i honestly don’t remember when or where i met Carla Durbin but she is one of those people that you just want to spill your guts to because you know she will be thoughtful and true in her response to you. usually we are working behind the camera together because carla is an amazing hair and makeup stylist, but i always love it when i get her and her beautiful family in front of the camera! we have cheered each other on thru many ups and downs in our personal lives and our businesses and we have inspired each other to chase happiness, to dream big and to be strong women and mommas for our babies. i am very proud of my sweet carla and all of the positive changes that i have seen her make in the years since i have known her. check out her blog to see all of the stuff she has been up to! http://www.joyandcharley.com/

this family has carolina blue blood running thru their veins! UNC is a special place for them, so the old well was a perfect spot for our shoot. i have loved watching this little family grow over the years. this gallery has some of my favorites from our most recent session, but just for fun i added some pics from our previous sessions starting with kate’s newborn session. it is such a privilege that i get to document these moments in time for my families. it makes my heart happy!

i always love working with my model kids. jacob is a total pro! he has the sweet, the california cool, edgy and preppy look down pat.

directions usa child model by whiteboxphoto.com

these images might be my new faves for family pics. i just love emmaline’s giant smile and her expressions of pure joy and wonder in these photos! what a sweet family!

these girls have been friends since kindergarten. since then they have each gone their own way and thru the years they have each moved to different schools, but have maintained the best kind of friendship…the kind where you can go months without seeing one another and then pick up right where you left off. i have loved watching them all grow into beautiful, smart, talented and individual free-spirits over the past 9 years. finding loving and supportive friends to make up your tribe at a young age is such a gift!

alexandra has so many looks….she is athletic, she is the classic all-american girl and she is an exotic beauty all at once!

i have been dying to shoot in front of the new giant daisy mural in greensboro, so i was super pumped that lilly was up for it. i think the giant flowers were the perfect backdrop for lilly’s 8th grade grad shoot! the last time i photographed lilly she was a tiny little girl, so it was fun to see the great young woman that she has grown into and to get to photograph her again before she heads off to high school!

whitebox photo middle school portrait session

well hello gorgeous!

i love these images from alex’s eight grade grad shoot. alex’s beautiful brown eyes are the window to her sweet soul. it was lovely to watch her personality emerge during our portrait session as she began to open up to the camera. it started with little smiles and by the end of the shoot she was skipping around and letting loose!

whitebox photo middle school portrait session

happy birthday sweet little charlie!

it has been such a pleasure watching this family grow from two, to three, to four! this was the last shoot of little em’s first year sessions, but big sis was in the mood to ham it up for the camera!