Matthew McCoy 1970-2012

On Monday, December 17th, 2012, the world lost a special soul.  My brother Matt passed away leaving behind a beautiful wife, Dana, and the sweetest, prettiest little daughter, Zelda, only 5 years old.  Matt was special to everyone who knew him, even a stranger was a friend.  He was truly the funniest, happiest, most positive guy I've known.  He will be so missed and Christmas will never be the same without him.  I am posting some of my favorite recent photos of him.  The ones in the snow were of the BEST Christmas of our adult lives.  It snowed on Christmas, an unusual event for North Carolina, and we sledded all day until we were black and blue.  I'll never forget that day!

This photo epitomizes Matt, always laughing, always goofing.  He was so banged up.  I've never laughed harder in my life than when I was with him.  

I'll see you when I get to Heaven, Matt.  Until then.......

Christmas Cookies 2012

I love Christmas cookies.  In fact, I love making them more than eating them.  Now that Gracie is five I knew she would have fun making the dough AND decorating but I didn't realize how creative and controlled she would be in the decorating department.   I snapped a few shots with my Hipsmatic and thought they turned out pretty cute; had to share.

 How cute is this Gingerbread Man?  Precious to me. 

 And now the fruit of her labor...... Mmmmmm!

Messy?  Yep.  Vacuuming sprinkles for days?  You bet.  Memories created?  The BEST!

Santa!!!

I love a Santa photo.  Gracie is 5 now and this may be her last one.  I just had to share.  She still believes and is so excited for Christmas but also daily acknowledges that Jesus is the real reason we celebrate Christmas and St. Nick is just a wonderful man who celebrates Jesus' birthday by giving kids all over the world a toy.  I can live with that.  Gracie thinks that Santa only brings ONE gift and mommy and daddy give the rest.  This keeps Christmas a little less commercial in our home.  

Happy Birthday Jesus, and Ho, Ho, Ho!

Santa portrait by Steve Norman Photography, Salisbury, NC

Heath Brothers {Rowan County Portrait Photographer}

 In all of my holiday busyness I forgot to post this darling shoot I did last week.  It's on my Facebook Photography page but I've neglected my blog lately.  These are the Heath boys and they were a lot of fun to photograph.  In between shots the twins were climbing on EVERYTHING they could possibly climb on.  Boys are very different from girls, no?

I love this portrait of the three of them.  Aren't they dapper?

Love this!

Boys will be boys......

Thanks Heath family for the privilege of capturing childhood memories.  

Our Christmas Present House 2012

Since the early 80s Nell Bullard wrapped her home up like a HUGE Christmas Gift and continued doing so until her passing.  Her kids, who sold us their childhood home, left this giant bow and ribbon for us in the attic just in case we wanted to carry on the tradition.  We did!  Let me present to you the Spieler's Christmas Present Home.  It took Rob and my dad four hours to hang but it really paid off.  In fact, we even put an identical wreath on the front door the way Nell used to, and this photo of our home today looks exactly like the photo of our home back in 1987 when it was featured on the front page of the Salisbury Post, our town's newspaper.  We hope to carry on the tradition for years to come but we might have to create a new bow and ribbon that is more lightweight and weather friendly.  Check back December 2013 for our updated design.  

Merry Christmas!

Studio vs Natural Light Christmas Portrait

Happy December 1st!  It's not too late to take a beautiful portrait of your kids or family for your 2012 Christmas card.  

Why take your children to a studio where they can become intimidated and uncomfortable?  We were determined to get the "perfect" christmas card shot and took Gracie to a kiddie portrait studio back when she was 18 months.  This was the result.  She SCREAMED the entire session and even mommy, daddy and Nana couldn't calm her nerves.  We were shocked that our unsuccessful session still cost us $100!  I walked out of there numb and disappointed.  

We did end up using both of these photos that year for our card because it was hilarious and of course now we love these shots!  But that was a lot of dough to drop to learn that my child hates studio lights and photographers.

Below is the shot I took and will use this year.  Of course Gracie is 5 and Mommy took the photo but see how pretty and relaxed she is in sunset lighting?  You know how I love sunset lighting.  Kids just respond really well to their own or familiar environments.  I've never had a child not give me a beautiful shot when shot outdoors or in their own home.  

24 days until Christmas, not too late to shoot and order.  

