Contrast Photography Exhibit {Cleveland, Mississippi}

I am so excited to be participating in the Contrast photography exhibit in Cleveland Mississippi. Will Jacks and his team have been hard at work putting together this show. You can learn more about the show here. I am so excited to be traveling down to Mississippi with some good photographer friends for the opening of the show.

I can't wait to see all the amazing work from so many amazing photographers. My images hanging in the show are below.

Cut It Off!

It had been over 2 years since I cut my hair. It wasn't really a plan... life just got too busy for me to find time to get it cut. It's a sorry excuse, I know!

But, as you can see from the photographic evidence, it has now been cut off. It's being packaged up and shipped out to Locks of Love.




I'll have to get a picture taken of my new 'do (courtesy of the always fabulous Valerie at Erwin Gomez Salon & Spa).

Sorry for the recent absence on the blog... I have a lot of fun posts coming up this week, including my nephew Tate's first birthday party, a new album offering, and Jennifer & Dave's wedding at Glenview Mansion that I second shot for Sarah.

Baby Scarlet :: 3 months old!

Getting to photograph Carrie & Jay's wedding in Cleveland last week also meant I got to spend time with my family. And of course, I broke out the camera to capture my sweet niece, Scarlet, at 3 months. I can't believe how much she has grown since I saw her in April!

I think this is my absolute favorite picture from this whole year. Of course, I could be biased by the subject matter... but it really just brought tears to my eyes when I first saw it when I started processing the pictures. I just love how my dad is snuggling with his granddaughter.

I love this picture too... how sweet is my brother looking down on his sleeping baby girl?

Baby Scarlet and her Gramma (and my mom!)











Sweet sleeping Scarlet...




Scarlet and Grace... all smiles!

Blog Facelift!

So my new blog has launched! I just love how it turned out! (For those of you reading this in your RSS reader or email, please hop on over to my blog and check out the new layout!)

Big thanks to Ina for the amazing graphic design and Emily for helping me with words. And of course, a huge thanks to Brian Hancock for the amazing job he did in customizing my blog. I'm so pleased with how it all turned out!

And because I never like to post without a picture, here's a sneak peek at Bhavna & Corey's engagement session from yesterday. More pictures coming soon!

Tate & Justine Come to DC

Tate loved riding the carousel on the Mall!

Justine had fun cracking crabs!



After a long hot day, Justine wasn't thrilled about having her picture taken with Abe.



Tate never fails to crack me up!



Justine sure loved her "poppies"! A great way to stay cool in the ridiculous heat.

My beautiful sweet niece... we had such a great time hanging out together!

Tate, so sweetly sleeping!

Thanks for coming to play with me! It was so fun getting to see you all weekend long (and Grancy, Mandy and Marla too!)

My latest faves...

I will admit to being slightly fickle. I think that is why I fell in love (in that I-must-have-this-now kind of way) with Butter by Nadia.

Emily invited me to the Butter by Nadia trunk show last night at Pink November in Georgetown. Emily has been raving about Pink November for months and it definitely my new favorite place to shop. I chose the short jersey version of the wrap dress in a gorgeous brown - do not be surprised if you see it on me all summer long!

Another favorite, which Emily also introduced me too, is Queen Bee Designs. Talk about gorgeous... and addicting! You really can't have just one Queen Bee!

Feed me!

I'm editing pictures from my trip to Ohio and this series of my nephew, Tate, at dinnertime cracked me up!

Little me...

When I was in Ohio last week, my mom and I went through some old pictures. What is about a new baby coming into the world that makes us look back to when we were little?

So, I thought it would be fun to share some of my first baby pictures.

My crazy hair in this picture just cracks me up!


These aren't little red bugs - just something that happened to the picture from being carried in my mom's wallet for 30+ years!


I've been working on scanning and cataloging all of my family pictures for years. It's a fun project to look through all the old images. Should I share more?

Baby Scarlet . . . the sneak peek!

