A Frozen photo shoot | Child Photographer, Leesburg VA

One cold, dreary weekend in January I set up my new backdrop and let my daughter wear her new Elsa hat (with braid), along with her Elsa dress. The result: a Frozen-inspired photo shoot of my beautiful girl! Not on that, but it was an excuse to play with my two prime lenses (50mm f/1.4, and 85mm f/1.8). This photo in particular was my favorite.

R & C Engagement Shoot | Outer Banks Photographer

Over Thanksgiving, I had the pleasure of doing an engagement shoot for my cousin and her fiance while we were all together at the Outer Banks, NC. We found a wide variety of beautiful settings, including venturing down to the very cold beach for some lovely near-sunset photos. I'm so happy for the two of them, and I can't wait to photograph their wedding later this year!

Little Miss S: Newborn Portraits

Because this little one spent New Year's Eve at my house tonight, and she's no longer quite so little (5 months already!), AND because what's cuter to share on New Year's Day than an adorable newborn...here are my photos of the adorable Little Miss S!

My extended family: holiday portraits | Outer Banks Portrait Photographer

I don't often post photos here that I'm in (as instead I'm normally the one behind the camera!), but this was a rather unique family photo shoot that I wanted to showcase...my family!

We all met at the Outer Banks for Thanksgiving last month, and as we so rarely all have the chance to be together, I thought it would be nice to do a big family shoot. In addition to the group photo above, I also took photos of the different components that makeup our family. And despite it being a bit chilly, the overcast skies actually provided us with a very nice background!

The P family: Christmas card photos

Last month I took photos of my former housemate from college and her beautiful family, for use on their Christmas cards this year. We met at the Point of Rocks train station in Maryland, just on the other side of the Potomac, and took photos throughout the park there. After warning me that her kids may not cooperate, it turned out that they were perfectly delightful! They were all so much fun to work with, and we captured some really great moments.

Little Miss E: Newborn photos

During the last week of July, a good friend of mine here in Leesburg gave birth to a beautiful baby girl! Not only did I get a chance to visit with them in the hospital, but a few days later after mom and baby had returned home, I went to their house for a newborn photo shoot of the beautiful girl. This is the third shoot I've done with this family, and I'm so happy that they continue to ask me to photograph their life! Especially with this adorable new addition.

We started off with some "lifestyle" photos in her nursery.

Ms. L: Author Photos | Northern Virginia Photographer

About a month ago I met up with the lovely Laura, a friend of a friend. Laura is getting back into freelance writing, and needed some photos taken for an article she was writing. I was happy to help, and so I met Laura at her house and we took some photos to go with her article.

The article is very moving and personal. It's hard to read at times, and eye opening, and I really respect Laura for putting herself out there to hopefully help others who may be in her position. I highly recommend clicking through and reading her very personal story.

http://www.xojane.com/healthy/i-reread-the-journal-i-kept-on-the-psych-ward-to-remind-me-what-i-learned-there

Little Miss J Turns 2 | Leesburg Child Photographer

A few weeks ago, my neighbor asked me to take photos of her daughter for her second birthday. She was an absolute gem to work with (which you can't say about a lot of 2 year olds!), and I could not be happier with her shoot! I mean, who can really get enough of those cheeks?!

"Elsa" outside

I finally found an Elsa costume for my daughter, and she loves nothing more than to wear it as much as possible. While we've tried to keep the costume inside, I wanted to get some outdoor photos of her. Unfortunately, after about 5 minutes we started to get rained out, but before then I was able to grab a couple of fun ones, and then play with editing to make them really pop!

Little Miss S: 1 day old

Just over a month ago, one of my best friends gave birth to her second daughter. Just like the first time, I wanted to visit her in the hospital, as I know how nice it is to get people to visit you during that time! Plus, you're of course very excited to show off your adorable new baby! This time, I brought my camera with me to capture some sweet newborn hospital photos for her and her husband. 

J&A Wedding: Cumberland, MD

At the end of May I had the honor to attend my aunt's wedding to her partner, and act as the official photographer. The wedding was held in Cumberland, MD, which is only about two hours from where I live and was surprisingly pretty!

