MINI MATERNITY SESSION

March 5, 2013

// Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I set you apart. // Jeremiah 1:5

I am an odd bird. I'm one of those people who saves conversations until there's time to really discuss. I hate eating my dinner in the car, I have to be sitting down at home in sweatpants. I don't like writing e-mails on my cell because I prefer to have a keyboard to type them out on.

That being said, I was literally hiding this session because I am so in love with it (which doesn't make any sense). I wasn't planning on sharing this until mid-March, but I knew I had to once I heard that sweet Christina finally gave birth to a very healthy and beautiful little girl!

World, welcome sweet Marlowe Pearl!! And a round of applause for Christina to look this gorgeous after giving birth?!

(Christina.. please don't think I'm creepy. I just had to share this!)

I am so blessed to call Christina a friend. We haven't known each other long, but I have such immense respect for her as both a mother and a photographer. She's always been an encouragement to me with my work, and I've always appreciated her honesty.. she's absolutely hilarious and you can tell she has a phenomenal heart for her family. She didn't do maternity sessions for her other two boys (who are, by the way, the definition of adorable) and I'm so glad she chose me to document this special time in her life.

If you can't tell already, she's gorgeous and glowing and we had so much fun galavanting around this secret spot. We managed to laugh pretty much the entire time, between dodging mice in the field and battling the wind (which was actually a great thing for her and her gorgeous hair) and it has made me want to pursue more and more maternity portraits. I hope she feels as gorgeous as she looked when she shares these with Marlowe in the years to come!

Christina, I can't wait to do the family portraits for you and your brood. Massive amounts of love and congratulations to you and your boys!!

^ these four are my favorite from the session. Mama, you're killin it!

// I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach. // Elizabeth Barrett Browning

WEDDING // CAITLIN & CHARLIE // BOONE, NORTH CAROLINA pt.1

March 1, 2013

“Trust your heart if the seas catch fire,live by love though the stars walk backward.”

Caitlin and Charlie are two of the sweetest people I've ever been blessed to know. I really don't even know if I can adequately put into words how much I adore them.

I met Caitlin when we were either juniors or seniors in college... so, almost 5 years ago. She's one of those friends where you can go months without talking or seeing each other and as soon as you do, it's all smiles and hugs and a mile a minute catch-up. She's gentle-hearted and full of so much love for Charlie, her awesome family, and sweet friends. When she asked me to shoot their wedding, there was no hesitation.

I knew I had to. I wanted to. I'm so glad I did.

A little glimpse into their love: when it came time for Charlie and Caitlin's time to shoot their portraits, they literally just held each other. Yeah, it was freezing. I mean, like blue lips kinda freezing. But Charlie just held Caitlin in his arms, whispering in her ear, tugging her closer. I didn't interrupt, I didn't pose them, I just let them be. We shot around them. I thought it was important to just let them soak in the moment, to remember how it felt. Their love truly warms my heart.

The wedding party was a hodgepodge of siblings and best friends, and it just felt like a group of friends hanging out after not seeing each other for a long time. There was no stress to the day, no drama. Caitlin's brothers are hilarious, stylish, and care so much for their sister. And they love Charlie like another brother. As the youngest sister of four, I can tell you that's the love siblings share is unmatched by anyone or anything else. It was just so awesome to see how much they all care for one another.

We were back in our stomping grounds in Boone, NC.. home away from home. They were married at Boone United Methodist Church with a reception at the Solarium on campus. How cool is that?! Here's part one of their beautiful wedding.. I couldn't decide how to narrow my images down, so prepare yourselves!

As usual, thank you to the sweet Alicia White for second shooting with me. Love you, friend!

MARISSA

February 19, 2013

So, social media nowadays really allows you to essential stalk (or lurk, as my sweet friend Laura would say) other photographers, graphic designers.. creatives in general. I was working at PS the other day and I see this adorable girl walking around the store, and she walks up to the checkout and pulls out a bag with a camera on it (from Target, I believe) and I commented on it. Our conversation went a little something like this:

Me: Oh, hey - I like your bag. Are you a photographer? Marissa: Yeah! Well, I want to be. I love it. Me: Yeah, I do too! I'm a photographer. Marissa: Yeah, I think I've seen you on... instagram...

And so, it started. Instantly friends.

Marissa is a sweet soul who has a carefree, youthful spirit. As someone who turns 25 this year (omgg, whattt) - I really appreciate her lust for life. She giggles constantly and has a huge smile, it'd be impossible to not want to be her friend! She's 17, an aspiring photographer, and I can't wait to see where she ends up!

VSCO3

February 17, 2013

I have always been a fan of VSCO. Using their presets has allowed me to form a cohesive look for my portfolio, and also anchored me to the fact that you have to get everything right in camera, before you begin editing. I've used the first and second set pretty regularly with my work for the past couple of years, and I was super excited when they came out with a third set- VSCO 3.

To any of you who don't know what VSCO is, it's basically a photographer's dream. They've made pre-done film edits that all you have to do is click, tweak to your liking and export. You can shoot digitally and still achieve the look of film (at least, 85% there.. we all know you can't make it totally look like film) - it cuts culling and editing down to almost nothing. I'm still a perfectionist and will do 80% of my editing in LR and then export to PS, but it seriously has cut down on my editing time by easily a handful of weeks. I can sit and edit a wedding completely in about a week and a half.

Some people don't like presets, because they see them as a shortcut. I say eff that. There's nothing worse than when you look at a photographer's work and can't see a sense of who they are- you have to have a cohesive look when you're a photographer.. Something that clients and friends can look at and say, "Oh this is totally soandso's work." I've had more people tell me that since I've started using VSCO (among other things) - and I think that's a huge compliment. You can achieve that continuity without looking like EVERYONE else who uses VSCO because you have to put your own tweaks to your work. Your shot is specifically yours because you dreamt it up in your mind. You framed it in camera and set your settings. Just because you slap a pre-done edit on it doesn't make it any less beautiful and individual.

Anyway, here are some shots edited with VSCO3. When I first saw the before/afters that they had on their website, it caught me off guard with how MANY they've included in this new pack. But the more and more I've played with them, I realized how easy it is to put the fun back in editing!

{I've listed the edit at the bottom of each shot. If you have LR4 or use ACR, go check it out!}

{polaroid 690 warm ++}