Monica

A little while ago I had the great pleasure of photographing my friend Monica during her first pregnancy. I had never taken maternity photos before, and I have to say I was a little nervous about meeting expectation. To say the least, Monica is a very sweet and comforting spirit, so she was a gracious first try, and I was very happy with what we came up with for the shoot! It was so gratifying and fun for me to capture her excitement and anticipation of this new babe about to enter the world, as well as her warrior spirit in the face of a new journey for her and her family. I hope to be able to bring this spirit along with me in future shoots, and I am so thankful to have such a lovely, new experience with this type of work. Here are a few of my favorites!

 

Getting Bolder

 

After taking some time to look at my previous edits, I chose to add a little more contrast and toning to achieve a richer, more film-like effect. I really like the drama that arose from the changes!

A Snow Day with Samatha LaBrocq and Devyn Ray

 

 

Here are some of the first edits of my amazing and inspiring shoot with Sam and Devyn this week! I can’t express how fun these two are to work with, they bring such beauty and ease to a shoot, regardless of the ice and snow!

Haw Creek Elementary School

Yesterday I got to follow Growing Minds to Haw Creek Elementary for their “Cooking with Biltmore” day! Chef Mark Demarco of Cedrics Tavern (on the Biltmore Estate) taught the kids in Ms Solomon’s class how to make deviled eggs and cheesy kale! They had a blast cooking and eating and I had so much fun photographing them! You can see the entire gallery (in color, I liked them in black and white) at www.citizen-times.com

Julia at the Train Station

Back in January, the lovely Julia Sellers modeled for me at the train station in Marion, NC. We pulled up to the train station, losing light FAST, and discovered the station was hosting a quiceañera!! So we rushed around taking as many photos as we could, followed by a throng of little boys and girls who thought we were either totally crazy or really cool. These are my two favorites from that crazy day, I cant wait to work with her again, next time with a little more planning on my part!

 

West End Bakery

Today was just fabulous!! The second place I went to take photos was West End Bakery, located in Westville! This is one of my favorite breakfast spots; they have amazing biscuits, rich coffee, a strata to die for, and delicious cupcakes!! Today I was focusing on photographing products with eggs as it is in fact Get Local egg month!! These are two of my favorites!

 

French Broad Chocolate Lounge; Butterscotch Crème Brûlée

Today for work at ASAP I got to go to French Broad Chocolate Lounge and photograph they’re monthly Get Local special! March is egg month so of course they had a fabulous Butterscotch Crème Brûlée!!! These are my favorite kind of assignments; a gorgeous space with fabulously beautiful food! And of course I ate it afterwards, heaven in a ramekin!!

Sage for Kelsey

If there is anything I know how to do, its still life. When I was growing up I used to sit for hours in my mother’s studio, watching her paint or draw beautiful scenes in a way you never would have looked at them before. When my very and extremely cool neighbor Kelsey asked me to take these photos for her, I was immediately on board. Kelsey teaches Innercise Yoga and is building her website as we speak (or read, or whatever), and she wanted a still life of the sage she burns in her ammonite bowl. What cool objects! I tried it with the sage burning and not burning; tell me what you think!

Burning…

Not burning…

Parker J Photo’s 2013 Workshop

So this week my amazing bosses, Parker and Melissa Pfister, put on one of their renown photography workshops! I was lucky enough to be able to help and attend, which was something I never in a million years thought I would be invited to do! These workshops host the cream of the crop of wedding and portrait photographers who are looking to shake things up with their work and find a new access to their creativity. I haven’t been very confident about my work recently, hence a lack of posts, but participating in these challenges showed me how failing is not the worst thing in the world, and that if you push yourself and your work, you can create something truly beautiful. Meeting all of these crazy talented photographers from across the country and the world has been the most inspiring and uplifting encounter I have experienced to date. I just want to thank all of the participants for being so encouraging to someone who is just starting out and showing me the kindness I really needed to put myself and my work out there! I also want to thank the models and hair and makeup for their beautiful work and being the sweetest crew in the world! I love all of you and I will carry our experience with me always! Here are a few of mine from this week:

 

This is one from the “Reflection” Challenge. I gave Grace a book to reflect on and she nailed it!

Another from the reflection challenge. Grace almost knocked me over with this look, stunning!

This is from the Motion Challenge. I was feeling really flustered but I think this turned out to be pretty interesting!

For this challenge we had to utilize a subractive lighting method. I had this image in my head of showing off the jewelry so I gobo-ed the window light off of Jackie’s face and body, allowing just a sliver through. If I could do this again I would probably show a little more of her beautiful face!

This was a crazy day, especially after we tromped out to the corn field at Biltmore and started shooting in high noon sun! I was shooting this from way back in the field when Jackie spotted me creep creepin’!

Day 1

A Haworthia Zebra Plant sitting on our table at Thai Basil in Black Mountain, NC. We were too hungry to take photos of the food, but it was delicious!