Well, we had just created a new website with a new company and it was looking great…until that company went out of business with no warning at all and our new, shiny site disappeared!! Yikes! So we’re back to the drawing board and will have our new website up and running shortly! Stay tuned…
New website coming soon!June 1st, 2012Well, we had just created a new website with a new company and it was looking great…until that company went out of business with no warning at all and our new, shiny site disappeared!! Yikes! So we’re back to the drawing board and will have our new website up and running shortly! Stay tuned… |
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Jenny and Mike’s Washington, DC weddingApril 3rd, 2012We got to know Jenny and Mike last summer through a mutual friend and let me just say that I am so thrilled we were a part of their wedding this past weekend! These two are so amazingly fun, relaxed, and welcoming. They are also in love with anything and everything Washington, DC! They personalized [...] |
We got to know Jenny and Mike last summer through a mutual friend and let me just say that I am so thrilled we were a part of their wedding this past weekend! These two are so amazingly fun, relaxed, and welcoming. They are also in love with anything and everything Washington, DC! They personalized their wedding in so many ways all the way from incorporating John Adams’ letters to Abigail into their ceremony to a visit from the Washington Nationals mascots at the reception! Their wedding and reception were both held at the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). Jenny got ready at the St. Regis Hotel nearby and they arranged some time for portraits at the DC War Memorial as well as the Moongate Garden. Sarah and I had such an amazing time meeting their friends and family and we know that they are truly having the time of their lives and getting some much needed rest and relaxation on their honeymoon.
Enjoy!
This is one of my favorite photos because not only does it capture their fun personalities, but little did I know that while I was taking this picture, they were photo-bombing a picture someone was taking behind me!
I’m always a sucker for cufflinks, especially these that are made with sand from the beach where Mike proposed to Jenny!
The weather was on the cool side for most of the day, but about 15 minutes before the ceremony, the wind picked up and had everyone’s teeth chattering! Jenny and Mike took it in stride and had a beautiful ceremony.
Sarah captured this beautiful moment just after the ceremony.
This is certainly my first ring shot including cracker jacks! But when I saw the boxes on the candy table, I knew I had to include them to honor Jenny and Mike’s love of baseball!
The first dance out on the portico
The biggest surprise of the night for the guests was the appearance of the Racing Presidents from the Washington Nationals baseball team! They stuck around and partied for a while – those guys can dance!
Custom Bride and Groom Nationals jerseys with the date of their wedding
I had to jump in the photo booth with Jenny and Mike at the end of the evening…little did I know Jenny is so quick and she took the camera out of my hands seconds before this shot was taken!
PS – This was such a great way to get our 2012 kicked off!
PPS – This might just be the quickest we’ve ever gotten a wedding up on the blog! We’ve sped up our process and can’t wait to hopefully keep up this pace from now on! But don’t worry, we’re still going back and blogging about the weddings from the end of last year – we still have a bunch of great things to share! Stay tuned…
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Spring garden at the Davis houseMarch 18th, 2012What an amazing weekend! This early Spring weather has been fantastic and the Davis family has been hard at work in the garden (our ever-growing hobby). Last year was our first try at a real garden and we are hooked! Our biggest regret last year was that we didn’t plant enough greens, so this year [...] |
What an amazing weekend! This early Spring weather has been fantastic and the Davis family has been hard at work in the garden (our ever-growing hobby). Last year was our first try at a real garden and we are hooked! Our biggest regret last year was that we didn’t plant enough greens, so this year we went overboard! So far, we’ve planted seeds for broccoli, chard, kale, spinach, red and green lettuce, radishes, snow peas, and snap peas! Once it warms up a bit, we’ll go for some beans and a few other warm-weather veggies! It’s fun seeing the seeds sprouting already, though. We wimped out last year and bought seedlings from the farmer’s market, but decided this year we would grow veggies the real way! We’ll see how it works out.
You’ll notice that we’re experimenting with a new-to-us watering system using Oallas. You can read more about those here, but basically, it is a clay vase buried in the ground that lets the water seep out as the soil needs it. I opted to make my own for about $6 instead of buying fancy ones for $30! We’ll let you know how it goes. I laid down the soaker house just in case our experiment doesn’t work.
