Studio222 Photography | BLOG | The modern photography experts

WE HAVE MOVED

2009-08-12T15:07:00.002-04:00

Hello everyone! Thanks for stopping by! Our blog has moved and we will no longer be posting on this one.
From now on, please visit us at: www.studio222photography.com/blog.

Please update your readers, bookmarks, and links! We look forward to seeing you over at our new address. ;)

Featured... Florida Brides Blog

2009-08-03T14:22:00.000-04:00

Today we were featured on the Florida Bride's Blog and couldn't be happier about it. Danielle does such a wonderful job showcasing local wedding professionals and we feel so honored to be included. They chose to show off Katie and Michael's Disney wedding (because you don't get more Florida than that!) and gushed over her gorgeous pink and lavender details. We would feel oh so loved if everyone would pop on over there and leave us some love on their feature! Thanks friends!

click here to go see the feature

I'm not sure we've ever been this slow posting on the blog and I'm starting to feel like such a slacker but we've literally been spending every free moment working with our talented designer behind the scenes to get everything for our new blog ready to roll. It is finally coming together and is so close that I can taste it. I'm so excited about the updated format and all the new features we will have included! It's been something that Nate and I had been wanting for a while but we just didn't have the means to get it accomplished and thanks to our amazing designer we are now able to bring it all together.

But, I've got to admit, I'm holding out on you all, beloved readers, because I want to save it all for the new blog once it launches. That means I've got all kinds of pictures waiting and ready to show off but I'm waiting until the new blog goes live to do it. Some of the things on deck are...

A gorgeous wedding at the elegant Grand Bohemian Hotel
A bright and beautiful country club wedding
A country styled engagement session
A steamy elopement/trash the dress at Wekiva Springs
News about our feature in Professional Photographer Magazine
A look at our first ever magazine COVER!
Weekly posts by Nate himself ;)

And so much more :)

Stay tuned...we'll be announcing it soon and giving everyone the new address.

Love and Changes,
Becka & Nate

On Magic...

2009-07-30T14:22:00.002-04:00

Do you have a song? Nate and I have a few. We wrote love letters to each other in the form of song lyrics for a long time (and still do every now and then). One of our favorites was called You Are Mine by our favorite band, Mute Math. For some reason, this image reminds me of it. You can hear it for yourself here.

*We are working behind the scenes on an updated version of our blog. Blog 2.0, if you will. Bear with us as posting will be light for the next week or two as we work to get everything transitioned and ready. We've been wanting to do this for a while and finally got the chance. The new blog will have lots of new features (including having Nate writing more!), a new look, and will make it easier for you to read along and comment. :)

How2: Website Sneak Peak

2009-07-29T14:22:00.000-04:00

Just a quick sneak peak of our soon-to-launch How2 site. Thank you to everyone who came out last Sunday to our first clinic. We had such an AMAZING time and can't wait to do it again.

...coming soon ;)

The Hays' Personal Portraits Sessions: Sneak Peak

2009-07-28T02:22:00.001-04:00

Celebration | Florida

A few months ago I had the pleasure of meeting Trisha Hay. We actually met because we had both contacted Liene Stevens and were trying to help her set up a workshop here in Orlando. (Which, if you are an entrepreneur, you should attend!) Trisha is an extremely talented graphic artist who's resume includes Disney, the Engage conferences, Sean Low, and soon... a new logo for us! ;)

In her spare time she runs the oh-so-delightful blog, Black White Bliss, bringing gorgeous design inspiration to the screen every week! When Trisha and I met up again for a local mixing of young professionals we knew we had to schedule a personal portrait session for her to get some new bio pictures for her website and blog. Her husband, who is talented architect (how cool are they as a couple? I mean come on!) also joined in to get some frames for himself. And since we did both their sessions at the same time, we forced them to take a few cuddly shots together. ;)

You can follow both of them on twitter here:
Trisha Hay
Brandt Hay

Black White Bliss ;)

Personal Portrait Sessions are a great and budget-friendly way for you to get some fun, professional updated photos of yourself for your business, website, resume, or just because without the price tag of our regular portrait sessions. Fill out our contact form at the top of the page to learn more to to book your own!

Du Jour...

