Melissa Berg Photography | Raleigh Newborn Photographer

Wow! It's been almost a year since I've visited this blog. Last year I switched over to a new website and if you haven't migrated over yet, please visit me over at www.melissabergphotography.com!!!

Visiting this old blog takes me back to when I first started to dive into photography and pursue it as a business. My how much I've grown! Check it out! ;)

Sophie

Today I had the pleasure of photographing a co-workers' daughter who is about a year and a half old. Sophie had so much energy and there was lots of family that kept her super busy and on the move. I was able to keep up with her but wow am I glad Dylan isn't mobile yet!! I'm so not ready!! ;)



What a sweet little girl! and I just love the clothes!!

The White Family

Yikes, two posts in one day! I was so excited about today's shoot with my friend Melannie and her family, that I just couldn't wait. Now that my workflow is improved, it's easier for me to import in RAW, pick out my faves, edit, export to JPGs, upload (in various places) and blog!

My little one, Dylan, was such a good boy today as I took photos indoors and out. Thanks to the rocknplay, it makes it easy to bring him along, while including him in on the action (and not having to worry about him accidentally falling over while sitting up!). He took a nice long (long for us is an hour and 15 min) nap beforehand and then slept the whole way home (about an hour in rush hour traffic-woops!). I was actually glad it took me longer to get home, bc he slept well. ;)

Melannie and I graduated nursing school together a couple of years ago and thanks to good 'ole Facebook, it's easy to keep in touch with everyone's busy lives...and Melannie sure is busy! She has four, count 'em, FOUR boys!! (plus her husband!) ;) There's Kyle, 18; Kole, 16; Jared, 3; and baby Justin, 3 months. I normally don't get the chance to shoot that many people at once, but surprisingly it only took about an hour and a half. I think the older boys were eager to do their thing (although they sure hammed it up for the camera efficiently enough) and although the little ones sure pretended they didn't want their picture taken, they were great in front of the camera as well.











A big thanks to the White family for trusting me with their family portraits and welcoming Dylan & I into their home. :)

Happy Anniversary to the Brauers!

Wow! Can't believe a whole year has gone by. Congratulations to Sara and Jon who were married March 21, 2010 at Caffe Luna in downtown Raleigh.

A LOT has happened since then. Including a recent upgrade in editing software and a lot of learning on my part in the editing department! My gift to them; here are 12 Re-Edits from their wedding last year.

The Fried Family 2011

My friend Lauren from high school in New York just happens to live in the Triangle area (crazy!) and this year she had her fourth bundle of joy, Mia. I was so excited when she asked me to photograph her new little precious one and the fact that I could take Dylan along made it all happen. Here are some of my faves!!






It's so awesome to see the older ones all grown up from the last time I photographed them! I had so much fun jumping back into photography a little bit. ;)

Checking in!!

So yeah..Dylan is now 5 months and I plan on playing a little bit of catch up here after the weekend. Things are great! Dylan is cutting his first tooth already and getting lots of practice sitting up on his own. Amazing how time flies!!

Since Dylan has been born I have done 2 baby sessions for friends. Both little girls and both adorable! Mia is 2 months and Lily was 18 days. You can check out their sneak peeks on my FB page (banner to the left!) and I will blog some more of their photos soon!

Yup, I've been MIA again!

I am almost 32 weeks into my first pregnancy and I have to admit, photography is the LAST thing on my mind. Life has been super busy crazy working and trying to prepare for our baby. A few weeks ago I had to unfortunately cancel a bridal session due to rain. (bummer!!) :( and that was my last opportunity to shoot before the baby comes. I can't believe I have only TWO months to go!!!

So that being said, I am putting any outside photography on hold until further notice. More than likely I won't start shooting and pursuing photography until early 2011. I want to thank those of you that have inquired and really appreciate the interest!

I guess it's safe to say, I won't be out of too much practice since I plan on taking a gazillion pictures of my son. ;) He will be my first newborn session. ;)

Sara and Jon {Married!}

So last month I photographed my very first wedding at Caffe Luna in Raleigh. Life has been super busy but I'm so happy that I can finally post a few up on the blog!! Sara and Jon have been waiting so patiently and I can't thank them enough for everything. Post processing is tough, especially when you don't have a system down to where you can do it efficiently with quality number one in mind. One major road block was that we moved into our very first home a few weeks ago, so all of my photography stuff is still in boxes and I am without a desk at the moment. Not only that, but decorating this home, (baby room included!) unpacking, working a full time job on the night shift (Sara knows this well too!!) and flat out just being pregnant have really slowed me down.

I must say I am so grateful that I had the opportunity not only to photograph their wedding, but to really share in their special day. Sara and Jon seem really close with their family and friends from all across the US. I was so touched during the cake cutting...practically everyone in the entire room made a speech!! It really had me choked up at how much their loved ones cared so much about the two of them. There was never a dull moment during the entire evening. It was just beautiful!

