Easy work!

Typically the two words in the post title above don’t go together very well, but I had a taste of that the other day as I did headshots for two beautiful young ladies at a local park. Jessi is a friend of mine who is an extremely talented dancer who is really going places (literally). She asked me to capture some images of her and another skilled dancer for a national dance competition that she will be attending soon. We had worked with Jessi in the past and knew that we would have an easy day ahead of us, so we headed down to the park to get to work. While we captured a ton of images that day, these were some of our favorites (I may post more later as time allows)…

Sarah was a joy to work with…
Sarah

Jessi’s classic pose and beauty deserved a classic B/W treatment…
Jessi b/w

…and in color, just as stunning!
Jessi

a vintage look seemed to suit this one…
Sarah b/w

we will be working with them again in a series of artistic images where their dance skills are the focus in the future… stay tuned!

Jennifer & Michael’s Wedding…

Jennifer & Michael asked us to photography their wedding in Fairfield, VA at a church that her Grandmother had attended for many, many years. We arrived at the church on Friday so that we could be there for the rehearsal and see how everything would happen the next day, the GPS got us there with no worries, but I’m glad I didn’t blink or sneeze, otherwise I may have missed the whole town! This beautiful little church is nestled in between some mountaintops and farmland in the town, and contains some absolutely beautiful woodwork inside!

Enough of my rambling and on to the images!

(note, due to the load times, and the average viewers monitor settings, I’m going back to smaller images…)

Jennifer’s Dress was simply amazing!
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The ceremony was performed by Michael’s friend Nathan and was beautifully written
Jennifer & Michael at the altar

no caption needed here!
the kiss

while not a technically perfect image, I really love this one…
Jennifer & Michael exit...

moments like this are why we love weddings!
First Dance

Shannon and Jeremy at Mabry Mill

Shannon and Jeremy asked us to meet them at Mabry Mill for their E-Session with us a few weeks back…

The mill has quite a charm (some old-school sepia treatment doesn’t hurt!)
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And a more modern treatment…
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Next, the couple turned on the heat for some fun in the woods (they could totally be models right?)
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Then we stopped by an old structure for a quick bit…
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And Shannon’s shoes stole the last shot (how could they not!), Jeremy got mad props for picking these out! What will Shannon be wearing on the big day?!? We can’t wait to see…
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You’ll be seeing them again soon after the wedding, and Shannon will be doing bridals before to long.

Natalie and Matt’s Wedding

Two days after their engagement session we photographed the wedding of this beautiful couple. We had seen them on Thursday for their E-session, Friday for the rehearsal, and most of the day Saturday for the wedding, we were really beginning to feel like old friends!
A beautiful ceremony (at The Woodland Place in Vinton, VA) involving a ribbon binding the couple to the friends and family that were there, a sand ceremony, and the release of doves all worked together to create a very moving day!

Natalie’s sister Julia did a stunning job with her hair and makeup…
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We took the (beautiful) ladies outside for a little bit
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Then Natalie alone…
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Matt and his crew had a turn outside…
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What a handsome bunch eh?
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During the ceremony the release of doves!
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Outside again, this couple worked it like they were modeling for Vogue…
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And at the end of the night, after lots of dancing and fun…
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Natalie and Matt’s rush engagement session…

Natalie and Matt contacted us last summer to book us for their wedding this spring. We had a blast at the meeting talking about all sorts of things and generally having a ball over a cup of coffee.
As with any couple that books with us, we like to do an engagement session with them so that we can all get to know each other before the big day. This makes it all go a little smoother on the wedding day. As time went on last fall, the leaves fell off the trees, and the New River Valley took on a grey-ish tone. Natalie and Matt wanted to do their session at the War Memorial at Virginia Tech, but with more green, so we waited…
We waited for the green of spring to arrive and color the campus at Tech, a call to Natalie revealed that she now lived a few states away! “Well, let me know when you’ll be in town again” I said, and checked back frequently through the spring. As the wedding day approached I called Natalie to check on her schedule again and she remarked that she would not be back in town until the week before the wedding! As we do all of our shoots outdoors (well almost all) I worried about the weather and everyone’s schedule during that busy week! Well, we first scheduled Wednesday the 6th for the session, and the weather was dicey, BIG scattered thunderstorms all afternoon and evening, so we looked to Thursday for our salvation…
Thursday came with storms and rain and thunder and lightning… but it looked as though we might have a shot, a hole in the clouds, just maybe we could work with it…
After the drive to campus the sky was a beautiful blue (with some dark clouds screaming though), so we headed to the place that Matt had proposed to Natalie, on top of the chapel at the War Memorial…
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We took some portraits of each of them individually (with his striking good looks I thought I had Sean Penn in front of my lens!)
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Natalie has a quiet, natural beauty about her…
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We found a beautiful niche (our specialty) in a stairwell nearby (complete with trashcan!)
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And finished up where they had their first date at Cabo Fish Taco!
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So, on Friday when we showed up for the rehearsal (as an added bonus we do this whenever possible to see how things will flow, talk to the officiant, and set a gameplan for the big day, think of it as advanced scouting) we delivered a set of prints for them to show off at the rehearsal and reception the following day!

A great couple to work with, as they come back though town we plan on doing a fashion bridal (aka: Trash the Dress) session!

Still here…

Yes, we are still here (busy as can be though!) We have a headshots/portrait session to post here as well as an engagment session, and two weddings, I just have to find the time to write something witty, cute, and funny to go with it! None of those things comes out of my tired brain, so I’m mentally preparing them before I sit down to write…

Stay tuned…