Caleb Newborn Photos :: Washington D.C.
Love, Family, Cabins, and Waterfalls :: Massachusetts
It’s the summer and I think it’s fitting to catch up on all of my blog posting. After all, I have stuff from last year I haven’t posted yet! Eeek! Here’s a few of my favorite photos from my trip to Massachusetts. My family and I went to several waterfalls in the surrounding area, saw my cousin’s beautiful wedding, and overall, just had a fantastic time exploring.
BY THE WAY, we stayed at the Woolman Hill Quaker Retreat Center (where the wedding was). It is a very peaceful and gorgeous place to vacation to and have events at. They have so many cute cabins to stay in.
Family Vermont Trip
Every other year, my family camps at Branbury State Park in Vermont during the summer. We always have a blast hiking, swimming, reading, playing games, visiting relatives, and visiting surrounding areas. Just in case you didn’t know, Branbury State Park is BEAUTIFUL. There are two sides of the park to camp at. One of the camping sides is more rugged, while the other side is a little bit more out in the open and closest to the lake.
One of our first hikes always involves hiking up to Lana Falls. It’s a short hike, but there is a rock cliff to view the surrounding mountains and the waterfall, while always super cold, is so much fun to swim around in. This particular time we hiked, though, it had rained quite a bunch prior to arriving. Therefore, the waterfall was extremely lively and a little bit on the dangerous side to jump in.
I’m not much of a landscape photographer (I have a lot to learn), but I wanted to try a few star gazing photographs. Apparently, it was prime time to be taking photographs because we were camping during the week of the Perseid Meteor Shower. I couldn’t have asked for better weather or a better time to star gaze!! There were no clouds in the sky, we were on the lake (and I hiked up the mountain to take a few photos), we saw the Milky Way, and a ton of shooting stars. It was perfect!
The next day we went to a falls we typically go to when we visit Vermont. It’s an easy hike in and the falls is huge! It is called Moss Glen Falls. We all had a ton of fun playing around in the water and I collected a few rocks, like I normally do. Also, Ethan really enjoyed picking up rocks out of the water and throwing them back in!
Gillian, Thad, and I also went to Strafford Falls and the Elizabeth Copper Mines. The Elizabeth Copper Mines is NOT a touristy place to go to. In fact, the locals were extremely hesitant on giving us directions to the mines. It took us about two hours to find it after talking to several people who gave us the wrong directions. Anyhow, we went on this super bumpy, in the middle of no-where “road”, parked the car, and just started hiking. Eventually, we found the mines. The water was a beautiful turquoise color. The cliffs didn’t seem to be incredibly safe (a lot of loose rocks), but we were careful and jumped off the cliffs.
One of my favorite parts of the trip was our time spent at Warren Falls! OMG, it is so GORGEOUS! There were so many different places and swim holes to play around in. We even slid off the rocks into the water like a slide. It was a cold day to spend swimming, but we all still had fun.
The last night at the park, we hung around the campground and the lake. Gillian and Thad attempted some synchronized swimming in addition to simulating the Loch Ness Monster. My sister, Sarah, was busy watching over Ethan at the time, but Thad clearly missed her being in the water with him (check out the black and white photos of him pretending she was next to him towards the end of the blog post). My aunt and her boyfriend stayed with my family for a few nights. They are always a ton of fun, as you can see by the last few photos of this post as well!
Super Smiley Cortland :: Durham, North Carolina
This kid has SO MUCH PERSONALITY! Cortland started the photo shoot off a little bit shy. He kept putting his hands to his face and sometimes over his mouth. However, by the end of the shoot, he was walking straight up to me, smiling his cute smile about a foot away from the camera!
It was a gorgeous day outside at Duke Gardens and Cortland’s parents did a wonderful job getting him to play with his slinky, throw acorns, pick up rocks, smell the flowers, and pose. One of his mom’s kept on saying “simply amazing” (or something of that sort from what I remember) and overemphasizing the amazing part. Cortland would start cheesing hard and laughing EVERY single time. It was so funny. He is definitely an athletic, goofy kid, with lots of energy. At the end of the shoot, he gave kisses out towards the lake. It was…..simply amazing. =)
The Ku Family :: Raleigh, North Carolina
Although it was another cold day out at Pullen Park in Raleigh, North Carolina back when I had the Ku’s family photo session, things ran smoothly. The sky had intermittent rays of sunshine bursting through the clouds, families were having fun playing with their children on the playground, and the Ku family toughed it out when I asked them to walk to random places amongst the park. Trust is key during a photo shoot and Paul and Laura did nothing but that. I am thankful to have friends and clients like them! Landon is growing so quickly and I am thrilled I get to capture his growth and his parents love for him on camera.
The Beautiful Helmer Family :: Raleigh, North Carolina
Here I am catching up on some blog posts from earlier this year. I know I should be more on top of these things and it’s cliche to say I’ve been busy, but I HAVE BEEN BUSY. lol. Juggling athletic directing, teaching, camps, photography, and trying to slip in an occasional weekend adventure keeps me highly occupied. Anyhow, I had a blast photographing the Helmer family back in February at Pullen Park in Raleigh, North Carolina. Aurora is such a sweetheart and I absolutely LOVE her facial expressions. Despite it being cold out on the day of the shoot, Aurora was mostly all smiles. If she wasn’t smiling, she was putting on this curiosity, “are you crazy” look. Gillian was helping me out. Thus, she was pretty much dancing and making goofy faces at Aurora the entire time. Be sure to scroll through the entire post. The last picture is one of my favorites. No worries, that is a cheeto in her mouth (not a cigar)!