2009-07-24T02:22:00.005-04:00

photo du jour, a nod to the oh so talented Jeff Newsom

In leu of Five Senses Friday, I thought I'd sing you the ABC's instead....

A - Age: I'm 24. Nate is 26. I've decided that I'm going to have a big birthday party this year (quarterlife crisis and all). And rum cake. Definitely rum cake.
B - Bed size: Queen. One day I'd love to upgrade but right now buying a new mattress is low on the priority list. (Directly under file receipts and go to the dentist.)
C - Chore you hate: We both hate vacuuming. Which is handy since we just moved into a condo with zero carpet. Victory dance!
D - Dog's name: Between the condo association's rules and our busy schedule, we just can't swing it right now.
E - Essential start your day item: Coffee with delicious creamer. My favorite is the Belgium Chocolate Tofee. Nate likes Vanilla.
F - Favorite color(s): Right now I'm loving jewel tones and neutral earthy colors. Nate loves royal blue.
G - Gold or Silver: Neither of us wear a lot of jewelry.
H - Height: I'm 5'3 and Nate is 6'2.
I - Instruments you play: Nate is an amazing drummer. Melt-your-face-off-amazing. Not even kidding.
J - Job title: CEO ;)
K - Kitchen wish list: A magnetic knife strip. Those are fancy.
L - Living arrangements: Currently in a small condo in downtown Orlando.
M - Moment you'll never forget: Nate stealth-proposing on our cruise ;)
N - Nicknames: I just realized that I haven't called Nate by his old nickname in about a year. What happened to that?
O - Overnight hospital stay: I've never been in the hospital *knock on wood like 15 times*
P - Pet Peeve(s): Double standards. Can't even stand em. Oh and passive aggression, seriously just tell us what's wrong.
Q - Quote: "When life hands you lemons, make grape juice. Then sit back and watch the world wonder how you did it." That was my daily mantra for over a year! I still love it.
R - Right or left handed: Right.
S - Siblings: Me-None Nate- 1 sister
T - Time you wake up: Too early because Nate sets his alarm to go off every 15 minutes starting an hour and a half before he actually needs to be up. (See the coffee response listed above)
U - Underwear: Under there!
V - Vegetable you dislike: Okra. Nate hates green beans. Even though I make the most AMAZING green bean casserole, he refuses to eat it. Seriously people, it's divine.
W - Workout style: Running, wii fit, yoga
X - X-rays you've had: Teeth? I don't know about Nate. Does that make me a bad fiance?
Y - Yesterday's best moment: Nate cleaned the kitchen (which was a war zone) and made us both the most delicious pasta dinner ever. There was a picture on twitter.
Z - Zoo favorite(s): We both love animal watching. And taking our cameras! Zoo date anyone?

Love and FRIDAYS,
Becka & Nate

Gorgeous Custom StationERY (remember "e" for "eyecandy")

2009-07-23T14:22:00.002-04:00

If weddings were Anthropologie, the stationery would be the window displays. And we all know how good those are.There are so many styles out there right now and I thought I'd share three of the most popular with you today from some talented friends of mine...

(images from the artists, clockwise from top: Anna @ Rifle Weddings & Events, Sarah & Lisa @ Orange Blossom Ink, Laura @ Immeasurablymor)

The first (we'll start at the top and work our way around) is a hand painted style. Anna Bond of Rifle Design creates these exquisite masterpieces by hand, crafting whimsical scenes customized for the bride and groom. I am head over heels in love with everything she does. I love the style, the storytelling, the romance of it all. Le swoon.

Second is a more modern, but still custom, look. This set was designed by the ultra-talented team at Orange Blossom Ink. I adore the arrangement of words in this invitation and the pop of color in the envelopes. I love when graphic designers create intricate designs just by the arranging of words and I think this is a perfect example of something chic, modern, and fun.

The bottom design was sent to me from one of our oh-so-fabulous upcoming brides, Emily. It's a perfect example of another popular style which is to include your engagement images in your stationery. Emily had her "Save The Date" cards designed using the images from her downtown engagement session. Laura from Immeasurablymore did a great job of incorporating Emily's wedding colors and the historical feel of the wedding location into these.

