I can tell you the exact day I had the chicken pox, it was June 14th 1986. Why am I telling you this random fact, well that was the day my little sister, Michelle, was born and I wasn’t allowed to visit her in the hospital. The first time I was able to hold my baby sister I had to wear my grandfathers dress shirt with the sleeves covering my arms. I was so excited to have a sister and that lasted all of about 5 minutes! Once she started crying and taking Mom and Dad’s attention I was ready to send her back but my mom wasn’t too keen on that idea. We fought like cats and dogs growing up but once she got to high school things changed and we were able to connect finally and from there we became friends. I can tell you now that my little sister is without a doubt my best friend (I’m tearing up a little writing this). She is the first phone call I make whenever something is wrong or whenever something is great! I love her so much and I’m so proud of her today because she passed her test and now officially has her RN license!!!!! All the years of hard work and nursing school have paid off and I’m so excited to brag about her!
The curse of having a family member as a photographer is that they take lots of photos of you when you really don’t want them to. The flip side of that is that you can have nice photos done whenever you want. So last weekend I met Michelle and her boyfriend Chris bright and early Sunday morning for an early light photo session. I hope it wasn’t completely tortuous for Chris, he was a good sport. Okay enough blabbering let’s get on with the photos so Michelle stops calling me to find out when I’m going to post these! Oh and you will notice a neat new feature on the blog….. you can vote on your favorite images!!! I’m so excited for this new feature, I can’t wait to see which photos get the most votes, you can vote for as many as you want! Don’t forget to check out the slideshow at the end to see even more photos!
My direction to them was to look serious, I think I made Chris mad!
Michelle wanted me to clarify that I told her to look fierce in this one, I was going for top model too hot to handle pose.
I totally loved these boots!!!
My favorite photo because I think she looks gorgeous.
To see more of Michelle & Chris’s Stafford Virginia modern portrait session, CLICK HERE for a slideshow!
Show Michelle & Chris some love by commenting below and sharing this post with your friends! 20 comments will earn them a complimentary 8×10 Fine Art print of their favorite image. Thanks!!! (All comments are approved so your comment will not show up right away, no need to re-submit it will be approved shortly!)
Melissa Arlena is an award winning lifestyle newborn photographer in Charlottesville and Richmond, Virginia who has earned her Master Photographer Certification from NAPCP in maternity, newborn and family photography. Her natural and simple work has been featured in magazines and online blogs worldwide. She has been named Best Maternity and Newborn Photographer in Richmond and Charlottesville, VA in 2024.
Michelle, these are so gorgeous and you look radiantly happy in them! You two make such a cute couple!
Love, love, love! Of course, I’m biased, but whatev. Michelle looks beautiful, but I think that my favorite shot is the one of their shoes, specifically with the one boot popping up. I love the colors and the boots.
Michelle and Chris I love your pictures, they turn out great!!!!