maternity can be fierce

I get so excited when a session allows me to be creative and experiment with new styles or techniques. This is why Jenna was such a perfect subject. We wanted to take photos that showed how she is the same cool, fun person.....she just happens to be expecting. She brought the tub idea to the table, and said that she wanted to take it in a more edgy direction.....like, not tons of bubbles. I totally knew what she meant. Yay! Then we realized that it's harder than you'd think to find bath products that don't foam up! We also discovered that the combination of milk, aromatic bath salts, and grape Kool-Aid smells REALLY good. My bathroom smelled lovely for days.

Jenna, you are a total gorgeous rock star. Thank you for your trust and fantastic attitude. I can only post a few of her fabulous images since some were a little too racy for the interweb. Sorry, interweb. Those will be just for her and her hubby to enjoy.

i beg your pardon

Not that there's anything wrong with having a photo of my lovely mom adorning my blog for weeks, but I feel badly that I haven't been updating regularly with new posts. I'd be honest if my dead-beat blogging behavior was due to laziness, but there are actually a couple pretty good reasons for my disappearing act.

1. Just short of it's 9-month birthday, my computer needed an emergency hard drive transplant. I have a back-up laptop, but it runs at the speed of rubber cement.

2. For the first time in my photography career, I shot 3 weddings in one weekend. Very do-able, but takes a ton of prep, organization, and focus. So other things, like blogging, had to be put on hold.

The wedding trifecta could have been really difficult if each of the couples and their families hadn't been the downright nicest folks. I truly don't know how I get so lucky.

I have LOTS of editing catch-up to do, but will try to keep bloggin'. There will be more extensive posts for each fabulous wedding. In the meantime, here's a little sneak peek...

Miriam + John

Meghan + Nathaniel

Sarah + John

mom!

Happy Birthday and Mother's Day, Mom! You're the BEST! Part of why you're the best is that you let me put this tiara on your head. For that alone, I will forgive your love of Bon Jovi.

evita + michael

Evita is one of a kind. When I met her about 10 years ago, I thought she was way too cool to want to hang out with me. Despite my dorkiness and her coolness, we became great friends. She's one of the most creative folks I know, and she has a truly wicked sense of humor.

I was thrilled that she wanted me to take photos of her wedding to Michael. He's such a nice guy, and has some unique ideas of his own. He showed me his "mad scientist room" in the house, and I was giddy with delight.

The big day took place in South Carolina, just over the bridge from downtown Charleston. Evita and Michael live on an incredible piece of property next to an oak grove, and it was the perfect setting for an outdoor wedding. Seriously, they should rent it out!

It was a gorgeous day for Evita and Michael and their family and friends. I know their new life together will be a great one.

Here are a few photos, and if you want to see more, there's a slideshow at the end of this post.


I'm not kidding when I talk about Evita's skills. She MADE her wedding dress! Isn't it spectacular? She also worked on all the special details and decorations.

This is just a fraction of their vast back yard. I know, right?

Here's my lovely friend. She had said she didn't need any pictures of "that getting ready crap". That's so Evita, but she looked too pretty to not snap a few.

I could do a whole separate post just on her shoes. She wore this same pair when she was a bridesmaid for my wedding, but back then they had large orange Gerbera daisies attached to them. She created and attached all the intricate details below to match her wedding dress. She makes Martha Stewart seem lazy.

A perfect example of why I love Evita is that most brides would not want me to post a shot like this next one. However, she has already asked me "How's the blister shot?". Here it is Evita! All your injured glory. Folks, let this be a warning to you: Do NOT use an industrial-strength hot glue gun an hour before your wedding!

And now for some yummy details!

You sassy, sassy thing you!

They had their own special mead produced for the reception. So cool!

Here's a shot of me and Evita as witnessed in our typical state: doing something inappropriate and laughing about it. Thanks to Aileen for snapping this!

Their cake was awesome! They had greenery centerpieces on the tables in rustic hexagon planters. They carried that theme through to the honeycomb pattern on the cake. And how cute are those little bride and groom bees?

Here's Part II of their back yard. So dreamy!

