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The Robottom Family | Cary, NC Child Photographer

admin — Fri, 11 May 2012 02:51:36 +0000

I can’t tell you how much I loved this session! Loved the family, loved the little man B, loved Suzanne’s cutest ever pregnant belly, loved the house, loved the light, loved the coordinated purple outfits, but I especially LOVED the approach the family took to the session. When Suzanne originally contacted me regarding booking a session, she expressed that she really wanted candid and casual portraits in a “relaxed and happy way”. That is the best way to photograph a family, especially a family with young children! We had so much fun allowing little man B to just be himself! I should do a montage of all of his many faces! He is very expressive and unbelievably cute!! I hope to be able to photograph this awesome family sometime later this year after B’s little sister arrives! I have a feeling he is going to be a super awesome big brother!!

Cooper is coming!! | Apex, NC Maternity Portraits

admin — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 20:51:40 +0000

To say that I love this family, is an understatement! Kristen was one of the first brides to take a chance on Tara Parker Photography. Who would have known how far we all would have come by now when Kristen and I met that first day. Kristen and her husband Quentin had one of my favorite engagement sessions to date (You can see it here!) and they had an absolutely gorgeous fall wedding in 2010 (You can see that here!). I couldn’t have been more thrilled when I saw the Facebook post last spring that Kristen and Quentin were expecting a baby! I was so honored to be able to capture some fall maternity pictures and some family portraits with their other oldest son, Kaelob. I am even MORE thrilled to be photographing Cooper’s birth ANY.DAY.NOW!!!! It is a humbling thing to be a part of all of the biggest moments in a person’s life and to know that they will be looking at your pictures throughout their family’s history. I am BEYOND honored that I will be able to come full circle with Kristen and Quentin while they welcome their new baby boy, Cooper, into this world. There is NOTHING like photographing the moment that a life enters this world! I can’t wait!

The Linder’s | Orlando, FL Family Portraits

admin — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 22:38:05 +0000

There are not enough words to express how much I love Jeanine Linder! Jeanine and I met in an online photography workshop close to three years ago and she has been my BFF ever since! Not only is she an amazing photographer, but she is also an amazingly talented logo designer! I should know, she designed mine! But besides both of those facts, she more importantly is one of the most kind, generous, selfless, and sweet people that I have ever had the pleasure of meeting! If those facts weren’t enough, she has probably the largest stash of Kelly Moore camera bags besides Kelly Moore herself and who doesn’t love KM camera bags?! Even with her diagnosable obsession with photoshop actions and Kelly Moore bags, she is one of the sweetest and down to earth women I know!

The worst thing about our friendship is that Jeanine and her family live in Switzerland so I never get to see her in person. We met for the first time in person last February when we both attended the WPPI convention. Then last month, I had the most AMAZING opportunity to fly down to Orlando, FL for the day to photograph Jeanine and her family while they were in the states vacationing. Jeanine’s husband and son, Phillipe and Ryan, were every bit as awesome as Jeanine! Her son, Ryan, is one day older than Griffin and he was a hoot! Even though he and I could not communicate very well because he doesn’t speak English yet, he and I had the best time playing in the backseat of the car as we rode around Orlando. I taught him about high fives (gimme five, up high, down low, too slow) and in no time he was saying the “too slow” part by himself and he was TOO cute! If we wasn’t the cutest already, he is made even cuter by his cute dimples that are courtesy of his beautiful mama. Even though I was only in Orlando for a little over 24 hours with the Linders, we had the best time! I was so thankful to be able to get to know and photography my friend’s beautiful family and spend some time with my friend that I wish I got to see more often! I love you my Swiss BFF!!

Check out Jeanine’s photography website and her logo design site! You will be happy you did!

