Ahh, spring in Richmond. The weather is so lovely and predictable that we decided to have two sessions! Rain throughout our first session kept things inside and to the side quite a bit. While we still had fun with umbrellas and puddles, we thought it would be best to come back and do a little sunny side-session. So, a few weeks later we moved from Shockoe Bottom over to the river and the Tredegar Iron Works. Tommy and Kathleen were such good sports and a bunch of fun to be around. Can’t wait for your wedding in October, you two! Enjoy.
I thought I’d throw a few images from Sarah’s bridal portrait session just before I posted their wedding. These were shot at the beautiful Bolling-Haxall house in downtown Richmond. Thanks to Natalie Gordon of Avenue 42 Designs for makeup and photo assistance 🙂
I had the pleasure of traveling about 60% of the state of Montana last week. Unfortunately, most of the week was spent working or driving (800 miles in all). I did have the opportunity on two occasions to stop a bit and do some photography for myself. This series of images starts in Missoula next to the Clark Fork River. Missoula is the home of the University of Montana and has a vibrant little community for art, restaurants, and nature enthusiasts. Just outside my hotel was this river and a great biking/running trail that follows the river for several miles next to the campus.
This next series of images is from the road between Missoula and Kalispell. The first portion of the trip takes you through a wide open glacier valley borered by the Mission Mountains to the east and the Swan Mountains to the west. The contrast between the rolling road of the valley and the sheer size of the ranges on your sides is stunning. You also pass right by the largest natural fresh water lake that’s west of the Mississippi River, called Flathead Lake.
The next series was shot on the drive from Kalispell to Great Falls. This was easily my favorite leg of the trip as it takes you directly through Glacier National Park. Without much time to explore, I hedged my bets on a trip through the front gate to find the closest glacier. Unfortunately (and due to my naivete), I discovered that April is too soon to head up to the glaciers as the routes haven’t been cleared. I may be back in August so I’m definitely putting it on my list. The first image is of the only “glacier” we found, a small pile of snow from the storm earlier in the week. Lake McDonald followed and a nice German family skipping rocks across the still lake.
The final series is from the stretch of land between the Mission Mountains and Great Falls. It’s an area of Blackfeet Indian reservations, rolling hills, and beautiful sunsets. Along the way we stopped at the Lighthouse Restaurant along the shores of Lake Francis in Valier. It has an actual lighthouse that has never guided a single ship to shore. It’s simply the imagination of Bob, the owner of the restaurant, that brought it to life. He’s a fascinating man that, in addition to building vestigial lighthouses and playing barkeep, also whittles in his spare time. You can see his current projects and the entire chess sets he created for his two sons based on their interests as kids. You’ll find there are very few parts of this country that are actually barren. You just have to stop in the right places 🙂
The first problem with shooting an engagement session in Manhattan is deciding which places, among the thousands, you should spend your time. The second problem is when you have a couple as fun as these two it’s hard to not want to take them to all of them. Leah, Dimitri and I literally spent the day together wandering through the city. Lunch at Aubergine in Woodside, Queens (great chili, better coffee) kicked things off with stops in Grand Central, Bryant Park, and through the southern stretch of Central Park. At last, we ended up back across the river with a great nighttime view of Midtown. Can’t wait to see these two back in Richmond this summer for their wedding celebration. Enjoy.
Kristen and Travis joined me for a Sunday morning engagement session in downtown Richmond where there’s just no shortage of great places to walk and enjoy the views. So, the spring weather decided to hold off a little longer than expected, but the sunshine did make an appearance to heat things up a bit. These two braved the chilly winds and managed to keep warm smiles and laughter flowing while we traveled past the flood wall and through the tobacco lofts of Richmond’s River District. Enjoy!
During our consult with Jessica and Phillip, the one thing Jess said was “All I ask is that it doesn’t snow!”. Well…umm…guess what? The winter of the decade decided to visit Richmond just in time for the wedding day. But these two were amazing, taking it all in stride, and assisted by very brave, loving friends and family. Thanks to Will Rollins for keeping the dance floor full and fun and to Colleen Cook with C.C.’s Creative and Unique Events for an amazing job on such a crazy, snowy evening. Enjoy the images and thank you to the Boyd and Glaeser families for inviting us to be a part of your family once again.
Update to this post: Just today Jessica sent me a message that confirmed why we love our life as wedding photographers. You can’t imagine the joy we get when we know that our couple and their families are thrilled. Let me share it with you:
“…, to you and Lindsay, I cannot thank you both enough. The pictures are absolutely stunning and you guys were such troopers to make it to us in our blizzard. I always hoped that I would look like that on my wedding day and in pictures. You guys captured that day perfectly! I cannot gush enough 🙂 And I honestly look at them three to four times a day…”
Who says Mondays have to be depressing?
Well, the winter weather held off just long enough to allow everyone to have a great time this past December with the Marchi and Lewis families. Some came all the way from the Rocky Mountains of Montana to enjoy the beautiful St. Patrick’s Catholic Church and the new downtown Hilton Garden Inn. Congratulation to Jenna and Ben on a wonderful winter wedding!
Ok…finally! First post of the new year and it’s already late January. Who gets the slack award? (all fingers pointing squarely at me).
Let’s kick it off with a snow session here in Richmond. Jamie and Chris came down from Manhattan and decided to spend a not-as-cold-as-you’d-think snowy Sunday with us to get an engagement session in. Alas, they’re jetting off to Napa Valley for their wedding day so there won’t be any follow up wedding pictures (no jealousy there, Jamie. Seriously. None at all.) Good luck in everything you two and can’t wait to see you again when you’re back on the better coast 🙂
Having spent very little time on the west coast, travelling or otherwise, we were elated when Catherine contacted us and asked if we’d be willing to travel to San Diego, CA to shoot her wedding. It took approximately five seconds to get from “Really?” to “Of course we’d be delighted!”. And the rest of the story is what you see below, a happy and beautiful couple who married each other just off the oceanfront of La Jolla, CA (15 minutes north of San Diego) in an area known as “The Cove”. After a little time on, around, and under the ocean side cliffs we moved off to The Catamaran resort on Mission Bay. Thank you, Catherine and Taylor, for the privilege of being there for you and providing us with such a wonderful experience. We…umm…yanno…would maybe consider another trip should a friend or two need a photograph. 🙂 Enjoy!
