Leave it to a couple from Michigan to decide on an outdoor engagement session in December. :)
I honestly wasn’t sure we’d be able to do anything outside at all, it was cold and ugly for most of the day. Thankfully the sun broke through for a bit and, troopers that they are, Diane and Stephen were up for anything I suggested. Also, a quick thanks to Diane for making me feel like a total wuss the entire time– she weighs about 90 pounds, had her coat off more often than not and never seemed cold.
We didn’t have the light for very long so we hustled over to Fells Point and down to the water.





This is one of my all time favorite images, flat out…



After we lost the light we stopped off at the Hyatt downtown, where the wedding will be held, and took a few more shots. It was nice to feel my hands again.



Diane and Stephen, thank you so much for flying in and braving the cold, I had an awesome time. I can’t wait to shoot your wedding!
Dawn’s been bugging me to shoot our youngest with some 4th of July props she bought a while back. Fear the cuteness:

I’m catching up on the backlog, I should have a bunch of new posts up in the next week.
* Note for photogs, I shot this using a single light in a Photek Softlighter. It’s rapidly becoming one of my go-to modifiers.
I just had the pleasure of working with Chrissy, Casey and Averi before Chrissy gave birth to bambino #2. You always hear about women who are all baby, but I think Chrissy redefined the term. Anything above or below the belly looked perfectly normal, but the belly was just *PLAYOW*. Of course, she was less than a week from her due date.
The pics:















Ms. Averi was NOT my biggest fan, but we had a good time anyway. I’ll win her over yet. ;)
A week ago I made my way to sunny Washington, DC to shoot Joanna and Edward in what turned out to be a marathon engagement session spanning three locations in 4 hours.
We started at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. If you’ve never been there before, you have to check it out– it’s the largest Roman Catholic church in the US and is as beautiful as it is enormous.

“Be of Good Heart”… I like that.


Look at those smiles, makes my job easy.

It takes about 30 minutes to do a lap of the church, the place is HUGE. Seriously. There were so many places to shoot it was ridiculous.

Right when we were about to combust we ducked inside and made use of this fantastic hallway.

We finished up at the Shrine and ran over to the Catholic University campus to grab a few shots where Joanna and Edward met. As it turns out, they’d noticed each other on separate occasions, in roughly the same spot.

I’m told Edward had better grades in grad school, but Joanna clearly has him beat in the facial expression department.



We finished up in Old Town Alexandria. I have to give these guys credit, they were up for absolutely anything. Even traversing the same crosswalk three times in row and stopping to kiss in front of 200 strangers.

I’m really looking forward to seeing these them dance at the wedding too.

After dark we grabbed some off-camera flash shots and called it a night.


Joanna and Edward, thank you for being such good sports, I had an absolute blast.
Shooting with Jim again and I’m still amazed at how perfectly this day came together.
The venue? Awesome.
The weather? Warm and sunny.
The couple? Relaxed and hilarious.
It was my first time visiting Antrim 1844 and it definitely lived up to the hype. Between the grounds, the main mansion and all of the surrounding buildings there were literally too many places to shoot.
See what I mean?
The dress

This was one of the best moments of the day, Kylie was so excited when she saw the ceremony area fully decorated.

Why yes, you ARE lucky. :)

I was so glad to hear that we were doing portraits before the ceremony, we had plenty of time to wander the grounds and get some great photos. For anyone out there planning a wedding, if you don’t mind seeing each other before the ceremony, having your portraits done ahead of time is really the way to go.
We hit a number of spots on the Antrim grounds, here are a few…



Shot inside the mansion, my favorite from the day…

I have some detail shots I need to add later, but here’s a quick one of the first dance…

Finally, a fun outtake, guess where I am.

More pics to come…
not gonna lie, he’s pretty stinking cute!