"The Rick and The Rack"

That's their nickname (according to Denise). Rick and Denise are far from the traditional husband-and-wife-to-be, and I love that about them. They are planning quite a wedding, which will include an Elvis impersonator!!!

For their engagement shoot, they wanted to play around their home, which is the source of a lot of hard work and enjoyment for them. Rick sported a tux, and Denise wore a very Marilyn-esque white dress. She had some really fun ideas for shots, and happily kicked off her shoes when asked to jump around in the street. It was definitely lots of playtime with a little photo time mixed in. After the camera was put away, the wine came out and we chatted, laughed, and told stories for a while. These two are fun on wheels. I can't wait for the wedding!

The super-cool car had to get in on the action.

Denise gettin' all Tina Turner in the street.

Here comes the bride!!!!!!

If you'd like to see a slideshow with more of Denise & Rick's photos, click here

Project 365

I've been a bad, bad blogger. I'm not sure which is more neglected....my blog or my split ends. So, it's time to post some stuff (and get a haircut).

Even though I've been crazy busy (blah, blah, blah), I decided to start a 365 Project. There are a bunch of other photographers who are doing this too. It's where you take a photo a day for a year. Sounds easy? For me it's not, but I love that it pushes me to get out my camera and get my creative juices flowing. It's also a good excercise in not beating yourself up for taking a less-than-amazing photo.

I am gonna have to get some friends over soon though to pose, or there will be 300+ photos of my feet.

I'm only on "day 15", but here are a few of my favs so far.

slideshow-ready!

I just tried out a slick new slideshow-makin' program. Woo hoo!

For a slideshow of Hannah & Anne's lovely wedding, click here.

The slideshow only contains about half of their images. For friends and family who might want to see all the images, you can visit their gallery at www.pictage.com

I can't wait to make more slideshows!

kiddos!

I've been so knee-deep in wedding photos this month (and still am) that I haven't had a lot of time for bloggin'. I had to play around with some child/family photos for some studio samples I'm putting together, so I thought I'd post a few of my favs from the last year or so.

The incredible, gorgeous, clever sassafrass known as Leola Rose. Creator of the phrase "hangleberg" (hamburger). She's already cooler than I'll ever be.

The beautiful and oh-so-spunky Mia. She's not nearly as shy as she seems in this photo. Within 5 minutes of meeting her, she showed me her Britney Spears impression, and then I showed her mine. Ah, kindred spirits!

And here's the adorable little thunderbolt Kirsten. I've known her mom for almost 10 years, so I really dig both of her great kiddos. I always look forward to seeing them when we do Christmas photos. The fake snow went over really well.

And finally, we have the uber-precious Nora Lee (aka Little Chicken). She is the daughter of two of the most special people in the world to me. So, I would have loved her no matter what, but she had to go and make it easy by being perfect.

Back to wedding photos for me! I hope everyone has a fun, relaxing, crazy-awesome weekend!

pretty times two

I didn't know Hannah and Anne until we met to talk about wedding photos, but I immediately liked these two lovely ladies. What I didn't anticipate was how emotional I would get at their wedding. I was actually wiping away tears so that I could focus my camera. I mean, I am a total sap, but to hear their friends and family members talk about how these two best friends grew to find something even more with each other, was just so cool. I will completely well-up again if I even think about Anne's brother trying so hard to talk through his tears when describing the love he has for his sister. Then he gave up and just hugged her, which said it all really. And I really envy the relationship I saw between Hannah and her sister (yes, I know that sounds like a Woody Allen movie). Just the way she and her sis looked at each other. So beautiful. Sigh. Good grief, I'm getting sentimental in my old age! Now I'm going to go pet some kittens and watch "Terms of Endearment".

Here are a few pics from the wedding, and I'll post a few more when I move along through Photoshop Town.

Hannah getting ready

During the ceremony at the Solarium

The very cool, earthy decorations

The gorgeous brides just after their ceremony

There will be more from this fine day (there was Irish dancing!), and then I'll be moving on to more of Tom and Kerry's pics. According to their blog, it looks like they're having a super-fun throw-down all over Europe. Sweeeet.

cake AND presents

I've always thought that getting a piece of cake was a pretty darn cool perk to shooting weddings. Then, Brian & Krista go and raise the stakes two-fold. First of all, the groom's cake was a replica of Ugga, the UGA bulldog. Oh yeah. Second, they sent me an awesome print by Jamie Calkin (www.jamiecalkin.com) of the Taylor-Grady House where they got married (I have a photo in an earlier post). Jamie is an Athens artist who does these really great watercolor paintings, often of the local areas. Brian & Krista hired him to create paintings during the ceremony and reception. How cool is that?!? Jamie was a really nice guy, and I'd say quite a trooper for creating his works in the unforgiving heat that day. Below is a pic of the print they sent me. Big thanks to the new Mr. & Mrs. Kern for this much-appreciated gift!

Now for some more pics of the wedding itself.

The great bustle endeavor of 2007. Good work, ladies! I don't know how you did it! This is the "before" picture.

Here's the view out the front of the house just before the ceremony, which took place on the porch just outside these doors.

A man who can pull off wearing a hot pink flower. Right on, Brian!

Chilling in Athens at the UGA arch, y'all.

Okay, here's one of those shots that you'll either love or hate. I love it because it's like an anti-wedding shot, and I think Krista's expression is very fashion-y. Anybody feel me on this?

First dance romance at it's best.

Back to photoshopping for me. I'm trying to finish up Brian & Krista's shots this weekend. Let's see, that means I technically have until midnight, right? Wish me luck! Then it's on to Anne and Hannah's wedding shots. I can't wait to post some of their pics and tell you the story of their beautiful relationship.