Bridal Portraits: All Your Own

I started the Bridal Portraits: All Your Own series just over a month ago when I shared Christina's ridiculously amazing beauty here and commented on the return of bridal portraits and female portraiture in general. My most recent client, Ashley, really grasped the idea of incorporating her most beloved and favorite things into her session, which included (and not necessarily in this order!) a rockin' pair of killer shoes, her Daddy and her sweet baby girl, Chevy, who has been her loving sidekick for just about forever and is honestly, the best trained, most loving and super patient dog I've ever met. She makes my arrogant little miss, Ivy the bulldog, look like a train wreck of attitude and disinterest at home. Ha!

Ashley and Chris married this past weekend and I couldn't be happier for them. As with most of the clients I am so blessed to call friends, they share a true love that radiates depth, trust and commitment to last the ages. I'll be sharing their wedding images in the coming days and weeks, so be sure to check back. But in the meantime, celebrate Ashley's unique beauty and meet the adorable Miss Chevy. :)




















Makeup: Brooke Lindsey
Dress: Maggie Sottero from Maya Couture

View all of the images from Ashley's bridal portraits and engagement session, leave her some guestbook love and order prints here.

Allison & Anais: And we can't forget 'Lil Abigail!

I have a few favorite things about Allison already:

1. She has an uncanny ability to accumulate perfectly styled outfits from Target. Seriously, I'm jealous of what she finds in that store, while I always seem to end up in the same jeans and t-shirt.

2. She introduced me to Cape Charles, VA, which I am now in love with and wish to spend all of my days in this quaint little seaside downtown piece of heaven. (Yes, she is the same one I referenced HERE when I told you about amazing ice cream.) Now I just need to find an overnight babysitter who can wrangle the twins so the husband and I can get away for a weekend. Any takers?

3. She has killer shoes. (Need I say more, ladies?)

4. She's fun, relaxed, care-free and our personalities are crazy similar. Which means she is exceptionally witty, perfectly balanced and has a good touch of sarcasm tossed in there with her awesomeness. (I kid, I kid. As referenced to me at least.) Again, I wonder at my blessing in having clients that I can call friends.

So, was I at all surprised when she came up to meet me for their engagement session and started off with "So...we have this dog with us that I forgot to tell you about yesterday. We rescued her from a ditch at a gas station, is it ok if she's in the pictures with us?" Not at all surprised. I was however, a bit worried about the outcome, as we all know adding animals to a session, however amazingly cute, can also be incredibly difficult. And then I met Abigail. And fell in love.



I should stop raving about Allison and Abigail here and throw out some props to Anais. We all know that most guys have about a hundred other things they would like to be doing, a million other sporting events they'd prefer to be watching, on their Sunday afternoons. But, he was a champ, and when he smiles, you can tell he adores Allison in the best, sweetest way that just makes me love what I do as a photographer that much more.

I can't wait for their wedding this October. Small, intimate, them. And yes, Allison and I are trying to talk Anais into dressing Abigail up for the big day and carting her down the aisle in a wagon.

Adrianna & Nick: Don't be Afraid to have Fun!

Adrianna and Nick hit up the blog last week with some photo booth fun that was new for me and a blast for them. This week, I've got a little bit more from their special day at The Chamberlin.

Let me preface this post by saying that Adrianna and Nick are the poster children for laid back, go with the flow couples. We spent a lot of time hammering down every tiny detail in their timeline, working out specific to do lists, locations, even choreographed movements to achieve certain results that we were all super excited about.

And then it poured cats and dogs literally right before their outdoor lawn ceremony. But they didn't skip a beat. They quite happily adjusted, got themselves up and married and continued on their merry way. Thankfully, the rain was fleeting and we were able to head outside to get some group shots.

This is where the core of my post today sits. There were some BIG personalities in Adrianna & Nick's bridal party, themselves of course included in the "loud and proud" crowd. As I had mentioned in their last post, this was a big reason why they relied heavily on the photo booth for their family images instead of a more formal approach. They like to laugh and they're not afraid to do what's fun for them. And that's the most important thing to take away from their wedding. Do you.

Not everyone is into neon colors, sunglasses, duck faces and "give me your best tiger." (NAME THAT MOVIE!) But they are. SO that's what we did and the results are real and they're them. And they love them. And that's what matters.














Oh wait, PS!!! Did you know there is a ROOFTOP deck at The Chamberlin?! YES, please!







To see Adrianna & Nick's custom website, go HERE.
To visit their PASS gallery, leave them some love and order prints, go HERE.

Spunk, Curves and all that Jazz: Boudoir

What to say? These ladies really speak for themselves. They have spunk. They have curves. And every boudoir session should start out like this:



Seriously, how do you instill confidence like that? It's certainly not an everyday instance. (And yes, that image was taken at the very beginning of her session, so no warm ups required. She came to play and rocked it!) How do you create a legacy that sends the message to young and old, petite and curvy, short and tall...that all women are beautiful and should wear their confidence as proudly and as loudly as Miss A? It is my life purpose to make women feel valued. Most importantly, to feel value in themselves and to comprehend their own beauty.

Miss C responded to her gallery with "Thanks for making me feel beautiful this morning!"



She is beautiful every. day.

Shooting boudoir and female portraiture is my heart's happy place. There is nothing that makes me feel more useful than hearing client's reactions when they are brought into the awareness of their own beauty. It is a humbling experience to feel that God has blessed me with a purposeful calling.

Ladies, I am in awe of you. Thank you for your trust, your attitude and your willingness to come play. Creatively I was inspired beyond anything I can properly put into words. You're gorgeous and captivating and diva extraordinaires.

With love,

You shot that where?

Several weeks ago, a guest blogger (well, two!) on the Hampton Roads Creative shared a little experiment they did on shooting locations and how you don't need much to accomplish a lot and that sometimes the most unlikely of places proves to be a perfect fit for a creative explosion. You can read more on their journey HERE.

This sparked a little challenge to myself to get out there and see what I could find and how I could turn "nothing into something." And while I was at it, it was a great opportunity for me to keep working my 85mm lens and continuing to hone in on that sweet spot. So, I called my trusty, gorgeous, Egyptian goddess go-to model gal pal, Nicole, and we hit the road.

First, we stopped at a corn field on a dead end side road we found. Nothing too crazy unusual, but I figured we would give it a go. Until, as I opened the door, a horse fly the size of a small cow descended on our car and beat us back inside with a stern warning that any exits of the vehicle would be met by dive bomb attempts and gnashing of killer horsefly teeth. So we left. And ended up here...



Nicole hopped out, assumed the position, and I clicked the first frame. THIS first frame.



Wow.

Yeah. This spot will work.







We hopped in the car again and decided to turn off down a dirt road with dead wildflowers (Dark Katy!!) and see what we came across. And found this...



Yes, that's a concrete slab in the middle of a dead wildflower field. Win. This made for all sorts of advantages (i.e. not trekking up to our necks in weeds with the bugs and nastiness of the world) and was probably an old home foundation from ages and ages ago. Nicole hopped up there, stared off into the distance and wham bam thank you ma'am, this was born:







Needless to say, Nicole makes my job kind of obnoxiously easy, and I'm pretty sure I could have tossed her in a dumpster with similarly stunning results, but all in all, it was a great day of play and experimentation and I highly suggest reading the HRC blog and challenging yourself to discover new places to get creative. It's refreshing, adventurous and can kick start you out of that creative rut in a jiffy. Thanks Nicole for always being so willing to come play with me!