Now I need to get to dreaming up an idea for Nate's and my stationery. Do I even need one if our wedding is going to be out of the country? Maybe I'll make one for our party when we get back. Give me some ideas people! And go check out those amazingly talented artists' sites!

Want more? Here are two more of my favorite graphic artists currently designing for weddings and other events (that means you baby shower, baby announcement, bridal shower, bachelorette party, etc...)
. Mew Paper Arts
. Ashley Brooke Designs

Love and eye-candy,
Becka & Nate

On Nutella Ice Cream and Quality Time...

2009-07-22T02:22:00.001-04:00

Yesterday Nate called and asked me if I would go to the store and get some ingredients to make chocolate chip walnut cookies with him. It was an unusual request because, while I adore baking, Nate has never really asked to bake anything with me. Cooking, yes, but baking...not so much. "Why babe?" I asked. "Because I want to do something different with you tonight."
That was enough for me. I decided to pick up provisions for ice cream too. We have an ice cream maker but have never actually made ice cream from scratch.

Quality time ensued...

"Can I mix it now?"
"No you can't mix it with all the flour in it. You have to use the wooden spoon."
"Why?"
"Could you imagine what it would look like to put those spinning beaters in this bowl of flour? POOF! (I then begin miming an epic flour explosion with my hands and face.) Is this your first time baking?"
"No, I baked with my mom when I was little."
"Was your favorite part mixing with the beaters?"
"No, she wouldn't let me do it."
"Why?"
"Because I always made a big mess."
"Makes sense."

"Did you like the ice cream and the cookies?" I asked.
"They were my second favorite." He replied.
"Which one was your second favorite?"
"Both... My favorite part of the night was just spending time with you."

We thought we'd share the ice cream recipe because it was really fantastic. It is from the show Everyday Italian by Cutie McCuteface, Giada De Laurentiis.

Ingredients:
2 c. whole milk
1 c. heavy cream
3/4 c. sugar
4 egg yolks
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. Nutella

1. In a saucepan combine the milk, cream, and 1/2 cup sugar over medium heat. Cook until the sugar dissolves, (about 5 minutes).

2. In a medium bowl beat the egg yolks with the remaining 1/2 cup sugar using an electric mixer until the eggs have become thick and pale yellow (about 4 minutes).

3. Pour 1/2 cup of the warm milk and cream mixture into the egg mixture and stir. Add this mixture back into the saucepan. Cook over very low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture becomes thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon, (about 7 to 10 minutes).

4. Place a strainer over a medium bowl and pour the warm custard mixture through the strainer. Stir in the vanilla and Nutella until it dissolves. Chill mixture completely before pouring into an ice cream maker and follow manufacturer's instructions to freeze. (You cam make it without an ice cream maker. Just pour the mix into a container and freeze 6-8 hours, stirring every few hours.)

Love and desserts,
Becka & Nate

An Unexpected Surprise...

2009-07-21T14:22:00.003-04:00

Do you remember Bonnie and Steve? How can you not? Their lovely faces were splattered all over our blog and website for months! Not only did we shoot them 4 times. (Yup, 4) But we shot them out of the normal order, causing much confusion amongst our avid blog readers. (Do we have avid blog readers? Are you there? Chirp. Chirp.) We shot a bridal/day after/trash the dress session with them in St. Augustine. Then we shot an engagement session for them and their pups in Baldwin Park. Then we shot their wedding reception in Celebration (they eloped in St. Lucia all private-like). And lastly, we shot their after party later that night. The other day I received an email from Bonnie asking for our new address because she had something she wanted to send us. What? For us? I've been like a kid waiting for Christmas, checking the mail everyday for the surprise. And finally, we got it...

I squeeled with delight as soon as I saw the buttons of the darling packaging. Nate looked at me in confusion. "Those are Anthropologie buttons!" I squeeled again, "I'd know them anywhere!" (I imagine that I respond to Anthropologie buttons the same way most women respond to the infamous blue Tiffany's box.) An engagement gift?! Bonnie and Steve, you melt my heart with your thoughtfulness!

stock image from anthropologie.com

How absolutely and utterly fantastic are these towels? There are three and they are embroidered with little birds falling in love, getting married, and then having little birdlets. I just love them. Related: Anthropologie revamped their website recently. It looks great. Check it out: Anthro.