Just wanted to post a few images of my new niece Scarlet! She is just sooo sweet! Don't worry, there are lots more to come!

Birthday Celebration x2!

On Monday, I went to my monthly Pictage sponsored photography meeting (Pictage User Group - PUG!) and it was my birthday, so a few of my friends - Jenn, Sarah, Armin, Geoff, Paul, and Ralph joined me for dinner before the meeting. Geoff's birthday was a few days earlier, so we had a joint celebration!


A fun picture of me and Sarah at dinner, courtesy of Armin...






And the "x2" ... well, we're celebrating a new birth ... the birth of my new niece, Scarlet, to my dear brother, Dan and sister-in-law, Grace. I'm so excited to meet her in a couple of weeks! Hugs and kisses to you guys - I can't wait to see you (and of course take lots and lots of pictures at Scarlet's first photo shoot!)! I couldn't be a prouder sister and aunt!

Vegas, Baby!

I spent the past week in Vegas at the Wedding & Portrait Photographers International (WPPI) Annual Convention. It was an absolutely amazing time, full of friends, networking, learning, and discovery!

My friend Sarah Hodzic and I flew out to Vegas last Saturday. We met up with the fabulous and amazing Alex and started the week off right with a fun dinner I planned (with the help of my uber fabulous studio manager, Mandy) at Ah Sin at the Paris Hotel with 20 or so fellow photographers. It was a great way to start off the week - delicious food and fabulous friends!


A few photos from Saturday night...
The amazing and gorgeous Alex Abercrombie...




My new friend and uber fabulous photog, Jonathan Rubin



On Sunday I had the great pleasure of attending Dane Sanders' FastTrack Photographer Founders workshop. Dane is an amazing wedding photographer, teacher, friend, and, above all, a caring and generous person. It was truly a joy to spend the day with him and the rest of my new Founders friends! For the photographers reading, if you haven't heard of Dane's newest tool - the pDNA - identifying your photographer DNA - you absolutely must check it out.

photo of Dane by Sarah

The rest of the week was full of fun with friends, new and old. After a fun cocktail party sponsored by my lab (and life saver) Pictage, we headed to the Bludomain party on Monday night. Okay, enough talking, right? On to more pictures! They're worth a 1000 words, after all...

Alex is so fun to hang out with! I am so lucky to have her as a friend!!





Another fun pic of fabulous Jonathan....

I love this picture Sarah took of me when we were sitting by the pool at Paris.



Shawn Reeder is one of the most amazing photographers and people I have ever met. If you ever need inspiration, just check out his landscape and rock climbing photos. Truly inspiring.





The always fun Sarah!




This picture just cracks me up!!




Another new friend, the lovely and talented Christine ...



On Thursday, my new friends Chelsea and Jayce took Sarah and I out to Red Rock Canyon for picnic, rock climbing, and of course lots of photography! Shawn joined us on his way home too.

Can you believe the gorgeousness of this place?? I feel so lucky that we got to include this in our trip to Vegas!



Chelsea and Jayce and their adorable puppy Bella!





Jayce is on top of the world!



Sarah too!



And of course Shawn...

Whenever I do these personal/vacation posts, everyone says I don't put up any pictures of myself... so I snagged a couple of images from Sarah's blog...

Me, Sarah, Shawn, and David Jay at the tradeshow.... DJ, aside from being a fabulous photographer, is a wonderful teacher and giver. He continually gives back to the photographic community and encourages sharing and friendship between photographers instead of competition. Thanks DJ!

I love this image Sarah took of me outside the tradeshow.

Shawn, Sarah and I...

And a fun self-portrait of me, Shawn, Alex, Sarah, and Christine...

Okay, so sorry for the super long post... If you read this far, you are a trooper! Thank you to everyone who came up and said hello to me - it's so fun to meet everyone in real life (instead of just the virtual world!). Such a fun trip!

Stay tuned... coming up in the next few days is the sneak peek of Jodie and Steve's engagement session today in Annapolis.