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happy birthday #6 MOCHA

August 27, 2010 | mocha • my life

Happy Birthday to Mocha. He is 6 years old today. For 6 years he has blessed my life with love, joy, laughter & entertainment. He makes every day a HAPPY one. It amazes me still how one little puppy can make your heart melt just by his personality.

Here Mocha is in stealth mode to stalk a squirrel, he was not interested in getting his birthday photo taken today.

I’ve been so busy this week that I forgot to get Mocha a bag of toys for his birthday. My sister reminded me that he has ENOUGH TOYS. (see photo below that I snapped earlier this year with my point & shoot camera) I will still probably secretly buy him a small something.

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hilton head island family photographer : “W” family

August 27, 2010 | family

Last year a friend passed me the name of a girl that was interested in some family photos. She was a girl from Ohio but was going to be on vacation in the south. From the very first moment we spoke on the phone, we instantly became the BEST OF FRIENDS. We talked like we had know each other since childhood. We just connected about every subject we discussed. (She now has a place in my BB messenger and frequently receives texts from me.) So I went to St Simons Island and did a family shoot for my new friend Kim & her husband Dan. The star of the shoot however, was their little girl, Kenzi. A smart kid who still remembers my dog’s name because of photos I showed her on my phone. She regularly asks Kim “where’s Mocha?” . . . too funny. Anyways, that shoot remains one of my favorite family shoots ever. Click here for PART ONE and here for PART TWO of that shoot.

I take only a very limited number of family shoots during the year because I am primarily a wedding photographer, but I was VERY EXCITED when Kim called and scheduled a shoot with me. She wanted me to meet them on Hilton Head Island for a day of hanging out by the pool, lots of girl talk and a great dinner with them. To say I had FUN and LAUGHED A LOT is an understatement. It was an amazing day. Here are some of my favorites. I had to include this first image where Kim’s hair was all nice and perfectly in place . . . because very soon we were on the beach and it was flying in the wind. Kim got a sassy new hair cut and it is really cute . . . like SUPER CUTE!

We found these really cool red rocking chairs, but I didn’t have the best background. I still grabbed a few shots though because they were just FUN chairs.

Kenzi was smiling so BIG that I could not see her eyes . . .

When I told her so, she gave me another look. (I think she was telling me that this is what “not seeing your eyes” really looks like. ha ha.)

I also got this shot, it doesn’t portray Kenzi’s FUN personality, but it does show her beautiful EYES.

The beach was only a short walk from the house, so we finished the shoot there.

I LOVE this image. It is something about how Kenzi is standing that makes me happy.

This is another FAVORITE. I’m not sure why Kenzi was hiding her face from me, because she is not shy around me . . . ha.ha. But I just love this photo and I especially like how she is holding Kim & Dan’s hands.

The photo on the right shows Dan having as much fun as Kenzi. He is smiling so big.

Kenzi . . . you are a silly little girl.

I am thinking that Dan keeps Kenzi entertained A LOT . . .

Aaahhhhh . . . Kenzi, you look so grown up here.

I have some photos of this where Kenzi was not screaming, but I actually preferred posting this one, just because.

Cutie-Potootie . . .

Too funny . . . Kenzi was stomping in the water and it was hilarious to me.

Swinging shot . . . YES PLEASE!

Since Kenzi insisted on getting wet, Kim did a quick change into a bathing suit.

Water + sand = MUD and FUN.

It was so dark out but I had to grab this last image to finish the shoot. Glad I did. LOVE IT!

Kim & Dan . . . so NICE to meet all your extended family. I appreciate their warm welcome and kindness to me. AND THANK YOU guys for trusting me again to capture images of your beautiful family. Give Kenzi a BIG HUGG and I will send her a photo of Mocha soon. Love you guys!

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hilton head island family photography : “W” family preview

August 21, 2010 | family

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savannah wedding : brittany + corey

August 15, 2010 | slideshows • weddings

Brittany & Corey are finally married! yea yea yea! I’ve been looking forward to their wedding since I shot their engagement shoot back in March. It was the largest bridal party I’ve worked with so I was nervous, but at the same time EXCITED. Here are some of my favorites from Brittany & Corey’s wedding . . .

Brittany was all smiles and very excited. She looked like a PRINCESS . . .

I like to play around with my brides and have them give me some “fun” poses with a little attitude. Brittany laughed at me, but she participated. The next two photos are just for fun . . .

I had to get a photo of the back of Brittany’s dress, it was gorgeous.

Brittany had 10 . . . YES 10 girls in her bridal party. WOW. All the girls were amazing and were so great to accommodate my unusual photo requests. I did take all the formal photos first, but a few FUN pics are always great!

This is Corey leaning on a piano, it kinda shows you how tall he is. And I just love this shot of him.

Because the weather was so hot outside, I shot all the guy’s photos inside too. I was running out of places in the sanctuary to shoot, so I had Corey sit on the steps. This ended up being one of my favorite photos.

And here’s Corey and the gang . . . yes, the gang of 10 guys. You can tell the guys love Corey & they like to pick on him as well.

Another favorite. Thanks guys for being so awesome for all the photos!

Brittany did not act nervous the whole day, she was so calm . . . but when I saw her coming down the aisle and she spotted Corey, I could tell the emotions started hitting her. I think her and Mr Don (her Dad) were both holding back the tears on the long walk down the aisle.

I think this is one of my most FAVORITE photos during a ceremony ever. I wonder exactly what Brittany was thinking? I captured this photo as she took a moment, closed her eyes and just took a deep breath. I imagine she was thanking God for putting Corey in her life or maybe thinking about what a lucky girl she was . . . or maybe she was just taking a moment to solidify this feeling in her mind & heart forever.

I went up into the balcony to capture some images from above. The windows are stain glass and the light coming in from them was divine. When I saw the ceremony from above, I was sure that I would hear angels singing Hallelujah because everything was beautiful.

I had to include this image because of the story behind it. When Corey kissed Brittany, her veil fell off her head. Everyone in the church laughed, including me . . . it was awesome. There are more photos of “the KISS” in the slideshow at the end of this post.

24 people! I love this photo because it makes me smile. (I got all the formal shots first . . . this was the last group photo) THANK YOU EVERYONE for bring so awesome for the photos!

This is definitely one of my FAVORITE images of the day.

I seem to be surrounded by GEORGIA fans these days, which makes me smile because me sister graduated from UGA . . . so we are huge DAWGS fans ourselves. I believe that’s a replica of Corey’s truck on top.

When I was in the sanctuary, I sat down for a quite moment. Before packing up my camera gear, I snapped this photo. I love it. I also took a moment to THANK GOD for allowing me to do something that I LOVE SO MUCH. I thanked him for giving me a passion for photography and all things of the arts. I thanked him for surrounding me with friends, family & colleagues who support me and my dreams. I thanked him for giving me WONDERFUL & AMAZING clients that believe in me and trust me. I continued to thank him for awhile. And after all this “thanking” a feeling of PEACE & HAPPINESS flooded my mind. Then I took a minute to reflect on how many wonderful emotions I had experienced in one day. Emotions of my own and emotions that I simply witnessed. YES, I continued thanking God as I walked away . . . smiling & loving what I do!