Melissa and Paul E-session (Sneak Peak)

Sunday, I had an amazing time shooting with Melissa and Paul. We started off at a cafe where they had their first date. This happens to be one of my favorite dessert spots. ;)





I loved how the colors they picked out help set the mood. I've been loving a lot of dark purples and greens lately.



Then, we they went to go pick up their dog, Roxie, while Daniel and I headed over to a park to scope out the scene. Talk about a super cuuute park with tons of great photo ops. This next shot is of Daniel, who came down to visit ATL and happened to be conveniently available to assist me on my shoot. I love how the leaves frame him!



So, naturally, I had to use it again for the real thing!



Paul kept telling me he was no good at modeling, but I think he's a natural. Intense.



At first, Roxie didn't want to cooperate so much with us. She just wanted to run around and discover new landmarks at the park. Still liked how this one turned out.



Eventually after we ran around with her, we were able to get her to give the camera some love. ;)







The day was overcast, but for a short moment the sun peaked out for us to get some flare. This is probably one of my favorites. Love the mood. ;)



Sweeeeet! This last shot was taken by Daniel, while skillfully running backwards. Thanks for being such a great help on the shoot! Daniel is a photographer based in NYC, and if you're from that area, you can check out some of his work here. ;)

Bye-bye to my Marky-Mark!

I finally sold my other baby. I was so sad to let it go. I miss the speed... and how it just focused so much faster. I guess you always win some and then you lose some. We had some good memories, though.... especially at the beginning at different sporting events. I will miss you! :)



Happy Birthday, Richard! :) I went with Jack to celebrate Richard's birthday with his family. It was actually my very first time meeting him, and I felt a little bit awkward to be joining in on such an occasion with you know... family and only close people! But they were very warm and welcoming. :) I actually looooove meeting new people, but I was nowhere like this when I was in high school. No one believes me when I tell them that I used to be uber shy in high school, but it's true!

Blowing out the candles.



Adorable!



The married couple. :)







Afterwards, we went back and took a tour of Jack's house... and lo' and behold for a guy who never drinks, he had a full bar set up in his basement. lol It was really impressive. I've never seen such a huge collection. I love shiny things like glass and reflections. :)



I loved this last shot. :) We chatted about random things like irrational fears over bloody mary's. lol Bloody Mary's from scratch. I had no idea Worcestershire sauce went in there!

Pleasantly Surprised.

I was only planning to blog MWF this week, but sometimes the unexpected happens. So earlier in the afternoon yesterday, I went downstairs to get a diet coke fix, and I had a box I had waiting for me.



I was thinking... Oooh! Maybe it's my facial products that came in today because I ordered a few small things earlier this week... but maaan, that is one big box! But I was pleasantly surprised with this:



So now my dad has been bothering me with the questions. It made me all giddy because it has been a long while since I got flowers delivered to me. I had to call a girlfriend to ask what to do with all the stuff it was wrapped in, but together we figured it out. haha ;) Love some backlighting.



And then some added textures. :)



Not that I would fall for this kind of stuff so easily, because guys can always be sweet OR smooth in the beginning. lol I must say, though, it was a very, very sweet gesture. :)

Have you ever considered or thought about sending yourself flowers before? lol I think it has crossed my mind probably more than once when I was in high school, but thankfully I never went through with it. hehe I was always lucky enough to receive flowers every V-day, because even if I didn't have a bf that year, my dad would always buy flowers for both my mom and I so I wouldn't feel left out. I find it that it is so sweet that even after you're married for over twenty years and the "courting" is over, he can still be romantic.

Bang-bang!

Last night was my first time at the shooting range. I tried to act all badass walking in, but I was pretty frightened by all the loud noises. I kept blinking every time the gun fired... lol but I think I got the hang of it. ;)

I heart this 50/1.2L lens! It is b-e-a-utiful!





Beginner's luck, I tell ya.



Thanks to my friend Peter for doing all the work of loading and changing out the targets! ;)







While I was waiting for my turn, I discovered some interesting patterns on the wall that would make for some amazing textures. I used one of them for the above image. I did a really quick edit this time around, but I can see a lot of potential. :)





For some reason, I got way luckier hitting the lower target. My friend thinks I'm a man-hater, but it was seriously all by chance! I had no idea what I was doing.... or maybe subconsciously... lol jk



Whoa, I did a really good job at it though.



A little one-handed action like the movies? haha The movies make it look too easy. This stuff was soooo much harder than I expected. All in all, it was a good first day! :) Peter said I did a pretty good job for a girl. I'm not sure if that's supposed to be a compliment, though.



And something a tad more personal than usual. I've been having a lot of conversations with different people about relationships lately. I guess we always find a connection when we talk about similar relational experiences. So let the games begin.

When you come to a certain age, we all say that we're through with games and that we want to be more straight forward, but I find that often times we are still playing the game... whether we realize it or not. We're always wanting the upper hand or wanting the other person to be all in before you begin taking any risks. Most of the time because we've been burned before and we become handicapped by the fear that it will happen again. I wonder if we strip away all this push and pull and these challenges, if we'd still find the pursuit interesting.

For example: Not calling or contacting the other person even though you are really dying inside to talk to them. lol I think all of us have done that before. And you can see it from different perspectives, too as either trying to pull the other person's interest or to maybe even giving them the opportunity to pursue you. Yikes. I wonder why we people always complicate things. We are complicated people with complicated lives. Why can't we just figure out what we want and keep things simple.

I've been frustrated that a lot of times I find myself driven by my feelings. Oh, why are these feelings so hard to control! I heard an interesting quote over the radio today. "Don't just follow your heart, lead your heart." I like that... in theory. I guess it's just going to take a lot more practice.

Edit: I just killed a flying bug with Lysol All-Purpose cleaner and can't seem to remove it from my room. This is why I need a boyfriend. lol

Kim and Minh Wedding - Lancaster, PA

One word to describe my week: chaotic. It was probably the* single most chaotic week of my life. Labor day weekend was a lot of fun. I flew up to NYC and then drove to Lake George with a bunch of friends to go "camping". Of course it was camping the civilized way with wireless internet and full signal on your cellphone. lol

Then I missed my flight on Monday, and Continental tried to charge me $310 to rebook the next flight. I wasn't going to have any of it, so I chose to find another one-way ticket back. Everything was super expensive, so I chose to stay an extra week going from place to place... different hotels to friends places in other cities. I suppose if you're an artist you're supposed to be okay with some lack of structure, but I am so glad I'm home and don't have to feel homeless anymore! :)

So this past Saturday before I flew back home, Daniel and I drove to Philly to shoot a wedding for Kim and Minh. Just wanted to post some teasers from the wedding. It was a rainy day, but I think we got to sneak in some good shots when the rain slowed. You know what they always say... "Rainy wedding, sunny marriage." This would be the third rainy wedding I've had to shoot.

Loved the veil.



























So much fun!