Sweet Baby Girl

It's so wonderful to develop "repeat business" and the best kind of client to return to the studio is a couple bringing in a new baby after I've previously photographed their wedding. It gives me such a feeling of completeness to what I do. It was a happy day a couple of weeks ago to welcome back to the studio Angel and Chad Rawls with their little angel, Camryn. Of course, it seems to me like I just photographed their wedding last year instead of three years ago but that's one of the joys of getting older. Whatever the time frame, Camryn is a doll and it was wonderful to have their new family together in front of the camera.

Boogie Shoes

A fun, fun, fun wedding I photographed earlier in the year was for Kacie and Ben at the Hilton Garden Inn in Suffolk. It's always rewarding to be "asked back" and that was the case here. I photographed Kacie's sister's wedding a couple of years ago in Virginia Beach so it was old home week with the Cobb family. The Hilton is a great place for a wedding -- a gorgeous, well-run facility on the river in Suffolk with plenty of room to party.

Kacie has spent a lot of time dancing in her past so her footwear for the big event was a beautiful pair of pink satin pointe shoes. Her shoes also played a prime role in several of the photos. By the way, isn't Ben a great dipper?

Thoughtful husbands

No, I'm not talking about mine though Joe is pretty thoughtful. I'm talking about the lovely men who call us up with requests for gifts or gift certificates for their wives because they know that's what she REALLY wants. Had such a call a couple of days ago from Sandlin Douglas in Winston-Salem. If you've seen any of my wedding photos from the past few years, you've seen photos of Sandlin and his lovely wife, Hunter, who was from Scotland Neck. My thoughtful husband, Joe, and I went to Winston-Salem three years ago to photograph their wedding. It was a glorious fall weekend. They had a truly elegant wedding and we had a great time! Sandlin called to buy a gift certificate for Hunter because he knew she wanted some more copies of their wedding photos for their home. Good going, Sandlin! One of my favorite photos of their beautiful evening was as they left the reception -- one big, happy family -- Hunter, Sandlin and their pup!

Class of '09

It's been "senior time" around the studio for the past couple of months. I worked as a high school librarian for 15 years so I really enjoy being around teenagers again. As usual, we've finished photographing all the seniors at Northeast Academy which is something we've done every year for ... well, forever. Northeast had a big class this year but we got them all taken and are working on their orders and their yearbook photos. We've also had seniors from all around the area -- Northampton and Hertford County high schools, Halifax Academy, Roanoke Rapids High School, Brunswick and Southampton academies in Virginia. This year we offered some new Senior Sessions including the "Runway Experience" where you can work at being a supermodel for a day. We have the music blasting and the fan blowing your hair and we encourage wild and crazy dancing. We haven't had any guys take us up on these sessions yet but we're waiting. Call for a session now if you're interested.

Melody & Stephen -- Suffolk, VA

Trying to continue with some of the beautiful spots I've "wedded" this summer. One of the nice parts about living so close to the state line is that I get to venture over into Virginia a lot. I was in Suffolk this summer for Melody and Stephen's wedding at a beautiful old Methodist church downtown with the reception at the new cultural arts center. It was a beautiful summer day and they were a fantastic couple to work with. Melody had created a sophisticated color palette of green and black and the flowers, the programs, the bridesmaids' dresses -- and it all worked together beautifully. The flowers (Ray's Florist in Suffolk) were really great and each bridesmaid had a different "cone" of green and black that held her flowers. I had never worked at the cultural arts center but it looks like it was once an old school that has been refurbished. The reception area held everyone comfortable and there was a beautiful colonnade in the back of the center where the wedding party stopped off for photos on the way inside. There was supposed to be an exciting sparkler send-off for the bride and groom but a summer thunderstorm came up and it was pouring buckets by the time they left. The excited guests couldn't contain themselves from trying out the sparklers though with the end result being that the sparklers set off the smoke detectors in the building (the guests were supposed to be outside but the rain kept driving them in with their sparklers in hand). The bride and groom got quite an unusual send-off since the fire department arrived as they were leaving!

Becca Boo

I probably can't say enough about Rebecca. She's been one of my favorite subjects before the camera for years. I can't begin to count how many times I've taken her photos -- at the prom, as a cheerleader, senior portraits, as a student at "Miss Helen's" dance class. She's got a bubbly, infectious personality and I think the world of her. When I came home from the photographer's convention last year, I had some new ideas I wanted to test. I always hate to ask a client to be my guinea pig so I called on Rebecca and asked her to come over and "pose and play." She was up to the challenge -- as I knew she would be -- and I took photos of her for the better part of a morning. She laughed, she cried, she danced, she lay on the floor and kicked her legs in the air. Working with her gave me lots of inspiration for some of the new senior portrait sessions that I initiated this fall. Thanks, Becca!!

And to answer the question that everyone who sees her photos asks me -- "Yes, her eyes really are that blue!"

Lake O' the Woods Plantation

I promised I'd write a little about some of the beautiful spots I've been lucky enough to visit photographing weddings this year. The first one that pops in my mind is Lake O' The Woods Plantation which was the site of Ashley and Jonathan's wedding in early summer. Ashley told me the plantation was in Warrenton and I know that's their mailing address but I had to get out my trusty maps and use Mapquest to find the spot and I call it Hollister. It's about as far out in the country as you can get and this statement is coming from someone who grew up in the middle of a peanut field!! You'll see from one photo in particular that it was so nice and quiet that I could ask the groom and groomsmen to pose in the middle of the road and we were perfectly safe from the traffic.

Who cares where Lake O' the Woods is -- it's beautiful!! The plantation house has been carefully restored and has a lovely backyard with a patio and a pool and a beautiful rolling lawn that leads down to a pasture with a rail fence and barn. There were more spots for photos than you can shake a stick at and Ashley and Jonathan seemed happy to follow wherever I wanted to lead. Of course I got Jonathan on my side by requesting lots of kissing photos of him and his lovely bride. I hope I'm fortunate enough to work at Lake O' The Woods again!