Dayton, Ohio Wedding Photographer: Nicole & Allen Part I

This weekend was super special for me because I got to photograph my little cousin's wedding! It was so fun to get to share the day with Nicole and Allen. Thank you guys for having Adam and me with you there all day!!

The entire wedding was just beautiful. The fall colors were stunning!! The rings and flowers were gorgeous, so I spent some time trying to capture the beauty of those together.
Trying to be creative with the pumpkin, oh man, do I LOVE fall.

We started off photos with the boys. Here is the handsome groom, Allen. The wedding took place in downtown Yellow Springs, and let me tell you - this is the cutest place to have a wedding!! So many cool places for photos.

The boys were a little shy at first...

Love this one... just love the chocolate colored tuxes.

Leave it up to MY husband to spot the sign "Cry Freedom." What is THAT supposed to mean?? :)

Channeling a certain music group... any guesses?

After the guys' photos, Allen was eager to get back to the church for the ceremony. Haha! Just kidding Nicole!!

And, now time for the BEAUTIFUL bride!! Allen is a lucky guy!
So pretty!

Again, LOVE it! So classy! Her dress was amazing on her!

The girls dresses were just perfect, too. So cute!!

And, I found this sign... to get back at the boys!

More pictures of the amazing couple to come soon!!!

Columbus, Ohio Photographer: Alex and Evan

This weekend I had the pleasure of taking photos with Alex and Evan, whom you may remember from last fall. Just over a year ago, we did family portraits with the "D" Family, and this time I was so lucky that they asked me to take some of the kids, especially Alex, for her upcoming fourth birthday.

Our session got rained out in the morning, so we postponed it until the afternoon, and I'm so glad we did. It turned out to be a photographer's dream day! Perfect temperature, fluffy clouds, great light. We went to downtown Westerville, which was a fun change from the natural setting I'm used to. And to be honest, I'm pretty sure I *LOVE* the small town setting, and hope to do more sessions like this soon!!

Enjoy the photos. They make me smile every time I look at them! Alex and Evan are just the CUTEST! And they love to pose and model.

We started out with a pose climbing the tree... and ended with a tumble from the tree! Oh no! Everyone was okay, but the pretty, clean, white tights were not. But mom and dad were so laid back and didn't mind at all! Alex did seem quite distraught that her new tights and pretty shoes that mommy cleaned had gotten all dirty. :)
Evan is such a ham!
I LOVE this photo of the two of them together. They get along so well with one another.
Couldn't pass up the antique frame...
I love her beautiful blue eyes!

Hehe! Princess pose!

We have concluded that impatiens (flowers) do not smell good. But, being the model that she is, Alex was willing to pose holding an impatien.
The cute family!
Thanks for sharing your afternoon with me! I enjoyed it!

Dayton, Ohio Wedding Photographer: Katie & Darius Wedding Album

It's design time. It's been a few months since I've designed a wedding album, so I'm super excited to let the creative juices start flowing again. And my wonderful couple has given me creative liberties to design it on my own!

Katie & Darius - let me know if you like the style so far!

My favorite page so far...

Dayton, Ohio Photographer: Sophie's First Birthday

Hi there blog! Yes, it's been a VERY long time since we've chatted, but NO I haven't forgotten about you. In fact, I have been very busy preparing more photos for you.

As some of my blog readers may (or may not) already know, I do photography as a side business to my many other interests/careers/hobbies. A new quarter just began at the college I advise at during the week and I just started teaching three new classes at two different colleges. On top of that, amidst all my wedding photo editing, I took a moment for a weekend getaway to celebrate my OWN wedding anniversary with Adam. Now we're back to work and planning for yet another "late summer" getaway next month (Bahamas!). In the meantime, I'm working hard to keep up with the long list of sessions and weddings I have yet to come for 2009. So, without further ado... let the photos begin...

Guess who's one!!?? Several weekends ago I helped celebrate little Sophie's First Birthday. One year later, we have now completed "Sophie's First Year Story." And, I'm super excited that we will begin another "Baby Boy X's First Year Story" with Beth and Chris in November!!! (You better choose a name for him, fast!! Hehe!)

I know mommy and daddy and grandparents and aunts have been waiting for these. I hope you enjoy them!!

Sophie's family took extra time to make her a special "Hungry Caterpillar" cake. How cute!
The birthday girl is smiling and showing off her cute little teeth.
Beth will probably kill me for putting up this one. I find it too cute, but that's probably because I wasn't the parent of a screaming child at the time. :) Sophie had the "it's my party and I'll cry if I want to" attitude.
A little happier now that she got her caterpillar antenna.

Sophie's was really into the gift-opening.
Love her reaction to the singing Glowworm!
My favorite photo - she decided she was done with gifts and walked over to the closest purse (which happened to be mine), picked it up, slung it over her arm, and took off like she was on a shopping spree. Too cute!!

Dayton, Ohio Wedding Photographer: Katie & Darius Part II

Okay, you two... I know you've been waiting for this. Here is Part II of your wedding day and the beginning of your lives together. These are my favorites. Enjoy!

But first... another try at HDR for some special effects on the dress. I wanted the details to really stand out, so I overexaggerated the effects a bit. Not sure what I think about it yet. Yes...? No...? Totally surreal looking for sure. Katie, I think I just turned your dress into a cartoon! :)

The aisle runner, flower petals, and pew bows just make a perfect setting for this shot.
One of my favorites! My second favorite moment of the wedding - the first kiss!! (My favorite is the groom's reaction while the bride walks up the aisle... and I'm saving that one for the slide show.) It looks like no one's in the room but them! Love this telephoto lens!
Are they happy or WHAT? :)

This was Katie's great idea. It turned out really cute. The church altar is just so pretty.



What a great portrait!
Another new favorite!

The beautiful and delicious cake was made by Cake Creations. Yum! You could just smell the icing within a five foot radius of the cake.
Entertainment, music, and lights by Party Pleasers - great people to work with.

I love their genuine reactions as they sang to KC and JoJo.

Dayton, Ohio Photographer: Lacey's Newborn Session

My third and final session this weekend was with little newborn Lacey Renee. I was so excited to hear that they gave her the same middle name as me!!! She is only barely two weeks old and SO cute. This session was special because she is the baby of my best friend from high school, Amanda and her husband David. I hadn't seen them in probably three years so it was great to get to connect and catch up. Thanks so much for having me visit!!

So, enjoy my last blog post of the night. Thanks to the Golden Girls for getting me through several hours of edits tonight. It's been fun seeing the photos come to life!


You've gotta love the little wrinkly feet. So cute!! She has such long, skinny feet!


I LOVE the black & white edits.
Amanda has always been so crafty. She made a lot of the decor in Lacey's room, including this decopage of her name.
Her dark hair is so thick and pretty.
Cute shoes which look so giant even on her long feet. :)
Mommy and baby... so sweet.