Monthly Archives: September 2014

Meeeeet one of my favorite families:  Amber, Adam, Jordyn and Blake!  There are a super fun family with girls that can hang out with any one imaginable!  I love that these girls can dress up and be oh my gosh beautiful!  Seriously… how gorgeous are these girls.. daddy watch out!  But give these girls some rain boots,  a mud puddle or a grassy field and they are GONE!  They can hang out with the best of the runners, the splashers and the mad dashers!  These are the BEST kind of girls around!

We met at Events at the Holly Ridge Manor for some free run and play on their gorgeous grounds!  I’m not sure who had more fun:  the girls, Adam and Amber… or me?!

Adam and Amber have been married 5 years (or will be this October)  YAY for October anniversaries!  It really is the best month for weddings!  Sorry.. I’m a bit biased!  They have been together for 7 years and now created these two beautiful little pieces of sunshine:  Jordyn and Blake!

Jordyn:  (according to mom and dad) Stubborn, Sweet and Sensitive.  She loves to color (Amber says they go through tons and tons of paper daily!) She loves to golf with daddy (I spy a scholarship in her future maybe Amber?!!)  And loves to be outside!

Blake:  (according to the family) She’s goofy, fearless and oh so curious!  She loves her blankie and playing with her baby dolls.  She loves being outside and loves her music!  She can’t talk all that much yet but she can absolutely sing! (Let it go is her speciality and I got a free concert during our session!)

Jordyn and I played an awesome game of tag!  Then she and Blake had a rousing game of peek a boo under the blanket that had us all in stitches.  This capture below is probably one of my most favorites.  Messy hair, don’t care!  Grass makes for the best accessory! This is why I love J so very much!  She and I can totally hang out and be BFF’s.

Blake’s frozen concert:

Then I let Jordyn hang out with me for a bit and taught her some mad camera skills!  She’s quite the photographer!  Here’s her shot of mom and dad!  Watch out photography world:  It’s pretty spot on!

A little bit about Adam and Amber:

Amber: Her family says she’s determined and thoughtful and stubborn.

Adam:  His family says he’s patient, forgetful and extremely nice.

Both these guys are amazing parents.  They are patient and kind and most important they are super fun!  Those girls truly have so much fun with their parents.  They provide such an amazing balance between giggles and structure!  They let them explore their own creativity and express themselves which is just so important these days!  The girls also know that they do have boundaries and limits within those creative worlds though and that is SUCH a hard task to navigate!  Adam and Amber kind of really rock it out!  I feel truly blessed to know them!

Once the night started winding down, Amber broke out the girls rain boots!  We have had so much rain lately in Virginia Beach that Amber and I both jumped at the chance to let the girls splash around a bit in the puddles.  We thought for sure there would be a ton of puddles to play in but we really had to search and scout this one perfect puddle.  I’m so happy we found one and so happy these girls dove right in… literally (poor Blake!)

I loved this family so much and I truly feel honored to be able to capture moments like these!  Time flies by so quickly, having candid moments like these are so wonderful to have documented!

Special thanks to Events at Holly Ridge Manor for letting us visit your beautiful location and run free.

 

 

It’s a crazy life… running a business (or trying to) out of your house, running after a crazy yet wonderful toddler and also a husband who is in and out and all about!

It’s a wonderful life!  One I’m always feeling the need to capture every single second in detail.

Maybe it’s because life is flying past us all at such a rapid rate!   I mean gosh, when I look back at the images I have of Linc he just looks like such a baby compared to this big boy he is at this moment.

Maybe it’s because of the time Tuck was away and I truly learned to appreciate the value of having moments captured!  How photography can truly allow you to be present in the moment when you aren’t physically able to do so.

Maybe it’s the time I spent working at the children’s hospital and learning that life is incredibly precious, too precious to ever take even one second for granted!  No matter what those seconds bring (laughter, tears or tantrums) those moments are all beautiful in the grand scheme of things.

No matter what this reason behind my need to document our life, I really truly appreciate it!  Sometimes though, there does come a point where I need to learn some balance.

So a goal for myself (a few months earlier than usual) but a goal for this upcoming year none the less.  Our moments are special and precious.  They do need to be saved and cared for;  but they also need to be participated in 100%.

I need to find that balance between behind the camera and in front of the camera.  I need to find the balance of picking up the camera and capturing that moment and then releasing it to go and participate and enjoy in it!

Tuck is always telling me this and we laugh about it a little.  But he’s right!  This IS a crazy life, enjoy all the moments both behind and away from the gear!

 

Happy Monday morning!

I’ve spent a lot of time shooting this past week and as I’ve been shooting and sitting at the computer, I keep thinking about all the bloopers that come up!

Life is FUNNY… it’s silly and awkward and wonderful all at the same time!  Most of the time though we only show our most perfect selves.  Those closest to us are the only ones that get to share in those blooper moments that make us who we truly are.  The moments that are truly endearing are those where we are totally and completely nerdy or embarrassingly awkward!  Those are the ones that I love the most.

We often make our best connections with others when we find ourselves recounting tales of “oh gosh, there was this time when…”

This past weekend I shot a wedding and I totally had a few of those moments and I feel like it brought me a little closer to my bride and her guests!  So in honor of that, I thought I would share some of my best “oh man.. there was this time when…” moments;  and hopefully it will bring you a smile or a little giggle on this Monday morning!

That time when…

  • I went on a blind date in college and the date happened to be super cute!  We were walking in to dinner and he was telling me all about something (I can’t remember now) and turned around to look at me, except I wasn’t there.  I tripped over my feet and landed face first into the road and totally messed up my face!  It was one of those moments where one minute I was there, the next I wasn’t!  We had to go back to the car and run to the drug store because I had gravel in my forehead!
  • I decided to do a bridal boudoir session for Tuck and went lingerie shopping with one of my girlfriends in Fredrick’s of Hollywood.  I was searching for some nice boy shorts when I discovered that one of the pairs I had been eyeing was damaged (it had kind of a big hole in it!)  So I took it up to the sales woman and was explaining that this pair was damaged when she starting laughing quite loudly at me.  Apparently it was NOT damaged because that entire rack was crotchless underwear!  I can be really naive sometimes… kind of all the time!
  • Tuck asked me to buzz his head but he assumed I knew to put the guard on.  I didn’t…. (and I ran right down the middle first!)
  • I was shooting a wedding pregnant and I had to sneeze, except sneezing meant peeing a little.  So I peed my dress.  Knowing this would happen I brought an extra change of clothes.  Sadly two seconds after changing my clothes, I sneezed and peed again and it was slightly more obvious in pants!
  • I was jogging on the treadmill and I tripped in front of a very crowded gym.  Except, I didn’t just trip, I face planted and then rolled off colliding into the wall behind me!  The music happened to stop at the exact time I did this so the entire gym over heard my loud crash and 4 of the personal trainers came over to see if I was ok!  Also I was teaching a class 10 minutes later and several of my class members were witness to the event.
  • This past Friday I wore a newer dress to shoot this wedding.  I bought it at the beginning of the season really excited to wear it but just hadn’t had the opportunity to wear it for a wedding yet!  My shoot sac happens to land just exactly where the hem of the dress falls and the day was a little windy.  Every time I took a shot, my dress would get caught up on the shoot sac leaving me with the whole I tucked my skirt into my underwear look!  (Thank goodness the bride was my great friend and leant me some shorts!)

Tell me you have had some similar moments of equal or greater value friends!  Don’t leave me hanging!

And I leave you with this little gem:  Apparently I make some pretty amazing faces when I’m shooting!