Posts in Family Photography
North Topsail Beach Extended Family Vacation Portraits

We get to know a lot of phenomenal families who visit us here in Topsail—and photographing them all having fun at the beach is such a joy!

This amazingly sweet family left an incredible mark on my heart, and I have thought of them often since we met in North Topsail Beach last June. It was an extended family group, and when one of the mamas contacted me she told me they had some BIG reasons to celebrate together—and to commemorate in a professional photo session. Her parents would be celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary that week, her youngest child (and only girl!) had just turned one, and her darling niece had moved to the maintenance phase of chemotherapy for leukemia

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Our Crazy 2021 Year in Business - Surf City NC Photographer

If you know me personally, or if you know our business, then you are pretty aware of how crazy busy we are from mid March all the way through early December. Our vacationing family sessions start booking up around spring break and don’t really stop booking until well after Labor Day, and then the fall sessions and holiday sessions kick into full gear. By December, I am very much in need of a break, and for that reason I usually stop taking sessions by the first week of December so all of our editing can be finished in time to enjoy Christmas fun with my family. While I do the all shooting and editing, Beach Photo is very much a family business. There are countless business tasks that need to be done behind the scenes, as well as prop building and set design that requires a LOT of work from all of us.

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Surf City NC Beach Photographer - How to Get Beautiful, Timeless Family Portraits You Love

Yes, you read that correctly: How to Get Family Portraits you LOVE.

We want all of our clients to have portraits they want to share and post and print and hang up on their walls. Photographs and portraits are quite literally our memories frozen in time. That is a super big deal! You should absolutely fall in love the moments a photographer creates for you. Our goal is to help you have the very best collection of your moments to cherish forever.

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Surf City Family and Newborn Beach Portrait Session

Oh my, the sweetest little boys met me at the beach a few weeks ago!

I had met their parents last fall when I was photographing a friend of their family in North Topsail Beach, which also happened to be newborn beach session with family portraits. They were so excited to see their friend’s baby girl all swaddled in a basket on the beach they asked for my information knowing they were expecting another baby themselves this spring.

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Family Beach Vacation Photos in Surf City - Topsail Photographer

Omgosh this family is sooo darling!

They contacted me way back In February and told me how excited they were to visit Topsail from Utah. We are so fortunate to have so many wonderful visitors choose to vacation on our little island.

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Topsail Island Photographer - Topsail Beach Family and Maternity Session

Oh my goodness, I just love this sweet family!

They came to Topsail Beach from the Charlotte area and enjoyed an idyllic babymoon (and family vacation!) over spring break. It was so quiet and peaceful the week they visited, and I know they loved being able to recharge before going home to get ready for baby.

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Valentine's Day Limited Photo Sessions 2021

Valentine’s Day is always a favorite!!

We love making a fun set and running studio limited sessions…and that was the plan for this year too. I channeled all my old sculpture classes in art school and created a few giant conversation hearts for props. They were really fun to make, but took sooo much plaster (worth it!).

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Fun Couple Photos in Surf City NC

It’s almost Valentine’s Day, so it seemed fitting to share one of my favorite sessions from this adorable little family that was nothing but pure LOVE.

They came to Surf City from Tennessee and were an absolute delight to work with—and they brought their sweet fur baby!!

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Planning a Beach Vacation Portrait Session? We can help!

Do you have a big beach trip planned this year? Or maybe a long weekend getaway? Whether your family trip is just the two of you and your best dog, or a long-awaited family reunion with 42 crazy fun aunts, uncles, cousins and grandmas—you can totally get a professional portrait session while you’re there, and it can actually be enjoyable!

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North Topsail Beach Family Photos

We LOVE our vacation families here at Topsail!

This sweet family visits us annually from Ohio, and usually stays 2 weeks (that is vacation GOALS right there). This year, they came to North Topsail Beach and wanted family beach portraits done while they were here.

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Family and Maternity Photos in Topsail Beach

This sweet family is just delightful! They live in Maryland, and Mama has been traveling to Topsail Island since she was a kid. We are so fortunate to have so many dedicated families visiting our beaches year after year!

They are due with another little girl this fall, and wanted to get maternity and family portraits done before their older daughter started back to school.

We had so much fun capturing this precious time in their lives together.

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Family Session in North Topsail Beach

We’ve been so busy wrapping up summer vacation season and moving right along to fall that I realized we really haven’t spent enough time sharing all the beautiful families we’ve had the honor to document.

This amazing crew came to Topsail in August from Maryland, and we’re so glad they did. The two older brothers were home from college, and little sister was about to start 2nd grade when she returned home.

The weather was perfect that evening, and the light was absolutely glorious.

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Seas and Greetings! Driftwood Christmas Tree Portrait Sessions at the Beach

Tis the season!

Well, almost anyway! It is the season for photographers to begin offering their holiday sessions though!

This year we will again offer our Driftwood Christmas Tree with our family sessions. These will be included with all our fall family beach sessions upon request. The driftwood was all pulled from the beach in Topsail after Hurricane Florence…

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Vacation Beach Photos in North Topsail Beach

We had the sweetest family reach out to us last month. Mom wanted family beach sessions while they were on vacation at St. Regis in North Topsail Beach. They had vacationed here for the last 2 years and she wanted portraits made at the northernmost point of the island. She contacted a few days before they left and was so excited we could accommodate her that Monday. The great thing about vacation beach photography is that usually, you have WEEKDAYS available, which makes it a lot easier to work with during a busy summer when weekends are often booked up far in advance. She was so excited, and we had so much fun!

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What to Wear for Family Photography: Color Palette Ideas

What do we WEAR?!? We get asked this all the time!!

We created a style guide not too long ago, and all the information there still applies, but we wanted to give everyone a few specific color palette ideas to work with. Ideally, we want every individual to stand out while still looking cohesive with the group so generally we discourage having everyone match exactly. The goal is to have everyone coordinate but still look like they belong together.

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Why do we ask you to meet us late in the day?

Some of you may have been wondering why photographers keep dragging families out so late in the day—especially in the summertime when we tell you 7pm is best! (Sorry!) I know it’s late for littles, and husbands can get hangry (just mine?🤣), but there really is a method to our madness...

LIGHT.

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Summer Beach Sessions!

Well we skipped right over spring somehow (2020 has been a YEAR, hasn’t it?)—and our summer beach vacation sessions are in full swing. Topsail Island has opened up and is ready to go, and what better place to practice proper social distancing than the beach!

Our first extended family session this season came in May, as the stay-at-home restrictions began to ease up. This beautiful group travels from Ohio most every year to vacation here with us. They had portraits taken under the Surf City Ocean Pier years ago, and now that the family has grown, they needed updated memories with all the new family members.

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What to Wear for Beach Portraits

Beach Vacation? Check! Family Photo Session while you're there? Booked! Now--What do we wear?!!? This is a question we get asked A LOT. Well, honestly--like any art form there are some general rules about what looks good for the camera, and what works out on the beach. However, like any art form, rules can be broken! That being said, there are some general guidelines that we offer to our clients, and they tweak those guidelines to their personal style accordingly. Beach Portraits are timeless, and those memories need to reflect both your good time AND your new golden glow!

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