Category Archives: Uncategorized

Corn and Tomato Scramble

August 4, 2012 by admin | Comments Off

This is one of my favorite things to make in the summer when the tomatoes from the garden and ripe and fresh! This tomato and corn scramble is really easy to make and is super delicious! It is fabulous as a side, or even on it’s own for a light lunch or snack. It would also be great to bring to your next summer barbecue, everyone just loves it! I have made this dish at different times of the year, but the best flavor you are going to get is from your peak summer corn and tomatoes. If you try any new recipe this summer, this is the one you should definitely go for. It’s so darn good!

Ingredients:

8 Ears of Corn

4 Vine ripened fresh tomatoes

4-5 Green Onions

2TBSP Olive Oil

2TBSP White Balsamic Vinegar

3 TBSP Butter

Salt and Pepper to taste

First slice all the kernels off of the corn cobs, chop up your green onions and tomatoes. In a large bowl mix vinegar, olive oil, and salt and pepper, with a wire whisk, then add tomatoes to the bowl and set aside. Melt butter over medium heat, then add green onions and saute for a couple of minutes until they are tender. Then, add corn to your skillet. Saute corn until it’s just tender crisp, around 4 minutes. Remove from heat, and let cool to room temperature. Then add the corn mixture to the bowl of your tomato mixture. Serve at room temperature, which I prefer, or you can chill and serve it cold. It’s delicious either way! Summer in a bowl! Enjoy!

Also posted in Recipes Tagged barbeque sides, corn, corn and tomato salad, nc childrens portrait photographer, recipes, sides, southern summer, summer, summer recipes, summer salad, tomatoes |

Tuesday Tips- Shoes Versus Bare Feet in Portraiture

June 27, 2012 by admin | Comments Off

Today’s tip is about most every girl’s favorite thing, shoes. Shoes as we all know can make an outfit, show off your personality, and make your legs look fantastic! However, they can also date a picture, and they can be really distracting. My style of portrait photography is always geared to be timeless, relaxed, and natural, and so in almost all of my portraits, my subjects have bare feet. Most of the time I am photographing small children, and with kids especially I always prefer bare feet! If you sit a child, you are almost always going to see the soles of their shoes which isn’t pretty, but also takes your eye away from that precious little face. The sole of a shoe is never going to be attractive as the sole of a foot, and kids do the absolute cutest things with their little toes! That being said, if you just can’t live without donning your feet in your finest footwear for your portraits, make sure to use the most important rule of fashion icons; Keep it Classic Darling!

Tagged apex, classic photography, durham, nc, photographing children, photography, photography tips, photos, portraiture, raleigh, shoes, triangle |

My Life in Pictures- The State Farmers Market

June 26, 2012 by admin | Comments Off

Today we were able to go down to the State Farmers Market in Raleigh. This is always one of my favorite places to go, especially in the summertime when they have the best assortment of vegetabls and fruits! There is nothing quite like fresh summer tomatoes! And in our family at least, nothing better and sweeter than ripe summer watermelon(our chickens love it too!)

Tagged farmers market, fresh, instagram, nc, north carolina, photo, photography, photos, summer, sweet, watermelon |

Sweet Sophie Blues

May 16, 2012 by admin | Comments Off

My daughter Ashlee has an artist’s soul. I knew that from the time she was little bitty. These days she is busy with her own Etsy shop called Sweet Sophie Blues. She sometimes brings me her wares to photograph and we have a great time trying creative ways to portray her beautiful art. Here are a few of her charming sweet necklaces she made this past week. All of the fabric comes from vintage hankies which she then hand embroiders. The hearts represent the birthstones of your loved ones and she also does custom orders. Check her store out at www.sweetsophieblue.etsy.com

5 tips on how to capture a child’s natural expression.

May 7, 2012 by admin | Comments Off

One of the questions I get asked all the time as a child portrait artist is how I capture such natural expressions. People tell me all the time that when they look at my portraits, that they feel like they know what that person is like. For me there is no higher complement. After getting my BFA 25 years ago and working all that time since as a portraitist I know that I am fully capable of producing a portrait in any style I would choose to shoot. I know I can artfully render a photojournalistic style image,make the colors pop,shoot in grimy urban settings and so on but these also become more about the place and style these days than really telling you anything important about the person.I am a big believer in the old adage KISS. Keep it simple silly. SO that’s what I do. I keep it simple but Most Importantly I keep it real. So if this interests you here are a few ways to keep it simple and real with your own kiddos and hopefully create images that fully express who your child is.

