Charlotte NC and Fort Mill SC Photography | Children's Portrait Photographer Becca Bond | Newborn | Baby | Family Portraits

i was invited to photograph for charlotte parent magazine a story of the families and babies that work on nascar driver jamie mcmurray’s car in the race.  apparently there was a huge baby boom this year– 6 new babies and one will be here any day!  amazing!

these families are adorable and the babies are so sweet!

there will be a big story in charlotte parent next month, so watch out for it!

they may be speedy tire changers, but i’ll challenge any of these fella’s to a speed diaper change!

big sis was filled with giggles and smiles for the camera and wanted to show me everything, including how high she could jump on her bed (sorry, mom!).  she was so sweet and even gave me a beautiful painting as i left her house in addition to the hugs!  what a wonderful way to begin my day!  little sister had classic ’second child’ syndrome…. super laid-back, go with the flow baby, a dream to photograph!  both sisters had bright blue eyes and heartfelt smiles and i just fell in love with them!  

So I take credit for the brilliant idea of having two headstrong toddlers decorate cookies with all kinds of sprinkles.  While I must admit it was a great photo opp, the mess was pretty bad!  One canister of sprinkles thrown onto the floor (by my Willow!) I am STILL finding tiny pink balls rolling around.  Not sure who ate more cookie dough- the girls or my dogs.  I’m pretty positive one of my dogs consumed at least 4 raw cookies.  This is life with kids.  It’s always exciting, even a little messy, but definitely yummy!

Dear sweet little newborn B

When your mother called me to tell you that you arrived and schedule your portrait, she was so happy that I could feel her glowing through the phone.  She said that you just fit right into the family, your sister adores you and takes good care of you, and you are the perfect little teddy bear.  I could not wait to meet you!!!

Everything she told me was so true.  You are a beautiful, perfect baby.  I just melted when I saw you, and I loved holding you.  You were one of the most mellow little ones I’ve ever worked with.  You loved your sister’s snuggles….and you slept like a champ, a photographer’s dream come true for a newborn!

You are surrounded by love, both your mommy and daddy and big sis.  I can’t wait to watch you grow!  Just don’t do it too fast!

XOXO…. Becca

Dear New Babies…

I was so happy to have met you!  Your beautiful auntie found me and felt like I would be worthy of making your very first portraits, a very special thing indeed!  The day that I met you, you were surrounded by your great, big, loving, Italian family.  I photographed you on a cold winter day, but we had plenty of cuddles to keep you warm!  When one of you began to fuss, your big brother would help to soothe you.  He loves you so much and is going to teach you so much as you grow!  Your family all helped to care for you and I don’t think your auntie or your grandma wanted to put you down for a second.

Thank you for being so sweet, so new, and so perfectly *you*!  BOTH of you!

XOXO…. Becca

It’s so hard to believe that these pictures were taken a few short days ago.  The weather has changed a lot since then and we are all in sweaters with the heat kicked on, making that fresh heat smell.  I love that smell.  It’s like the coziness of fall.  My amazing child photographer friend, Alicia, and I took our kids to the Cherry Place Farm in Rock Hill.  Being photo mommies, we of course brought our cameras in tow.  What a beautiful place!  They have animals and even let you feed them, a very talkative donkey, a corn maze, a hayride that takes you to a pumpkin patch, a pumpkin hospital where you can adopt and paint your pumpkin, a big table filled with corn kernels and sifters that provides hours of entertainment for toddlers and younger kids.  And tractors you could ride.  And a rocking chair.  The best thing about it is the owners are so lovely.  If any parents are looking for something fun to do this fall, I could not recommend this more!

With her bff, Olivia.  At least I want them to be BFF’s and I think Olivia’s mommy does too.  Willow just needs to learn to be nicer and gentler to her friends.

Willow’s rockin her rain boots with doggies on them.  She is obsessed with them and wanted to wear them to bed.  I think the doggies have something to do with that.

I swear that I fall in love with each family that I photograph.  This family is no exception.  I love the relationship of these brothers.  Their personalities are so different but they absolutely adore each other.  This is one lucky mother, look at how adorable these boys are!

They were one of those families that were up for anything I suggested.  I love those type of families!

And no family fun day would be complete without a little Dad abuse.  I actually got a little bit concerned for a second, especially when Dad said he couldn’t get up.  But he did, eventually.  

and then Mom made it all better

awww… I love it when people ask me for couple photos during a family session!  I love to see love!

When I met the older sister, she told me to call her Chrysanthemum.  I really don’t know why, it’s not her name or anything.  But what a cool name it would be, huh?  So I obliged.  These girls were a riot.  I had a really hard time narrowing down pictures of them simply because they were all packed full of personality.  These are kids the way that kids should be.  Silly, goofy, adorable, and just plain *fun*!

and I have to post this on my blog just because it cracks me up every time I look at it.  I asked the girls to show each other some love and this is what I get…

I always love to photograph boys.  Truthfully, I am a total girlie girl.  I have been since I was born.  As a child, I loved to play dress-up, have tea parties, and mothered about 10 Cabbage Patch dolls (this was the 1980’s we’re talking about).  I actually did not own a pair of jeans until I was almost 10 years old- I refused to wear anything but dresses.  And now I have a little girlie girl of my own to raise in the tradition.

So, as a photographer, working with girls comes quite naturally to me.  Boys, on the other hand, are so different.  They are rough and tumble, they love to climb, explore, and run.  But they also have these really sweet, tender moments.  Especially with their mommies.  It always melts me when I see it.  I love to capture their expressions once I’m able to engage them with the camera.  It sometimes takes a high-five hand slap, race (they ALWAYS beat me!), or helping them find a frog or bug.  As much fun as it is for them, it’s fun for me too, like discovering a whole new side of myself.