Camp away wedding | Maryland wedding photographer

As promised, I said last week that I would blog about the fun camp-away wedding I had the opportunity to photograph this past weekend. The wedding took place at Ramblewood Campground in Darlington, MD. This rustic setting was great for the fall chilly weather that seemed to sneak up on us this year. The bride and groom, Kelly & Greaton had planned every detail themselves and enlisted family and friends to make the rustic property into a venue suitable for a wedding. I arrived Saturday night for the rehearsal and watched how their friends and family all pulled together to make it happen.

Kelly looked absolutely stunning in her “old hollywood” style gown with her beautiful red hair pulled back tight like a old-time starlet from the past. She and Greaton were so easy to photograph as they knew just what pose to strike to make the shot happen. I love it when that happens!

The ceremony took place down by a small pond and wooded area. Kelly walked down a beautiful stone stairway to greet her groom to the sounds of bagpipes. After the ceremony, the wedding party and I had a little adventure as we used the cabins, old barn and woodsy areas around the rather large property of Ramblewood. I was totally in my element as I came up with new an interesting ways to shoot the wedding party “posed” photos. I always love shooting at a new venue and exploring the not so beautiful areas and making them look amazing in my photographs. My favorite shot is of Kelly and Greaton standing in the barn on the stage with the red velvet curtains behind them and an old “The Barn” sign in the background.

After a delicious dinner in the dining hall, we all moved out to the pavilion for the reception. They did an awesome job of transforming the simple wood structure into a fun party atmosphere with strings of white lights, a disco ball and lots of orange and purple lanterns hanging from the ceiling. This place was a challenge to light with the bare wooden rafters and high roof, so I decided to have a little fun with my lighting toward the end of the ceremony and played a bit with my artsy side.

That evening after the reception, the plan was to have everyone go down the hill to a giant bonfire and play music….
side note: Kelly and Greaton have a ton of musician friends who were all in attendance (including many of my boyfriend’s long time friends), so I was relieved of my shooting duties and got to join in on the bonfire fun….I love when a wedding ends this way!
…unfortunately, it started to rain so the instruments never made it down to the bonfire, but several of us did with umbrellas in tow. It was a blast hanging out by the fire while it was raining…a perfect way to end the evening.

I also want to give a shout out to her friend and Best of Baltimore dessert maker extraordinaire Bettina Clair who knocked it out of the park not only with her fabulous cake but with a table full of fall inspired desserts and candy apples for the guests to take home.

Start Building the Ark! | Annapolis Maryland photography

It’s been raining cats and dogs all day and night, so I thought I’d grab my camera and go down to City Dock in downtown Annapolis to get some photos of the flooding that usually occurs when it rains heavily in this area. I used to dread the nights it rained like this when I worked at the Annapolis Capital newspaper. The last thing a photographer wants to hear when it’s raining is “we need you to go get some weather art.” When no one is telling you to go out and shoot the weather, it can be quite fun. No rules, no getting names of the people in your photographs, just you and the camera. Now is that part where I give a giant shout out to my former colleagues Paul Gillespie and Josh McKerrow who were out in the rain today shooting for the paper. I know this because I ran into Paul as I was shooting the muck as it made its way toward the Market House. Please give them a kudos tomorrow by checking out there photos at hometownannapolis.com…I’m sure they will have a nice little gallery up online. But before you head over there…take a look at what I captured while wandering around the dock.

more photos can be see at: flickr.com

County Fair Fun| Annapolis Maryland photography

I’ve been doing some shooting for The Annapolis Sound lately…you may remember my latest shoots at night in downtown Annapolis. Recently I went to the Anne Arundel County Fair and shot some really cool scenes. I spent a good part of one hot late summer evening eating funnel cake and enjoy the sights and smells of the fair. It was an amazing evening and I even took in my first tractor pull! For a girl who grew up in Pennsylvania, I was shocked that I had never seen a tractor pull, so I HAD to photograph it. I had a great time wandering around and playing with the natural light that came from the flood lights and carnival rides. Enjoy the photos…

city love | baltimore engagement photography

I’m gonna be brief about this engagement session because I am actually shooting this awesome couples wedding this weekend! I’ll have so much to say about them and the weekend so I’m gonna save my blogging energy for later. The wedding is a “camp away” wedding, the newest trend in weddings….stay tuned for the photos and some good stories from the weekend. Until then, enjoy the engagement session!

I kinda like being the third wheel | Maryland wedding photographer

I was asked by fellow photographer, Cindy Lawson to be a third shooter alongside she and her assistant for the day Tony J I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but when she told me that I needed to focus on details and cocktail hour, my ears perked up. I LOVE photographing details…so much time and artistry goes into designing every last detail and too many times I don’t have enough time to capture it all the way I would like when I shoot my weddings. This was a perfect opportunity for me to have a little fun and not be stressed out about missing a single moment with the bride and groom.

I started shooting alongside Cindy before the ceremony as she photographed the bride in her beautiful vintage inspired gown. The wedding took place at her parents beautiful home in Baltimore County where every inch of the home and property was perfect for photos. I could have shot for hours, but I had another job to do so I quickly snapped some different angles of the bride as Cindy did her thing and then I moved onto the tent for the first round of details.

Once the guests started to arrive, I snapped off a round of detail shots of the ceremony site and the band and then back to the tent I went….the longer I waited, the better the light was in the tent.

