In May, Rob and I were blessed with the opportunity to travel to Europe for the entire month to do some photography work and just get away for awhile.  We flew into Prague, where we spent a few days before heading to Switzerland, Ireland, Scotland, England, and Iceland.  When we got back, everyone kept asking us what our favorite place was and we never really had a good answer. We loved everything. Every country we visited we thought, “Wow, you just can’t beat this.” But then the next country was just as great. The landscape was breathtaking everywhere we went, each in its own way.

After much anticipation, the rolls of film we shot during our trip have finally been processed so I can start posting some of our favorites.  (Digital and film images are all mixed in together throughout the post.)  I plan to do a separate post for each place we visited, so be sure to keep checking back throughout the next several days if you’d like.

Also, almost all of the images that I will be posting from our trip are available for print ordering.  If interested, contact me and I can send you my print pricing guide.  Prints can be made up to 30×40 (depending on the photo) and are available printed on regular photo paper, fine art paper, or as a canvas gallery wrap.

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Prague was a place that neither Rob or I had ever visited before, but had always wanted to due to all the rumors about how beautiful it is.  And it didn’t disappoint. The city was able to survive WWII without the massive amount of damages that other European cities endured, so the architecture has stayed intact.  Between all the brightly colored buildings, terra-cotta and patina roof tops, and the parks, I believe we both agreed it was the most beautiful city we had ever seen.  The first night we got there, we were walking around and commented about how eerily quiet it seemed on the streets.  It turns out we just weren’t in the “touristy” part of town.  When we went out the next morning, there were so many people headed out to see the same things that we were, that you could hardly move.  People everywhere.  And I’ve never done very well with crowds.  But we made the most of it and then found a park on the outskirts of the city so we could have time to breathe.  We looked at the weather forecast for our last day in Prague and saw that the rainy/cold weather we had been experiencing had worked it’s way through and it was supposed to be a bright, warm day.  Rob somehow convinced me to get up at the crack of dawn and we made it out to explore the scenic spots without all the people.  The sun was hitting everything perfectly and there was a warm glow over the whole city.  It was amazing.  I would say about 90% of the images below were taken that day. A great way to sum up our time there.

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I’ve been debating over the purchase of a medium format film camera for years and finally gave in…partially in thanks to a birthday/anniversary present from the hubs.  It came with 2 film backs, 3 lenses, a flash, Pelican waterproof case, etc…an Ebay steal! Here are the shots from my first two “official” rolls (with the exception of  2 very expired rolls that came loaded in the film backs when I received it).  These are all straight scans from my photo lab…no editing. I’m in love!

Wish the focus were sharper but it’s hard to manually focus on a moving dog. 🙂 VW Bug-a-paluza. Maybe next year we’ll actually be able to drive our van to it.

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The weight of all the snow we’ve been having caused all of our bamboo to bend almost completely over to the ground. This one split in half. I’ve never seen the papery stuff like that before on the inside. Pretty neat.  And, of course, I had to get a couple of quick shots of little Rainey playing in the snow. Decided to leave out the shot of her making yellow snow…yes, I took a picture of that. 🙂

 

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For any of you who used to follow my blog on a regular basis, you are no doubt aware of the fact that my posts, for the better part of a year, have been few and far between.  I’ve been busy adjusting to married life and relocating to Chattanooga.  I’ve also been working to branch out into editorial work with a few local publications.  I’m now shooting assignments for The Pulse on a regular basis, which has been a fun and interesting change from weddings and portraits.  However, for the first time in…forever?…I’ve had a light to-do list this week.  So, I decided to go through and blog some photos that I haven’t had a chance to share yet.  Back in June of 2011 (yes, close to two years ago!) Rob and I had the opportunity to go on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic to work with Manna Global Ministries.  Below are a few pictures from our time there.

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  • than - January 18, 2013 - 5:30 pm

    These are all beautiful!ReplyCancel

  • Caitlin - January 18, 2013 - 10:10 pm

    These make me miss the DR so much!! They are all amazing!ReplyCancel

  • Heath - August 14, 2013 - 6:27 pm

    Love the blue seat alleyway shot. Perfect.ReplyCancel

After posting a couple of shots from Sara’s bridal session yesterday, I realized I never shared any of my own bridal portraits.  While my sister (who was also my maid of honor) was on her spring break from grad school, we met up in SC for a week to spend some time with family and take care of some wedding planning.  Also while in town, I was hoping to have my dad take some bridal portraits of me. For those that don’t know, it was because of my dad that I fell in love with photography in the first place.   He got into photography while in college and my mother (girlfriend at the time) became the subject of most of his portrait endeavors.  He purchased his own darkroom equipment and, after my mom and dad were married, would use their tiny bathroom in their first home to develop his prints.  As a kid, I can remember him always having his camera with him on family vacations, small outings, and just to document little moments of our childhood.  Because of that, we have countless slides and negatives of our little family of five, that I will always love looking through.

I had always been interested in taking pictures, but it wasn’t until I went to art camp in middle school, where we learned to develop prints in a darkroom, that I really wanted to start pursuing it as an art form.  When I was about 13 or 14 my dad had my grandfather’s ’73 Minolta fixed up and cleaned for me, and it became my first “real” camera.  It was the only camera I used until I was a senior in college, and still holds a very special place in my heart.  As I was first learning about f-stops and film speeds, my dad would drive me around town and we’d find things to take pictures of, just for the sake of taking pictures. That’s where I learned to be a photographer. Not in the college courses I took or the books I’ve read.  Those just taught me how to fine tune things here and there, or how to retouch zits in photoshop. (I did a post not too long ago about my beginnings as a photographer, and why I still love film. You can see that post here.)

This past New Year’s Eve, Rob and I took that same Minolta around the art district of Charlotte and shot off a roll of black and white film, went back to my parent’s house and developed it, using my dad’s same darkroom equipment, set up in their bathroom.  And there, as we looked over the negatives, I noticed a shot Rob had snuck in of my engagement ring.  And now he is my husband.  Funny how things come full circle in life sometimes.

Ok, back to the bridal portraits.  When the planned day came, it brought threats of rain and thunderstorms, but we headed out anyway.  We were lucky enough to get all the shots we wanted, just before the ominous clouds let loose.  As we were heading back to the car, the winds picked up and the sky was crazy dark. And as a dedicated, serious photographer would do, my dad insisted that we take some shots with the dramatic clouds in the background, which resulted with the below image on the right.  What you don’t see in the picture is the wind about to blow me over, debris flying everywhere, and the fear that I was about to be struck by lighting at any second. And, it turned out to be one of my very favorite images from the shoot.

 

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