Our little garden helpers enjoyed sewing seeds and writing the labels!
Every garden needs (at least) one of these:
Once we were done with the seeds in the big garden, the girls decided to make their own garden(s). We’re not totally sure where else they planted seeds, so we might have veggies popping up all over the place!
Now on to some of the pretty flowers and cute kids!
Our little guy is fascinated with water, so I used some old wood we had laying around and a concrete mixing tub from the hardware store to make a water table…fresh coat of paint coming soon!
Our oldest daughter had a vision of a forsythia bush surrounded by pansies…so here you have it!
Home, sweet home!
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Art Commission: RepentanceFebruary 26th, 2012A friend from our church, All Souls Charlottesville, contacted me a few weeks ago about possibly commissioning me to do some photography for the season of Lent. I jumped at the chance because I love the opportunity to push my creativity a bit and do something out of the norm. After agreeing to the project, [...] |
A friend from our church, All Souls Charlottesville, contacted me a few weeks ago about possibly commissioning me to do some photography for the season of Lent. I jumped at the chance because I love the opportunity to push my creativity a bit and do something out of the norm. After agreeing to the project, though, I quickly drew an artistic blank! Sarah and I spend most of our time photographing bright and cheerful weddings and couples happily in love. I don’t really get around to photographing themes of repentance that this commission would require. After some brainstorming and thought about the idea of repentance, I got a picture in my head of what I hoped to create. The only remaining obstacle was finding a diverse, ready and willing group of people willing to model for me!
Thankfully, when I pitched the idea to some friends, they were on board even though I gave them a purposefully vague description of what I was going for and what I wanted them to do. I had hoped to catch them a bit off guard and use the limited amount of time I had with them to capture some thought-provoking, dramatic images that might personalize the act of repentance that this season brings out of those who follow Jesus.
I am thrilled with how they turned out and I had such a great time in the process of creating these portraits from planning to prints. I was only asked to provide three prints which are displayed at The Garden where All Souls meets from today through Easter. I wanted to share a few more of my favorites, though. I hope you enjoy them.
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Cynthia and Jereme’s Williamsburg WeddingJanuary 2nd, 2012Let’s continue to catch you up on what we’ve been doing for the past few months! We were so excited to photograph Cynthia and Jereme’s wedding this summer for many reasons. First of all, they are two of the most warm and welcoming people we know. Second of all, Cynthia is Sarah’s cousin so we [...] |
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Tags: wedding photography williamsburg, weddings, Williamsburg wedding photographer
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Let’s continue to catch you up on what we’ve been doing for the past few months! We were so excited to photograph Cynthia and Jereme’s wedding this summer for many reasons. First of all, they are two of the most warm and welcoming people we know. Second of all, Cynthia is Sarah’s cousin so we had the opportunity to see many family members from all over the globe who we don’t get to see that often! Our kids also came along and got to hang out with their grandparents at the wedding and watch mommy and daddy work. It was a blast all around!
On a side note, I mentioned this when we posted their engagement portraits in the spring, but we were extremely honored that they asked us to photograph their wedding given the fact that Jereme is an extremely talented and skilled photographer in his own rite. He travels the world photographing extreme people in extreme places – be sure to check out his portfolio when you get a chance!
But for now, here are several of our favorite images from the day. They had a beautiful ceremony followed by an exciting reception complete with their amazingly choreographed first dance. Jereme, Cynthia, and their wedding party also gracefully braved the heat and humidity of August in Williamsburg to help us create some memorable portraits.
Enjoy!
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Lara and Ben’s Blue Ridge Parkway Engagement SessionJanuary 2nd, 2012Back in October, I had the pleasure of riding with Ben and Lara up to the Blue Ridge Parkway for their engagement session. I had not been up on the Parkway in quite some time so it was a great time enjoying the view, good conversation, and some special moments with a fabulous couple! These [...] |
Back in October, I had the pleasure of riding with Ben and Lara up to the Blue Ridge Parkway for their engagement session. I had not been up on the Parkway in quite some time so it was a great time enjoying the view, good conversation, and some special moments with a fabulous couple! These two high school sweethearts were naturals in front of the camera even though they claimed they might have a hard time relaxing and being themselves!