The tent was filled with the most beautiful arrangements of flowers that I have ever seen. I’ve never shot a wedding where so much thought had been put into the design of the flower arrangements…it was just fantastic.
The flower arrangements were created by Romance of Flowers in Reisterstown, MD. Every table was lined down the center with different arrangements of fall colored flowers, fruits, and even red chili peppers. Among the flower arrangements were candles and lanterns that glowed and lit the tables as the sun slowly went behind the trees. It was breathtaking! Palate Pleasers, a catering company out of Annapolis, MD rounded out the decor with beautiful red plates, burgundy and gold linens and wooden chairs with golden yellow seats.
I left just as the sun was going down and the reception was gearing up. As I walked away to my car and looked back at the tent, the candles were flickering in the night and the understated orange lighting illuminated the tent.
I’ll let the photos do the rest of the talking…

Evening on the beach | Annapolis, Maryland family photographer

Last week I spent the evening with a wonderful family from Annapolis and Delaware. Grandma, Grandpa, their son and daughter and their spouses, kids and even the dogs all met me on the beach in Bay Ridge for a family shoot. The little ones were great sports as the shoot went about three hours long! Enjoy the photos from the shoot!

Nothing like American food to warm the soul.

These past two weeks have been nothing short of amazing. I never thought I’d be saying that three weeks ago when my main squeeze Ruben left for a mini tour of the UK with his Delta Blues duo “Swampcandy“. I thought him leaving was going to be so sad and I’d be so bored without him. Now, don’t get me wrong, I missed the heck out of him, but I took those two weeks and put myself to the test and devoured as much personal time as I could get. I dove into a great book “A Million Miles In a Thousand Years” by Donald Miller. This was the perfect book to ignite someone who is feeling a bit ho-hum in there life…which I was. It’s all about creating YOUR story and moments in your life that you can look back on and be happy about. Creating the stories that we want to tell instead of sitting back and listening to everyone around us and living through them. I thought to myself, how perfect is this that I am reading this book at this very moment. Ruben was out creating his own amazing story as he toured through England and Wales impressing the Brits with his hard-hitting blues. What was I going to do? After I returned from my mini vacation to Colorado, I started diving into all kinds of information to get my juices flowing. First, I started planning how I could save enough money to go on an amazing workshop in India this winter to learn about non-profit and NGO photography…something that I’ve wanted to do and be amazing at since I was a teenager. Then, I started watching an online workshop with the amazing wedding photographer Jasmine Starr. I started to realize that what I’ve been doing with my photography is just touching the surface of where I want to be and where I need to be. So, I started looking ahead and planning out the next few months. I am so excited about my ideas and where I see myself headed. I have two more weddings this season that I am shooting by myself (one in Philadelphia and one in Mexico) as well as about 5 more weddings that I am second shooter on (one is at the Newseum in DC!).
I am going to push myself like never before and really start to wow people with my style and my vision. Next up…India.

On Friday afternoon as I waited for Ruben to get through customs and make his way out of the gate to where I was waiting along with at least a hundred other people, I started looking around and noticing how awesome it was to be standing where I was standing. Everyone here was anxious and giddy with excitement that their loved one was just on the other side of that wall and at any moment they would walk around the corner and be reunited. I saw so many beautiful reunions that day which made me even more anxious for my turn. When he and his bass player Joey finally came around the corner looking pretty tired from the long two weeks they had (11 gigs in 15 days and sleeping on floors of kind people around the UK) I jumped up and ran right over to him and planted a huge kiss on his face. Yes! It was my turn and I got to have my buddy back by my side.

I asked him what he wanted to do when we got home, did he want to sleep, get a shower, go out to dinner, go downtown and see friends…what did he reply? I just want barbeque. Yes, a true American bluesmen he is…that man loves his barbeque. But then, after sitting in traffic for a long time during DC rush hour, we started thinking good ol’ Maryland crabs was the remedy and a wonderful welcome home. We finally made it home, dropped off his bags and headed down to Cantler’s (a local favorite for the hard shells) where our roommate joined us in quite a feast of crabs, beers, cream of crab soup and of course hushpuppies. We crashed by 8:30 that night.

The next morning I was awoken at 5:30am by Ruben asking if I wanted to go watch the sunrise. At first I shook my head NO and rolled over ( I am not a morning person)…but then I remembered the book I had just finished about creating a good story and I thought, why the heck would I not want to go see the sunrise with my best friend on his first morning back? So I rolled back over and said “OK, let’s do this!” He wanted to drive so that he could get back into the habit of driving on the right side of the road and we both agreed that now was probably a good time because nobody was out on the road at this hour on a Saturday. We made it down to the Bay Ridge community in Annapolis just in time and watched as the giant ball of glowing orange rose out of the Chesapeake Bay. I never get bored with watching the sun rise or set for that matter. The coolness of the air and the calmness of the world around us at that very moment was perfect. Everything was as it should be. No sooner did that moment happen and Ruben yells out “Bacon!” “Let’s go get breakfast at Grumps…I need Bacon…the ‘bacon’ in the UK was awful” So, we headed over to Grumps and chowed down on a good American breakfast.

