Tracee | RALEIGH DURHAM MATERNITY PHOTOGRAPHER

I am home fresh from a trip to Asheville with my girlfriends! We had so much fun, and even took some great portraits for a few people while we were in town (I’ll share those when I’ve finished editing them). Now I feel refreshed and ready for work. I hopped right back in with a newborn session this morning, and now I’m working on catching up on the blog!

Tracee is a mega gorgeous woman whom I met a few months ago for her maternity portraits at a beautiful location in Raleigh. She quite simply rocked her session. You can tell by the size of her heels that she didn’t let pregnancy slow her down. Here are a couple photos from her maternity session!

Melissa is currently booking for Raleigh maternity photography and Raleigh newborn photography sessions in the Raleigh Durham Wake Forest, North Carolina area. Be sure to contact her early to reserve your space!

Contact Melissa for a Session | View Melissa’s Portfolio | Follow Melissa on Facebook

Baby Graham | RALEIGH NC NEWBORN BABY PHOTOGRAPHER

Well, the weather in Raleigh is really warming up this week! And all of the beautiful trees are in bloom outside – one of my favorite times of the year. I had a little time off last week for spring break with my kids, and now I’m getting back to my picture-taking, editing, and blogging!

This is newborn Graham, whom I met at just 5 days old. I can’t even tell you how much I enjoy having handsome baby boys in my studio. Especially sweet, sleepy ones! Graham’s Mommy came to me through a referral from an out of town photographer whom I really admire, so I was completely touched by the referral. 🙂 I had such a fun session with Graham – lots of set-ups and sweet poses. He slept like a champ for me and made my job nice and easy.

Melissa is currently booking for Raleigh maternity photography, Raleigh newborn photography and Raleigh child photo sessions in the Raleigh Durham Wake Forest, North Carolina area. Be sure to contact her early to reserve your space!

Contact Melissa for a Session | View Melissa’s Portfolio | Follow Melissa on Facebook

Baby Evelyn | RALEIGH NEWBORN BABY PHOTOGRAPHER

My kids are on spring break this week and, by the grace of God, I’ve managed to also be on vacation with them this week!! It’s really hard to plan that correctly as a newborn photographer – you just never know when these babies will arrive! 🙂 But it appears as though I’ve managed to be in the clear this week! So excited! My little men and I have been up to a lot of fun! And I’m also hoping to continue to catch up on some of my blogging this week. First up is sweet baby Evelyn!

Little Evelyn was 7 days old on the day of her newborn session. I had spoken to her Mommy before the session and the only thing she said she wanted during the session was neutrals. And THAT, I could deliver. No shortage of cream blankets in this studio, if you hadn’t noticed. 🙂 So we stuck with the browns and creams, and some soft pinks. Evelyn is a happy little baby, and her session went nice and smoothly. Tons of happy, open-eyed shots, lots of close-ups of the toes and her sweet little face, and we even put her in the ‘nest’, as her Daddy called it. I was blessed to have this sweet little girl in my studio for a few hours, and I love how her newborn photos came out!

Melissa is currently booking for Raleigh maternity photography, and Raleigh newborn baby photography in the Raleigh Durham Wake Forest, North Carolina area. Be sure to contact her early to reserve your space!

Contact Melissa for a Session | View Melissa’s Portfolio | Follow Melissa on Facebook

Baby Jackson | RALEIGH DURHAM WAKE FOREST NEWBORN BABY PHOTOGRAPHER

I’m so excited to share my newborn session with little Jackson. He was just five days old on the day I met him. His Mommy and Daddy were on the blog recently for their maternity portraits. They are SO MUCH FUN and such an incredibly sweet and kind couple. It’s no surprise to me at all that they had a baby boy who is equally sweet and easygoing as they are. Jackson has amazing hair, a great temperament, and is just about as perfect as can be. I loved when his parents arrived at the studio for his session – having had such a great time at their maternity session, it felt like I was in the company of old friends. That’s just the best feeling. And Mommy went to work looking through my props and picking out what she liked. Her picks included the suspenders and the pointed yellow hat. Both were things I hadn’t used in a while, so I liked her choices!! 🙂 I had so many favorite photos from his newborn session, I had a hard time narrowing down which ones to share. So…. here’s a few photos! 🙂

Contact Melissa for a Session | View Melissa’s Portfolio | Follow Melissa on Facebook

Baby Ella | RALEIGH WAKE FOREST NEWBORN BABY PHOTOGRAPHY

Sweet baby Ella gave her parents a bit of a surprise when she was born several weeks early!! We planned her newborn session right away, and then she had to go back into the hospital for a week. I eventually met her when she was about two weeks old. She was still a teeny little peanut, and just as adorable as can be. I loved her especially in the purple!

