There are many reasons why I love shooting for Baby Hadley.  Numero uno: that smile!  And she’s definitely won my heart by either crying for or puking on other photographers who have come to her school (OK, I’m not actually happy about that.  But dang it if it doesn’t make me feel special.)  And because Hadley is just one week younger than my son, the act of looking at her family through my lens is a bit like like looking into a mirror of our life.  We’ve got a lot in common:

Spirited, blonde, 13 month-old baby, not quite walking but very much on the go?  Check.

Dog lovin’ baby lovin’ dog?  Check.

Lots of drool, laundry, tickling, laughter and dirty knees?  Check.  Check, check, check and check.

And back to that smile…

I was about to ask Louise what Hadley’s favorite thing to do was but Hadley read my mind and went right to it.  She unstacks the diapers under the changing table, scatters them around, and then carries them in her mouth like the dog.  This sequence makes me laugh out loud, its one of those things all parents can relate to because there’s always that one thing your kid wants to do that drives you nuts.  And that’s exactly why they love to do it…

We took a quick trip to the park before snack time.

What gets rid of the crabby crabs?  String cheese, please.  This is a picture where its definitely appropriate to say, “cheese”.  And I couldn’t resist paying homage to the sippy cup.

And play time resumed…

And then BAM, out of nowhere, an attack of the Tickle Monster!  No one ever expects the Tickle Monster…

Nala, the family pup, wanted to get in on the action too.  It may look like an attack if you aren’t a dog person but trust me, these are very gentle puppy kisses eliciting screams of delight from their recipient.

And after all that playing, a little quiet snuggle time was in order.

Here’s a slideshow with more and click here to see the online gallery.  Thanks to Louise and Brian for continuing to share your parenting adventures with me…

Posted by Mel @ 12:42 pm, in Portraits, Wee Ones | 1 comment | Permalink

There’s something to be said for going home.  Mary and Matt were married in Mary’s waterfront home town of Hampton, Virginia.  While Hampton is technically a city, each time I visit  it feels more like a small town than a city.

Take the church where they were married, for instance.  With a Parish dating back to 1789 and the current building in use since 1887, Mary’s family has been attending for generations.  I love how this old church stands tall amidst the surrounding architecture:

The very kneeler that Mary and Matt knelt upon during their ceremony was hand stitched by Mary’s grandmother as a gift to the church many years ago.  I was told the kneeler would ordinarily be covered with a white cloth during a wedding ceremony for its protection but it was left uncovered for this very special couple.  I wonder if she ever thought that her grandchildren might kneel upon it on their wedding day as she stitched.

Before the ceremony the guys spent some time in the playground next door.  I loved the guys in the boat, a very appropriate playground feature in Hampton!

This might be my favorite photo of the day, the way the bricks of the narrow passage converge is otherworldly and the moment as Mary and Matt right after the end of their ceremony is completely unscripted.  There’s an honesty that comes through Mary and Matt’s photos.

Congrats to Mary and Matt and here’s a slideshow with our favs from the day.  If you would like to be notified when the online gallery is available for viewing, click here.  Thank you so much for welcoming us as part of your wedding day.

Posted by Mel @ 4:38 pm, in Weddings | No comments | Permalink

The weather was warm and gorgeous at Veritas Vineyards tucked away in Afton, Virginia.  Because the ceremony was scheduled right on the brink of sunset, Katie and Lee decided to take family pictures before the ceremony to make use of the daylight and the amazing view of the Blue Ridge Mountains.  Just to make sure they had their moment, we planned for them to meet within a row of grapevines behind the property to see each other for the first time.

Sometimes fate takes over and you have no choice but to roll with it.  About a half hour before the ceremony we were informed that the bus bringing half the wedding guests had broken down in Charlottesville.  The ceremony would have to begin at least a half hour late, missing sunset but still at dusk.  Then more bad news: the working bus but had taken guests to another Inn by accident, causing another half hour delay.  Katie and Lee’s sunset ceremony was going to happen in the dark.

