Yearly Archives: 2015

GOOD MORNING FRIENDS!  IT’S BEEN A LONG LONG TIME!

And I will tell you what, I’m so thrilled to have this blog back!  More importantly though… IT’S THE LAUNCH DAY!!  HOORAY… IT’S FINALLY HERE!

I am so beyond excited to share with you all of the hard work and heart that has gone into this brand;  but first please know I could not have done it without the amazing and wonderful Bonnie from B is for Bonnie Design!  

Bonnie my friend, you know that this process for me was soo incredible!  You know that working with you has been more than a joy!  I wish I could write just a love note for you (and trust me friend, it’s coming!) but I just want to say thank you for your incredibly big heart and your sincere and genuine love for people and challenging them to look inside and find what they are most passionate about!

Most of you all know my story by now so I won’t go into the nitty gritty details of HOW I came to find my place and my passion for Motherhood photography or lifestyle photography.

What I will tell you are some little secrets about why this new brand is so incredibly important to me:

I wanted to create a space for Mother’s that was clean and calm and refreshing!  I wanted to share this space where we can all find the beauty in our own lives without feeling the pressure to chase that perfection.

Real is Better Than Perfect!

I wanted to highlight how true that is in the images that I take so that as a community we can start to come together and support one another, life one another up and say… YES, my life looks exactly like that too:  toys all around, piles of laundry left to do, but full of magical lands and super hero’s and princesses and play dates!

And guess what:  we don’t want to change a thing!  We just want to capture that (as it is) because before we know it, those tantrums and tears will be just a memory!

I chose waves to represent my first memory:  surfing on the nose of my dad’s board!  I want to be there to capture your first memories!

I chose waves because as Mother’s we are often the calm behind the storm!

There is so much of ME in this brand but also so much of who my clients are…

I hope you visit the site and I hope you find a little bit of yourself!

xo

B

  • November 7, 2015 - 12:16 am

    Caroline Logan - IT’S SO BEAUTIFUL I’M SOOOOOOO PROUD OF YOU!!!!!!!! Ahhhhhhhh!!!!!! So much heart. Big hugs my friend!!!!ReplyCancel

    • November 9, 2015 - 2:21 pm

      brooketuckerphoto@gmail.com - Thanks Caroline! xoxoxoReplyCancel

  • November 8, 2015 - 2:58 am

    Erika Mills - Brooke! So proud of you for unveiling this and following what speaks to you! The site is beautiful, cheers to your new adventures! xxReplyCancel

    • November 9, 2015 - 2:21 pm

      brooketuckerphoto@gmail.com - Thank you soo much Erika! This means so much to me!!! love you friend!!!ReplyCancel

Happy Monday, ya’ll!!!

Gorgeous Kitty Hawk Pier, Outer Banks North Carolina Wedding, Sand and Waves, by Brooke Tucker Photography

I hope you had a wonderful weekend and (if you are hanging around here in Virginia Beach or Obx) that you stayed dry and warm and lazy!!!

My weekend was the best kind of weekend… a wild weekend that went by so fast I barely had time to blink!  I’ve actually been waiting for this weekend for almost an entire year now!  I actually may have been waiting an entire year, I can’t remember!  It’s seems too far back to even try to remember.

Growing up I lived on a cul de sac and we were truly blessed with some of the most amazing neighbors.  I’m not really just saying that… we really had the best neighbors there ever were (and my parents still do!)  Christie and her older brother Matt (who was a year older than I was) and her younger sister Stephanie lived one house over, and the four of us were always playing together!  I actually can’t think of my childhood without thinking of Christie, Matt and Stephanie.  This time of year was especially fun because if we weren’t outside splashing in the cul de sac because it was flooded from the rain (and the Herman’s had all the best toys for that!) we were gearing up to go tour the entire neighborhood for Halloween trick or treating with our dad’s!

We were all walkers, which meant all four of us walked to and from school together every single day.  We would drop off our back packs and usually decide quickly where we were eating snacks and whether we were playing outside until dinner or in the Herman’s upstairs playroom!

This weekend… I had the incredible honor of shooting Christie’s wedding in Kitty Hawk.  She and Adam were surrounded by all of their family and their friends and they said ‘I do’ right in the middle of a pretty epic Nor’Easter!

*You can always tell those that have a true love and have hearts that are called by the ocean!  Beach lovers aren’t just made, they are born with a stirring that rests within the depths of their souls.  My bride was born at the beach and despite the wind and the epic rolling “angry” waves;  she took off barefoot in her beautiful wedding dress, without a second’s pause, to run and breathe in the salt and the mist.  I would love to say she ran down the beach, but we really had no beach!  The waves were crashing so high, but Christie was stunning as she navigated the small path of sand in her lace!  Adam is her perfect match because without taking his eyes off his new wife (AHHH just saying that makes me grin ear to ear) , he took off right after her!  He had this light in his eyes that just oozed love and mush and yep that’s my bride fearless, fun and oh so breathtaking!

