Otto Family Session

 

 

Meet the Otto Family.

I know - they're pretty much the most gorgeous family ever. When I first talked to Jen and she said she wanted a family session, I was like "yeah absolutely". And then I met them and I was like, "wait you want ME to take pictures of these mini models?"  What?

I'm all about Stonewall Farm this week - in honor of my fall mini sessions there this weekend - and this was the most recent family session I did there. If you can't tell from the pictures (try not to get distracted by the beautiful family) the farm itself is the most perfect place to take pictures. Especially at sunset/late afternoon - which you all know if my favorite time to take pictures.

We had the venue to ourselves, and the girls were so well behaved. One of the things about shooting bigger families (5 or more) is to make sure that you pay attention to each and every child. They're all different, they each have their own personalities, and each and everyone of them (whether they'll admit it or not) wants to be the center of attention. So I gave them each a chance to let out their inner diva once or twice. I asked them each "What do you think if we sit like this?" or "Who wants to jump on Daddy this time?" - that's the trick. And I LOVE - I mean L. O. V. E. these pictures.

Obviously I'm a little bias because it's my work.

What do you think? Am I crazy or are you loving this family session as much as I am?

 

xo

Justyn

Princess Mia :: Mini Session

 

When Mia's mom contacted me asking if I would "do" a princess session, I pretty much yelled YES!! I was so excited. Of course I would do a princess session for her sweet two year old daughter Mia. And it just so happens that I have almost every princess dress imaginable so I was overly prepared for this session.

We had originally planned to shoot at a local park but a few days before as I was driving around aimlessly attempting to get Colin to take an afternoon nap before the dreaded carpool line, I passed this grove, with an old shed, and all but slammed on the breaks to look at it. It was the perfect place for an enchanted photoshoot. What's not shown is the soccer field about 100 yards behind us, and the 80+ screaming kids and parents playing their Saturday morning games. You would have no idea looking at these photos.

I'm naming it my "not so secret" spot and keeping it in my back pocket just in case.

 

xo

Justyn

Six

I have been subconsciously speeding up this child's life. If you had asked me how old she was five months ago, I would have answered "almost six". Which I suppose is technically true, I could have also answered "she just turned five" - which would have been about the same as almost six I suppose. But never would I have just answered five. And then within the last month when asked I automatically answered "she's six". 
Why?
Why do I do this?
Today she is six. And now I am feeling as though I have squandered away her last days as a five year old, telling the world she was already six. I can't turn back time, but I can say - this little girl, who acts as if she is six going on sixteen, will in fact BE SIX until she turns seven.
No more speeding up time, it's slipping away from me fast enough as it is.
Happy Birthday to my baby girl who is wonderful in every sense of the word.
My "fanciful, adventuresome, silly, comforted by familiar things, and boldly curious about the new" six year old.

xo

Mommy

Caleb :: Cake Smash

This little guy stole my heart when he offered me some cake at his one year session. He was such a trooper, obviously ready for his morning nap. And how cute is his outfit?
I love cake smashes because no two are ever a like. Some kids will just go for it - like little Catherine who had no time for nonsense and picked the entire cake up. Then some kids need a little coaxing - like little Caleb here who wasn't quite sure how he felt about this polka dotted dessert placed in front of him. Luckily it didn't take him long to find the icing and proceed to smear it over every visible area of skin.
Who doesn't love a cake covered baby?
Exactly.

xo

Justyn

Sunset on the Lake

Let me tell you a story.

Almost exactly three years ago my family and I came to the Raleigh area to house hunt. Kaelyn of course woke up at the crack of dawn and since CJ had been up with her multiple times the night before I decided we should explore a little. We left our hotel and wandered to a McDonalds and then down the street to a park. About 15 minutes after arriving, a mother and her two sons showed up. Kaelyn was about the same age as the oldest son and they spent the next half an hour playing together while I eyed this woman's coffee, wondering how I had missed a Dunkin Donuts. After finding out we were both transplants from NOVA, we exchanged information and promised to meet up once my move was final.

