I traveled to Birmingham to photograph this child but had not previously met him.  Despite his young age — an age where most kids want NOTHING to do with some strange lady with a camera — he was immediately engaging, polite and, well, charming.    Of course, looking around his parents’ house I soon realized that he was no stranger to the camera.  Photos of him were EVERYWHERE — big ones, little ones, color ones, black and white ones.  Even ones that made me very nervous about whether I could produce images that would impress these people.  So yeah, there I was, a grown woman about to photograph a 3 year old kid and I was the nervous one!

We went outside on a beautiful southern January afternoon and played in the backyard.  We played on the swingset, engaged in a game of hide-and-seek and then played smash up derby with some remote controlled cars. He was silly and fun and it was hard to remember to stop the fun to take a few pictures.  In fact, as I left I felt a bit guilty because this session was more like a play date than a working photography session.  And then I realized that this was how all good Southern boys worked — by disarming and charming and making their guests feel lucky to have spent time with them. Good show kid!

Yes, this Atlanta photographer went to Hawaii for the holidays.  Yes, I posted photo after photo on Instagram using my favorite travel camera — the iPhone4s.  And of course, you have already seen the hula girl themed portrait sessions I did.  This weekend I processed the rest of my personal photos from my Nikon D3 and am putting together a vacation memory book for my family.     I thought I would share some of my favorites with you…

This is my niece.  She was so excited to find this perfect little sand dollar at Shark’s Cove.  I guess it’s pretty rare to find those.  But Taylor is like a little pirate   and seems to find all kinds of treasures wherever she goes (many times to her parents’ dismay!).

The paddle board was a big hit among the kids and the adults.  What better way to exercise than to essentially walk on the clearest, bluest water you have ever seen?

Chinaman’s Hat, Oahu

This is not the greatest photo ever, but I love the movement of the water as the cousins flipped their hair at Shark’s Cove on the North Shore of Oahu.

Walking on the cliffs at Eternity Beach, Oahu

View of Lighthouse and moon from Maka pu’u

Our last day we hiked to Maunawilli Falls.  We were covered in mud by the time we got there but we were able to rinse off in the waterfall.  Of course we just got recovered on the 2 hour hike back out!  But it was so worth it.

Jojo found a giant palm frond so we stopped along the hike to do a quick shoot while we waited for the others to catch up.

Basically, it was a pretty amazing trip.  I obviously have TONS more photos (we surfed, went horseback riding, celebrated Christmas and New Years, etc) but you’ll just have to come over for a glass of wine and look at my book to see all of those!  Or follow me on Instagram @ddkportraits.

I’ll leave you with these sunset shots from a beach on the North Shore aptly named “Sunset Beach.”  Aloha and Mahalo to my wonderful family in Hawaii for putting up with us for 10 days.  We love you and can’t wait to come back out to do it all again!

I was so fortunate this year to be able to travel to Oahu, Hawaii to visit with family living there (poor them, right?).  We surfed, swam, hiked, visited historical sites, paid tribute to fallen heroes at Pearl Harbor, ate a lot of pineapple and coconut and did a lot of relaxing on the beautiful beaches.    And of course, being a photographer, I took lots and lots of photos.  Those of you who follow me on Facebook were inundated with my iPhone4s pictures from Instagram.  (Sorry for rubbing it in that I was in a tropical paradise while most of you were shivering through your holidays in some cold[er] location but I plead artistic fever. As a photographer in a place where gorgeous photo opps abound, I can’t help but shoot and shoot.  And then, of course I want to share the gorgeous images.  If you blocked me on Facebook, it’s probably safe to go ahead and unblock — at least until my next trip).  :)

While the landscape in Hawaii is obviously worth photographing, so too are the amazingly graceful and beautiful Hula dancers that you see around the island.  My nieces who live on the island both hula dance and when I saw their colorful outfits I begged them to let me use them for a stylized hula-inspired photo session.  They agreed and off to Sandy’s Beach we went during a beautiful sunset to capture these fun images.

Taylor treated us to a small Tahitian dance.

I want to thank my adorable little models who were so cute and cooperative.

They had as much fun with this shoot as I did.

I’m already looking forward to our next visit to the island.  If you live in Hawaii and are interested in a styled session of your own, please contact me and we will get you on the books for my trip next year!  Until then, Aloha and Mahalo!

ddkportraits is the premier photographer for high school senior portraits in Alpharetta and Milton and surrounding areas.  And, with our new portrait studio in downtown Alpharetta, we can do both indoor and outdoor portrait sessions.  Which means, even if you missed Fall sessions due to sports or just a busy school schedule, it’s not too late to be sure that you memorialize your senior year the way that YOU want to be remembered!  Give me call and ask about winter discounts!    You can also email me directly at kirsten@ddkportraits.com.