White House Photography

{benson fam}

It is always so much fun to reconnect with old friends...including Adrianne, one of my favorite childhood friends. So great to find her on Facebook after over 15 years and even more fun to be able to meet her hubby and cute fam when she asked me to take her family pics a few weeks ago.






Until the Benson fam has a chance to review all of the images from their shoot and choose the 10 pics that they want me to edit, I thought it would be fun to edit and post a few of MY faves as a little sneak peek.




Unfortunately, these are only proofs from the FIRST HALF of my photo shoot with the Benson family. The second half, I have to admit, is one of the most unique shoots I have ever done. Those proofs will take a little longer....but I'm definitely looking forward to sharing them. Until then, I hope that the Benson fam is as happy with these proofs as I am. So nice being able to spend time with a childhood friend after so many years and meet her cute fam. Many thanks to the Benson fam for the opportunity to be your photographer. I am so grateful to you for your patience waiting for these proofs. So fun to reconnect! We'll be in touch soon with your other FUN proofs!!

{castagno fam}

It's always the greatest compliment to meet new clients that were referred to me by friends and family....and/or former clients. What a great opportunity to meet this great family that was referred to me by my dear friend Shelica. And what a seriously GORGEOUS family they are...and so much fun. I have to say, the above shot is one of my all-time faves from this shoot. If you look closely, their little guy on the far left is sticking his tongue out. That, combined with Mom and Dad laughing.....perfection. Love it SO much! We had SUCH a great shoot at Gardner Village a few weeks ago and I am so grateful for their patience waiting for these proofs to be posted.







We couldn't have asked for better weather and I couldn't get ENOUGH of this cute family. Until the Castagno family has a chance to review all of the shots from their shoot and choose the 10 images that THEY would like me to edit, I thought it would be fun to edit and post a few of MY faves for a little sneak peek. And yet, as you can see, I had a hard time keeping it to just "a few." :-)






Love this fun pic below of the two boys popping their heads out of the outhouse. LOL! What turned out to be a pic "just for fun" actually turned out to be a ridiculously cute pic. LOVE IT!




And it simply wouldn't be one of my shoots if I didn't get this cute couple to SMOOCH a few times, which is pretty great, since they "don't usually do this in public!!!" I've said it 87 times and I will say it again..kissing is amazing. It should be done...and done as often as possible. It should be done in private...and whenever possible, modestly in public. What an AMAZING thing for your little ones....and the WORLD...to witness LOVE!!!!! There is so much hate and ager out there....and we SEE all of it....we HEAR about all of it.....EVERYWHERE!!! I wonder how different the world would be if we SAW more LOVE every day. Mmm...LOVE THESE GREAT SHOTS!



Many thanks to this beautiful family for giving me the opportunity to be their photographer this year and for being so patient waiting for these proofs. You are so great...and it was so wonderful to meet you!! I hope that you are as pleased with these few proofs as I am. I will have your CD out in the mail soon and look forward to hearing what YOUR faves are!

{josh & laura}

DISCLAIMER: Let it be understood that this sweet couple is still DATING, and not assumed that they are engaged, simply because we did this photo shoot (just for fun). That being said, should they ever REQUIRE engagement pics...WOWZAH...we've got that covered ahead of time. HIT IT!

I have known Laura for a very long time and love her all the way through to her very soul. It is safe for me to say that I have never met ANYONE in my lifetime as beautiful and "purely GOOD" as Laura. I am often baffled how she hasn't been translated yet. I assume it is because too many of us here on earth need her. That may come across facetious, but I mean it, with every fiber of my being. Laura and I have been friends through many life changes. It's difficult to explain the depth of our friendship without discussing things that should remain private in BOTH of our lives. So I won't even graze the surface. However, understand that BECAUSE we have known each other so long and through so much, the thought of me seeing Laura happy...TRULY HAPPY...like the kind of happy that RADIATES through your entire being....is overwhelming to me.





So, you can imagine what it did to my heart when this Southern fella came into the picture and more-than-sorta swept Laura off her feet -- Josh. I haven't known Josh nearly as long....but I already love him genuinely. Their story isn't mine to tell....so I will skip all of that. Plain and simple, Josh has kinda wiggled his way into ALL of our hearts...and pretty quickly.