So, without further interruption, here are a few highlights of Sara & Jon's wedding on March 21, 2010!

Sara and Jon {Married!} Sneak Peek

Oh wow! What a day. I just love weddings. Today definitely brought flashbacks of my own. Here is a quick sneak peek at Sara and Jon on their wedding day. It was hard to pick just one, but this is as "sneak peek" as I could come up with. Can't wait to really go through all of the photos and start editing. Sara and Jon were just glowing today and I can't wait to show them their photos.

The Thomas Family {Portraits}

Well I must say, Allison and her family have been super patient with me this past month. Life has brought me lots of changes in such a short period of time and I've been trying so hard to focus. Finally, I'm coming out of my fog (more on that later) and hallelujah, the blog post is finally up!!

We spent a few hours in Chapel Hill on UNC's gorgeous campus. Allison, Donald, Stephen and Charlie were such a pleasure to work with, including their little puppy Sylar. I promised a puppy and here he is!!


This photo makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside on a sunny afternoon.






I really wanted to debut my new watermark logo on these photos but I COULD NOT delay this posting any longer and I have been having some issues with format. So, I guess that will have to wait until my next photo shoot, which wouldn't you know it, is my first wedding next month!

MIA

Yeah for like the past month! SOO much going on I can't even begin to fill you in on everything. Basically my new site is still in it's construction phase but I can't wait for it to go live sometime here soon. The holidays were awesome, short but awesome. Work is crazy and I'm still adjusting to life as a critical care nurse with 12 hour night shifts. We are currently on the hunt for our first home which is HUGE news and taking up a lot of my time right now. I have decided that rushing into a full fledged business right now is not in the cards but will slowly get there when I'm ready. November/December was crazy busy with portrait sessions and I had an amazing time!! I am photographing the Thomas family this weekend so I can't wait to get behind the lens again! Once the weather warms up a bit I hope to book some more portrait sessions...in the mean time I am gearing up for my first wedding. I've decided that so far this year I will only take the two weddings that I have been approached about of people that I know, to make sure that I take the time to learn as much as possible from each experience. Crossing over into weddings is a huge deal to me and I want to make sure that I'm fully ready before going full blown. In other words, taking it slow. I've already learned so much the past couple of months that I'm realizing taking the time is SO worth it not only to myself, but to my clients. I'm not concerned with booking myself up, but I'm aspiring to produce the best images that I can for my clients.

Can't wait to see what 2010 has in store for me personally and professionally. I'm VERY looking forward to this Saturday. Rumor has it there may be a new puppy in the mix, so get ready for some adorableness on the blog next week. ;)

P.S. Oh I almost forgot! My new logo is almost ready!! Can't wait to reveal that baby! Currently in it's final stages and working on font. So be on the lookout for my new look! ;)

Ava {Pet Portraits}

What a beauty!! Ava was rescued by her mommy Lark from a pretty bad situation and thank goodness! What a great dog and what a gorgeous breed, the Siberian Husky. While Ava had a few moments where she couldn't sit still (and what dog doesn't?), she is such a sweetheart and I loved working with her and Lark today.

Dogs are so funny. I can sit there and make every obscene noise in the book and jump up and down and not have them flinch. But god forbid someone (a stranger, or someone they haven't seen yet) walks by or says one word, they all dart their faces in that direction...haha..I think it's hysterical. I've joked with the past two clients how I'm going to start hiring the bystanders to dart out at any given moment to get the dog to look in the right direction! lol. As for this session, we didn't need to come to that...Ava was very patient and I got a lot of great shots this afternoon. Here are a handful of my faves!

For this first photo, I just want to make it a point to say that I have not touched this photo with any editing software, well besides my tag on it, but that's it! I just wanted the raw image straight from the camera to give you the most crystal clear idea of just how beautiful this dog is.


Here is Ava and her mommy Lark!


Say hello to some gorgeous Christmas cards!




Just stunning!


I am so thankful for all of the photo opportunities I have had in the past few months. I want to thank Lark and Ava for spending a somewhat chilly afternoon with me. I hope you have a wonderful holiday and Christmas cards and photos to remember!!

The Loftin Family {Portraits}

Boy was it chilly today!! It's finally starting to feel like Christmas (and not only in the shopping malls!). This afternoon I had the pleasure of photographing Megan and Patrick with their two dogs Amos and Caden. Todays shoot consisted of muddy paws, funny noises and yes, even waving a large stick (didn't quite work out like I'd planned-apparently little kids running around are more interesting!) ;) In the end, I got some great shots and we had a darn good time doing it!

I laughed as soon as I took this shot of Caden and had to show Megan and Patrick on my camera right away. What a ham!!






Wow, what a gorgeous family!! ;) Thanks so much for letting me capture you all. It was great working with you and I know your Christmas cards are going to be adorable! Happy holidays!!