Winners and Weird Stuff

Hey everyone! Thanks to all of you who participated in the contest by leaving me your comments this week. For the three of you who haven't already, please send me an email here as well because I have a surprise for all of you for sending in such awesome ideas. With that said, the winner of the contest this week is Ali Hubbard! I can't wait to capture Ali and her boyfriend goofing off on the playground, just like the kids they interact with at the daycare where they first met. Thanks again everyone for sharing your ideas, and look for Ali's session on the blog soon!

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Since I have been talking so much about unique locations this week, check this place out. While down near Myrtle Beach with friends a few weeks ago, we got word of a local legend in the area who is known for being perhaps a little strange. After being warned that he didn't like visitors, we still decided to venture over to his place to see what all the talk was about. As we pulled up, visions of every horror movie I have ever seen ran through my head and we were all a little skeptical of getting out of the car. However, long story short, the owner actually ended up being as nice as could possibly be and let us wander his property taking in the sights. Along with his obvious pastime of collecting strange objects, his property has also been a dumping ground for movie production studios. He has props from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, The Wizard of Oz and others just hanging out on his property! Awesome! Check it out:

Contest Time: Unique Portraits

As I sat this afternoon working on some of Courtney and John's photos from my last giveaway, I realized it has been quite a few months since my last contest. Well it's time to change that, but this time I'm going to do things a bit differently. Capturing colorful portraits of my clients' lives is one of my favorite things about this job, but when they present me with a quirky idea or location for their shoot that means something to them personally it takes things to a whole new awesome level. So here it is:

If you could have professional photos taken of yourself that not only show you, but that capture an element of your life that makes you the awesome unique individual that you are, what/where would you choose? Do you and your boyfriend share an affinity for bicycle rides through the city? Or perhaps you and the kids head down to your favorite local ice cream shop every Saturday night? Maybe your friends don't understand just how cute you and Spike are each time you take him to the dog park, but if you had that perfect picture to show them they would get it.

Whatever it is that makes you tick, if you would like your photo idea to become a reality just leave a comment here on the blog or over on Facebook telling me a little about it. The more unique the better! Next Monday I will be choosing one individual to receive a $300 gift certificate which will allow them to get that idea out of their head, have me put an awesome spin on it and get it on to their walls.

*Bonus points if your idea involves a location as cool as this (preview of an upcoming post)*

Hollywood Comes to Town

Summer is in full swing so I hope everyone is surviving the heat out there. I've just arrived back in town from spending a week down at the beach with my best friends Josh and Julie who flew in from Los Angeles. We had a blast and I can't believe they have already headed back to the land of the rich and famous. Luckily I snapped a few photos of them before they left that scream of Hollywood.

In other news, the last few weeks I have:

- Attended a Pirate Festival
- Purchased a new shiny camera
- Nearly escaped with my life from a movie prop junkyard/crazyhouse
- Sharpened my pottery making skillz

So look for plenty photos to come!

2 Week Review

It's been a busy few weeks around here, which is always a good thing when it's accompanied with awesomeness. First of all, Sarah and I have arrived back in town from our amazing Bermuda adventure, so you can expect those photos soon. Inspired by the island, we decided we needed some change in the house, so as soon as we arrived home we went to work painting and redecorating our bedroom.

Oliver helped out as always by watching the awesome colored paint dry on the walls.

With the project mostly finished, I then got to see my youngest sister Kayleigh graduate from high school this past weekend. I shot her senior photos last year, but I still can't believe that she's actually done! Just a few months and she'll be moving to Richmond!

In between all of the other happenings I almost forgot that my birthday was coming up yesterday as well! We celebrated with our first cookout of the Summer and broke in our new grill with some delicious veggie shish kabob's.

Hope everyone's Summer is going amazing! We've got another awesome wedding in Williamsburg this weekend, plans to go hiking in the mountains this week, and plenty of other adventures in between!

Too Much Tofu

First Annual Twin Oaks Tofu Eating Contest at Cafe Gutenberg. You can always have too much of a good thing, no matter how delicious it is...

EMT for INK

Ink Magazine asked me to shoot some more photos for them a few weeks ago, and this time I had the pleasure of meeting Michael Ny. Michael is a current VCU student who is also volunteering his time at the Bensley-Bermuda Volunteer Rescue Squad. The organization was established in 1964 and today serves Chesterfield county as "an all-volunteer agency dedicated to providing outstanding emergency medical care to the sick and injured". I had the opportunity to drive over to the station for a quick tour and everyone I met seemed like a really great group. Check them out below, and pick up this year's last issue of Ink on the VCU campus April 15th!

California Knows How to Party

Hey everyone! I'm currently out in LA for the week with some spotty internet access, but I wanted to say hey and I'll be sure to have some new photos for you when I return. Hope everyone has an awesome week!

