Chuck and Amanda get married

I recently had the honor of being the second shooter for Chuck and Amanda's wedding. As second shooter, I had never met the bride or the groom, nor did I know much about what to expect for their big day. What a pleasant surprise for me! Not only were they a beautiful couple, but they were easy to photograph, the location was beautiful, and the whole day was filled with incredible love and laughter. I've never thought much about being a wedding photographer (you have to deal with brides, you know, and you know how awful they are cough cough) but I walked away from that wedding glowing with warmth and thinking, "Well that was fun." So thank you, Chuck and Amanda, for opening my eyes to the beauty of photographing weddings. 

Here are some of my favorite photos from the day.

The lovely bride.

The lovely couple.

There were some adorable kids in this wedding.

See? Adorable. She didn't want her photo taken with the bride and bridesmaids. And it made for this very sweet shot.

Oh how the love burst out of these two.

I just love this.

Just beautiful.

Heading down to get married. I was walking ahead of her and am so glad I turned around!

First kiss as husband and wife.

Mr and Mrs!

Did I mention I had fun shooting this wedding? 

Party time.

Congratulations, Chuck and Amanda! I genuinely wish you all the best in your life together. Your love is beautiful.

Photos make me smile

I took this photo yesterday and I keep looking at it. It makes me smile every time. I browse a lot of photography. Sometimes I see photography that feels so staged and so forced to me that I wonder what motivates people to have professional photos taken. Which is an odd thought for a photographer to have, I know, but it all comes back to why I started a business taking photos of people. And it became even more clear to me with this photo. It's not because I want to recreate the most popular Pinterest photo. Or get you the most "likes" on Facebook. It's because I love taking photos. I love meeting people. And I love this photo I took yesterday that makes me smile. So if I can create an image for you that makes you smile, that makes you think, "yup, that's the wonderful little child of mine that I love so much" like this one does for me, that will make me smile, too.

My daughter, who makes me smile.

Returning to "work"

I'm back. If you happened to notice I went missing for a while there, you are hopefully happy to see me posting again. I had a baby while I was gone! I took a little more time "off" than I had planned because the little one tried to come too early so I had to take it easy a bit, but we made it and sweet little Katy arrived at the end of October. I didn't manage as many newborn photos as I should have (I was too busy basking in the snuggles), but here's a shot I grabbed once she was about five months old.

She's not always so pensive. But she is always that sweet.

I'm still basking in the baby cuddles quite a bit, but if you'd like to hire me, please contact me and I'll see if I can talk Katy into letting me get out for a little while. Spring is here, after all, and it's a great time for outdoor photos! I do love outdoor photos.

Family fun with Jeff, Margot, Abby, and Beka

It was a pleasure meeting Jeff, Margot, Abby, and Beka, and so much fun taking their photos. I really like meeting people, and watching how different kids react to their surroundings and to the camera (and me!) is so fascinating. I just loved how Beka was ready to smile for the camera - or anything, really - while Abby seemed to secretly enjoy avoiding the camera while racing around the beautiful setting.