Ireland Day 1: Worth the Wait

Our very first introduction to the country was landing on a runway fenced in to keep out the cows not 20 feet away. That was a new one for me! We made a beeline for the hotel where Dad and Jake stayed (and Jake slept for the next 6 hours until dinner) and I set off in search of transportation to my shoot an hour away. I'd worried most about the flight delay because I'd scheduled a family shoot for Sunday late morning, thinking that would give me plenty of time to adjust and get my bearings, but having to learn on the fly was just as well.

Cassady + Ross's Wedding Album

As the theme of the day had been "Just say yes," from Snow Patrol's same-titled song - and their first dance song - we began the storybook album with their phrase. From there, as they'd focused on enjoying time with their friends and family, I dedicated a majority of the spreads to group photos, both the few formals and the wide array of candid shots.

Cassady + Ross's Summer Wedding at Yesterday Spaces

We began our day at a little cottage in West Asheville where the ladies were getting ready. It was fantastic having the entire house to work with, particularly for detail shots as I got to incorporate the gorgeous door frames, wood floors and vibrant colors. Even in the midst of the prepping stress, the whole group was loose and goofy; dancing, laughing and even joking (in Cassady's case) with the coordinator. Well, that might have been a bit of the stress talking as the joke was about taking off to Mexico. Nonetheless, we had fun, even creating a few simple portraits of the bride (in the laundry room!) before heading off to the venue.

Thanksgiving Reflection: The Importance of Art Education

Each semester for the past 3 years, I get to work with a new group of Asheville Middle School (and Now Montford Northstar Academy) students teaching a darkroom photography program. For two semesters now, I've partnered with the Asheville Art Museum teaching a joint darkroom photo and mixed media class. On this year's Thanksgiving, I just wanted to share this work that's near and dear to me. I wholeheartedly believe that every single child deserves to be introduced to art in order to explore their creativity and personal voice and I'm thankful that I get to play a small part in these students' lives.

October 14, 2017 Artsy Fall Wedding in Black Mountain

I've worked with quite a few crafty couples, but Alexis and James may just take the cake for the most personalized elements in their wedding. Not only did James and Alexis's parents create all of the beautiful bottle decor and her niece make the cute little owl cupcakes, but the bride herself was adorned in family heirlooms with a handmade dress crafted by her mother to take the cake! But, as beautiful as all of these things were, it was the amount of time behind them, the amount of effort that the families put into Alexis and James' big day, that truly showed how special the pair is.

Portland Day 1: All of My Favorite Things

I started off my first full day in Portland bright and early, catching the bus at 7:30 to get over to Cathedral Park for my first session. I was really hoping that since it was actually 10:30am in Asheville I might have an easier time waking up, but no such luck. So with bleary eyes, I transferred to the MAX along with every other person in Beaverton and attempted to not stick out as we bumped and jostled our way along. I certainly can't speak for everyone, but whenever I travel I always feel this need to look as un-touristy as possible (perhaps a reflex from being an American abroad), but trying to look unmoved as I repeatedly jolted from side-to-side, white-knuckling the hand rail, was a bit difficult. It did wake me up though!

September 9, 2017 Wedding at the Basilica of St. Lawrence in Asheville, NC

Lauren and Eric's special day was no different; in fact, is was quite possible one of my favorite weddings I've ever shot because I got to see such an honest and wholehearted outpouring of love on all sides for the entire day (and a different side of Lauren than I saw capturing her on the tennis court!) From sweet mother and daughter moments while getting ready to the ladies-only trolley ride singing "Goin' to the Chapel", the devout Catholic ceremony to the celebratory kisses in front of the church, the tearful toasts to the energetic dancing - the whole day flew by as we soaked up every moment. Thank you to Lauren and Eric for letting me capture your big day and thank you to everyone who made their wedding so special!

August 5, 2017 Wedding at Homewood in Asheville, NC

As if something from a fairy tale, Ashli and Dustin celebrated their love for each other in a gorgeous restored 1920s manor; making their forever vows in front of the stone fireplace and sharing their first dance as husband and wife under a beautiful wrought iron chandelier. But while the location was magical, the food was delectable and the couple looked incredible, it was their pure joy in beginning their new journey together that really made the day exceptional. Thank you to everyone who made Ashli and Dustin's day so special; I can't wait to share more photos!

Ashli and Dustin's Downtown Asheville Engagement Shoot

As they both love the "stay local" motto of Asheville, we chose downtown as our backdrop and spend a very warm afternoon exploring the iconic sites as well as some hidden gems. My favorite part of shooting downtown is getting to work with all of the different forms of architecture (from the original 1900s art deco facades to the more recent additions) both as framing devices and general backgrounds. By far, my favorite photo from the shoot is the one above as I think it epitomizes the whole shoot: blue skies and historic buildings, warm glowing sunshine and a couple very much in love. I actually had them climb up a few-foot-tall light post base to be able to get below them for this epic shot, showing off their sense of adventure.

Anna Beth + Omar's Surprise Proposal

Getting that "Hey, I'm proposing to my girlfriend - could you photograph it?" message is always exhilarating, but even more so when you know the couple, and especially when said proposal is happening in two days! When Omar (my former weight room coach at UNC Asheville) reached out to me saying that he was planning to be in town (as he now lives states away) to propose to Anna Beth and wondered if there was any chance I might be free that Friday afternoon to capture their special moment, I knew that I would do whatever I could to make that schedule happen. And was it ever worth it!

Creating Your Photo Album

Next to capturing your big day, creating the photo album to memorialize your special moments is my favorite part of the process. To aid you in our creation process, I've put together some step-by-step directions for choosing the specs of your album.

Iceland & Scotland Day 3: The Old Town

Much to the girls' (and my) satisfaction, we got to ride the double decker buses today! As there were no seats left, I stood at the front, gazing out the window as the city whizzed by. I've always wished the US - but particularly the South - had a better, more widely-used public transit system as my favorite part of traveling in Europe is people-watching on buses or the subway and not having to drive. I'd become so accustomed to standing up on the halting metro that I simply leaned against the wall of the bus without needing to hold on to the hand rail (yeah, I'm totally cool.)

July 29, 2017 Wedding in Sapphire, NC

I love the details and all the personal touches that couples infuse into their weddings, but when it all comes down to it, my very favorite thing about wedding photography is getting to capture the beginning of each couple's lifelong journey as they're surrounded by their loved ones. Meadow and Theo made their vows to each other in a beautiful sunlit field as the bride's dad presided, giving his own sound advice for a long and happy marriage: don't settle for the wedding being the best day of your life, make each day better than the last.

Meadow + Theo's Granite City Engagement Session

It's not every session that I get to rock hop through a cool new location AND capture the love of a couple of free spirits. Not often do I have the opportunity to shoot from exaggerated angles both high and low. And very rarely do I get to shimmy through rock crevices so narrow I have to hold my cameras in one hand and backpack in the other as I slide through sideways. Yet, I got to do all of these things last month for Meadow and Theo's engagement session!

Mudiyanur Family Photo Album

Every album comes with its own set of storytelling challenges and for family albums, that challenge is generally making sure each person has their fair share of page space. For this album, we used a mix of sibling photos, spreads with all three girls (the sisters plus their cousin), and a few individual pages and spreads to give each sister the spotlight.

Morgan + Mike || Wedding Album

In putting together this album, my focus was to tell Morgan and Mike's story of excitement (particularly in their first look), personality (especially through the personal touches in their decor) and pure happiness at saying their forever vows surrounded by friends and family, even family from across the ocean. Because they did a first look (one of my favorite parts of the day!) we spent the first hour relaxing and taking couples portraits and group shots with their maid-of-honor and best man.

Morgan + Mike's Highland Brewing Wedding

2017's wedding season began quite a bit earlier than I'd anticipated as I got to shoot my first winter wedding since my very first wedding 4 years previous. One afternoon I was taking a nap when I heard my phone buzzing and - after pulling myself out of a cozy slumber - booked a last minute wedding on the spot. You see, Morgan and Mike met in Ireland while she was studying abroad and 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. Luckily, they had the wedding wizard, Michelle of Party Envy, to help and on a balmy January evening they said their "I do's" amidst friends and family.

Bohemian Sunset Styled Shoot at Black Balsam Knob

This was one of those shoots where I saw the location (on a shoot I was modeling for, of all things) and without any plans in place immediately created a scene in my head to shoot that I knew I needed to bring to reality. I knew I wanted Lauren, one of my gorgeous 2017 brides, to model and that if at all possible I wanted to put her in a whimsical gown from one of my favorite Asheville bridal shops (Wildflower Bridal) paired with a bright color palette from Swannanoa Flower shop and Cakes by Gray for a bohemian mountaintop styled elopement. As the shoot would have to be right in the middle of wedding season to make sure it was warm enough, I knew it would be a long shot, so when every one of these selections worked out, I was so excited I was bouncing off the walls! Of course, no shoot is ever that easy and in the end we only had about 25 minutes or so of photography, yet I couldn't be more thrilled with the results.