Weekly Ramblings

Spring is on the way, I can feel it! I even made it a point to pull all of my shorts out of storage today and wear a pair around town with my palm tree shoes. We can only hope that all of this cold, nasty weather is behind us. Only 13 days left to the official season change, so don't forget to mark your calendars for free Rita's Italian Ice!

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So no more Olympic news since they are over now, but check out this awesome swag that the Olympic photographers got! Yes, that is a mug, and if they ever go on sale I will definitely be one of the nerds that buys one.

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I just found out that Sarah and I will be cruisin' to Bermuda at the end of May to celebrate her graduation! Nothing beats a cruise, and I can't wait to take some island photos!

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And because more pictures can never be a bad thing, here's a shot that caught my eye of my friend and fellow photo nerd Shawnee while we were out enjoying the amazing weather today. Have an awesome week everyone!

Sunday Sunday Sunday

I just got back from running around Carytown taking some fun engagement pictures of Andrew and McKenna, so you can look forward to those soon! There's nothing I love doing on sunny Sunday afternoons better than taking photos for awesome couples. The weather just needs to warm back up and it will be perfect.

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Olympic thoughts for this week: Curling still rules, mainly because it's the one Olympic sport I believe I could be good at right now if I tried. Also, anything involving the bobsled/luge track is scary ridiculous.

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We watched Food Inc. last night and realized we need to check out more of the awesome things people are doing in Richmond like the Farm to Family Bus. You should too.

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I will be visiting my best friends in Los Angeles in 2 weeks, and am trying to do at least one awesome Cali photo shoot while I'm there. If you know anyone on the west coast who wants to model let them know I'm coming!

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Here's one shot that popped out at me from today while the photos were loading, can't wait to edit the rest. Have an awesome week everyone!

Harry Potter is Brutal

When the Executive Editor of VCU's Ink Magazine asked if I would like to shoot some photos for them, I of course said yes. Then I was informed that the shoot would be for the VCU Quidditch team and I was a little confused (for the uninformed, Quidditch is the sport from the Harry Potter series, but you should already know that). VCU has a Quidditch team? Quidditch is a real sport? How do they fly? Are non-wizards allowed to watch?

With these questions in my head, I showed up at University of Richmond weeks later with my camera in hand, ready to capture the game with absolutely no idea how the game was even played. Greeted by the team, I was thanked for coming and told just to "watch where you stand, things can get a little rough". I chuckled, rough? I thought surely they were joking. Little did I know....

Quidditch is INTENSE! Within the first 2 minutes of the game there were players running off into the distance out of sight, balls flying into the stands, and the kind of physical contact you would expect from a rugby game. For the next hour I captured photos of what I would later describe to my friends as a mix of dodgeball, rugby, soccer, and hide-and-seek all with the added commotion of wooden broomsticks colliding with one another. I slowly picked up on the rules, and had a blast watching it all unfold. If your interested in checking out a game or joining a team, check out Fan's of Quidditch at VCU and the Intercollegiate Quidditch Association. Now for some photos!

You can check out the article in Ink Magazine here and while you're there check out all the other awesome articles that they have put together in that last three issues. The editor Sara has done an awesome job with the magazine, and she's an awesome photographer and I also hear a darn good cook. Happy Tuesday everyone, have an awesome day!

Sunday Ramblings

Are you following me on Facebook yet? If not, then make sure you go become a fan by clicking here. This Wednesday I'll be giving away a $300 gift certificate to one of my Facebook fans for a session in the city! Also follow me on Twitter for even more fun things in the future.

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Olympic notes of the week: Shaun White is a beast & I want to join a curling team.

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Go check out the latest edition of Ink Magazine, VCU's student run publication, online here. Pay special attention to my action shots of the Quidditch team, and look for a post all about my Harry Potter sports photography later this week.

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Photo outtake of the week: Oliver checking out my flash while I test my new CyberSyncs.

Have an awesome week!

Happy New Year!

The blog has been a little silent over the holiday season, but its a new year and you can expect new things to come. I'll be posting the weddings that ended out the 2009 season soon, and I have a new weekly blogging schedule planned that will keep things in shape around here. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday, and that your new year is off to a great start. In Richmond we were lucky enough to have a white Christmas this year, and who can resist a good snow photo session?

Vacation

So it has been over a week and a half since my last post, but for good reason. The school semester officially started today and I was out enjoying my last week of free time. First Sarah and I hit up the Richmond Metro Zoo which, up until now, I did not know existed. Check out these cool dudes, I think we spent more time hanging out taking photos of them than anywhere else.

Giraffes are cool. Petting giraffes is cooler. End of story.

I was also able to spend the better part of a week with my family down in the Outer Banks. We spent most of the week relaxing in the sand and catching what waves were available. Kristina riding an intense one compliments of the waterproof point&shoot:

It was a fun time and I'm now recharged and ready to take on the new season. Check back soon for my next post, it will be the first of its kind!