A Real Family Feud

• September 16th, 2019 •

When we hear the phrase “family feud” some of us immediately picture Steve Harvey and the game show. If I went a step further and said the family name is Mccoy, we might think about the Hatfields vs Mccoys feud. Well this is a completely different kind of feud between family, one that is dividing families all across America right about now…it’s football rivalry.

When dad is a Green Bay Packers fan and mom is a New England Patriots fan what team do the children choose? If you base it off the last few Super Bowls the Patriots could be an obvious choice, Go Brady! So fast forward a few years, the twin boys are now in High School, Rob Jr is a Patriots fan and Kenneth is a Packers fan. I love these portraits because mom let the green and gold rule, but I love this family because above all else they are loyal to each other. Who’s ready for some football?

Before Your Very Eyes

• September 10th, 2019 •

Meet Miss Felicity, at her nine month portrait session. I have been photographing her quarterly since birth and it’s so cool to capture her growth and milestones. We typically wait about nine months for baby to arrive and in the nine months after they change so fast.

Felicity is sitting and playing on her own, but she enjoys the company of her big sister, Elleigh. She is trying new and tasty foods and looks forward to nap time. We were able to get a few shots with dad and his girls before he left for deployment. This little lady is growing up right before our eyes and soon it will be time for a first year celebration.

A Messy Tradition- Genevieve turns ONE!

• September 6th, 2019 •

Not every little girl has a handy carpenter grandpa, but lucky little Genevieve does! Her grandpa crafted this adorable little boat for her and we had to incorporate it into her first year portraits.

Genevieve has mastered crawling but isn’t quite ready for walking yet, but we did capture some standing pictures, such a big milestone for an almost one year old! We also captured an adorable portrait of her looking at herself from just a few days old!

Little Genevieve LOVED her cake smash session! It was a messy highlight to her first 360 days her on each! She played, she ate, she eventually practically passed out from the sugar rush!

Family Ties | Maternity

• August 27th, 2019 •

I don’t have a biological brother but I do have a brother. His name is Jesse and he has been a part of my life since I was 14 years old. He is one of my oldest friends and I truly don’t know that I would be the woman I am if it hadn’t been for his love, affirmation and friendship during some really difficult teenage years. We lost touch for quite a few years and about 5 years ago we reconnected and caught up on so many lost years of our friendship. I love him like a brother and I have prayed for over 20 years for him to find a woman that would love and support him like he deserves.

Enter the beautiful Pamela! In a whirlwind relationship, Jesse found the love of his life. I couldn’t be happier with his choice as she is kind, caring, supportive and, did I mention, beautiful? She is a perfect match for him and I am so honored to now consider her family as well!

They just welcomed their little girl but a few months ago I was so honored to photograph their maternity portraits. They came to Virginia Beach on a spur of the moment “baby moon” and we were able to squeeze in a quick session before the rain rolled in!

The best part of my job is getting to celebrate the milestones of life and capture them forever. When I get to do that for the people I love, it is icing on an already sweet cake!!

She’s off to college! | Personal

• August 20th, 2019 •

I saw this picture today on FB and I almost cried. My Olivia started college yesterday!!!

It seems just yesterday we were cheering for her rolling over on her own, feeding her her first bites of food, calling the doctor for a crazy black and infected looking mouth (it was wet chewed up newspaper), listening to her babble and get frustrated when she couldn’t be understood, teaching her to swim and ride a bike, helping her “lose” her first tooth, etc etc etc! The baby toddler and childhood days are over. 🙁

And today she officially began college. She’s off world- look out! She still needs our guidance and direction- and some of the time she even listens to it. 🙂

She wants to join the peace corps and travel the world helping others but she has to finish at least an associates first though. So, Olivia officially began her journey into adult yesterday as she began classes at TCC. She wants to do something with special needs children- but wants to work with them primarily in the preschool years. She doesn’t think that she wants it to be in the school system though- occupational therapy maybe? She’s still figuring that out so if you have any suggestions please let her know!

May God bless my daughter as she figures out the plan He has for her. May He also comfort Brett and I as we transition from being the one making most of her decisions to becoming her counselor and advisor. She will always need me but we both have to let go and let God. It may not always be easy for either of us, but we should look for the excitement in this moment. My little “livi” is growing up and making her mark on the world. I am so proud of her.

