I met up with Amber and Justin at their home in Baltimore, Maryland at the tail end of an unseasonably warm weekend.  We had hoped that the sunny 70’s we had on Friday would last through Monday but no dice, it was cold and rainy and a lot more like the February we all know and have a hard time loving.

Hence we began our shoot indoors and in the most obvious place: the nursery that Amber and Justin have so lovingly prepared for their son.  The finishing touches had just gone on the day before so I felt honored to get the first official peek at the room.  But first I had to ask Perry if it was OK to take pictures since he clearly hasn’t relinquished his room to the baby yet…

A tree of birds peek out from behind the crib.  A wall display wall display of bright and and eclectic framed cards and prints offset the rocker and shelving.  There are some special hand mades on the walls too, including an awesome owl painting that Justin made for Amber in lieu of an owl decal they couldn’t quite find online and the gift of a family owl print made by another talented client of ours: Amber’s dear friend, Beth!

We did brave the great outdoors for a little bit to get some shots at a nearby park…

…and when we got back we posed the fun stuff.  Justin is pretty proud of his basement, its definitely their hang out joint in the house.  Beer bottles that he has collected from their many travels together line the walls above the pool table.  Lately, Amber has been folding the baby laundry on the pool table so they thought it would be fun to pose something there.  We arranged the balls to reveal Eli’s estimated due date, initially 3/24/11, and then we made the more recent estimation of today, 3/22, once we found another 2 ball to work with!  Today seems like the right day to blog these.

Here’s a slideshow with my favs and you can visit the online gallery by clicking here.  Amber and Justin, thanks for being such fun subjects and I wish you an amazing birth experience sometime very soon… Hey, maybe even today!  Can’t wait to hear the good news when Eli has arrived!

Posted by Mel @ 8:54 pm, in Bellies, Portraits, Wee Ones | No comments | Permalink

Baby Michael has grown so much since last we met.  Unlike his sister Caroline, who has always been a silly camera ham, Michael might be more of an old soul the way he gazes curiously but confidently into the lens.  Like my son, Michael is afflicted with baby eczema, a painful condition that is especially prominent on those handsome young faces.  While it took a little extra photoshopping to erase the eczema from our memories, he didn’t seem too bothered by it the day I came.  Maybe it was the unseasonably warm day, which always seems to help.  From the overalls and bare feet, you would never have guessed that we took these photos outside on a February day here in Virginia!

Michael’s nursery has taken on some new additions since last I visited, including a painting by sister Caroline and super sweet canvas displays made by Auntie Carolyn:

I love this smiley photo of Michael with the teddy bear his dad played with as a little boy.

We got a little time in with Michael before Caroline came back from preschool and John came home for lunch for some family shots.  We tried to settle everyone down with a story time…

…which didn’t last very long…

So we decided to embrace the great outdoors and headed out for some silly family shots.

Caroline and Michael look so much like brother and sister, making it especially fun to repeat some of the photos from Caroline’s baby sessions for comparison.  Here Caroline looks like the quiet one and Michael looks like the ham!

I also like comparing these shots of John playing with both baby C and Baby Michael, both shots completely unprompted.  Talk about cuddle consistency!

It was such a great day, here’s a slideshow and click here if you want to access the online gallery.  I love watching this little guy grow…

Posted by Mel @ 6:31 pm, in Portraits, Wee Ones | 1 comment | Permalink

In case you missed the story of Katie and Lee’s wedding last August, Windy Jennings blogged about it yesterday as a feature for Style Me Pretty’s Little Black Book.  Like all good stories, its one that should be told again and again so check it out.   Sometimes great opportunity masquerades as impending disaster and it was great to be part of a team that knew how to pull off the disguise!

Posted by Mel @ 8:54 pm, in News, Weddings | No comments | Permalink

I know, this blog has been all baby lately and some of you are wondering if we still shoot weddings at all… indeed we do!  While warm weather months continue to be more popular for nuptuals here in Virginia, there’s a lot of opportunity in a winter wedding:  we’re still waiting for just one snowy wedding, we have yet to get snow once in over 10 years of shooting so its only a matter of time.  While it didn’t snow on February 11th, the date itself was significant and it was a perfect, mild winter day to get married.  Hailing from South Dakota, Rebecca wasn’t too concerned with cold anyway so we took all their portraits outdoors.  The couple met before the ceremony on the balcony outside Rebecca’s suite and sweet it was…

The ceremony took place at historic St. John’s Church just a couple blocks from our home in Church Hill.  This is the spot where Patrick Henry gave his famous, “Give me Liberty or Give me Death” speech and the irony of getting married there has been pointed out once or twice by those more cynical about marriage than we are… we defend St. Johns as a truly special and beautiful place to tie the knot if not outright patriotic.  After getting ready and taking family portraits at the Jefferson Hotel, the crew arrived at the church a little early, giving us time to take a few photos outside the church and in the neighboring Mews: a garden tucked away in an alley just to the right of the church.

Ceremonies at St. Johns are unique events that take you back in time and end with the church’s bell being rung by hand… we were surprised to see our neighbor Joe climb up into the balcony with us to perform the task!  After the ceremony it was off to the Jefferson and the couple took a sweet ride in a bright yellow Ferrari, the sound of its engine unfamiliar on our  historic streets…

OK, only a photo geek is going to point this out.  See how Rebecca and her father, who are moving, are still and sharp in the photo while all the people in the audience, who are still, are blurry as if they are moving?  That would be my hubby’s technical prowess: he did a subtle pan from the balcony (moving the camera with Rebecca and her dad’s movement, creating the illusion that Rebecca and her dad are frozen while their surroundings are moving).  Totally cool trick and pretty hard to pull off successfully so I had to brag on him just a little…

Everything about the wedding honored elegance and history, from Rebecca’s stunning lace dress to her bouquet modeled after her mother’s wedding bouquet.  Check out the swatch…

Thank you, Rebecca and Michael, for inviting us to be part of your wedding.  Here’s a slideshow with our favorites from the day and if you would like to be be notified by email when all the photos are available online, click here.  Congrats!

Posted by Mel @ 3:48 pm, in Weddings | No comments | Permalink