!. Never Ever Ever say smile. Or Cheese. When you do this your child will at best grit his teeth and give you that big fake okay here is my picture face. At worst he or she will pout and do the exact opposite because you want them to smile and they know it,and if they are two they really like to show you who’s boss. Here is an example of what you can get by not asking them to smile.

2. Don’t be trapped by the idea that a smile is always best. Some of my favorite portraits I have taken are of little ones not smiling. You will be able to get that smile the rest of their lives but the wide eye innocent look only lasts for a little while.

3. Get out of your “mommy – daddy” mode. The only time in my life where I had a disastrous result when photographing a child was with my own.Hannah was 6 and I forced her into a dress she hated and made her go out into our gardens on a hot humid day and told her to sit in the swing. I was totally in my mom role and found myself getting more upset by the moment as she whined and pulled at her dress and told me she was going to faint. The last straw finally came when I decided to move from the swing over to the lily pond and try to take the last to frames of film of her on the bridge. SHE by then was telling me she felt like she was going to throw up and faint. At my wits end I told her to put her toes in the water to cool off. The next thing I knew my darling daughter had slipped on a wet stone and ended up in the pond. Needless to say I never got her portrait in the little white dress in our garden. This was never in “Hurricane Hannah’s” personality and when I went with the flow with her I got amazing portraits.

4. Be in the moment. One of the reasons I love working with young children is they are such great teachers and entertainers. When you enter in to their world you you enter into a Most special place. Their world if filled with awe and magical thinking and is such a fun place to be. When you establish a real rapport with your little one they forget about you taking their picture and you get their true expressions. One caveat here, children are very intuitive and they know when a person is being genuine, so be real with them and you will be amazed at what they will give back.

5. Keep them entertained. Play games.Sing silly songs. Be in the moment…anticipate and always be ready to snap that shutter.

I remember when my Dad tried so hard to teach me golf. He was a golf fanatic and really really wanted one of his daughters to learn the sport. I was a real daddy’s girl and wanted to learn to play to be able to make him proud and spend time with him. Well no matter how I tried to get in the golf stance..head down,contort your body swing the club and always keep your eye on the ball… it never ever felt natural to me. I may have been okay at the sport if I had spent many,many,many hours practicing but I did not love it. Truth be told I did’nt even like it. So if all these tips and techniques to take better photos of your children seems like hard work bring them here, because I did find something that I really, really loved doing and have spent my life practicing hitting that shutter at just the right time to hit that hole in one. I think all that hard work paid off. What do you think?

Tagged bfa fine art, child photography, children, fine art portraits, natural light photos, photgraphy tips, photojournalistic style child photography |

Ashlee’s Beautiful B-Day

December 27, 2011 by admin | Comments Off

I always marvel at how creative Ashlee is. I have always known,from the time she was a small child that she has an artists soul. She has grown into an amazing talent and everything she touches becomes a piece of art. When she told me she wanted to have a party for her birthday this year and suggested we have it here in the studio I was very excited. I knew she would have great ideas and I was really looking forward to creating all the decorations with her for the party. As it turned out this fall ,when her birthday is, was one of the busiest ever and I did not get to help her very much. Turns out she really did not need my help. She created such a fun and happy atmosphere for her retro themed party. Here is a look at a few of the details of her day.

Tagged artist, child, creative, retro themed party |

Menno’s and Pauline’s Saint Martin Wedding

September 6, 2011 by admin | 1 Comment

I know it has been a while since we flew down to St. Martin to photograph Menno’s and Pauline’s wedding but the joy of that day comes back fresh and alive when I look at these images. Pauline and Menno are from Holland as are both their families. They had 40 or so family and friends fly in from all over the world to celebrate this wonderful day with them.The wedding was to take place, of course, on the beach and then the reception was being held at La Samana, one of the most beautiful resorts on the island. Having spent months at a time in St. Martin we all expected the day to be sunny and beautiful.The worst anyone expected was ,maybe, a passing shower that would come and go in 20 minutes or less. The wedding planner was so sure of the always sunny weather that she did not have a back up plan for rain. So,I’m sure you can guess what happened.Yep,a front came through and socked in and stayed. No blue sky and a lot of wet. The rain did not dampen the mood of the happy couple though, or any of the family and friends .. Everyone was incredibly happy and such a joy to be with

The rain just kept coming down but Menno and Pauline only had eyes for each other. Their first look was sweet and happy and filled with love bubbling over.