The next day I was met with the same enthusiastic early riser. At 6am I hear “let’s go for a bike ride down to Sandy Point State Park” Ok, I thought, here we go again. We rode down to the Western Shore of the Bay and just missed sunrise, but we did see a lot of beautiful deer running around and grazing in the woods and fields throughout the park. We sat on a park bench and breathed in the fresh morning air, laughed at some pretty awful poetry that we found on one of the picnic tables and then rode back home to make the most amazing breakfast (Ruben is the best breakfast maker in my book) of potatoes, poached eggs with leftover crabmeat from the night before and of course bacon.

Today, we planned to get up once again by sunrise. This time we planned on taking the canoe down to Cape St. Claire to do an early morning paddle. This morning was a bit tougher than the rest as I could not wake up…and then managed to drop the canoe on my foot as we hoisted it onto the roof of my car. Regardless, we made it and this time I actually brought my camera and was delighted when I got to snap off a bunch of frames of a Blue Heron as we followed him around the Little Magothy River in the early morning light. I decided the last two mornings were just for he and I to enjoy and I didn’t need to be distracted by my camera for once. Some moments just need to stay in your mind so that you can share the story with others. At the end of our little journey today, I stopped into Graul’s market to pick up a few essentials for the week. What did Ruben decide was essential for the week….you guessed it, a giant rack of ribs. I guess he truly is a bluesmen through and through.

Here are some shots from this morning on the Little Magothy River as well as some shots I took tonight of Swampcandy (aka: Ruben Dobbs and Joey Mitchell) on their return from the UK.

I’m baaaack!

I just returned from a wonderful little vacation to Colorado. In the midst of all the craziness that wedding season brings me as well as all the other jobs that are happening, I found myself with a free weekend and a boyfriend out of town (he’s touring in the UK) so I thought, “hey, this is the perfect time to go visit an old friend and clear my head.” So I did it, I booked a trip to Colorado and was off (well, it wasn’t that easy…let’s just say that I won’t be dealing with US Air anymore and I love United).

I arrived on Thursday and my long-time friend Heather picked me up in Colorado Springs. We drove the 35 minutes back to Pueblo, CO where she and her boyfriend Josh just bought the cutest little house. Heather and I have had a long history…growing up together in New Oxford, PA and then both going to school in Philly where we ended up living together for awhile. She moved to Denver and then back to Philly and now is back in Colorado so I don’t get to see her as often as I’d like.

Heather and Josh made my trip one I will never forget and one that my brain thanks them for. For the first time all year, I didn’t think about work or anything that has been clogging up my mind since deciding to own my own biz. I honestly don’t know how anyone gets any work done out there…the scenery is just too beautiful and mesmerizing that I coudn’t complete a thought except for “wow!”

I won’t bore you with all the details of my adventure but here are the highlights and some photos for your viewing pleasure.

1. Bishop’s Castle: The photos will speak for this place. I was blown away by the scale and detail of the place. It makes you think about how awesome something can be if you devote your whole life to it. Passion is becoming a lost art.

2. Boulder, CO: We drove up to Boulder for the night and got a hotel room so that we could take in another area of the state I was interested in seeing. That night we went to the Mountain Sun Brewing Bompany which I enjoyed very much. I am a beer drinker, so I enjoy trying all kinds of new brews when I travel. This place did not dissappoint. I was happy to see that they had two offerings that night with a nitrogen tap…yee haw! Later that night we went to an awesome bar called The Sink…it was near the University of Colorado in an area they call The Hill. This place had so much character! The entire bar was painted up in murals that dated back to the 20s and the ceiling was full of names of people who have passed through and signed it.

3. The next morning we toured around downtown Boulder and came across a parade of sorts with dancing dragons and drumming…a Chinese festival was taking place in the main plaza.

After some browsing through shops, we drove up into the mountains for a view unlike any I’ve seen. The area was called Lost Gulch and the views of The Rockies were just fantastic. Being from the East Coast, I guess I never really understood or appreciated how beautiful The Rockies were. I was speechless and instead of saying anything I took hundreds of photos.

One the way home we stopped by Red Rocks…wow! is all I can say about that place! I can’t wait to actually see a show there one day!

4. The Great Sand Dunes National Park: This place was recommended by a friend, so we had to make the 2 hour drive east from Pueblo. It was a beautiful drive out to the sand dunes and well worth the time. I don’t really know if the photos do it justice, these things were massive and my friend and I managed to climb to the top of one of the larger ones. Hiking up the dunes is no easy task, especially with the altitude difference and my lack of exercise the past few months. Once at the top, the view and the satisfaction of completing the “hike” set in and I was elated.

5. The last day, Heather took me to the cutest little town outside of Colorado Springs called Manitou Springs. The weather decided that it wasn’t really our day and poured and poured, so we decided to duck into a little falafel place and have lunch. Then we browsed around some of the little shops until we came upon…..an arcade! This was not just any ordinary arcade. This was a throw back arcade that had every vintage game imaginable…fortune tellers, pinball, skeeball, and even the little penny peepshow viewers. I was in heaven! I love things that light up and I love vintage finds, so my camera was going crazy while I was in there…I didn’t even play any games I was so into the visuals I was capturing. I did however have my fourtune read by an animated fortune teller…and my fourtune began “you’ve been wondering if you’ve spent your time wisely…” I’d like to think I did. Those 5 days away from work, bills and all the stresses of life were very wisely spent in my book!

cute cute cute | Pennsylvania and Maryland photographer

July 20-28th:

I’m overlapping my weeks a bit to keep this blog up to date…I’ve had a whirlwind of shoots in the past week and I’m going to wrap them all into one big post of photos. It all starts in New Oxford, PA, my hometown where I find myself going back to more and more to photograph old friends and their families. It’s always nice to go home, even for just one day. This particular time, I spent an evening with Karen and Chad and their two sweet little girls, Emery & Vivian. We had a nice time down by the stream just about a 1/4 miles from their great farm house. Vivian had started walking recently, so I was sure to grab a few shots of her stumbling around the grass…so cute!