Meet Audrey. She is the first friend I made in North Carolina, and I adore her and her family. It had been a while since we had seen each other - between work and babies, play dates are hard to schedule some times - that's life right? I was ecstatic I got to take her family pictures. The boys were a little unruly due to the witching hour but what kid isn't around dinner time? BUT OH EM GEE this place, and the lighting, it's magical right!? I mean yes, it is, you can't argue.

This beautiful lady is also a photographer - she specializes in nature photography and she's pretty amazing, you can check out her work here.

Xo

Justyn

A Beautiful Morning Session

I took most of July off.

I have been so busy with my photography that I needed a couple of weeks to focus on rebranding and regrouping myself. Not to mention spending some QT with the family and a couple of trips to the beach. I had already booked a few sessions for the month but decided not to add anymore to the mix. This was one of those sessions, and it's from a couple of weeks ago. I'm still obsessed with it. This family was such a joy to work with! From the beginning of the shoot to the end it was just one of those sessions that left me smiling and eager to get the images on my computer and back to them. I am pretty sure that I turned this session around in less than 24 hours, that's how excited I was afterwards.

We shot at a local park, one that is very popular to shoot at and one I've shot at several times now, early on a Sunday morning. The weather was muggy with the promise of being another very hot North Carolina day, but you would never know it from looking at the photos. Luckily the park was pretty vacant and we had free reign to roam. Our options were endless, park benches, trails, the rustic wooden buildings - and we took advantage of them all. Honestly picking which images to choose from this session was difficult!

And the icing on the cake was the sweet review left on my page: "Fabulous photographer! Made our whole session super easy. Justyn was wonderful with our kids and made us feel comfortable. Will definitely be working with her again. Oh, and no more waiting weeks to see your photos! Justyn gets your images to you fast! Thanks again, we are super pleased!"

I mean really - I can't wait to work with this family again for their fall session!

Xo

Justyn



A lifestyle sibling Session

Have you ever met someone and within five minutes of talking with them - decide that you should be friends? That's what happened with these kiddos mommy. We met at swim class and hit it off right away. We bonded over our love for tattoos and martinis, the rest is history.
I haven't done many lifestyle sessions, and was thrilled when she wanted to do one. I had attempted pictures like these with my own children but they were less than cooperative. Emma and Ethan were the perfect subjects. (It helps that they're both super cute.)  We didn't have any poses in mind when we started, it was more of a - "Emma, just give your brother kisses and maybe tickle his toes" - kind of shoot. I couldn't be happier with the way the images turned out, and luckily their mother agreed. I've said it before and I'll say it again, it's the un-posed, natural shots that melt my heart and make me a happy photographer - an entire shoot of them is a bit like heaven on earth.
Go ahead, you can gush over these images too. I wouldn't blame you.

xo

Justyn

One

A year ago today, we welcomed this handsome little boy into the world and into our hearts. He completed our family without even knowing that we had been missing a piece to our puzzle. He is SO FULL OF LIFE - which is surprising because he still refuses to sleep through the night. I never imaged there was enough room in my heart to love another child as much as I love Kaelyn but, Colin has proved me wrong.

Every day is a new adventure.

Every smile is a treasured memory.

Happy first birthday to the most amazing little boy I have ever known.

xo

Mommy (Justyn)

The Thomson Family

Normally, a family of five is an hour and a half session.
Normally, I walk away from the session thinking, ok I've got maybe 30 shots here. Not this time. This family session wrapped in an hour and I had more images than I knew what to do with. It's hard not to look at these photos and wonder if this family has ever considered modeling. I mean really guys, even baby boy - who I believe was only 7 weeks old in these photos - cooperated.
One of my goals as a photographer is to be able to get that perfect picture without having to yell "smile!" or "look at me!" - which of course is hard when children are involved and you're wanting a posed picture. More often than not it's those moments "in between" poses that are my absolute favorite to capture. Luckily - the poses we did do worked out for the most part, and I was able to get those candid pictures too!
We ended up doing a lot of seated "poses", mostly because there was an infant involved, but also because this gorgeous tree was so perfect to just sit under and watch the world pass us by. We shot at the same park as The Reiherzer Family session - just in a different location. I'm pretty positive I have found my new "spot" - especially early on the weekends, there was no one there to interrupt or distract us from taking these beautiful shots. **side note - how many quotations can a girl use in one post? I mean really.
I'm really looking forward to doing this families fall/winter pictures, not just because they're extremely photogenic but because they were fun to work with!

