Allison+Nathaniel // Durham Family Photographer

It is a JOY to be reunited with the one, the only – Bread Boy and his family! If you don’t remember Bread Boy, he’s been on the front page of my website for some time – joyfully holding up an enormous stack of bread. I had never seen a toddler so excited. I feel like Bread Boy’s values live in all of us: a sincere love of carbs that exists outside the confines of time and space. I was very excited to see Bread Boy again after all this time and to photograph a recreation portrait of him and his bread stack, and let me tell you, he was just as delightful as he was a few years ago, and just as excited about bread. And the best part? He has three younger brothers who he’s training to also love bread. Okay, so the baby can’t eat bread yet, but the other two can, and I’d say that Bread Boy has some competition. What a delightful little crew of kids. They’re all so friendly, so polite, so good at rescuing bugs from the dangers of trampolines, and so quick to share the vegetables they’ve grown in their garden. It was so wonderful to photograph these boys in their home, surrounded by bread, of course.

Kids playing baseball on porch
Photograph of kid riding tricycle down driveway
Kid standing in front of his house with trampoline in the background
Smiling child in blue shirt
Family photo with kids making funny faces
Family photo in Durham with kids doing funny things
Durham family photographer with kids running around
Durham family photographer with kids running around
Brothers hugging
Brothers hugging
Kids goofing around during family photos at home in Durham
Kids goofing around during family photos at home in Durham
Kids goofing around during family photos at home in Durham
Kid doing cartwheel on lawn
Kid doing cartwheel on lawn
Portrait of a kid making funny faces
Portrait of a kid making funny faces
Newborn baby
Little kid smiling
Kid holding up branch with leaves in front of camera
Homegrown tomatoes
Kid picking tomatoes from the garden
Tomatoes picked from the garden
Kid climbing up tree
Kid with grassy feet
Kid climbing up tree and a child holding flowers
Child holding wildflowers
Kids jumping on trampoline
Kids jumping on trampoline
Kids jumping on trampoline
Kids jumping on trampoline
Kids jumping on trampoline
Kids jumping on trampoline
Kids jumping on trampoline
Kids jumping on trampoline
Kids jumping on trampoline
Kids jumping on trampoline
Kids jumping on trampoline
Kids jumping on trampoline
Kids jumping on trampoline
Kids jumping on trampoline
Kids jumping on trampoline
Kids jumping on trampoline
Kid riding big wheel
Newborn baby
Newborn baby
Kids putting together cars
Kids putting together cars
Kids putting together cars
Kids putting together cars
Kids putting together cars
Kids putting together cars
Kid holding up lots of bread
Kid holding up lots of bread
Kid holding up lots of bread
Kid holding up lots of bread
Kid holding up lots of bread
Kid playing with bread
Kid playing with bread
Kid playing with bread
Making french toast at home during family photos
Making french toast at home during family photos
Making french toast at home during family photos
Making french toast at home during family photos
Making french toast at home during family photos
Making french toast at home during family photos
Making french toast at home during family photos
Making french toast at home during family photos
Making french toast at home during family photos
Kid eating bread
Kid eating bread
Kid eating bread
Three brothers eating bread
Kid holding up stack of bread
Kid holding up stack of bread
Kid holding up stack of bread
Kids making french toast
Kids making french toast
Kids making french toast
Kids making french toast
Kids making french toast
Kids making french toast
Kids making french toast
Kid playing piano
Kid playing piano
Kids in the kitchen making french toast for photos
Kids in the kitchen making french toast for photos
Kids in the kitchen making french toast for photos
Kids in the kitchen making french toast for photos
Kids in the kitchen making french toast for photos
Kids in the kitchen making french toast for photos
Kids in the kitchen making french toast for photos
Kids in the kitchen making french toast for photos
Kid sitting by the window
Kid sitting by the window
Kid sitting by the window
Kid sitting by the window
Kid sitting by the window
Kid sitting by the window
Kid sitting by the window
Photo of brothers together on couch
Photo of brothers together on couch
Photo of brothers together on couch
Photo of brothers together on couch
Photo of brothers together on couch
Photo of brothers together on couch
Brothers get portrait taken together on couch
Brothers get portrait taken together on couch
Brothers get portrait taken together on couch
Flowers blooming outside
Kids playing with bubbles outside
Kids playing with bubbles outside
Kids playing with bubbles outside
Kids playing with bubbles outside
Kids playing with bubbles outside
Kids playing with bubbles outside
Kids playing with bubbles outside
Kids playing with bubbles outside
Kids playing with bubbles outside
Kids playing with bubbles outside
Kids playing with bubbles outside
Kids playing with bubbles outside

