Katie + Thomas

Yesterday was the first day of spring, and mother nature did not disappoint - the temperature was perfect in the mid-seventies, the sky was cloudless and Katie and Thomas were ready to shoot their engagement portrait session. They came prepared with a Save-the-Date sign and lots of ideas for their shoot, making my job pretty easy! I knew it was going to be a great day when Krispy Kreme doughnuts were mentioned as part of their theme. Even their dog Peter got in on the action. Katie also shared her wedding color palette with me, so I was on the hunt to find the colors occurring in the outdoors. 

Their wedding date is set for October 2nd (a great weekend for a wedding... not that I'm biased since our wedding date was October 3rd!) and with Katie's flair for design and detail, and Thomas' food prowess (he operates Oak City Smoke - the BEST BBQ around), I have no doubt that their wedding is going to be a great affair... just like their marriage :)

When You Can't Meet Your Photography Idol in Person, Buy Their DVD

My birthday present arrived this week (even though my birthday was a month ago). I am so excited to see what insight Tamara gives - fingers crossed there's a section on Photoshop or Lightroom! I'm almost afraid to start watching it, because I know I won't want it to end.

Other photography bday themed gifts included a Gary Fong "puffer"

It diffuses the light from the flash so it doesn't cast the harsh bright light onto your subject. I used it at the Oyster Roast and it worked beautifully.

A mono-pod - Provides stability for the times when you don't want to lug out your heavy-duty tripod.

A new lens!!! The 85mm, 1.8 portrait lens I've been salivating over.

Photoshop Elements 8.0 (a gift to myself since I found a discounted rate at Costco)

I love that I'm having trouble cramming all my gear into my bag now. I think this means I need another one. I've been eying the Lowepro sling backpack and as luck would have it, I have a gift card to Southeastern Camera that needs to be used.

I love birthdays!

Green Day

Happy St. Patty's Day

Things I Love

Cowboy boots. I haven't had them for long, but long enough to know that they seem appropriate for any and every situation... cute sundress? sure! walking the dog? why not? quick trip to the grocery store? you betcha.

Listening to the free the CD Coldplay gave out at their concert, on my way home from work.

I would love it even if it wasn't free, but it makes it that much sweeter.

Husband in the kitchen. He knows what he's doing... more so than me.

Thank goodness or we might starve!

A wet nose followed by a gentle but slobbery kiss on my palm in the morning. 

A subtle but sweet hint it's time to go out.

SweetWater Brewing Company's blueberry beer.
I'm a recent convert, but will definitely make this one of my go to summer drinks.

Up in the Air

Friday nights have become kind of a recovery time for us. After a long, exhausting week at work, we sometimes have trouble finding motivation to get off of the couch, whereas just a couple of years ago, we couldn't wait to see where the night would lead us. Ugh, does this mean we're getting old? I'm hoping it's more weather related and as the weather turns warm, we'll be back to our old selves - ready for game nights with friends, cook outs by the pool, and of course the occasional pint of beer or glass of wine downtown, maybe even some dancing if we're feeling especially ambitious. 

This past Friday it was cold, raining and we had both worked LONG hours. So on my way home from work, I stopped by a RedBox to pick up the Oscar nominated movie Up in the Air, which I had already reserved using the newly downloaded RedBox app on my droid (did I mention I love this phone? Its means of pre-planning leave me breathless...) I won't list any spoilers here, since I hate it when details of movies, sporting events, etc. leak out (unless of course I'm seeking to find out the results.) I only want to comment on the intro to the movie though. It shows lots of different views from a plane in flight - views of fields, irrigation systems, clouds, bodies of water etc. Well, this reminded me of some shots I had gotten on our flight to the British Virgin Islands for our honeymoon. We had gone back and forth on which mode of transportation to take to get there since Virgin Gorda is a tiny island, and our choices were limited. It was between flying from San Juan to Virgin Gorda on a Cessna 404 (see picture here... yikes!) OR taking a more substantial propeller plane (ATR72) from San Juan to Tortola Island and then having a catamaran pick us up for the 20 minute ride to the resort, with complimentary rum punch provided... Guess which one we took?

Here are the photos from the plane heading over the islands and drinks on the catamaran.

 

Top 25

I knew it was only going to last 8 weeks, but I'm pretty bummed my Creative Camera III class is over. I'm now in search for my next photography teaching tool/class/mentor, but in the mean time, I thought I'd share our final class assignment - 25 pictures of our choice that we feel exemplifies us as photographers. While I'm hoping to move towards wedding photography, unfortunately my portfolio is void of any wedding pics at the moment, so in the mean time, here are some of my favorite shots that I've taken since owning a DSLR.