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Ella Grace’s family has a history of having professional portraits made when a child turns 10. She is, I believe, the 3rd or 4th generation on her mother’s side to follow this lovely tradition.

I think it’s such a neat idea. I’ve written before about how the years between early teenhood and high school graduation tend to not be as well documented as the younger, chubbier, dimplier years. I love the idea of mindfully commemorating and celebrating a decade of laughter, running, playing-being *them*.

At ten, the jawline is starting to cast shadows, the elbows and anklebones are etched, the eyes are rolling, and the limbs attenuate. But the smiles are still those of our babies.

We started our Charleston portrait session near the Doc Street Theater, and worked our way down to the Waterfront Park.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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This family photo session reminded me of a moment from my own parenting history.

When my middle daughter was two months old, I gently placed her into my sweet two year old son’s lap and snapped a few images of them together. When I announced, “We’re done!” my son nodded with satisfaction, and tumbled the baby onto the grass. There was no malice involved. He was just a roughshod two year old boy who’d been told he didn’t have to hold something anymore.

Jane didn’t even cry, she just lay there, face smushed on the lawn, making this hilarious, confused “Meeeh. Meeehhhhhh” sound as I quickly scooped her up.

The classic posed images are lovely heirlooms, but the images that encapsulate the heartwarming chaos of this era in the Chandler’s life, when the older children are full of love and enthusiasm but age-appropriately short on self-control, are the ones that crack me up. Finger to the eyeball! Yank your brother’s ear! Cautionary parental hands entering the frame!

Love it all. Look at all these beautiful babies. Blessed.

 

The Chandlers’ home in Bell Hall Plantation is stunning. I love that it’s a gorgeous design that still looks and feels homey, and reflects the reality that toddlers live there. (See the crayon on the wall?)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Proud grandparents are the best! I photographed Carolyn’s family when her sons, daughter in law, and granddaughter were in town to visit. It was important for her to have time with her first grandchild documented. I love the colors this family wore. Add green grass, a lovely sunset, and a beach ball, and we had the perfect photo session.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I met up with the King crew over the holidays so that they could get a Charleston family portrait while everyone was in town.

We’d put a lot of thought into this session. Wardrobe opinions, plans to change to a beach location after we took some photos downtown, etc.

Approximately 11 minutes into our session, the sky opened up. Linda, who’s a television producer and knows about getting things done, said “sometimes you just need to punt.”

We didn’t get the golden beach frolic-y light we originally wanted, but we got to watch model trains go around a mountain. And hey-that’s a win!

 

 

 

 

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…

 

Alex and Michael are such a lovely couple. They moved to Australia (his homeland) just after the wedding.

Recently I delivered their wedding album to Alex’s parents’ house in Mount Pleasant, so that they could take take it along when they flew over to see the newlyweds.

As we were flipping through the pages, Alex’s Mom referred to them as “the kids.” I remember her saying the same thing at the wedding. I found it to be ridiculously charming. Even grown and married, Alex will always be their baby girl, and her husband is now one of their honorary “kids” too.

 

I must be doing something right, because I get to meet the best families.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A guest spotted a rainbow outside after the first dances

 

 

 

 

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C.R. turned 11 yesterday. He’s a football-loving, Minecrafting, guitar-strumming, didgeridoo-learning, reading-all-the-time all American boy.

 

(Did I mention the Minecrafting? Lots of Minecraft.)

 

And last week he received an award for a 100% on his South Carolina PASS standardized test writing section. I’m proud of that! A perfect score on a written essay is pretty awesome.

 

 

 

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…

 

Molly’s vision for her family session was to capture them having fun and being themselves.  And we did! I love the light, colors, humor and energy here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I’m always so proud to show off how friendly and polite Charlestonians are to out-of-towners.

When I’m meeting Brits, though, it’s a toss-up. There’s a witty good-naturedness to the English that wins me over every time.

The wonderful Potter family gathered in Charleston from Chicago and England for a wonderful vacation and a photo session to document the gang.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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…

 

I have a confession.

 

When I was planning my wedding, there were scarce options available on the web for inspiration. I used The Wedding Channel to gather ideas. Thinking about it now, it’s a wonder that Pinterest and wedding blogs didn’t get invented sooner, because it was a fairly inefficient planning tool. But the plus side was that all the women there read each others’ journals and many became friends.

I know this sounds like  chick lit, but it’s true: now, 12-ish years later, many of us are still in touch. Over the years the group has had meetups all over the country.

We’ve career trajectoried and marathoned and roller derbied and surrogate birthed triplets and published and cooked and cleaned and carpooled. We met Vince Vaughn in a restaurant in New Orleans. Some of us lost months of our sanity to babies who refused to sleep at night, and argued about how to turn that disaster around.  Others decided having a dog was more their speed. We’ve shelved Elves and planted gardens and learned to totter around and cope (or just given up) when, for heaven’s sake, every year, the heels get higher and higher. Feuds, bff’s, divorces, renovations, exotic vacations, incredible opportunities, and, sadly, departures.

 

We lost a hell of a woman to metastatic breast cancer in December. Quite possibly the wittiest, smartest, gorgeous-est one of us all.

 

A few of us decided to meet up in Beaufort to honor her.

And typical of our little subclan, our idea of collective grief involved handcrafted cocktails, great food, lots of laughs, and a viewing of I Love You, Man.

 

Laters on the menjay, dear C. You were a revelation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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