I’ve known about Matt, Heather, and their family for many years, through church and mutual friends, so I was delighted to finally meet them all in person on a gorgeous fall day in Colonial Williamsburg. We had already been through the disappointing experience of a rained-out and reschedule family session, so when the sun was shining and the air was crisp the morning of the new picture date, we were all thrilled.
For Emily, their youngest, it was an extra special day…
It’s not often that, nearly a decade after graduating, I still get to connect with college friends from Virginia Tech. Matt and I met through Baptist Collegiate Ministries there and weathered the perils of college and statistics class together. Somehow, with late nights and cookie logs (try one if you haven’t!), we both passed, graduated, got married…and each have a kid! It’s a little crazy to think about, but here we are, the adults we never thought we would become.
Every other year, Matt’s family rents a beach house in the Outer Banks to spend time together as part of their tradition. I got to meet them down there just a few days after Hurricane Florence and amazingly, the roads were open and the rain held off! I got to meet Sam, his one-year-old, and get re-acquainted with some of his family whom I met when I visited Hampton Roads years ago as Nathan’s girlfriend…
While most of my sessions are for engaged and married couples or on wedding days, I have the pleasure of photographing many families over the course of the year. It is a joy to capture memories for people that I know and those I meet for the first time at their session. 2017 has brought everyone from couples who are expecting their first child to parents of four beautiful children.
At every session, no matter how many kids are around, I make sure that mom and dad have pictures of just the two of them to share and enjoy for years to come. Eventually, as hard as it is to believe, the kids will grow older and move out and only two will remain. Seeing the strength of these relationships, whether just a few years long or 50 years deep, is probably the greatest honor of them all.
So, without further ado, enjoy just a few of SO many favorite family portraits from 2017!
