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.

Archive: ‘Seniors’



Carley {Senior} l Outer Banks Senior Portrait Photographer

Thursday, September 6th, 2012

Carly and her family met me at Coquina beach for her Outer Banks senior portrait session, and we spent a good 5 minutes debating if we should reschedule or not. It had started spitting rain, and the wind was picking up! Carley was a trooper and said we should just carry on, so that’s exactly what we did. Luckily for us the rain stopped, and we were able to finish up on the beach. A quick outfit change and pit stop at the Outer Banks Fishing Pier, the weather surprised us and we had some gorgeous sunny blue skies for the remainder of our session!

Cady {Senior} l Outer Banks Senior Portrait Photographer

Wednesday, September 5th, 2012

Cady and her family met me EARLY one morning at Coquina beach for Cady’s Outer Banks senior portraits. If you ventured to the OBX this summer, you know we’ve been battling some rain! Poor Cady…we weren’t even 5 shots into her session when it started to sprinkle. We headed up to the bath-house to wait it out, and luckily for us it passed over and we were able to venture out. Cady was so sweet, and her family was just as awesome.

 

Mahler Family l Outer Banks Photographer l OBX Photographer

Tuesday, December 6th, 2011

I love photographing friends, it’s almost like not working at all! My friend Debi and I were chatting about her family holiday photos while running down the road. Debi and I both do a fitness bootcamp, in fact, we started on the same day so I guess you could say we’ve been together from the beginning. Six months ago we were both running our first 5k and now we both just finished our first Half Marathon. It’s insane to think of how far we’ve come. Debi is hysterical – she always keeps me laughing, and after spending the afternoon with her family the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree! We met up downtown with her husband and kids to get the perfect Christmas card photo. Everyone, right on down to Sasha the dog, was on their best behavior!

Four Seniors {Take Two} l Outer Banks Beach Portraits l OBX Senior Photographer

Monday, September 12th, 2011

If you read my last post, you know that I had four seniors in ONE session. What do you get when you put 4 seniors in one session? Controlled crazy!

 

Four Seniors l Outer Banks Beach Portraits l OBX Photographer

Monday, September 12th, 2011

This summer I got a call from Jeff, wanting to check my availability for a beach session for their group of nineteen. Not only did they have four individual families all wanting portraits, they also had 4 high school seniors who wanted beach senior portraits. Beach lighting is very specific, and since we only get a limited window of “beautiful” light in the evenings I recommended we break their session into two nights – one for the family and one for the seniors. Let me just tell you, the seniors got it EASY! The night of the family session had to be one of the muggiest nights all summer, and the black flies were horrible. The whole group were troopers and we managed to power through quickly (no easy task with that many people).

A few nights later just the seniors came back to the beach, and they got lucky with beautiful weather and no bugs! It seems I generally photograph more senior girls than guys, so imagine my surprise when not only were 3 of the seniors guys but they also showed up with the most outfits I’d had at a session. I have to give them credit, they all put a lot of thought into it and it was very refreshing to such variety with a group of guys. It was great getting to work with them all, and they really did a great job and kept me laughing.

Be prepared….this is a *large* photo share. So without further ado – enjoy!

 

Morgan {Senior} l Hatteras Island Photographer l OBX Beach Portraits

Tuesday, August 30th, 2011

I met up with Morgan and her parents at the Avon Pier for her senior session recently. They were in town from Virginia and Morgan wanted a little something different than the other seniors in her area. We chose the Avon Pier for it’s variety of scenery, and I think we made a great choice. It was wonderful getting to work with Morgan, and her parents were just as sweet as could be. Thanks for spending the afternoon with me!

 

Deanna {Senior} l Outer Banks Beach Portraits l OBX Senior Portraits

Friday, August 19th, 2011

I had a great session with Deanna and her parents photographing Deanna’s senior portraits. We met up down in Avon at the pier, which offers a great mixture of scenery. We were blessed with gorgeous weather, which always makes beach portraits so much more enjoyable. Congrats on your senior year, I hope it’s a great one!

 

Stevi l Outer Banks Senior Portrait Photographer l OBX Beach Portraits

Wednesday, July 6th, 2011

This week I had a great time photographing Stevi’s senior portraits at Coquina Beach. It was overcast and windy, but she rocked it out, and had the perfect hair for the beach!! It looked awesome blowing in the wind. I also love how she brought a photo of her mom to include in the portraits – she would definitely be proud of the sweet young lady you are!

 

OBX Snow Day Portraits l Outer Banks Photographer

Friday, February 25th, 2011

Who says we don’t get snow at the beach? Well, if you’d asked me a couple of years ago if we got snow at the beach I’d say “heck no”. The reality is we might see a some flurries every few years but never anything substantial. This year has been crazy in the weather department here at the beach. Throughout the off-season and winter, clients will send me emails just to say hello – and inevitably they ask how the weather is. This year it seemed like my answer was always, “it’s snowing….again”. Yes my friends, we had around 4 or 5 (I’ve really lost count at this point) snowfalls this winter. It all started with a light dusting in early December. What? December? We had several more after that. For all of them I stayed inside, nice and warm snuggled up with my doggie. We finally had what I think will be our last snowfall this winter a couple of weeks ago. As soon as it finished snowing I decided to jump at the chance to do an impromptu snow session.

Insert Mallory and her sweet dog Molly. I’ve known Mallory since preschool – that’s one of the perks of living in a small town. Now we’re all grown up, and Mallory is engaged. What’s a post about old friends without a trip down memory lane? Wanna good laugh? Here’s a VERY old dance photo, I’m going to guess we were around 3 or 4? You can see me (looking thrilled) on the far left kneeling in the front – Mallory is on the far right kneeling in the front. :) I’m pretty sure I had the same haircut as my mom! Really…Mallory only has herself to blame for this seeing as how she put the incriminating photo on Facebook to begin with! :D

So now on to the good stuff….

Hatteras Island Portraits l Outer Banks/Hatteras Island Beach Portraits

Saturday, January 15th, 2011

Amanda is a super sweet senior I photographed while she vacationed with her family on Hatteras Island. I LOVE shooting down south – the beaches are hands down the prettiest around. They’re beautiful, lots of dunes, and typically free of people. Amanda was so sweet, and did anything I asked her. She also had her boyfriend there, and we were able to grab a few shots of him, and them together.

A lot of seniors choose to have their senior portraits taken while vacationing here on the Outer Banks – I think it’s a fabulous idea!!! If you’re the unlucky (I kid, I kid) person who doesn’t live at the beach, what can be better than coming home from vacation and having senior photos that will look different than all of your classmates. Not only can you chat it up about your beach vacation, but you will have truly unique photos to remember your senior year by.

I mean, really, could I ask for a more beautiful senior?

I’ve got to give kudos to Amanda because this last shot, while it looks clam, actually took quite a bit of planning. Getting a reflection while sitting in the water? A lot harder than it looks. To have a great reflection you need the water to have *just* washed out I think she probably got tired of hearing me say, “Okay…now lift up. Go back down.” :) Thanks for being a trooper!