Welcome to the blog for Courtney Hathaway Photography!
I'm Courtney, a wedding & portrait photographer serving the Outer Banks of North Carolina and worldwide! I hope you take a little bit of time to check out some of our recent sessions and weddings, and read along with some of our "helpful hints" to make your session or event go smoothly. For for more information please website at: www.CourtneyHathaway.com.
I met up with Kate and her family in Corolla for their family sessions. In a week of crazy weather, they lucked out with the most beautiful evening and beautiful light. Add in their ridiculously cute kids and you end up with a session that just comes together. I had such a great time getting to work with them!
Clearly little brother isn’t as thrilled to be hanging out with big brother? 
Summer is FAST approaching here on the Outer Banks and it’s almost time for those OBX Beach Vacations. We were teased by Mother Nature over the past few weeks with some beautiful warm weather (if you could stand the pollen!) and like a cruel trick she brought us some really nasty weather. The past week has been cold wind, rain, more wind, more rain, finished up with a little more wind! FINALLY today we woke up to blue skies and birds chirping. While you still can’t put on those swimsuits just yet, it is really nice to go outside without needing a parka….or a morton salt man rain suit!
So in honor of the beautiful weather we’re having today we’ve decided to kick start our 2013 OBX Beach Portrait Season with a little promo to celebrate the great weather!
**Book your Outer Banks Beach Portrait Session by May 1st and receive 10% off your session fee.**
**To book your session visit our WEBSITE or send us an email to info@courtneyhathaway.com!**
That time of year is almost here again. Where you listen to the waves crashing, feel the wind and sun on your skin, the smell of salty air, and tasting the ocean on your lips. Every summer is different here in the OBX; and each summer is full of families and new adventures. Planning your trip is just the start. What better way to remember your spectacular vacation at beaches like Nags Head, Corolla, and Kill Devil Hills than with your very own OBX family portraits. So this summer let Courtney Hathaway Photography capture the memories from your Outer Banks vacation.
It’s that time of year again, the time when families are making their vacation plans for summer! It’s hard to believe we’re in February already, but school will be out before you know it and summer vacation will soon be here! Many families are making plans for their Family Beach Portraits and what better time than during your OBX Vacation?
So what’s different about this year? We’re moving forward with our desire to go totally digital, with the exception of our wall art! So what does that mean for you? We’ve revamped our session offerings, and now every session includes the digital files. Images from your session are accessed via your personal and private online gallery, where you will be able to download your digital files directly to your computer. Now each family member can log into the gallery and download their own copy of the images from your session!
Don’t worry, you still have the option to purchase prints through your gallery. We specialize in Wall Art (Prints & Canvases), specifically prints 11×14 and larger. Wall Prints are carefully mounted and receive a linen texture finish and protective lacquer coating for durability and longevity. Gallery Wrapped Canvases are printed on a high end canvas and wrapped around a wooden stretcher with the hanging hardware already attached!
To book your Outer Banks Family Portrait, please visit our website at WWW.COURTNEYHATHAWAY.COM!
Don’t forget to become our fan on FACEBOOK!
I’ve known Kathryn practically my whole life and was so excited to shoot Mary Kathryn’s newborn photos. The best way to describe Kathryn, is classic. She’s a sweater-set and pearls kind of girl, and I knew we’d want to keep MK’s session timeless . Keeping it simple and incorporating a few elements was key, but we did manage to sneak in a little fun…courtesy of Kathryn’s mom who found the adorable hat! She slept for me essentially the whole time, and is such a sweet baby.
I met up with the Lawrence family at the Avon Pier in Avon for family beach portraits. We had a beautiful evening and gorgeous light for their session. It was great working with them and their adorable kids!
Many of my sessions take place at Coquina Beach in South Nags Head. Why? It’s just pretty darn awesome! The OBX is a great place to be, but if we’re being honest, not every area is that great for photography. Many of my clients are looking for a gorgeous family beach portrait – one that incorporates both “beach” and water. If you’re on the fence about if it’s worth it to make the drive to Coquina, this is the place for you!
Meet the adorable Morgan and her awesome parents! They’ll be our models for today’s blog post.
So the first great thing about this beach are the beautiful dunes! Coquina is maintained by the Park Service, and is totally unobstructed by beach houses or other structures. This means it’s just a wide stretch of beautiful dunes! This offers a great backdrop for family photos, and has many added benefits. One thing we struggle with here on the OBX is wind…it can really make or break your family session. Everyone wants a beautiful water shot, but if the wind is blowing off the water, you’ll have hair wrapped around your face!
Enter “Plan B”. By turning around you’re able to use the dune line as your backdrop – free of beach tents, large cottages, or flag poles. It also helps to minimize distractions. The water is very enticing for a lot of littles ones. Often, as soon as they get near the water they are totally uninterested in anything but looking down to stare at it. This is one of the reasons we start our sessions in the dunes, and end up at the water for casual and candid photos. With kids you get a limited amount of attention span, and the less distractions you have, the better!
These guys took my suggestion and decided to have their session at Coquina Beach, as I told them about the variety of scenery we would have to work with over where they were staying. Like many parents, Morgan’s figured out AFTER they got here and had already scheduled their session that Morgan wasn’t exactly a fan of the sand or ocean! This can certainly complicate things when it comes to a family portrait on the beach, but luckily we were already set to shoot at Coquina.
Morgan was happy as a clam to sit on mom & dad’s lap or be held for photos…..for a while. Hey, she’s 2, and really if they last more than 15-20 minutes at that age you’ve struck photographic gold! Bring on “Plan C”. Coquina offers a great weathered wooden walkway that stretches from the bath house to the beach. It became pretty clear that Morgan was haveing NO parts of getting her cute little toes in the sand so we headed up to the steps and walkway. This gave Morgan a spot where she could sit/stand/walk, which kept her happy, and in return the rest of us happy!
Now don’t worry, we know water shots are important (and not the bath house shower kind!) so we do venture down to the water’s edge for casual and candid shots!
Check out our next blog post that showcases Coquina and all that it has to offer! Be sure to become a “fan” on our FACEBOOK PAGE, and to book a session or wedding visit our WEBSITE.
It’s that time of year again, time to photograph two of my favorite little cuties! It’s really true that the holidays seem to have snuck up on everyone this past year! Their mom is usually super prepared and we shoot their holiday portraits really early. Not this year! We were getting down to the wire when we finally decided one afternoon to get the kids and get out there. This is one of the first years we didn’t do a “theme” and I love the photos. The kids are finally at an age where they can *really* listen to direction and they had a lot of fun playing with each other. We finished up the shoot with a trip to the cupcake store for a little treat!
It’s always a compliment when another photographer pics you. I had an email from Renee letting me know she was coming into town with her family and wanted to schedule a session. We met up on evening at their oceanfront rental in Duck for some family photos, and here are a couple from their session:
As Renee knows all too well, moms are almost always left of out of the photos because they’re taking them. That’s especially true when mom is a photographer, and I’m so glad we were able to capture some sweet moments of Renee and her boys. Here’s one of my favorites:
I met up with Jennifer and her family at the Avon Pier for an evening session of her three kids. When working with little ones you just never know how it’s going to go. These kids rocked.it.out. They were oh so adorable and just full of smiles. It made editing super hard because everything was a keeper!
Really…..does it get any cuter than this????? I don’t think so! :-)
