It is almost 2018! Are you excited for the New Year? I love goals and resolutions so this is always a favorite time of the year for me. I don’t always accomplish my goals but I sure love making them! Imagining all the ways I will improve myself in the coming year is a fun process for me. If one of your resolutions for the coming year is to get family portraits done NOW is the time to book. I will be rolling out new prices with the new year. However, you can book your family portrait session for ANY time in 2018 right now and lock in the 2017 pricing. A scheduled date and a $50 deposit is required to book. Do not delay! Contact me today! Visit my About page to see 2017 pricing!

Family portrait photographer in Topsail Beach, North Carolina

[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, 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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This home had a simple but stunning design. Do you want an in home session? Having a home this gorgeous and white is not required! But I certainly wouldn’t complain if this was how every home I went into looked! I love how the children provided the pop of color and excitement in each image.

You might think these two beautiful children are twins! They are actually two years apart in age. The boy is older, but he was born early and has always been tiny. I love these children and this family but I hope that you all can feel the love between them more than anything else.

Lifestyle Family Portrait Photographer

[tg_small_content class=””]Anna Rasmussen is a featured and award-winning lifestyle 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, 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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Topsail Beach Family Portraits

We took these family portraits right before the Dad deployed and I know it was an emotional time for them all. So grateful we took the time to record this season in their lives. Little girl especially was not too happy to see me or to perform for me. But she had such a special bond with Dad, it was moving to see them together. The love and connection were so evident!

I have never felt so strongly the confirmation of “this is the place for us” as I did when we found this home, in this neighborhood, in this town, in rural North Carolina. It was such a powerful feeling. People like this family, others in my neighborhood and life here in NC are the reason we needed to be here. The people of North Carolina (whether locals or transplants like us) have really been the salt of the earth and continue to impress and inspire me. I hope you love these images and feel the good that radiates from this family!

[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, 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 lovely light, lovely family, just feel the love {topsail beach family portraits} appeared first on Anna Rasmussen Photographs.

Topsail Beach Family Portraits

I love return clients, and return clients who are my friends are even better. This session was held on a very cold day at the park, the parents just wanted to have some fun with their kids and have me on hand to document it. This type of lifestyle session is my favorite. Everyone is free to enjoy their time together without the stress of posing and holding still. When you have young kids I highly recommend this type of family 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, 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 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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I am going to be featuring a bunch of Topsail Beach family portraits sessions that have happened over the last six months. Not a lot of words, just the images. First up are some returning clients who wanted a special portrait session of their kids with Grandma before the oldest shipped out to boot camp. I have photographed these boys several times and they are just the best. Honestly if my three can end up anywhere near as kind, polite and genuine as these three I will be thrilled. I loved capturing the connection between them and their Grandma.

[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, 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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Confession : I always wanted a red headed baby. However neither my husband or I have any red headedness in us, so I knew I wasn’t getting one! Photographing this family made me mourn that all over again. This little red head was so darling! So smiley and happy and just at the perfect age to photograph. I loved how he was constantly engaged and looking at the camera. It makes my job so much easier.

I want to take a moment to talk about the last portrait shared in this post. Mom all by herself. Moms usually get a little fidgety when I ask to take this shot, but it is almost always my favorite of the session. Usually it is the mom I know or have had the most interaction with. She has put the most time into the session, figuring out clothing and making sure everyone is happy and healthy at picture time. She will cherish each photo, pour over them and love them for years to come. I love that mom. She has sacrificed so much for her little unit. I love taking a moment to capture her beauty and poise, so that for years her children will be able to look back and say, that is my amazing angel mother.

I have the honor of participating in another blog circle this month with some talented friends. Please click around and leave them all some love! Next up is Kaleen Enke a fabulous at home newborn photographer in Atlanta, GA

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We had the fun fabulous blessing to spend a week in Orlando at the beginning of this year and it really was the perfect trip. In some way we chose the perfect moment to go. Our family was just the right ages for everything to be magical, fun and almost easy. We had only been to Disney World once before and it had been so crowded I vowed never again. But this time we chose the perfect season as well, we walked on rides, had a wonderful balance of big kid and little kid rides, and just had a blast. This trip is also one of the few times traveling with all my children where I really felt like I was able to capture the story of our trip in photographs. In the past I was always too tired, sore, etc to carry the camera in addition to whatever else was needed to survive an amusement park. My children are at that golden age where there is still magic in Disney for them, but they do not need to be carried or have constant snacks. This opened my arms for my cameras.

I felt like we really soaked up each moment of our time and looking back at these images just brings the entire week back to life for me. My oldest had to go on a few more kiddie rides then he would have preferred and my youngest was slightly scarred while falling down the big drop on Splash Mountain. In order to capture and really enhance the magic of Disney I took a lot of double exposures on this trip. I love their whimsical and amusement park feel.

