Vance Birthplace Family Photo Session

Here's another session that I shot for Christmas cards this past fall.  This time - all kids!  We went to Vance Birthplace, which was about 20 - 25 minutes from downtown Asheville in Weaverville.  It was such a beautiful day with beautiful scenery!  The drive out there was inspring to me - just soaking in the  countryside.

It's time to meet Nate, Maclane, and Olivia.  Olivia and Nate are siblings, and Maclane is their cousin.

Such sweet love!

Nate and Olivia convinced their parents to let their dog Gracie come to the photoshoot.  Gracie is a gentle giant!  She was very shy not only to me but camera shy as well!  But what a seriously cute picture of Nate and his dog!

This one made the cut for the Christmas card!

 Nate wanted his picture by the water well (which by the way was the darkest spot at this place!).   So I popped out my reflector, which Nate liked, and I told him to strike his best J. Crew pose : )

 

Sibling love, right?!  There were a few arguments with this pose...we were reaching the end of the session, but when the photographer asks them hug instead of the mom, they don't question it as much.

I love this picture of Olivia.  She was so excited for me to take her aside for a quick portrait.

Maclane's blue eyes are stunning!  She had the cutest personality.  Her conversation skills as first grader were amazing - it was like I was talking to an adult!

It took a little work to get Nate more relaxed in front of the camera and give me his real smile, but it was great when I finally got him to laugh.

I'm so glad I was able to convince Mom and Dad to get in a picture.  Parents always want pictures of just their children.  But one day, these children are going to want to see pictures of their parents!

Bennett Family

This was a FUN family photo shoot for my hairdresser, Teresa.  Although Teresa has only been cutting my hair a little over a year, I feel like we "go way back."  She has been cutting Sam and his parents' hair for as long as he can remember.  I have a hairdresser in Charlotte that cut my hair since I was a little girl, and it was tough leaving her when I came to Asheville.   Teresa makes me feel like she has been cutting my hair as long as she has been doing Sam's hair.  

So here is Teresa's cute, cute family!  Her daughter Savannah on the right and her granddaughter Amora (Amora's parents aren't pictured).  I was really hired to photograph cutie pie Amora, but I thought while I was there, we needed to do family shots as well.

Teresa's family lives near Mars Hill College, and it is beautiful in this part of the mountains (20 minutes north of Asheville).  Teresa took me on ride on a 4-wheeler up the mountain for Amora's portraits.  I have quite the traumatic memories of 4-wheelers, so I made Teresa go really slow.  Zac, my brother, grew up with a 3-wheeler and then got a 4-wheeler (yes, we might have been a little bit red neck....we didn't have mountain trails to ride on...just woods near my grandparents' house).  For some reason, I wanted to go on rides with my brother, but he always ended up scaring the sh*t out of me on these rides.  But time after time, I would ask Zac, to take me on a ride and I of course would request a fun, leisurely pace.  And time and time again, he would go really fast, and scare me to death!  I thought that if I screamed really loud in his ear while on these death rides he would slow down, but it only made him go faster. So I don't have happy memories on 4-wheelers.  Teresa, however, was a good driver, and I felt safe at all times!

This was our view from the top of the mountain!

It was really hard to narrow down the images of Amora for you.  She has the sweetest smile, but there also are a few images where she is staring me down, which is still cute.  

Love this one!

Love this one too!

I also wanted to take Savannah, a junior in high school, aside for some pictures.  She is a talented singer, grade-A student, and awesome athlete...oh and she is beautiful!

This reminds me of..."the hills are alive, with the sound of music...fa la la la.." 

And one of my all time fav family shots...such a beautiful setting!

One last image for you

Asheville Botanical Gardens

I did a family photo shoot this past weekend at the Asheville Botanical Gardens and fell in love with the location!  It was beautiful (and hot!).  I was quite jealous of the little kids that got to jump into the stream.  I will of course share pictures from the family shoot, but first here are some sights from the gardens.  Hopefully this post will hold you over until I finish the 2nd post for Jacquelyn and Scotty's wedding.

Lots of green and of course I had to show you a touch of yellow.