Burton Photography

This is Hank.

The first portrait was made in May 2011 at Portraits on the Parkway. He was five years old.

The second was made in 2024, his senior year. Same mountains. Same kid — and yet completely, unmistakably not.

What strikes me every time I look at these two images together is that the person he was going to become was already there in that little boy's face. The warmth. The confidence. That easy, unhurried smile that makes you feel like everything is going to be fine. It was all there at five. He just had to grow into it.

Katie — you've trusted us with your family for a long time, and watching Hank become the young man he is has been one of the quiet privileges of our work. Thank you for letting us be part of it.

For the parents out there: this is why we show up every May on the Moses Cone Estate. These portraits are not just pictures of what a child looks like. They are the beginning of a story you will want to have later.

Portraits on the Parkway 2026 is May 20, 21, and 22. School-aged children, ages 5–18. The $195 session fee applies as a credit toward your portrait order. A portion of the event's proceeds goes to the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation.

If this post made you think of a family who needs to hear this, share it. You might be doing them a favor they didn't know they needed.

Here's the link to more information and registration:
https://ncphotographer.com/portraits-parkway-2026

We met Emory for her senior session this past weekend. It was a beautiful fall mountain afternoon! Happy times!!!!!!!

I hadn't seen Emory since Portraits on the Parkway a few years ago but I look at her portrait every day that is hanging in our studio (she and her younger brother). It was great to see the "grown up" version of who she's become.

High School senior portraits are all about creating memories of this once-in-a-lifetime moment in a young person's life as they close one chapter and are poised to begin a new adventure.

We LOVE installing portraits! Here's what we were doing yesterday...

Lori Townsend, your home is lovely and your boys are the BEST!