Yearly Archives: 2015

When I was talking with Liz about her upcoming session, I knew right away we were, “meant to be”!  Liz is amazing!  She is fun (and funny) and her personality just comes through no matter if you are in person with her or not!  She’s the kind of girl that you know right away you just want to be friends with!  She’s outgoing, she’s fun and she’s totally down to earth!

Liz is totally genuine and radiant and funny!  Our time together at our session was nothing less than perfect!  We had the perfect evening filled with sunshine and just a slight cool breeze that carried the salty ocean air over to us wherever we were!  We traveled all over the area that night and just enjoyed each other’s company!

Liz and Paul are so amazing together!  They truly are bonded together and can laugh with each other without even saying a word!  I love how Paul can get this look in his eyes that makes Liz laugh out loud and ya’ll… she has an amazing laugh that comes from within her soul!

I truly enjoyed every second of our evening together!  I loved walking with them and capturing their love for one another and their anticipation over Baby Ben!

These two are going to be fantastic parents and I know their house will be filled so much love, laughter and playful memories!

There isn’t much more I could say that these pictures won’t convey better!  You can honestly feel the love between these two so I will let the images speak the words I can not express!

Thank you both for letting me spend such a fun and beautiful evening with you!  I can’t WAIT to meet Ben and continue to document these gorgeous family moments for you!

Liz: you are absolutely stunning!  You are silly and care free and radiantly beautiful!  Paul, you are one lucky man my friend!

 

OHHH Liz… girl you are sooo beautiful!  These are some of my favorite images!  I asked Liz to give me some top model poses (you know, the ones that are super hard to even explain because it’s like… exhale but part your lips kind of deal) and she totally rocked them out!!!!  STUNNING GIRLFRIEND!!!  ROCK STAR!!!

We had some time before sunset and I really wanted Liz in that white dress in the ocean but we took a mini break and Liz and Paul had a moment to just relax and rest!  This was one of those moments where they just were relaxing to themselves and well… I adore it!

And then.. we put the white dress back on and we went down to the water for my favorite time of the day/evening ever… when the water and the sky almost mix colors!

Thank you Liz and thank you Paul for allowing me to capture this time for you!

Filed in:Expecting Ones | PhotographyTagged in: | | | | | | | | | | |
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When I set off to go to Creative at Heart, I knew I would be changed!  I knew I would learn things and I knew I would make friends!  I knew I would come home with an increasingly long list of tasks to do and business “musts”;  but what I didn’t know was that I would come home with a totally different change of heart in my business!

What I didn’t anticipate was that I would leave with the heart of my business literally on my sleeve!

Creative helped me define the “stirrings” and ideas that had already been surfacing!  They helped me realize that all these thoughts and feelings I had been having and the stories that I had been sharing were all a part of my WHY!

Great businesses don’t just do something… great business start with something a story that brought them to what it is and why it is they do what they do and that is why we are drawn to great businesses!  That is why they survive!

This is our WHY… why we get up and love what we do every day!  Why no matter what happens in the world of business, for me, I will always continue to pick up my camera and document children and families!

My WHY and my story didn’t just begin with photography!

If you have been following me for a while, you know my story actually began when I became a mom!  It began when I had my son Linc and it truly began 5 weeks later when my perfect world of motherhood came crashing down and someone flicked off that light switch of motherhood bliss and post partum depression set in!  I shared that story in a long blog post series which you can read all about over here in where my real story begins…

I actually didn’t truly find my place with photography until I learned what it meant to truly need those photographs, what it meant to hold on to those photographs as physical reminders that life (no matter what is happening in life) is truly and absolutely beautiful for what it is!

I realized that those places and in those times and those moments where my story might not have been perfect or as put together as I thought it should have been was actually truly and amazingly breath taking in it’s own way!

During those times when my story was rough, I kept my camera working on over drive!  I would print off those pictures of our family playing in the mud, combing the beach for treasures or sitting and rocking in the quiet hours!  I would place them all around our house (some in frames or even just taped to the walls)!  I placed them where I could just walk by and see our lives reflected back to us and remember that everything we have is to be appreciated!