Next up was a weekend trip up to my favorite place, Philadelphia. I went to college there and lived there for 5 years, many of my closest friends still live there, so any time I have a chance to get away for a weekend, I head straight there. I spent the first night with some old friends from my youth and their little baby, unfortunately I was so exhausted from a very long workday and drive that day that the camera never came out, but I didn’t feel too bad about it because they have a few amazing photographers who are friends or family who are always taking photos of their little guy, so there is no shortage of footage for him. Then, I drove downtown to Northern Liberties to visit my college buddy Dan and his wife Amanda and baby Charley. I always have such a good time with these guys and Charley has the most easy-going personality any kid could have, so photographing her is pure pleasure. We had a great day of killer burgers and drinks & watching Charley beat the heat by splashing in her baby pool.

I hated to have to leave Dan and his family, but I was excited for my last stop on Sunday morning to see my old school friend Heather (we’ve been friends since 5th grade!). She and her husband Craig were having Abbey, their adorable little one, baptised at the Methodist Church where they attend. Heather had asked me to be there to photograph the ceremony and then to stay to document the BBQ they had back at their home with most of Heather’s family, lots of nieces and a nephew and part of Craig’s family and his niece. There was no shortage of kids on this hot summer day, so being the smart people they are, they had 3 kiddie pools set up in the backyard for the kids to splash around in. It was a great day, I got to catch up with Heather and her family and enjoyed being a part of Abbey’s special day.

Lastly, I had an engagement shoot with the cutest couple, Courtney and Nick. We met at 49 West and walked around the neighborhood on a very pleasant evening. I was so happy the heat wave had passed and that we could enjoy the night without sweating like crazy through the shoot. Unfortunately the bugs were still around and poor Courtney got a nice bite during the shoot…sorry! I had such a fun time with this couple. They were so natural in front of the camera, I didn’t have to tell them to do much…they just did it! I also appreciated that they were willing to be a bit creative for me…which I noticed right away when I saw her holding two big black and pink pinwheels that they had made for the photo shoot (their wedding theme will have pinwheels in it). Thanks guys for being so patient with me!! See you Saturday night at the wedding I’ll be shooting for Nick’s cousin!

beautiful things…

July 13-23rd:

1: Cooperstown wedding (actually took place on July 4th but edited during this week): I had the awesome opportunity to photograph a wedding on the Fourth of July at a beautiful lake-side resort in Cooperstown, NY. The quaint little historic town is well known for its Baseball Hall of Fame (which I’ve visited in the past when one of my favorite players, Eddie Murray was inducted), but what I didn’t realize was just how gorgeous the lake area was. I was blown away when I got there and checked out the property the day before the wedding. This was gonna be an easy one, I thought…and it was. The day went off perfectly. The bride Rebecca was absolutely stunning in her vintage inspired wedding gown that stayed true to the 1920’s feel they were going for. The groom was dashing in his simple linen suit. They complimented each other beautifully and pulled off a very classy ceremony and reception. Congrats to Rebecca and Greg!

2: Already Artist summer camp: Last week was the second of three camps that we have at Already Artists in downtown Annapolis. I had taken a little break from the studio, so I was anxious to get back to the kids and make some art! The kids that come to this class are so exceptional…and this group definitely lived up to that. Stacey, the owner and planner of all the projects, decided that for this camp, our focus would be Mexican art…something that our little studio loves and seems to be a reoccurring theme in the art we create (Stacey is a huge fan of Frida Kahlo).
Instead of describing the art these little artistic kiddos did…I’ll share a few quick shots I took with my iPhone.

3: Night street shooting: This month I’ve been going out and shooting nighttime street scenes of downtown Annapolis. My goal is to improve my style and start to see the light and shadows that can be captured on a simple street that we walk down every day and never notice the contrast and beauty. I enjoyed this little exercise so much that I am going to continue to do this from time to time. It’s a great way to push myself to see beautiful photos everywhere. You can see the full gallery at The Annapolis Sound. click here for the direct link to the latest gallery.

I love my little town | Annapolis, Maryland Photographer

July 3-12th:

This past week has been pretty awesome, had some nice time off and got to spend some good quality time with my friends and loved ones. I’ve gone biking, boating, ate some amazing food, listened to fabulous music, and finally got out to start shooting some personal projects of my own. l don’t have alot more to say about this week, so I’m going to talk about four businesses that I support and am currently involved with. I think everyone needs to know about them.

1: Crystalooney’s Creative Arts: A few years ago when worked for The Capital Newspaper in Annapolis and was out looking for some nice “wild art” I stepped into B.B. Bistro in West Annapolis and saw this energetic Aussie entertaining kids during one of her afternoon programs where she read stories and painted faces for the kids. I took a few photos and moved on my way, but Christalene also was in my memory…what a fun person I thought. Fast forward a year and I officially met Christalene at a birthday party that I was hired to photograph…we talked about our businesses and then went our separate ways once again. Then some time later, we met again at another event and the little cogs in our brains started turning…we were at the same events doing our thing time and time again…why not begin to collaborate and do some of these gigs as a team. About 6 months ago we did our first birthday party together for a mutual friend’s kiddo. It was a blast, I documented the party and she painted all the kids faces, had a story time and gave the birthday girl a little princess makeover. The album I made for the family was awesome and something they will have for years and years to remember when their little one was just 4 years old.

