Last week, I drove down to Emerald Isle for an extended family/newborn session scheduled for Friday morning. I'll be honest: I was a little nervous... not because I wasn't super-excited about the shoot, but because there were several factors over which I had no control that had the potential to cause a bit of trouble. Number one, the weather was very iffy: 50% chance of thunderstorms at dawn when we were supposed to be getting beautiful sunrise photos on the beach; number two, my time was more limited than I like it to be when I'm shooting newborns, since with newborns there's never a guarantee that things will go quickly and/or easily. But someone was watching out for us, and dawn broke over a gorgeous, breezy, deserted beach...

We took advantage of the fact that Melissa's parents and sister were in from Kentucky to get the extended family portraits that Melissa & Mike never got at their wedding...

...then we went back to the house to photograph a baby whose face and disposition make me understand where people came up with the idea of cherubs. Those LIPS!

*Sigh.*

Melissa & Mike, thank you so much for inviting me down to photograph your family. I had a lovely time, not only working with you but seeing the beach one last time before winter sets in. I know you're making your long drive today, so I imagine you'll see these first on the less-than-ideal screens of your cell phones, but I wanted to get them to you as a little taste of some of the amazingness coming your way! Safe travels!

xox,

annemie