Day Lilies at Sunset

Just wanted to share a nice picture of day lilies blooming in our yard. The setting sun was shining through the petals of these lilies so beautifully, making their orange colors really glow. This photo was taken at 50 mm, f/2.5, 1/1600 sec.

Off to edit more customer pictures...

Family Vacation - Part II

The second part of our recent family vacation was a trip to the beautiful city of Washington, DC.

I haven't been to DC in a very long time. I had forgotten that the Smithsonian Museums, including the National Zoo and the famous Museum of Natural History, were free! Of course, we spent enough money on food and souvenirs for the kids to cover the cost of many tickets, but free admission is always a bonus.

We covered the zoo, the Natural History Museum, the famous Mall with its famous monuments and memorials. We survived the Metro and a ride in the cab of an 87 year-old taxi driver (he asked me three times where we were from and three times where we were going!). We did as much as a family with two small children could possibly do. My kids enjoyed every bit of the trip, as did I.

I highly recommend going to DC as a family. It is such an important, international city with so many lessons in history and government! It is so different from my happy little corner of suburban Charlotte. And it is a photographer's dream come true. I fell in love with it.

Flags at Sunset at the Washington Memorial



Fountain at the WWII Memorial

Korean War Memorial

Lincoln Memorial

Family Vacation - Part I

My family and I just arrived back from a wonderful family vacation to Maryland, Virginia and Washington, DC.

The first part of the trip was spent in northern Maryland and Virginia areas where my husband has family. One of our outings was to the Rose Hill Manor in Frederick, MD. This is a historical home where staff are in costume, spouting interesting facts about farm life in the 18th and 19th centuries, like the girls were expected to complete seven quilts by the time they were 13 to prove they were ready for marriage and homemaking.

The former dining room in the large house is now a playroom for children. The room is filled with old-fashioned wooden and cloth toys. The tour guide said that the point of the room is to show that kids can have fun without computers or toys with batteries, lights and sounds. My children spent the entire visit in that room, happy as can be with the toys, especially the puppets and puppet theater.

Outside the manor was a group of surveyors who were displaying antique surveying equipment and talking to interested guests about how surveying was done in colonial days.

Another trip we took was to downtown Winchester, Virginia, which is very pedestrian-friendly and charming. I met an elderly gentleman and lifelong resident of Winchester who sat in a rocker next to the historic Civil War courthouse, watching people pass. Winchester is not as well known today, but during the Civil War it was a very fought-after city, changing hands between the Union and Confederate forces more than 70 times.

On our day in Winchester, our group ate at the historic and reportedly haunted Cork Street Tavern.

Surveyors in Costume


An interesting Winchester resident

Downtown Winchester, VA

Woman in Business Award: Magnolia Marketing

I want to recognize to my friend Meg McElwain of Magnolia Marketing. She was recently selected by the Charlotte Business Journal to receive a Woman in Business Achievement Award for 2010. Meg, who owns and operates her own full-service marketing company, is young - perhaps one of the youngest ever to receive this prestigious award.

As a small business owner myself, I can appreciate Meg's achievement. Owning your own company - making a successful living at it - is not an easy feat, no matter what your age. But Meg has done so with both determination and grace. I'm glad that such a service-oriented, talented person has been recognized.

I've been fortunate enough to know Meg on a personal level as well as on a business level, and can say that she is top-notch. Congratulations, Meg!

Redesigned Business Cards

My redesigned business cards and business folded cards arrived last Friday. I'm very excited about them. They were designed by Rachel Busby with Busby Design. They look so much better than my old cards that were very basic and were even printed slightly off center. I am very pleased with the new cards and have found myself handing them out a lot more frequently.

Why I Love My Job

I was lucky to photograph two brothers this morning at a beautiful park. There are so many things about today's photo session that make me happy.

* I used my new 70-200 mm lens, and it worked like a champ. The results that I got were terrific!
* In addition to posed portraits, the boys were happy to play by the pond, and it presented lots of excellent opportunities for candid shots.
* The colors this morning were great. I especially love the pictures with the yellow flowers in the background contrasting with the blue shirts.
* Check out the older boy's blue eyes (pictures below). The eye color was not boosted in Photoshop! Amazing!
* I did get to use my Photoshop skills in another area. I did some innocent dental work on a few of the images, per the parents' request. (The older brother, age 6, is losing teeth like crazy!)
* The younger brother loved getting his picture taken. Towards the end of the session, I said to him, "OK... just one more." I snapped the picture. Then he said to me, "How about one more?" And he grinned so wide, ready for the next shot!

The session was loads of fun. I just love my job. :-)

Two Year-Old Portrait Session

This adorable little boy arrived at his portrait session with a fever on a very hot morning. Yet he did great. He "passed" his session with flying colors.

The parents were not feeling well, either, but you would never know it. Everyone put on a smile and even had some fun! I love this series of pictures because of the story it tells: a two year-old boy, loved by Mom and Dad, holding his favorite toy cars the whole time.

This session was taken at my favorite park for pictures. Most of the time there are other photographers there too, but that morning we had the park all to ourselves!

Pictures with Grandpa

This family decided to get professional pictures taken when Grandpa came to visit his Charlotte family from out of town. Grandpa has two beautiful daughters, two sons-in-law and five grandsons! Their portraits will make a nice gift for Father's Day for him.

We met at my favorite location in Ballantyne (this was my second of two photo sessions that day at that park). We got lucky with hazy skies and a nice breeze to cool off the hot weather that day.

The grandfather told me that the family ate at a local restaurant before the photo session. I have to give the mothers a lot of credit for getting the whole family to the appointment on time and in clean shirts! :-) Everyone looked great!

Thanks to Jeff Owen with the Professional Photography Group for his help on the shoot. Jeff is very good at posing large groups. Jeff and I make a pretty good team, and I look forward to working with him again.

Advertising with the Buzz

I've taken another step towards getting the word out about my business by advertising with Charlotte Family Buzz. The Buzz is an online newsletter that reaches thousands of Charlotte area households each week, informing families of fun activities in and around the Charlotte area.

You can subscribe to the Buzz newsletter on their web site. And if you're a current Buzz subscriber, welcome to my blog!

Family Reunions

Lately I've been asked to do more family reunion portrait sessions, and this type of event is something that I really enjoy. A lot of people living in Charlotte have family that live elsewhere (including me and my family), and when everyone can meet in Charlotte together, it is a great time to get those pictures taken.

I did another reunion yesterday, but the pictures aren't ready to post yet. Here are a few family reunion pictures taken last fall before I started my blog. Summertime is often a time when extended families get together, and if yours is coming up, feel free to contact me about available dates and rates!