I’ve continued to work with her photographing a couple body painting demonstrations, which I was blown away by, she can transform someone into the most amazing body of art! A few weeks ago I photographed a belly henna that she did for an expecting mother. Photographing the human body form is always a beautiful experience for me, but seeing a gorgeous pregnant belly with an intricate henna design on it made it even more wonderful.

When I photograph her artwork, I become more inspired and I am pushed to new limits. I encourage you all to check out her work and consider hiring her for your child’s next birthday party, friend’s bridal shower, or give a gift of a belly henna at your next baby shower. Henna and face painting is not just for kids…it’s a fun way to express yourself, even if it’s just for one day. www.crystalooneys.com

2: Already Artists: I’ve been working at this awesome little art studio on Maryland Avenue for just about three years. Again, it’s thanks to my time at The Capital newspaper that I even found this place. I was sent on an assignment over 5 years ago to photograph at the studio and as soon as I walked and saw all these little artists learning and doing such advanced artwork, I was hooked. When the time was right, I talked to Stacey (the owner) about working with her and I soon started. I just love this place, from teaching the kids everything from the most successful artists in history such as Monet and Van Gogh, to learning about our contemporary street/outsider artists that do graffiti in the streets of their towns, the kids really do get a well rounded art experience. We work with all kinds of fun materials too. We’ve been know to even use trash as a medium…and wow the people who walk by our little window on Maryland Ave. each week. So, if you have kids under the age of 13, check it out…we’d love to have you join our fall classes! www.alreadyartists.com

3: 49 West Coffeehouse and Winebar: I’ve been hanging out and frequenting this place for quite some time now, so it was inevitable that when I realized it would be nice to make a little extra money to buy some more equipment (because a photographer always is looking to buy some new equipment), I chose 49 West as my place for secondary employment. It’s an awesome place, I can’t say enough good about it. The food rocks (I recommend the salmon bagel for breakfast & the chicken salad or one of their ever changing specials for lunch), the people are great, and they are great supporters of the local businesses (they serve Cafe Pronto coffee…a local favorite)…Being a regular there is like being part of a little family, I guess you could say it’s my <a href="“>Cheers…where everyone knows my name. The best part is the back room where some very talented musicians play on a nightly schedule. This is my favorite place in Annapolis for live music. Nowhere else in this city can you get such an intimate show without spending a ton (unlike the place I won’t mention just a few doors down). The wine and dessert selection is always a nice treat at the end of long day and they have my favorite beer (Guinness) so I can’t complain one bit. If you’ve never checked out this place, mosey on down and see a show and have some lunch or dinner…it’s the place to be!

4: The Annapolis Sound: I recently started working with/contributing to the area’s newest media group, The Annapolis Sound. I am so excited about this opportunity because I really respect what it is that they are doing as a media group in today’s crazy fast paced world with news exploding all around you. They are taking Annapolis and really showing the different angles that this city has…not just sailing and crab cakes, they are digging a bit deeper and telling good stories about our area. Unlike the local paper, which is good for it’s own reasons, The Sound has the time to really sit with a story (without the demanding deadlines that the daily paper has). They focus on interesting topics and cover them in an interesting way, such as multimedia, staff roundtable discussions (podcasts), and photo essays. It’s nice to read about your town and peel away the layers to see what’s really going on around you. My favorite segment that they do is called “Six Degrees of Sound”
where they interview a local person asking them six questions about their life, with on of the questions being, “who or what do you want to know more about?” It’s very interesting to see what the average person in this area is interested in, and a lot of time, it’s something I want to know about to. Enough about The Sound….go read it for yourself and check out some of my photos while you are there!

Singing in the Rain and laughing in the sun | Maryland and Pennsylvania photographer

June 25-July 2: This a shorter blog this week due to me having to hop in my car and go to Cooperstown, NY for the Fourth of July weekend to shoot a wedding. I’m sure I will be blogging and posting some photos from my trip when I return.

1. Vision Workshops: From time to time I get the incredible opportunity to work with kids of all ages through the Vision Workshops program, a non profit program that started right here in Annapolis, MD. I started working with the program back in the summer of 2006. My first “camp” that I worked was with inner city kids in Washington DC (with Sam Abell as one of the mentors…I am still giddy about getting to work alongside him). I then went on to work a few of the camps offered to kids in the Drug Court Program of Anne Arundel County. Most recently I got to work on a couple of camps that worked with kids from Bates Middle School and Annapolis High School’s ESL program (English as a second language). These programs encourage kids to look beyond their intense everyday lives and capture a feeling or story that they need to tell using writing and photography. It is an awesome experience for me every time I work with a new camp…the kids teach me as much about myself as I teach them about photography. I have had many many moments where I see that light switch turn on in one of the kids and I know that we have made difference.

Another aspect of Vision Workshops are the National Geographic Photo Camps that they have been doing for a few years now. It’s the same concept as the local programs, but these Photo Camps occur all over the globe…mostly in areas of need. Most recently a group went to Crimea to work with kids along the Northern Coast of the Black Sea. Although I did not take part in this camp, I am moved by the photos that these kids took…please take a moment to check them out-click here.