When I left to head back into Charleston, from the bridge, I turned around and could see all the lanterns lit along their property. They should keep those up year-round! They're too beautiful to take down.

The new Mr + Mrs!

To view a slideshow of more images from this fabulous wedding, please click HERE

I love you guys. Thanks so much for everything, and I can't wait to see you again!

beach blanket dingo

I've gotten some requests for a Fletch update, and since I'm of the mindset that you CAN please everyone all the time...here ya go! These pics were taken last month when we took pup on his first beach adventure. I was shocked at how well he did during the long car trip down to Florida. No whining, no barfing, no furry meltdowns of any kind. Funny, I don't remember slipping him a xanax.

He got to finally meet Susie, and now I'm wondering why I don't have any photos of the two of them. I obviously had vacation brain. Anyway, they got along swimmingly. And speaking of swimming, Fletch walked directly into Susie's pool, not knowing what he was doing. Scared the hell out of him. We, of course, laughed our heads off after Matt helped him out. It's okay Fletch, I find your errors in judgment charming. Please do the same for me.

Naturally, he's WAY bigger now than in these photos. Today he turns 4 months old. We'll have to snap a pic and compare to his 3-month glamour shot. In the last few weeks, he's become a pretty wonderful doggie. Don't tell him I said that. He still thinks I'm the "bad cop", and I've got a rep to protect.

Here's Fletch-er-oo engaging in his second favorite activity next to destroying rugs...digging!

This next image will be a sobering reminder to me of the time period where ALL he did was run around and bite anything below the knee. I'm talking about the dog, by the way.

My dog does have a cute butt. However, there's another reason I took that shot. The markings on Great Pyrs fade as they grow up, so he may not look like this much longer. I'm hoping the little black spot stays though.

He wasn't sure about the water. He was probably afraid that if he got in there, I'd come over with shampoo and try to make him clean, which annoys the heck out of him.

My new strategy...dog as sunblock. His new strategy...sand as sunblock.

More Fletch updates to come, but now it's back to weddings, weddings, weddings! Woo hoo!

aja + mckenna

Recently, I had the pleasure of photographing a little bundle of joy named McKenna. She was such a tiny, sweet reminder of why babies are so irresistible.

Last year, I met McKenna's auntie Brittney when she was a bridesmaid in Andisheh and Christi's awesome wedding. Brittney decided to give a portrait session to her lovely sister Aja and her new niece while they were visiting Atlanta. Love that!

We met at Brittney's gorgeous home and took some shots of this wonderful family. Here are a few samples of our photo play time...

Her expression in this first one makes me SMILE!

Aja and McKenna shared lots of adorable mother-daughter moments like this.

While our little model took a break, I had to get a few pics of Brittney's cutie-pie doggie, Grady. Apparently, this is what they always see when they come home. Awww.

We had to get Auntie Brittney in a few shots too!

On a side note, this photo shoot was on my birthday. Back when I worked at the ole corporate day job, I typically took my birthday off. I feel really blessed that I'm now doing something I love so much that I get excited about working on my birthday. Woo hoo!

meghan + nathaniel's e-session

I adore these two. I was fortunate to have met Meghan and Nathaniel last year when I took pics for both of their acting headshots. I knew how much I liked them individually, and I couldn't imagine how much cuter they were as a couple. Cute is not a strong enough word, and I can't even describe the amount of niceness that goes with the cuteness!

We got together recently to shoot some portraits, and we had to be quick about it since their status will soon change from "engaged" to "married" in just a couple weeks. It was such a fun session! I love how they can go from silly to romantic to fierce in a matter of seconds. That takes skillz, y'all.

After the photos, we chatted and laughed for a while. Poor Matt and Nathaniel had to endure my talk with Meghan about our Twilight obsession. Seriously, Meghan should be playing Alice Cullen in the movies. Anybody else feel me on that? You should. I'm thankful they put up with me since I could have gabbed their ears off all night.

So here are some pics from my shoot with this super-fab couple.


I'm not sure which one of us took the award for most crack-ups, but here's one point for Meghan.

Smokin'....

You work it, Meghan!

Dont'cha just LOVE love?

Thanks SO much you two! I can't wait to shoot your wedding later this month!!!