Hi everyone! I just wanted to let you all know that I am in fact still alive. Thank you very much for the concern. I suppose I should let you know that it has been somewhat crazy for us lately - which is great! But unfortunately, I haven’t really had a lot of time for blogging. SO, I promise to post great new stuff over the next couple of weeks!!! Get ready, its about to be crazy for you too :)
Monthly Archives: October 2008
A PREVIEW OF MY DAY WITH MARIE
Meet Marie! How fun to have some time with this sweet girl. The lovely Marie hails from Ohio and is here in town for the weekend - and I had the opportunity to spend the afternoon with her. Good times for sure! This is just a little teaser…
ROCKING OUT WITH ANNA & DOUG
Amazing couple, amazing weather, amazing shoot…and amazing food. I got to spend a morning this week with Anna and Doug to shoot their engagement portraits. What a fun couple to start your day off with! They have a great time with each other and it really shows through in the images we got. We laughed, talked, and danced a little (yep, that’s right) as we took our shoot all over the place and finally wound up in downtown Oneonta. I loved recreating their engagement on top of Chandler Mountain, and having the privilege of watching Anna pull off some awesome ballet moves while telling me their story. The weather was unbelievable and worked out wonderfully for the shot I had planned for the chapel they got engaged in. When we finally wrapped it all up, I got to go eat lunch with Anna in Oneonta at the Downtown Diner - which just put the perfect touch on a pretty rocking day. Yea for great Southern food! I mean, when you bond with someone over “family reunion gelatin salad”, when is that NOT a truly successful lunch?! I had such a great time…and I am really happy with the images we got. With all that said, here is a little preview of the shoot:
In the chapel on Chandler Mountain where they got engaged…
A little field action…
Anna and Doug taking a stroll, just looking fabulous…
Seriously, I am in love with Anna’s hat!
I think this image is so great, and I know Anna thinks the same of her new shoes…
In the chapel where she said YES…
The wedding is planned for June 20, 2009 and I am definitely looking forward to it.
Congratulations to Anna and Doug!
SWEETEST GIFT I’VE GOTTEN IN A WHILE
This bracelet was recently given to me by a bride as part of a thank you gift for shooting her wedding. It is engraved with the following words: “Call unto Me and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things.” - Jeremiah 33:3. I am so thankful for her thoughtfulness and encouragement, and I hope that these words will be encouraging to each of you as well. Have a blessed day…
MELISSA & JEREMY
I really enjoyed Columbus Day this year. Sorry, had to throw that out - how often do you get to say that? Melissa, Jeremy, and I spent the afternoon frolicking around Birmingham in search of a little bit of sunshine. What a great couple to work with! I met Melissa through her sister Lauren - who is married to a man that shares my husband’s crazed passion for Alabama football, and so we get to watch at least one game a year with them. Melissa and Jeremy shared a lot of their background and story with me, and it was inspiring to be reminded of the bigger picture. I loved witnessing the tenderness of their hearts towards one another…and I’m thankful that they allowed me to peek into their relationship. Their wedding is planned for January 10, 2009 at the Cathedral Church of the Advent. I’m really looking forward to it! Here are just a few images from the engagement shoot…enjoy the sneak peek.
This is a specifically special location to Melissa and Jeremy…
Doing a little modeling downtown…
How great do they look?!
I really love this image…
Some paparazzi action going on…
Thanks for letting me spend the day with you! Congratulations!
THE SUNDAY AFTERNOON WORKSHOP
YEA for some great fellowship in a relaxed environment! I spent Sunday afternoon enjoying the beautiful day with a group of photographers from all around the area. It was so nice to get to know everyone better and see all of our different styles and approaches to shooting. A huge thanks goes out to Matt and Abby Cahill who came out to model for us all afternoon! I am so blessed to have had the opportunity to spend the day with a really fun group of great photographers, and you should definitely check out all of their blogs as well. Our group included: Erin Nolen, Corey Nolen, Emily Kicklighter, Jamie Burnett, and Camille Beasley. Everyone brought something unique to the afternoon and I absolutely loved spending time learning and hanging out with each person there. To many more days like yesterday my friends! Here are some shots from the day:
Erin, Corey, and sweet baby Grayben….
A little play on focal points courtesy of Jamie….
Self-portrait of me and Jamie….
Camille, Erin, and Emily shooting Matt and Abby….