And I’m sooooo behind on blogging and I hate it when that happens. Trying to move forward with editing my current sessions and keep up to date on blogging is hard, y’all!!!!! Here’s a couple quick pictures from Ella’s session! 🙂

Contact Melissa for a Session | View Melissa’s Portfolio | Follow Melissa on Facebook

Lindsay and Nate | RALEIGH DURHAM MATERNITY PHOTOGRAPHY

I was delighted to meet Lindsay and her husband, Nate, for their maternity session! They’re a really sweet and special couple, and I enjoyed my evening spent with them. Lindsay was 32 weeks pregnant when we met up, and she had the cutest little baby bump! And Nate…. well, he wasn’t one of those husbands who got dragged along by their wife. Nate does some photography himself, so he was excited for the session too! Not only does Nate do photography, but he (and Lindsay) are also in the Army. Nate unfortunately was deployed about a week after our session, so it was important to them to have these photos done before he left. He’ll miss the birth of his baby, but gets to come back shortly after the birth to meet his first child! My heart goes out to him having to miss such a big event. Coming from an Army family myself, I know what their life is like, and I really can’t thank them enough for serving our country! I wish Nate a safe and quick deployment, and I can’t wait to hear from Lindsay that she’s had the baby! I’m excited for their newborn session in May!

Here are a few photos from their maternity session. As you’ll see, we were having some lovely light in Raleigh that night. Couldn’t have asked for better weather in March!

Contact Melissa for a Session | View Melissa’s Portfolio | Follow Melissa on Facebook

Baby Benjamin | RALEIGH WAKE FOREST NEWBORN BABY PHOTOGRAPHY

This sweet little guy, Benjamin, came into my studio to see me at just five days old. He is so adorable and snuggly! I’d been looking forward to meeting him and his Mommy for months!! She’s the good friend of another great client of mine, so I knew we’d hit it off! And we did – his Mommy is so easygoing and sweet, just like Benjamin! I had a lot of fun with them in the studio, and I look forward to seeing him as he grows through my Baby’s First Year plan. Lucky me!! 🙂

I had a lot of favorites from his session, but the ones with his eyes open were just the absolute best. He’d keep opening his eyes to check on me. 🙂 Here are a few from his session:

Melissa is currently booking for Raleigh maternity photography, Raleigh newborn baby photography and Raleigh child photo sessions in the Raleigh Durham Wake Forest, North Carolina area. Be sure to contact her early to reserve your space!

Contact Melissa for a Session | View Melissa’s Portfolio | Follow Melissa on Facebook

Ryan and Grace | RALEIGH NEWBORN BABY TWINS PHOTOGRAPHER

A few weeks ago 10-day-old twins Ryan and Grace came into my studio. And also that day, I was thrilled to be hosting a few of my friends again at my place! They’re not only fellow photographers, but also my dear friends, and we decided to have the twins’ Mommy bring them over for us to play! I don’t get a lot of opportunities to photograph twins, so how perfect was this!? A day with friends and photographing twins! Loved it!

Since there were quite a few of us shooting in my studio that day, we opted for opening the blinds and using natural light. It’s only been about 5 months since I switched over completely to studio lighting, and WOW, it was strange not to be using it!! It’s soooo completely different!

I think I did a ton of the posing that day, and barely took many photos. But I think I took just enough to capture how incredibly sweet they were. And you’ll notice the size difference in the twins – Ryan was a tiny little thing and Grace was a full pound larger! They were adorable! Lucky us!!! 🙂

Contact Melissa for a Session | View Melissa’s Portfolio | Follow Melissa on Facebook

Caleb | RALEIGH NEWBORN BABY PHOTOGRAPHER

What an incredibly busy couple of weeks I’ve had! Our show aired on Monday on HGTV, which was so unbelievably exciting for us! I’ve been flooded with phone calls, texts, e-mails, Facebook messages, etc. from so many people saying they watched. It was so amazing to see how many people supported us and were excited for us! Along with all of that excitement, I’ve now had three of my March babies be born well before their due dates, so fitting them in with my other scheduled sessions…. well, let’s just say it’s been an incredibly busy several weeks. I have tons of editing to catch up on, and lots of blogging to do as well!

I met baby Caleb several weeks ago when he was just eight days old. His parents graced the blogged earlier this week with their beautiful maternity session. Caleb’s Mommy brought in a few blankets that were special to them that she wanted Caleb photographed in, and the pictures were just so sweet. Here’s a peek at a couple photos from his newborn session!

Contact Melissa for a Session | View Melissa’s Portfolio | Follow Melissa on Facebook

Chelsey’s Maternity Portraits | RALEIGH MATERNITY PHOTOGRAPHER

We had a good bit of rain on the day of Chelsey and Kris’s maternity session, but thankfully the clouds cleared JUST before our session! So we ended up having a beautiful evening, as we’d hoped. Chelsey looked absolutely adorable pregnant, as you’ll see below. She chose the most amazing colors for her outfits, and she looked just beautiful! I so enjoyed meeting them and working with them. We did this session a few months back, and their sweet little boy has already made an appearance! So, you’ll have to tune into the blog to see photos from his newborn session!

And don’t forget to set your DVR’s tomorrow night for my family’s appearance on HGTV! 10 p.m. EST. We’re so excited that it’s FINALLY airing! 🙂