happy sunday

Well, here they are. FINALLY. I know, and I am sorry. My life lately, though, has NOT been congruent with getting over 2000 photos edited down to a few over 660 that I am proud to present.

Brooks and Laura now Tinsley were married in Westbrook, Mississippi, on November 8, 2008. The day was beautiful and gave us some WONDERFUL lighting for family, group, and bridal photos. Brooks and Laura chose not to see each other, but their photos during and immediately after the ceremony, as well as their reception photos show their love and commitment to one another, as well as their sheer joy in being married (finally).

Kristen, my dear friend and faithful second shooter, did NOT disappoint. The photos, I hope, are exactly what I wanted them to be. I am often overcome with this bizarre feeling of jealousy in the photos, and this wedding was no exception. There are so many that I would LOVE to have as my wedding photos, if there is ever a man who will have the challenge of living with me forever. Ha!!!

One of those photos I would love to have for myself is pictured below. Brooks and Laura, if I were you guys, I would blow this up BIG and frame it in the bedroom. What a great dancing shot!



So, without further a-do, I present their photos and slideshow. The slideshow can be viewed by clicking HERE. Sadly, my computer jumbled all the photos up, and I did not have the time to un-jumble them. I often try to do a photo slideshow that is more of a story or movie; this one is different. It consists of my favorites, in a random order, and I must say that I enjoy it.

The whole gallery can be viewed from THIS LINK.
Go into my website and click on "clients" on the sidebar. When you are prompted for a word, the password is the bride’s last name BEFORE she got married.

Enjoy!! Brooks and Laura, may the Lord bless your marriage. May your love for one another be as passionate as it was at 6 p.m. on the evening of November 8. And… May these photos remind you of the love, joy, and respect that was present on your wedding day.

beautiful laura

i am still enjoying the beautiful light and wonderful moments kristen and i were able to capture on november 8. i am honestly (finally) ALMOST done with the photos from this wedding and hoping to have them uploading tomorrow night. the thing is, though, there are a lot of times that i have to sit and stare in awe at my computer screen over a particular photo... like this one, taken by my fantastic second!!

still grateful...

it's now the day after thanksgiving, and i am grateful for so many things. i feel like i have a life that might open my eyes to things i should be grateful for, and this week has been so exception. so, without further a-do, here goes my list:

- i am grateful for jesus and for the work he continues to do on my heart that so desperately needs it
- i am grateful to spend the day with my family and have another holiday with everyone i love
- i am grateful to be at work, having a job that allows me to work full-time, even when i want to be lazy
- i am grateful for my part-time job, the people at my part-time job, and money to have fun buying clothes. :)
- i am grateful for nights when i can lie in bed and watch the movie i've been wanting to watch
- i am grateful for this adventure of buying a home... (hopefully)
- i am grateful that my health allows me to really do anything i want, whenever i want
- i am grateful for how my sweet niece reminds me to live life to the fullest and for a mom who shows me what that means
- i am grateful for parents who show me what it means to be completely selfless
- i am grateful for my siblings and the fact that we get to experience this journey together
- i am grateful that i actually have friends who love me for who i am and enjoy time with me... and encourage the crap out of me
- i am grateful for this photography journey and the friends i have met along the way
- i am grateful for my clients and how they appreciate and enjoy my work in their wedding photos

*speaking of wedding photos, laura and brook's photos will be ready by the end of the weekend! i am hoping to have them uploading by sunday night. they look SO great. i can't wait to show them on this post and then in a possible "favorites" slideshow.*

- i am grateful for YOU

"regal"

I love this photo. I am really not sure how to describe it, but somehow the world "regal" came to mind. This church/chapel was simply GORGEOUS to shoot, and this photo of the ceremony captures it so well, I believe.

I am sure that everyone following my blog, especially my sweet bride Laura, is fed up with these small posts, and I do apologize. My world is crazy; I feel like my head is spinning. Actually, after last night in the E.R., I feel like my head is in a fish bowl somewhere else... The good news is that I should be caught up completely in the next week and a half and cannot wait!!

So to anyone who might actually follow my work, thank you. Thank you and be patient. There are SO many more great photos to come; I am sorry anyone has to wait. I hate waiting on pictures, too; I understand.

sweet laura...