At-Home Family Session.

I’d been in conversation with Mom about doing photos of her sweet family at home that weren’t “cringe-worthy” (my kinda client) and weren’t painfully posed or orchestrated for Dad or Baby Girl. She wanted to do the photos at home (yay!) and I am SO GLAD SHE DID because their home is gorgeous!! They have a beautiful color scheme that’s filled with colors and textures and I just love it. Plus they have insanely great carpets. Like, the softest and fluffiest of all the carpets. So on these carpets I photographed the preciously cute Baby Girl army-crawling herself around, wide-eyed and curious, and eating some book pages while her parents tried to read to her. She also liked to eat her Mom’s necklace a lot (teething stages, amirite) and stare fixedly into the camera (she is a great model). PLUS LOOK AT THOSE PANTS. I would 100% wear those sweatpants now even though I am 90% confident I already had some iteration of them in the 80s. Mom and Dad enjoyed cuddling with Cool Sweatpants Baby Girl a lot and turning her upside down to make her giggle. When they’re not doing turning their kiddo upside down for giggles, Mom is an incredibly creative and stylish woman who enjoys decorating their home and writing. Dad likes video games, technology, and cooking. I absolutely loved working with all three of them – we bonded over lots of similarities, but mostly our deep and undying love for October. And October people stick together.

At Home with Abby+Matt // Rochester, NY Family Session

This was a wonderful reunion for us with Abby and Matt, whom we first photographed in 2009 when they were just dating! Abby was my beloved coworker when we were both elementary school teachers. Her classroom was connected to mine and she was my go-to if I needed anything. She was a fabulous teacher and all the kids loved her, and I loved her too! Then I did a major career change and quit teaching, and she became my lovely model along with her incredibly nice boyfriend Matt. And ::SUPER LIFE FAST-FORWARD MONTAGE:: they are now married with two kids and have relocated up to Rochester, New York! And WE were gonna be in Rochester and they found out and we had a lovely chance to see each other again and to work with their adorable kiddos! Olivia is the oldest clocking in at 3 years, and Amara is the youngest at 3 months. Olivia enjoys her sparkly light-up Crocs, covering her mom in a barrage of pillows and then jumping on her, and reading books with her dad. Amara enjoys sleeping, eating, sleeping, eating, eating, and eating. They are CUTE KIDS!! who have FABULOUS PARENTS who enjoy hanging out with each other and making things fun for their children (not surprising as Abby was such a great teacher, and Matt is one of the kindest and friendliest people on the earth).

Together we hung out in Olivia’s room (where she, like many CSP child-clients before her, discovered to her delight that she was somehow, for an unknown, mysterious reason, suddenly allowed to jump on the bed without being reprimanded and took full advantage), and their light-filled living room before heading over a near-and-dear park in their neighborhood. Olivia went down the same slide repeatedly and showed off her mad soccer skillz with a giant rubber ball (that at one point was stolen by a 2-year-old playground thief and I had to show some strong muscle to get it back), and Amara and her mom hung out on a blanket. We had a lovely sunny afternoon with none of that NC humidity that we were all accustomed to living down here, and it was so nice to see our friends again. <3