Shooting for fun

One of my goals is to start shooting more for fun. Since I have become a professional photographer I have noticed that I hardly shoot for myself anymore. Lately I have had opportunities to take lots of pictures of flowers. It is Spring afterall.

These first few flower pictures were taken at the Duke Gardens when I was visiting my sister in Durham, NC.













This picture my sister Jennifer took with my camera. She took 3 pictures of these flowers and they were my favorite three that were taken with my camera all day. She definitely has an eye for photographing flowers!









These next several pictures are from the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC. I recently went there with my parents, sister, brother-in-law and fiance.

This one hurt my eyes a little when I was looking at it on my big computer screen.




I couldn't resist getting a flower/ring shot so I used my engagement ring.




I really liked these purple poofy flowers, they were my favorite.




And here is "America's Castle", the Biltmore.














I feel like these next two should go on the cover of a Fairy Tale book.














Here's (two of) my boys at a park close to our house.




This lily is in my front yard :)

Canvas Prints!

I ordered these canvas prints a while back and I'm just now getting around to putting them on the blog. I am so happy with how they look, I can't wait to order more. I already know some more of the pictures I want to put on canvas. They are hanging up in my home office. Someday they will go into a studio office. :)

Sewing Projects

One of my goals on my 101 things to do in 1001 days was to do more personal posts. My favorite blogs are the ones that have photographer work mixed in with things from their personal lives. Also, on my list was to complete 3 sewing projects. This first project I did before the list so it doesn't count but the second one does.


Project number 1: For Christmas, I got my first sewing machine. I had never really been all that interested in sewing until recently. I guess moving far away from my mom (whom I always took my dresses to be hemmed and altered) made me all of a sudden want to become more domestic. Over Christmas my mom showed me how to use it by making the red dog bed. To make it extra fancy (and for me to learn more tricks) we put a zipper in and a side panel. We used old comforters and pillows for the stuffing. My sister made the dog applicays out of felt (custom made to look like my dogs)





























They are already well loved, my dogs sleep on them every night/day. I meant to take pictures of them when I first made them but never got around to it. We think that it is super cute when the right dog lays on the right bed made for him...which they do seem to know which one is which.

Project number 2:

My friend Nicole is the first of my friends to have a baby. Her baby girl is due the day after my wedding. Her and her husband were both going to be in the wedding but they are having a baby instead. I couldn't be more excited for them! Her shower was in Denver and since I wasn't able to go, I wanted to do something really special. The idea started out that I was just going to make a baby blanket. I ended up making several more things and I'm happy with how it all turned out.

This blanket is the perfect swaddling size!














I made two burp clothes, perfect for slinging over your shoulder.









The first bib I made was super small. Matt looked at it and said, is that big enough to fit around a baby's neck? After I looked at it a while, I decided to make a bigger one. Hopefully these will fit! I showed my mom the first one when she was here and she said that it would maybe fit a premie, so I'm glad that I made bigger ones.









I also made a little baby toy. It has crinkle paper inside it to make noise and it also has little rattle. The dogs wanted it so bad! Hopefully Nicole's dog Tucker will leave the baby toys alone.









Here's a pile of all the things I made her.

Phil and Ashley's Engagements

Phil, Ashley and I were supposed to go to the mountains for their pictures, but with pending rain, we decided to stay in town. On my way to meet them, it started pouring. Once we started taking pictures, the weather was perfect and then after I got home it started raining again. We had just enough time to get some really great shots! I also got to get to know a few new towns int he area. I guess Phil was nervous about the shoot and wasn't looking forward to it (like a lot of guys) I'm glad to say that he had fun and said, it wasn't as bad as he thought it would be :) I can't wait for your wedding this fall! Its going to be great.

We started out taking some pictures on a playground. I love doing playground shots, they are so much fun.

















I tried the blurry out of focus shot again, and again had success. I'm loving this shot!


This is my third favorite.








Ashley had a lot of great ideas for shots. It makes my job easier!











Ashley knew of some buildings that had been painted a long time ago so we made sure to use them for backdrops. I guess Cheerwine is pretty popular in the South. I had never had it before so Ashley gave me a sip of hers when we stopped for a refreshments break. She was right, its very hard to describe, you just have to try it. I'll definitely have to get it again. I think it tasted like a slush puppy...can't remember which flavor though.


This is my second favorite.


You can see behind them that when this was painted a can of Coke was 5 cents.








I've tried this shot before and its never really worked out quite right for me. Ashley requested it so I gave it a try without giving her any promises. I love this shot! This is my favorite of the blog post and quite possibly one of my favorite shots I've taken to date.


The magnolia trees are starting to bloom! What a pretty flower.








Thought we try something a little different for a ring shot.