Blue Bucket

More heart melting eye candy...

Sweet Sloan + Handsome Hudson + Luscious Light = Heart Melting Eye Candy

Eye Candy for you.

The Valentines mini sessions have been so so sooooo much fun for me because I'm getting to meet some fabulous new people and do all kinds of different sessions! Here is a sampling for you to enjoy....

Helen Greenstein: Feltician (you have to check out her work @ Eleni Creative)

Precious little Sophie:

And the effortlessly gorgeous Smith sisters (guest appearance by Edward the pug!):

Our foster pup: Oden

This week Ross and I are taking on something bigger than we could have possibly imagined (literally and figuratively) - a 20 month old great dane rescue named Oden, yup all 145 pounds of him. This sweet boy was rescued from a really sad situation where he was not being cared for medically and was living most of his life in a crate, resulting in a very elevated case of Demodex (mange) and severely underdeveloped hind legs, respectively. He was a mess when we got him on Saturday morning. A hot mess. He has lost a good portion of his hair, he has sores all over his body, and he was so hungry and thirsty it made me wonder when the last time he had free access to food and water. So here I was thinking, "What the HECK have I gotten us into?" But just being around this big pup its clear to see that his heart fits the size of his body... because all he wants is to be loved on. He is a total sweetheart. He has never once had an accident in the house. He stands completely still as Ross and I give him his daily baths, he delights in going for walks with us and Bristol, and like a good great dane he leeeeeeaaans against your legs just hoping for some affection. We are making smalls steps towards regaining Oden's health each day... Ross and I just keep saying, "Little victories! Little victories!" Plus we have to big Bristol some major credit for being such a good dog through this whole thing.

 Oden has a ways to go before he will be 100% healthy again, but it is fun to imagine how handsome he will be! Ross and I can only keep him through this week, but if you are interested or know of anyone who may be interested in fostering or adopting this big boy please feel free to contact me directly or the rescue coordinator that we've been volunteering with; Cinnamon Ellison (cinnamonelliotte@yahoo.com)

Here is Oden being a big ole' couch potato...

Classic kids and cupcake love.

When I lived in Chicago, my apartment was around the corner from this fabulous photography studio called classic kids on W. Armitage Avenue. I was always captivated with the simple, clean beauty of the images that they displayed. Little did I know that those images would be the inspiration for the style of shots that I love to capture now.

There are certain kiddos that I come across that just have that stunning classic look, and it was easy to see that the Weber family most certainly fit the bill... including their sweet lab pup Emma! I have a feeling that this may be their Dad's most favorite Valentine's gift (okay so I might be slightly biased). How could you not simply fall in love with these precious little faces?

Absolutely classic.

And then.... it was time for cupcakes... oh yes. Cupcakes. DE-LISH.

That face says it all.

Graduation is approaching.

The full post for Sarah:

Look to this Day!
For it is LIFE, the very life of LIFE,
In its brief course lies all the varieties and realities of your existence:
The bliss of growth
The glory of action
The splendor of beauty;
For yesterday is already a dream,
And tomorrow is only a vision...

But TODAY, well lived, makes every yesterday a dream of happiness
 and every tomorrow a vision of hope.

Look well, therefore to this day!

My favorite shot of the day. Hands down.

BELIEVE: Breaking free

This project never ceases to amaze me because I feel so incredibly blessed every time I get to meet a new group of women. I feel like they are placed in my life to challenge me in some very specific ways, and it delights my heart to see how something like this can bring strangers together and provide common ground that allows for mutual encouragement.  I have received so much from each women who has chosen to take the time to reflect on her own belief in beauty.... in turn I have seen my own definition of beauty grow in depth and truth.

This group was no exception...

"after reading your blog and some of the other participant's paragraphs, I knew it was something I wanted to participate in. Like every woman on the planet, I have body image issues. While I'll choose not to list them all out, one is that I don't think I photograph well. Maybe it has something to do with being a proofreader for a living; I tend to pick out everything that I think is wrong in the photo. Especially after turning 35, I feel like every picture I've taken just makes me look old. Hopefully, through this experience, I'll learn to believe in my true beauty and in the fact that beauty has no age."