THIS is where I learned that even in the mess and even in the chaos… life is beautiful!  Life is breath taking when we laugh and smile!  It’s captivating when we embrace and savor the tender moments!

It is heart achingly lovely in those moments when it is still and that every day our real moments will always be better than those that are trying for perfection!

THIS is what my heart was trying to tell me a few evenings before I left for Creative at Heart, I just couldn’t find the words to express it!

So among a few hundred friends, during a speech about Branding with Bonnie from B is for Bonnie Designs as she was speaking about how our why unveils our authenticity and how our why connects us to our clients… I began to cry! Yep… in the front row, tears about branding!

I realized right there that I don’t love photography because of the beautiful images… I love photography because of the MOM’S !!!!  ( I do of course, also get excited about beautiful images)

I connect with it on such a deeper level because I want to show my mom’s who come to me what an amazing gift they have… what an amazing gift they are giving to their children… themselves!

I am a mom who needed to see for myself that I didn’t have to be perfect… I didn’t have to have the perfect schedule, the perfect snacks and the perfect activities to provide the perfect environment for my children!  I am a mom who didn’t have to BE perfect with the perfect hair and the perfect outfit and the perfect make up to provide the perfect LOVE for my child!  I just needed to be me… real and raw and ME!  And everyday when I walk in my house and see just me with no make up on in these beautifully candid images all around my house, I am validated that I can show Linc what an amazing love we have together full of adventure and fun and whimsy!

That is the gift I want to give to all the mom’s I can… Real moments, Raw moments that show them who they are is absolutely beautiful!

REAL IS BETTER THAN PERFECT!

It has become my tag line and it it something I truly live and breathe!

So what does this mean you might ask!!!

  • I am inspired by moms!  I am inspired by YOU!  Real moms… every day moms!  Mom’s who wake up and aren’t able to shower all day long because you are too busy taking care of your children!  Mom’s who are able to work full time jobs and then come home and take care of their family and yet still find time to take care of themselves.. AMAZING!  I am just inspired by MOMS!
  • Community for moms and women just needs to happen!  We are so much alike in some ways that we need to lift one another UP!  There is an enormous amount of pressure on us from all areas so we should be in a community with one another to support each other, say kind things to one another and love one another
  • I believe our true beauty really comes from ability to unconditionally and selflessly love all the time!

 

Now that you know a little about me, my story and my why… here’s what you can expect…

You can expect me to always serve my mom’s 100 percent!  To always walk the walk of real is better than perfect!  You can expect me to want to understand YOUR story and find out your very own why behind your family and what your family believes in with all it’s heart!

You can expect me to provide you with an experience that will be FUN and playful!  You can expect images that will be real, endearing and raw!

More importantly mom’s… you can expect me to be all for you!

 

 

 

Filed in:For Moms | PersonalTagged in: | | | | | |
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  • June 3, 2015 - 2:06 pm

    Ginger carl - When Linc grows up someday he will telling every one that he had the perfect Mom. He’ll remember love and laughter and all the fantastic times he’s had growing up with his mom and dad.ReplyCancel

Stunning Outer Banks Sea Glass Wedding Brooke Tucker Photography Stunning Outer Banks Sea Glass Wedding Brooke Tucker Photography

 

So often these days when we hear the word “wedding”, we think BIG:  big venues, big white dresses, big beautiful and bountiful bouquets, big bridal parties and big beautiful celebrations with amazing laughter and big heartfelt celebrations!  What’s beautiful though is that with the rise of DIY weddings and pinterest, more private weddings have been gracing us and actually taking our breath away by their stunning simplicity and well grace!  Big weddings will always have their flare, but it’s these small, intimate weddings that really remind us and take us to where the hearts are and should be!

