In celebration of 100 years of
4-H in North Carolina, I was contacted (as a former 4-Her) to see if I had some photographs from my years in that wonderful organization. Needless to say, I did and I've been sorting through some of them to make copies for the local Northampton county celebration. I found this photo and it was just too good for me to pass it by without sharing the photo and the history behind it.
Our parents and grandparents may have their Depression-era stories of walking two miles to school every day but my generation has its own "tough childhood" stories -- and believe me when I tell you that I'm saying this with a grain of salt. When we went to 4-H Club Congress every summer -- the highlight of our year in 4-H -- to stay on campus at N.C. State, we rode in the back of a pick-up truck. No fancy SUV with air conditioning, no DVD player, no iPod to entertain us or cell phone to text our friends. And believe me, it was HOT in July. But we thought it was wonderful and we felt so grown-up to be on our own for a week in the big city of Raleigh. Of course, it was a more innocent time than it is now but I believe we managed to get in a bit of trouble. I think one of my group sneaked in a pack of cigarettes and WE SMOKED!! If we had been caught, our 4-H leader would have probably sent us home in disgrace but we were young and daring. HA!
The photo above includes several of the group that I hung out with in high school. My good friends Phyllis and Nina Lynn Taylor, my cousin Ann Hedgepeth, and Susan Long. There are lots of signs of the times in our photo other than the model year of the truck -- Phyllis's "smiley face" shirt and, in a different photo I found, Ann and Susan are wearing their "Hang Ten" pants which was the ultimate cool. And, of course, the "Peace, Baby" sign they're flashing.
And just to bring it full circle and for those of you who are not from around here and won't know the family connections -- Susan in this photo is the mother of my fabulous "twirling in front of Old Well" bride, Melissa Flythe Decker, who was the subject of my very first blog posting.
Have a great 4th of July holiday everyone!
I've had a wonderful little rush of beach portraits lately and thought I'd share some of the great families I've worked with. While it's always beautiful at the Outer Banks, it's not always a weather-cooperative day. We've worked around the rain and been carried away by the wind and have still come up with some wonderful family portraits. I'll probably be heading back to the beach to do some portraits a few more times this year so call or email and put yourself on the list if you're interested. I'll probably have a weekend in August and one in September and hopefully one in October which I think is the best month (the heat and the tourists have died down). Hope to see you there!!
It's hard to believe that Camryn Rawls turned one yesterday. It seems to me like just a few months ago that I took an "itty bitty" baby photo of her and now she's just about to run away from me. I took a little trip over to Jackson to her house to celebrate her big day. I think she's having the major party this weekend but her mommy wanted to catch a few photos on her birthday and even made her a little cake. Camryn wasn't really excited about diving into her cake like some one-year olds. She was a real little lady and only licked a little off her fingers. Happy Birthday, Camryn!! I bet next year we won't be able to catch you for photos.
We've had our first senior portrait session of the season -- Neal Brinkley from Northeast Academy, Class of 2010. We sent out letters to all the Northeast seniors a couple of weeks ago so they can get their portrait done before school gets started and we've got several sessions on the schedule. Neal was the first one in and brought his uniforms as a Union Volunteer fireman for his environmental portraits. We look forward to senior season here at Conway Photo so, no matter what school you attend, give us a call and we'll be glad to set up a session for you. Remember -- we don't have set packages that you have to buy. You create your own package and order exactly what you want.
I've had some fire truck loving couples this year and still have another one coming up in August. Lindsey and JC were married last month at the beautiful Airfield 4-H Conference Center near Wakefield, VA. Lindsey got some of JC's fellow firemen to bring the truck over for the wedding as a surprise to JC and he really WAS surprised when she arrived for the ceremony hanging on to the back of the truck. They also left the ceremony and rode to the reception on the back. Additionally, Lindsey had brought his helmet over to the studio when we did her bridal portraits to surprise him with a few "formal" portraits of her with his helmet. The things we do for our men!!
In celebration of 100 years of 4-H in North Carolina, I was contacted (as a former 4-Her) to see if I had some photographs from my years in that wonderful organization. Needless to say, I did and I've been sorting through some of them to make copies for the local Northampton county celebration. I found this photo and it was just too good for me to pass it by without sharing the photo and the history behind it.
