Chauncy (Chance) and Laurence were born to one of my favorite couples, Ida-Laurinda and John! I’ve waited a long time to meet them and they were totally ready for their close-up!

They charmed the shoes off me (okay…I took my shoes off at her house because they were squeaking LOL but still) and Ida-Laurinda practically had to kick me out of her home, but I fell in LOVE with these two! Laurence has a bit of a laid back personality, and Chance is such a little character; when he objects to something he sticks one hand out like a crossing guard and leaves it there! They are also skilled at crying in unison!

Some of my favorites from our shoot!

Chance is on the left and Laurence is on the right not in the photo! LOL, Mommy knows her sons all too well

Laurence opening his eyes for a brief second:

Chance worked it for the camera:

Don’t worry, Mom was just out of frame

Chance (on the right) was totally about to punch the paparazzi. It’s not easy being photographed Laurence was super chill for the most part.

I also learned that when we have a baby I’m probably going to stare at him/her for hours, because when I wasn’t shooting, that’s what I was doing with the boys! Every little facial expression and yawn had me captivated!

Ida-Laurinda and John thank you for letting me capture your beautiful sons! I’ll be back soon for a family session!

I wonder how many more blog posts are going to begin with “I’ve known ______ since the _____th grade.”

I’m happy that a lot of the friends I grew up with are finding love and I’m really blessed to be able to document such an important time in their lives!

Anyway, I’ve known Fred since middle school and I was really excited to meet Felicia while I was in DC! We shot in Georgetown which is one of my FAVORITE places to photograph, like in the whole wide world! Textures and colors galore! We ended the evening with some delicious sushi and mojitos at Mate.

They proved to be some of the best models ever despite the humidity that turned my hair into a massive afro and the bugs that decided to attack us all at the very end of the shoot!

They met in Love.

No, really, they did! Love is a swanky lounge in DC and they caught eyes there and have been inseparable ever since!

I love a little sun flare!

That sky was SO dramatic! We were basically standing right between sunny and stormy skies! It was awesome!

Their heads made the shape of a heart!

Okay…the WHOLE TIME I’ve been editing, I kept saying ‘Awww.’ I mean, doesn’t this photo just make you say ‘Awwww!’ I love they way they look at each other!

Probably one of my favorites from the day, hands down!

Felicia and Fred, thank you for letting me spend the day with you! I am so excited to photograph your big day later on this year!
For more photos, click HERE!

I’ve known Vanessa since we were in the 6th grade! We had a ridiculous obsession with Bone Thugs-N-Harmony (don’t hate, we were cool , and I was soooo excited to shoot her wedding!

They were married at St. Rita Parish in Alexandria, and their reception was at the Capitol Hill Club in DC. Oh homesickness!

Anyway, here are some of my favorite shots from the day:

Okay, does anybody check out the Sartorialist blog? Cause ummm…the boys were the DEFINITION OF DAPPER. Erick’s combination of texture and colors = YES.

WHAT!

And the ladies were GORG! Some of them you might be familiar with

I think this is the moment where I teared up! Doesn’t she look beautiful!?

They look so happy here

I love how Vanessa incorporated yellow into her wedding. BTW this cake was GOOD!

I’ve been on a weird shadow kick as of late

Erick will NEVER forget their anniversary! Yay Vanessa!

Familiarity? A wedding with my former brides! Evelyn (my FIRST WEDDING EVER!), and Jen! I think I look a little like an Anime character in this photograph but it’s cute! Shoutout to bridesmaid Crystal for snapping this!

Vanessa and Erick, I”m SO glad that you’ve found love in each other, and thank you for letting me be a part of your day! I hope you have an amazing time on your honeymoon!

To view more photos, click HERE!

Wanakhavi is good friend of mine (and awesome videographer/photographer), and asked if I would help out and shoot his brother and future sister-in-law’s wedding and I happily obliged! They were married at Villa Christina on Friday and the day couldn’t have been any more perfect. I did about four Go Away Rain Dances the night before, and God really looked out for Tamara and Kofi because those dark clouds that brought fistfuls of heavy rain the days before disappeared that afternoon! Yay!

