McCarthy Family Session | Atlantic City, NJ
One of my best friends welcomed her 4th beautiful boy this summer.
She wanted to get family pictures but through a series of events and the busyness of the summer we couldn't get in sync, but then the stars aligned. It just so happened we were going to be at the shore at the same time. Except I almost royally messed it up (more about this later). She was going to be in Atlantic City and I was going to be in Brigantine {NJ's best kept secret that I now get to enjoy - Thanks Mom!} Truthfully, I never even heard of Brigantine, you probably haven't either. But have you ever been to AC, woke up with a pounding headache, looked out your hotel room window and thought, aw what is that cute little island over the bridge there? They drive their cars on the beach? That looks like fun! Then proceeded to pick up your yard sale of a room from your 4 AM arrival and went on about your day never to think of that view again. Yea, that cute little island with 4x4 beaches, yea, that's Brigantine! I digress... anyway we were going to be just 15 min away from each other, when usually were 3 hours! Sometimes things, they just work out.
More of her beautiful family before I continue with my story.
I brought my whole family up with me. We were leaving from a weekend with my in-laws at their beach house near Bethany. {Also, yes, it is the Jersey SHORE and everything else is the beach. I dunno that is just how it is, it's basically the law. } We (read me and my fantastic ideas) decided to make it more fun for kiddos then just driving on the highway so we booked ourselves on the Cape May-Lewes Ferry, bringing 3 young kids on a fast moving ferry, what could go wrong! They actually did fantastic. My youngest (and wildest) only had us gasping about half the time. Now, I know you are wondering how I could have almost really messed this up. Wait, one more picture for your viewing pleasure.
What is the one thing a photographer needs to bring to a session? THE CAMERA. We said our goodbyes and left the beach house in Bethany with plenty of time, with 3 kids, this is no easy feat. We had a ferry to catch, we didn't have any room for error. Here we are just driving nicely up route 1, admiring the morning after scene in Dewey Beach, and then there was that thought, man I do not remember putting my camera bag into the car. Me: "Hey babe, did you bring out my camera bag when you were packing up?" Him: "Was it by the door?" Me: "uhhh..." Cue the fear. We quickly pulled over, tore apart the car and nope. No bag. I quickly call my in-laws. Yep. there it was right in the living room. Well, now what. You can not have a photo session with out a camera and we had a ferry to catch (here is one of my brilliant ideas catching up to me). We had no choice, we turned around. But god bless my gem of human in-laws. My father-in-law jumped in his truck and drove to meet us. Met up with him, said 100000 thank yous, and headed back towards the ferry. Now, again, this is when you know things just work out how they are supposed to. Remember how I said we left with plenty of time to spare? Well boy did that work out in my favor. We made it to the ferry on time, no one fell over board, I got to see one of my best friends and capture this amazing chaotic time in her life.
I am so freakin' thankful my friends choose me to capture them. It is so fulfilling, especially since I live in Maryland and they all live in NJ. Chrissy has the most beautiful family. Her husband is one of the best people I have ever met. Her boys were so well behaved for this session. Cade waited to run into the ocean until the middle of the session. Dylan and Jax were helpful and doating big brothers. And I got to spend one beautiful hour just capturing them exactly how they are.