Josh's birthday was a couple of weeks ago and because he is the man that has truly brought the LIGHT into my Laura, I wanted to do something special for him. Laura had planned a surprise party for him for that weekend, that all of us (our group of friends) were planning to attend. Earlier that week, I pretended as if I was in desperate need of a couple to model for me for a shoot for a work project. Josh didn't hesitate. He's so amazing like that...anything for a friend. I of course told Laura what I was up to so she could choose colors, etc. for the pictures. So as far as Josh knew, this photo shoot was purely for a work project. Little did I know, what was in store for me....




When Laura first told me about Josh, she said that one of the reasons she loved him was because he was just like me. :-) And he is....to the letter. It's funny. Laura and I have always been looked at as "unlikely friends"....me being the crazy, outgoing, fearless gal and Laura, one of the quietest people I know. LOL! She is an angel. I love her so much. I brought out the SPUNK in her...and she had a calming effect on me. We were AMAZING friends...and still are. She has found that same awesome synergy with Josh....he brings out the FUN side in her and she calms him. It's a beautiful thing. He also brings out a side in Laura that I was not expecting at all....and it caught me completely off guard....and I had a really hard time holding the tears back. Josh brings out a passionate side in Laura that I had NO IDEA existed. It is BEAUTIFUL. I seriously got a lump in my throat and could hardly watch them without tearing up. If you had known Laura as long as I have and through as much......THIS would bring tears to your eyes as well (this first shot below very literally takes my breath away!!!!).....



THIS IS WHO LAURA IS DESTINED TO BE.....with the right companion. And Laura, in her FULLNESS.....is even more overwhelming than she already was to begin with. Not only was I so overwhelmed with joy for my sweet Laura....but seeing HER experiencing such JOY and PASSION in this beautiful relationship gave me hope to someday experience that as well.



I don't know what the future holds for Laura and Josh....but this I do know....Josh did, very LITERALLY bring Laura to LIFE!!!!! No matter what happens in the future, THAT alone, in and of itself, is a MIRACLE!

Using the pics from this shoot, I put together a photo collage for both Josh & Laura and surprised them with them at Josh's surprise party (just 3 days after the "work project" photo shoot. LOL!). Josh was truly overwhelmed (which brought me, yet again, to tears) by the gift. He is such an amazingly humble and grateful man. I love that in him.



What an honor for me to create a priceless gift for this beautiful couple. But even more so, I am HONORED and truly BLESSED to have been a witness to the MIRACLE of love like this! What joy, peace and HOPE that brings to my heart. Josh & Laura....I sincerely love you both!

{jeff}

What a crazy few weeks I have had. I ran a holiday promotion last year and it seems that every one of my dear clients that purchased gift certificates decided to redeem them all within the same month. It has been NUTS....but I am having a blast shooting and then editing through the night almost every night. What a fun opportunity, in the midst of my "gift certificate promotion" shoots to take a break and be able to do a photo shoot of my good friend Jeff that I've been spending quite a bit of time with the past few weeks. And what a RIDICULOUSLY awesome shoot it was...in so many ways!! We had SUCH a blast!




As is the case with most guys, Jeff wasn't completely comfortable doing a photo shoot of himself. LOL! However, after we got started, even he started having a good time with it. I have always loved this particular location for male portraits. The backgrounds are so awesome and more "masculine" than others I tend to use. However, we were in for a big and fabulous SURPRISE the day we did this shoot. As I was walking around one of the buildings, I looked a ways off and noticed that there was an abandoned TRAIN CAR!!!!!! JACKPOT!!!!! I was so excited, I just about screamed! HOW AMAZING is this backdrop?! LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!!

I could not have DIGITALLY CREATED a more amazing backdrop than this awesome train car. I couldn't get enough of it! And Jeff was THE perfect subject for this backdrop.

I didn't realize JUST how perfect it was, until I walked around the other side of the train car and saw the word "RESPECT" spray painted on it. AWWWWESOME!!!!! Then, I KNEW it was DESTINY! LOL! So awesome to have found this train car on this particular shoot. I immediately told Jeff he was going to have to do a little flexing for me. LOL! He was SUCH a good sport! This shot below has to be one of my favorite shots that I have ever done....for so many reasons. Love the subject I was shooting....love his expression and pose (his build is sooo perfect for this backdrop..LOVE IT)...love the train car...love love love SO MUCH about it! PERFECTION! I could SCREAM!


