Beautiful Family…

Long time no post, right?  Things have been hectic around here to say the least so I’m a bit behind on posting to the blog.  This baby is long overdue to say the least, so I’ll get straight to it!  A while back I was contacted by a fellow photographer based out of Charlottesville (but serving LOTS of areas even as far down as Charlotte N.C.!) to do her family photos.  Let me just say, that there is absolutely NO greater compliment than to be hired by one of your fellow peers.  It is truly so flattering for someone in your field to like your work enough to want you to be THE one to capture their family and make memories for them in the same way that they do for others.  I was ecstatic.  Now, don’t get me wrong…it’s not all sunflowers and daisies either!  There is a ton of pressure when photographing other photographers.  While they definitely are receptive to your ideas (and even throw in their own) you know that you have got to be “on point”.  But Andrea made me feel COMPLETELY comfortable from the moment I walked in the door.  I felt as though I was at an old friends house just hanging out for the afternoon.    Seriously, they are the cutest and sweetest family ever with the most adorable and well behaved kids to boot!;-)  I so enjoyed them and cannot wait to hang out with them again.  That’s right Andrea…we’re hanging out again whether you like it or not!;-)  Please check out Andrea’s work by clicking on this link in parenthesis (http://www.andreashirey.com).  And now, check out her beautiful fam.  Yeah, lots of pics….you know me.

This looks like something my brothers and I would’ve done when we were this age.  I love this so much!

Andrea had this shot envisioned and I LOVED the way it turned out!  That expression is priceless!

Can’t put my finger on what I love so much about this next one…I know I like the flare (of course).  Just love the way it came out.

And a different, more dramatic version of the above.

And a very Happy belated anniversary to you guys!!!  Hope you had a fabulous 14th yesterday!!!

Thanks SO much guys…I had a blast and loved hanging out with you!

If I didn’t know better…

I’d say this engagement session was not supposed to happen!   This seriously has got to be one of the craziest sessions I’ve had in quite some time, hands down.  Yes, yes, of course I’ll ellaborate.  You know me!;-) 

So it starts out like this…we have planned on this session for a while now.  It called for rain, but we still chanced it anyways since the opportunity for us to get together proved a difficult task since these guys live an hour outside of Richmond.  Well, I arrive…we pile into an SUV (which I later learned was an absolute necessity where we were headed!) and we’re on our way.   Soon we arrive at our first stop…an amazingly gorgeous location with a river, a plethora of rocks and a ton of trees surrounding.  We head on down to the river and not even one picture into it, it starts to rain.  So back we climb up the hill and decide to wait it out.  As we’re waiting outside the house (but under cover) I feel a sting on my ankle.  I did a quick kick of my ankle trying to remove whatever it was that had snuck up my pants and then proceeded to wait on the rain to subside.  A few seconds later as I was talking to Lexi, I felt another sting…this time up by my hip.  I reached in my pocket to see if I had something sharp in there, but alas I did not.  So…at this point I realize that this is not a good situation I’ve got on my hands.  I tell Lexi that something is stinging me and I need to try and rid myself of this annoyance that was so far up my pants now that I just wasn’t going to be able to shake it out.  She tells me where the restroom is and quite frankly, I couldn’t get there quick enough.  As soon as I get there, I drop my pants and out flies this enormous scary looking creature.  Thankfully, I had on flip flops so I proceed to try and kill this thing before it gets even more angry about the situation and decides to attack me full force.  Finally I manage to finish the job, compose myself and head back outside.  I just HAD to get Lexi and show her what it was that was making itself at home in my wide legs.  She proceeds to tell me it’s a huge bumble bee.   Scary indeed.

Ok, so moving on…the rain stops and we head back down to the riverside.  Then they decide to find their way out to the river a little further by rock hopping.  We got some awesome shots, so they started to head back.  Well, as luck would have it they hit a slippery rock and soon their legs were immersed in the river water…like, REALLY immersed.  Thankfully though, back at the house there was a dryer…so they throw their jeans in there for a while to make them presentable for more portraits (since we had ONLY just begun the session).  As they sat around in towels waiting for their jeans to dry, we commented on what a funny scene that was.;-)  Jeans were dry and we were back at it again.  We toured the incredible property finding awesome spots for pictures.  This is where the SUV came in handy…we’re talking trails, hills, rocks, the whole shebang.  It was awesome.  So a few more pictures down and it starts to rain again.  We grab an umbrella and figure at worst, I could use it to cover the camera while taking more pictures.  Off to another location, it REALLY starts to rain…in fact, it would be way more accurate for me to use the word “POUR” here.   But even that doesn’t describe the extent of the weather.  Before long it started to hail!  That’s right folks…HAIL!  At this point I cannot believe these guys were such troopers and still ready to stick it out with me…but they were and they did.  Finally all the crazy weather subsides and we’re back in business again.  We hit up a few more locations, visited the church where their wedding will be held and soon were finished with our session as darkness was approaching. 

All that to say that I wanted to share a sneak peek from this session!  I think it’s important though that you have a little background info on it!  Well, maybe not important but at least it’s good for a laugh, right?  I mean a bee?  Up my pants?  Welcome to my world guys…the fun never ends.;-)

I spotted this scene below as we were driving around and immediately fell in love.  Andy thought I was completely off of my rocker for loving this so much…what can I say?   I still think it rocks and I love the way this turned out.;-)

That’s it for now!  There are many, many more to come, but I can only share so many in a sneak peek!  Thanks so much Lexi and Andy for being so awesome!  I can’t wait for your wedding day!

 

 

 

A recent family session…

When I originally spoke with mom about a sneak peek, I thought it would be just that…a tiny peek until her proofs were up.   BUT, for some reason, I couldn’t limit myself to showing just one or two.  That just wasn’t gonna happen for me…not from this one.  There were so many images that I loved from our time together that I just almost literally had to close my eyes and point to a few and those were going to be the ones showcased!;-)   I suppose that’s a great “problem” to have though, right?  These guys were a total blast.  When we were discussing plans for our session, mom mentioned that she loved the urban style shots on my site.  I was so ecstatic to hear that…urban family sessions are so much fun for me!  And even better, these guys recently moved here from the D.C. area, so we thought it would really be cool to showcase certain parts of Richmond throughout their session to truly tell the full story of this time in their lives.  Check out a few of my faves so far.  I haven’t even proofed all of them yet, so I’ve definitely got my work cut out for me!

Enjoy!

I love this little backwards hug she’s giving mom!

It’s been a busy summer so there’s lots more to share coming up!  I did a family session for an awesome photographer in Charlottesville, Andrea Shirey (www.andreashirey.com).  And this past Saturday I was Tisha’s (www.tishamccuiston.com) featured guest photographer for a wedding at the incredible Keswick Hall.  And Sunday, I had an awesome engagement session down in Jarrett, VA that I’ll be sharing soon!  So, lots of fun stuff ahead for sure!!!