Our Home: Spring/Summer vs Fall/Winter

I love seasons!  I love to document seasons with my camera.  Look at the immense difference in the lighting on my home.  In the summer we are almost completely shaded from sun up to sun down which is good because it is HOT here, but in the winter we have full sun morning to evening and the interior of my home is much, much brighter.  I look forward to every season here, but they sure make the year fly by.

Below is the view of the sky from my front yard.

Here is the view of sky in winter.  Hard to believe the difference.  Same trees, same view.

Below is late spring, early summer.  Almost all the leaves are full but we can still see the sky at this point of year.  Again, same tree as the first two shots.

Here is our home in June.  So lush and green.

Here is our home in late November.  Full blown sun.  Stark.  But a beauty all unto itself.  We can actually see neighbor's homes and headlights driving at night. 

This post is mostly for my California friends and family but I also love documenting seasons for me!  I didn't have seasons for 44 years so I am in awe of them.  Well, unless you consider brush fire, earthquake, flood and drought, oh and riots, to be seasons.

Claire Turns 3 {Rowan County Portrait Photographer}

This is Claire and she just turned 3.  I love little girls, they are so sweet and fun to photograph.  She loves flowers and even picked a few during our shoot which really added fun color and interest.  Good thing we shot in a garden.  

The following are a series of 3 which I edited with a vintage feel.

Doesn't she have a great profile?  So stylish too.  Well, her mommy had something to do with that.

Thanks Claire for being such a good little girl and giving your mommy beautiful shots for her birthday.

Family Christmas Portraits {Rowan County Portrait Photographer}

Happy Thanksgiving! 

 I love Thanksgiving.  It's one of my favorite holidays simply because there is no stress involved... at least never for me as I have never hosted Thanksgiving dinner (sorry mom).  

Starting tomorrow the nation will be ALL about Christmas.  In a matter of days we will all start receiving Christmas cards.  What will you do for your Christmas card this year?  Have you considered a family portrait?  Or a portrait of the kids to send to family and friends?  I just shot a couple family portraits this week in time for these families to order their Christmas cards.  I wanted to share them because they are beautiful families.

Stunning!  Does this family come with the frame?

While I love a beautifully posed family, sometimes candid shots are my favorite.  I love the B&W below of tickle-time!

I love the setting below, in front of a well known fountain in our downtown.  We shot this one right at sunset, facing sunset in fact.  Isn't the lighting beautifully reflected in their faces?   You know how I feel about sunset lighting.  A gorgeous family; I wish my own family had a shot like this.

Well, off to peel potatoes.......

The Gorgeous Cain's {Rowan County Portrait Photographer}

Look at who landed in my lap?  The Cain's, a gorgeous couple who lives down the street.  This was Devin's idea to shoot at this bridge and I love it!  See yesterday's post of their silhouette on this bridge at sunset.  I love this shot of young love (married only 2.5 years).  

Next we shot at some train tracks; fortunately the train wasn't running during our shoot.  We had a blast!  I love the playfulness of this shot; aren't they having fun?  

Have I mentioned how much I love sunset lighting?

 Sometimes a shot just calls for black & white.  It always tells a story.

Don't hate them because they're beautiful because they are actually so sweet and genuine!  Aren't they GORGEOUS?  I mean, really!

We also shot some darling Christmas photos but I'll wait until after they print and send their cards so as not to ruin their surprise.  Please return in December for that reveal.  

Off to another shoot of a cutie brother/sister.  Stay tuned......

Bridge at Sunset {Rowan County Portrait Photographer}

 I've been up to my eyeballs this week in photo shoots and editing.  I feel blessed though.  I just had to post a couple shots from today's shoot.  I don't have the client's permission yet to post so I'm just posting shots where you can't see their faces.  Once I get the A-OK, I'll post more because this couple is GORGEOUS!  

This covered bridge was the client's idea.  I just love when a client has great idea!  It sure makes my job easier.  Isn't the sunset lighting beautiful?

Please check back this week.... LOTS of new clients to show off.

Backyard Setting

Can you imagine this setting in your own backyard?  When I arrived to do Tyler's senior portrait I couldn't believe the beauty of this small lake in their backyard, complete with bridge leading to a gazebo on a small island.  Aren't the colors unreal?  Do you love water reflections as much as I do?  I made Tyler pose on the bridge and while this isn't necessarily "portrait" worthy, it is a gorgeous photo because of the setting, certainly "frame" worthy.

Check back soon.  I have a couple family portraits this week and a children's portrait too.

