I am deep in my feelings this month, perhaps the result of my oldest turning ten. Ten! Oof. Big number. That's him in the photo below on a recent duck hunt with my husband. No, he's not leaving for college or moving across the globe but the sanctity of our limited time together as mother and child under the same roof – I can feel that in my bones.

Torrey Stroud, owner of City Art Gallery in Greenville, responded to my last newsletter with her own beautiful thoughts on feeling a photo. I immediately asked her permission to share -

“One of my very favorite photographs is one you took at the beach of Thomas, my son, kissing the top of Little Thomas's head when he was a blond one or two-year-old. It is a study in dark and light and love. The contrast in black hair and blond and the expression on their faces is captivating. Little Thomas, that blond boy, is now a very tall 15-year-old with much darker hair. I love seeing this picture everyday by my bathroom sink. It makes me feel something.”

Photographing families is work that I love and something I hope to do forever. The first family I ever photographed was that of my college friend Kelley Simons – posing her tiny newborn outside on a blanket at a Raleigh park 15 years ago this week. Overexposed with lots of awkward angles, those early photos make me cringe – but Kelley swears they are perfect.

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING BRAND NEW

Beginning this spring, I am expanding my offerings beyond families and weddings, but with the same amount of heart and feeling. Branding work for small businesses is something I have dabbled in over the years and am eager to pursue further. Strong visual imagery and well written communication is a must for every business whether you have 20 employees or it's just you. Click here for all the details.

Three months have slipped by since my last newsletter - and it has been years since I blogged. So here I am, starting fresh! As I was brainstorming what to share (spring sessions! branding work! weddings!) I kept returning to something a client said to me during a family session this past fall. It was a casual comment but one that really touched me to the core and feels worthy of rumination:

“Your pictures make me feel things. We've had other pictures taken and they are beautiful but they don't make me feel anything.”

Blair Conway of Snow Hill, a longtime client and amazing mom of two boys, said out loud the very thing I quietly strive for everyday in my art and business. I hugged her on the spot. I was so taken by her observation that I played it over and over in my head driving home that evening and still today, months later.

Her comment reminded me of another client in Wilson who told me that what she wanted to remember most (and what she hoped I could capture in photos) was the jumble of elbows and knees of her gangly tweens lumped together on the sofa. “We are often a pile of legs," she said.

Plenty of other clients tell me they just want to remember how life feels right now.

If there's one thing I'm chasing every time I pick up my camera it is to make pictures that make us feel something. Sometimes I think I achieve it and sometimes I don't. But I'm always chasing it and learning and playing and experimenting and messing up along the way.

Infinite gratitude to the clients who keep me going.

A little something brand new

A note of gratitude