Filed under: Weddings
Courtney and Colby got married this past Saturday in New Castle. They had a perfect day for their wedding: blue skies, warm but with a nice breeze. And I couldn’t ask for a cuter couple! Courtney is just adorable, has a great laugh and a beautiful grin. Colby has his talents too – he surprised Courtney with a song during their ceremony that made her tear up (and I think several of the guests did too!)
We were able to do pictures outside before the ceremony. Afterwards, we headed to a nearby park for a few more. I convinced the bride and groom to climb onto the carousel with me after the wedding party had gone on, and we got some neat shots of the two of them while their videographer helped by spinning us around. The reception was held at the Muncie Cornerstone Center for the Arts building downtown, in the great room on the third floor. I’d never been up there before, but I really like the open, airy feeling of the room.
You can take a peep at Courtney and Colby’s pictures online, and here’s a little something to get you started!
Last Sunday, I met with Suzanne and Armand at Minnetrista to photograph some engagement pictures for them. Suzanne has done some modeling in the past and knows how to pose, plus she has a great personality. I loved the interaction between Suzanne and Armand – Suzanne would sass him and Armand would come right back. This session was a hoot… Shooting their wedding in July is going to be a trip.
Suzanne: Show your dentures!
Armand: I’ll show you your momma’s dentures!
Suzanne: Armand, that’s NOT nice! (and to me) My momma doesn’t wear dentures.
My other recent portrait session was with two-week old Sophia H. Mom, Dad, and Grandma came with her and had their pictures taken too. Sophia was a little fussy, but with patience, we got some really cute shots that I hope the family will treasure forever. I didn’t use my peanut crochet this time – this little girl’s already ten pounds! – but I did get to use a wrap (featured here) and a basket, which you can see in her online proofs.
Congratulations, H family, on your beautiful little girl!
Filed under: Weddings
Last Saturday I had the privilege of working with Connie and Jeremy at their wedding. They had just moved to Indiana from Tennessee when Connie met with me last summer to talk about wedding photography. If I remember right, we had a nice conversation and Connie promised me that she’d get back with me soon. She was interviewing for a new job and wanted to see how that went before she signed any contracts. Connie landed the job and was working when an associate of hers mentioned a wedding photographer to her, saying “My wife does weddings, if you’re interested.” Connie looked at the business card and put two and two together: Her new associate was my husband, Mark!
So Connie & Jeremy’s wedding was a pleasure to photograph. Connie had done a lot of work planning everything out to ensure that the guests all had fun. There were lots of little details for me to capture, and a beautiful venue to work with. Everything went very smoothly – except for the weather! We had sprinkles during some of the posed pictures that escalated into a full-blown storm by reception time. Then the tornado sirens went off and next thing we knew, we were all headed down to the lowest level… Well, except for several adventurous party-goers who hung around outside to watch the clouds and collect hail!
Still, everyone had a great time. Good food, delicious cake, and a memorable evening 
Connie and Jeremy have their online album password protected, but here are a few to show you how terrific their day was. And isn’t her dress beautiful!?
Last Sunday, I had the opportunity to work with two models at the Paramount Theatre for SOSN bridal studio in Pendleton. They needed new images for some advertising for an upcoming event. Oddly enough, we didn’t use too much of the theater with its Italianate design – we spent much more time in the alleys and on the fire escapes around the theater.
Oh, you say you want to meet my models?
Here’s Jessy, who I’ve worked with before. We first worked together on her senior pictures. She came to me, unhappy with the work of another photographer and asked me to take some for her. She and I spent three or four hours that day, just walking around and taking pictures. I enjoy working with Jessy, trying new things and cracking up.
Also, meet Whitney! I’ve never worked with Whitney before. She does a great deal of modeling for other local photographers, although she does not have modeling as a career goal. She’s also a lot of fun and apparently addicted to watermelon. Isn’t she fabulous?!
Tangentially related to this shoot and probably all Greek to a lot of you… I decided to bite the bullet and upgrade to a new camera, the Canon 5d Mark II. I had been considering it, just couldn’t decide whether or not I really needed the full frame sensor. Or the 21 megapixels. As of this morning, I am experiencing a good deal of buyer’s remorse – I always do – but I’m sure that will all change once I have it in my hands and am shooting with it. How is this related to this shoot, you might wonder. Well, I feel like my images have really improved over the last year and in a way I am rewarding myself by making the move to a more professional camera… Not that the improvement itself isn’t its own reward, because it is… Can you tell I’m trying to okay this purchase with my inner critic? Anyhow, hope to have even more spectacular images to show you soon!
Hope you had a good Memorial Day weekend! We enjoyed ourselves around here. On Sunday, Mark went to the Indy 500 with the guys and I took a girl trip to Greenwood for some shopping with the girls. On Monday, we went to the annual Memorial Day picnic at Mark’s parents’ house. It was a fun and relaxing weekend - no work and all play.
I do have some pictures to show off from last weekend, though!
First up, last Saturday, was a crazy portrait session with three grandmas and ten kids, eight of whom were under the age of four. I’ve photographed about half of these kids before, four when they were newborns! We had quite a time getting everyone to sit still and never could get all of them to look at the camera at once, but we did get them all in one picture
On Sunday, I met with Kim and Curt to photograph their engagement session. We had a gorgeous, cool afternoon for photos at Shadyside Park in Anderson. Kim and Curt are getting married in September and are using fall colors as their theme, so I made sure to get several images that would coordinate well for display at their wedding too.