"I am embarking on a lot of new territory very soon.  I am about to turn 30, get married, and move to New Jersey.  I am a southern girl who has never lived outside of North Carolina where all of her family resides.  But I have always tried to embrace change as change has frequently embraced my life.  I often look back at old pictures of me and find myself wanting to the throw out my "fat pictures" and only keep the pictures that have "my good side" showing.  I wanted to do this project because no matter what I think I look like or the struggles I have about my appearance, those pictures - both good and bad -  were shots captured in various seasons of my life that made me who I am today.  I believe I am a stronger and more confident woman because of my struggles and know God used those times to shape me into a more faithful Christian.  I believe that God has always thought I was beautiful, and will always think I am beautiful no matter my age, weight, professional status, home square footage, or zipcode I reside.  If He thinks I am beautiful then I should think I am beautiful...and that is also new territory for me..."

"Ah, but we want so much more... we do not want to merely see beauty, though, God knows that is bounty enough. We want something else which can hardly be put into words - to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into our selves, to bathe in it, to become a part of it."
- C.S. Lewis

The anti- Senior Portrait: A preview of miss Sarah

I don't know about you, but even just saying "senior portrait" conjures up thoughts of fake floral backgrounds, hideous 3-D props, and super cheese-ball smiles. It gives me the willies. That is why I think I'm so in love with doing sessions with high school seniors that are the opposite of that... they are fresh... real... classic. Oh how I wish that I could go back in time and have photos like this of me as a senior! Although I don't think I would be half as cool as most of the high schoolers I know these days (what's up with that?) I do wish that I had images that captured more of simply who I was. Sooooo, that is always my goal when shooting these session and I seriously love, love, love this kind of shoot. Here is a sneak peek of a very cool gal that I got to hang out with yesterday in the snow. I think the we were both pretty giddy about the powdery white stuff! More to come Sarah... I promise!

Need some inspiration?

Waking up to a winter wonderland here in Davidson makes me want to cozy up on the couch with our big pup, but I've got lots of friends who are in the midst of training for half and whole marathons (wowsers) so I wanted to share these images in hopes of inspiring runners out there... or wannabe runners (like myself), ha! 

Anyone up for a brisk 8K?

A day at the barn.

Do you ever have ideas that wake you up in the middle of the night and don't let you go back to bed? Yes, I have a love/hate relationship with those kinds of ideas... love them because they make my heart pump and I feel infused with life, but at the same time waking up at 4:30am and not getting back into bed can make a girl pretty sleepy when 2pm rolls around :)

So, this shoot out at the barn was totally one of those ideas that made me too excited to sleep. Those who know me at all, know that I've had a lifelong love affair with horses and anything to do with horses... so combining that with 5 of the most FABULOUS high school girls made shooting just as fun as thinking about it! I owe a huge thank you to Ashley and Lauren Seitz for being just as excited as I was, and for bringing along Maggie, Ashton and Jordon. You gals made this ridiculously fun!  I'm seriously in love with these girls and their willingness to rock out as models! It started out as a cold morning, but the light was stunning and I delighted in tromping around at the barn.

**Candice and Dan Lanning came out to join in the shooting fun too! Check out their sneak peek here @ The Beautiful Mess Photography.

So here's to the beauty of ideas that keep you up at night... ideas that make your heart race!  I'm trying to allow myself to dream BIG dreams and then just chase after them like crazy. Thanks for being a part of the process....






 















 Here is a shot of the whole crew:

Go glam go.

Part of developing my portfolio has been concepting shoots and making them come to life. This one was particularly fun because Lauren (one of my bestest friends and old college roommate) is one of my favorite people to shoot OF ALL TIME and her current roomie, Susie, was also quite an all-star considering the frigid temperature! This shoot was all about just going all out glam and I feel like between the mood of the shots and the editing, there is something both beautiful and mysterious about the frames. Enjoy!

Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention that I shot this session with my brand new Canon 5D baby! Heck yes :) I just took the plunge and upgraded from the 40D, which is something I've been hoping/wanting to do for quite some time so I am eating up the upgrade. For a great side-by-side comparison of the 2 cameras click here.

There are a few more of the shots on good ole' Facebook, so check them out there, and if we aren't friends yet... shoot me a message so we can be!