Bar Harbor, ME | Travel Photographer

In my previous post I highlighted my favorite photos from a day spent in Portland, ME. The next day I found myself 3.5 hours north on the tiny island of Bar Harbor. 

Portland, Maine | Travel Photographer

My last post (lighthouse on Cape Cod) was a hit, so I thought I would follow that up with more photos from lovely New England. Last summer while in Maine for work, I had the chance to photograph two different locations: the area around Portland, and then the island of Bar Harbor. Both of these locations were two of the most beautiful that I've had the chance to visit for work. I will start here with Portland, where I had a few hours to kill while waiting for a colleague. I headed to the water front and enjoyed walking around the town (including eating some delicious food!).

Cape Cod Lighthouse | Travel Photographer

At the end of March, I ventured out to the very cold Cape Cod with my family. We didn't really have a destination in mind (sometimes those kinds of trips end up being the best!); we just wanted to see somewhere we had never seen before. We ended up venturing down to Woods Hole, and thanks to Google maps I saw that the Nabsko lighthouse was just outside of town. We were the lone car headed out to the lighthouse, and I am so glad we did. Despite the chill, it was beautiful in the sun, with the ocean wind blowing at us!

Sheep | Animal Photographer

There's a spot on Route 15 north of Leesburg that I drive past fairly often. There's a beautiful farm, and hillside that is always covered in sheep and goats. I kept telling myself that I would stop and take photos there at some point, but over the past few years I keep failing to do so. Well, a couple of weeks ago I finally did, and despite the less than perfect lighting, and cloudy skies, I am happy with how these came out (including a little pop with editing in Lightroom)

Even with shooting from at least 20 yards away (using my 85mm lens), I still attracted a little bit of attention. I was hoping a couple would come closer to me, but unfortunately none did. It was still fun to observe and capture them from a distance!

Love is Good | Leesburg Child Photographer

During Valentine's week, the theme for the Weekly Photo Project was "Love is Good". I had a couple of ideas for photos, including setting something up similar with the kids to what I did last year. Ultimately, I decided to shoot my children with a few of the things they love the most: their "lovies". I did see this as an idea on some photography site (I can no longer remember which!), and I was so happy with how it came out. I instructed the kids on where to lie, and then captured moments as they presented. Love these faces!

Little Miss E: 6 month portraits

As I am about to take 9 month photos of this little beauty tomorrow, let me get her 6 month photos up here! I gave these to mom and dad well over a month ago, but have not had time to get them up here. No time like the present.

Miss E is seriously a cutie. I've previously shot her newborn photos, which were a mix of lifestyle (in her nursery) and posed photos. I don't often shoot lifestyle, but it was a lot of fun to do, and she was such a good baby throughout!

For her 6 month, we did posed shots in my studio area. Once again, she was so good throughout. I didn't get a lot of smiles, but she was very attentive and alert, and had no problem with any outfit her mom put her into. If only every baby was like this!

Central Park in the snow

In January 2015, I spent a few days in NYC, during which the "monster blizzard" was due to hit. As just about everyone on the east coast knows, the storm ended up staying east of NYC, meaning that instead of the 2+ feet of snow that was promised, the city ended up getting maybe about 6". But because of storm preparations, the city had shut down, leaving my colleague and I with no work to do for most of the day. As we were staying in Times Square, we put on our snow gear and hiked up to see Central Park in the snow. I had some fun editing these photos, and pulling out the beauty of the city in the snow.

Boston Museum of Science: Butterflies | Nature Photographer

Over the weekend I visited the Boston Museum of Science with my family. We thoroughly enjoyed the trip there, and I took quite a few photos and videos. One of the highlights for me was our visit to the indoor butterfly garden. My daughter and I had a wonderful time there, watching the butterflies all around us!

Macro photography: Plants in the snow

On Sunday, I ventured out to take some macro photos of some of the plant life peeking through the snow. As the theme for the Weekly Photo Project was "Controlled Focus", which I thought worked quite well with macro photos like these. The first was my favorite, and was my submission for the week.

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.

Tulip Macro Shots

Sometimes I like to challenge myself to take a "good" photograph not using my DSLR. Yes, gear and lenses make a big difference, and I can do so much more with them...but it's also more to carry around, more editing to need to do (if I shoot in RAW), and, well, the lens on my iPhone 5S isn't half bad either. With the magnetic lenses that I received as a present a while ago, I can do even more.

For the Weekly Photo Project this week, the theme is "A Bug's Eye View". Today my husband very nicely purchased tulips for my daughter and I, so I thought: where would an insect me attracted to, but the flowers? So I added the macro lens to my iPhone camera, and with a small amount of editing afterwards, this is what I have!

Disney's Frozen on Ice

In October 2014 I took my family to see Disney's Frozen on Ice. I've previously taken them to see Disney's Celebration  and Disney's Princess Stories; of all three shows, I think we all agreed that this was our favorite. We had excellent seats, and with my 75-300mm telephoto lens, I was able to capture some beautiful moments!

Blue Ridge Mountains: Wintergreen

In January my husband and I spent a weekend at Wintergreen Ski Resort in Nelson County, VA. Sitting at the top of one of the mountains in the Blue Ridge, it's quite a gorgeous location (and I'm only partially saying that because I grew up there!). On our second morning there the sunrise was too beautiful to miss, and luckily our balcony was facing in just the right direction.

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!

Beauty and the Beast

It's not often that you are able to go to a Broadway-style show and take photos during, but that's exactly what I was able to do at Disney World. While at Hollywood Studios, we saw a shortened version of Beauty and the Beast in a beautiful outdoor amphitheater. It was wonderfully done, and made for some beautiful shots!

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

Christmas Decorations 2014

Last year I posted up quite a few Christmas-related photos, including bokeh, portraits, ornaments, and lights. This year, I didn't take quite as many photos of these holiday-related items this year, but I did spend some time during the week before Christmas practicing a couple of techniques. The first was something that I saw on a photography site and thought I'd give a try. 

With this first one, the idea is to start zoomed in on the object, and during a long exposure s-l-o-w-l-y zoom out to the maximum distance. That creates this cool light trail effect!

Leesburg, VA| Architecture Photography

This month I am participating in a new 30 day photo challenge. I'm not going to post every single  photo throughout the month (I'm planning on a summary at the end of the month instead), but I do want to post my favorites that result from any shoot that I do. Day 4's topic was "Architecture" and I had the idea to take some nighttime photos in downtown Leesburg. Here are my favorite few from the shoot.

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!