Bays Mountain Hiking
Lilly Pads around the lake at Bays Mountain Planetarium
I'm still on vacation as this hits the site and should be relaxing in the sun or something but here I am. I don't relax well, and I never stop working. Whether that's thinking about blog topics, looking for locations, editing, learning new techniques, or approaching new people. Being a small business owner is hard. Very hard, but I still love spending time doing thing's I love and doing that with people I care about so last weekend we decided to take the kids hiking. We love overnight trips, and the kids are showing interest in joining us so we are "training" for a longer hike. We loaded them up with light packs and headed to Bays Mountain Park. Bays Mountain is special to us, as Natasha and I were married here but love to take the kids to see the animals and hike the trails surrounding the lake. This is exactly what we did. I'm not writing much, but here are the images from our day. All images were taken with my Fuji Xpro2 and my Xf16mm lens. #onelensandgo
Correction, the wifi ended up being so slow that I decided to wait until I was back home to upload this post. I just got in a few hours ago from second shooting a wedding with the brilliant Katy Sergent and uploading some pictures from the beach and remembered it was time to post this. So here it is.
This is not a perfect image, but this is the spot where Natasha and I were married so this means more to me than all the perfect lighting in the world. Amazing how things have changed Sweetpea.
In case you notice my tee shirt and new stickers, I thought I would share that I am currently an ambassador for AwakeThe Soul. Their moto is "Stay positive, be happy and live free", and they share passion for the outdoors and adventure as well. Go check them out.
Alex
Carvers Gap, where more often than not, fantasy becomes reality! I write about this location often and passionately for several reasons. I grew up in Roan Mountain, went to school there and until I was 18 it was my home. The sad part about this is, while living here I never visited Carvers Gap. Like never. I'm very glad that I have found the amazement that it offers at this point in my life, as far too often I think we live our entire lives and miss the magic around us daily. Growing up and attending school here led me to meet Sundae. I think we may have even rode the bus together after my parents moved closer to my grandparents. I say that because today's post is about Alex, Sundae's daughter. I had never met or spoken to Alex prior to our session but that was not an issue because she is awesome. Sundae and I went back and forth on a few dates as the weather was insane this year and ever-changing and at this point, I also believe its because we were supposed to be on the Roan on this particular day. You can never truly predict the weather on the top of the Roan, and today was one of those days where every few minutes, it changed. This was a bit of a challenge as a photographer, but one I gladly welcome anytime. Let me start in the parking lot.
Once we finally found a suitable day and the time was set, we were good to go. We agreed to meet at the trailhead parking lot for introductions and to strategize. This never takes more than a few minutes, so we donned our rain jackets, umbrellas, and were afoot. Luckily the rain never really set in and never developed into something unusable. We were greeted with dramatic racing clouds over us and the mountain tops, misting rain, and even had a brief appearance of a rainbow. I mean minus a unicorn or bigfoot running out of the neighboring woods, what else could I ask for? As an adventure photographer, an avid fan of anything AT, I was enchanted. I'm not great with words and will not try to be, but will simply let the imagery speak for me. I hope you find the joy, the excitement, the wonder in these that I do. Alex was incredibly patient with my direction, open to any and everything I threw at her and with a lovely smile the entire time. I truly couldn't ask for more. I would love to know if you have a similar place that you love to frequent and I'm always open to more unique experiences like this one was. Now to the meat and potatoes, because what post by a photographer is complete without pictures?
As always, all images shot with my Fuji Xpro2 and combination of my xf16mm and xf90mm lenses.
““We clutch that picture to our hearts because we expect each other to always be the people in that picture. But people change. People aren’t pictures. And you can either take a new picture or throw the old one away.” ”
Prom season is bringing heat
“Never apologize for how you feel. No one can control how they feel. The sun doesn’t apologize for being the sun. The rain doesn’t say sorry for falling. Feelings just are”
― Iain S. Thomas, Intentional Dissonance
I'm a portrait photographer, and love to follow and find light anywhere I can so prom should be easy right? Nope. Think about it, the girls are in tight-fitting gowns with little room to move, and they definitely are not moving as freely as usual. Guess what this sounds a lot like, that I love to shoot, weddings. I also avoid them because I am an over-deliverer and thus find myself working more, delivering more and charging, well not near enough. This has been my usual experience with Prom, and while some of those haven't changed at all, you guess which, something has changed. Maybe it is as simple as the time we live in but the young ladies I had the pleasure of working with last weekend were very confident in who they are. There is a huge difference in confidence in our identity and being conceited and these girls knew exactly who they were and they brought it! I drove from Boones Creek to Flag Pond, back to Boones Creek in the pursuit of capturing the ladies in a fashion I hope they can appreciate for years to come. As Austin is preparing for his Junior Prom tomorrow, this is something much closer to me than in times past. I have includes some sample imagery from my day, multiple sessions in one blog, and not to compete with one another but to illustrate the individuals they are and the diversity I was capable of adjusting to. I hope you enjoy these, and I hope every single one of these ladies also contact me for their senior portrait needs because bonds have been formed and I hope the experience was everything and more. I love how as I returned to finish my evening the girls were yelling my name as I approached like we were lifelong friends. I may or may not have also received an applause from one parent, in particular, today when I walked into her shop to share the images. These are amazing reminders that what I do IS IMPORTANT, and matters on a level most people never stop to consider. So when your thinking of hiring your next photographer, consider contacting me and see how things can be different and how we can write these moments in time together!
Bella looking fierce in this shot
Sydney was very creative and open to any idea I tossed her way
I will end with this image. This deserves a wall spot in my opinion.
