I love getting to watch my clients open their wedding albums for the first time. I don't always get to - sometimes I have to ship them or my couples want to go through them by themselves to quietly savor the moment. But when I do get to be there, the reactions are priceless! And Savannah and Kevin were no different. They were blown away by just how big the 12 x 12 inch heirloom album is, especially the breathtaking their beautiful images look as full page spreads.
Read MoreSavannah and Kevin may not have had the most conventional wedding - they're not the most conventional couple - and I think that's awesome! During the planning process, I try to make sure my couples are planning the wedding that they want, the one they'll enjoy in both moment and memory and that suits their personalities. Savannah and Kevin's did just that.
Read MoreThanks to the power of the internet, I got to work with this fabulous couple from Florida last November capturing their engagement. Actually, not only did I get to shoot their engagement session, but I got to document the very moment she said "yes!" Matt had emailed me a couple months previously saying that he was planning to propose to his girlfriend at the Biltmore Estate and would love to have some photos to remember the whirlwind event and as a lover of proposals, I jumped at the chance.
Read MoreAll 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.
Read MoreI'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.
Read MoreOrdinarily 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.
Read MoreAs 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.
Read MoreThrough our planning process, I knew Jodie and Surain were looking for simplicity in their day - to focus on their union and their new family. They were a perfect couple for me to work with because this gave me the freedom to focus on their emotions; their excitement at seeing each other in their fancy wedding outfits, their happy tears through the ceremony, their content smiles during portraits and their giddy excitement during the reception when the realization of their new life together had started to set in.
Read MoreI cannot say enough how much I love intimate weddings! Morgan and Mike met while Morgan was studying abroad in Ireland (more on their sweet story in their full blog post in a couple months.) With so many unknowns surrounding the visa process, they had to plan their wedding rather last minute as they had 90 days to get married once Mike's visa request was approved; we only began discussing wedding photography a few weeks before their ceremony!
Read MoreOf all of the albums I made last year, this one has to be my favorite. I made it for my grandparents so we could relive our Scotland trip together and in the (8+ hour!) process of culling my favorite images, arranging them to tell a story, and incorporating some of my favorite blog excerpts, I felt like I was right back there again.
Read MoreThe name of the game with their wedding album was creating lots of full-page spreads to showcase their many beautiful portraits. The best part of these full-page images (aside from gorgeousness!) is they give me plenty of space to add in text, like the Bible verses Janel and Corey included dedicated to creating a happy marriage.
Read MoreWhile this album is perfect for leaving out on the coffee table now and looking through anytime someone walks by, I can just imagine the family years from now looking back at the images and reminiscing or even retelling baby stories as Abby looks through the photos with a child of her own.
Read MoreOne of my very favorite subjects to photograph is love and what epitomizes love better than two parents with their 10 day old newborn? A few months ago two of my good friends brought their beautiful daughter into the world and instantly fell in love with this sweet bundle of joy. Because we all know that kids grow up entirely too fast, Parker and Kendal wanted to capture this first part of their journey so that when Abby takes her first steps or goes to her first class or has her first child of her own (Parker and Kendal - don't read that part, it's years away, don't worry!), they can look back and remember this quiet (or not so quiet?) time with her.
Read MoreWe're a week in to the new year so it's about the time that outrageous new year's resolutions have run their course and realistic goals begin to take shape. For me, I spent the week (when I wasn't working on clients' work) crunching last year's numbers, analyzing what worked and what didn't and especially journaling about the direction I would like my company to go. As this long term vision is starting to take root (I'll keep the details to myself for now, wouldn't want to spoil the fun!) I've narrowed down a few of my goals for 2017 to get me on my way:
Read MoreAs one of my favorite shoots of the fall, I've been meaning to sharing this album for a while, but wedding season certainly kept me busy. Now that I've got some time, here's a look at The Rogers' album from their couple's session around Waynesville.
Read MoreI've said it before and I'll say it again: a man who gives his wife a photo shoot and album for her birthday is a man who knows what he's doing! I met Ashleigh at Kudzu Brands so I had actually photographed her before, but it was fun to do so in a more relaxed setting.
Read MoreIf there's one thing we can (maybe?) all agree on it's that 2016 has been a rather strange year for the collective public. I could say more, but I'll leave it at that. But, in a nice twist of fate, for me personally, 2016 was actually quite a successful and enjoyable year. For instance, 2016 was...
Read MoreAs I'd photographed for 12 hours on their big day, narrowing down the images to fit into 50 spreads was quite difficult (and luckily not my task as Kim picked out which images she liked best!) My goal was to weave together the images in a way that would showcase their vibrancy and attention to detail while highlighting the importance of family and this newly-combined family's love for each other.
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