Family portraits in Chapel Hill | North Carolina Photographer

Barbara Bell Photography
8 years ago

By the time we reach Thanksgiving, our portrait sessions for the year are wrapping up, but I had the opportunity to photograph this family of three in time for holiday portraits. Hurrah! I wouldn’t have traded this time behind the camera or this morning light. And running around the woods photographing a two-year-old DOES buy me a few more calories for Thanksgiving dinner, right?

Family portraits in Chapel Hill, North Carolina | Barbara Bell Photography

When you choose to be a family photographer, there is always something new and interesting with every family I photograph. We are always with one eye on lighting and one eye on our subjects. It’s like I breathe in the f/stops, and I can breathe out as I push the button that clicks the shutter.

Children's Photography in Chapel Hill, North Carolina | Barbara Bell Photography

I stand by the words I shared on Instagram with this photo:

Every time I snap the shutter to capture your memories, my heart fills with the love that I see through the viewfinder. Look at how dad looks at his son. Look at the smiles. Look at how they are wrapped closely together, pulled in to a hug…or a family sandwich!

Family Sandwich! | Barbara Bell Photography

If you’ve followed my work, you know that I love to shoot “faceless portraits.” When we look at an image, our eyes are often drawn to the face first. We see eyes, smiles, and emotions etched into people’s faces.

Mother and child portrait | Barbara Bell Photography

For me, there has always been something so touching about faceless portraits. Without the face, it’s easier to place ourselves into this one moment in time. We get to live the story that we see in an image versus reading another person’s story.