The Importance of Laughter

All the time I get the question "What is your favorite subject to photograph? For the first couple years of my career I would waffle between "Oh, I just really like photographing people" and "Well, I don't think I can choose - I love everything I shoot!" But that's not entirely accurate. I shoot everything from weddings to athletic events to product shoots to landscapes to maternity sessions professionally - sometimes all in the same week - but over and over again the shoots that I enjoy most and specifically the images I am happiest with are those that include laughter.

New York City Day 3: Bacon, Bacon, Bacon

I'll be honest, I didn't focus on photography today. Between the race, the frigid cold and the bacon coma I didn't have enough brain cells to scrape together to take all of the photos I might have wanted. But, sometimes I have to remind myself to enjoy the moment while I'm in it as well as when I'm looking back at it through my images, so today was a good reminder of that lesson.

New York City Day 2: Star Struck

Ordinarily on a trip I would want to get up earlier than normal to catch my favorite light, but I was having none of it this morning. I apparently slept through sirens, garbage trucks and slamming hotel doors while dreaming about ice cream and woke up to the mid-morning sun spilling around the curtains. Since most of the mornings on this trip will all start inordinately early, I was happy to have the rest.

New York City Day 1: Settling In

As a fervent believer in the "work hard, play hard" philosophy, I decided rather spur of the moment last month that it was time to take another trip as January was shaping up to be quite a busy month. Well, after making it through January, here I am in New York City! I awoke this morning at the lovely hour of 4 a.m. to catch my flight and in an unheard of occurrence actually arrived early. As Dad's plane didn't land for another couple hours, I was able to catch up on some work before we hit the town.

What To Do With Your Wedding Photos: Alex & Zack

Last weekend I got to enjoy my favorite part of the process - delivering the finished products to two people who put their complete faith in me to capture the most exciting day in their lives to date. Alex and Zack were the epitome of my ideal customer - they were looking for a photojournalistic style but also left the creativity up to me and most importantly they knew the value of printing their images to enjoy in multiple forms.

Iceland & Scotland: The Rest

I would be remiss in my duties as a traveloguer if I didn't document the last few days of my trip. Unfortunately, as I returned Stateside a week ago, the details are more than a little fuzzy around the edges so this could be an interesting test of what my brain can come up with.

My family seems to be full of adventurers and one of my favorites parts of the trip was simply listening as they told their tales of past trips in various countries, recounting what traveling was like in the dark ages before cell phones. Part of me would love nothing more than to ditch all of my electronics and fly into a new place with no agenda other than immersing myself in the culture. And the other part of me really enjoys being able to text home lots of pictures of delicious food to make my family jealous.

Iceland & Scotland Days 6 and 7: Searching for Nessie

Not much to report yesterday and I was very tired, so I decided to combine the two posts. We used all manner of transportation yesterday, first disembarking from the ferry, then taking a train through some beautiful countryside to Elgin, then hoping in the car to finally reach Craigellachie. Of the three, the train is certainly my favorite mode of transport as it is quick and efficient without us having to do any navigating or driving. I sure wish the States had a fully-developed national train system like many European countries because it would be so much easier to get from state to state.

Iceland & Scotland Day 5: Shetland Island Traffic Jam

We spent all of 8 hours on the Shetland Islands, but even in that time we managed to see up close 15 pigs, 6 bunnies, 0 whales, 34 ponies, 6 puffins, 1 otter [crossing sign], 30++ lambs and 1 seal, according to Lucy’s spreadsheet.

When I heard we were taking a guided tour of the island, I immediately envisioned a tour bus packed with rubber-necking tourists (and Stella apparently envisioned a cranky old lady), but instead we got our own personalized tour with Sarah, an older Yorkshire woman who had lived on Unsk for 23 years, guided for 17, and knew a wealth of information about Scotland and the Shetlands – both past and present.

Iceland & Scotland Day 4: I'm on a Ferry

I’m currently out to sea as I write this, and I mean that literally. Today was one of many travel days on this trip, beginning with a mini bus taxi and ending on a ferry with a rented van in between.

We left civilized Edinburgh this morning to explore what I’m hoping is more wild country like in romanticized tales of Scotland. A taxi driver picked us up in what can only be called a bus (a small one) to take us to the airport so that we didn’t have to attempt to drive on the wrong side of the road through city traffic. The cabby was great, particularly insightful in the local opinion of Brexit wherein the Scots’ opinion on their own freedom is concerned. It is quite interesting to hear how people from other countries stereotype those from other countries than them, and our driver exclaimed that he’d be happy to be free of the British because they’re mean; when he was last in London the people on the street cast their eyes down and frowned – a far cry from the friendly Scots.

Iceland & Scotland Day 2: View From the Top

Today started off slowly with a leisurely nutella-on-toast-and-tea breakfast in the beautifully sunny dining room. I think perhaps my very favorite part of vacation is getting to sit down for a long breakfast and slowly sip my tea, easing into the day rather than immediately jumping into work or a workout like I do at home. Tongue in cheek, I packed the outfit I bought in Paris when we arrived without luggage, thinking it would be kind of funny to have to wear it again for the same reason. Turns out, it's just as "funny" as I thought it would be.

Iceland & Scotland Day 1: Always a [Mis]adventure

Ordinarily, I would begin my blog post with “We’ve arrived in Iceland!” However, we only managed to stay in Iceland for 12 hours before departing for Edinburgh as our primary Icelandic stay will be at the end of the trip. Nonetheless, at the time of this posting, we will have arrived somewhere that is definitely not North Carolina.

Prints from Paris

Aside from the visceral experience of adventuring, my favorite part of travel photography is getting to enjoy those experiences and moments in time long after the trip is over. My apartment is covered with my favorite photos from each of my trips, not only serving as aesthetically pleasing decor, but allowing me to relive the stories that the images tell, be them of my own experiences or the subject(s) in the photos.