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! 🙂

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!

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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! 🙂

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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!

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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!

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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!!! 🙂

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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!

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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! 🙂

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Arden At Six Months | RALEIGH WAKE FOREST NC BABY PHOTOGRAPHER

A few weeks ago sweet little Arden came back to my studio for her six month session. I can’t believe this little sweetheart has turned six months and is sitting up all on her own! Back at her three month photo session, all our photos were of her laying down or being propped up. My, what a difference this new talent of hers makes!!

I had so, so, so much fun planning out this session with her Mommy, who is a dear friend of mine. We ordered new backdrops and flooring, her Mommy shopped her heart out for adorable outfits and accessories. IT. WAS. FUN. Having two little boys, I don’t get to shop or dream about girly stuff too often, so this was really exciting for me.

I was sooooo pleased with how the vision came to life for this session. Every detail was perfect, and it all just worked so well. Between the leg warmers, those ballet slippers (oh my, cutest thing ever!!), the pink tutu…. it was all beyond what we’d hoped for. And I think the willow tree backdrop is one of my new favorites! I ended up with so, so many favorites from this session! I can’t wait until Arden’s next session!

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Melissa DeVoe Photography On HGTV’s House Hunters!! | RALEIGH NC HOUSE HUNTERS NEWBORN PHOTOGRAPHER

Last summer my family and I embarked on a move from our home in Raleigh, NC to a larger home in Wake Forest, NC. We were thrilled to be given the opportunity to experience reality TV firsthand! We filmed an episode of House Hunters with HGTV!!! Never in a million years would I have thought that *we* would be on a reality TV show! What an amazing time we had, too!! The whole family got to participate – so there was a lot of footage of my boys being silly (surprise, surprise), footage of us living in our little furnished apartment while we waited to move into our new home, and they captured us walking through three different homes with our realtor Tina Caul, and giving ALL of our opinions.

Well, of course, high on our priority list in our new home, was a functional space for my photography studio! And thank goodness we found that! When HGTV came back to Raleigh the second time to film, and to show us all settled into our new home, it was just TWO WEEKS after we moved in. Talk about an incentive to get unpacked!!! I’d managed to get my studio mostly set up, but it’s come a long way since the first two weeks. I featured photos of my newborn studio on the blog recently, so be sure to click over and see what it looks like today!

The entire experience was once in a lifetime. We were blessed with an amazing crew from HGTV who made us feel comfortable, who were patient with my children (and the dog!), and who liked to have some fun! What a neat thing for us to be blessed with. We have HUNDREDS of family/friends/kid’s classmates/acquaintances who have told us they’ll be tuning in to see us. We’re so excited!!

The air date is Monday, March 4th at 10 p.m. Eastern time, but check your local listings! Here’s the summary of our episode from the House Hunter’s website: http://www.hgtv.com/house-hunters/growing-family-is-running-out-of-room-in-raleigh/index.html

Here’s a few photos from behind the scenes of our filming, all taken on my trusty iPhone (and therefore awful in the technical department)! 🙂

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!

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Creativity Contest | RALEIGH NC NEWBORN BABY PHOTOGRAPHY

A few weeks ago I entered a photo into a creativity contest at my favorite photography forum, Learn Shoot Inspire. I’ve been a part of this forum since close to when it first started, about a year ago. It’s an amazing place to talk photography and learn from other photographers. I’ve made some great friendships there, and I’m excited about the future of the forum!

So a few weeks ago on the “Pro” side of the forum, they ran their very first creativity contest. The topic for the challenge was Open Eyes. I really put a ton of thought into it and tried to come up with something original and “different” for me. The photo below was my entry – my little men being silly in the bathtub! To determine the winner, all of the Pros at the forum voted. And…. I won in the the Best Overall category!!!! I think it’s made even more special for me because my peers voted for me. I’m so excited about it! You can see the photo of my little guys and the write-up over on the Learn Shoot Inspire blog, here. So, so exciting! 🙂

And for those who are looking for a place to learn more about photography, please consider joining the wonderful group of ladies (and a couple of men!) over at Learn Shoot Inspire. I really feel it’s the kindest, most knowledgeable group of photographers! You won’t regret it. And check their FB page for specials!

Here’s the photo! I think I may have to hang this in my boy’s bathroom! 🙂