Matt and Abby working the church doors….
Abby spinning….
I hope to post more shots from the day later this week. Thanks to all of you for a great afternoon! I hope it is the first of many :)
A SNEAK PEEK OF THE HICKS-CAMP WEDDING
Truly, you couldn’t ask for a more perfect day for a wedding. Brooke and Don were married on October 11, 2008, which turned out to be a gorgeous October day in Alabama. Talk about some awesome weather! This was the first wedding I’ve shot in a while where it was actually pleasant to stand outside. There are so many things that I really appreciated about this wedding. Brooke and Don’s emotion was so readily apparent and genuine. There was a very divine path laid out for each of them to meet at this place and walk into their marriage - and I feel extremely privileged to have been a witness to their amazing story. Here is just a little peek into their special day…
A sweet detail from preparation…
How about the bridesmaids and their fun red shoes?!
A fun shot post-ceremony…
By the way, I totally stole the idea for this shot from MJ on her blog post from last weekend’s wedding :)
GUEST BLOG - THE INFAMOUS HAT (PART 3B)
The conversation usually starts with someone asking me the question, “Isn’t it time for you to get a new hat?” My typical external response is to give a half-hearted laugh or not say anything at all, while the immediate response flashing through my brain is, “Don’t you know that there is a reason I haven’t?” While I don’t believe that I have any control over the outcome of a game - well maybe any is too strong, we’ll go with little instead - I, like many sports fans (all Red Sox fans), have superstitions around gameday. The most evident in all of us are the clothes we wear. At any stadium, home, or other place people watch their favorite sporting events you will see hats that have been worn down so much they are 15 shades a different than their original color, or sweatshirts with a team’s logo from twenty years earlier, or my favorite, the shirt that is a decade old that a fan still tries to squeeze into because they bought it in their youth or as their years have increased so have their pounds.
If my hat, that people suggest needs to be replaced, could speak it would tell stories of my first time wearing it at the first game I went to at the wonderful Fenway park, or its visit to St. Louis in 2004 for the World Series clinching game 4 which was Boston’s first World Series since 1918, or its travels to Croatia on a honeymoon, or the countless other experiences it has had in its five year life. So when you see someone in an old worn down hat, or t-shirt that is coming apart at the seams, don’t ask the person wearing it if it is time to get a new one, ask them to tell you its story.
SOME SWEET LITTLE GUYS
I spent the other morning shooting these little guys, who belong to my good friend Libby. Were they a hoot! We went to the Japanese Garden in the Birmingham Botanical Gardens, where Martin proceeded to show me his entire repertoire of Ninja moves - clearly applicable, even a 4 year old could see that. I enjoyed the show and got some great shots of this complete show-out. However, we were really there to get shots of Alex for his big three year old birthday. He is such a sweet little one, and I absolutely love this image of him…pure joy on that precious face…
After all the “clean clothes” shots were finished up, we changed gears and went into football mode. Martin and Alex, in accordance with every other follower of SEC football, are HUGE fans of their chosen team. They root for The University of Alabama and certainly love the “Roll Tide Roll” cheer. We played a little football in the middle of the Southern Living Garden (which is what it’s there for, right?) and had a blast - up until a pretty solid tackle from Martin which totally took Alex out of the game. Bad news: Alex was not very happy after that. Good news: I got this hilarious shot of Martin in action right before the hit…
What a lovely family to spend a morning with. Thanks for letting me hang out with your fun crew, and get to know these little guys!
WORKING THE WINDOWS
As you probably know if you’ve looked at any part of my portfolio - I am a sucker for window shots. I really love this image from The Rose-Fielding Wedding for a lot of reasons. Most of all, these girls were just so fun to work with! For all you photographers out there, I would really encourage you to play around with your light in these kinds of ways. This type of shot is great to quickly take advantage of the natural location and light to accomplish a fun, artistic, and edgy image. The trick is just to meter off your subjects (I usually spot meter and lock my exposure), and then recompose your frame to get the shot that you want. I usually kick these images into black and white and run an action on them to really bring out the artistic effect as much as possible - this also accentuates the silhouettes and window light a little more. Of course, when you want to actually put someone IN a window (like in this shot), its always easier to pull off when you’ve got some outgoing, adventurous subjects! And with these girls, that is exactly what I had. Thanks for modeling for me girls. You each did a great job of “working your window”!