Honestly sister was a little tired of me after about one minute! But with some suckers and ring around the rosy she cheered up and I was able to get some darling smiles from her. I love to capture parents and children just being cozy and enjoying one another. This session was the ideal time for that. Actually an upset child is a wonderful way to get images of the most important thing a parent can give their child : LOVE.

I always encourage you to take some time to play during your family portrait session. These will be the images you treasure for a lifetime. Everyone looking at the camera is important as well, but having the family interacting…the best. I think most people do not equate fun with family portraits. I try to change this mindset. Family portraits can be a time of fun and bonding and happy memories! I promise!

Okinawa Fall Family Portrait

Do you want to see more delicious golden light? Go check out this family portrait session at Cape Zanpa!

Thank you so much for visiting the blog! If you want a family portrait session contact me today! I would love to get you scheduled to capture your family as they are right now. I am so grateful for the ability to be inspired by and connected to photographers from around the world. Today I am participating in another blog circle. Follow it around and see beautiful photography from other amazing artists. Next up is Stacey Adams, she is an Albuquerque newborn photographer and is talking today about how to prepare for your newborn baby.

Anna Rasmussen is a featured and award-winning family portrait photographer in Okinawa, Japan. She loves documentary-style family vacation photography and beautiful lifestyle portraits. Her two favorite things to photograph are travel logs and birth stories in the hospital, but she also loves everything family – from capturing the joy of expectant parents in maternity photography, the first days of a baby’s life in Newborn Fresh 48 Sessions, the beauty of everyday chaos in Family Day-in-the-Life Sessions, and on-location family portrait sessions. Anna is an on-location photographer, serving the entire island of Okinawa and ready to travel to many major cities in the Asian area. Book a session here with Anna today! Thank you so much for stopping by!

The post giggles, snuggles and golden light | okinawa, japan appeared first on Anna Rasmussen Photographs.

What do you do to instill your beliefs, morals and passions in your children? Is there a right way? I would love to hear your thoughts. I focus on trying to create happy and positive memories associated with that thing. Inevitably there are bothers in any situation. When this happens I try to brush it aside and not get angry. If it is stressful or a lot of hard work (as camping with small children can be!), I step back, adjust my attitude and strive not to let that be a negative thing. 

The blessing of hard work is something I learned from my parents that I want to pass on to each of my children. So it is not that I hide the hard work, but I make it fun, bonding and something we all do together. Something that brings you rewards, not just monetary rewards, but rewards of feelings of accomplishment and confidence. Whew! Thats a lot of depth from some fun pictures with headlamps!

The headlamps were my other favorite part of this camping trip. My kids got so involved in this project! They kept coming back to check every image on the back of the camera, and then making a new plan as to what they would do for the next shot. I often hear photographers talk about putting down the camera to be present. For me sometimes the camera helps me be part of my children’s world in a new way that wouldn’t be possible without it. This night was one of those times. I need to go camping again!

Topsail Beach lifestyle portraits

[tg_small_content class=””]Anna Rasmussen is a featured and award-winning family portrait photographer in Topsail Beach, NC. She loves documentary-style family photography and beautiful lifestyle portraits. Her two favorite things to photograph are travel logs and birth stories in the hospital. However she also loves everything family – from capturing the joy of expectant parents in maternity photography, the first days of a baby’s life in Newborn Fresh 48 Sessions, the beauty of everyday chaos in Family Day-in-the-Life Sessions, and on-location family portrait sessions. Anna is an on-location photographer, serving areas of coastal North Carolina, including Wilmington, Hampstead, Topsail Beach and Surf City. Book a session here with Anna today! Thank you so much for stopping by!

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The post love for camping, my favorite place to be {outdoors in north carolina} appeared first on Anna Rasmussen Photographs.

Is it important if they get seen? I often wonder in our connected world how many images is too many. When I scroll my Instagram feed, my mind is just overwhelmed with the visual onslaught of it all. I know my children will appreciate when they are older having photographs of their childhood and yet I wonder, do they need 400 a year? 1,000 a year? I wonder if I shoot that many… I should count, because I undoubtably have time for that. Ha!

Anyway, this is really just a lot of rambling as I fly on an airplane to another new amazing city that I can’t wait to delve into and capture. And produce more images in. More images that I will edit and catalog, rename and organize into folders. Some I will delete, some I will post.  I will keep some on a hard drive to hopefully one day be made into a book that I can hold in my hands and say “I made this.” I made this life, this book, this image, this moment. That is why I continue to photograph even though I feel I cannot share it all or see it all : In order to record a moment that I have witnessed. To be a witness to a moment. Hope you enjoy some recent moments. (just for the record recent = last six months) HA!

Topsail Beach Candid Childhood

[tg_small_content class=””]Anna Rasmussen is a featured and award-winning family portrait photographer in Topsail Beach, NC. She loves documentary-style family photography and beautiful lifestyle portraits. Her two favorite things to photograph are travel logs and birth stories in the hospital. She loves everything family – from capturing the joy of expectant parents in maternity photography, the first days of a baby’s life in Newborn Fresh 48 Sessions, the beauty of everyday chaos in Family Day-in-the-Life Sessions, and on-location family portrait sessions including Topsail Beach candid childhood sessions. Anna is an on-location photographer, serving areas of coastal North Carolina, including Wilmington, Hampstead, Topsail Beach and Surf City. Book a session here with Anna today! Thank you so much for stopping by!

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The post day to day, image to image {topsail beach, north carolina} appeared first on Anna Rasmussen Photographs.

One of my favorite things about North Carolina is the availability of just about every type of landscape. These photographs were taken five minutes from North Topsail Beach and here we are in a thick lush forest. It is so beautiful! I used my 24-70mm on my Canon to capture this gorgeous golden light. You all are already aware of my obsession with red heads!  I am sure it comes as no surprise to hear how much I love this darling curly headed child. She is a true performer. She was ready to do whatever I had in mind and was the sweetest little pixie! Hope you enjoy these fun images!

Topsail Beach Childhood Portraits

Have you ever wanted to do portraits like this of your child? First of all I would recommend finding a photographer who has a similar vision! I do not like portraits of my children sitting in a studio and having artificial light splashed on their faces. An environmental portrait is better at capturing a child’s true mood and beauty. Why? Because children are most happy and carefree out in nature. This is why I love to photograph them there. Humans are more confident when they are in nature and confidence leads to comfort in front of the lens.

[tg_small_content class=””]Anna Rasmussen is a featured and award-winning family portrait photographer in Topsail Beach, NC. She loves documentary-style family photography and beautiful lifestyle portraits. Her two favorite things to photograph are travel logs and birth stories in the hospital, but she also loves everything family – from capturing the joy of expectant parents in maternity photography, the first days of a baby’s life in Newborn Fresh 48 Sessions, the beauty of everyday chaos in Family Day-in-the-Life Sessions, Topsail Beach childhood portraits and on-location family portrait sessions. Anna is an on-location photographer, serving areas of coastal North Carolina, including Wilmington, Hampstead, Topsail Beach and Surf City. Book a session here with Anna today! Thank you so much for stopping by!

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The post a forest fairy with curly red hair! {childhood portraits in topsail beach} appeared first on Anna Rasmussen Photographs.