2017 Graduate Kendall | Hampton Roads Senior Portrait Photographer

• May 30th, 2017 •

Twelve long years of school finally come to and end!!! I have watched this young lady grow up over the past 10 years and I am so excited to see how she has blossomed and grown into this beautiful woman. She will be starting her schooling all over next year at Liberty University, her parents Alma Mater, and couldn’t be more excited.

We had a great session, even if we did get attacked by gnats and bugs. 🙂 Kendal rocked every minute of her session and her portraits turned out amazing.

I am so very glad that we did a few family portraits at the end as well. It’s important to do family portraits before your kids go off to college, who knows what the next few years may bring. 🙂 There might be additional family members, people may move away and spending time together as a whole family may come less and less. It’s so important to take family portraits when you have the chance to capture your family, as your kids are born and your family is growing, as they are growing up and toothless and all legs and arms, and as they are embarking on adulthood and about to go spread their wings. It’s moments and milestones that we remember, but havign portraits to show us those moments is such a treasure!

So, thank you Kendal and the Farnsworth clan for allowing me to capture these moments or your family and this amazing milestone. Kendall, I am so proud of the woman you have become. <3 <3

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Gabriel Turning One | Baby’s First Year Photography Hampton Roads

• May 18th, 2017 •

Happy Birthday little man! I love that I have gotten to watch you grow over your first year. You are such a charming and happy little guy. Your first year portraits session was the EASIEST I have ever done! You were a little model- laughing, smiling and clapping for the camera. You DEVOURED your cake- ate more than any other one year old I photographed and hated it when we took it away! Mom and dad don’t like the camera as much as you, but with you they complied to be in the portraits as well!

I hope to be able to photograph you as you grow up. I can tell you are going to be an amazing addition to this world and make it a better place. Honored I was able to photograph the first year!

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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Lauren: The Naturally Inspired Life | Hampton Roads Photographer

• September 15th, 2016 •

Lauren is great friend of mine who is SUCH an inspiration. She is a wonderful mom and wife and loves all things natural and is a phenomenal business owner! In fact, she has so much talent, ideas, inspiration and passion, she has multiple businesses!

She has her own natural skincare line and I have been purchasing her homemade organic soaps and skincare for over a year now.

Then recently, she completed school and is now a Professional Esthetician! (I have gotten a facial from her and it’s heaven!!) You NEED to check out her spa services!

She contacted me recently to help her with pictures for her website and we had such a great time together! She truly does lead an inspiring life and you can find lots of great tips and ideas on living a budget friendly, natural life plus you can order products, schedule appointments and just find some daily inspiration!

Please take a moment to check out her website! http://www.thenaturallyinspiredlife.com/

Actress Headshots: Megan | Hampton Roads Headshot Photographer

• August 24th, 2016 •

Megan is an up and coming actress in Hampton Roads- already doing amazing things in the area… and she’s still in high school!!! Next year she’ll be heading off to college and has some very big dreams. So very proud of her and can’t wait to say “I photographed her when she was just a teen!”

Megan- you were a joy to photograph and can’t wait to see all your dreams come true. Make sure I get an invite to your upcoming shows this year!

When the Last leaves the Nest | Family Portrait Photographer Hampton Roads

• July 21st, 2016 •

I met Latrice when she attended my open house in May. Her youngest son was graduating from high school and she talked to me about senior portraits. Her son, Emmanuel was not super excited about Senior portraits, so I talked with her about combining a family session with his Senior portraits. That way the focus wouldn’t be on him the whole time and we’d get those family portraits she’d been putting off for way too long. It’s important to capture the family when the last graduates, especially if there haven’t been any marriages yet. Capture the family unit as it has been for so long… because before you know it it will be growing again!

Once I met her stunningly handsome sons, (Devonta, Marquis and Emmanuel) I realized my job was going to be very easy. They could easily model, each one of them! I had such a great time meeting them and getting to know as little about each one of them. Handsome, talented, kind and compassionate… Latrice- you’ve done a great job raising these young men!

We did our shoot in the neon district in Norfolk and it was the perfect background for this family! We got some great brothers shots, some senior portraits for Emmanuel and some beautiful family portraits for mom! I can’t wait to see this family grow in the future… I see a few future daughter- in- laws someday!

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Welcome Emmanuel | Newborn Photographer Virginia Beach

• June 20th, 2016 •

What can be better than three amazing boys? FOUR amazing boys! Welcome baby Emmanuel to the beautiful Lopez family. I was so very excited to photograph this adorable, chubby little guy! He was such a trooper during our session and was a great little model! His big brothers can’t wait for him to grow up a little more… I see lots of backyard wrestling matches and football games in their future! Thank you Orlyn and and Alejandro for allowing me to spend time with your little guy and photograph your family. It is such an honor too capture these moments and I hope we lots of years of family portraits in our future!

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Spring Adventures 2016 | Children Photographer Hampton Raods

• June 13th, 2016 •

My annual Spring Adventures sessions are always so much fun! This year was our fourth year and the cuteness was on overload! I love all my little woodland fairies and adventuresome boys.

During this session, you might see my beautiful little clients with singing with birds, jumping with frogs, smelling the flowers and going on adventures and even fishing!

We do this session every year so if you missed it this year, send me your e-mail and I will make sure you aren’t left out next year!

Ring Dance Morgan | High School Portraits Virginia Beach

• May 24th, 2016 •

It is ALWAYS an honor to photograph the Myers family. Recently, I was honored to photograph the beautiful Morgan for her Junior Ring Dance, with her handsome date Brandon.

I have been photographing Morgan for years, I think she was in elementary school when we began, and this summer we will be scheduling her SENIOR PORTRAITS!

