Trent and Stacy's Engagement Session

Last weekend I went to Sandy Bottom Nature Park in Hampton with Trent and Stacy. When we were discussing on what they were looking for I knew EXACTLY where we needed to go! I did a family shoot here last year and while all of us were from the beach, Sandy Bottom was the perfect location. I met with Stacy and Trent as well as a friend of theirs who came to watch the dogs. Karma and Buddha are 2 beautiful German Shepherds, but they are still large dogs so a friend was nice enough to come hang out with us to help watch them. I am so excited for their wedding... and it's coming up soon! They called me a few weeks ago to discuss some changes and oh... I wish I could tell you the details of the wedding! I guess you're all just going to have to wait and see!

Andy and Lindsay

Yesterday was so much fun! I shot the wedding of Andy and Lindsay at St. Andrew's in Norfolk which followed with a reception at the Half Moone in Norfolk as well. I knew the day was calling for rain so I got to the church a little early to make sure that I could get shots of it. It's a good thing I did because when Lindsay arrived it was pouring! Rain didn't dampen much other than the ground because Lindsay was still just glowing with the excitement of the day.

Flowers were done by one of the brides friends who did an absolutely fantastic job! She needs to go into business soon!




















They were so much fun to be with all day!




I LOVE shooting at Half Moone!






Think of all the beautiful babies and children you've ever seen. I bet they were at this wedding....




Another cool thing at the wedding was that the groom's old college band made a reunion! They took the stage and performed a few songs to the joy of the crowd. It's a shame these guys broke up....
Here's the groom!


And the whole band








The hotcakes were the official band of the night and did a FANTASTIC job keeping the party going all night long!


And now... time for the beautiful couple!!!!










I had an absolute blast being a part of your wedding. Spending time with the both of you... as well as your wonderful families was such an honor. May your marriage be blessed.

My big brother

I'm currently sitting at IAH in Houston on a warm, rainy, typical Houston day awaiting my delayed flight. No worries however, it's giving me time to try and catch up on a lot and get at least part of the wedding frenzy blog up.

2 days before the wedding I was able to go out with Ryan and Abbey to take some photos of them. I had a blast and I'll share some of those with you. I'm editing on my new Macbook so these still may need some work :-) I'm looking forward to getting back to my actual Mac to edit properly....

Fireman Weddings

One of my 2009 couples got engaged when his fire truck stopped during a parade so he could propose. I'm going to be doing their engagement portraits soon and from what I hear, they have some very fun plans in store! I do hope however they don't do anything quite as crazy as my brother did during his own wedding this weekend down here in The Woodlands, Tx. (That's a suburb of Houston BTW).

Things to consider when doing a sparkler exit....
1) Either keep any ribbons far enough away from flames, have guests remove them, or do not use
2) Use a long burning sparkler... not one that burns out in a blaze of fire (ribbon) after 10 seconds.
3) Make sure any fire cannot reach the brides gown (my new sister in law drug her dress right over a good lil fire of a fallen sparkler.)

These are really roughly edited but here you can see what can happen if these 3 things are overlooked. But, let's be honest... my brother and his fellow firefighters thought it was just plain awesome!

The following photos all occurred within about a 10 second window.

Hello from Sacramento!

Well, here I am now in Sacramento. I'm still enjoying my time in Cali which is quickly coming to an end. All too soon to say the least. Today I was able to get out and take portraits of Sarah out in Old Town Sacramento as well as the State Capital Park. It is definitely spring here in California and the flowers are blooming and gorgeous! So was Sarah however and while I may not have all my editing tools, I still wanted to throw you a few. Tomorrow it's off to WPPI in VEGAS!

Hello from Sunny California!

Yes, I know. I'm sorry. I've been leaving your hanging!

My last post mentions what I was about to to in the UK... well, since I've written that post I've done all those things, made it back to the US AND finished all my editing. All while playing with our new Kitty, Renoir.

Let me try and catch you up!

Malta was amazing! Absolutely amazing! I very much wish we had more time there, or could have seen more... but we did see a lot! The co-cathedral of St. John was amazing! A must see if in Valletta. St. Julian's bay, beautiful! Sliema, another great city! We saw a bit more but gosh, breathtaking! Our room faced the water and we had an amazing porch to sit on and enjoy the view. If you are ever there don't be afraid to order the table wine, it's always GOOD! Some people have asked me where Malta is... it's in the Mediterranean in between Africa and Sicily. I could go on and on about the wonders of Malta, their food, people, language, history... if you have ever seen Popeye or The Count of Monte Cristo they were filmed in Malta. Also lot's of greek mythology happened in "Malta." Much of the Odyssey and Iliad revolve around "Malta." I also heard just last night that someone thought they heard Malta was known as a possible site of the "Garden of Eden." I'll have to look that up but it's definitely a country worth checking out!

After returning from Malta my trip flew by too fast. I really wasn't ready to come back, I would live in London if I could. But, I did need to return, eventually ;-)

After a lot of "getting done" in Va Beach I flew out to San Francisco where I met my friend, her husband, and unborn child. They are such an adorable family and I can't wait to see their little daughter! I could have spent so much time in San Francisco but I came to Modesto to see another friend of mine from university. This is my first time out West! I've been to 27 states and 14 countries, but this is my first time west of Denver! I'm really enjoying my time in Cali! I love the no-humidity and in general it almost feels more like home in Texas than in Virginia. It's up to Sacramento tomorrow for some bridals in most likely a Vineyard and taking advantage of California's landscape, I'm very excited!

Saturday morning I fly to Vegas which is one of the "main" parts of this trip. WPPI, aka, Wedding and Portrait Photographers International!

I am so excited to be able to attend WPPI this year. I'm going to get to meet and learn from some of the most brilliant minds in wedding photography! On top of that, I get to hang out with 10,000 other photographers and finally meet so many of the people that I talk with on a daily basis online in forums and groups I'm a part of. AND on top of that, I even will get to see, touch, and learn about any product I could possibly offer you! Amazing

I'll probably just put together a huge slide show for you to see all of my trip to Europe, Cali, and Vegas... otherwise that post would be a mile long!