Love began with a Slurpee | Virginia Beach Engagement

• August 16th, 2019 •

I was SO excited when Conner messaged to tell me he was getting MARRIED! It is so hard to believe since I have been photographing him since middle school and I still see him as little boy! But he has found a phenomenal woman and turned into a handsome and responsible young man. I am OVERJOYED to celebrate their engagement with them!

I met to talk with Abigail and Connor and I LOVED their story of their first date. They went to 7-11, grabbed some smoothies and went for a walk at the oceanfront. The sat and talked on the long walkway near 5th street for hours. We talked about doing their engagement pictures in the same location and decided we HAD to incorporate 7-11 into their session!

But we didn’t stop there! We weren’t going to have a “typical” engagement session so when we saw the Bird scooters, we knew they had to be a part of the session as well!

Photographing people in love is always a favorite of mine but getting to photograph young people in love, being silly, laughing and enjoying each other and the quirks of their first dates- well, lets just say this will be a session to remember!!

Lily Anne Turns One

• April 25th, 2019 •

Yay one! A year full of firsts and lots of milestones to celebrate with Lily. The plan was to do family portraits outdoors and then bring the family indoors for Lily’s cake smash, well the weather didn’t get the memo. It rained for three days straight leaving the ground soaked, a chill in the air and not a single ray of sunshine in sight!

So I know what you’re thinking, just reschedule the session and the problem is solved. Well not so fast, the fabulous smash cake had already been delivered and there was no way we were going to let this sugary goodness go to waste. We ended up doing lily’s cake photos as planned and did the family photo session a few days later. Lily and her big brother Tristan were naturals in front of the camera. Tristan liked my camera so much he wanted to help me take the photos. We just might have a future photographer in the making!

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Crowning Glory with Toby Family

• March 14th, 2019 •

Cheyla approached me about a unique portrait session idea and I was so excited to dive into her ideas with her. This vision took us on a journey into her faith in God and her beliefs. Giana and Naomi joined in and were each crowned as well. The studio portraits and the family portraits at 64th street showed love both in faith and in family, even a blended family. It was a beautiful representation that love isn’t defined as blood alone and that our faith gives us strength and builds us up. I am so grateful that Cheyla and Eddie trusted me with their idea and their family. This was a session I will never forget! I hope it inspires others to think of unique sessions where photography can assist in capturing an important moment in their life!

I hope you enjoy these incredible portraits as much as I did. It was difficult to pick my favorite ones to share!

Women are Incredible

• March 7th, 2019 •

Woman are the backbone of this country! We are homemakers, doctors, lawyers, soldiers, business owners, role models, caregivers, and so much more. We juggle roles without even realize we are doing it. We can kiss a boo boo and put on our high heels in the same breathe. We bring forth life into world as mothers while also running empires. We are statistically more kind, loving, grateful and better at handling stress. We are super-powerful women!

This week we celebrate International Women’s Day. A day to celebrate women all over the world and how far we have come as women. I personally want to celebrate woman empowering women! I see a trend of women uniting together and empowering each other. We need to do more of this. When I first started out in business I had three AMAZING women who mentored me. Women who guided me, gave me advice and encouraged me. (Thank you Andi, Dee and Dana.) Their guidance gave me the ability to believe in myself and push forward on a dream I knew very little (at the time) on how to accomplish. Now, I mentor women doing the same thing. They aren’t my competition, it’s my way to give back and cheer on another superwoman!

We need to empower each other. Cheer each other on, give each other feedback! We need to stop judging each other and our life’s choices. I am successful business owner who chose to stay home and raise her babies for over 10 years. Your choices aren’t going to be my choices. Whatever you are doing with your life, you are a an empowered woman. Do you stay home and raise your little ones? Are you a single mom doing everything by yourself? Are you a military member who has to say goodbye to your babies for months at a time? Are you a military wife caught between being a single parent and a married one- juggling the two at a moments notice? Are you a career woman pushing to achieve your dreams and “soccer moming” it as well? Wherever you are you are a superwoman! You need to celebrate that.

I want to help you celebrate. Come see me in the month of March. Let’s celebrate your womanhood! Let’s celebrate your superpowers.

– For some that might mean professional headshots celebrating your success in your field.

– For some that might mean a boudoir session showcasing your sensuality, beauty and uniqueness.

– For some that might be a “Model for a day” session where you get to just celebrate YOU with different outfits and ideas.

– For some that might be a Cultural Heritage shoot as we celebrate all of your unique cultures that make up who you are.

Contact me for your own personalized session. 50% off all individual session fees if you mention “Empowered Women” at your consultation!

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!

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