Lara was truly a champ for these photos as well because it was frigid that evening! She never complained a bit. And we had to include the car that Ben restored in high school. I thought it was so great that he still has the car as he nears the end of medical school.
After having exhausted the first overlook, we hopped in the car and headed up the Parkway to see what we could find. As we drove towards the next overlook, I spotted this side road and made Lara turn around! It was worth the mid-Parkway u-turn, for sure!
PS – It was colder for their October engagement session than it was for their late-November wedding! This has been a crazy fall/early winter as far as weather goes!
PPS -We’re dedicated to catching you all up on what we were photographing throughout the Fall. Stay tuned!
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We’re back!January 2nd, 2012Life is a balancing act. Especially when you’re balancing a family of 5 with running a business! Once we returned from France at the end of July, we hopped right back into a busy fall wedding season, the girls started school, and our son started walking. We had a decision to make: keep up with [...] |
Life is a balancing act. Especially when you’re balancing a family of 5 with running a business! Once we returned from France at the end of July, we hopped right back into a busy fall wedding season, the girls started school, and our son started walking. We had a decision to make: keep up with our blog entries and miss out on a lot of life or skip out on the blog and get a few more things done. Every blog entry written meant time that could have been spent saving our toddling son from climbing onto the table or falling from the top bunk, helping our oldest daughter learn to knit, helping our second daughter care for her beloved doll Cara, editing photos, harvesting veggies from the garden throughout the fall, raking leaves, and many of the other parts of life that call for our time. So the blog was neglected. But we’re back and we cannot wait to share six weddings, three engagement sessions, a senior portrait session, some wedding album designs and some personal photos in the coming weeks! We’ll also be doing some year-in-review posts sharing our favorite images from 2011.
So get ready for some updates and hopefully we’ll be able to get some more posts up here in the coming weeks. But for now, here’s a cute picture of our girls to keep you happy!
PS – Did anyone else feel like 2011 flew by at lightning speed, or was is just me?
PPS – We are knee deep in gardening and chicken-raising books around here! Oh yes, the Davis homestead is taking shape – more to come on that in the coming months.
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Saying farewell to our cherished grandmotherJanuary 2nd, 2012Last week, two days after Christmas, we loaded up the minivan and took the kids to Williamsburg to visit with Sarah’s family. Sarah’s grandmother has been living there ever since she was a kid and in our ten years of marriage (plus a few years of dating), we had made many trips down there to [...] |
Last week, two days after Christmas, we loaded up the minivan and took the kids to Williamsburg to visit with Sarah’s family. Sarah’s grandmother has been living there ever since she was a kid and in our ten years of marriage (plus a few years of dating), we had made many trips down there to visit. This time, however, we knew this was going to be a special trip. Nearly all of the family was coming in for a huge gathering. Sarah’s family has at times literally been spread all over the world, but we were all (except for two family members who were unable to come) going to be together under the same roof for a big Christmas dinner party with Sarah’s grandmother!
Now, about her grandmother (or Grandma/Gaga/Teta/Great-Gaga as she is affectionately called). She recently turned 95 years old and had recently just moved into an assisted living facility. You heard that correctly, she was living on her own up until recently. And let me tell you, Grandma is one of those people who accomplished many amazing things with her life! I loved listening to her stories of teaching in the one-room school house. She also went on to become a pilot and traveled the world as the wife of a Commander in the Navy! Grandma and Grandpa (who passed away 8 years ago) raised 4 kids and there are now 8 grandchildren and 6 great-grandchildren. And to top it all off, she was one of the sweetest, kind, and proper women I have ever met!
