Charisse Rhodes

Thankful Life

Charisse — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 03:00:19 +0000

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! MAY YOU ALL BE BLESSED TODAY & ALWAYS!

Filed under: Uncategorized

Holiday Mini’s

Charisse — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 22:06:56 +0000

The holidays are already among us. This year seems to have gone by so fast. It has been one interesting year for me. I hope it has been great for you all as well. But it’s not over yet. Don’t let one more day go by without scheduling your holiday session. The postman is waiting for your cards. I am sure there is a place on your wall just waiting for a new professional image of your beautiful family. I would love to have the honor of capturing that work of art for you! In the spirit of the season along with my launch from the amazing SOAR Scholarship this year I am offer HOLIDAY MINI SESSIONS for a limited time only. This is a great way to experience working with a professional photographer on a smaller scale, yet maximize the quality of your family’s treasured images.

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: holiday minis, Sessions

I Heart Faces “Black” Challenge

Charisse — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 20:54:54 +0000

I haven’t entered any challenges in a while, but I happened to have this image from a session I did not to long ago and decided to enter this week. Here is my image of this beautiful college freshman who is making her entry into the adult world. She is full of style, confidence and character. And if that’s not enough, she is extremely intelligent as well! More images from this session to come. I am working diligently to catch up on my blogging! I really do have so much to share.

It was so much fun caturing Ms. S.! We had so much fun finding cool & interesting locations around the Delaware riverfront. She is quite the fashionista who I am sure is going to take the world on by storm!

Filed under: Challenges, Sessions

Jump into Life

Charisse — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 08:42:14 +0000

I know this is going to age me quite a bit, but one of my favorite movies of all times is Forest Gump. I must admit, I am terrible about remembering lines from movies but I will never forget. ” Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you are going to get.” -Forest Gump. I have always believed that I am flexible and laid back in such away that I could always flow with whatever was happening around me. In fact, that’s pretty much how I have lived my life since becoming an adult. However, there has always been more of an adventurous side to me that I allowed to be supressed in order to be an adult and make sure that I would be here for my children. In plain English, I began to avoid anything that involved risk. Over the years I played it safer and safer until one day…yesterday in fact…I could no longer avoid the voice in my head that said “it is time.” Time for what…well to Skydive of course! There is another line in that same movie where Forest’s mother tells him to “run Forest run.” I can’t tell you where he was running to or from but I am pretty sure he ran.

When I woke up yesterday, some things just did not seem right. Overall I am a very mellow person who loves to laugh and have fun, but yesterday I just could not shake it. After talking to my sister (we’ve adopted one another for life) I realized that I needed to do something different. In an instant, I knew that it would be to make that dive that I have wanted to do for years but avoided for the safe route. After realizing that I have just as much chance dying in a car on one of my millions of trips to and fro, this risk did not seem to be much greater, but the pull to do it was. Jump Charisse Jump. That is what I heard in my head. Not a jump for a death wish, but in fact, the jump was for life. It was a jump into living life more fully, more alive and more complete than I had done in years. There would be no sacrifice this time. After seeking God on the matter, I knew whatever happened was within HIS will and that was fine with me. I know this post is a bit personal, but i just had to share some of my favorite moments from the jump. It is amazing, when you really open your eyes and your mind, what you can see inside of you as well as in front of you. Of course I purchased the dvd too. I really thought about putting it on here, but then decided to spare you. Please let me know in the comments if any is interested in seeing it and I will put it in another post.

The bottom line is; You only get one life. It is short and it will be what you make it. Life yours to the fullest possible while honoring God in the process. If you do, you will surely prosper.

Filed under: life, Personal

Time marches on.

Charisse — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 03:00:37 +0000

This week has been a celebration of my boy. It’s quite interesting to watch someone you love experience life and go through many of the same stages you remember at that age. As parents, we often find ourselves wanting to keep them in our perpetual kangaroo pouch and protect them from the world forever. However, part of our responsibility as parents is to know when to move, shift and flow with our children. The role becomes less about parenting and more about education combine with teaching them the tools they need to move forward into adulthood. Many days this past week I have found my arms aching for the infant child I once had , while my heart is excited to help him through the next steps to become the man that God has intended him to be. With all of our perceptions of what is right and wrong, what we think our children’s future paths should be, and what they themselves think they want, this is no easy task. All in all, I find I try to remind myself that I can’t predict the futures of my children, or mine for that matter. My job is to seek God and his will for their lives. Trust the path he has put us on and ENJOY the ride. When this guy came, I would never have thought that so much love could flow from me for one little person. He has provided me with the biggest gift I have ever known and that is my discovery of my true capacity to love. Yes, we love our parents, spouses and friends. However, there is no greater love than the one created by the bond of childbirth. Although this guy often gets tired of life in front of my lens, the other day he blessed me with some images. We were being very silly and having a good time. It was great.

