It's a gorgeous Friday afternoon and I just had to share some of my excitement for the weekend! I've got a few family sessions and a rehearsal dinner tonight that I'm very much looking forward to, but the thing that has butterflies in my belly is the fact that tomorrow I'll be shooting a wedding alongside Tamara Lackey -- ahhhh! She is a photographer who I have admired for a long time now! Yes, its true. I'm still befuddled how the whole thing came about and the fact that she would even consider a little newbie like me! Most of the thanks goes her her associate photographer Rachel Garrison (also an incredibly talented photographer), who just so happens to be an old team mate of mine from the UNC crew team. We reconnected via Facebook, then finally over lunch a few weeks ago and it was awesome seeing that both of us had been lead to find/pursue our passion for photography since leaving Carolina. On top of all that I've got the huge-mongo 70-200mm/f 2.8 lens in my hands for the next few days, so it will be interesting to see how it is to work with such a monster of a zoom lens since I primarily shoot prime (50mm/35mm/28mm). So all that being said, HAPPY Friday... HAPPY weekend.... and as if that's not enough to be happy about, the photo below should do the trick :)

When Kathy contacted me about doing a family session, we quickly bonded over our Chicago memories (we both lived there for a time) and our love for Classic Kids. I was immediately excited about our common vision for capturing some timeless images of her kiddos and the whole crew.

Lately I have been really enjoying creating an environment out of a "blank canvas", so we set up at one of my favorite land preserves and proceeded to play, dance, eat ice cream, and giggle... a lot. I was also blessed with lots of hugs and loves from the little ones!  Working with little Ryan and Taylor was so refreshing since they were simply free to be themselves in front of the camera and because of that freedom, I am head over heels in love with the images we collected. Thank you to the incredible Waite family for such a sweet session on a beautiful NC evening. I'm looking forward to capturing more of your beautiful family over the years!

I've been waiting for Sharon to share her story about this wild weekend we had together in Knoxville shooting Callie and Brian's GORGEOUS wedding, so be sure that you check out her side and her stunning images. But the long story short is that she got super duper crazy sick on her drive to shoot the wedding so I made the trek, over the mountains and through the woods, to help a sister out. I honestly don't know how she did it, but she is pretty much Wonderwoman in my mind (especially after seeing how she dealt with all this), but I just consider myself blessed to shoot alongside, and be friends with, such a rockstar of a person and photographer.

It's didn't hurt that we had awesome weather, a stunning location and a lovely bride, Callie, who was giddy with joy on her wedding day....

Well, this past weekend I got an up close and personal look at what speed looks like... and I'll tell you what, it's breathtakingly beautiful.

Since Ross' youngest sister is finishing up her freshman year at UK, we drove to Lexington, KY to hang out with her and the rest of the Free family (who traveled down from Ohio). Ross was really excited about bringing me into the heart of horse country since he understands all too well my obsession with horses, which started in my youth and has continued to grow with each passing year. I mean, let's be honest, I have the soundtrack to the Black Stallion in my itunes library and it still had the power to bring tears to my eyes because I can just envision the boy and horse madly galloping down the ocean (alas, another dream of mine... riding horses on the ocean, bah - don't laugh at me). ANY.WAYS.... what I was saying is that he was so sweet to call ahead to one of the super swanky thoroughbred breeding farms (Adena Springs) and get us a private tour of the property and a chance to meet some of the stallions. And let me just tell you, when I say swanky, I mean private gated entrance, fountains, mainucured landscaping, wood, leather, cyrstal, not a trace of horse poop, matching logos everywhere, lush grass and immaculate fencing as far as the eye can see... yeah, that kind of swanky. These horses have got it made in the shade! These studs bring in up to $125,000 for a single breeding and every measure is taken to keep them happy and healthy, even including monthly acupuncture and chiropractor treatments. That being said, seeing these former race horses up close and personal was such a treat... they are truly magnificent animals. Meet the winner of the 2005 Kentucky Derby, Giacomo. As you can see, he is living the good life for sure.
And my heart was pounding just a little when I wandered up the fence-line (while Ross was chatting with the breeding manager about technical details) and Giacomo came over to the fence just for a moment. I snagged this photo half out of surprise, but I hope you like seeing what speed looks like up close and personal. You can't deny that it's simply gorgeous.

As I mentioned on Friday, this little man Carter comes from a set of remarkable parents. Just spending a little bit of time with them as new parents proved that they are a couple who sees nothing as impossible and it's so fun to consider how they will take that mentality and pass it on to their little guy. Not only have they just had a baby in the last year, but they have also just returned from an 8 month trip around the world... yes, I just said "around the world". They set out for a month-long adventure, which turned into 2... 3.... then 8 months of traveling to the most fascinating places. I'm begging them to write a book about how they just made it happen. So until, here's to the next adventure, their new baby boy!