[Teaser] Kristin + Charlie :: Maryland Wedding Photography

I guarantee you have never met a couple like the new Mr. & Mrs. Charlie Hudson. They are truly two people who are one of a kind and because of that they definitely may as well be two peas in a pod. I was blessed to photograph them take their vows just yesterday followed but a serious party with dancing like you have never seen it before.

Thank you, Charlie & Kristin for allowing me the great honor of photographing your wedding. May your new life together be filled to the brim with all of the Lord's richest blessings.

Happy two weeks, Nicole + Adam :: St. Michael's Wedding Photography

It is so hard for me to come up with something to say about Nicole and Adam and their wedding. Why? Because I absolutely adore them so much that everything that I come up to say about them that seems like is more than adequate turns out to be anything but. I type, I stop, I look at what I just typed. I stare at the blinking cursor. And then I delete everything.

(This sounds like such a lame excuse for why I have not posted anything for them/of them on here so far but it really is the truth.)

There are photographers who specialize in weddings and engagements but I am actually not one of them. Why? Well... because, honestly? When I do them the only way I know how to do them is to really invest myself personally and emotionally in them with the couple. I spend a lot of time with them before I take their pictures (engagement and/or wedding) and then I spend a lot more time with them when I photograph. This time is something I need to be able to get to know them and so they can get to know me. It helps me to establish a connection with them so that when the camera has to come into play, it is mostly a non-entity and pretty unobtrusive.

With the camera playing a role that is so inconspicuous - all while I am getting to know the folks I am photographing - I am able to use my camera to document people at their most authentic. I (and the camera) are able to see the purest essence of who, what, how, and where they are in the moments that I am sharing with them. And it's for all of these reasons that I can't and I don't just do every wedding or engagement presented to me. Photographing weddings is so much more than me taking pictures of someone's big day. For me it's an honor and blessing that I am permitted to have because I know that I am being allowed to be a part of something sacred and monumental for a person and the rest of the story of their love and life.

By the time Nicole and Adam's wedding day arrived, I had already spent enough time with them and come to know them such that I felt like I belonged there and not just that I was being paid to be there and do a job. That's how I feel at most all weddings I photograph but it only happens like that because of my personal commitment, responsibility, and investment to being right there with them.

I just adore Nicole and Adam. They are two of the most lovely and loving and fun and kind and unconditionally caring people I might ever know for the rest of my life. Seriously! I know I am gushing but that's just how it's going to have to be because unlike everything else I have tried to right about and for them, I don't want to delete any of the gushing.

As of tomorrow, they will have been married for two weeks! Here are just a few of the amazingness that was their perfect wedding day. There's so much more to come but this will have to do for now because I certainly need more time to be able to come up with a much more descriptive posting of their day that isn't just me talking about how awesome they are.

Let's get personal...Where is YOUR heart? Here is Mine...

Hello, hello! Long time no updates? Uhmmm... yeah... sorry about that. It didn't really happen on purpose but the fact that it did? Well, I must admit that I'm glad it did happen like that.

This year has truly been a year of me sorting through my life, looking at it all through Christ-focused lenses, and then paring it all down to only the things that point to Him. This has meant that I have had to make some very tough choices and employ some serious willpower to resist the urge to engage and invest myself (and my time) the way I always have. The truth is this: If you do what you've always done, you'll keep getting what you've always gotten. Another truth? It's this: Only a crazy person would keep doing the same thing over and over again and expect different results.

I've been ready and needing major changes in my life for quite sometime now but I haven't been exactly open to it all. Wouldn't you know it? I have been standing in my own way but more honestly God's way! *sigh* Good thing my faith in Him is (surprisingly very much) intact and I am not so stubborn that I can't admit when and how I am wrong in order to make way for Him to change both my heart AND my ways! Growing pains are always painful to experience but I'm delighted to report that the Lord is giving me some very obvious signposts that tell me without a shadow of a doubt that I'm going about things in exactly the way He wants me to. The investments that I am making in Him (before EVERYTHING else!) are returning dividends in spades! Every day I am amazed at the way He is providing for me and covering me with His unconditional grace, mercy, and PEACE. Truly I am blessed and I know it's because of my convictions and determination to repent for the wayward paths I've taken that have just about strayed me from Him. But enough of the veiled narration of my life. How about something obvious that He has done for me that I rarely share here.

