Happy New Year!!!

Thank you to all my wonderful clients for an awesome 2011.  Looking forward to 2012.  Celebrate tonight!!!!  Happy New Year!!!

Family Time - Merry Christmas and Happy 2012!

Merry Christmas from Our House to Yours!

As many pictures that I take of other families, I don't do as good of a job of frequently getting pictures of my own family.   That is probably another one to add to my list of resolutions for the new year.  Here is a picture of my kids (yes, even my 4 legged, furry kid - the biggest baby of all)

Hope you are enjoying your Christmas day with your family.  I am loving every minute.  We have hung out, played with our Christmas toys, baked, will watch a movie later and I am still in my pajamas!!  

Merry Christmas

and 

looking forward to helping you capture your 2012 memories!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas with your family.  From our house to yours.

Thanks Boys!!! - Sneak Peak Photo Session

Thanks Boys for being such great sports.  There is nothing more precious to a Mom than a picture of her boys (ALL her boys).  You guys did such a great job getting your pictures taken today. This turned out great!  I love taking pictures of these boys.  We had a perfect weather day to get in a few family shots.  I just wanted to get one on the Blog for Mom to see what a great job her boys did getting their pictures taken.

Fall Family Pictures

I love taking family pictures in the fall.  The colors are so great.  I had so much fun with this family taking their pictures.  You can't tell but our biggest challenge was dodging the bike riders, walkers, and runners as we tried to capture these family shots. I know they look like they popped of the pages of a magazine. - so wonderfully color coordinated and I didn't have to work hard at all to get great poses and smile - a family of naturals in front of the camera.  But the best part is they are such great friends of mine and love being with them - we just had a great shoot with some fun great pictures for the holidays.  Happy Holidays!

Trucks & Dirt, shades of Blue - little boys are angels, even at 2

I met up with this little boy and his family to take his "2" year old pictures.  And he is a little angel - he made me smile and melted my heart the minute I met him.  I loved spending my morning with him.  He is 100 % boy and I love it!!!!  I don't even know how many rocks he collected today and had to have his chapstick in his pocket like his daddy.  But I to add a few pictures with him and his Mom, because that boy loves his momma!!  He has such a fun personality (but don't worry, he did throw in a couple of 2 year old "no's", so he is normal) - he is so much fun!  Thanks for a fun day!!!!

I know - Isn't he the cutest thing with that jacket and his shades!!!

Beautiful blue eyes and dimples in his cheeks when he smiles that will kill the ladies one day!

There is nothing like a mother's love!

What a GREAT age!!!  Thanks for letting me capture such a wonderful time in his life. The two's will test your patience, but love and cherish every minute of it.

Family Fun!

Fall days, families, dogs at the park - does it get any better than that?  We had a GREAT day taking family pictures with this family.  We could not have ordered a more perfect weather day.  We could have stayed all day.  I was so much fun.  I love these kids - what fun ages!!  I love the snaggle tooth smile.  Here are a few pictures of our fun photo shoot.

It's a Boy's Life !

Perfect fall day for pictures.  I admire this Mom so much.  She has done what I have not done with my boys and that is to have their pictures taken doing what they love to do and capturing them in this moment in time. As Mom's we all want to slow the clock down and bottle up this time with our kids.  Our oldest boys are the same age and will be going off to High School next year, so you really want to cherish that time with them.  It goes by so fast, but you wouldn't change a thing and you would do it all over again in a heart beat.  We had a really great day taking pictures - these boys did such a great job and were so much fun to take pictures of.  We had to re-schedule this shoot - and it was meant to be because we could not have ordered a more perfect day.  Here are a few pictures from their shoot.  These boys ROCK!  We got some awesome pictures that I know their parents will cherish forever.

And (unlike my boys these days), they did a great job taking a few together.  Isn't this the best picture?  I love it!

And Mom is so awesome, she says that their favorite thing to do all together is read.  They have been doing this since the kids were really little, so she brought their books and we captured this special time between a mother and her boys.  I love this picture.  You can tell these boys love their mom and I know that this picture will be very special to her.

I am so inspired now to take pictures of my boys and make sure that I am in some with them.  Special memories - thanks for letting me be the one to capture these memories and document this time in these boys' life.

More picture from Duke Gardens

I am working through the edits for my family photo shoot at Duke Gardens and I just love these pictures so much that I had to add a few more to the blog.
The cutest kids ever.....

And Mom and Dad, I am so proud that we finally were able to get a picture of both of them just by themselves.  You can't even imagine how may couples say they can't remember when they had their picture taken together - except for their wedding picture.  Wow - what a great looking couple!!

