I like to give a little insight into the families I photograph. Well, this post would be entirely too long if I went into detail with this family. This is my cousin Kim. She’s 8 months older than me (and ironically her first born is 8 months older than my first born). We were raised as sisters. We each only had brothers (no offense K.C., Jesse, and Brett). But our moms were sisters and they wanted us to have a “sister”. So that’s what we are. We talk daily. We laugh. A LOT. In the past few years we’ve cried a lot too (mostly surrounding the diagnosis, treatment and passing of my mother, but also with the other numerous health issues that have plagued my otherwise healthy family). Kim and I have led similar, yet different lives. We were both dancers (although she an amazing jazz dancer, and I focused on ballet). We both were high school graduation speakers. We both went to the University of Florida (she went on to have a successful journalism career and reported and was awarded for her efforts). We got married within 3 months of each other. And had our babies about the same time too. Her husband, Penn, is truly the yin to her yang. Quite possibly the nicest guy you’ll ever meet. He also works in journalism and is the morning anchor in Raleigh for NBC 17. This is quite the talented family. But, they are about as humble as it gets (I’ve found that kids will do that to you. They don’t care what your resume, they’ll make a mess or a scene anywhere…). I went up last Christmas time to capture little Penn Charles as a newborn (as well as this fun session) in his first days and help Kim a bit (poor little guy had an awful case of reflux). I shared some of my baby calming techniques and tried to give Kim and Penn a little break. Kim and I only get to see each other a couple times a year, and if possible, I try to capture her family when I can. They are a special group. We did our session at Selby Gardens. That’s where Kim and Penn had their bridal session when they got married in 2005, and so it was nice to visit again. The weather was pretty darn gray when we shot our family session, but that didn’t stop the fun. If you know Kim and Penn, you know their personalities greet you first. And as you’ll see here, that applies to their kids as well. So we did a bit of posed, and a bit of fun too.
Here’s the Holderness family!
The little man is in that “catch me if you can” phase… Caught ya little man!
She makes it look effortless and beautiful, doesn’t she. Try not to hate her, she’s real, I promise.
The following is a series on their daughter Lola. She has the biggest personality fit into this 4 yr old body (turns 4 TODAY actually!). I swear I had a series of like 15 photos and not any frame had the same expression. I need her to move down here and be my model to scope locations. She’s SO fun.
