Ellie, Fredericksburg VA Senior Portrait Photographer

Adventures in babysitting!

Have you ever seen that movie?  I guess I'm dating myself talking about movies like Adventures in babysitting from 1987!  It's a perfect theme to this senior portrait session though.  Not referring to my client of course, but to the fact my daughter tagged along on the shoot.  Here's a photo my daughter took of me as we waited for Ellie.

I used to work for a corporation, yuck!  That's right; beige cubical, headset and answering phones.  Yes, most of us have been there.  Even though this is a time in my career that I wasn't fulfilling my dreams, I can still say that there were a lot of good things about it.  For example, this is how I ended up being selected to capture Ellie's senior portraits.  I met her dad T.J. through my job at the time. Even though he's a Steelers fan, he was a fun co-worker to complain about the job with.  When T.J. asked me about shooting his daughter's senior portraits, of course the answer was, "YES!"  Then of course he turned me over to his wife because selecting shoes and outfits is definitely not his thing.  I loved talking with Ellie's mom, Gabrielle. She's really into photography which is the perfect match for me.  We went over the details and did what it takes to have a successful portrait session. 

So here comes the babysitting part. We are less than a twelve hours from the shoot when my babysitter gets very ill.  I felt bad for the her and of course didn't want to share whatever she had.  I contacted Gabrielle and asked if she wanted to reschedule because I was unable to find a trusted friend to watch my daughter.  Gabrielle, being a mom to a young child herself, offered to allow my five year old to tag along.  Hum, this was something I was going to have to think about.  Should I say yes?  How am I going to be artistic when I hear, "Mommy, why is the sky blue?"  How can I make this work, I thought.  Gabrielle and Ellie were clearly excited and ready to get this done.  That's when I concocted my plan.  Give my daughter a camera and tell her she's my assistant.  Little girls love thinking they are in charge of something.  In fact, I think girls of any age enjoy thinking they are in charge of something.

Here's a photo my daughter took of me working with Ellie.  Yes, it's out of focus.  She's five!  Clearly a photojournalist.

After a few shots she was hooked on being the assistant. Off we went, five year old in tow. 

Ellie was the real superstar, I mean for a teenager to agree to have a mini paparazzi was the definition of easy going.  That or she was secretly texting her friends some things I'd rather be oblivious to. 

Let's get to the shots of Ellie from my perspective.

These boots were smokin'.  When Ellie put this outfit on, that's when she really came out of her shell.  Dressing true to your personal style is key in getting the best photos.

Some of my favorites

  

Gabrielle scouted out my website before the shoot and saw a location she really liked and definately wanted some images captured at.  It's the downtown train station.  It's one of my standard spots but when we arrived it was blocked off with construction tape. "Do not enter!"  We all looked at each other, then I look at Ellie. She's standing there in her dress. That's when I remembered myself at her age.  If you told me no, it meant I just might want to do it anyway. What does a good photographer do when a clients favorite spot has been roped off?  She jumps the fence!  "Are you game," I asked her?  That's when she replied like any other teenager, "yeah."  She hikes up her dress and jumps with me.  You have to love a free spirit! 

I'm lucky these are in focus at all. Truth be told, I like to think I'm a rebel but my idea of a wild adventure still allows me to come home to my own bed at night.

Gabrielle and Ellie thank you for a fun shoot but most of all the Adventures in Babysitting!

Angie & Josh, Front Royal VA Wedding Photographer

Angie and Josh's Wedding, Bowling Green Country Club, Front Royal VA

This wedding has meaning to me.  It was a personal victory to photograph Angie and Josh's wedding on a few levels.  First, Angie is a portrait photographer.  She has been the head manager at a portrait studio for more years than I can remember.  She is gifted and certainly has an eye for photography, understands posing, composition and most importantly that each client is different and requires different aspects of your talent and professionalism.  Second, she knows a lot of photographers and to be selected as "the one" was an honor! The third reason is personal and I didn't even share it with her.  I think she knows but I wasn't going to bring it up.  Thank you Angie. 

I've bored you by getting too vague but sometimes it has to be done.  Let's get to the nitty gritty of this amazing wedding.

The wedding and reception were held at Bowling Green Country Club in Front Royal, Virginia. This place has lighting every wedding photographer prays for.  Lighting that makes me giddy!  I know, it's corny but if you dabble in photography even a little, you know this is paramount to a good image.  You'll see what I mean here in a moment.

Here are some of the detail shots

And a shot of Angie before the ceremony

There's a moment, when the bride is ready and she looks around knowing she's ready, seeing that her friends and family are too.  This is it, she thinks.  That's when I ask for the shot?  Which one?  Where I ask the bride's mother to look face to face with her daughter and right into her eyes. I tell them both, "I just want a shot of you two looking at each other," knowing I'm plotting for a moment they need and a moment I want. Neither has realized that they haven't even soaked it all in.  I know the moment is powerful and evokes tears of love and joy.  I can see into the future of looking in my own daughter's eyes on her wedding day.  I imagine a mother feels like she sees her precious little girl all grown up.  Maybe in those seconds she sees her at birth, then at age five, then as her rebelious teenager and the final image, her beautiful daughter as a bride.  She begins to cry.  They both begin to cry. They both think of how they love the other, how beautiful each of them are.  They are lost, even if only for a second, into a bond and a moment that is moving.  Here's that image.

And then they get after me for making them cry.  I know it was worth it and nothing a good laugh and a little face powder can't fix.

Let's get on to the tall handsome prince Josh.  Did I mention that Josh is tall?

Josh with his mom.



