Spurling Family Portraits for Holiday Cards

Lots of family love for the holidays!

Emily and I have been friends for almost 14 years. 14 years! We met as freshmen in high school and roomed together freshman year in college (it was great - so great we decided for the sake of our grades to never live together again, ha!). I suffered through a fire ant attack during her wedding and I've celebrated birthdays and holidays with her and her two kiddos and even took newborn photos of her baby Stella. I adore her and her family, and was so happy to catch up with them for a quick photo session. We raced the setting sun (Daylight Savings is the bane of a natural light photographer with a day job) to get some cute holiday photos. Time is running out, so if you want holiday photos, book your session now!

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2024 New Year's Notes
2024 New Year's Notes

To celebrate the 2024 new year, McCrae and I went on a micro-adventure to watch the sun rise over the ocean.

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Richmond Marathon and Half Marathon 2021 Race Recap
Richmond Marathon and Half Marathon 2021 Race Recap

Plus a link to a gallery with free downloads of print and web resolution images from the race!

I was injured for the 2021 Richmond Marathon, so I went up with a couple friends to spectate, cheer, and take some pictures of so many of our friends and teammates racing that day in the half and full marathon! I noted a few highlights of the day, and I included a link to the full gallery where print and web resolution images are available for free download!

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Wednesday Still Life
Wednesday Still Life

I’ve been having a surge of creativity these past few weeks with drawing and photography, so I’m going to keep this post just super quick with a couple still life photos I worked on recently and wanted to share. Also, I’ve been slowly submitting photos for stock use on Adobe and am building up a portfolio, so that’s exciting news! I may be posting sometime later with a model call if anyone wants to be stock photo famous 😂 Enjoy!

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Fall Feelings and Freebies!
Fall Feelings and Freebies!

What it’s like to recover after completing a 100 mile race? To be honest, it’s still an on-going lesson. There’s been a lot of rest. There’s been a lot of food. There’s been a lot of walking. There’s been some rock climbing and mountain biking and a few attempts for some veeerrrryyyyy easy runs. And there’s been plenty of time for me to go slightly stir crazy and dabble in some neglected hobbies (see Exhibit A: a blog post for no particular reason!) 😆

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Abandoned Bridges and Fog
Abandoned Bridges and Fog

Exploring strange places in the gloom of autumn

It was a foggy day in October and we were exploring. There were some abandoned places McCrae had noticed on some recent drives around the area that invited us out on a dreary weekend morning for an adventure. We first drove out to Chatham County to the Haw River, finding some small access point hidden off the highway - one of those gravel lots you might see and have some passing curiosity from the road as it flashes past your car window, but that you never actually stop and explore. It led down to a long wide dam next to the highway bridge over the river, all silt and rocks and rushing water and rusted cans and graffiti.

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American Tobacco Trail Offers Miles of Riding for Equestrians
American Tobacco Trail Offers Miles of Riding for Equestrians

Wake County section offers 4.7 miles of compacted gravel trail for horses and riders

The American Tobacco Trail, a 23-mile rails-to-trails project that runs through Wake, Durham, and Chatham counties, offers 4.7 miles of compacted gravel along the Wake County section where horses and riders can enjoy the wooded trail. On two afternoons recently I met up with equestrians to explore the trail and its features.

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Notes from Chicago
Notes from Chicago

Photos and travelogue from the Windy City

Chicago. There is something so appealing about that word, how the letters curve on the page and how they roll in your mouth when you say the word out loud. Chicago. It's almost as if the Art Deco skyline can materialize if you just say the word. - A long form vignette love travelogue with pictures.

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Friday Favorites: Sunflower Field
Friday Favorites: Sunflower Field

Sunflower field along Neuse River Greenway is popular spot with locals

Summer always looks tired to me. By July all the leaves look spent and dry. The oak leaves droop depressedly and the canopy takes on a tinge of golden-orange as if it had been singed. Yellow. So much yellow. I heard about this sunflower field through a couple sources, so one afternoon after work Emily and I headed out to find that sunflower field. I picked up Ryder and we headed east, towards the Neuse River Greenway heading to Johnston County.

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Stroller Strides in the Park
Stroller Strides in the Park

Workout group for Cary moms offers fitness, camaraderie, and no need for babysitter

Dilemma: you want to work out, but you've got an itty bitty human with you. What do you do?

A) Once again leave the kid with dad/grandma/nanny/the neighbor's kid who isn't really old enough to watch kids on their own but they're cheap labor/the dog
B) Don't work out, because it's too much of a hassle
C) Take the kid to the park and do a Stroller Strides workout!

Oh yeah, I'd say C) is a clear winner in my book too! 

I first got connected with the Fit4Mom Cary/Durham Stroller Strides group at the stand-up paddleboarding event at Lake Crabtree, and when Devon from the group found out I was taking photos for Wake County parks we chatted about which parks were included. It turns out a group of moms regularly do a workout at Crowder district park, so I headed over Monday morning to meet up with them and take some photos.

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Friday Favorites - Park Photos
Friday Favorites - Park Photos

10 Wake County parks. Lots of fun photos!

It's Friday, Fri-yay! Who's got a long weekend ahead for July 4th? I'm taking off Monday to do some exploring, and yes I'll have my camera with me!

I've talked a bit about the Wake County parks project, but here's the run-down:

10 parks in Wake County. New websites and brochures. Lots of photos by yours truly. Yep, you've got the picture, and here are a few of my favorites so far!

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