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

Sargent Family Session

There isn't a single thing I didn't love about this family session/six month milestone shoot. I've known this mama since we were in elementary school and was so excited to catch up with her and meet her sweet boy, Grady. She came prepared with a pinterest board full of ideas and a crate (literally) full of props.
We shot at Blandy Farms in Winchester, VA in the earlier morning  hours. The light was just so soft coming through the trees and glowing over the fields... the weather was absolutely beautiful. One of my favorite things about this session was, although we had a ton of "poses" none of the images really look posed. Which of course is my favorite. Natural posing and tons of emotion. That's exactly what this family did without any direction from me.

And I love the result.

I'm looking forward to hopefully catching up with this sweet family again when it's time to celebrate Grady's first birthday. In the meantime I'll just have to swoon over those big blue eyes from his six month session.

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



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