Don’t forget the Love | Couple Portraits 757

• October 5th, 2022 •

During every family session you book with me, I will make sure to capture some romantic and couple portraits of mom and dad. Too often, once we become parents we forget to focus on each other. We’re too busy focusing on the kids and the house and the budget, etc! So no need to book a separate session for you and your spouse- I’ll make sure to get it during your family portraits. Take a look at G and L in Town Center Virginia Beach. I LOVE them together and had such a blast with them and getting to photograph them again. I love being their Lifeographer!

First Grade to Forever | Couple Portraits Hampton Roads

• September 10th, 2021 •

One of my very favorite things to photograph is couples that have been married for decades. So often we forget to truly appreciate and cherish the love in a marriage when kids, school, careers, sports, activities, bills, church and EVERYTHING else that comes with running and family and a household, comes FIRST. We forget that two people started it all, two people who fell in love are the foundation of it all. Too often we forget where it all began and truly celebrate each other and the love they share.

My Treasured Love Sessions are such an important part of my business. They bring me so much joy and hope! These session celebrate the couple and their journey through life, love, commitment and sacrifice.

I was SO honored to photograph Joe and Faye. They met in FIRST GRADE! They have so many decades of memories, from coloring and recess, to sock hops and cotillions, from football and cheerleading to building a family, to retirement and grandkids. It was such a blessing to “walk down memory lane” with them as they shared so many of these special moments with me and reminisced on a life well loved.

We even photographed Faye in her wedding gown… that still fit!!!! She looks as beautiful now as I am sure she did then, and her grooms eyes are still focused on her!

During our session planning, I had them each answer a few questions without the help of knowledge of the other. I used their answers to “write” them a letter from one to the other. It was such a special moments as they read their letters to each other and then danced to their favorite song.

Enjoy this little walk down memory lane with us as we celebrate the love between Joe and Faye!

New Year More Love

• January 16th, 2019 •

Each January I “claim” a word for the new year: a word that is focused around having a single simple word or theme to guide me in what I want to embrace more of in the coming year.

This year I claim LOVE as my word because the world needs more LOVE, I need more LOVE, my family needs more LOVE and my business needs more LOVE!

LOVE is all around us in all of our relationships. We forget sometimes to focus on the love and instead focus on the bickering, the rushing to get to work or practices, the financial issues, the chores, the disappointments, etc. We get so busy in the day to day of life that we forget to actually see the love right in front of us. This year my goal is to give and share more love and in business to work hard to create opportunities for more people to capture their love in print.

I want to do better at encouraging people to capture the LOVE in their relationships. I want to photograph the beauty and love between a mother and baby, the time tested love of a couple married 40 years, the love for oneself in boudoir, the love between siblings who fight like cats and dogs but also have grown up as each others playmates. I want to photograph LOVE in all the relationships of life.

For families, I want to focus on encouraging families to CAPTURE the love they share. Too many times I have heard “It’s been 10 years since we took family portraits” or “I can’t do family portraits until I lose the weight.” Yet I have also heard after deaths in families “I don’t have any recent picture of my dad with is grandchildren, now it is too late” “I wish I had recent pictures of my parents together that weren’t taken on a cell phone.” Too often we want to wait for the right moment and forget to recognize that the right moment is RIGHT NOW!

One area I am especially going to focus on this year is capturing LOVE in marriage. I am not going to say that there are no perfect, never argue, he/she is exactly what I need and want them to be all the time, marriages out there, but in my experience almost ALL marriages have times of extreme struggle. Look at the divorce rate that keeps climbing- marriage is HARD work.

I have been married for 18 years, together for 22. We fought tooth and nail for each other even when we didn’t like each other. But the LOVE was there, just hidden beneath the hurt, pain and trauma. The photographs we have during the good times, smiling and loving each other and our children are reminders that LOVE overcomes. Our children remember the good times because those are the memories we have on our wall and in our albums. They see and remember the LOVE their parents have always had for each other.

I photograph families all the time and often take time to get portraits of mom and dad together as well. But it’s not often I get a full session dedicated to the love between a husband and wife. That will change this year as I bring back my “Renew” sessions and introduce my “Romance in the Simple Moments” session. I cannot wait to photograph love that has been TESTED. Marriages of 5, 10, 15, 30, 50 years. Marriages that, like mine, have gone through the storms and come out battered but stronger than before.