After, special drinks were served and toasts were made.

Our plan had been to spend the next few hours before the ceremony getting shots of Menno and Pauline at some of their favorite places on the island. We decided to go out a couple of days after the wedding when sunshine prevailed once more. Larry and I were so impressed that everyone just went with the flow and did not let anything spoil the fun of the day. We met back up with the happy couple 2 days after the wedding and spent the entire sun-filled day going around the whole island and having a great time getting all the shots we missed on the big day. The fact that we did not have to rush made it all the more fun and we ended up doing a lot more shots than we would have been able to do on the day of the wedding.( I will post some of these photos later). Early afternoon we all gathered to go to the “backup” site for the wedding ceremony. Our fun loving couple had decided the mode of transporation for the day would acomodate all the guests and wedding party. And party we did on the big yellow school bus that picked us up. The whole crowd was having such a good time,as we all bounced along and sang songs.

The back up site was a brightly painted room that fit everyone in, though it was a tight squeeze. The ceremony was all in dutch and though Larry and I did not understand one word we knew it was filled with laughter and love.

After the ceremony we were back on the bus and on to La Samana. Just as we arrived the rain stopped and the sun started to peek through the clouds and we ended up with one of the most brillant and beautiful sunsets any of us had ever seen. The french have a saying,we were told,that if it rains on your wedding day it is a GOOD sign. It means you will be showered with many blessings. I know that Menno and Pauline were indeed showered with many blessings on their wedding day from all the love and support of friends and family and for the love that they have found in each other. Larry and I were too, to be a part of such a loving and fun filled day.

Also posted in Couples, destination weddings, Saint Martin, Weddings

Lily’s tropical vacation

September 5, 2011 by admin | Comments Off

Sounds like the title of a children’s book, doesn’t it? I was going through some files on my computer tonight and found these shots of Lily in St. Martin from this summer. She seems to love being there as much as we do. The side of the island that we live on there is french and the french love their dogs. The only place she can’t go with us is the grocery stores, so she gets to hang out with Mom and Dad a lot.

Lily loves to share lunch with Dad

Lily's favorite beach wear.

Dad is always in the lead. His legs are a lot longer than mine.

Lily and friend in Marigot.

This is the way to fish!

Lily's favorite french boulangerie. Mine too.

The Carrington Event

June 26, 2011 by admin | 1 Comment

Summer Living

May 27, 2011 by admin | Comments Off

One of my favorite memories as a child was going to visit my Grandparents in Mobile Ala. My grandmother lived in a huge old home with my granddad,my uncle Sam and aunt Boo,my aunt Ellen and my cousin Jim and his mom aunt Lillian. My cousin Jim’s dad had been a air force test pilot and was one of the first pilots to break the sound barrier. Sadly his plane crashed on one of the tests runs and he died. My aunt Lillian brought her then 6mos. old son back home to Alabama. My granddad was a builder and he built this enormous home for her and the rest of the family. My mom was the youngest of 4 girls and a rebel. She ended up to be the only “Pankey” girl to leave home. It must have been something about dashing air force pilots because she fell for one herself and ended up eloping with him much to my grandparents chagrin. Hard as they tried to get my dad to give up being a “flyboy”and settle down in Mobile they never did, but we made annual trips to visit and it was always one of my favorite places on earth. What I wouldn’t give to be able to sit with my Gaga once more, on her porch, snuggled up next to her on her big old comfy glider. We would sit and glide and she would tell me and my sister all kinds of wonderful stories.All my family would gather on that porch in the late afternoon and it was always filled with laughter and love and beautiful soft southern voices. I know this is where my love for all things southern, especially porches came from. I now live in a beautiful big old home with a big old southern porch and one of my favorite things to do is gather with family in the late summer afternoons,drink some ice tea or fine chardonnay and share stories and laughter and love.

Last week I found a vintage glider and matching rockers at the flea market. I was thrilled and bought them on the spot.Now I can sit and glide once more. I guess you can go home again.