Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Crazy Beautiful Life

On May 25th, at 3:28pm, we welcomed a new member of the family...

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Ok, so maybe that was totally cheesy and stupid, but new cameras are a big deal in my house! Now that i've shot 3 weddings i've really been seeing how my precious D40 is really, really, bad with indoor lighting. I limped along for a while borrowing cameras for when reception time came along during a wedding, but I knew that I wanted to invest into a new camera as soon as I could. I also knew that I had no desire to fork down the amount of money that was needed, so I waited. I didn't pray for a sign that would tell me I could get the camera, I just waited. I've been booking a lot so I just assumed that eventually the money would come. The night after I finished shooting Ashley + Jared's wedding, I got a facebook inbox from Kristen (side note: If you're not my facebook friend you're missing out. I status bomb everyone every-time I do a wedding, and while i'm sure it annoys some people i've had a pretty positive feedback from me doing it. You get play by play updates! anywho, back to Kristen) asking me if I wanted to shoot a wedding with her down on the Eastern Shore in June. Heeelloooo sign! This is the Kristen Leigh, my mind told me. You can't shoot a wedding with her with a dinky little D40! Think of the reception!

Needless to say, the compare button on the Nikon website became my new best friend and I spent a good amount of time narrowing down what I wanted. (Basically a smaller version of the D3s, which is what my dad uses) Que the D7000! I had a good panic attack that night thinking of how much money I spent and if it was really worth it- (I am SO not a compulsive buyer) but I gotta say, I am so thrilled with this new camera. It works like a dream for indoor lighting and it went so smooth the day of the wedding with Kristen. (Pictures to come soon!) I was oh so very pleased with how it preformed. :D

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After much debate, we went with the name "Nick". :)

My whole June has been spent doing business related things (I've never been so grateful for my iMac in my life!) and now after many hours spent in lightroom, blogger, and gmail, i'm getting my long awaited break. :) This Saturday i'm off to Colorado and California for a big family trip!

I'm not going to lie, I hate airplanes with a passion. Long, stuffy, cramped flights are not my favorite, but i'm actually really looking forward to spending 5 hours on a plane. I finally have time to just rest, read all those books i've wanted, and be bored! And a great plus to this new camera is that it does video, so i'm about to get all MTV reality show producer on my family. ;) I'm hoping to take lots of videos! (Pretty sure we're the only family in the world who doesn't have family videos)
I have posts that are scheduled to be posted while i'm on vacation, so stay tuned!

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Stay Beautiful,
Anne

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Nick & Whitney {Wedding Part 1)

It was a sunny Saturday, as Kristen and I walked into The Oaks, and I stood in abosultely awe. My Mom's side of the family grew up in Saint Michaels, so it felt familiar and exciting. I was blessed to second shoot with the ever fab Kristen Leigh (I'm Kristen) and the venue was stunning. I met Nick and Whitney the day of, but I could immediately tell how they poured a lot into their wedding so it would be very special. :)
As I waited for the guys to get back from lunch I grabbed some quick detail shots and some of Whitney getting ready before the real fun started. :)

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It was very evident how much time Whitney spent on making everything look perfect throughout the venue, and perfect it was! :)
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I had a really hard time making some of these black and white, because all the colors were so vibrant and gorgeous!
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A quick walk across the property, and i'm back getting shots of the groom, Nick. :)
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And then we headed over for the first look! :)
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Nick gave Whitney a beautiful bracelet. :)
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Don't you just love tender moments between couples? Or, in this case, doing curls because your bouquet easily weighs 10 or so pounds. ;) My kind of girl!
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Whitney met Nick through babysitting these girls. :) Their Dad is Nick's brother, and their parents set Nick + Whitney up. :)
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They had a huge bridal party, and almost all of it was family! How wonderful. :)
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Lookin' good gentlemen!
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See what I mean about the large group?
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I'm a sucker for a good parasol shot. :] Again, another one of Whitney's perfect details!
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Once we finished all the bridal party shots we headed to downtown Saint Michael's and got some more pictures!
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Nick + Whitney allowed over 2 hours for pictures, so we had plenty of time to achieve the shot we wanted. :)
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Favorite shot of the day. :)
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We found the cutest little church cemetery, with a stunning red door!
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I'll have more pictures in another post, which holds a very special surprise! :)

Stay Beautiful,
Anne