This was exactly the case for the absolutely stunning sea glass beach inspired Hatteras, North Carolina wedding my friends shared with their closest and most dear family and friends!  This wedding had the feel of a destination wedding combined with an elopement yet when you were there you almost felt as if you had stepped back to a place in time where traditions and love were of the older days!  These two have a love that actually embody a love much like years gone past… it is a love that when you look at them and watch them together you feel as if you are seeing a love played out straight from the likes of The Notebook or Gatsby!  It’s a love that is so truly unconditional and accepting;  and this wedding my friends was an evening that taught every single guest a lesson on how to love just so!

It was a wedding that was truly about the two of them and their love for on another!  Another friend of ours described it best and I have to credit her with this line that fits so perfectly for how the entire day and evening played out!  Sometimes a wedding day can take over:  there are so many fun events that are to be done:  first dances and photos and cake cuttings and hugging of family members but not for the two of our friends!  Their wedding was simple and graceful and completely perfect because while all of those wedding day traditions were completed and absolutely with as much fun and laughter and style as we could possibly have had ( we even went extra steps to have a first look surrounded by the flirty tropical storm Anna looking on) these two most incredible people were completely wrapped up in as our dear friend Candice says “their own perfect little bliss bubble”!

They were so much a part of every conversation and every joke, every laugh, every hug and every smile of the evening,;  but also at the same time these two were so tightly wrapped up into each other that they had no eyes for anyone else!  They were so deeply and madly in love with each other that there was not a single moment there were not connected!

It’s time for me to stop talking because if I share anymore with words, I will start crying!  This was definitely an evening that I spent in tears and more tears of happiness!  What an amazing job I have to be able to capture evenings like this and share and be blessed in such an amazing way!

It was such an honor to share this day with these two sincerely incredible people!  I hope you enjoy just a few of the images from their amazing day… if you look closely you can truly see that “bliss bubble” and you can feel the grace and beauty that was there!

 

palatte of petals as always… you are AMAZING with your bouquets and florals!  They were able to put sea glass into the bouquet!!!

Stunning Sea Glass Cape Hatteras Wedding Brooke Tucker Photography Stunning Sea Glass Cape Hatteras Wedding Brooke Tucker Photography Stunning Sea Glass Cape Hatteras Wedding Brooke Tucker Photography Stunning Sea Glass Cape Hatteras Wedding Brooke Tucker Photography Stunning Sea Glass Cape Hatteras Wedding Brooke Tucker Photography Stunning Sea Glass Cape Hatteras Wedding Brooke Tucker Photography Stunning Sea Glass Cape Hatteras Wedding Brooke Tucker Photography Stunning Sea Glass Cape Hatteras Wedding Brooke Tucker Photography

 

The videographer’s were also such an amazing team!  We really enjoyed working with Chris and Chris from Swell Productions!  He arrived at just the right time, so we took our gorgeous bride outside to read a very special letter from her groom!

 

Oh my friend:  I know I have told you a million times, but you are simply gorgeous and breath taking!

Elizabeth, my second shooter and partner in crime for the day was over at the main house with the handsome groom!  He also received a very special letter!!!

 

With many tears and happy (anxious to be held) hearts we drove off to the lighthouse for our first look!  The rain started to come down but it really didn’t matter!  We had plentiful sunshine and two people who honestly wind, rain, storm, floods, fire or devastation would not stand in either of their way to get to one another!  I think they would cross the world for one another… and maybe they have!

 

 

While the guests made their way back to the house (there were many shells to be kissed, wished and thrown into the sea) we stole the happy couple for some romantic portraits!

* These might be my favorite ever guys!  What you don’t see is that we laughed and we cried!  Chris and Chris had drones and they were just like Elizabeth and I (they sung and jumped and hollered when they nailed the shot!)  These two are just so in love that what you see here… it’s not posed, it’s not coached.. it’s just THEM!  As I type, I’m crying now remembering because these images… these are all candid!  These are all them as if we weren’t even there!  These images are straight love!

Back to the house for the real fun to begin!

 

Perfect Bliss Bubble:  for the rest of their lives!!!

 

Love you both… and thank you for everything you have given me on that day because you taught so many people about how to love!

 

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