Deer at Sunset | Nature Photographer

A couple of weeks ago, I had a client not show for a shoot. It was such a beautiful night and location that I was briefly disappointed that I wouldn't have anyone to photograph...until these beauties showed up! I didn't even edit them, as I didn't think it was necessary.

Halloween Costume Photo Shoot | Child Photographer

Kids love dressing up in their Halloween costumes, and it's so hard to get good photos of them during the excitement of Halloween night. So, what's a photographer to do? How about get the kids dressed up before Halloween and do a couple of photo shoots? Both were done just after my daughter's dance class (as her hair was already done!) - we just changed into costumes and headed outside!

This first set were taken just outside of our house, near the pond. My son was VERY excited to wear his full Darth Vader costume (and use the light saber as prop!), and my daughter was happy to model her newly purchased dance costume.

Sunset in South Carolina | Travel Photographer

In June I spent a few days near Hilton Head, SC with my family, visiting my in-laws. They live on a golf course community, and as promised by my mother-in-law, the sunsets over the golf course are pretty spectacular. Despite the heat and humidity, and therefore the need to adapt my equipment to the elements before I could take any photos, the end result was worth it!

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!

Getting "The Shot"

Sometimes, the shot that  you set out to get isn't the shot that you end up with...but the one you get ends up being so much better than anything you ever could have planned!

Tonight I headed out to our pond to take some photos of the geese for a 30 day photo challenge (the theme today was "Animals"). The light was fading quickly, and unfortunately the location of the geese just wasn't thrilling me. The photos I shot were ok

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?

Wintery beach sunsets

About three weeks ago we visited the Outer Banks in North Carolina. Despite the freezing cold winds, the cloudless sky was too great of an invitation for sunset photography for me to pass up. These first two photos were taken at the Albemarle Sound on the first night of our trip.

Gettysburg in winter

Last month I spent the better part of two days in Gettysburg, PA doing an installation and training for a client (for my full time job). Upon leaving the first day to head back to Leesburg, the sun was setting as I drove past the battlefield. I'd not actually been through the battlefields in many, many years, and since it was pretty much deserted I thought this would be the ideal time. I didn't have my camera with me, but I think I put my iPhone to pretty good effect!

January sunsets

January of 2014 was a month of beautiful sunsets. I captured a number of them, on multiple different days, in various locations around Leesburg. I thought I'd share them all here so you can see the beauty for yourself!

Pink Sunset

The first couple of weeks of the month produced some absolutely gorgeous sunsets in our neighborhood. I've been reading about how "cliche" sunset photos are, and how hard it is to take good ones. So, I've been trying not to take too many unless they provide something visually different or interesting. When the sky turned a beautiful shade of pink a couple of weeks ago, I just couldn't resist. So, I grabbed my Powershot and quickly snapped a few to capture that color.

Portraits at Sunset

In my previous post, I shared my favorite photos from a recent sunset excursion in our neighborhood. When we were "done", my daughter asked if I would take a few of her in front of the sunset. I of course said yes, as I love photographing her...it also gave me the chance to use my remote flash to highlight her and the sunset at the same time!

 

Sunset in Stratford

While jogging through my neighborhood near sunset one evening, I was blown away by the beauty of the sunset, but of course failed to bring my camera with me that evening (it's tough to hold and run at the same time!). The next night I wanted to hit the same vantage point, so I took my family with me to the hills near our house to try and capture the same beautiful colors I saw the night before. Of course, when I had my camera with me the beautiful pinks and purples of the night before were nowhere to be seen...but the beautiful golds and yellows we experienced that night more than made up for it.

Sunset on the Sound

To bracket my sunrise photos I took over the Atlantic Ocean, I took my family to the west side of the Outer Banks, over the Albemarle Sound, to photograph the sunset. 

Sunset over the pond

I discovered today that I purchased a piece of photography equipment and then promptly forgot about it: a polarizing filter that fits my 18-55mm and 70-300mm lenses. I can't believe I put this in my camera bag and then forgot about it! This filter is perfect for bright sunny days, as it eliminates quite a bit of the harsh sun's glare. It made for nice levels of brightness on photos I took today of our kids at the park (I definitely had much less post-editing to do than I would have otherwise on these photos!), and when I was struck by the beauty of our pond at sunset, I took these also using the filter, and again very little editing was needed in post. The colors just POP!

Setting sun: backlighting

Our new house backs onto a beautiful (man-made) pond, which looks especially lovely as the sun is setting at night.