The week before her wedding, I got a schedule in the mail from Laura that had some very specific photos she wanted. They weren't anything abnormal; she just wanted me to capture precious moments of her wedding. I felt torn, though, because from a photographer's standpoint, capturing it all was going to be practically impossible. So, I called her. I told her, pretty frankly, that it probably wasn't going to turn out how she was envisioning and that I just wanted to be honest with her. Getting photos of people going down the aisle in a small chapel, with hardly any light coming in at all might not happen. She was so gracious and kind, stating that anything would be fine.

Well, I think it shows now that really neat things happen sometimes. I think these are some of the best processional shots that have happened in a while, and I LOVE them. I really do... I LOVE them. Laura, I hope you're pleased:











More to come soon... My computer has all the photos jumbled all out of order right now, so I've been working on that... Hopefully a slideshow in the coming weeks!

halloween

no light

Last weekend's wedding was so much fun. I really did enjoy myself, and now that I'm looking back through the photos, I am realizing actually how much fun it was... It was full of challenges, though -- the main one being that their ceremony was at 6 p.m. They did not see each other beforehand, which I think is a valid choice, but it was SO dark from the moment they said their vows. I was worried about that challenge because I am so used to having SOME sort of natural light.

I think that Kristen and I got some great shots, though, from the ceremony ending through the first dance. I was looking through them this evening and came across these. I LOVE them! I hope you do, too. I have to say, too, that I am proud of what we got without a flash -- in 2 really dark locations.

Congrats Brooks and Laura; I cannot wait to show you the rest of the photos!

"caught my eye"

Kristen and I spent our day yesterday in the small town of Westpoint, Mississippi, home of "Mossy Oak," as my dad says. (Mossy Oak is a brand of hunting apparel.) I actually had to be at the hospital the night before, so I was pretty tired. With that said, constant exposure, focusing, and arranging was more of a challenge than usual. As you can see by these few that "caught my eye" during the upload, it was a challenge worth the final product:







More to come later this week from this beautiful wedding between Brooks and Laura.

updates...

Well, for the first time, maybe EVER, I feel like I am caught up in the photography world. There's a lot going on, and I am really NEVER all caught up with the things I'd like to do. I have, though, backed-up and edited all photos, as well as designed all albums that were on the agenda. Now, I just have to wait to hear back from my brides about ordering them...

I've got a wedding tomorrow in Mississippi. It should be fun. I've actually never met the bride, Laura, but she sounds so nice; she's super-excited about her wedding, too. I guess, since it's 5 a.m. as I write this, she is realizing that she's getting married TODAY. What great news...

In other news:

- I might be buying a house soon.

- I am all finished Christmas shopping.

- I don't know if you heard about it, but there was an election this week.

- I am off for 6 days straight after Thanksgiving. Man, I can't wait!!!

- I am off orientation and working as a "real nurse" in the ER now. Sorry world, I know that's very frightening.

- I am going to shoot this wedding tomorrow after being awake and working since 12 yesterday afternooon. I think it'll be 36 hours of awake/working. Wow.

Signing off. Boy, do I love taking photos for people!!!!

on an album design ROLL!!!!

the past few days i have felt more like an album designer than i have a wedding photographer, although it has been a lot of fun. :) i really have gotten about 3 done in the last week, close to 4 full albums with edits that needed to be done.

here are some designs from the latest; enjoy!!!






and, if you'd like to see the entire design, click HERE.

what is a second shooter anyways?

that's a good question! i get asked quite often what a "second shooter" is and who i use to shoot with me, so i'll answer. :)

a second shooter is really what it sounds to be -- a second person who shoots pictures all day along with the primary photographer. the majority of the time in photography, this might be a newer photographer or a photographer who is new to the wedding market. sometimes, groups of photographers trade time with each other, so it could be a well-established wedding photographer working for another.

the photographer that most often works with me is named kristen stewart. she and i met randomly through a mutual photography friend and really have been shooting together ever sense. we are a great team, and the combined photos that we get are just always better when she is there.

there are so many benefits to paying to have a second photographer there on your wedding day, and that is mostly why i only offer packages that have second shooters in them. i think it's priceless... that "second set of eyes" gets you photos like this:






and, it's an added benefit to me while editing -- fun photos that i didn't take. so fun!

album designs

Here are the latest album designs, or at least a few of the page designs that I like... Enjoy!!

kristen, the talented

i really fell in LOVE with this photo kristen took at our last wedding... and then i kept editing and found 3 more in the sequence that i LOVE. great work, kristen!!! i love these angles: