Dublin NH :: Ali & Dan!

Last week (like the avid traveler that I am) I was in New Hampshire spending some quality time with the family, photographing weddings with my college bestie and trying not to suffer too much in the cold. What can I say? I've acclimated to Georgia weather. While at home I wanted to play with my new camera (yup! I officially have two hardworking camera bodies now, yay!) and it just so happened that Ali and Dan needed some professional photos done for their new apartment. Ali's been modeling for me since she was in high school, so she's pretty used to it - and AWESOME at it... Dan needed a little bit of warming up, and then I heard him say, "as it turns out modeling is really fun." Ummm DUH, especially fun when your photographer is telling jokes, laughing and generally just a clown - that's me.

My favorite things about this session ::

• Dan's shoes. I wish I got a close up of just his shoes, they were probably the best guy shoes I've ever seen. Not to mention he cuffed his jeans, and incase you didn't know - I'm a HUGE fan of cuffing jeans. 
• Ali's laugh. Maybe because I grew up listening to her laugh, maybe because Dan fills her heart with laughter, maybe she just has an awesome laugh. 
• The sunlight. The sky was completely clear and the sunlight danced into the images in the most warm and fantastic way. Another thing I'm a huge fan of : natural light and lens flares - which I got a TON of! 
• The flannel blanket we brought because the wind was actually so cold. Dan and Ali snuggled together under the blanket and it was basically the cutest thing I've ever seen.

I am so thankful that they took the time to be in front of my camera, I know how tired they both were - by the way: they both ran a sub two hour half marathon that morning (that's fast). I am beyond thrilled with how the images came out and I am so excited to share them today! It was really great to see Dan and Ali together and how much they totally adore each other filled my heart up with joy. Seeing how happy Dan makes Ali (and vice versa) made me feel so happy for my little (and for Tan Dan!). 

My First Bridal Expo!

As most of you know, I've been working to get my photography business up and running since we moved back from Italy. It's a bit of a challenge because the best way to get new clients is through referrals from old clients. So I started to do a little research on other ways to get my name into the wedding community and in the process I found this super awesome bridal expo in Columbus. I got all the information and chatted about it with T and Momager and we all decided it would be a lot of work upfront, but in the long run it would pay off. (And it totally did because I booked a wedding for next April with an ADORABLE miss who is going to make a gorgeous bride!)

I crafted and sequenced and researched and rebranded for two weeks and it completely took over my house and my life (seriously- I even neglected my bike for two weeks). But I'm super happy with the outcome and I'm even more excited to do another show in January - that is bigger! And I have probably 150 ideas for the next one, so it should be super awesome. I'm currently working on getting my website back up - which is fun and exciting and a h-u-g-e pain in my behind. But I wanted to share a few shots from the wonderful day!

I would like to give a very loud shoutout to my best friend Casey, who helped me with sequencing and rebranding via many late night texts and phone calls, Momager (who hates being called Momager - but she channels Kris Jenner like no other and it is fierce and awesome) for encouraging and supporting, Hubs for help (and patience) as I wandered aimlessly through Hobby Lobby, and most importantly - my grandparents, who made the trip from NH to help me bake hundreds of cookies to hand out, they helped me set up and take down my booth, and sat with me all day so I wouldn't be alone. I literally wouldn't have been able to do it without all the love and support in my life, and I'm very thankful to have all of you - even my long list of unnamed people who got the "do you like this leafy flower or this leafy flower better" texts and Kara for the iced coffees and shopping dates. Y'ALL rock my world.

A Gorgeous Georgia Bridal Shoot

I have been relentlessly trying to get my photography business jump-started down here in Georgia.. So I went to all the local bridal shops and handed out my cards and chatted with the shop owners. I knew I needed new work, and thought if I could set up a bridal shoot I might get a few shots that could be good for my portfolio. One of the shops I went to was Uptown Gowns and I fell in love with their shop, the dresses and the girls that run the shop are the nicest. They donated a dress to me almost immediately and the owner, Candy, from Southern Glam Salon & Boutique put me in touch with one of her hair and make up artists, Kaila (who also happened to find me my model). Can I just say that I love the people down here? Everybody was so willing to do whatever to make this shoot happen and it totally payed off.

My model, Shayna, myself, and Hannah, from Uptown Gowns went to this beautiful retired horse farm (that asked to remain unnamed) and of course it started to storm. On the inside I was freaking out, and wondering if I should just call it, because I desperately did not want to ruin this dress and therein my relationship with Hannah and the Uptown Gown girls. But I decided that 100 photos were better than zero photos so we went on with it. I am absolutely thrilled that we waited out the storm, because the clouds were amazing and the light was so even and perfect. I have drooled and obsessed over these photos for weeks and I figured it was time to finally share them.

Thank you to all the people who helped me put this together, I am so touched that y'all would go above and beyond to help me make my vision a reality.

Two Cuties :: Liam and Mason

Happy Monday my friends :) I'm a little behind on my blogging because I've been working so hard on my logo that I got distracted. Last week I literally spent an entire day at my desk trying to pick the perfect font to match the perfect flower. Hubs was all "you spent the day looking at fonts?" But in a very proud and loving way, of course. I'm so excited to share it, I almost shared a sneak peek, but I really want it to be perfect when y'all see it, so I'm holding out. On to the good stuff...

A few weeks back I spent the morning hanging with these two cuties - as I do often enough, since their mom is basically my bestie. This particular morning was a little more special, because we decided to do a mini shoot with the boys! Liam and Mason are probably the sweetest little babies on the planet, which I recognize I say a lot, but this is serious. Usually I don't get to know the kids I photograph very well, but these two are in my life on a weekly basis, so I know their personalities and I love them both to pieces. Kara does an ahhhmazing job raising them, being an army-wife-mom (also a triathlete training for a half ironman!) is tougher than you could imagine, especially with her guys schedule of 24 hours on, 24 hours off. Regardless, she is awesome and so are her boys. She is always doing these awesome things for everybody else in her life (including myself), so I wanted to give her some photos of her little buddies! Miss Kara, I hope you love the photos!

Diamonds, Zeus, Peonies and Patriotism

T and I have been married for five years. Holy smokes, that seems like a long time, but also not that long when you think about how much time we have actually spent together. Army life makes for a tough marriage, but like my favorite country singer Dierks says "The hard times put the shine into the diamond" and I really couldn't agree more. 

This year was kind of special for T and I, as it is the SECOND anniversary we have actually spent together. Year one he was in Afghanistan. Year two, we were together, in Venice. Year three he was in Poland. Year four, Ranger School. Year five, he was coming off a 30 hour walking shift with ranger students. So he had a blissfully short nap, and then I made him cook me dinner and we snuggled on the couch and watched SVU. I got to wash his disgusting army clothes and kiss him goodnight twice. While this may sound boring to some, I was happy simply to have him under my roof, where I could look at him, hug him, and request a calf rub.

He let me drag him to an amazing triathlon training with some really great people on Sunday, and then I let him drag me to a gun show. See? Compromise makes for two happy people. We had a great weekend, and as I have done for the last two years, I took some photos of our wedding rings together. As a wanna-be wedding photographer I try to create work that can be used for my portfolio on a regular basis. Obviously this is kind of tough from time to time, but since the rings are always handy they seem to be the most consistently photographed object I own. 

Zeusy was my first attempt (Year three: T was in Poland). Every dog-owner has seen the adorable picture of the dog with the rings. My best buddy made that possible for me as he is probably the most well-behaved pup on the planet.. Yes, I am very biased. Yes, sometimes he's a monster. But he's also the cutest ever.

Year four I found myself in Portugal with a girlfriend, but a few days later I found myself at a farmers market with peonies that looked just like my wedding bouquet. Considering they are easily my favorite flower, and they were dirt cheap for a dozen of them, I bought them and let the smell remind me of our wedding day.

This years may be my favorite. Insprired by T's patriotism (also the 2nd 4th of July together), the finding of a wedding invitation and a recent article about "off-lensing," I made these lovelies. I may, again, be biased, but I think this years ring shots are the best selection yet!