Here are some sneak peeks, I’m going to post more later today but I brought the wrong hard drive to school (yes…I’m in class right now!).

Dress from Brides by Demetrious:

Tamara has a grace about her that I wish she could package up and sell! She was SO calm, on a day when most of us are a ball of nerves and excitement!

I will say, one of my favorite favorite favorite moments when shooting a wedding is when the bride gets into her dress. It’s like this moment of excitement, tension, nerves, and then, surprisingly, a wave of calm once the last tie on that dress is done.

One of the two flower girls. They were SO cute!

ALL, and I mean ALL of the bridesmaids were GORGEOUS, see?

I love love loved the details Tamara and Kofi put into their big day! Pink, black and white = one of my favorite color combinations!

A little fun with off camera lighting

FAVORITE!

Tamara and Kofi, THANK YOU so much for letting me document your big day! I had an amazing time, and met some of the most gracious people in ATL

More to come! I promise!

Hello! I’m back again!

As you can see, I need a clone. Or maybe a small child that’s proficient in CS3 and Lightroom that I can pay in cookies (that’s not child labor, is it?)

All jokes aside I’ve been extremely busy wrapped up in several projects! One, being a documentary project on Egbe Alaje, THEEEE coolest Afro-Cuban dance class in Atlanta, which is held every Thursday at the D.A.I.R. Project. I’ve gotten to know some fabulous individuals– of course, Charisse, whom I’ve followed from DC to ATL , Sekou Alaje, the ridiculously talented lead drummer, and alllll the gorgeous, graceful dancers and other talented drummers who come and participate. I’ve learned so much about the significance of Yoruba/Afro-Cuban dance and drumming, and preserving the culture and history of the Diaspora in general, and I’m grateful that Charisse and Sekou have allowed me to document their class!

And of course, what’s a blog post without photos!? Yesterday was their 1 year anniversary in Atlanta, and because my professor LOVES to make me work really extra hard and think outside the box, go where I’ve never gone before, and try studio lighting outside of the studio and make me put away one of my favorite prime lenses (the 50mm 1.4, LOVE!), here are some of my results!

And of course, this is a to be continued, because I’m still shooting this project and have LOTS more goodies on my hard drive!

Again, THANK YOU to Charisse and Sekou and the members of Egbe Alaje for allowing me up to be all up in your face with a camera!

Hey hey hey!

Yes…again I’ve been lax on the blog updates. So here are some updates on arty stuff that I think is cool and maybe you will too:

For folks in the Atlanta area, check out Heidi Aishman’s solo exhibition “You Can’t Win That!’, it’s up for 3 MORE DAYS! at Gallery Stokes.

I recently did an interview on the Dodge and Burn blog! Woot! And check out some of the other interviews on there, it’s a really cool resource for photographers!

Next week one of my photographs will be in a group show at SCAD’s Silver and Ink exhibition next week at the River Club on the Savannah campus.

Ummmm right now…the photograph is framed and chillin in the trunk of my car, but by tomorrow hopefully I will change that! Annnnd if I can somehow clone myself I will be at the group show too! Yay!

I just finished my first grant proposal! It’s been a long three weeks of editing and re-editing and re-wording and worrying, and if things don’t pan out, you know what? I’m grateful for all that I learned in the process. It definitely will help me be less worried about the next submission

Oh and what’s a blog post without a photograph? I shot this after we had some rough storms surge through the area.  It was almost midnight. Wish I brought a tripod because it was a bit breezy where I was shooting. Doesn’t the sky look like you could rest your cheek against it?

Jen and Dennis first caught eyes at the Johnson Center, on the GMU campus, through a mutual friend. A few days later she invited him to go out on the town with a group of friends, including the one that introduced them.  Strangely, Dennis showed up without the matchmaker friend. A minor fender bender didn’t ruin the evening; serendipitously, at the end of the night, Dennis asked Jen to call him so he’d know she had gotten home safely.

Dennis later revealed to her that he called his matchmaker friend to meet up and only had let the phone ring once, because he wanted to spend more time alone with Jen!