I have been so blessed by the Myers family and to see Morgan all grown up and so beautiful, well it’s like seeing my own daughter growing up. Once so insecure and camera shy, it is so nice to see her, not just comfortable in her own skin, but ROCKING who she is becoming!

I love my job and people like the Myers family are a big reason why! Check out Morgan and Brandon’s pictures and then read below a testimony from Morgan’s mom Christy.

SENIOR PICTURES are coming up for Morgan and I can’t believe its already time to plan for this moment! Wow, so thankful one more of my kids making moves towards her dreams.
With that said I need to brag about our family photographer Devon who owns Devon Shanor Photography.
She has been there for our family’s every move; family pictures when we started over from divorce, back to school pictures, becoming sessions, ring dance, Prom, Senior pictures, Santa pictures on the beach every year, and we are currently working a cake bash for my 40th birthday… you name it she can do it and make it happen. We would be lost without Devon.
She knows my kids inside and out when it comes to pictures, she know my divas, my shy kid, my I don’t want to do this kid and she works with them all and makes it fun every time.
If you have a senior coming up Devon should be your FIRST Choice. I get this question a lot “Is she expensive?” Well I’m gonna answer that “NO SHE ISNT!” Some may think so, BUT I will say this the people that do are used to places like Olan Mills, Walmart, Portrait Innovations, etc where you have to go to a studio, get a few pre-made backdrops, set poses and prices. With Devon we get to pick location (and even poses if we want to do something crazy!) we’ve had so many differnt nature locations; just when I think we’ve done them all we find somewhere new! We’ve done the beach, Norfolk Pagoda, fields, and state parks… the possibilities are endless.
My other reason for choosing Devon, and only her, is I’ve personally have two very bad experiences with going to another photographer. one of them being for senior pictures for my daughter Katie. We hired a cheaper person for her senior pictures, thinking maybe we would get some amazing portraits art a cheaper price. Well, let me just say um…. it was awful! The pictures were blurry, the poses were horrible, she was a mom with a camera nothing more! Needless to say, we begged Devon to fit Katie in and we had them done right. Devon was wonderful about the whole thing. She did an amazing job and while I spent more than I wanted, I learned that I will never again trust anyone with my families memories except Devon.
*Side note: We had a house fire in 2014, the year my daughter graduated and we lost all of our flash drives (digital images) from every one of our sessions. Yes all of them, including those senior pictures. When I called Devon Shanor Photography crying she reminded me all my images were safe she had them all. I lost nothing and wasn’t out all the money for pictures that I could never replace. Well, I was out all of the images I had taken BEFORE Devon, the ones from Walmart and Portrait innovations, they were burned up in the fire and I had no way to replace them. But I didn’t lose the last 10 years of my family growing.
ALL OF THIS TO SAY THANK YOU MY FRIEND WE LOVE YOU!!!!! SENIORS THIS IS THE LIFE PHOTOGRAPHER YOU WANT TO SAVE YOUR MEMORIES!

Stretching Myself as a Photographer | Personal

• May 18th, 2016 •

I just returned from The Mid-Atlantic Regional School of Professional Photography (MARS) in New Jersey. It is a school I have been attending for the last seven years to stretch and grow myself as a family and portrait photographer. I love spending time with other professional photographers. Often, we will talk about WHY we became photographers and I have found that my story into becoming a professional photographer is often different than others. Most of my peers fell in love with the ART of photography. They began taking pictures at a young age and learned to develop film in a darkroom, excited by the process of photography. They often began by taking pictures of flowers, sunsets, landscapes, etc. Often that love of photography transferred into taking pictures of people. They seem to all have a deep appreciation and love for art of all kinds. They love visiting museums and often are skilled as artists with a pen, paper or paintbrush as well as behind a camera. They are passionate about art.

My story is different. I didn’t have a camera in my hand growing up and I’ve never developed film in a darkroom. I don’t often visit museums and I never did very well in art class. If you ask me to draw a dog, it might end up looking more like a horse… or a bunny. I fell in love with photography as a TOOL to capture love. I LOVE people. I am passionate about people and the connections between them. I began photography because I wanted to capture the love of family, the strength and passion in a marriage, the love of parents for their children, the connections between siblings, the transition of a young man or woman as they graduate high school and the beauty of new life in a newborn. THAT for me is the art I am passionate about. Photography for me is so exciting because it allows to to take those moments and preserve them forever.

That being said, I don’t shoot landscapes, flowers, trees, inanimate objects very often. I often will see a beautiful landscape and think “That is beautiful, I wish I had a family or couple here so I could create a beautiful portrait.” I notice the beauty, but to me, it would be made more beautiful if I could incorporate the love and connection of people into the scene.

Recently, I reconnected with an old friend who is an amazing artist in multiple different mediums. We had some long discussions about art and the definition of an “artist.” He inspired me to stretch myself and try to expand my view of art through my own photography. Don’t get me wrong, I see so much beauty and talent in landscape photographers, I have some friends who are incredibly talented in that field! I am in awe of what they capture! I just have a hard time myself bringing that same beauty to life behind my own camera.

Like I said, my friend encouraged me to try and stretch myself, and see beauty, vision and perspective in way that DON’T include people. Since I was going to be at MARS in Cape May NJ, a gorgeous place to photograph landscapes, old Victorian homes, animals, boats, etc, I decided to take him up on the challenge.

IT WAS HARD! I am so used to having a vision of what I want to photograph before I start, a vision that ALWAYS includes people. To just walk around and try to find inspiration in the objects around me… that was hard! I only really had one day to work on this personal project, and that day, it was raining and foggy. So my go-to sunrise or sunset pictures were out.

I’m definitely not ready to start selling postcards, but thought I’d share a little piece of myself with you. I feel like a brand new photographer again, as I definitely have a lot of room to grow here, but it’s important to stretch yourself and grow. Here’s me growing…

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