Love and presents,
Becka & Nate

Katie & Michael: Destination Wedding at Disney's Sea Breeze Point

2009-07-20T14:22:00.003-04:00

SeaBreaze Point | Disney Boardwalk | Florida

From Chicago to Orlando they came. With purple and pink flower petals. With a quick hello from Donald and Daisy Duck. A violinist was playing songs from my childhood on repeat and I found myself humming, "A whole new world..." as I heard the shutter clicks and I realized how much I wanted to watch the movie, Aladdin. Too bad I only have it on VHS. We don't have a VHS player. (Do they still make VHS players?)

Seriously though, when I think of my childhood, I think of Disney movies. I had (have) them memorized. Prince Charming (Or Prince Eric, he was my favorite) and a doe-eyed girl. A damsel in distress or a strong-willed princess (Work it Jasmine!) Disney was a big part of my formative years. So it's fun, now, to see it come full circle. From imaginary childhood worlds, to this romantic and magical day when two new friends become one and we get to capture it for the ages. One day, their grandchildren will look through these images. They will laugh at how old the fashions look and will say "Grandma, you were hot!" and they'll giggle. A little girl will swoon and say "Grandpa, it's soooo romantic!" And then maybe they'll ask to watch Cinderella, because Disney is now on their brains. And a new generation of dreamers and lovers of love will begin to grow.

Donald cracks me up in this one...

Mouse shoes by Marc Jacobs

Ceremony: SeaBreaze Point, Disney Boardwalk
Coordinator: Amy Riendeau with Disney's Fairy Tale Weddings
Reception: Bluezoo Restaurant
Gown: Jasmin Bridal, House of Brides, Chicago
Hair & Makeup: Patricia LeJeune

Five Senses Friday... (Volume 2)

2009-07-17T14:22:00.004-04:00

Hello loves! It's Friday and Nate and I couldn't be more excited! We get to see Nate's family this weekend to celebrate his Dad's 60th birthday and he's been talking about it all week. He loves getting to go home to St. Augustine and see his parents, sister, and nephews more than anything. I know part of him wishes he lived closer to them so he could see them all the time, especially the boys. He loves his nephews so much and would literally quit his job and stay at home playing xbox and volleyball with them all day, every day if he could. He's gonna be such a cute dad one day. I digress...

It's Friday and I'm excited to bring you volume 2 of Five Senses Friday. (I'm really starting to like these). Basically, 5 Senses Friday is just a summary of the best things from the day or the week. I jumped on the bandwagon after seeing it on Modish, who got the idea from Abby Try Again. ;)

touching:
The bubbly blanket separating the lava hot laptop from the skin of my legs. This is day 2 of working in the living room. After 3 14-hour days in the office I needed a change of space. Sue me. (No don't actually, I don't want to deal with that crap.)

seeing:
An overnight bag, open but unpacked. New clothes, shoes, and accessories (What? Target had a big sale. Don't judge me.) are making it hard to decide what to pack. It kind of like when you go grocery shopping when you're hungry and then you get home and can't decide what to eat because just want to eat everything.

tasting:
Corn risotto with fresh grated parmesan cheese and melted goat cheese. Eating in season is something I'm trying to get better at, which means that I can't just limit our veggie intake to zucchini in our pasta. The other day Publix had this corn risotto recipe as a sample (since their corn section overfloweth.) and Nate and I loved it. I've added a few of my own personal touches (hello cheese!) And yes, you may all now begin to refer to me as the "domestic goddess" because this stuff is that good.

Fresh Corn Risotto with Parm and Goat Cheese
4 ears fresh corn
1 32 oz box organic veggie broth
1 c. arborio rice
1 c. diced onions
2 tbs. unsalted butter
1/2 tsp. dried basil
2 tbs. fresh grated parmesan
1/8 c. crumbled goat cheese
Salt + pepper

1. Remove the husks and silks from the corn. Slice downward to cut off the corn kernels. Place the corn in a large microwavable bowl along with the veggie broth, onions, rice, butter, and basil
2. Cover and cook 10 minutes. Stir.
3. Cook 10-15 more minutes, until rice and veggies are tender.
4. Stir in cheeses and salt and pepper to taste. The rice will thicken as it stands. Serve warm.

hearing:
The documentary The Business of Being Born playing via Netflix on the TV while I work. It's amazing. Every woman should watch it. It was really interesting. Nate watched it with me and we just kept looking at each other and musing, "I didn't know that. Oh my gosh, that looks so peaceful! That makes sense." And no, I'm not pregnant.

smelling:
Coffee. I just started a new pot and the warm scent is filling the space. "2nd pot?" you ask? Why yes, it is. Because the new Italian Sweet Cream creamer we got is just that good.