Who me?

I love his silliness.

And I love…love… love that smile.

It’s been such an honor loving and mothering this guy for the last decade. I can’t wait to see what God has in store for his life!

Filed under: Uncategorized

Happy Birthday My Prince

Charisse — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 08:09:53 +0000

My little prince turned 13 yesterday. Officially a teen! I am still about stunned. Where did the time go? My arms long for the day when he filled them and fed off my bosom, yet my heart beams with pride at the wonderful, talented, strong & handsome man he is becoming. I have a ton more great things to say, but at the risk of not sounding humble, I will stop here. Our day was filled with Laser tag fun with family, video games, cake and laughter. It’s a sound that is medicine for the soul. We were too busy to take formal pictures today, but we will get some in this week.

Interesting how quickly they go from depending on you to desperately seeking ways to become independent. So full of ideologies, while still caught between the two worlds of childhood and adulthood. It is true that every stage has a season. I am looking forward to my season with my amazing guy. He teaches us so much every day with the insight of an adult, coming from the mouth of a babe. We have already been through so much. He is facing some big obstacles yet tackling them with fierceness. I am so proud of him, my Nature boy, Manchild, and Wise Owl. I love you K!

Filed under: life, Personal, Uncategorized

Wordless Wednesday

Charisse — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 04:33:41 +0000

Filed under: Uncategorized

Out of the dark…

Charisse — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 03:00:06 +0000

This past summer, I had the opportunity to photography one of the most beautiful little girls I know. This little lady is not only extremely photogenic, but she is just as sweet and smart as she can be. I am blessed to have her in my family. She belongs to one of my favorite cousins in the world and not only did we get some great pictures of her, but also of her mom and dad. Those are coming soon. We took a chance and did these images at about 8:30-9:00ish on the oceanfront at a very popular beach in New Jersey. It was dark, but the night was beautiful as was my model. It was my first time taking photos for a session outside at night using one flash and the lights around us from the surrounding stores. I had my mom be my flash holder so I guess that qualifies as off camera. These are a few of the images we were able to get before the late hour kicked in. She was such a trooper.

I love her confidence which just emits from her poses. These were not directed at all. This is all her!

and this one I also love.

Thank you my love for being such a great sport and a gorgeous model. It was a highlight of my trip to spend time with you all!

Filed under: Family, Sessions

Mining for Diamonds

Charisse — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 03:00:13 +0000

It’s been a while since I have written in this blog here in my corner of the web. I’ve missed it, however, it just seemed to get away from me with all of the things that I have been doing. Truth of the matter is that I have probably made blogging a bigger deal in my mind than it really needs to be. The thought of content, stats, domains, followers, and everything else made it loom bigger in my mind than I ever intended to make it. Really I just wanted to share my life, my view of the world through my images and at times the ins & outs, ups & downs of our families homeschooling journey.

So much has happened in this last year that I need to share or at least get it out of my mind. This past weekend I was blessed to have a 24 hour whirlwind getaway with this handsome man, totally planned in our own city.

It was fabulous. Keith works tons of hours and does not often get time to relax. I am busy doing my thing and working with our kids. This time was just for the two of us. We took a backpack complete with lunch and a blanket, bikes in the back of our truck and set off to our hotel on the river. Once there we biked to a spot where we could find a little slice of Heaven and we stopped for lunch. During this time, we simply laid back, cast our cares away, and dreamt as the boats sailed by.

From there we biked it back to our beautiful hotel the La Rivage, which is on the river and were greeted with some AH MAZING service and a gorgeous room. I don’t know about you, but I love great service. It just enhances the experience of being pampered and restoring yourself from the perils of everyday chores.

We stood on our balcony and looked at the private marina that was in front of us. It was simply peaceful.

There was actually a wedding taking place that day as well. You could just feel the love in the air. (Cliche but true.)

Waiting for me in this beautiful room was this:

And this;

and this;

I was determined to experience it all! It is so easy to forget about life around you and pamper yourself. This past weekend, we did just that. We ate, wined, dined and relaxed together. The saying goes that you get out of life, what you put into it. This past weekend, we were all in and it was great. This hotel was wonderful on all levels. Scott’s Seafood, the resturant that was attached was delicious as well. Everyone was happy. Sometimes the gems are right in your own backyard. A little excavation is all that is necessary.