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Cooper | Apex, NC Newborn Photographer

admin — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 20:15:16 +0000

It is amazing how quickly babies change! I was looking at my youngest son, Lochlan, earlier today and was marveling at how he had grown from a six pound newborn to a 25 pound baby in less than 8 months! They do not stay little for long which makes it all the more important to document those special fleeting moments.

I was lucky enough to be able to photograph Cooper’s arrival into the world at the end of January. I then photographed him just two and a half weeks later for his newborn pictures and it was amazing how much he had changed already! I am so blessed to be able to photograph the growth of Kristen and Quentin’s family and am thankful that I have been able to capture some of the precious fleeting moments of their lives. Thank you Kristen, Quentin, Kaelob, and Cooper! It is ALWAYS a pleasure working with you guys! Here are a few of my favorites from our session together…

Cooper’s Long Awaited Arrival | Cary, NC Birth Photography

admin — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 01:37:49 +0000

I was thrilled when I found out that Kristen and Quentin were expecting. If you know them, or if you have even spent 10 minutes in their family’s presence, you will know that Kristen and Quentin were already two of the most loving parents you could ever meet. Every time I have seen them with their oldest son, Kaelob, I have witnessed an outpouring of love and affection towards him and you can see it in their eyes how much they adore him. I knew it would be no different when Little Cooper arrived.

Cooper took his time getting here and we thought that he was going to be induced on January 24, 2012. I already had a sitter lined up for our boys in preparation for heading to the hospital later than morning to photograph Kristen’s labor and delivery, but things got started a little earlier than anticipated. Quentin called me bright and early in the morning and told me that Kristen was having contractions and they were on their way to the hospital. I told him that I would get up and get showered and to call me as soon as she was checked by a nurse to let me know who far along she was. I was only out of the shower for a couple minutes when Quentin called to say that Kristen was already 8cm and that I needed to get to the hospital as soon as possible. I threw my wet hair in a pony tail and jumped in the car just in time to catch the morning 7am traffic in Apex. I was in standstill traffic at 7am and posted about it on Facebook. (I know, shouldn’t be on FB in traffic!) Haha! At 7:22am, little man Cooper arrived, yes, that would be only 22 minutes later and I had to travel from Apex to Wake Med in Cary! Made it just in time for Kristen to start pushing because she was 10 cm when I arrived.

When I had talked to Quentin the second time, he informed me that Kristen was about to get an epidural, but I found out after the fact that Kristen was too far along to get it, so she delivered little Cooper in three pushes without any pain meds! I was in shock! You have never seen a more beautiful, and peaceful mother pushing an 8 pound baby out without ANY pain meds! She was super woman and super mom and I wouldn’t expect anything less of sweet Kristen! It was so sweet and touching to also watch Quentin as he encouraged Kristen during the short delivery. The honest and pure emotion that he displayed when he saw his son for the first time was a beautiful and touching thing to watch. Kristen’s entire family is amazing. They were all there at the hospital, anxiously waiting to meet little Cooper, and they showered him with love and affection and welcomed him to the family. It was truly an honor to be there to witness and document the growth of the family. Thank you so much for allowing me to be a part of it! Love you guys!

Here is a slideshow of highlights of the day…

(To watch in HD, click on HD at bottom right, hit pause and wait for it to load all the way before pressing play.)

Cooper’s Big Day from Tara Parker on Vimeo.

And here is a handful (or two) of my favorites…

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!

Baby Girl Alyssa | Raleigh, NC Birth Photography

admin — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 21:58:02 +0000

I was so completely honored last fall when Lauren Garrison, of Lauren Garrison Photography, contacted me and asked if I would be interested in photographing the birth of her daughter. I have never done birth photography before, and admittedly, I was quite nervous about it for a couple of reasons. One, a birth is definitely a once in a lifetime kind of thing, even more so than weddings! Two, it is always a bit nerve wracking shooting for another photographer who knows the ins and outs of the craft. In the months leading up to the delivery, my nervousness increased, hoping that I could give them what they were looking for and praying that I wouldn’t sleep through the “big call” and miss the whole thing! It’s funny how waiting for something like a birth kind of alters your life because you start planning your day around how long it would take you to get to the hospital, would there be time to get home for equipment first, do I have enough snacks and water for my pregnant belly packed in case it is a long labor. We waited and waited for the day to arrive, and sweet baby Alyssa decided to make a casually late grand entrance a week past her due date. Lauren was induced 8 days after Alyssa was due to arrive, which made it nice for all of us because the delivery took place during the day! YAY!