These double exposures were shot on my Lomo LCA+ camera. I honestly hadn’t used it in years before I went on this trip, and it was the best camera. I loved how small it was and the images that I got from it are by far my favorites of the trip! Love my little girls profile here, floating high above the castle.

Harry Potter World was just as magical for my big boys as Disney. Especially my biggest boy pictured below. There is nothing like seeing things that you have only imagined in your brain come to life. Also the rides there in Universal were super exciting and fun!

I always feel a bit like I should not love Disney because it is such a commercialized place. Perhaps I am just a brain washed American, but I adore it. I will always relish in the magic of it. This trip in particular was one of those perfect moments spent with these five beautiful people, my family.

My photographer friend Emily Hamson went to Disneyland around the same time. We decided to connect our blogs so people could check out both experiences from two different perspectives. Emily is a talented Utah Nature Photographer and mother of four; click on over and see how they do Disney on the west coast!

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My absolute favorite thing about my job is the people. I love finding the human connection and capturing it. This stunning mama is from my gym and as I have gotten to know her over the last year or so, she has shown me again and again what a loving heart she has. She is always there to help a friend out and provide a listening ear. Getting her with her two special boys in front of my camera was a treat. I felt honored to not only capture what they look like but to be able to see their love for one another. That is what it is all about. Why we are all here! To learn to love and let ourselves be loved. I hope you enjoy these golden hour family portraits!

I am excited to be participating in another blog circle this month with some very talented photographers. Atlanta friends you will want to click on this link Documentary Children’s Photographer in Atlanta, GA and check out this fun post from Kaleen Enke. She showcases not only her awesome photography but a local clothing line with darling clothes for the littles.

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I bought a fun old soviet camera at an antique market in Moscow. It is a rangefinder and it took me a roll or two to get the focus figured out. But I loved running some rolls of Ektar through it and even though some of these shots are missing focus I love the feeling of them! Ektar film is quickly becoming my favorite film to shoot. As I focus on my style and “who I am as a photographer” I am quickly realizing that I am colorful. And I dont want whimpy white washed colors. If it is in color I want the real thing. These fall colors remind me of one of my favorite times of year.

Our little aquarium here in North Carolina is not the best one in the world by any means. But it is big enough to keep girly happy and there is a fun playground attached and thats all the boys need. Ha! It was a fun outing.

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By the end of this session I felt like this family had been my best friends for life. They are both so hilarious and fun! Their dog Sampson is a total member of the family and their son not a fan of holding still. I loved this beautiful family portrait session by the water and in the forest. The light was perfect. Do I say that too much? Probably. But that is why I always strive to schedule my family portraits at golden hour. Because the time of day matters! You cannot fake this kind of light!

So I have been using this blog as not only obviously a place to post my photography work and talk a little bit about my clients but also as a creative journal of other inspirations. And this week I WAS INSPIRED. I know I am about the last person in the world to jump on this bandwagon, but friends have you listened to Hamilton? Have you immersed yourselves in all things Lin-Manuel Miranda? No? You really should. A dear Broadway loving friend sent me CDs of the Hamilton soundtrack for my birthday and honestly I know I have been living under a rock, but I had not heard one beat of this music up until that point.

Well my broadway loving heart was sold from the first song. There is nothing like the stage to tell a story and what an amazing story! Since that moment I have watched a ton of You Tube and soaked up everything I could get my hands on. Which of course, does not extend to the actual show. Who knows when that dream will come true? Road trip to Chicago anyone?

Some feelings that surprised me while delving into this world. I watched an interview where Daveed Diggs (actor who was Thomas Jefferson in the original cast) said that before starting on this project he felt so disconnected from American history, he had a hard time considering himself American in that way. It was a moment that blew my mind. I have always felt so connected to the stories of the founding fathers as a God given part of my heritage. In that moment I stopped and considered it from his perspective and understood. For a moment I had new understanding of his African American experience. In the little I had thought and heard about Hamilton before this week, I felt casting African Americans as people who were obviously historically white was a sort of reverse discrimination. However, now my point of view has completely changed. Hamilton is written for a generation of people of all nationalities and races that now populate America. It says this is all your history no matter where your genes come from. I love the obviously urban feel from Lin-Manuel Miranda’s style of music. I love the ethnic diversity of the cast. I love the patriotic feelings and love for this amazing country I get to live in. I love the story of love, friendship and forgiveness.

I want to shout “I am just like my country, I am young, scrappy and hungry.” I feel like that sentence puts into words perfectly what it means to be American. It also describes how I feel as I mother and create as an artist. I want to teach my kids to love and live fully. To go for dreams, to rise from disappointments and to live a life where they are true to their truths. I loved the example of Alexander Hamilton at the end of the show, when he supports Thomas Jefferson despite political differences. Just because we are different does not mean we need to hate each other. Differences should be celebrated and embraced! I would love to hear your thoughts and feelings as well. Comment below.

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