2. Engagement Shoot: I’ve known Laura her whole life. It blew me away when I got a friendly email from her a couple months ago that started out, “I know you probably can’t believe that I’m old enough, but I’m engaged…” She was right…I couldn’t believe that she was old enough. Laura’s family and mine were together a lot when we were kids…we went to the same church, our moms were girl scout leaders together, we went on youth retreats, our dads even went to high school together. Her older sister and my younger sister were best friends growing up, so when our families would get together, Laura and I would hang out. She was like my little sister growing up (6 years younger)…although, we always seemed to get along as if there wasn’t much of an age gap. She now lives in Florida with her fiance Adam (who I had met 15 years ago and didn’t realize who he was until I was informed by my sister) so I have not seen her in years. Thanks to facebook, we’ve been able to keep in touch and keep track of each other. I was so happy when she asked if I would do she and Adam’s engagement photos when they came home for a visit.

We decided to do the shoot in Gettysburg, PA close to where we grew up. Gettysburg is full of beautiful landscapes and a wonderful little downtown area, so I never ran out of ideas during out shoot. The shoot lasted 3 hours…and I could have kept going. I have to give a BIG thumbs up to Adam for being such a trooper…he had spent 5 hours out in the blazing hot sun playing a round of golf earlier in the day and was exhausted and a bit sun burned. The two of them were wonderful subjects…very natural and loving toward each other, I barely had to give them any direction. As a nice little reward to making it through the shoot without one complaint and putting up with the heat and humidity that day, I treated them to a banana split at the cutest little ice cream shop. What a great way to end the day!

3. Flicks on the hill: The American Visionary Arts Museum and Federal Hill in Baltimore put on an amazing event every Thursday in the summer. They show a movie projected onto a large screen on one of the museum buildings. Anyone can come and sit on the hill and watch for FREE! As soon as I found out about this great event, I marked my calendar for the first flick, one that could not be missed, “Singin’ in the Rain”.

I’ve seen “Singin’ in the Rain” several times when I was younger, but have never appreciated it so much as a film until now. I was moved by each musical number and wanted so badly to get up an dance around the hill…I actually pictured everyone sitting around me getting up and breaking into a choreographed dance number…it was such a magical evening. My favorite part of the evening was right after the character Cosmo finished singing “Make Em’ Laugh”, a hysterical number full of so much visual comedy, the crowd watching the film broke into applause as if Donald O’Connor himself had just performed the number on a stage in front of us. It happened again after the title song “Singin’ in the Rain”, and I assumed once again that Gene Kelly was going to step right out of that screen and take a bow. I found this interesting that a movie over 60 years old could grab our 2010 attention spans in such a way that it would move us to applaud a screen. It was a wonderful moment as I sat there with my boyfriend and looked at him with the biggest grin…it’s the simple things in life that really mean something. I can’t wait for the next film!

As Don Lockwood would say, “Dignity. Always, dignity”

4. Have a safe and happy Fourth of July everyone!!

Let the music move you | Annapolis, MD music photographer

June 15-24th:

I was trying to keep up and do a blog post at the beginning of each week…BUT we had some house guests for a week and I got a bit distracted…in a good way. So to lead off this post of my top five for the “week”…

1. American Visionary Arts Museum in Baltimore: How on earth have I lived in Annapolis for nine years and NEVER have visited the AVAM?? This is exactly my kind of museum. People kept telling me that I had to visit and when I was looking at a day last week with no jobs and a little bit of free time and a boyfriend’s mother in town with no plans for the day…I thought “carpe diem!”

I was immediately amazed as we walked up and saw the giant whirling sculpture swinging above the mirror covered main building. It’s awesome to think of the person that created the piece…so whimsical and unique. We were starving, so we went to the rooftop cafe called Mr. Rain’s Funhouse. I’ve been here once before for a friend’s body painting demo so I already knew how cool this place was and how yummy their food was…we were not disappointed. I had an amazing Kobe beef hot dog with chili and a side of their oh so good french fries…needless to say, I wasn’t watching what I ate that day 🙂

We then headed down the stairs to the second floor where we checked out the main exhibit space…so much cool stuff to talk about, but one artist that I loved was a man who took old pieces of weathered wood and wrote bible verses, quotes, thoughts and warnings on them. These signs that he created were displayed on his property (which I believe was in the midwest in the 30’s…I can’t find any info on him online and am going from memory after reading his bio over a week ago). The locals did not like his opinionated artwork displayed in his yard, yet he continued to speak his mind and exercise his freedom…something that I can respect. Plus, I a nut about fonts and lettering, and his printing/lettering is just awesome!

I also enjoyed the handful of postcards from the Post Secret project this one below was one of my favorites. If you’ve never heard of Post Secret….GO CHECK IT OUT!

I could go on and on and on about the AVAM, but I have other things to talk about for the week 🙂

2. I adore music. I adore really good old traditional american roots music. I adore my boyfriend. I adore 49 West in Annapolis as a great venue for an intimate music showcase. Now that you understand that…you can imagine that I had a wonderful time last Friday night when all of those things came together.

My main squeeze, Ruben Dobbs (Swampcandy) and Caleb Stine came together at 49 West for an amazing showcase of music complete with killer guests, Gary & Leah and Alfonso (from NYC).

