12 Oaks Stables (part 2)

Some of you may recall the images that I posted a few weeks ago that I took at 12 Oaks Stables. I had such an incredible time observing and photographing the horses that I decided to return to photograph another barn wanderer.



I have always been a huge animal lover (and by huge, I mean spending all of my free time at the barn and/or watching Animal Planet huge) and learning to photograph them has been challenging and extremely rewarding.





So far my greatest lesson has been that if you truly want to capture the beauty and personality of any animal, you can't be in a hurry. Animals take a lot of patience and it often takes them longer to adjust to the presence of a camera than it does a person, and they can be shy. This little guy was very weary of the clicking noise that the camera makes when the shutter closes, but his curiosity soon overcame his weariness.

Baby Emma

Check out this beautiful baby girl! Her name is Emma and she is just under two weeks old. This was my first time photographing a newborn, and I am so excited to have had such a beautiful subject to work with.

She got a little fussy when mom wasn't holding her


but a pacifier fixed that problem pretty quickly. See? Peaceful again.


I am always amazed at the beautiful images that can be captured when you place someone next to a window.

Katie and Kaylee

Wow! What a day! I spent part of my afternoon wandering around Piedmont Park with Katie, who is one of my sorority sisters, and her REAL sister Kaylee! These two haven't had a picture taken together in ages (which counts as a crime in my book because they're both so photogenic!) and they wanted to surprise their mom with a belated Mother's Day gift, so I packed up my gear and we headed out to take a walk.

We decided to start off simple by taking a few pictures separately. This is Kaylee


And this is Katie


And one of them together


Having gotten the "boring but necessary" shots out of the way, we began to explore a little bit. Both Katie and Kaylee were really up for pretty much anything (which makes for a GREAT DAY for me!) and we just took our time wandering, snapping pictures, and generally having a good time.



Piedmont Park was full of people today, and we definitely received our fair share of strange looks. Like when they climbed up the slides so I could grab this:


We spent most of the time walking around barefoot (it is summer, after all) but I had them slip their shoes back on for this shot.


This is my favorite shot of the day. It was so funny because as I got ready to take it, a jogger passed us and said, "It's going to be backlit! You need the sun on their face!" I think it turned out well anyway!


Katie and Kaylee thank you for a wonderful afternoon!

More of Kristy

We decided to take some time at the beginning of the session to shoot in, on, and around the car. It usually takes a few minutes of shooting for someone to relax into the session, but Kristy was so confident in front of the camera and her playfulness really came through in these images.


These show off more of her sultry side.



We began shooting around 7 in the evening, so the light was beautiful and warm. I loved the way the light was coming through her veil, so I jumped on the opportunity to grab this silhouette of her.


Her facial expression in this shot reminds me of Jennifer Anniston. What do you think?


Next we moved the car into the wash area and gave it a good soak down. Even though the water was cold and the car was slippery, Kristy was a good sport and had a lot of fun climbing all over the car.



And then of course there is the shot that I posted yesterday, which was my favorite.


I always love having the opportunity to meet and share my passion with other people, and Kristy was so full of mischievous comments and laughter that everyone couldn't help but have a great time. She sent me this comment last night after she got to see a sneak peek of her images

YOU ROCK GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't wait to see what else you have up your sleeve!!!! You do AMAZING WORK!!!! I am SOOOOO honored to have worked with you...truly! Thank you. I cant BELIEVE how great these turned out! I am soooo excited. I would love to do this again!

Thank you Kristy for your encouragement and your willingness to take our crazy suggestions! Thanks also to Crystal, who organized the session, and to Susan Muscari, our wonderfully talented make up artist. She has been working as a MUA for 10 years, and her work is absolutely fantastic. If you are ever in need, you should send her an email. She stayed with us throughout the entire session, doing touch ups and just enjoying the fun.

If you are interested in trashing your wedding dress, your graduation gown, or your favorite pair of blue jeans, send me an email and we can start working on an idea for YOUR session.

Enjoy your Sunday afternoon!