This photo shoot was so great for so many reasons for me! Loved finding this new backdrop and having the opportunity to take a little break from "cute family pictures" to do a masculine shoot that is a little more "edgy" and fun. As much as I love shooting families, it was fun to do something different for a change and show that I am more versatile. Jeff was the perfect subject for me to shoot....willing to  try just about anything I asked him to do. LOL! He even climbed right on up onto the train car..and probably would have climbed up even higher if I had asked. LOL! Love these pics of him climbing onto the train car....some of my all-time faves.



The untrained eye tends to usually just focus on the subject in the picture...however, those who have a "photographer's eye" notice EVERY DETAIL...the bolts, the rust, the writing, the shadows, the lighting, the composition, the angles...and even details ON the subject that most will almost always miss. There is SO...MUCH....MORE than just PUSHING the button on the camera. This shoot was one of my favorites for ALL of those reasons. OOOOH...I SO LOVE WHAT I DO!!!!! As long as I am a photographer, I will  never truly "work" a day in my life. I LOVE IT! If you can..(LOL)...try to look at EVERYTHING in the picture...and not just Jeff. It will be a challenge, I know...LOL...but when you do, you will see what I mean about how AMAZING this shoot was for me. Everything was PERFECT! How AMAZING is this backdrop?????? LOOOOOVE IT!



So fun to have a more laid back shoot and have the time to take as many pics as we wanted and not have to worry about the time. We had so much fun. :-)







Until Jeff has a chance to look through all of the images from his shoot and choose the ones that he would like for me to edit, I thought it would be fun for me to choose a few of MY faves to edit and post as a little sneak peek. As you can see....I had a hard time limiting it to a few. Ironically, Jeff doesn't consider himself to be very photogenic. As you can see....I was able, yet again, to prove my subject wrong. What a blessing to find something I LOVE to do..that I feel I am GOOD at. Such an amazing feeling. Love that I am able to make my subjects feel SO comfortable, that they are able to let go, be themselves and seriously RADIATE the amazing, amazing Divinely awesome beings that they are in the pictures I take. LOVE THAT. ;-)






Many thanks to you Jeff, not only for giving me the opportunity to do this AWESOME shoot (so excited to be able to add these to my portfolio), but for your friendship. You are such a great blessing in my life. What a crazy fun day this was. I hope that you are as pleased with these proofs as I am. SO can't wait for our next shoot! "Reptile" theme right? ;-) LOL!

{brown fam}

It's always fun to be reunited with old friends. So fun to reconnect with Courtney, one of my friends from Middle School, on Facebook a while back, and be asked to take her family portraits this year. So fun to see her again and meet the rest of her awesome fam!







Until the Brown fam has a chance to review all of the images from their shoot and choose the 10 pics that THEY would like me to edit, I thought it would be fun to edit and post a few of MY faves as a little sneak peek.










Many thanks to the Brown family for giving me the opportunity to take their family portraits this year and for their patience while I have been working out issues with my computer. I hope that you are as pleased with these proofs as I am. Courtney...so great to see you again after so many years. What an AMAZING and GORGEOUS family you have!!! I will have a proofing CD ready for you within the next few days and look forward to seeing what YOUR favorites are. :-)

{merrill fam}

After almost two weeks of challenges with my laptop, I am finally able to get online and post proofs for this sweet family. So grateful for their patience while I have been trying to get this all sorted out. How fun to be asked to shoot family pictures of this beautiful family of six, just before they become a family of 7!





In addition to family portraits, we also took portraits of each of their precious little ones. Have you ever seen more beautiful kids? My goodness....each and every one of them is a photographer's dream. I must say...these are some of my favorite childrens' portraits I have ever taken...hands down. BEAUTIFUL kids.


Until the Merrill family is able to review all of the shots from this shoot and choose the 10 images that they would like me to edit, I thought it would be fun to pick out a few of MY faves to edit and post as a little sneak peek for them.





We even took a few shots of this breathtakingly  beautiful expectant mama....


Many thanks to this amazing family for giving me the opportunity to shoot their family portraits this year. So fun meeting you..and I am so grateful for your patience,  waiting for my computer to snap out of the FUNK it's been in. I hope that these proofs are well worth the wait and that you are as pleased with them as I am. Hard to go wrong with a family as beautiful as yours!! I will have a proofing CD ready for you within the next few days and look forward to seeing the 10 images that you choose as YOUR faves!!