July 4: Sunset on the beach

On July 4, my daughter and I headed over to the beach in Kill Devil Hills, NC to wait for the town's fireworks to start. We arrived during sunset so I had some time to practice with my new Canon 60D and 85mm lens...and what better subject to practice on than my beautiful daughter?

Portraits with my new gear

Last weekend I finally ordered my new camera gear! That's right, it was finally time to upgrade from my "starter" DSLR, the trusty Canon Rebel T2i I've been using since January 2012. I'd saved up for almost a year, and did a lot of research (both on my own, and talking to some of my photographer friends), and ultimately settled on the Canon 60D and 85mm f/1.8 lens . There were many reasons for both, which I'm not really going into here, but let me say that after my first 4 days of working with this combination, I very much feel that I made the right choices! 

Note that these are from the very first time that I used both the camera and lens, so I was getting used to both, particularly the focus on the lens. So the focus is definitely a little off on some of these photos, but I think you can at least see the potential inherent in the gear, and in me as I get better and better!

 

Experimenting with "mattte"

Last week I took my daughter and a few of her friends to the Seven Oaks Lavender Farm in Catlett, Va. I went last year and did a photo shoot with my friends' daughters, so I knew it would be a lovely location for photos. Not only that, but I just purchased a set of matte presets for Lightroom 5, and I wanted to use some of these photos to try out the presets and see what kind of artistic looks I could get in my photos. I'm still tinkering with them, but for the first try, I am happy with the results.

Recital Performance: June 2014

About three weeks ago my daughter had her very last "Rising Stars" dance recital with the Loudoun School of Ballet. I love taking photos of the girls during their dress rehearsal; they look so great up there on the stage! Back in January, the pinks and teals her class wore popped, but I think the green stood out quite nicely as well. Our little jazzy tappers did a great job!

The I Family: Black and Whites | Leesburg, VA Family Photographer

Last month I had the pleasure to once again shoot family photos for some good friends of mine. Last year we did their shoot at Ida Lee park; this year we headed to Morven Park and the beautiful scenery there. I could not have been happier with this shoot - they are a lovely family, soon to add a fourth. I've already been asked to take their newborn photos; I cannot wait!

I've posted a sneak peek album on Facebook; while the colors they were wearing and the lovely background were stunning, here I wanted to focus on the black and whites that we got from this session. There's something about a gorgeous black and white portrait that really stands out!

Sweet Justice Concert: Petersburg, VA

About six weeks ago I once again had the pleasure to see the Richmond-based band Sweet Justice. Previously I posted some photos I had taken of them at my sister's boyfriend's house, which was an outdoor event. Because that was done on his backyard stage, there was not a full lighting rig set up, just what he has at his house. This time, they played at a roadhouse near Petersburg, VA, on my sister's birthday. It was a great night, but to my photographer's eye, the best part was the lighting! It led to some really fantastic shots.

Professional Headshots

Recently I've been asked to take a number of head shots for different reasons. It's something that I've had a desire to get into, and it seems to be a case of "when it rains, it pours" as I hadn't done any in well over a year and then suddenly had an influx of requests!

I did a few for a friend to use on his website/promotional materials for drumming up business (he's a composer). Here's my favorite of the many shots I took.

Foxfield 2014: Child Portraits

Prior to heading over to the Foxfield races this year, I grabbed a few portraits of all of the kids at our house. The lighting was difficult, due to fairly direct sun, but I found a patch of shade and did my best. The kids looked so beautiful all dressed up, I was glad to preserve it!

 

Family photo shoot

Remember back at the end of 2013 when I posted all of those wedding photos? After the wedding, my brother- and sister-in-law, with their son, stayed with us for a few days before returning to Australia. For one night, my in-laws also joined us so that we could have some quality family time, as things were hectic during the wedding. While here, my sister in law asked if I would take some "official" portraits of them, and it turned into a photo shoot of the whole family, with a bunch of different combinations. We turned my living room into a portrait studio, and had some fun!

I started with my adorable nephew and his parents.