Outer Banks Family Photographer | Robinson Family

Outer Banks Family Photographer | Robinson Family

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…

Best of Families 2017 | Business

Best of Families 2017 | Business

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!

Yorktown Family Portraits | The Guerrero Family

Yorktown Family Portraits | The Guerrero Family

I have talked almost endlessly about my new church community and how much it has meant to me, and today I'm so excited to share portraits from a family I met after we joined! Catherine and I connected at a ladies' night because she was in the middle of a Whole30 and I am a little bit obsessed with helping people get through those. We only got to chat for a few minutes, but I was incredibly excited when she asked me about taking pictures for her - and getting to meet her entire family.

Taking family pictures in November is always a gamble, because the weather vacillates between being unseasonably warm and extremely chilly. The day we met in quaint downtown Yorktown was somewhere in between, with a cool wind making it feel like the perfect fall day. Catherine and Genesis were more than prepared with books and an attitude of letting the kids have fun - which always makes for the best pictures! We got plenty of nice family portraits, but some of my favorites are the moments when the family let loose a little and acted as they normally would at home...