One of the greatest challenges for me as a visual artist and photographer is balancing work and life. On one hand I love being at the easel or behind the camera because I am all about the endless opportunities that the Lord provides me with to share the view of His gorgeous intelligent design that is within the world. I am all about creating for Him and sharing the things He inspires me to create with others. Trouble with all of this is that it makes me a bit of a workaholic. Of this, I am very aware of how it all robs my family of some of the best of me and distracts me from answering what I believe is an incredible calling to be a better wife and mother to my husband and family.

I was a photographer and visual artist long before I became a wife and mother but I know that when I ventured to answer God's calling to become betrothed to my husband and then be a mother to my daughter, it would require me to be very careful and conscientious to not let any one role rule over the others. Because I am far from perfect, I have made the careless decisions to be more of an artist and photographer and less of a wife and mother. I stand corrected and in that I have made concerted efforts to not keep going about it in ways I know the Lord does not want me to go.

There have been a number of things I have done in order to choose my marriage and my daughter over my work and outside (of the family) interests. I haven't been alone in my efforts either. My husband has done the same sorts of things. You know what is yielded? We are walking closer with the Lord in our efforts to glorify Him in the covenant of marriage that He helped us make with Him and ultimately this is making us see our precious daughter (our only child) as the precious gift that she is both to us and ultimately to the rest of the world.

These days as my husband and I work on ourselves as well as on our own togetherness, we are relishing and cherishing the days, times, and quickly fleeting moments with our daughter. Truth be told, we never thought we would have a girl because boys run so rampantly on his side of the family. And for me? Well, when I was pregnant with my precious daughter, I was convinced that I was having a boy despite the pregnancy dreams that only showed me little girls! Even when I found out I was having a little girl it took me about a month and a half to get over the shock that I was having a daughter.

It feels like so long ago since I was pregnant with my little girl and it's no wonder because look at what she looks like now!!! As it's been said in a country song, "She's her daddy's girl and her mama's world..."

Every day I am thankful to have this precious little lady in my life. She regularly tells me I am her most favorite person in the world (though I am sure this could quickly change once she hits her teenage years) but for now? I am loving it all and soaking it all in and her father and I are enthralled with her with every day that passes and we are complimented (by others) of what a lovely little gal she is becoming.

I rarely to never to portrait sessions with her - the last time was when she was in her infancy - and that's by and large because I try my best to not always be behind my big cameras when I am with her. I take plenty of camera phone pictures of her but the other morning I did a morning mini session with her in the backyard of our home and that's what you see above. How blessed I am to have such a precious daughter as her and these pictures only serve as proof to me that I need to do portrait sessions with her way more often in order to really remember every moment of how blessed I am to have her in my life.

Sorry this has been such a long update but just wanted to share with you a huge part of the reason I am hardly active on this here blog. Thanks so much for sticking with me (this long) if you have and allowing me to share with you some of the pieces of my heart that mean so much to me.

Jacob's Bar Mitzvah :: Annapolis Mitzvah Photography

If you ever have the opportunity to attend a bar mitzvah or a bat mitzvah - consider yourself blessed!!! It is an amazing occasion and milestone to be able to celebrate with someone as a part of the Jewish culture and faith.


I had the incredible honor to photograph Jacob's bar mitzvah in Arnold, Maryland at the beautiful Temple Beth Shalom.

Though I wasn't able to photograph his ceremony out of respect for the traditions and ceremony itself, I was able to spend lots of time before hand getting some great shots of him preparing with the Student Canter at the Torah (pictured below).

The party afterwards was both fun and lively and seriously memorable...

Congratulations, Jacob!! So glad and honored to have been able to bear witness (and photographs) of your big day as a bar mitzvah.