Fun Fall Day at Duke Gardens

When you meet someone new, do you ever have the feeling like you have known them forever?  This is exactly how I felt this morning working with this family on their family pictures.  They were referred to me by a good friend of mine - now I know why she was so excited for us to meet each other; she knew that we would instantly hit it off.  And we did!!  We all had a really fun, relaxed time taking pictures and enjoying ourselves at Duke Gardens.  I just really enjoyed their company and love their kids (the most fun, well behaved kids you will ever meet).   Note to self: next time bring some bread for the ducks, so they don't eat all the corn chips.  Here is a little sneak peek at their pictures.

Family is what Life is all About

You realize the more that you live, that really what matters the most in life is your family.  It is who you are and where you are from.  There is no one on earth that loves you more.  The way you smile, your hair, if you are tall or short - this family is the perfect example.  They would get ready to pose and somone would find something wrong with themselves, then soon the others would chime in reassuring them that they looked great.  The only thing that I saw when I looked through my camera was a beautiful family that loved each other so much.  They really enjoy being with each other  - having fun, being silly,  and letting each other know, without ever saying the words, that they mean the world to each other.  I was so honored to share my morning with this family - such great friends and I am so thankful the Lord let our lives cross paths because my life is much richer now having this family as a part of it.  Thank you to this family for letting me be that person to record this time in your life. Life changes so fast (and our schedules get hectic) and it is important to capture these moments together whenever we can.  Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.
When you look at your life, the greatest happinesses are family happinesses.  ~Joyce Brothers

Fun in Duke Gardens

One of my favorite places to visit is Duke Gardens.  So I was so excited when this High School Senior wanted to shoot her Senior pictures there.  It was such a beautiful morning and I loved working with her and her family as we traveled ALL over these gardens and took pictures in almost every spot.  I had such a great time!!!  I could have stayed there all day, but it was family fun day which brought in the crowds.  Okay maybe I should clarify it was "free" family fun day.  No need to say more - fortunately we were done with our shoot before the strollers rolled in.  She is such a naturally beautiful person that it is so hard to pick my favorite picture.  Usually I have a favorite, but this one is tough to pick, so I will put a few out on the blog, but all of hers are just beautiful.

Class of 2012

As this week comes to a close,  my clients that are seniors this year are in my thoughts.  It has been a long time ago (won't tell exactly how long) since my senior year in high school, but I still remember the excitement of the first day of school that year.  All the activities/events and the attention of being the senior class.  I am hoping my seniors soak it all in so years from now you remember and smile at the wonderful memories. In recognition of the starting of school for the Class of 2012, I thought I would post some more pictures from my last senior shoot.  She is gorgeous - maybe a career in modeling????  We had such a blast taking pictures that day.  She is such a beautiful person and I loved every minute of this photo shoot.  Hope you have the best school year ever!

Tell the World Your Story

I hope everyone that started school today had a wonderful first day of school. I love seeing those first day of school pictures (wait till you pull them out 30 years later - those are the best!!)  I can't help but think of my client who is out of state starting her first year of college. I am so excited for her as she takes off on this new journey in her life.  But she knows there are many of us "back home" thinking of her.  So I thought I would share some more from her photo shoot. Really these are only a very, very few - we had so many they are hard to showcase them all and there were so many ones that I love that it is really hard for me to choose.  When I do a consult, I make sure that I share my thoughts on how I like to take pictures and what I try to capture.  I am all about showing who you are, your interests/hobbies and letting people  see your inner being and beauty through the pictures.  She was incredible to photograph.  We connected from the first meeting and she showed up on the day of the shoot and she kicked her shoes off at the car and we clicked picture after picture.  She is naturally a beautiful person, but she really relaxed and let her true self shine through.  These are the pictures that I know she and her family cherish forever because every time I look at them I smile because they tell me her story.

The Best Year of School - Seniors Rule!

Summertime is getting ready to come to a close and we are all starting to think about school getting ready to start.  For this beautiful friend of mine, she is getting ready to start one of the most exciting school years --her Senior year.  We went out today to take her senior portraits.  Raleigh has been miserably hot lately, but we were so grateful that it wasn't as hot as it has been.  And you sure couldn't even tell we were a little warm in the Raleigh summer sun because every picture she took was beautiful.  This is just a little sneak peek.  This one is for Mom.  And I want to give a shout out to her "manager" (aka Sister), she was awesome and helped us with all the little details (even down the beautiful shoes).  You guys are so awesome and so much fun!!!  Thanks -

Smile and Others will Smile too!

