The day after Thanksgiving, I got to witness Terri and Jodi promise their lives to each other. While I get to see this quite often, their genuine happiness to make their vows and the pure outpouring of love from their families and friends brought more than one tear to my eye.
Read MoreAfter splashing around in the creek, we spent the rest of the shoot walking through the gardens (and avoiding the decidedly snippy annual flower market people), stopping sporadically when I found nice light to snap more happy photos. I'm fairly sure these two laughed the entire shoot and their merriment glows through all of their images. Tomorrow I get to document this loving couple making their vows to each other and I'm so excited to capture their happiness and love once again!
Read MoreThrough either ridiculously good luck or really smart branding I've somehow managed to shoot weddings exclusively for people with whom I feel sure I could be friends. Katy and Mark were certainly no exception and I was actually sad when leaving their wedding because I would more than likely not get to see them again as they live in New York City. They may sound strange to an outsider, but as a photographer (and a wedding shooter especially) you scrutinize people waiting for the most "them" moments - moments that will capture their essence and tell their story - so I felt like I knew the lovely pair incredibly well even though I'd only spent roughly 10 hours in their presence.
Read MoreNeither sickness nor cold air nor wildfires could keep Savannah and Kevin from making the most of their special day. Their deep love and admiration for each other shone through in every look, every touch, every stolen smile as they celebrated their new life together. This autumn day called for some beautiful festive fall details from vibrant shoulder wraps to warm-toned flowers to pumpkins. Thank you to all the friends, family and fabulous local vendors who helped make this couple's day even more special! Stay tuned for Savannah and Kevin's full wedding blog post soon.
Read MoreKim and Matt’s summer wedding dawned cloudy and warm, and only got cloudier and warmer as the day went on. Many brides would have fretted about the weather, but Kim remained calm - simply enjoying getting ready with her daughters and friends - and kept her cool even when she walked out the door towards the altar and realized the sky was opening. Throughout the whole planning and shooting process during which I got to know Kim and Matt, this theme of focusing on their love for each other rather than their need for everything to go according to plan held true. And for me as a photographer trying to capture all of the emotions and ins-and-outs of their day, this made my job infinitely easier and more enjoyable!
Read MoreThe locations people choose for the backdrops to their photo shoots are often very telling of their personalities and if this idea actually holds merit, then Janel and Corey's most prominent trait is vibrancy! We scheduled our engagement shoot one summer morning to avoid the terrible heat (didn't quite happen) and take advantage of the softer light while still capturing beautifully saturated images in the River Arts District. And I'm fairly sure the in the entire hour and a half that these two were in front of the lens, they were either smiling and laughing at each other or giggling at something I said or asked them to do. I've always said that my favorite subject to photograph is laughter and these two lovebirds filled my cards with grinning images.
Read MoreWe couldn't have asked for better weather for Katy and Mark's September afternoon wedding! The sky was a perfect blue with those puffy clouds that look like you could sleep on them and the sun shone brightly, aluding to the bright future ahead of this couple. Katy and Mark had two subtle but personal themes in their decor: "America" and "New York" (though one could argue the two are inseperable.) The nod to 'Murica wove through the color scheme: navy bridesmaids' dresses, red and white roses with a nautical striped ribbon, and red and blue ties coordinating with gray suits. As far as patriotic color schemes go, their's was incredibly well done. Though maybe not born-and-bred, these two new New Yorkers also incorporated their hometown into the decor at their destination wedding, particularly in their table settings.
Read MoreThese two [current] New Yorkers traded the hustle and bustle of the big city for a quieter Asheville wedding with perhaps a bit more of a scenic view. For their December destination engagement photos, we choose downtown and the Botanical Gardens to match their "outdoorsy" location desire. To match their personality style, we selected the Double Decker bus to emulate a whimsical coffee date, a quiet romantic walk through downtown with their puppy, Layla, and the river and cabin in the Botans for a few fun photos.
Read MoreLast 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.
Read MoreWhile many students seem to prefer solo graduation shoots to have some 1-1 time with the camera, for these three [former] UNCA volleyball players who had studied, competed and grown up together for the past four years, it only made sense to have their graduation photos taken together as well. This proved to be great fun and we spent an hour giggling with a few minutes of photography thrown in.
Read MoreKudzu Brands is without a doubt one of the best in the biz. I hadn't even met Murphy myself (my husband met her) before I knew she needed to be at the helm of my branding design launch. As we got to know each other, we realized we could create a beautiful symbiotic relationship wherein I would photograph for them for certain projects, especially environmental portraits as that's my specialty.
Read MoreAs my family lives as missionaries in Guatemala, it had been at least three years since I had seen them, so I shouldn't have been surprised when the girls had grown about a foot each. At 5'6" I'm not entirely vertically challenged, but I must say it is a bit disconcerting when your cousin six years your junior towers over you. It also makes it a bit difficult to take flattering photos since I prefer to shoot from a level or high angle. Thank goodness for foot stools!
Read MoreI 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.
Read MoreI have a confession: food photography may be my favorite genre of the art. I mean, capturing important moments in people's lives is great and all, but why do that when you can take photos of food for one of your favorite Asheville restaurants and then get to eat all of the food?! This was probably one of my most enjoyable shoots in the past few months because all I had to do was sit back and wait for the chefs and bartender of Post 70 to work their magic and then capture their creations. It also helped that my at-the-time-fiance-now-husband tagged along to entertain me, hold my reflector, and of course (first and foremost) to eat the delicious food.
Read MoreNot 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.
Read MoreWe 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.
Read MoreI’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.
Read MoreToday 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.
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