The night started out with Swampcandy bringing us the down and dirty delta blues. He makes you feel like you are transported to another time…stompin’ your foot clapping to the raw sounds. Then Caleb gave us a taste of his story telling, soul baring songs that pull you in take you on yet another journey. During their set break, Alfonso, who was traveling through town from NYC, played a few of his originals that the audience quickly became entranced by.
Swampcandy & Caleb Stine then did another solo set each and guests Gary (piano, banjo) and Leah (fiddle and guitar) sat in for a few to round out the set. I am not a music writer/critic by any means…so all I can say is check these guys out!

I was completely blown away by the talent that came together that night and am still smiling. The best part of the whole night was after most of the audience went home and the speakers and moniters packed away, the instrument and musicians remained and an impromptu jam session began. Round and round went the acoustic jam with each musician beginning a new song one after the other. From Townes Van Zandt to traditional Americana the songs kept coming until the close of the cafe.

view more images from the show at 49 West here.

3. New baby #1: I had the pleasure of photographing a very cute newborn last week. Newborn shoots are some of my favorite work I’ve been doing lately. Every one is different and warms my heart. I love seeing the new Mom’s (and Dad’s) bond with their newest addition. This little ones name was Campbell, a five week old cutie. She was so cooperative and precious the entire session and her parents were awesome as they watched over my shoulder as I captured her little feet and silly faces. Campbell’s grandmother was there visiting from NY and got to hop in the session for a few sweet shots of her holding her first grandbaby. Congrats! Enjoy your sweet little girl!

4. New baby #2: Then I drove up to Pennsylvania to visit my family. My sister and I made our way over to my cousin’s house in Lancaster to visit she and her husband and their newest addition, Wyatt. I have been waiting a few weeks to get my eyes on this little guy. His mom Carrie is my “little” cousin and the first to have a child in our family, so it’s a big deal. Growing up, Carrie, her brother Josh and I were the only people in the whole family to have red hair…some would call us lucky, others cursed. I couldn’t wait to see if Wyatt would be another redhead for our little clan…and he was! He has the most gorgeous auburn hair and big blue eyes. He looks just like his parents. It was a pure joy to spend some time with him and get to take his first “official” photographs. Carrie looked beautiful as she held him and Pat, her husband looked like a natural as he held him when he came home from work. They are going to be great parents and I can’t wait to watch little Wyatt grow up…but not too fast.

5. Belly painting by Crystalooney’s Creative Arts:
I’ve recently started working with Chrystalene, a body & face painter & henna artist on a few really cool gigs where she paints her client and then I do a photo session with them to seal the moment in time and preserve the beautiful artwork that she has created. We’ve done, a children’s birthday party, a few body paintings, and a henna piece on a clients back…this time was awesome though…she painting a belly of a woman 7 months pregnant and it was absolutely beautiful. I will let the photos speak for that…
It is always a pure pleasure to work with Chrystalene and she definitely pushes me to new creative heights! Thanks lady!
Looking forward to our next adventure!

New blog format… | Annapolis, MD photographer

So, I’ve been getting a bit lazy with my recent blog posts. I love all the families and kids that I photograph, but find that after a long shoot, and a long edit…I run out of steam. I’m going to try a new format…a weekly blog post that sums up my high points of the week, personal, professional and miscellaneous information that I find interesting that week as well as the photos that I like from the week. I’d love to hear your feedback good and bad in the next few weeks so that I can tweak my posts to make them interesting and fun to read on a weekly basis. So…here it goes!

Week of June 8-15th:
Top 5:

1. Swampcandy Rams Head gig: My main squeeze, Ruben Dobbs (aka: Swampcandy), is a musician who plays 1920’s/30’s style Delta Blues and singer-songwriter style songs that can’t quite be summed up by any one genre. He and his upright bass player, Joey Mitchell have had a regular gig playing the Rams Head Tavern rathskeller bar every Tuesday night from 10-1.
This duo makes you stomp, clap and move and you feel the dirty blues jump up right to your soul. I hear them ALOT and I am still not tired of this true roots music. You must check them out! Click here for a swampcandy schedule.

2. Family shoot in Kent Island: Liz wanted a family photo session with her two girls before she and her boyfriend moved to Australia (where she is from). It was a beautiful day on the Eastern Shore….except for the seaweed on the beach, the massive amounts of mosquitoes, the bright bright sun, the ants, and a bit of heat. All that aside, the shoot turned out great and I think I captured some nice photos for her to take with her to the land down under. Thanks guys for putting up with all the obstacles! I forgot how Maryland summers are along the water 🙂
We did find a nice little spot in Stevensville to go to for a different scene before they went off to have dinner at Rustico. Have a great move Liz and Ian!

3. Documentary project: I am obsessed with documentary photography & films and have missed doing documentary photography since I left The Capital Newspaper back in 2007 where I was a photojournalist for 3 years. While I try to shoot in this style as much as I can, I still want more. I’ve been throwing around a few ideas in the past months about what subject matter I wanted to tackle and document for a week, month, year, whatever it took and see where it led me. I’ve finally made the right connection with a local media goup called Annapolis Sound that will allow me to move forward on one of my ideas…very exciting! Stay tuned to the blog for updates on this project (which I will talk about more once we get the thing going).