Dispelling the Myth

You don't have to live near the beach in order to trash your dress in style. Yesterday, I joined my friend Crystal of Beadale Photography for an incredibly fun and spirited trash the dress session at a car wash in Smyrna. Here is an image to wet your appetite- more coming later!

Three Thirds

Summer is always an important time when it comes to movies, but this summer takes the cake for me. One of the big attention grabbers is the number of trilogies that will finally come full circle with the release of their third and final parts. Three of these have me really excited.


I love cartoons, and this is by far one of my favorites. I have already made plans to see it this Friday.


Any movie that seats George Clooney next to Matt Damon and Brad Pitt already has my vote for best movie of the summer. The first two Ocean movies kept me laughing and on my toes (especially the museum scene with Julia Roberts. Priceless!) and from what I can see of the final Ocean movie, it will be just as entertaining as the first two movies, which is quite a feat for the third film in any trilogy.


Last and MOST DEFINITELY NOT least is the Bourne Ultimatum. If you have a man in your house, then you have probably seen the Bourne movies over and over. They are a favorite of my dad's and at any given time one of them is probably playing on the TV in my living room. As I said before, I am a huge fan of Matt Damon, and the Bourne Ultimatum also includes Julia Stiles, my favorite actress.

So as you can see, it's going to be a great summer for trilogies! Take some time to get your kids out of the house or sneak your sweetheart away to share some popcorn and great laughs while watching one of these great movies.

Oh, and while you're shopping for great thirds, make sure not to see Spider Man 3. It's definitely more of a rent it later movie.

A new look

Ladies and gentlemen, the LWP blog is now dressed and ready for success! As much as I liked the black and pink, it just didn't feel like me, so I decided to go back to the drawing board and see what I could come up with.

After a few days of brainstorming and going back and forth between several different ideas, I decided to return to the color palette that my graphic designer developed for me back in December. Although the original logo design was awesome, one of the reasons I decided to make a switch was to simplify, and the old design was a bit too ornamental for my taste.

I love the vibrancy that these colors give off, especially the green. I decided to use green as an accent color rather than a main color because it makes me think of lime, and lime is one of my favorite seasoners to use when I cook. It's awesome when you add in a twist, but all lime is just a bit too sour!

I aspire to produce images that are vibrant and full of flavor, so hopefully this change will help to remind and inspire me of that.

12 Oaks Stables

Wow, what an afternoon! I spent a large part of it hovering over the charger waiting for the battery to charge so that I could take my camera out to play. I decided to take a break from people and just get away to one of my all time favorite places. Though it is not my home, 12 Oaks Stables feels more like home some days than the house that I live in. I boarded my horse there for two years, and for three years after I sold him I volunteered there, feeding and grooming the horses and mucking out stalls. I got to know each of them, learning their personalities and peculiar habits. They are all so beautiful and different, and I used the time I had this afternoon as an opportunity to celebrate them.

The lighting in the stable was very harsh and I couldn't take them out into the open, so I used the dramatic lighting in the stalls to accent some of the details of the horse's face and body. This is Motown, a Tennessee Walking Horse stallion who spent most of his life training and performing in shows. He was nationally ranked when he was showing, but the stable's owner decided that the summer of 2006 would be her last season showing, so all of her horses are now enjoying a leisurely retirement.



I headed outside to take advantage of the bright, beautiful afternoon sunlight. All of the horses crowded around the gate when I got to it, and this guy refused to let me photograph anyone else but him. He kept stepping into the frame and trying to chew on my lens. He was such a goof.





While he was curious about the camera, most of the others were very weary of it and would jerk away when they heard the lens focusing. This one, however, stood as still as could be. I love the way the light defines his eye and brings out the rich color of the stable walls.



While I love 12 Oaks, I am aware that in time everything changes. The fact is that it is difficult to make money taking care of horses because they require so much money, and the area the barn is in is developing very quickly. In five or ten years it won't be there any more, so I am glad to have these images to keep the memory of the place alive. I hope you've enjoyed exploring another of my great loves with me!

Upgraded

Consider me upgraded. I'll have some images to share with you tomorrow. For now, I'm off to play!