The Fort Family | Durham NC Family and Newborn Photographer

admin — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 18:46:17 +0000

Last month, I had the pleasure of photographing the beautiful Fort family right after they welcomed the newest addition to their family, Channing. When I was talking to Leslie about what she would like for her pictures, she said that she was a big fan of candid and lifestyle pictures and really wanted some pictures of her girls being themselves in addition to some more traditional newborn pictures of Channing. It was so refreshing to just allow young children to be themselves and goof off instead of trying to coax them into sitting still and saying “cheese”. Just looking at the pictures of these two little girls makes me giggle and I hope that their parents will look back on these pictures one day and remember the sound of their constant giggles! Love it!

Little Miss E | Pittsboro, NC Child and Family Photographer

admin — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 18:43:33 +0000

This is the third time I have had the pleasure of photographing Little Miss E and I believe that she gets cuter and cuter as she ages. Dave and Griffin came along to this session so that they could spend some time outside and Griffin could see the cows at the farm, but Griffin also did a good job of getting Miss E’s attention so I had to utilize him to keep her attention near my camera on numerous occasions. Worked like a charm! Griffin is shaping up to be a good assistant already! Two can be a challenging age to photograph, but Miss E did amazingly well! She was a trooper throughout the session and we really got to see her personality shine through with genuine smiles and laughter. The location her parents chose could not have been more perfectly suited for the dress she was in and at times, it reminded me of a scene of The Secret Garden. Here are a handful from their spring photo session….

The M Family

admin — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 16:50:52 +0000

Wait until you see the blonde beauties I am bringing to you today! I was happy to have the pleasure to photograph these two little ladies and their brother recently and they gave me a run for my money! Mr. D did not want anything to do with my camera from the beginning and I got a number of images like the one below….

We let Mr. D do his own thing for a bit and we caught a couple of his sisters… oh my, are their parents going to have their hands full in another 10 years or what?!Nothing better than belly laughs with your sister…Finally, Mr. D decided he was ready for his close up but he would only agree to the terms of the shoot if he got to use his own props… Thanks for letting me document this period in your lives! It was a pleasure!

Brotherly Love | Holly Springs, NC Children’s Photographer

admin — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 02:59:20 +0000

“A brother is a friend given by Nature.” ~ Jean Baptiste Legouve

Kids Being Kids | Cary, NC Children’s Photography

admin — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 16:30:33 +0000

Since before Griffin was even conceived, I had been hearing about how awesome our daycare provider was. One of my former co-workers described her as the “toddler whisperer” and I fell in love with the fact that she teaches the kids at her house New Zealand manners by clinking their cups at snack time and saying, “Cheers, Mate!” Tania is a an amazing woman who cares for all of the kiddos in her house as if they were her own and Griffin has been very lucky to have her in his life. Tania is probably one of the coolest moms I know. She encourages her kids to try new things and Jamie and Leo are into everything! Anywhere from swim team, to guitar lessons, to now football and softball… Tania is there cheering them on every step of the way. I admire that about her and about the way she parents. She thinks that kids should be outside playing instead of sitting in front of the TV and she always tells her kids that they can be great at whatever they set their minds to. I was excited to pay Tania back for everything that she has done for us and for Griffin by photographing Jamie and Leo a few weeks ago. Tania forewarned me that Jamie and Leo weren’t going to be down with posed smiley pictures and I told her that was fine because I would rather capture them in their element, kids being kids.

This is what happened when I tried to get Jamie and Leo to stand together for just ONE picture. Leo wasn’t having it! This is his death glare to Tania because she promised him that there wouldn’t be any posed pictures! Haha! Sorry Leo, that was my bad!

Leo is playing football for the first time this year and I think that this picture lives up to his team name, The Chargers! I would be intimidated by you Leo if I was your opponent!

Tania has always told me what a girly girl Jamie can be because she loves clothes and anything fashion, but these go to show that girly girls can be tough too! Check out those legendary tie-dyed purple socks!! Did I mention that Tania was the coolest mom around?

Dave and Griffin came along to the session with me and Griffin was sure to give Leo a high five for all of his modeling efforts!

