...and the wedding!

Wow! There is so much to say about Hana & Mark's wedding! I truly enjoyed shooting this wedding. Hana and Mark, as well as their families, really welcomed me as a part of their special day. This was my first time ever shooting a Muslim wedding...and man, they now how to celebrate!
The celebration started Saturday night when Hana's huge family came into town. Everyone spent the evening at Hana's parents house eating AMAZING food and dancing the night away!!! I really enjoyed getting to know the family and shooting pictures of everyone hanging out!
The wedding day was just as fun! At that point...I felt like part of the family! Once again everyone met up at Hana's parents house and then it was off to the Indiana Roof Ballroom, which is a beautiful place to hold a ceremony and reception! Thanks Mark, Hana, and ALL the family for a GREAT time! Hana and Mark actually have a second wedding planned for this year in Barbados (where Mark is from). I'm sure it will be just a beautiful!

Mark & Hana

I shot Hana & Mark's engagement pictures a few days before their wedding so their wedding pictures will probably post in the next week!
I had a great time shooting their engagement pictures. We did them in West Lafayette at Purdue. I have never taken pictures there so it was fun to shoot in a new location. Plus...I had Mark there to basically give me a personal tour of the whole campus! It was a lot of fun! My favorite image is of Mark brushing Hana's hair. She has the most GORGEOUS long hair...and you can see how much he loves it! Mark & Hana are a GREAT couple and the fun just continued on through the weekend at their wedding! Thanks for putting up with me for that many days in a row!

blake @ 3.5 weeks

Here are two pictures I took (out of a hundred!) of my nephew Blake at 3.5 weeks!
He's just the cutest little guy ever! It's amazing how much he's already changed! Last week I got to babysit him for the first time! It was only for about 25 minutes while Eric and Becky went to the pool, but I loved every minute of it!!! Look how precious he is!!

one light

So I had totally become an available light photographer, which is fine because available light is AMAZING...that is...when you have it. So yesterday I was shooting Mark & Hana's wedding...which was INCREDIBLE and there will be more pictures to follow, but I was in a situation where I had almost absolutely NO available light...my camera could barely focus it was so dark. I was about to grab my flash and pop it on my camera when I thought back to the One Light Workshop with Zack Arias that I recently attended. I knew this was the perfect situation to apply what I had learned...here are a few of the pics...I still have so much to learn, but I was EXTREMELY excited when I saw the results! Any photographers out there who haven't attended this workshop should totally do it if you ever have the chance!

the carpenters

I met up with Melody, Jeremy, and their little boy Gabe last week to do a quick family shoot. Melody has been an AMAZING friend and networking partner this past year! She and Jeremy have a photography business together and shoot a lot of weddings and portraits. I met the Carpenters at The Crux...the church Brian & I attend. Melody has really helped me get a good start on my business!! We have a joke where I sometimes call her my "other spouse" since I spend so much time with her and because we talk on the phone WAY too much during the day!!
Check out their site www.carpenterpd.com!
Melody also took the picture of me on my site...in the "about" section.

nick & jen

I had a great time shooting Jen & Nick...I was a little under the weather, but it was a beautiful day and they were both really fun! The funny part was that Jen had forgot to put on her engagement ring for the shoot...but Nick was GREAT and went back to the apartment to get it!! Sorry Jen...I had to add that little part in! It's something I would totally do too! I also really enjoyed talking with them...they are both professional actors and I couldn't help but ask tons of questions about what they do! Nick just got a part in Hamlet!! I might just have to make Brian take me to it! Thanks Nick & Jen for a fabulous day!!!!

blu's blog

I'm so excited that the people at Blu Domain chose to feature me as their "it girl" today on their blog!!!! It was DEFINITELY unexpected, but I'm honored! Blu Domain is one of the top, if not THE leader of photographic websites! They also have the COOLEST blog filled with great tips, the latest gossip, and featured photographers. My new site that actually launched this week was design by the AMAZING people at Blu Domain. They do such an incredible job and have made the whole website process a BREEZE!!! THANKS GUYS!!! And thank you Kailee for noticing my work!!!

one week old

Baby Blake is one week old! Today I went over to snap a "few" more pics of the little guy! Of course I took a gazillion!!! It's amazing how much he's changed in just a week! Eric & Rebecca are already GREAT parents!! Today I watch them give Blake a bath...and they already have a system down!