Old Made New #3

I came across this photo years ago while looking through my grandparents' old photographs. My grandmother said it's one of her very favorite photos of her and my grandfather. I think it's one of my favorites as well.

Although it's hard to tell, the original photo to the left was really damaged. It was covered in so many scratches and a lot of dust, but it cleaned up nicely!

For those of you not familiar with the "Old Made New" posts, click on this link to get some background story.

Penny: 6 Month Session

Little Penny was a great sport for her 6 month session. Although she hadn't quite perfected sitting up at the time, she sure tried! We were able to prop her up for a few seconds at a time and you could tell she loved it! She was completely mesmerized by the grass and flowers and looked especially adorable in her purple tutu! Oh, how I love babies in tutus.

Suitcases Are Always Too Small

I have a really big problem with over packing. I can't help it. I blame the unpredictable nature of the weather for the abundance of shirts, shoes, jackets, skirts, etc. that always make it into the suitcase, but never make it out during my vacation. I usually find myself in a panic, sitting on suitcases to fit everything, and then weighing my bags to make sure they will pass the dreaded scale at bag check-in. Those scales are the devil. I break into a sweat just thinking about watching the red letters get closer and closer to 50 lbs!

Anyway, I just got back from Buffalo, NY where I had the honor of shooting a really touching and beautiful wedding. (Which by the way, I can't wait to share the photos!) To add to the fun of shooting the wedding, I was also able to visit my family. I LOVE going to Buffalo to visit my family and I cherish every second of it.

So, as usual, on this trip I over packed. Half of the items I lugged around the airport never saw the light of day. I wish I wouldn't have packed so much because on the return flight I would have hidden these two in my suitcase. I'm determined to get them to Atlanta if it kills me.

Next time I won't pack so much and I'll make sure I have room for one mom and one puppy. Look out mom and Lily!!!

My mom is so beautiful!

Adventures and Inspiration

A week after our wedding day, Douglas and I packed our belongings and moved to Atlanta; scared, excited, and hopeful for what was ahead. We knew being in this new city would be an adventure. Right when we got to Atlanta, Douglas continued working on his undergraduate degree at the Savannah College of Art and Design as a full-time student, and I was newly jobless due to the move. I ended up getting a full-time job and Douglas continued to work on his education, so we were able to get through it, although it seemed scary at the time.

When Douglas graduated a couple years ago, I thought, "Onto the next adventure!". Little did I know that a few months later, that adventure would be Douglas enrolling in Graduate school. He told me that he really wanted to teach at the college level, so he knew his master's degree was in order. Five years and 8 days after getting married, Douglas graduated at the top of his class with his Master of Fine Arts degree.

When he walked across the stage and got his diploma, I was so proud. So proud, in fact, that although I like to follow the rules, when they called his name, I screamed at the top of my lungs in the dead silence even though they told us to save applause until everyone graduated!

I am constantly amazed by Douglas and how far he has come as an artist. His talent is unreal and I am blown away by the work he creates. Not only did he get a scholarship to Graduate school, but his artwork has been published in numerous books, he is currently working on a 200-page graphic novel, and he got offered his dream job; teaching college art classes. Seeing Douglas pursue his dream of being an artist has been such an inspiration to me. His undying drive to do what he loves make me pursue my dreams even more and I feel like they are actually possible.

Thank you Douglas for showing me that perseverance, passion, and hard work do pay off and that it's possible to attain anything you want out of life. I'm so proud of you, your accomplishments, and to call you my husband. Congratulations!!!

Douglas has the most amazing parents. When he told them that he wanted to go to art school and be a comic book artist, they told him to go for it and not look back. I have just one word to describe them...AMAZING.

And here is Douglas getting interviewed by the news after his graduation ceremony. How cute!