Thank you Jamie and Leo for letting us hang out with you for the afternoon and thank you especially for always being so good to Griffin! He is lucky to have both of you in his life and I know that he adores you both! Tania, all I can say is you rock and we are very thankful that we found someone that we could trust with the most important person in our lives. I hope you know how much you are appreciated and admired!

Austin + Payton | Apex, NC Children’s Photographer

admin — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 15:24:25 +0000

Meet the amazing cute and adorable Austin and Payton! Austin and Payton’s mom uses the same daycare provider that I have used since my son, Griffin, was born and I headed back to work following maternity leave. Austin has always been the child that could keep Griffin happy and entertained! I can remember the first few months that we dropped Griffin off in the mornings when he was an infant, that Austin would come running over to pinch Griffin’s cheeks and give him a kiss on his head. It was good “baby practice” because a little over a year later, he had a new sister to squeeze and kiss when Payton arrived last spring. If their mother is anything like me, I wonder if she worried that no child could live up to the cuteness standard set by their first child, but Payton stepped up to the plate! How parents could get so lucky to have TWO such adorable kiddos is nothing short of amazing! Austin has affectionately nicknamed Payton “Sprinkles”. She is so sweet, I think that it fits perfectly!

Abriel + Kolter (and their four little ones!) | Raleigh, NC Photographer

admin — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 14:55:21 +0000

Dave and I were out of town most of the weekend last weekend but returned just in time for a shoot in downtown Raleigh on Sunday evening. I had received an email from Abriel a little over a month ago requesting to schedule a shoot for Abriel and her husband, Kolter, and she wanted to include their four dogs. Yes, FOUR DOGS!! Dave and I waited for them to arrive that afternoon, and every time we would see someone with a dog, we would say nope… just two dogs…. nope…. just a lady and her dog. Finally we counted 1…..2…..3….4, and then we realized that the four adorable pups were accompanied by their GORGEOUS parents! Abriel and Kolter were made to be in front of a camera and they looked like they just stepped out of a magazine!! My photographer heart started to pitter patter because I knew it was going to be a great shoot!!!

Abriel and Kolter met when they were in high school and married when they were really young. When I asked them how they met, Kolter told me that they went to different schools and that his best friend was trying to hook her up with another one of his friends when they met. I told him that that didn’t sound like a very good best friend if he was trying to hook Abriel up with someone else! They have been married for over five years now and Abriel told me that they are very much still “boyfriend and girlfriend”. I could tell what she was talking about when they interacted because they still have that young and fresh kind of love after even 7 years of being together! It was so nice to see! Because they were married so young, they decided that they would first grow their family with puppies and wait a while on having kids of their own. Abriel sent me an email about “the kids” before the shoot and I absolutely adored how she described each of their own personalities! This is what she had to say about them…

“Bailor, who is the oldest, (7), is a shitzu/pekingese mix. We bought him after we had been dating about 3 months. So we’ve had him for quite awhile. He’s very calm, and sweet. Then after being married for about 3 months, we got “Truffles”, a yorkipoo with a witty and charming personality. She’s 5, and is extremely dainty and sophisticated. She’s extremely smart, and gentle-hearted. Truman, our 5 year old bichon frise, is the biggest of the bunch, and probably has the biggest “heart” as well. He’s a love, and a teddy bear! Then, last but not least, our new little addition: “Little Lamb”, who we call “L” for short, is a 4 month old precious Maltipoo. She is absolutely beautiful, and has a face that makes everyone melt.”

How cute is that?! She is one proud Mama! I couldn’t have described them any better because they were all WAY too cute!

I TOLD YOU! They are GORGEOUS!

Abriel & Kolter, thank you so much for allowing me to photograph you two and your family! To say it was a pleasure would be an understatement! I hope you like your images!

AND BY THE WAY……. Does anyone else think that they look like a grown up and sophisticated Kevin & Winnie off of the Wonder Years???