I will never forget that moment.  I will never forget Christie’s smile as she was finally able to let go, relax and stand on her beach next to her new husband!

-Here are some other things/events I learned or that happened this weekend:

  • If you take your shoes off to shoot on the beach, place them either on an available pier, in a bag with a friend to watch over, or if all else fails in extremely high ground (higher than you think is completely necessary!) I lost my shoes to the waves on Saturday during our epic romantic portrait session!  If you follow on instagram (@kbrooketucker, I posted a pic!) I thought I placed them high enough in the dune grass but sadly, the ocean had another idea!  As the bridal party and I  walked back towards the pier, we all had a good laugh as we saw my black flip flops rolling through the waves being tossed here and there!  We did rescue one!  I ended up walking barefoot the rest of the night and that was actually amazing.  Maybe I will “lose my shoes” every wedding!
  • Fried Green Bean Chips~  Ok I know this is NOT what they are called.  It’s not even a great description.  Let me just tell you the story!  Vicki and I (my incredible second shooter and friend) stopped off and Morris Farmer’s Market on the way home from the wedding yesterday.  If you haven’t been, it’s super cute and it quickly became my favorite little farmer’s market down there.  Vicki and took the time to sample every possible item we could and enjoy our little stroll through the goodies.  We came to the nuts and the dried fruits and chips section and I noticed… dehydrated/fried green beans.  They were bright and vibrant.. I love that.  They looked salty and crunchy, another bonus.  So I tried one, skeptically.  OMG HOLD THE PHONE PEOPLE!  They are amazing.  I ate an entire bag on the way home.
  • It’s EXACTLY 3 WEEKS until we leave for Florida to see some of my favorite people and also trick or trick with Mickey!  YEP!  I can hardly contain myself!  I don’t even want to talk about yet because it’s too far away (yet ohh so close!)

Hope you had a wonderful weekend!  In the meantime… just look Christie and see how stunning she is!  I can’t wait to blog this wedding!  She and Adam are seriously the perfect match and soul mates in every way!  I thought I would cry more AT the wedding and I was a little weirded out that I didn’t.  I realize now that I saved all my tears because NOW (I guess in the comfort of my own home) as I cull and work my way through editing… I’m sobbing friends!  It’s embarrassing actually… I’m really glad I wasn’t like this Saturday!  But seriously… look at my childhood friend…

Gorgeous Kitty Hawk Pier, Outer Banks North Carolina Wedding, Sand and Waves, by Brooke Tucker Photography

 

HI Guys!

Ok… I did it!!!  WOHOO!!  Ya’ll I totally feel like shouting from the roof tops because I did it, I made the first video blog (and yes friends if you caught the behind the scenes from instagram, I made it out of the bath tub!)  That was kind of amazing in itself!

When I sat down for my mentoring session with Justin and Mary, one thing Mary made me promise to start among the many lists of tasks she sent me home with, was to video blog! I never realized how hard that was going to be.  I am NOT a shy person, but really getting myself in front of a video camera and talking… I kind of panicked!!!  It’s really hard putting yourself out there and being vulnerable;  but actually that is just what this post is all about!

What being REAL means and why REAL over being perfect is so important to me.

I have to admit, I made like 200 videos.  I had problems with the video sticking… and I may have screamed at the computer a few times.  My pitbull actually ran and hid from me!

I laughed a lot and cried some too!  At one point, I phoned Amanda Hedgepeth and then totally texted her that I felt like a loser trying to accomplish this task, and I needed to read her words of encouragement.

BUT… the video today talks about why these real moments will last longer than “perfect”ones and that’s why I shared my real moments above about trying to make this first video!

I’m kind of nervous to share it with you because it’s not super fancy!  It’s not professional and it’s sooo not perfect!  I’m at home sitting at my kitchen bar praying that the computer holds up!  I’m hoping I don’t say “um” too many times and that you aren’t totally weirded out by my minnie mouse voice!  I’m in my 30’s and yes I look like a high schooler and sound like one too.

BUT… I know that if one person hears what I say about letting go of perfect today… I’ll rest my head on the pillow with a stupid happy grin!!!

So here it goes friends:  The first video blog ever ( and a big thanks to Mary for pushing me to do this!)

 

Thanks again for watching friends.. and please if you have any suggestions on topics for video blogs, leave them below!

With lots of warm hugs…

B

 

  • September 24, 2015 - 3:47 pm

    Audrey - Oh my gosh, Brooke, you are the sweetest thing ever!! You totally rocked this! Love your message! 🙂ReplyCancel

    • September 24, 2015 - 4:00 pm

      brooketuckerphoto@gmail.com - aw thank you!! Thank you for the encouragement!ReplyCancel

  • September 24, 2015 - 3:55 pm

    Elizabeth - you have such a way with words and a passion in your wisdom!! This brought me to tears!! Keep on telling this as it is a concept that needs to be heard!! Real and raw moments before anything perfect for the win!!!! Love you!!ReplyCancel