Susie and Brian: Engagement

As Susie walked into her 7th grade class, she found Brian sitting in her assigned seat chatting with friends. The bell rang loudly and Susie panicked. Mrs. Wilson was a stickler about students sitting in their assigned seats. Scared of getting into trouble, Susie did what any good student would do; she quickly told Brian to move. Brian laughed and called her a goody-goody in front of the whole class. Susie growled under her breath, embarrassed.

After the 7th grade incident, Susie had little contact with Brian until they started hanging out in the same social circle in high school. Over time they became very good friends. Even during the craziness of high school, all of their friends could see what Brian and Susie couldn't; they were perfect for each other. After college, Susie and Brian's friendship slowly grew into love. Finally, Susie and Brian could see what others had seen all along.

No longer does Susie hold a grudge from being teased in 7th grade, and Brian doesn't mind that Susie is a little bit of a goody-goody. And when Brian proposed to Susie by tying a beautiful ring onto their dog's collar, they knew their love would last a lifetime.

Susie and Brian will be getting married in October and I'm so happy to be able to document a relationship that may have started out on the wrong foot, but has turned into a beautiful and amazing life together! Susie and Brian, your love and happiness is infectious!

Happy 4th of July!

I hope everyone is having a great 4th of July! I'm looking forward to having a BBQ with friends and then going to see fireworks in Roswell!

For those of you interested in taking photographs of fireworks, I thought I would give some tips to help you get the best photos possible. Fireworks can be a little tricky, but if you follow the below suggestions, you will get some great shots!

1) Set your camera to the manual setting.
This will give you the freedom to choose the appropriate camera settings.
2) Choose ISO 100, F/16, and around 8-10 seconds on your shutter speed.
The ISO keeps digital noise from entering into the dark areas of the photograph.
The small aperture opening ensures a greater depth of field.
The shutter speed allows many fireworks to register on your sensor, as well as the movement and light caused from the fireworks.
3) Place your camera on a tripod and focus to a length of infinity.
A tripod is a must for such a long shutter speed and focusing to infinity gets those distant fireworks in focus.
4) Aim your camera towards the area that most of the fireworks are going off at and zoom if necessary.
I used a focal length of around 100-200mm on most of the below photographs.
5) At the beginning of a set of fireworks, push the shutter and let your camera do its thing!

Happy shooting!

The long shutter speed will give you some neat smoke effects!

One Photograph...

It's funny how one image can capture a moment that represents a lifetime. A moment that can conjure up memories of warm German potato salad and babies crying. Of fishing at the cabin and watching my grandmother sew. Memories of looking at my grandfather's stamp collection and baking Christmas cookies. One photograph, that sums up an entire family's past, present, and future.

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Their wedding ceremony ended, and as they left, rice was thrown, guests cheered, and my grandparents started on an adventure filled with joys, tears, laughter, and trials. On their wedding day, their future was bright, exciting, and unexpected. That moment marked the start of what would become a beautiful life and a huge, loud, and loving family.

50-or-so years later, my grandparents look back at their life's adventure which so far has resulted in nine children, eight children-in-law, sixteen grandchildren, and one grandson-in-law. They witnessed each of their children get married; watched the moment when a new chapter began in their life. They were there to witness their love, their past, and the start of their future together. As each of us in the family gets older, gets married, and has children, it all goes back to this one photograph. The moment where two people fell in love, the moment where a beautiful family began, and the moments that will continue on forever.

Oh, the Carnage!

So my mom was in town visiting a couple weeks ago and she wanted to go to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. I didn't plan on taking a lot of photos while I was there. Don’t get me wrong…it’s beautiful, and a photographer’s dream, but I’ve been there a handful of times shooting. And really, how many photos do you need of flowers? But I thought I would take a few shots to remember the occasion.

I didn’t want to bring my camera bag to the gardens, so I put all of my gear into a LeSportsac. Whenever I put my gear in that bag, I ALWAYS separate my lenses into separate zippered compartments. Well, I did the usual, and separated the lenses. But then I realized that I wanted to sneak a bottle of water into the gardens. (Don’t hate…it was crazy hot!) So I put the water in my bag as well…right next to my 50mm lens. I started worrying that the combination of the hot weather and cold water bottle would create a lens-killing amount of condensation. So that’s when I made the dreaded decision; I moved my lens into the compartment with my camera.