It has been a really hot summer in Raleigh this year and this day was no exception, but you could not tell by this beautiful young lady.  She was so cool and a perfect natural in front of the camera.  She is in the process of preparing to go off to college in a few weeks and this photo session was a perfect way to capture this wonderful time in her life.  We just had the best time capturing who she is, what she loves and her beauty and joy for life.  I could have stayed and taken pictures of her all day long.  This is just one of many beautiful pictures of her.  I am still working on edits, but wanted to do one blog post about this photo shoot because I am still smiling thinking about it.  I love this picture - there are certain pictures that move me and this is one - it makes me feel happy and I catch myself smiling every time I see it.  I will post more of this gorgeous photo shoot later.

A Beautiful Princess

I had such a fun photo shoot this morning.  A friend of mine contacted me about doing a photo shoot for her daughter with the plan to get some black and white headshots to build a storyboard that was similar to one that she has for her son when he was younger.  I was so excited about this project - trying to find the right lighting, background, borders etc. I love this family, so I was so excited to have them over this morning for my first photo shoot at my house.  I have known this family for several years now and so this beautiful princess has been my "girl" (since I only have boys).  We had a blast - but really for her, it was all about the Saturday morning cartoons at Ms. Holly's house.   I put these pictures to a slide show as a fun way to share them - isn't she such a beautiful little girl?  Enjoy the pictures!

Sneak Peek - Senior 2011

I had a blast on Saturday taking pictures of this BEAUTIFUL High School Senior.  We had so much fun.  I will post more pictures later, but here is a little sneak peek.

Photos of Me!

Well, every photographer has a hard time getting in front of the lens.  We are so comfortable behind it, that is  out of our comfort zone to switch rolls.  But it is important sometimes to experience it, so we are reminded what is going through our clients minds or in this case mine,  (does my hair look right?, is my shirt hanging the right way?, is my smile too big? ..... etc.)  I needed some new pictures of myself to update my website, so I turned to my great friend and co-shooter for many, many years.  We work the same way behind the camera, so I new that she could catch me as I am - and she did!!!  Thanks JC!!

Life is about doing what you Love!

You know my photography started with sports, so I love when I get the opportunity to photograph someone doing their sport.   I have never photographed horseback riding or hockey.  But had the pleasure this fall to do both.  These pictures are of a brother and sister doing their sport.  Their Mom contacted me in the fall about her wonderful idea to capture pictures of her children doing their sport as a gift for her husband for Christmas.  I know her husband loved his Christmas gift because each child's love for what they did came out in every picture.  I cannot even describe in words what a wonderful experience I had watching these children as they do what they love and capturing that love and joy for their sport on camera.  Every time I see these pictures I smile because this is why I started my photography business and where my heart is - and that is to capture a moment  that shows who you are, tells your story by bringing out the very best in you and capturing it in a way that you will cherish forever.

Getting Caught up

Still working on going back and adding some more pictures from the shoots that I did before Christmas.  I have been using my downtime (defined as: not photographing - because I really don't have any "downtime") to study, ready and learn more about the technology and the business.  So I am working on getting the flow down, but for now there might be some late posts to the website/facebook, but I am working on getting everything updated and going back to update some photos.  LOVE these photos.

You will love these pictures.  I posted Dad and Baby in the Fall, but this is the whole family and some of my favorite shots.  There is nothing like family photos in the fall.  We had a blast taking these and enjoying each others company.

The New Look of Holly Hodges Photogaphy

I finally finished all the paperwork (taxes - yuck!) on my desk and my last monster photography project, so I am ready to face the new year.  So, my first project is to update my blog and my website.  I have so many sessions that I haven't even shared with you yet and I need to refresh the look of my website.  To begin the "refresh" project, I started with my logo.  So, here is the new look of Holly Hodges Photography.  I will be working on and  rolling out all the "new" in the next couple of week.  I think this must be the start of spring fever - cleaning up and ready for the new growth of Spring time.

Beautiful Inside and Out

This was a fun photo shoot. It had been really cold on Monday and Tuesday of that week so being in the 40's felt warm. We are great friends so we had a blast just being together like we always do. I don't think there is a bad picture of this family - they are beautiful. I think they all could be models. They are not only beautiful on the outside, they are the most wonderful people you will ever meet - so beautiful on the inside too. Loved the pictures from this shoot and loved their Christmas card that they made from these pictures.