xo

Justyn



The Reiherzer Family

I've been trying to find the words to describe this session and I'm fining it surprisingly hard. This is one of my best friends Amie and her gorgeous family. Amie was one of the people who encouraged my passion for photography and pushed me to see where this road would lead. Her daughter's one year cake smash was one of my first official shoots and as soon as her images were ready she demanded a family session. *side note - use of "pushed" and "demanded" are used lightly and in the best context possible.
We shot as a local park - actually our favorite park to take the kids - on a misty Saturday morning. Originally we had planned for a sunset session but after I was done with the pictures, we both decided the misty morning was exactly what was needed. As Amie said "My family isn't really a frolic through a field at sunset kind of family" - and while I would disagree, I think that this grove of trees we found was perfect.
Much like this family.
Whom I adore.

XO

Justyn

A late morning Family Session

I wrapped up my Winchester visit with this incredibly sweet family session. We shot at the museum of the Shenandoah Valley which is just one of the most picturesque locations in Northern Virginia. The gardens specifically are absolutely gorgeous.

It was another drizzly morning but with the location it didn't matter. The tree lined paths acted as an umbrella and the mist made the whole session dreamlike and surreal. It's kind of becoming my favorite time to shoot honestly.

And these kids, I mean seriously, they are too cute! Going through the images, even after a couple of meltdowns, it was hard not to edit every single picture. So really if I'm going to summarize this session short and sweet it was perfect. A beautiful family in a beautiful setting. Every photographers dream shoot.

XO

Justyn

And baby makes Three

I LOVE sibling sessions. I think I've said that before. This session was extra special though because there was a new little man in these girls life. Their baby brother. And their love for him was pretty obvious. Even when he got a little fussy - as most newborns do - they shushed and cooed him. It was seriously so sweet. And kisses, they couldn't give him enough kisses.

We shot at one of my favorite locations in Winchester - the Virginia State Arboretum (if it looks familiar it's because of this sibling shoot). It was a drizzly morning session but the girls - and boy - were total troopers. Some of the pictures I was able to capture just took my breath away. Which obviously I'm totally bias considering it's my work but here's what their mother had to say :: "Justyn did amazing with my crazy kids! Everyone loves the photos and says that they are soooo beautiful, which I can't help but agree! Can't wait for future sessions with her!"

Words like this make me so incredibly happy. I mean - let's get honest here for a second, I NEVER expected this to take off the way it did. And the support and encouragement and kind words that I've received for my "art" seriously just puts me on cloud 9. Girly emotions all over the place over here guys.

And to show some gratitude - I'm having another giveaway. YEP. You read that right. It's a huge deal. A FREE photo session OF YOUR CHOICE. It can be engagement, newborn, sibling, family of 8 - whatever. AND a FREE 8x10 print. I know. Spread the word - and click here to enter!

XO

Justyn

A Sunset Maternity Session

Do you guys remember Beckett? Remember how I told you about his beautiful momma and you all rolled your eyes like, yeah right... Well this is her, and I told you so. I've known Erica for several years now and I can't even begin to tell you what an amazing person/mother she is. And how absolutely gorgeous is she with this perfect bump!? I can not wait to meet the little girl that's cooking in there.
These pictures were taken on a beautiful summer evening last week. I went to Erica's house and we cranked out a maternity session as the sun was setting. Literally the whole session took about a half hour, it was like every picture just worked. I already knew the pictures would be gorgeous but I am telling you guys, I had the worst time trying to decide which shots I should use for my portfolio. So many decisions! And did I like them better in color or black and white?! It was torture, but obviously the good kind. *side note, good torture is like too much chocolate.

Ok enough gushing about this beautiful momma, you can see the pictures I chose for my portfolio here.

Last week's photo a day challenge coming this weekend, in between shoots.

xo

Justyn