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Senior Portrait: Zack – Blount Cultural Park – Montgomery, Alabama

Zack is one of those people that makes me feel like I blinked and suddenly he was grown. When I first met him, we were shooting his family’s portraits, and he wasn’t old enough to drive yet. Then not too long after that (or so it seemed), I saw him driving out of our neighborhood and thought, “Wait, what the h*ll did I just see???” Soon after, I shot his sister’s wedding, where he was the loyal younger brother and dance floor slayer.

Fast forward a little more and here he was, a senior in high school, getting ready to graduate from Park Crossing High School. Not only that, he was heading to college on academic AND baseball scholarships, and driving a truck so big that I’d need a catapult to get into it. I have no doubt he’ll work hard, play hard, break some hearts, and continue to achieve total 70’s hair perfection. 😀

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Newborn Portrait & Multimedia Film: Ella – Montgomery, Alabama

Ella is a very special baby. Special because I’ve known her mom, dad, grandparents, and uncles for so long that they’re practically adopted family. So when Ella came into the world, I knew we couldn’t just take your typical newborn pictures. We needed to do something MORE. If you’ve ever known anyone with a newborn, you know how quickly they change. The “baby-ness” leaves quickly, and is replaced by fast moving “little boy” or “little girl”.

So I hatched a plan to create a short multimedia film to celebrate Ella’s arrival and the birth of a family. We’d combine her pictures with just enough video and sound to tell a little story. Once she was older, she’d be able to see how her parents felt when she was just days old; their feelings about her AND about each other. We could tell her later how she didn’t want to cooperate at first, but then she slept like a champ the next time around. She could see how the family dog Sensei acted as if Ella had always been there. She could hear how her dad’s laugh became delirious from sleep deprivation. Scroll down to see some of the pictures from her session, then take a peek at the multimedia mini film at the bottom of this post!

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Commercial Food Photography: Nola Granola – Nashville, Tennessee

I have a soft spot for small businesses, especially ones that involve food. I had the opportunity to shoot with Nola Granola one day in Nashville, where they produce their artisanal granola at an incubator style kitchen facility. Made from scratch, their granola is unusually flavorful and sooooooo good (my favorite is the salted caramel). Liz was making the chocolate almond flavor when I was there, and in typical small business fashion, she did everything including the not-so-glamorous cleanup!

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Commercial Photography: Invision Events – Yellow Branch Plantation – Sterrett, Alabama

I’ve worked with the ladies (and gent) of Invision Events many times over the years, mostly in Auburn where the business was started by Julie Bunkley (and the aforementioned gent, her husband Dallas). They’ve since expanded to Birmingham and Atlanta, added a Chanterelle Photography bride to their team (hi Courtney!), and are slowly working their way towards total world domination. They were even named one of the top wedding planners in the South by Southern Living! So when they contacted me for some new headshots, we made a date for a windy day at Yellow Branch Plantation, where they were having a team retreat. Of course when you’re working with wedding and event planners, no detail is overlooked, so they had makeup artists on hand and carefully coordinated (but not matchy-matchy) wardrobe.

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Wedding: Liza & Shayne – Carl House – Auburn (Atlanta), Georgia

This wedding was a long time coming. Six years before this rainy day, I shot a wedding for a bride named Melissa. Her younger sister Liza was dating a boy named Shayne, and of course, both of them were in attendance. Fast forward and Liza was off to pharmacy school, Shayne followed shortly after. Then one day the news came: Shayne had popped the question with a ring he designed with the jeweler. The jeweler happened to be the guy who introduced Liza and Shayne. Talk about things coming full circle!

They chose to have their wedding just outside Atlanta, at the Carl House. They didn’t choose for it to rain the entire day, but they took it in stride and made the call to move their outdoor ceremony indoors. The rings waited in a wooden box made by Shayne, who shared a pre-ceremony glass of wine with his groomsmen. Liza put on her Sottero and Midgley beaded bodice gown and Betsey Johnson shoes, and since they had decided not to see each other until she came down the aisle, they exchanged gifts and loving words with a door between them.

On anyone else, socks with pills on them would be really weird. But when two pharmacists get married – not so much. 😀 They danced the night away with those closest to them (and shed a few tears during the father/daughter and mother/son dances), then made their exit through a shower of sparklers, into a 1931 Ford Model A.