[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.

The Erdmans :: Baltimore Family Photography

I've done portraits for this family for a little more than half a decade now. I've had the great blessing and joy to document the engagement of their parents, their very first ever family holiday portrait (with their "furbaby" additions), then two more family holiday portraits (here is last year's), and a visit to the hospital for a "special delivery" newborn session of the youngest son.  Not sure if you have bothered counting but ll of those milestones have made it so I have been able to photograph them just about every single year for the past five years! Does that make me their official family photographer? Hmmm... I don't know but I will tell you that I sure have enjoyed being able to watch their family grow.

Anyway, here is their this year's holiday portraits.  In the past we have done them a lot closer to Christmas for their holiday send outs but this year we were very well organized and got them in my schedule book early in order to beat some of the holiday hustle and bustle. If you haven't already gotten your family's portraits squared away like the Erdmans, I suggest you take a tip from them and book your holiday session with me while you can!

Tovah + Dean :: Silver Spring Wedding Photographer

Tovah and Dean are two of the most in love people I believe I have ever photographed and I was so honored to witness them take their vows at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, Maryland just outside of DC. This isn't to say that other brides and grooms aren't in love but more that Tovah and Dean have a love that is nothing less than palpable. You can absolutely feel it when you are around them and you can definitely see it in the way they look at one another. What is even more amazing than all of this is that what they've got? It's nonstop. Seriously. I bet if the world just started crumbling around them they would hardly notice. Also? It wouldn't matter since, truly, they are all that matter to each other in the world anyway. There's really something to be said about unabashed love like that. There really is.

Thank you, Tovah and Dean for being a TRUE picture of love. There needs to be more love in this world like what you two have together! Perhaps you will inspire others and they will take notes from you.

Class of 2012 *teaser* :: Southern Maryland Senior Portrait Photography

Had the great blessing to photograph some of this year's Class of 2012 by way of the Senior Portrait promotional I'm running for this school year last evening in southern Maryland. All three girls were picture-perfect with gorgeous smiles, incredible energy, and infectious spirit of pure fun to be around. I'm officially convinced that the way to go with senior portraits from here on out is to make it an event where best friendship is not only celebrated but also photographed - by me, of course! *wink*

There are plenty more coming but here is a select few of too many that I have to choose from...

Thank you, ladies for being so gorgeous, easy to photograph, and fun to be around. You make me love my job that much more!

Tovah + Dean :: College Park Engagement Photography

This evening I had the great blessing shooting Tovah and Dean's E-session at College Park, Maryland. They are actually Northern Virginians but we bridged the distance between the two of us by figuring out that College Park was a good (and beautiful) setting right in between where we both live. We met at the College Park IKEA and then walked about the University of Maryland campus during the wonderful time that is "golden hour."

I took a TON of portraits of them being absolutely and totally and completely head-over-feet in love with one another but here are just a few sneak peeks of some of their session...

Can't wait for your "double-header" wedding, Tovah and Dean!

Kupcakes & Co :: Maryland Food Photography

Last week I had what might easily be my SWEETEST shoot ever! (And I mean that both literally and figuratively.) I teamed up with the amazing "krew" of Kupcakes & Co. in Elkridge, Maryland and spent a whole day with these beauties...

Kupcakes & Co. is an up and coming gourmet cupcakery located conveniently between Washington, DC and Baltimore. Michelle Kupiec is the owner and fearless leader of the amazing entrepreneurial venture and she and her family founded it because of their longtime love (we're talking generations, folks!) of all things sweet, tasty, and beautiful.

Their brick and mortar location is understated but incredibly charming and conveniently located just off of 100 in the shopping center of Meadowridge Center Drive in Elkridge. Despite the fact that they just opened their doors at the very tail end of Spring 2011, they have a constant stream of customers, many daily regulars, and new fans who are constantly discovering their incredible prowess for the delightful confections that are their signature "kupcakes."

I got to spend nearly a whole day literally IN their kitchen and was given my own counter space to set up my mobile product studio (complete with backdrops, lights, and tripod). All in all I photographed over 35 uniquely composed flavors of cupcakes and let me just tell you, even though I was there witnessing it all, I could hardly tell you the true secrets behind what makes each and every one of them so amazingly delicious. There was some serious hustle and bustle going on around me CONSTANTLY and I could hardly keep up with any of it at any given time. The one thing I was able to take note of? Their signature pink commercial grade mixers. These babies were created especially for them.

Another element of creative mastermind behind this incredible operation is the head baker, Anne Blossom. I've known her personally for a few years now in a different capacity and though she's always been known for her unabashed passion and love for cupcakes, I had never seen her really make them happen. As a creative type myself? I really enjoyed watching her work and figure out the unique and genius flavor combinations and fusions that will be debuting soon enough on the Kupcakes & Co. menu. Anybody who thinks you can "just make" an incredible cupcake is very VERY sadly mistaken. 

Anne works very closely with the owner, Michelle Kupiec (pictured below), to really push the palette and menu of Kupcakes & Co. to something that tackles the challenge that is doing something like making the perfect lemon cupcake.

One of their customers came in while I was there and offered them a wonderful compliment about it! I had no idea but apparently it's very hard to make a decent lemon cupcake but Kupcakes & Co. haven't done just that because what they've come up with and mastered is a lemon cupcake that is truly exceptional per the rave reviews of their growing number of kupcake fans. I loved being able to be there to overhear this feedback from their customers because when it comes to things that are food and especially food that is so special and near and dear to people like cupcakes, people will never lie. They will always give their honest opinion. And the repeated raves I heard from people were such great endorsements for why Kupcakes & Co. aren't just getting it right as a genuine boutique cupcakery but who are blowing everyone else out of the game because of how much better at it they are and continue to be.

Surely cupcakes might have seemed like just a passing trend years ago when they came on the scene but Kupcakes & Co. will be the reason why they become a very beloved mainstay in the realm of everyday treats and sweets with their over 36 flavor menu that they offer.

The official motto of Kupcakes & Co. is "Keep calm and have a cupcake" and it is printed on the wall of their working and baking kitchen and also on the backs of their official uniform shirts. Honestly? I can't think of anything better than a place that not only reminds you of the importance of cupcakes in a daily diet but also keeps you in a constant flow of fresh and absolutely delicious goodies like gourmet cupcakes.

Thank you so much, Kupcakes & Co. for being exactly who and what you are!! You all are amazing and the world is officially a better and SWEETER place because of you.