So we had our big dinner, exchanged gifts with everyone and shared warm conversations while the kids played with their cousins. One of the most amazing things for me, though, that I will never forget is that Grandma gave all of her great-grandkids one of the dolls from her prized antique doll collection! Sarah had told me many stories of how much she wanted to play with those dolls when she was a girl, but she knew they were way off limits! We ended the evening with some photos and as I was taking them, I had a hunch these would turn out to be special memories. Lining people up for posed group shots is hardly my favorite thing to do, but oh, what special documentation we can create of generations together.
I know we will all cherish these photos below because our beloved Gaga passed away on Saturday morning, four days after being together with all the people she loved the most.
We will certainly miss seeing Grandma and hearing her stories of a full life, but we are so incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to spend one incredibly special evening with her and the family. And we are so grateful to have these photos to help us remember her sweet spirit.
I took this photo of Grandma at a wedding in August. This is one of our favorites because it truly shows her liveliness!!
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Joseph and Virginie’s wedding in France: The PortraitsSeptember 3rd, 2011We’re back with another post from Joseph and Virginie’s wedding in France. You can view our favorite images from the preparations and the ceremony if you’re just joining us! There were so many incredible opportunities for portraits around the castle after the ceremony and the sun didn’t set until about 9:00 so we had a [...] |
We’re back with another post from Joseph and Virginie’s wedding in France. You can view our favorite images from the preparations and the ceremony if you’re just joining us!
There were so many incredible opportunities for portraits around the castle after the ceremony and the sun didn’t set until about 9:00 so we had a lot to work with! It’s not everyday that we get to photograph a lovely couple during a gorgeous sunset on the grounds of a beautiful French castle! Let’s just say I was in photographer’s heaven. So without further ado, here we go!
When you have a guest list of people from all over the world, you really have to do a large group shot! Thankfully, everyone was already gathered together after the ceremony at the bottom of the church steps. I seized the moment and did my best with my non-French-speaking self and managed to get everyone looking my way.
After all the guests started walking toward the buses to head back to the reception, I had about 3 minutes with Joseph and Virginie for a few portraits. I quickly glanced around and spotted this gorgeous alley directly beside the church. I asked them to walk on over and take a few minutes to themselves and this is what we got! Granted, I had to sprint with with a ton of camera gear to catch my ride back to the castle, but I’d say it was worth the run.
Joseph and his groomsmen had me cracking up the entire day.
Virginie and her bridesmaids could not have been any sweeter! What a lovely group of ladies.
One of our favorite parts about photographing portraits during the wedding day is having an excuse to let the bride and groom get a little time to themselves. We commit quite a bit of time to the couple just being together to savor the moments which not only helps them create special memories, but it allows us to capture images like these.
Check back soon for our post of their reception! You won’t want to miss that one!
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The winners of the 3rd Annual $29 Wedding Photography ContestAugust 21st, 2011It is our pleasure to announce the winners of our 3rd Annual $29 Wedding Photography Contest! This year, it seems as though the theme of the entries was about long distance relationships! Nearly every one of our entrants has endured months if not years of long-distance dating leading up to their marriages and it was [...] |
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Tags: charlottesville wedding photographer, Wedding Photography Contest
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Posted in: contests, giving back, weddings |
It is our pleasure to announce the winners of our 3rd Annual $29 Wedding Photography Contest! This year, it seems as though the theme of the entries was about long distance relationships! Nearly every one of our entrants has endured months if not years of long-distance dating leading up to their marriages and it was encouraging and exciting to read all of their stories. This was a tough call for us as we worked through the process in the wee hours of last night!
So without further ado, please welcome the winners, Mindy Sue and Justin!
Mindy Sue and Justin’s wedding is in September and we are extremely excited to get to meet them in person soon! Their story grabbed us from the beginning as they shared about long distance dating and misadventures in communication that nearly ended it all. Mindy Sue described their wedding to be small, somewhat causal, comfortable, and focused on their faith which has brought them together. We thought that sounded like a wonderful way to spend a Sunday evening in September! Congratulations, you two! We’ll be in touch soon to start working out the details. And many thanks to everyone else who entered. We truly appreciate you sharing your stories with us! We wish there was a way for us to photograph all of the weddings!!
Have a great Sunday everyone!