Let me stop briefly to tell you just how great Katie and Lee’s vendors are, because when the proverbial poo hits the fan, that’s when experience in this industry really counts.  Windy Jennings of Wedding by Windy is truly one of our favorite event planners to work with, I say that loud and proud.  Windy did an amazing job of managing a difficult situation.  Her calm, kind and decisive manner made her a revered general to an army of well dressed soldiers, everyone offering to pitch in to help and keep panic at bay as she rearranged itineraries, objects and expectations.  Chloe and Rebecca at Veritas scoured the cellar in search of anything left behind by former weddings: votives, candles, vases, anything that could use as extra luminaries.  Then they found flood lights so we could do some impromptu uplighting.  The catering staff at Veritas was able to move cocktail hour up so that guests who had arrived on the first bus had drinks and food as they watched the sun set from the deck.  It was a pretty amazing collective effort.

As bad as I feel for the guests who were stuck on a bus for an hour and as bad as I feel for the stress it caused Katie and Lee, whose celebration was put on hold, I’m certain that this is the ceremony they were supposed to have all along.  The alter glowed and the twilight hour brought a hush over everyone present to create an intimate space in the open mountain air.  It was incredibly peaceful and emotional.  Would you ever think that this wasn’t planned?

And the things that were part of the plan were enjoyed as well.  Colors were warm and fallish, my favorite detail was the seating cards arranged in birch branches.

Later in the evening there was one more surprise: of a good nature.  Lee’s band reunited after many years and took the stage for a few songs, sounding like they had never skipped a beat.

It was a fantastic night.  Katie and Lee have such an awesome sense of humor, we enjoyed ourselves immensely.  Here’s a slideshow of our favorites and click here if you would like to be notified by email when their online gallery with all the photos is available for viewing.  Congrats to Katie and Lee on such an amazing wedding, we were blown away…

Posted by Mel @ 10:42 pm, in Weddings | 3 Comments | Permalink

I love shooting but designing might be my favorite part of the job.  Maybe its the chance to pour over all the old memories again, maybe its the challenge of visual story telling, or maybe its the freedom to get out of the office and sit in a busy coffee shop with a lap top and a latte and just let the world buzz around me while I play with pictures.  Baby books are especially fun since there’s so much creative latitude: we can easily add text, quotes, or other memories to augment photos if we want to.  Catherine and John decided they wanted to keep the book straightforward and all about the photos and it worked out lovely.  Sometimes photos say it all.

The book was designed around 5 different sessions that we did with Caroline ranging from two weeks of age to sixteen months.  The family chose a Paris style Museum Art Book for Caroline.  The formidable 14″x10″size of the book allows photos to be large and powerful in a way they can’t be online.  100 pages of design space is luxurious, giving me plenty of room to play with sequence and rhythm without having to rush or crunch.  The Paris style book is a modern choice that comes with a printed vellum dustjacket as well as printed end pages for a finished, classic touch.

Next the family chose linen paper for the printing and binding: a heavy stock, textured paper that renders soft color and a dreamy feel.  If you look at the foreground of this photo you can see the subtle, linear texture of the linen paper.

I love how the book itself can really bring a sequence to life.  The computer preview of the following layout is flat but, as a book, the open doors of the playhouse make “big” Caroline appear to pop right off the page!

I love making favorite photos extend in a panorama across pages, making a super detailed print size of 14×20!  This was one of my favorites shots:

And one of Catherine’s favs.  She loves remembering that Caroline was only 3 months old when she insisted on holding a bottle by herself!

I’m looking forward to making another book for Caroline’s baby brother Michael but I won’t rush him through his sweet babyness.  I’ve got plenty of design work on my plate so I will patiently wait.

Here are a few more shots and if you would like to see the entire layout preview, click here…

Posted by Mel @ 7:22 pm, in Newborns, Portraits, Uncategorized, Wee Ones | No comments | Permalink