Baby Cooper :: Virginia newborn portrait photographer

Don't even tell me there is anything much better than a newborn baby because you are absolutely wrong. ;)

I got to spend just about two full hours with brand new little baby Cooper but can I just tell you that I could have easily done hours more and not even thought to try and notice? 

Such an easy going guy little Cooper was! So easy going, in fact, that he slept the entire way through the session. Still, he didn't spare me any of the sweet little baby noises that I am so very fond of. Nothing better than being able to work to a soundtrack of tiny little baby noises like that. *sigh*

Cooper's daddy just happened to have a brand new tie from his alma mater on hand (dad's college and not Cooper's... yet!) and it was hard not look at him and not make any Harry Potter comparison with the print of the tie itself.  Give this little guy a wand and a cap and he looks absolutely Hogwarts bound!

What a joy and honor it was to do this session of baby Cooper. Mom and dad were talking of a possible relocation far from here in the coming months but they said they would love to come back to the area and settle down here so perhaps this won't be the last that I'll get to see of sweet Cooper.

The most wonderful time of the year

When I was growing up I wanted to be an artist. Trouble with it is that the word starving too often precedes the title of artist. Well, I'm happy to report that I think at this point I qualify as being "grown up" and I made it to being an artist but I'm much more a WORKING artist than a starving one.

The type of artwork I do is not necessarily the stuff that hangs in fine art galleries. (Well... I hope that someday my studio art endeavors will take me to a place like that!)  Just the same, my artwork is still hanging on walls all across the country. The images I help create are beloved family portraits taken just in time for holiday send outs, snapshots of those tender moments right after a couple betroths themselves to one another or just before a mother delivers her beautiful baby, and preservations of the incredible bliss that is being completely in love and newly engaged. I absolutely L-O-V-E doing the work I do because it's the kind of stuff that even after it does get changed out to make room for the next year's portraits, it always stays in the hearts and memories as a thing of beauty to be cherished and treasured.

This time of year is just about my favorite not just for the obvious reasons of the Christmas season but also because I get to see the fruit of my investment in creating images of true beauty come back to me in the way of seeing it pop up in the profile spots of facebook pages OR within annual holiday send outs. Nothing gives me quite a joy like that of opening up some good ol' fashioned snail mail to see my own handiwork staring back at me with well wishes for a merry Christmas and happy New Year from my wonderful clients.

This portrait was taken in the Baltimore area in the Fall of this year! What better way to wish someone a warm holiday than with the beautifully warm color palette that an autumn color palette offers.

Something unique I offer that goes far beyond photography is graphic design expertise!  I can snap gorgeous pictures of you and your loved ones just as much as I can pair them up with tasteful and polished graphic elements that make them more than suitable for holiday cards, birth announcements, save-the-dates, and invitations. I walk you through the design process from start to finish and provide you with an image ready for printing and MUCH cheaper than some of the big names out there that have only a catalog of templated designs that everyone else has. Just as the portrait work I do is commissioned artwork to me, the graphic design pieces are also ART in my book. I love using the gifts that the Lord has blessed me with to the fullest extent and you need only ask me how we go about creating something unique and wonderful for YOU and your needs.

Today puts us just barely 10 days from Christmas but don't let that deter you from dropping me an inquiry to get your annual family portraits done at the tail end of this year or at the tip top of next year. Ever heard of happy New Year cards?  We can get your portraits done and then wish your friends and family a beautiful start to their 2012 with your gorgeous portraits!

Featured today on Captiol Romance!

Last week it was Bayside Bride and this week it's Capitol Romance!

Just received word that Jamie and Colin's Union Station engagement session from early November is being featured on Capitol Romance wedding blog today. I submitted their images and Jamie and Colin's engagement story and wedding planning details a couple of weeks back and have been waiting to hear confirmation of its publication. The wonderful Bree (editor of Capitol Romance) sent me an email with a heads-up that it went live this afternoon.

Hope on over to Capitol Romance and check it out!!!

Featured today on Bayside Bride!

I'm delighted to share a wonderful collective of unique engagement and wedding ring designs presented by Bayside Bride...

