The newest edition of Albemarle magazine is out. It features one of my wedding detail images on the cover. The bridesmaid bouquet pictured was from the fall wedding of Laurie Ripper and Blair Kelly at The Seven Oaks Estate here in Charlottesville.
Pick up an issue today!
This is 7 week old Jack's first photo shoot. Isn't he the cutest!!!
I was working late in the studio last Friday night when I received a call from a woman asking if I was available to take portraits of her and her 3 small children in the next few days. As she was telling me about what she was looking for I could tell she was getting very emotional. She proceeded to expain that she has just found out that she was diagnosed with breast cancer and she was scheduled for surgery and chemotherapy the following week. She said she wanted to make sure that each of her children had a beautiful photo with her just in case. By this time she was crying and I was trying to be strong on the phone but tears were flowing down my face.
I knew what she was saying and I couldn't help but think about how important pictures are in our lives. We talked some more and I changed my schedule around so we could shoot on Monday. All evening I thought about her and I couldn't believe that in the face of such terriflying news one of her first priorities was to have pictures made. I felt like this was one of the most important shoots in a long, long time.
Saturday I received a phone call from one of her neighbors. They found out that I was coming over to take pictures and a few of them decided that they wanted to pay for her photography session as a gift to her. Again I was in tears. What a wonderful gesture!
Monday was beautiful. Almost 70 degrees and overcast, I felt like it was a nice day just for us. As I was packing up my gear she tried to pay me. I told her it had been taken care of. She looked at me with amazement when I said that her neighbors had called me Satuday and paid for her session. I could see in her face how incredibly moved she was and then she began to cry. I could hardly hold back my own tears.
Following the good deeds of her neighbors, I have decided to donate my fee to the American Cancer Society. Sometime we need a reminder that there are bigger things than ourselves going on in the world.
Today I saw this quote: "For true success, find something you love so much that you would do it for free". I am always honored to make images for people. Although always rewarding, this was one instance I could do more.
The new Spring/Summer editIon of The Knot features the Virginia wedding industry party held in Charlottesville and put together my my good friend Jennifer Carroll of Jennifer Carroll Events.
Location: Old Trail
Catering: A Pimento (one of my favorites)
Flowers: The very talented and ever creative Randy and Joey of Floral Images.
Tent: Skyline Tent (I photographed those shy twin boys for their mother way back in 1998).
Good looking boys! Nice tents too.
Music: Jangling Reinharts/Sam Hill Bands
Lighting: Blue Ridge Light Forms
Photos: me
Putting it all together: Jennifer and Melissa at Jennifer Carroll Events.
A good time was had by all!
Folks in the photos: Andy and Hank from Sam Hill Bands, Sheila and Jessica from The Event Company, Photographer Meredith Montague, Gay from A Pimento, Lightbulb Larry (Larry Lustberg) from Blue Ridge Light Forms, Photographers Meg Runion, Bill Holland.....a few more but I didn't get their names.
Amazing musician and local gal Ann Marie Calhoun won My Grammy Moment sunday night and got to perform on stage with the Foo Fighters at the 50th annual Grammy Awards. I went to CBS.com during the show to cast my vote for her and I saw one of my images of her on CBS.com. I thought that was so cool. I still get excited when I see my images out in the world. I photographed Ann Marie for her publicity images back in late summer 2007. Here are some of those shots. She is so nice and a really great subject in front of the lens. To read more about her check out: http://www.readthehook.com/blog/index.php/2008/02/10/calhoun-wins-my-grammy-moment/
Hillary Clinton was the guest in Larry Sabato's politics class today. How cool is that to go to class and have Hillary Clinton as the guest speaker. I was the official photographer for UVa's Center for Politics and had an all access, super-duper secret service security pin so I could roam all over the auditorium. I did feel a tiny bit out of my element since I don't exactly consider myself a news photographer (though I have been an editorial photographer for the last 12 years, won some awards too :). This is my second experience with the secret service. I shot the wedding of the daughter of the Secretary of Energy back in 2005. We had secret service agents with us all day and it took some getting used to but they were really nice. I think I will save the "special" pin they gave me in my scrap book. No matter who wins the nomination this is a very significant and historical time in politics. Don't forget to vote! "Politics is a good thing"
So if you have been checking out my new weblog you probably have noticed I don't write too often or too much. It's a bit of a phobia I have. Not too sure where it came from but all throughout my college years I only took classes that did not require a final paper (or any papers really). I don't fear communication or interaction but writing has just never been my thing. When I think about why I just come to the conclusion that I am a visual person and a people person who much prefers face to face interaction. I will try to converse more in future posts but I will probably just post images every now and then. Maybe everyday....I do think its fun to share and I shoot work everyday. I have a large framed cork board in my downtown studio that I post new images on everyday so maybe I will think of this space like that. If your reading this leave me a comment. Perhaps even some blogging advice and thanks for looking!
Photo field trip with Meredith & Tod.
We just got back from a 2 day trip to Baltimore to experience the Master Your Craft workshop with fabulous photographers Mike Colon and Bob Davis.
It was so inspiring and just a ton of fun to hang out and learn with fellow photographers Meredith Montague (www.meredithmontague.com....check out her blog for lots of highlights, she likes to write..I do not :) and Tod Cohen (www.todcohen.com). Love to be inspired and see how other photographers do their thing!
This week The Knot features my wedding as the wedding of the week. I love it when my couples weddings are featured but it was pretty cool to find out that they wanted to feature my wedding as well in the Fall 2007 issue of the magazine and now online as the featured wedding. Check it out at www.theknot.com. I had an amazing team that pulled it all together including Sheila and JF from The Event Company, Larry at Blue Ridge Light Forms, Skyline Tents, Lynne Brubaker Photography, and Festive Fare. If anyone ever needs wedding advice just let me know!
Photo: View of the dinner tent from the barn by Lynne Brubaker www.brubakerphoto.com