Once Lauren and her husband Chad were all checked in at the hospital and they started the induction, I headed that way, fully expecting to be there for a good portion of the day. When I got there, the atmosphere was nothing like what I expected. I expected Lauren to be in a lot of pain, so maybe not as sweet as she had been every time I had talked to her (normal expectation during birth, right?!). Instead, I found Lauren in such good spirits and we spend the next couple of hours chatting about our sons and about photography and telling funny stories between contractions and we had a lot of fun! I never thought that I would see someone so calm and happy and smiling while in labor! Lauren was amazing! I did feel badly at one point because Chad and I were making her laugh during some of her contractions because we couldn’t stop laughing ourselves (imagine that? Tara can’t stop laughing?), and I know that it must have been SOOOO painful! It was kind of like when you got the giggles in church as a kid and you knew that you were not supposed to be laughing but that made it even worse and you laughed even harder! It was horrible! We spent so much time laughing and actually having a pleasurable time that I think everyone was a bit shocked when three hours after I arrived, the nurse said that she was going to get the doctor because Lauren was ready to start pushing! I think we were all a bit stunned! Lauren pushed for about 20 minutes and Alyssa joined the world!

I seriously could not imagine being a part of a more amazing moment or time! I feel like I missed out on a lot with the birth of my own son because I had a C-section, so it was so magical to be there for Alyssa’s birth! I started to tear up when they laid Alyssa on Lauren’s chest immediately after she was born because it was such a magical and amazing moment! Their lives are forever changed and I was there to see and document the very first moment of Alyssa’s life and their new lives as a family! It was truly a blessing to be there and I couldn’t have been more honored to have been asked to be a part of it!

Here is a tiny slideshow of a handful of the images from the amazing day. Thank you Lauren and Chad for letting me be a part of it! It meant more to me than you will ever know!

Alex + Aiden | Garner, NC Newborn Photographer

admin — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 13:15:02 +0000

Prepare yourselves for some serious cuteness!! Alex and Aiden were born at the beginning of the year and I was lucky enough to get to take their newborn portraits. When you photograph newborns, especially in their birthday suits, it is highly likely and probable that you will get pottied on… sometimes numerous times in numerous ways! I figured that with photographing twins, I would get double the “presents” but I was lucky enough to walk away with only one “sprinkle”. It was a good day! Haha! It took a little while to get Alex and Aiden to get into that deep, warm, and snuggly sleep that is perfect for portraits, but with a little patience we got there and I am love how they turned out!

Look at those lips!! SOOO CUTE!

The Lamphere Family | Fuquay-Varina NC Photography

admin — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 14:42:34 +0000

I am a little behind on blogging this session, but better late than never, right? I had the wonderful opportunity to photograph this adorable little family right before I left for WPPI at the beginning of the month. I was originally supposed to do this session the weekend before, but I was getting over strep throat and I did not want to risk bringing leftover germies over to their newborn. Their oldest daughter, Briella, is about around 18 months and they just had their youngest daughter, Maria, a little less than two weeks before our session. Mr. Lamphere better prepare himself, because his little girls are GORGEOUS!! He could have a rocky road ahead! Briella was quite concerned at first about what I was doing with her little sister, but I think I started to win her over towards the end of the session! Briella seriously was one of the smartest 18 month olds I have ever seen in my life! She knew some counting, she knew her shapes, she knew her colors and so much more! She had this one toy where you sorted different colored shapes on to different pegs, and she knew exactly what she was supposed to do. She would sort appropriately, and then she would intentionally but the wrong shape or color on the peg and would then look up at her parents and giggle because she knew she was being silly and putting it on the wrong peg! Then she would get her parents to laugh and she would put it on the right peg. It was AMAZING! It is obvious that her parents have spent a lot of quality time with her! It makes me want to be a stay-at-home mom!!

Here is the shape peg game! Silly Briella… putting a yellow triangle on the purple rectangle peg!

Their dog, Lotto, wanted to make sure that he was included in the family portraits! This shot makes me giggle!

Thank you guys for allowing me to take part in your family’s history! Now I am off to go teach Griffin some shapes! Ha!