Happy Friday everyone! Happy weekend! Best wishes to all the photographers out there capturing weddings this weekend and to the brides and grooms saying the big "I DO". We'll be thinking fond thoughts of you while we relax with our family and play Killer Uno! (That's totally a lie. The thinking about work part, not the Uno part.)

Leave us a little note to see when we get back to the office! :)

Love and weekends,
Becka & Nate

It's Better Together

2009-07-16T02:22:00.000-04:00

"You've got to get out of the house and do something." Nate and I have the same argument every few weeks. It's cyclical. Because so is my patience. While I love owning my own business, running the show, and getting to make my own schedule, most the time it seems that my schedule ends up being: work from when you wake up till 2am. And that's no good. When we are coming down from the busiest time of year, it's a necessity for me to be working that much, there's just that much to do. But all that work and a lack of play makes me a grouchy girl and Nate has to deal with the full force of my cabin fever every evening when he gets home. I think it's the struggle of every work from home business owner. It's tough to get outside of the 4 walls of your office. It's tough to maintain relationships with people who can't understand why you haven't left your iMac in 14 hours. "Just say that business hours are over." They suggest. They don't understand.

So when my dear new friend, Trisha Hay, the creative genius behind Trisha Hay Design and the author of Black White Bliss told me that she wanted to have a young professionals get together, I was all about the idea. As far as I knew, there wasn't any sort of get together like this in town. Most the networking groups are filled with older, very established business owners and the entire meeting is solely for getting your name out there amongst the others. A vision developed for something less "What can you do for me?" and something more "We're in this together".

Anna Bond, of Rifle Design, hosted the first meeting at her soon-to-be open to the public studio in Winter Park. Nick of Mama's Sauce print shop provided some amazing baked goods from Davis Bakery and gave us a tour of the Mama's Sauce back of house, showing us all how intricate of a process letter press printing really is. And he ran a short run of these adorable little cards designed by Anna:

Other young professionals in attendance included:
Sarah and Lisa of Orange Blossom Ink
Fiona of Anavi Ink
Grace of Grace Edmands Calligraphy
Ashley of Ashley Brooke Designs
Monica of BoomBox Bindery

I was so excited to get to see some of my friends from the Blogging Bootcamp again. We're becoming quite the little bunch :)

After the get together ended a few of us spent the next few hours chatting over Gurtzberry about business, life, and Robert Pattinson. I had such a fantastic time and I'm so thankful that I've gotten to know some of these young women better recently. It's such a wonderful feeling to sit down with someone and have them completely understand what you're going through. Starting a business is a crazy rollercoaster ride. And making new creative, business-savvy friends who understand it all is priceless.

Sarah & Roger: Engagement Sneak Peak

2009-07-15T14:22:00.000-04:00

Ocala | Florida

We got to meet Sarah and Roger this last weekend at their home in gorgeous Ocala (which takes much longer to drive to than google maps led us to believe, sorry guys) for their big red barn engagement session. Both Nate and I were excited because Sarah had made our lives easy by deciding on a theme for her portraits and even finding the perfect barn to shoot at! (Thanks Sarah's friend's neighbor!) Can I please, for a second, tell you all how much I LOVE having some sort of theme for these sessions? It doesn't have to be anything super detailed, even something as simple as a big red barn can give us such inspiration and can keep all the images cohesive. I am so in love with these frames from their session. It doesn't help that I'm listening to my "I love country" playlist while I edit these. Now I'm all nostalgic for horses, homemade cornbread, big open fields, and rugged old barns... le sigh....

Yeah, we know... "GQ called and they want Roger back" ;)

The good stuff...