A few ceremony shots

A few portraits from their bride and groom session...

The reception was beautiful.  Here's that light I was referring to.  Windows galore!  Loved it.

The first dance.  The chandeliers made a beautiful back drop.

The toast

Typically I wouldn't run on and on and on and on.  Oh wait, this is the toast and that's what tends to happen.  It didn't happen on this day at all.  I'm not just being nice either.  It's true.  I have to give credit to Angie's sister who did a great toast.  I loved it.  Perfect actually. Heart felt, funny and obviously touching as you can see here . It wouldn't be fair to leave that out as I go into my award for my favorite speech of all time.

The longest speech I think I've ever been privy to witnessing was about 45 mins.  If I had a photo of myself crying, I'd insert it here. You heard me right, 45 minutes.  So as toast time approaches you can imagine my fear.  I think silently, please don't pull out a stack of 8x10 papers.....typed!  That definitely didn't happen on this night.  This guy rocked it, had me laughing, and was a classic that I will NEVER forget.  Why can't they all be this good?  The grooms brother gets up and says only a few words.  "If you guys have trouble.... don't call me. I'm busy."  Now I'm not good at retelling jokes so that may sound bad, but trust me the delivery was perfect.  You know he obviously didn't mean it. It was good, great and if I had a trophy for best wedding toast, I'd definitely give it to him.  Here are Josh and Angie when he said it.

And the man of the hour

The cake

And off they went on the big journey we know as marriage.  To love someone and to have that person love you back is a gift and a gift I'm happy they both have been given.  Thank you Josh and Angie for a wonderful day.  I wish you a long and happy life together.



Livesay and Myers, Fredericksburg VA Commercial Photographer

Organization at it's finest!

If only weddings could be like lawyers.  I can dream right?  They are like yin and yang. 

I've come to accept that events literally never go exactly as planned.  I mean that's life.  If things always went the way we planned then none of us would ever have a bad day, an accident, or best of all, unexpectedly fall in love!

Where am I going with all of this?  To a good place, a place of unexpected surprise and delight.  About eighty percent of my shoots are wedding photography but I also do commercial work.  So needless to say, when I show up for work, most often I am rolling with the punches, the chaos, and just capturing moments as they happen.

When I was contacted by Becky at Livesay and Myers, P.C. and asked to do headshots for ten lawyers, I have to admit, just the word lawyer made me a little nervous.  What if I mess this up?  What if they sue me if something goes wrong?  What if the pictures don't look good?  I have to mention this was a complete waste of my mental energy.  After all my paranoia and finally securing the job, I did what I do. I rocked it!  Well, maybe it wasn't all me, maybe it was them that rocked it.

I asked them to allot one to one and a half hours just in case.  I mean who knows what's going to happen when you get in a room with ten lawyers?  I'm going to tell you what happened.  I was blown away by the most organized, timely, professional, fun and kind group.  We knocked the whole session out in about fifteen minutes.  I couldn't believe it.  Had I not cared about keeping my composure, my jaw very well may have been on the ground.  They function like a well oiled machine.  It was amazing.  They did exactly what I asked and did it well.  I stood there thinking, "Is this it?  Are we done?  Are you serious?"  They were serious.  They were amazing.

Now the question I pose to myself is, "How do I get my weddings to function like the lawyers at Livesay & Myers, P.C.?"  Is it possible?  Can I work towards weddings that work as well as they did?  I don't know, but I can try.

You may be asking yourself, "Did she get a kick back for saying these things?"  The answer is no.  It is sincere and from the heart.  I love being surprised in a good way.  If I ever need a lawyer, I know exactly where I'm going.  Should you ever need one, I'd recommend them to you too.

Here is one of the images from that day.  Thank you to Ben Griffitts for agreeing to let me use your image.

Have a happy day!  And here's hoping you don't need a lawyer but if you do, you know exactly where to go.

Wedding at Colvin Run Mill, Great Falls VA

Lucky?  I'd say so.  First and foremost Jennifer married such a gentleman.  As I observed Thomas through the day you could just see that he is a kindhearted person.  What stuck out to me most was how great he is with children.  She was glowing and smiling all evening long.  After the wedding she emailed me that she didn't even see us during the vows.  I was about about twelve feet away from her the entire time.  I could have sworn she looked right at me and smiled.  It wasn't until later I realized she couldn't have stopped smiling if she wanted too.  Her smile was radiating from the inside out!  Here are a few photos of Jennifer during her vows taken by Tracy.

The second reason I consider Jennifer lucky is that she has a trait I wish I had.  She is savvy when it comes to planning a gorgeous wedding.  Jennifer and Tom got married at Colvin Run Mill.  It was gorgeous!  You can see here the mill in the background of the ceremony.



As we began their bride and groom session I asked Jennifer how she selected the site for her ceremony.  She told me that they had visited the park and loved it.  After inquiring further they found that because it was a public park they were able to hold the ceremony there free! 

I tend to get a little obsessed with the sunset in the fall.  Maybe because it's always so brilliant this time of year.  The image below is one of my favorites and I still haven't decided if it's because I love the shot or I love the challenge of obtaining it.

 This place was just loaded with gorgeous scenery!

I said in the beginning that Jennifer and Tom were lucky!  So here is one of the other many reasons.  They won their reception from a Facebook contest online!!!  That would never happen to me.  The reception was held at Courtyard Marriott Tysons Corner in VA.  Here are a few images from the reception.  This is the link to their blog.  Events at Tyson's Corner Courtyard Marriott

Well, I could blog on and on but it's past midnight and I think my husband would appreciate "lights out" for the night...well...day now!