Mary, Warren, Meredith, Margaret, Ren and Marie. Six unique individuals; six peas in a pod. Two of which really were peas in a pod! For two years, Ren and Marie, twin four year olds, have been photographed at the Pure Expressions Photography studio … in both the “old” studio and the “new old” studio and now, along with their older sisters, mom and dad, on the coast of North Carolina.

This family of six is incredibly unique, with 24 years between Mom and Dad and 16 years between older and younger siblings. But the reality is they are no different than any other family, “trying to have a happy life, providing a safe, loving environment where every member can thrive just being themselves,” says Mary.

The difficulty in creating images from a session like theirs, on the beach, was not in the imagery itself, but in the coordination or schedules. Meredith took a day off work. Margaret missed a class at ECU. Ren and Marie missed the Police Officer visit in Pre-K. Where there is a will though, there is a way. Says Mary, “I’ve always wanted to get professional pictures done at the beach, so I was excited when Aimee decided to do beach sessions!  Then when my stepdaughters were able to join us it was like everything was perfect.”

On the day of the session, the rain threatened to ruin everything. On top of the days’ weather problems, Ren didn’t want sand on his jeans, and refused to sit on the beach at all – a typical issue for children that suffer from sensory integration dysfunction. As is typical when such frustrations arise, adjustments were made. Mary notes, “It rained that day right up until picture time. I don’t think [Aimee] was really planning on doing many shots on the bench but when they were up there sitting on the back of the bench she went with it and one of my favorite pictures of the session was taken.”

Like so many tech-savvy families,  this family owns their own digital camera, a small, but powerful Canon. Professional photographs, however, have always been a high priority. “My oldest sister once told me ‘I’ve never regretted the money I’ve spent on photos of my girls’ and she’s spent a LOT on photos of her girls!!” Mary added, “And I think she’s right, long after they are
grown the pictures are what I’ll have to help remember all their quirkiness.  Custom professional photography catches that quirkiness in a way that my hundreds of snapshots can’t- like I can be in the pictures too!”

To make sharing convenient, this family sticks to digital images. “Digital files give me so much more flexibility with what I do with the pictures,” said Mary. “Almost every room in my house has portraits of the twins on the walls. We also have a large family that we share the pictures with, I have smaller pictures on my desk at work, and I archive them so they will have them when they are parents- the twins love to look at their “special books” ie. their scrapbooks and binders of all the portraits taken of them.”

When Dad agrees that photography is the way to go, you know it is the right decision. “As Warren put it, what better way to decorate our
house than with pictures of our children?”

Mary, Warren … kids … thanks for being our December 2007 Featured Family.