I can't lie, I'm really excited about this one...

Sexy legs...

Oh FAVORITE! FAVORITE! FAVORITE!

I can't get Nate to listen to country music but I still sneak it while he's gone and I'm at home working.
And in case anyone is curious, here is my "I Love Country" Playlist, for your listening pleasure:

.Bad Things / Jace Everett (True Blood theme song, hello yum!)
.Nothin' Better to Do / LeAnn Rimes (Because I like the sassiness)
.Flat On the Floor / Carrie Underwood
.Last Name / Carrie Underwood (This one cracks me up)
.Down in Mississippi / Sugarland (A favorite since freshman year of college)
.Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy / Big & Rich (How can you not love this?)
.Honky Tonk Badonkadonk / Trace Adkins
.Boondocks / Little Big Town
.Kerosene / Miranda Lambert
.Rough & Ready / Trace Adkins
.Jacked Up / Gretchen Wilson
.Tim McGraw / Taylor Swift (I'll admit it, she tells good stories)
.Before He Cheats / Carrie Underwood
.Moments / Emerson Drive
.She's Everything / Brad Paisley (Swoonsauce)
.Want To / Sugarland
.Stay / Sugarland (Sugarland may be my favorite country band)
.Would You Go with Me / Josh Turner (His voice is like butter!)

Laura & Chris: Wedding at the JW Marriott Grand Lakes

2009-07-14T14:18:00.003-04:00

JW Marriott Grand Lakes | Orlando | Florida

I would love to write something eloquent and amazing to describe these two and their elegant sage and champagne colored wedding but the words just aren't coming. I can't do it justice. Laura and Chris are so genuine, sweet, fun, go with the flow, and trusting that I can't even sufficiently explain to you how wonderful it was to be there to document their day and be blessed by their friendship. They completely trusted us with their photography and that freedom allowed us to really get creative and have fun with their images and we are so excited about how everything came out! We had such a wonderful time celebrating with them and with Laura Pennington, The JW's senior event manager, at the wheel, the day went off without one delay or hitch. Seriously people, she was a whirlwind of smiling efficiency! The entire staff at the JW were perfection. They even whipped me up my own fried green tomato sandwich since the regular vendor meal had turkey in it. How's that for being amazing?! Thanks JW! It was delicious! Our favorite wedding DJ's, White Rose Entertainment, spun beats all night long keeping everyone shaking their tail feathers and the ever impressive Lee James provided all the gorgeous floral arrangements.

I love this...

Little details..

Studio222 Photography officially supports bromances

Mmmm...drama...

Hello fiery sunset, it's nice to have you joining us tonight...

:)

I love every one of these...

Hm, decisions, decisions...

Steamy...

Hello handsome.

Goodnight!

Christie & Ked: Sneak Peak

2009-07-13T02:22:00.002-04:00

Winter Springs | Florida

Christie and Ked are headed off on a cruise to Grand Cayman and Cozumel (you're going to looooove it!) but I wanted to get at least these few pictures up for them to see before they leave....

Yup, you guessed it. They got married on July 11th. You know that that means: free slurpees! When we pulled into the 7-11 there was a big sign that read "Out of free slurpee cups". We decided to try anyway. ("Sign? What sign? We're all so delirious with wedded bliss that we didn't even see a sign!") To our delight, the 7-11 attendant gifted us all slurpees but that wasn't my favorite part. My favorite part was that not one person in the 7-11 even looked up at the sight of a woman in her white wedding dress gliding through the store. Check out the man behind them- totally focussed on the slurpee! Apparently this particular 7-11 has a pretty regular influx of brides, so, you know, it's no big thing... ;)

My favorite from the day...

Have a fantastic cruise guys! And thank you so much for inviting us along on your most special of days. You are both such absolutely beautiful people, it can't help but shine through in every photograph! We felt completely loved and trusted and had such a fun time celebrating with you both. I can't wait to show you guys the dancing pictures, you all tore it up on that dance floor. Have lots of frosty, fruity, delicious tropical drinks, soak up tons of sun, and take lots of pictures (if you leave your room) ;) But above all, enjoy being the new Mr. & Mrs. P!

You're Beloved...