And finally, I’ve got pictures of our older daughter, three year old Emily. We have these fields of amazing yellow weeds growing near our house. I wanted to do this with her last year, but didn’t get it done before the fields were planted. This year I found the perfect dress at a garage sale and dragged Emily out one evening last week. Of course we were swarmed by bugs and she was in a very stubborn mood where she didn’t want to look at me, just flail her arms and beat at the flowers… But I don’t think that every picture has to have a smile. I like that I’ve got who she really is here, small and sweet and stubborn.
Filed under: Weddings
Last weekend I photographed the wedding of Krista and Will at Righteous Oaks in Wilkinson, Indiana. What a great facility, a repurposed church… It’s a terrific place for a reception, or hold the entire wedding there, as Krista and Will did. And my favorite: they had an ice cream sundae bar!! Here are a few shots from their special day, and here’s the link to all of their pictures. Enjoy!
I had a very fun engagement session yesterday with my friend Julia, and her fiance Dave. Dave and Julia got engaged early last year, but I wasn’t able to photograph them last fall since I was due with Abby and it’s a 2.5 hour drive for each of us just to meet in the middle. So we settled for this spring, and we had wonderful, gorgeous weather yesterday after a week of rain. The three of us spent the entire day in a little town called Plymouth. I haven’t spent any time yet looking through their photos, but I did want to share this one of two props that Julia brought:
Update: Dave and Julia’s engagement photos are online, and here’s a handy link if you’d like to check them out!
Want to see what I’ve been up to?
Well, first there were a few Ivy Tech events; one in Bloomington at IU and one in Indianapolis…
Then I had a senior portrait session on a gorgeous day with Marissa. This is one of my absolute favorites from her session. Don’t you love her eyes?!
And an engagement at the park… Jennifer and Tom were great to work with. Jennifer was a little camera-shy at first, but I think we’ve got some pictures from their session that they will really treasure.
And then I had a session with Sopia, who is just nine days old here. I photographed her parents’ wedding a few years ago and I was glad to see them again and meet their little one!
This picture is also proof of how crazy I am for good pictures… I saw this wrap online and with three hours before Sophia’s session, I sat down and crocheted one for us to use. It worked like a charm, once we figured out how to get her in there!
I just knew that if I added a blog to the website, I’d have a hard time keeping on top of it! I guess I am going to have to make a promise to myself to update once a week, or once every two weeks at a minimum. My personal blog is falling behind too, so…!
Though I haven’t had a huge number of photoshoots in the last few weeks, I have had one or two. Mostly I’ve been dontaing my time to create a new brochure and poster for the Millcreek Civic Center, a great place for a reception on a budget. The civic center is part of a repurposed school. It shares the building with the Police Department and the utilities office for the town of Chesterfield. Millcreek has several rooms for rent for different needs, but Memorial Hall is where most wedding receptions are held. It’s a huge room with restored hardwood floors and twenty-three foot ceilings. The volunteers at the civic center have remodeled the restroom and kitchen there and the layout is ideal for guests. There’s plenty of parking, and the people who run the civic center are very friendly to boot!
In the past, the civic center’s brochure has been all text, printed on standard printer paper. The new brochure has tons of pictures and information about each room, as well as the amenities that the civic center offers. Sharon, the board member I’m working with on this project, was very excited when she came over and picked up the proofs yesterday. The board meets tomorrow night and will make any changes or approve the brochure. I can’t wait until the printed pieces arrive here – I love the smell of fresh ink!
The other main thing that’s kept me from posting more often (aside from just enjoying my family!) is an addictive new hobby I’ve gotten into: needle felting. While I’m fortunate to have photography as a way to make income and still stay home with my girls, turns out I’m too crafty to stop with one medium. So I’m playing with wool these days and making little wool animals, two or three a week. I have three pieces currently commissioned and one project that I’m making for Emily for Easter to keep me busy for the next two weeks. Then it’ll be time for spring sports photos, senior pictures, and wedding season again!
Filed under: Weddings
The Wedding March 2009 was yesterday afternoon. It’s the second year I’ve gone to this show… Last year I was sick as a dog with Abby, so I enjoyed it a lot more this year. The venue was much more accessible, although less romantic. There were a lot of great vendors. I tasted some delicious cake and ate a tasty little number called a parfait shot. Photographers were well represented and were by far the largest portion of wedding professionals there. Ten of us, I believe… When most of us had been told that there would be a maximum of five. So if you were there yesterday and thought, “Wow, there seem to be a lot of photographers here!”, it’s because there were.
Sometimes I wonder if it’s a good idea for me to do those shows. I much prefer being a photographer to being a salesperson. I feel like my work should speak for itself… And I’m not sure that my work gets heard over the carnie-like cries of the booths around me. It’s something I am going to have to consider before I sign up for shows in the future.
What do you think? When you planned your wedding, did you really fall in love with professionals that you found at a wedding show, or did you find that more of your professionals came from research you did or word of mouth from your friends?
Edit: Just found this clip of the show. I’m talking to the Herald photographer, who was holding a little P&S cam. I had no idea that I was being recorded, and from the looks of some of the other people in the video, they didn’t know that either. Heh. I’m at 1:00.
