What an amazing couple that totally gets photography! They picked a cool location. Wore some fresh duds. Looked like a couple in love. What more could a photographer ask for? Um, how about a roll in the water with waves crashing all around – sure, why not? Mitch & Caitlin were up for just about anything and I am confident I could have put them in a dumpster and they would have figured out a way to make you wish you could be in a dumpster too…. It’s freakish what happened when I pointed a camera at them! Of course, it helps when we have the most perfect sunset and a backdrop of the Atlantic Ocean (secretly I thing the sun and ocean were in on the whole thing – Mitch pulled some strings.) We hung out with them at the Back Bay Nature Preserve where the spiders played nice (they were everywhere!) and the waves put on a nice show. Here’s Mitch & Caitlin and their friends, Ocean & Sun.
We were not 100 percent sure if they were red ants crawling around… or perhaps the long-green grass brushing against our skin. The summer sun invited Mahailey & I in, with a welcoming glow, for her third portrait shoot. Taking me along to her family property, I immediately became head-over-heels with the land. How great for someone to be able to use a backdrop with personal history… but how rare for it to also strike so many heart strings behind the camera as well.
I have a daydream about this secluded lot of land just waiting for me. It would have a river or lake and a little dirt road… The type of place your music doesn’t bother any neighbors and a yard you can fill with memories. Those type of places with a breeze caught by weeping trees and character that can’t be bought. A lot of times the daydream looks a lot like this photo shoot, and so, it was very exciting.
After braving what we could of the fields, grabbing a coke and heading to a beach… We took a few more photos by the shore.
I am so excited for Mahailey & Craig to now be happily married. Spending time with someone through portrait photography has changed my entire outlook on life and work. While weddings bring a chance to share in a moment of someones life, portraits have the opportunity to bring an entirely different set of love stories and energy. I am so grateful for meeting Mahailey… She trusted me to capture three segments of her love story and it was inspiring. Perhaps people do not know when they change your path a little, but it has been a pleasure getting to know her. I hope to continue photographing the life moments of many past and future clients.
I cannot believe it has been over a year since I first met Liz & Vince for their engagement shoot! With a wedding anniversary in just 2 months (Halloween!!!)… They decided to take on the town for a Trash the Dress session. We went with two different ideas- first, using the movie theater from “The Notebook.” I emailed Liz to tell her that Target had popcorn buckets and we started to make a little story. I dodged a bit of traffic and they were great sports as usual!!! After the theater, we wandered some of downtown and a bit of the old-urban style homes. These made amazing backdrops with their old wood textures, broken windows and our trespassing skills (hey gotta do what you gotta do for the shot). Minus seeing a giant rat strolling across a rooftop lol, all went well, and once again these two rocked. I always miss them, Liz & Vince are two of the most loving AND fun couples I have had the pleasure to work with, and not just for the wedding, but THREE times now . I’m hoping for a mini version of them sometime soon so I can visit with the camera again … Sorry Liz . Hope you two are enjoying Atlanta!
Sharing just a peek of all three Trash the Dress shoots from this past weekend in Charleston, South Carolina. Each client had such amazing style and an array of great shots… Liz and Vince hit down town for some vintage cinema theme and old backdrops, Mahailey invited me to her families property out in the beautiful country land… Finally, Bekah and Ryan beat the pending storm with some awesome beach shots. These are my favorite photo shoots, so I am thrilled (as usual) to share what’s in this image gold mine .
Jessica & Jonathan’s Afterthoughts Session around Key West! I had so much fun with these two! We had such a BLAST going around town…come back any town and we will hang for sure!!!!
I’ve been anxious to share this Trash the Dress session with you! Most of the session took place at The Parker Palm Springs Resort and the other in the desert near the windmills of palm springs. Allyson & Andrew wed at The Parker, two days before this TTD session. We all had to bear the heat, but we got to enjoy some fresh-squeezed lemonade along the way, enjoy!
Happen to miss their celeb-filled, Halloween-inspired wedding day? CLICK HERE to check out their rockstar wedding!
And last, but not least, one of my favorites from the boudoir session with Allyson!
Another Trash the Prom Dress for you from the most fabulous Meredith! With the heat lately it was kinda nice to jump in the water and get some great shots of Meredith in her pink prom dress….in the sand and water of the Chesapeake Bay. Here she is!
Off to the beach for another gorgeous shoot with a few of our favorite senior high school gals – but with a twist! Not your normal frolic in the water, instead we left the formal gowns on and dove in head first! Alex, Olivia, and Sarah were real troopers as they did an amazing job looking beautiful while completely trashing their prom dresses. Not easy to do but from the looks of it they were having the time of their lives! The sunset was perfect we came up with a “few” good shots….okay more than a “few”. Here’s some of my fav’s from the sunset photo shoot on the beach with the girls and their prom gowns!
I was interviewed for Tami Winn’s blog about Trash the Dress sessions and Day After portraits along with the wonderful Kevin Jairaj. You can check out the whole article here.
“On the other side of the lens, if you will, are those couples who have had a terrible experience with their original photographer. Lynn Michelle of Lynn Michelle Photography says that many of her clients come in devastated over their wedding day photos. ‘Some photographers are just not qualified or do not have enough experience to create and stick to a successful schedule or timeline. Their clients come to me hoping to make up for the lack of quality photos they had on their wedding day,’ says Michelle. ‘I end up re-doing a lot of traditional, candid shots that please mom and dad, and then I can get creative!’”
Note from me: I’ve been getting more and more requests to redo wedding day portraits than ever before. It breaks my heart that these couples are absolutely devastated by their wedding images and I wish I had a big happy face band aid so I could fix it all in one swoop.
“Both photographers like to take into account the couple’s interests and format the shoot around them. Michelle had a couple that was extremely into art- Eric gave Julie a painting for her wedding present. So it only seemed fitting to do their day after shoots at a paintball range. They brought out paints and got to finger paint each other- and even threw paint grenades to get massive spots of color. ‘I had so much fun at that shoot and got some great moments between Julie and Eric. But I wouldn’t recommend throwing paint grenades around photography equipment. It’s been two years and I still have the evidence on some of my cameras!’” says Michelle.
Note from me: This quote had me laughing my pants off. Did I really say that? Yes, I did. Because. I. Still. Have. Blue. Paint. On. Over. Half. Of. My. Equipment. And I still giggle hysterically whenever I catch a glimpse of it and I remember what a bad idea it was to use a paint grenade on national television.
Want to see me on Today Show again? Of course you do!
. I’m hoping for a mini version of them sometime soon so I can visit with the camera again 
