Fall Session at the National Cathedral-Virginia Family Photographer

Can I just say that I love my job!? I do and it's because of families like this one who make my job so much fun. I've said it before in many posts that one part I love about what I do is that I am able to meet so many wonderful people and let me tell you, Beth and her family fit the bill. We met up an hour or so before sunset at that National Cathedral. Originally we had planned on shooting on the mall but when Beth emailed me a few days previous and asked if we could move the location I was ecstatic when she said "National Cathedral". I'm a sucker for anything European or, in the Cathedral's case, anything that looks European. The grounds are always beautifully kept and there are so many different nooks and crannies to photograph in that you have background choices galore.

When I arrived it was windy to say the least. But the sky was a gorgeous blue and the building was breathtaking.

And then these cute little faces came around the corner and I knew I was in for a treat:

And with a handsome dad and beautiful mom who liked hiding out in make-shift tent forts, how could we go wrong?

We took shelter on the south side of the Cathedral because, no joke, the wind was blowing like crazy but about 20 minutes into the session the winds calmed and it was like any other fall evening.

My favorite of Sean and his little girl

And one of my faves of these two. She was captivated at first my the clicking sound of my camera and would stare at it mesmerized. But that only lasted a few minutes and then she was off crawling and giggling again.

I try to make my sessions fun, not painful. And sometimes I'm sure I look or sound goofy but if I can get an image like this, it's all worth it.

And sometimes, if you've just celebrated your first birthday, there may be cupcakes involved. Thank you Curbside Cupcakes for our yummy treats. Sorry Beth that I stole yours. :(

All in all, we had a nice, relaxing time:

We had some hide and seek time:

And even some time for a little of this:

But when you look this good, my job is easy:

Beth, Sean, I loved spending the evening with you all! I am so glad you found me on google (thank you google!) and called me up so that we could capture how awesome your family is. I hope you enjoyed your sneak peek! :)

Jenny

I used to live in the DC are five years ago and I knew Jenny then. We didn't do much together but we knew who the other one was. When I moved back I saw her one Sunday in church, we struck up a conversation and have become fast friends. We both love running (though I'm still trying to heal a heel issue that just won't go away), we share the same travel bug and love of photography, plus, I find her line of work fascinating (you'll have to ask her... :)

We went around Crystal City the Friday before I took off to Washington state and happily laughed and snapped pictures along the way. Here's a sneak peek!

(Side note, I'm editing on my laptop... colors/tones/lighting, etc. might be a tad off. That's just my little disclaimer) :)

By far this is one of my faves from the session....

It's all in the details...

I know that is sometimes a cliche statement but it's true. The details truly make the difference. Here are a few more I wanted to share with you.

Dream wedding

I was at the most amazing wedding yesterday. Even better, I got to second shoot the wedding with the wonderful Andrea Shirey. Have you ever been to a wedding that just blew you away? The setting, the people, the details, the food, drinks, celebration and overall feeling of it... just wonderful? A wedding where you leave and think to yourself, what an amazing evening...

Granted, I was the second photographer and not a guest. I couldn't go out and bust a move on the dance floor (like I wanted to) nor could I chow down on the most delicious looking cake ever (vanilla, chocolate and poppy seed flavors were the three to chose from!). But I did cry (even though I tried to keep it under wraps), and I did get to pal around with the awesome groom and his groomsmen/best man. And when I got so hot and dizzy that I thought I was going to faint I did give in and take a second to chug a ginger ale to get my blood sugar back up. So I got to enjoy some of the festivities. :) Either way, the night was filled with amazing people celebrating a beautiful wedding in a breathtaking location. What a fabulous night. Let me see if I can help you feel a little of what I felt.

Hello blue shoes! We'll see you again as you wrap up our evening.

The wedding was help on the ground of Kenswick Vineyards near Charlottesville. A beautiful, peaceful location in the Virginia countryside.

The beautiful bride (right) with one of her bridesmaids (a friend from college).

In with the men, the groom unwrapped a gift from his bride. (Seriously, these guys give the most awesome gifts ever!)

Up until this week we've been enjoying beautiful fall temperatures. And then all of a sudden it got unbearably hot. Temps were in the low 90s and this pool was looking mighty tempting.