So we were walking through the gardens, enjoying the day, when I found a water lily that my mom liked. Just like that I grabbed my camera out of my bag. That’s when it happened. (You will have to imagine this all happening at once in slow motion.) As I whipped my camera out of my bag, the camera strap caught on my extra lens and projected the little guy across the garden, smashing on the brick walkway. Meanwhile, I realized what was happening and reached and ran to catch the falling lens, all while yelling, “NOOOOOOO!!!!” in slow motion. But my short little legs didn’t get me there in time and lens carnage is all that remains. SAD TIMES!

Yes, I know that the dead lens is a cheap lens and "gasp!" plastic. It’s nothing that special, but I loved it! It was so wide open and took the most beautiful low light photographs. (It took the photos of little baby Brooklyn in my previous post.) If I had to choose one piece of photo gear to break, it would probably be that lens, but STILL! It’s so sad! He’ll be replaced by a newer, shinier, better version, but I’ll miss my little guy. RIP. Sniff.

Poor little thing.


And the water lily that caused it all...

Brooklyn: Newborn Session

When I first saw Brooklyn, I about squealed out of the cuteness. She is the most precious little baby and she was so good for our photo shoot! For about an hour and a half, she curled up and slept, just as content as could be. She didn't care if we put a hat on her, took blankets on and off, or giggled from her cuteness; she was soooo sleepy (which makes her even cuter!).

I know, I know. The following photos are one after the other of a sleeping baby. But come on, how can you not fall in love with that little face?! In case you don't believe me, I dare you to not say, "AWWW!!!" when you look at sweet Brooklyn.

Those tummy rolls kill me!






Don't you want to pinch that little double chin?!

And my favorite...

5 Years!!!

By typical standards, our wedding day wasn't perfect. The flowers were a disaster, stuffed with ribbons and baby's breath, we had a major bridesmaid dress catastrophe, and our pastor forgot half of his sermon. My bustle broke before the ceremony, our DJ played songs that made us cringe, and I walked down the aisle with my dress covered in champagne as a result from an overzealous toast.

The day didn't go exactly according to plan, but when I think back to our wedding day, it was absolutely perfect and the happiest day of my life. During the wedding, I actually didn't pay attention to those details that were a little off. They didn't bother me one bit. This was pretty much my thought process: "Bridesmaid's dress split down the back? Who cares?! Send her down the aisle in jeans if you have to! Wedding dress covered in champagne? Well, at least it's not red wine! Pastor forgot his sermon? Now we have more time at the reception!" Nothing mattered...I was on cloud nine. All I could think about was that I was the luckiest girl in the world. At the end of the day, all of the wedding details didn't matter, and I was marrying my best friend.

I can't believe it's been five years since our wedding day. It seems like yesterday, but at the same time, it seems like it was forever ago. I feel like I've always been married to Douglas. Maybe that's because he was what was always missing in my life. I am so lucky and blessed to have him as my husband and I'm so thankful that I get to spend every day with him. The past five years have been an adventure and I can't wait to see what the next five years have in store. Like our wedding, life is unpredictable and doesn't always go according to plan, but with Douglas by my side, all I can think about is how lucky I am.

*Photo by Sarah Gibbs Photography

Susie & Brian: Engagement Sneak Peek

Gosh, it's been a while since I posted anything. I guess life just got in the way of blogging! Everyday I thought about posting something new, and every day something came up that kept me from blogging! Well, I'm finally back and I'm so excited to post a few photos from Susie and Brian's engagement shoot. We had a blast taking these photos and I loved the location that they picked! Here's a sneak peek...I'll be posting the whole shoot in the next few weeks.