactly who you are today.  Your best version of who you really are.  To do this, we help orchestrate it for you.  We help you feel great about your clothes, we help you prepare the kids so they are excited about the session (seriously, it works, and it doesn't usually include bribery) and we lead our clients through the photos so that they always have something to do and are creating real moments.  

I recently worked with a great family at Yorktown Beach.  They had the right attitude and the result was photos that were exactly what the mom wanted.  Take a look, and at the end I'll tell you the keys to success.

My daughter is not a girly girl.  She's a tomboy for sure.  But I still like to dress her in the occasional cute outfit.  For Christmas, my mom got her several totally adorable dresses that she'll grow into this next year.  I posted this image on Facebook a couple of weeks ago, but I just love it... probably because it's my own kids, but also because it is probably going to give me plenty of excuses to dress her in a cute outfit.

I'm just a tad bit behind on my blogging but this one is worth the wait!  My little girl will turn one year old this weekend (Sept 11) and I did her cake smash a couple of weeks early.  I don't typically post this many photos from one session, but it has been so long since I posted at all I figured I should reward all of you.  Enjoy!


First look at cake... not sure what to think....

Decides licking is the appropriate way to test it out...

Buries her face in it!

Oh this is good!

Big brother decides to investigate...

"I wonder if she'll let me have some?"

"As the younger sibling I tolerate so much abuse."

Say it with me... "Awwwwwwww!!"

Happy First Birthday, sweet angel!

To see another great cake smash, click HERE.

As promised, here is the beautiful big sister!

I met up with this military family to capture some Virginia memories just before heading off to their next duty assignment.

I've decided I need to have more sessions at the Manassas Battlefield.  Every time I drive out there, I discover ten new places to shoot.  This family was happy to play around with me.  We climbed a tree (well... one person did), played hide-and-seek, and explored a really old building.