Tyler's Senior Portrait {Rowan County Portrait Photographer}

 I love young people!  They're just fun!  I set out yesterday afternoon with Tyler to shoot his senior portrait.  I believe it's more natural to do outdoors as it really allows the photographer to capture their subject's personality.  I would have LOVED my senior portrait outdoors in a gorgeous setting, but no, I had your run-of-the-mill "Olan Mills" studio portrait complete with my asymmetrical Cyndi Lauper hairdo.  It came out so bad my mom made me retake it.  The second portrait was only slightly better.

Here we went out to a field as the sun was setting with my Craigslist chair.  We hopped over a barbed wire fence to get there, anything for a good shot.  I loved how Tyler posed.  I can't decide if I like it better in color or black & white.  What do you think?

I love this close up of Tyler; he looks so natural and relaxed.  Nothing more flattering than sunset lighting for portraits in this gal's humble opinion.

Isn't he so handsome?  

Thanks Tyler, for the privilege of taking your senior portraits and spending a fun afternoon together breaking countless trespassing laws.  Hopefully our faces and my license plates were out of view of security cameras on the Wallace mansion property.  Good times!

Last Leaves

Are you tired of my bragging of the beauty of fall out here in the South East?  If so, this is about the end of our season here.  As you can see, many, many trees are bare which has a beauty all to themselves, but yesterday as I was editing a photo shoot I saw this view from my window next to my computer desk.  This is my back yard.  Can you believe it?  THIS is MY backyard!  All glory to God because in our wildest dreams we never imagined a lot like this, it's like our very own park!  

We have enjoyed autumn tremendously but also look forward to winter.  

Check back for winter photos soon enough.

Gracie in Autumn

Autumn leaves are in their final stages and many trees are completely bare now.  My neighbor Karen and I took our girls over to the cute little historic town of Spencer to do a final autumn photo shoot.  The leaves today were just glorious at sunset.  See the red christmas dress on Gracie?  We did our Christmas card shots today too; this one looks too autumny (is that an adjective?) but it was too pretty not to share, that's the fun part about a blog!  

It was Karen's idea to bring books and do reading shots and I'm glad she did because this shot is so sweet.  These girls are dear friends, and Camryn being the oldest, loves to read to the younger girls.  

I will forever cherish this shot as it captures the innocence of sweet little girls (before puberty!).

Happy Veterans Day 2012!

Halloween 2012

What a fun Fall day we had!  We started with a field trip to Patterson Farms, an over 100 year old family owned and operated farm.  We all took a long hay ride and the kids got to feed farm animals, stuff a scarecrow, and choose a pumpkin from the patch.  By evening we were Trick or Treating, our first here in North Carolina, and it was really fun.  Our neighbor even piled hay on his trailer and pulled kids all through the neighborhood for a Halloween hay ride.  People are just fun here!  Lots of fun fall activities.  Check out photos of our day.

Gracie loves dinosaurs and decided she wanted to be a T Rex this year.  Thankfully we found a costume that mommy did not have to make, only embellish.  Whew!

Our first Halloween in our new home, taken from Rob's iPhone.  We hated cutting down our tree in the front yard this summer but I think it now makes a nice pedestal, no?  

Well, Halloween is over and I for one am looking forward to Thanksgiving. 

 Hope you all had a safe and fun eve.

Fall !!!!!!

This is our first fall in North Carolina as home owners.  We've been warned by neighbors for 6 months how bad fall is here when the leaves fall.  How bad could it be?  Look at how GORGEOUS this neighborhood is!  We think the beauty of the trees is worth the work, but ask me in another 4 weeks what we truly think.

Gracie timidly walking into a leaf pile.  She doesn't understand diving in.

She did understand throwing leaves up into the air though......

and loved it........

Repeating the process over and over again.  

This is our home in mid-Fall.  Check out my very first post back in spring and you'll see the difference in shade and lighting, and LEAVES!

Rob got a new gas-powered leaf blower for his birthday.  He loves it!  That's fortunate because it took over 4 hours to make the pile below.

Oh wait, this pile was only 1 hour into the blowing process.

 THIS is the pile of leaves after 4 hours of blowing AND they run along the entire length of our curb.  This is Gracie standing in the street and I'm photographing her from the lawn.  Truly waist deep.  We're told this is only the beginning and we haven't seen nothing yet.  Oh oh.

 These Californians can't believe the amount of leaves here. 

 Keep checking back for more Fall coverage.