But these guys were such troopers, sweating it out in the heat with hardly a complaint.

The pastor leading the groom and his men in for the start of the ceremony.

The first time seeing his bride. I love capturing these moments!

The details were everywhere: mason jars with flowers on the chairs, beautiful programs, flowers wrapped around the archway, a string quartet...

"I now pronounce you man and wife"

Being announced as husband and wife. I'm getting teary-eyed remembering it.

And of course, the first dance.

Good night blue shoes, you served yourselves well.

Family Pictures

I mentioned in a post a while back that I needed to schedule family pictures for my own family. And I did! And I felt what a lot of you probably feel. I worried about what we were going to wear, where we should shoot them. And then I worried about the weather (which wound up being gorgeous) and worried about whether we would be late (we weren't). I worried that Ella would be a terror (she wasn't... although she was quite active). I got knots in my stomach waiting for Shelby to arrive because of my nervousness. In case you haven't caught on yet, I'm kind of a worrier. And, I kind of need to work on that. But that's a whole different blog post.

Let me offer a few hints to help you not worry as much as I did. For clothes, pick out what your husband is going to wear first (this is easiest), then you, the wife, then your kids. Don't feel that you need to all wear the same color, just make sure that they go together. As for the location, where do you love to go? If you could visit one or two certain places outdoors for some rest and relaxation, where would you visit? Then, don't worry about the weather. You can't control it. If need be, the session can be rescheduled. As for your kids, relax. Kids will sense if you're stressed. Go with the flow, let them do what they want (more or less). The photographer will help guide you through your session and try to help with your kids as much as possible. And finally, relax, relax, relax. Your session will be fun! You'll feel like a model! You'll feel beautiful and important and in the end, you'll have some of the most beautiful images of your family you've ever seen.

I knew of Shelby because we both sometimes frequent a photography forum so I contacted her to see if she would be interested in photographing my little family, and in return, me photographing hers. And she agreed! So on Labor Day we met up on the mall for a couple mini-sessions and here are some of my favorites that she took of us. Thank you Shelby. These are more precious to us than anything.






And one of my favorite images from my time with Shelby and her beautiful family:

Update on goals

How bad is it that I'm behind on posting about my 101 goals in 1001 days? Like, way behind. My attempt is to keep these short and sweet so that I can acknowledge what I've done but not write a long (and possibly boring) novel about everything.

Goal #28: 2nd shoot a wedding with 2 different photographers
Last October I helped second shoot my first wedding ever with Jennifer Creed. I was nervous of course, a wedding is such a big day filled with moments that you never want to forget. Then just last month I was lucky enough to shoot with Andrea Shirey, a photographer I have admired for a couple years now. Again, nerves like you wouldn't believe. So what did I learn? Nerves happen. Get over it and shoot. :)

Goal #46: Get a massage
Like this is really that hard right? Well, when your husband is a law student and you're paying what we do in tuition and living, a massage isn't always high up on the list of things to purchase. But last January I had the worst kink in my neck and it kept going on for days. I finally went in, got a massage and almost like a miracle I was cured. So what did I learn? Massages rock, splurge every now and then if you're on a tight budget. It is sooo worth it.

Goal #52: Do a "Shoot for a cause" where I devote an entire day shooting mini sessions for a cause
After the January earthquake in Haiti I decided that I wanted to donate to the Red Cross but wanted to make a bigger dent than just what I could give. And so I came up with the idea of doing 20 minute mini sessions for $50 and having each family donate directly to a charity in the name of the Haiti earthquake victims. And then I decided to donate 75% of whatever products each family purchased. I tallied up the money and together these families and I helped raise over $600 which was donated to charity. Lesson learned? It feels wonderful to give to others. Can't wait to do it again!

Goal #58: Volunteer at a Senior Center one time
I volunteered at a Senior Center for two months when we lived in Nashville. I started with this goal in mind-to go just once but kept going back. I would play the piano during the lunch hour while the Seniors ate. Lesson learned? Eventually it became tricky trying to find someone to watch my daughter while I went and I decided to wait to do something similar until E gets older.

And just so that you can enjoy this post a little more, a picture of my little girl taken last month. She is so cute.