[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.

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.

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.

The new guy in town :: Pittsburgh Baby Photography

I don't believe there is anything quite like a new little baby. This past Thanksgiving allowed for me to take a road trip up north to PA and finally meet my newest nephew. He was born at the beginning of November and despite the fact that his mama says that he is quite a bit bigger than he was when he was born and doesn't feel like a newborn to her anymore, he sure seemed and looked like just about like a newborn to me!

I had a marvelous time doing a quick portrait session for him - his first professional quality one(!) - and my whole family left me to do as I saw fit. I'm not the type of baby photographer who likes doing staged composites of infants suspended in cloth hammocks, swaddled in special blankets, or bedecked in shiny satin bows and I prefer cleaner images that show clearly all of their teeny tiny details.

Some of my favorite images of babies/children are the ones that really allow you to look into their eyes because they are always so bright and curious and full of wonder. It's the type of thing we easily lose as we get older because our lives become too busy to stop and look long enough for someone to be able to look back at us. There's an old adage that the eyes are the windows to the souls and I firmly believe that no matter what our age, that's always the case.

God has not blessed me to have a newborn again just yet but until then I will relish in the opportunities that I get like this one to appreciate the beauty that is a newborn baby. I'm so honored that I was able to capture these first portraits for my nephew and I'm looking forward to more opportunities that I will have to keep documenting the way he grows up to be an upstanding and handsome young gentleman the way I know he will.

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!

Jamie + Colin :: Washington DC Engagement Photographer

Today I capped off an already awesome weekend with an incredible engagement session for Jamie and Colin.  We started at Union Station in downtown DC and then finished things off in Alexandria, Virginia. Here are a few teasers of Jamie and Colin basking in some serious bliss of being newly engaged.

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.