The ring shot I contributed is toward the end of the feature and showcases a ring shot I did of my own engagement and wedding ring set. Here is the picture featured on the page:

I'm actually not a huge fan of jewelry (plus for my husband!) and I'm much more a lover of a beautiful piece of artwork (not good for husband since these are typically more expensive than lots of pieces of jewelry). I love my ring set because it's something that takes the symbolism that is a beautiful piece of jewelry and infuses it with the integrity of an amazing piece of sculptural artwork. If you can believe it, this is actually an "upgrade" from my original engagement and wedding set that I got last year around the time of my third wedding anniversary. Why the upgrade so soon? Well, my original ring set was vintage in style and had a tremendous amount of filigree and engraving within the design that I had pretty much destroyed because I am so hard on my jewelry. My regular dayjob is working in high school art education classroom and all of the different types of art media I might have deal with just plain whittled the designs down to almost nothing. Not good. Not good at all. The solution to this? Well, my husband indulged me with picking something new to replace it!

I searched probably almost six months until I finally found the perfect ring and wedding set for me on Etsy via an incredible artisan jeweler named Elizabeth Scott. Her inspirations are of the botanical sort and the specific inspiration for my ring came from a sapling branch that she found when she was hiking around the area where she lives and works in her home studio. One of the best things about my set is that Elizabeth really helped me to take her design and customize it to very precise specifications (like down to measurements in the millimeters!) so that it could be as structurally sound as a piece of jewelry that would take the beating it would end up taking like my old set. Elizabeth also allowed me to use a stone called a moissanite in lieu of a diamond because I am not keen on diamonds anyway though I like the look of them . Moissanite was a stone that was a great alternative because of it's hardness and look - most people seem my ring and think it's a diamond!

So that's it. That's the story of my ring and just wanted to share a little background about it because Bayside Bride was so kind of include it in the collective that they shared today.

Jamie + Colin :: Washington DC Engagement Photographer

I have known Jamie for over 20 years now.  We first met each other in the 6th grade and attended the same middle school together. It's weird to think about that type of thing now since we are both at stages of our lives that are so far from our middle school student government years. For the most part we've not done the greatest job keeping in touch with one another (unless you count keeping tabs via Facebook) but when she recently became engaged, I was honored to be called upon to document the bliss of her engagement.

Spending the late afternoon and early evening hours with Colin and Jamie was so much fun for me. It was like time fell away and we were able to pick up with conversation just as easily as we used to have it on the four square blocks at the school recess we once had. It was also wonderful to meet Colin and witness first hand the romance and adoration they obviously have for only each other. It's never too hard for me to cajole newly engaged couples into liplocking for the camera but for Colin and Jamie? I hardly had to mention the idea. Colin just couldn't get enough of showering Jamie with just a little more affection.

When Jamie made it "Facebook official" and announced her engagement, she did so in a very lighthearted and fun way - with a picture of her new ring and a caption that said just this, "It's pretty."

But even all of the sparkle of her engagement ring couldn't come close to the shine of being freshly engaged and deeply in love with one another the way Jamie and Colin are. They easily glow when they are anywhere near each other or are talking about each other and it's just the sweetest thing to witness.

Despite the fact that they are both actual transplants to the DC and NoVA regions, they are staying true to the place they have since found to be home to them and planning a wedding just outside of the district lines in Alexandria, Virginia. The chose Union Station's downtown location for the setting of the start of their engagement session and then we finished at the extension train stop in Alexandria where Colin used to catch all of his trains to travel back home to Philly.

They both share a love for ice hockey (though they root for different teams!) and also a love for the romanticism that is a good train ride so the train stations were the perfect place for them to bask in their newly engaged bliss!

Their wedding will be held at the temple pictured here in the background and though they still have a number of details to work out just yet, I have a feeling it's going to be quite a grand affair since Jamie is a master at things like event planning.

No doubt that Jamie and Colin are well on their way to their very own happily ever after. Congratulations to them both for a life that is only more richly blessed with every day that God gives them together.