I also need to claim LOVE for myself more this year. Last year was a very trying year for me and I let self love fall away as I worked so hard to support my husband, kids, family and business. All of their busyness kept me so overwhelmed that taking care of me took a back seat. I gained weight and spending time with friends rarely happened. This year I claim SELF- LOVE for myself. I am determined to loose 40 pounds by eating better and getting back in the gym. I have already been away on a fabulous girls weekend in NYC with two of my besties. I can’t be the best Devon I need to be if I am not loving myself enough to take care of my mental and physical health. So this year, I will embrace loving myself better.

I am claiming LOVE this year for my business and for myself. My marriage still has rough patches and places where we can improve the ways we love each other. Like many of you, we get caught up in the kids and their busy lives and schedules and realize we are more roommates than anything else. We need to focus of US because without a strong US our family is not as strong as it should be.

Do you have a word for 2019 that you are claiming? Share it with me, I’d love to stand in agreement with you!

A Year in Review | Hampton Roads Photographer

• December 31st, 2016 •

Another amazing year has passed. Last year at this exact time, I was just so thankful 2015 was almost OVER. It was a year filled with so much sadness and loss. I prayed for 2016 to be a BORING year at least! I just wanted to get past all the pain of 2015. God answers prayers and more. Like he states “There is a time and a season for everything.” The BORING year I was praying for didn’t happen, instead He gave me so much more.

Personal highlights of 2016… I started the year off on a cruise with my family. The first cruise we have done together and it was a beautiful welcome to the new year! In the spring, I visited NYC with my son and godson and got to see my childhood crush, Will Smith (aaaaahhhhhhh) film the movie Collateral Beauty. (Seriously, I was like a giddy child- and the coolest thing was it was an unexpected surprise to see him on set!! Thanks to an amazing friend who set it up!) In the summer, I visited Ethiopia again, with Habesha Momma, and got to start the process of opening a home for homeless and trafficked children. I also FINALLY got to take my husband to NYC. I love NYC and Brett has said for years “NEVER” when I ask if he’d like to go with me. However, he finally agreed and we had a fabulous time together enjoying the big city!

One of the biggest personal and business highlights was I moved my business out of my house and into a true commercial space!! It was a HUGE leap of faith but I am so very thankful I took the risk. I LOVE having my own space. I’ve been a successful photographer for years BUT having my own name on the outside of a building makes me feel “I’ve made it!” It has been an amazing whirlwind of a year! I had a phenomenal Open House in my new space and felt so much love poured out. I have been blessed by the opportunity to photograph so many amazing people, families and projects. I truly love my job and don’t take for granted the fact that I am given the gift of creating moments in time for each of you.

This blog every year is one of my hardest… to go through the year and pick my favorite images to share. Each one of you are so special to me, all of our shoots hold special moments and laughs. In every single session- I am creating memories that I pray will be cherished for generations to come. Narrowing that down to 15-20 images to show my year in review… it is SO HARD! But here are some of the highlights I was able to narrow it down too… and once again thank you. Thank you for trusting me, thank you for supporting me, thank you for allowing me into your family.

I pray blessings, love and lots of laughter in 2017!

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Saying I DO all over again | Hampton Roads Photographer

• July 27th, 2016 •

If you follow my blog you will know this family. I have been photographing them for years, ever since they were pregnant with their beautiful little Elliegh. So when Steven called me and asked me to photograph a surprise wedding renewal for them, how could I say no? I LOVE surprises and I love Jenna, so I was super excited to photograph them saying “I Do” again!

Family and friends from all over came to Virginia Beach to surprise them. Not sure it was a complete surprise (I guess someone said something about someone coming to town in front of her) but it was a night to remember none-the-less! I loved watching these two recommit themselves to each other and to their marriage. Jenna and Elliegh were stunningly beautiful and Steven cleans up well too! Blessings and love to you guys, thanks for always trusting me with your precious family memories!<3 <3

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Cupcakes by the amazing Amy and Daniel with Apothecary Cupcakes. http://apothecarycupcakes.weebly.com/

Fifty and Beautiful | Virginia Beach Photographer

• May 18th, 2015 •

Meet, Carla… fifty and FABULOUS! Carla contacted me and wanted to celebrate turning fifty with a photoshoot and I thought that was an amazing idea! We had such a great time at Red Wing Park in Virginia Beach. Carla brought along her handsome husband, Tyrone, and we captured some amazing portraits of their love. One of my VERY favorite things to photograph is couples still in love after so many years together.

Carla, I hope when I turn 50 I am as proud and confident in myself and my age as you are! You rocked your session and you rock your age! It was an honor photographing you and Tyrone. You were both incredible to work with and and I can’t wait to get the whole family captured someday!

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