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.
Read MoreAside 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.
Read MoreAlex and Zack celebrated the beginning of their next chapter together surrounded by family and friends. This sweet couple exchanged vows on the exact day Alex's parents did, adding even more sentiment to the special day. Thank you to all who helped to their day so full of love, laughter and fun! I can't wait to get to work on all of these fabulous photos!
Read MoreI probably look as giddy as Alex and Zack do in the picture above because tomorrow is my first wedding of the season! Even better than that, its this sweet couple's big day. Alex and Zack booked me as their wedding photographer almost a year ago (way to plan ahead!), 6 months later I did their engagement shoot and now another 6 months later I finally get to shoot their wedding in Franklin, NC. And if tomorrow goes anything like our engagement shoot, it will be full of laughter and love.
Read MoreThere are some people you will drive two and a half hours to photograph and Megan is one of them! We had been talking about taking her senior photos since last year and I'm so excited that it came to be. The overcast morning proved a beautiful backdrop for our summit setting adding the perfect color contrast to her vibrant dress.
Read MoreI first met these two lovebirds 2 years previously while photographing Matt's sister Kari's wedding. It was an absolute pleasure to shoot another wedding for the family, especially since I already knew so many people there! But even if I hadn't, it wouldn't have mattered; Cara and Matt and friends and family warmly welcomed me, keeping me in side stitches laughing at their antics when I wasn't tearing up from the tender sweetness of the couple's love for each other.
Read MoreWhen most people hear vacation, they think "break from work," but for me, I always think "photography adventure." The annual Etheridge Family Beach Trip is one of my favorite times to explore new ways of documenting daily life since my family is now probably numb to me sticking a camera in their face.
Read MoreTo me, the best part about being a photographer is getting to know my subjects through the lens; learning their quirks, seeing how they interact with others and with me, and capturing a side of them they wouldn't normally show to the camera. When Autumn called me last month inquiring about my engagement sessions, I was thrilled because she heard about my photography through her brother whose wedding I'm photographing next month. This means that not only do I get to photograph both siblings getting to know the family that much better, but I get to photograph Autumn and Kenneth in multiple settings (their e-session and her brother's wedding) capturing even more important memories for them.
Read MoreIf you follow UNC Asheville athletics, you probably recognize this beautiful face from the court in Kimmel Arena, especially from Women's Basketball's double overtime win against Liberty University to win the Big South title. Now, for this shoot Paige traded her jersey for a dress and probably spent a little more time on her hair and makeup than she would pregame, but she was no less fierce in front of the camera than she would be guarding an opponent.
Read MoreAs my fourth year photographing for the UNCA Athletic Department comes to a close, so too draws near the graduation of the first class of freshman I photographed. As I’ve worked with these stellar athletes for the entirety of their college careers, it is a little sad for me to see them go, but I’ve had such fun getting to do one last shoot for them to commemorate their time at UNCA.
Read MoreOur last of Paris dawned warm and beautiful and we awoke to greet the sun… for all of 5 seconds and then fell back into an exhausted sleep. Exhaustion was certainly the word of the day, although we tried as hard as we could to fight the tiredness from our last few days and sadness of the day to come. Nonetheless, we were able to make our last day in Paris a successful and enjoyable one.
Read MoreOur first impression of Reims was getting turned around (not to be confused with “lost”) in the train station, the second was trying to use hand signals to a non-English-speaking audience to ask directions to the cathedral and the third that the locals must be made of steel because they had no fear of crossing the street right in front of a speeding car. Our fourth impression was the overall theme of the city: the interesting mix of the old - bordering on ancient - city mixed with the new and modern.
Read MoreWe woke up this morning intent on watching the sun rise over the Seine, but that didn’t really happen. Our goal was to use the Vileb bike rental system to cycle to Pont des Arts, but unfortunately the morning dawned cold and rainy, so there was no sunset to be had. We did at least enjoy a bike ride, although it was equally as terrifying as it was thrilling. While Paris is certainly a bike-friendly city, locals must be much more comfortable riding in the street mere inches from being sucked under a bus. We coasted down main roads with bike lanes and sprinted up side streets between moving vehicles, no destination in mind just trying to stay upright. Thought we tried to observe the rules of the road, we did get yelled at by a bus driver. We just think he was complimenting us on our exemplary cycling skills.
Read MoreBoth of us have run across the Holy Chapel in our studies, so we thought we knew what to expect, but when we crossed the threshold into the Gothic cathedral we both inhaled sharply, momentarily stunned. It is not just the impeccable Rayonnant architecture giving the structure a sense of weightlessness it surely does not have, but the bright and ornate colors touching every single surface that is truly dazzling. Every inch of the interior that is not stained glass is painted with scenes of saints and martyrs, decorated with trefoils, or made to look like fabric hanging along the wall.
Read MoreWe decided today to take a more “relaxed” day to make sure we didn’t burn out on jet lag and continual adventuring. After sleeping in again - yet, in reality, getting up at 5 a.m. in the time that we’re used to - we headed to Montmartre. Though the metro would’ve taken us right there, we decided to enjoy a 40 minute stroll there instead, grabbing a couple apples from a corner market on the way. As my minuscule amount of roaming data is already exhausted, we had to navigate almost the entire day (and from here on out!) with just a map, road signs and our intuition. Fortunately, all three added together took us right where we wanted to go.
Read MoreThe best way to begin your adventure of a lifetime is to have issues checking in for your flight, give your carry-on luggage to the baggage attendant when he thought it was checked then forget to pick it up when disembarking because you had to sprint across the entire airport to get to your connecting flight (which ended up being delayed), be told your luggage was found and would be put on the plane and then land sans change of clothes and toothbrush. Well, that's what we thought, apparently.
Read MoreWhen I decided to come to UNC Asheville for school, one of the determining factors was the great abundance of outdoor activities which I hoped to enjoy. Unfortunately, my four years flew by with very little time for any fun extracurriculars. So I made it my mission this summer to catch as many sunrises, sunsets, blue skies, and rainy days as possible, enjoying what each has to offer. On a particularly splendid Monday afternoon, my roommate and I spontaneously decided that an evening hike was the only way that we wanted to spend the evening, so hike we did.
Read MoreLast weekend I had the opportunity to work with a community organization called Provision Asheville. Provision, whose mission is to "create community through service," held their first community event, this one called Love West Asheville. The idea behind the four-hour-long event was to provide various services to community members that they would otherwise have to pay money for, money they may not be able to spend on such services, which included medical screenings, dentistry, massages, and family photography (as well as bounce house and painting activities for kids.)
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