Jen knew that there was something very special about Dennis, and gradually, their friendship grew to love.  He proposed to her on her birthday, surrounded by her friends and family…can we say, BEST BIRTHDAY PRESENT EVER!

I had the pleasure of photographing their wedding day with Susan Solo, and we had such an awesome time!

Okay disclaimer, this is a grillion photo blog post! I had a looooot of favorites! I might add more because I keep going through the photos and saying ‘Oooh! Love it!’

Gettin’ (more) gorgeous at M.A.C. Fair Oaks!

A little bling

They were married at Warrenton Baptist Church:

Susan is awesome!

What a GREAT looking bunch!

FAVORITE!

Susan ROCKS:

A little flash fun:

The reception was held at Stonewall Golf Club. This cake was amazing, right?

Another favorite! I love the way he’s looking at her.

Jen and Dennis, thank you sooooo much for letting us capture your day! I hope you have an awesome time on your honeymoon!

To view the slideshow, click HERE!

Hey there! So…I’m in the airport and I’d figure I’d share some of the stuff I did this week. I miss home, but I’m glad to be going back to Atlanta!

Of course, I hung out with this guy:

Watched my brother and father partake in some friendly pool competition:

Read a book on the Metro:

Learned that patrons gotta use faith:

Hirshhorned:

Got to meet Chance and Laurence for the first time (and again, in May! So excited!)

And hung out with an awesome couple yesterday!

More to come! Bout to board my plane!

Okay…for anyone that says that studying art in graduate school is an easy out, do this for me: a) calmly grab them by the ears, b) shake their head furiously, and then c) shout “NAW AW!”

This has been SUCH a challenging seme-er, quarter, for me! For one, yes, our school is based on a quarter system, so a lot of material/information is packed into a little bit of time. I have spent countless hours in the darkroom, 8 days a week in the library reading, and then I try to imagine a 9th day to sleep. But you know what? No complaints (at least not on this blog, land of the happy happiness . I like what I’m learning and am looking forward to learn more. I have a much deeper appreciation for everything that I might have admired in art, and I’m enjoying the journey.

Admittedly though, with my busy schedule, is the suckification of my blog updates. Yes, during that 9th day, when I’m catching up on some major ZZZs, I can’t squeeze in blogging. I will definitely try harder this quarter to keep updates though!

So I’m in the urreah (for you DC-radius folk, you know what I’m talkin about!) for a week, and I can’t not update my blog without a few shots of my most favorite little person in the whole wide world; my nephew!

He was, as you can imagine, overjoyed to see me!

We shared a meal of spaghetti and caught up on life:

And then once we finished our meal, he threw his fork at me. Because you know, in Toddler Speak, that means ‘NEVER LEAVE ME AGAIN. I MISS YOU AND YOUR CAMERA.’

(Did you guys know I’m a polyglot? I speak English, Spanish, and Toddler)

I’m here until Sunday, so there will definitely be updates, hopefully some posts about museum visits (I MISS THE HIRSHHORN! I’d curl up next to Ron Mueck’s Big Man if I wasn’t so creeped out by it), some R&R (’cause class starts at 8 on Monday! Auuugh!), some planning for my personal website (coming soon, really really soon!) and hopefully a sneak peek from an awesome wedding coming up on Saturday!

Okay so my blog posts are going to be a little out of order because I wanted to share these images with you first!

My good friend Charisse ran away from DC to Atlanta about a year before we did and she’s a wildly talented teacher of Afro-Cuban dance, (and she makes DELICIOUS black-eyed peas, greens and mashed sweet potatoes) and I’m sure if you show up to the D.A.I.R. Project on Thursdays from 7:30-9ish, you’ll definitely have an amazing time. There is a small fee, 12 bucks, but it’s definitely worth it!

I had the opportunity to document her dance classes when she was in DC and jumped for joy when I found out that she is teaching classes in Atlanta and needed to come up for air a little from school (I realized last week I spent on average about 12 hours a day there!), I grabbed my camera and headed out

Here are a few of my favorites:

Charisse!

Sekou Alaje and his drummers:

Okay, I’d definitely recommend seeing the SLIDESHOW!<—Click!