It’s January in Arkansas. What does that tell us? Absolutely nothing. Yesterday it got all the way to 70 degrees and today it will barely get above 40. Up and down, up and down. Arkansas, I love you, but you might just be a little too bi-polar for me.

January is usually a pretty dead month (for me anyways) in the picture department. Families are recovering from the holidays. Credit card bills are piling up. It’s cold outside (sometimes). Pictures aren’t necessarily on the forefront of people’s minds.

Luckily, one family didn’t care about what other people do in January. I was fortunate enough to take pictures of them at their beautiful home and in their neighborhood. Their daughter, Emma, wanted to run away from the camera as if it were the boogey-man underneath her bed. Right when we were about to wrap-up, she decided she wanted to smile and have fun with the camera. She definitely made sure I was on my A-game that day.

Everyone, meet the Duncans.

As a child/teen/young adult, I spent a lot of time watching TV. My girlish figure reminds me of that everyday. I also used to spend a lot of time listening to the radio. I remember laying in my bed waiting to hit record on the cassette deck for when my favorite songs came on the radio. During the summer or when I was home playing hooky from school, I loved listening to the “Brown Bagger Request Hour” on Magic 105 with Tom Wood. I would call Tom (remember when radio DJ’s would answer phones…) asking him to play “Dream On” from Aerosmith constantly. One day….Tom Wood played my song for me. Life was good.

It was kind of surreal when I had the pleasure to work with Tom Wood for about 5 years at Clear Channel. I was a young college kid getting to live a dream, alongside people like Tom, Sharpe Dunawaye, and Corey & Jay; all larger-than-life personalities I listened to growing up. In radio, there are what we call the “good guys” in the business. Tom was, and still is, one of the good guys.

It was my pleasure to get the opportunity to take pictures of his family over the holidays.

Everyone, meet the Wood’s Family.