Just to switch things up a bit.  Recently Graham and I got to spend a few days visiting some friends of ours at their beach house in the Outer Banks.  Here are a few fun random shots from one of our early morning walks on the beach.  We don’t see a lot of sand here in the Shenandoah Valley so you can image my inability to leave my camera behind!

April and Cody tied the knot on September 13th at the beautiful Contemporary Art Center of Virginia in Virginia Beach. The ceremony and reception were all in one beautiful location – an atrium with dark tile floors, a wall of windows and live trees growing inside!! It was absolutely a gorgeous location complimented by the amazing array of bright floral arrangements! A Cindarela theme was incorporated with the ring bearer even carrying a “glass slipper” down the aisle. The couple left in a lighted horse drawn carriage. Is this every girls dream or what?! It was an absolute pleasure to photograph April and Cody’s wedding. Here is a little sneak peak at how the images from their big day are coming together! Enjoy!

Where do I begin with these guys! I originally met Jeff and Susan Tiemann when Graham and I hired Jeff to be our wedding photographer for our Yorktown, VA wedding back in 05. Jeff is an awesome photographer with a very well developed and classic style. Earlier this year we hired him again to do some fun portraits of Graham and I in his studio in Yorktown. We ended up working out a bit of a professional exchange and he asked me to come and photograph his kids Josh, Julia and Jonah!

All three of these guys have such awesome and different personalities. They have grown up in front of the camera so I am sure they were not looking forward to one more photo shoot! For Jonah (the youngest) the shoot could not get over fast enough!! You would never know from how big his grin is in all the pictures but he could not care less about having his picture taken. Julie was another story though! Quite the fashionista already, she was right at home in front of the camera and was so fun and photogenic. Josh (oldest) was the cool laid back one and is sure to be a ladies man with those blue eyes!

It was really a pleasure and honor to photograph for this family and I value their professional advice and friendship. You will have to check out their website – you may even see a familiar face:)

Here are my favorites from their shoot!

Well…someday that is….for now she was kind enough to model for me (is this girl gorgeous or what?!!!) in another round of more modern, magazine-style bridal portraits. Any recommendations on what I should call this style of portraiture?? Anyway, Christina was kind enough to trampse around in a field with me while wearing my extra bridal gown and veil (long story) and even my engagement ring. haha (Hey – we had to make it look real!) I had to seriously hold myself back from posting every single image up here from this shoot. We had the most perfect evening lighting…..with not so perfect gnats flying into Christina’s face every two seconds. In between picking man-eating sized thorns out of our clothing, we managed to get some absolutely gorgeous shots! You can look for Christina on America’s Next Top Model:)

I have been so excited about this shoot! Yesterday the beautiful Mrs. Millie Shipe agreed to indulge me by getting back into her wedding dress and letting me experiment with a more fashion/fine art style of portraiture. As I develop my own style I am consistently drawn to images that are as dramatic as they are classic in their feel. I am discovering that these are the type of images that excite me the most to create and I would love to take my portrait work in this direction with clients who are willing:) Anyway, it helps that Millie is absolutely gorgeous and as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside. Here are my favorites from the shoot. Thanks Millie!!