4. Great motivation: I am constantly looking for inspiration all around me. We creative types can never be satisfied with what we are doing…we are always looking for the next thing…
I’m currently inspired by a great humanitarian photographer, David duChemin. I have big dreams of becoming a humanitarian photographer and the more I read, the closer I feel to getting there. Then, I read his recent blog post called ‘Begin’ and I realized that I need to stop reading and dreaming and get out there and kick some butt. So it is.

5. Housewarming: A bit late for a housewarming (we moved on New Year’s Eve) but with Ruben being a musician and me a crazy self employed photographer, we couldn’t get our schedules together to host a party. This past weekend, it happened…and it was good. Over 50 good friends and family members showed up, we had some awesome Maryland crabs from Wild County Seafood in Eastport, many friends joined in on a live music, session, & tons of food and drink were brought by our awesome friends. As the sun set, the tiki torches and fire pit were lit and the party continued. The live music moved from electric to acoustic and more food was thrown on the grill. I finally hit the pillow at 3am…what a day/night. It’s so nice to have such great friends and a great house to host a party at!

Two little handsome men | Maryland newborn photographer

Another 1st birthday! Happy Happy to Lexi! | Annapolis, MD birthday photographer

I just wrapped up my first “year in the life” package with some really wonderful clients. It was a great thing to be able to witness the stages a newborn goes through in their first year and even more wonderful that the family was a pleasure to work with and the baby, Lexi, was cute as can be. This final shoot took place on her first birthday.

I am always amazed that in just a short year, the baby goes from a little newborn all curled up in their crib to a babbling little one with a personality. Lexi was just this. Her personality cracks me up! From the little dances she does when music is played on her toys to the shaking of her head and laughing to herself as if someone just told the funniest joke in the world. I just couldn’t get enough of her…and thinking about her silliness made me smile the rest of the day.

We started the shoot with an hour session of just Lexi to document how much she’s changed since the last shoot. Then it was par-tay time! From her first cake eating to decorating cookies to opening presents, Lexi partied like a pro…even missing a nap! It was an awesome afternoon! I can’t wait to begin designing the album from all the shoots this year!

Thanks to Jen and Chad for being so welcoming every time I am in your home. Jen, you did such a fabulous job decorating for the party…I loved the lady bug theme and the red balloons!

Happy First Birthday Ethan! | Annapolis,MD newborn and baby photographer

Aren’t first birthdays the greatest?! I think so! You might remember little Ethan’s newborn shoot that I posted almost a year ago…he was so tiny! Last Saturday I got to go back to Alexandria, VA to follow up with the family and document his first birthday. I showed up before the party because the family chose to do a standard shoot instead of the birthday party shoot. It was a beautiful day along the water in Alexandria as we walked around and looked for some fun places to shoot as well as grab a few candid moments. Ethan was a good sport, thanks to a bowl of Cheerios…I’m starting to think I should always keep a supply of these tasty treats in my bag for those moments when the kid wants nothing to do with sitting still 🙂 Then we went back to the house where I grabbed some beautiful shots in the main bedroom (thanks to the amazing light that was coming in the windows).
Lauren and Brad…thank you so much for having me back! It’s so wonderful to get to follow up after a newborn shoot and see just how quickly these little ones grow! Enjoy your little man!

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Mother’s Day is just around the corner | Annapolis child photographer

Don’t forget about your momma or a soon-to-be momma! Their big day is coming up in May and Freckle Photography is a great place to get that special gift. We have lots of great packages that you could buy a gift certificate for OR if you have recently had a shoot with Freckle Photography, why not buy some prints, a wall canvas or an album. If honor of all the wonderful moms, mention that you are purchasing a gift certificate for Mother’s Day and we will take 15% off all standard packages (normally $250).

4th Birthday Imagination Party|Annapolis, MD Children’s Birthday Photographer

Enjoy these photos from my first ever Imagination Birthday Party. Crystalooney’s Creative Arts provided face painting, story time, lots of glitter and fun for a 4th birthday celebration.

Hey Little Abbey Mae | Maryland newborn photographer

I had the pure pleasure of taking two days off this week to drive up to Bucks Co. Pennsylvania to visit my best gal Heather and her husband Craig. Heather gave birth to her first child, Abbey Mae just two months ago and I was itching to get up there and see the new addition to their family. Heather and I have been friends since 5th grade, so this was quite a milestone in our 20 year friendship!

It’s always amazing to see new parents with their child, but when you’ve known someone as long as I’ve known Heather, it’s just awesome to see them as a parent. She and Craig are naturals and quite the team when it comes to parenting. I guess it helps that Heather has several nieces and nephews that she’s had a little practice with 🙂 I never quite imagined Heather as a mom when we were growing up. We were the tomboys in school, played several sports together, sang loudly in my car as we drove around our little town and had dreams of being independent women. Now though, the role fits her so well and my heart warms up just watching her mother little Abbey.

Unfortunately it rained the entire time I was there, so we couldn’t enjoy the outdoors with Abbey. We did make it out once for a late lunch of sushi…and Abbey slept through the whole thing! Abbey is the sweetest little girl with some of the greatest facial expressions. She laughs, smiles, sticks out her tongue, throws her fist up into the air as if declaring something big and is already making some interesting little conversational sounds.

I am so happy for Heather and Craig and can’t wait to watch Abbey grow. Thanks guys for letting me hang out and document your day! I am already looking forward to our next visit!