2009-07-10T02:22:00.000-04:00

I had another post scheduled for today but some unexpected moments toward the end of the week left me feeling inspired to write this one instead. (Don't worry, you'll see what was supposed to go here soon enough.)

There is something that we all share. An experience so organic that every human being can understand it because they have all felt it. It is that moment when you put yourself out there and wait...

As someone chasing her dreams down on a daily basis, I'm smacked in the face with this experience every few minutes, like sets of waves crashing in on me and never ceasing. I know I am not alone. As photographers, we wear our hearts on our sleeves (or blogs, or websites....) because we wear it through our art. And that is a good thing, because everyone needs an artist that is as emotionally invested in the process as they are. And that is something that, for someone as emotionally invested as I am, can be continually terrifying.

I wanted to share a song with you all that has become extremely dear to my soul. It's by an amazing artist named Amy Seeley. I think that Amy's lyrics speak beautifully to anyone that is pursuing a dream or a goal or is putting themselves out there for the world. Artists, dream-chasers, and everyone in between... know that everything that you dream is beloved. Have a wonderful weekend.

*lyrics by Amy Seeley

Dana & James: Elopement at Wekiva Springs Sneak Peak

2009-07-09T02:22:00.001-04:00

Wekiva Springs | Florida

Nate and I used to have adventure days on Mondays. We would pack up a camera, some extra clothes, and some snacks and head out to one of the many state parks in Central Florida for the day to explore and play and take pictures of butterflies, dragonflies, exotic wildflowers, and on lucky days... gators and wild boar. Those days were especially special to us since we just got to run away together for the morning and spend quality time together. When Dana contacted us to ask if we'd be interested in shooting her elopement in Wekiva Springs we were all, "Does Stevie Wonder wear sunglasses?" Oh yeah!

We have been so excited for Dana and Jame's elopement for months now! We had been dying (read: DYING) to get to shoot an elopement so when Dana emailed me to ask if it would be possible to tack a trash the dress session after the ceremony I was hearing heavenly choruses. (Hallelujah!) This was like a dream come true. I don't know why more people don't do this. Looking through the images put huge, goofy grins on our faces because the entire morning was just so much fun. It was ridiculously hard to choose just a few images to share as a sneak peak. I hope Dana and James (and their family- hi MOM!) enjoy these 10 teaser images...

Locationgasm

You do? Me too!

Looovvveee this...

Oh Hello, Favorite

Ring shots (Behind the scenes)

And bam- guest star!

Bring on the rain...

Jayce & Matt: Married in St. Pete

2009-07-08T14:22:00.002-04:00

ST. PETERSBURG | FLORIDA

Jayce and Matt have been enjoying life as the new Mr. & Mrs. Elliot for about a month now and they couldn't be cuter. (I admit, I facebook stalk them. Don't judge me.) I just love watching our couples transition into life as husband and wife. I love seeing their status updates about cookies and how much they love their new spouse, and I especially love seeing the photos uploaded from their honeymoon. It's kind of like finally getting to read the last chapter of a book that you just loved. If you aren't already a friend of mine of facebook (and you don't mind me living vicariously through your pictures and status updates), you can find me here. We also have a fan page where we share teaser images, planning tips, inspiration, and whatever else strikes our fancy. You can join in on that party here. I know that Jayce and Matt are waiting anxiously to see their images, so while the rest of them are being uploaded into their online galleries, I thought that I'd share these favorites with them, and everyone else reading along from their beautiful wedding day.

I adore ambient window light

Rocktography 101

Adorable²

I am in love with this tender shot of her father the moment he gave her away...

Mmmm...symmetry:

Paparazzi

Love this one! Goodnight lovebirds...

Welcome to our home!

2009-07-07T14:22:00.002-04:00

As per request, we're cordially inviting you to take a tour of our humble little corner of the world. I love (read: have an unhealthy addiction to) interior design shows and blogs and I always love the photos of the finished rooms. The "afters" if you will. And I love how perfectly livable everything seems to look, how uncluttered it is, and how the entire thing is like one big work of art. So, when we decided (on the spur of the moment) to move into this new place, I was so excited to have a blank canvas to work with. Our old condo, although a wonderful place, was so small with so little storage that it was constantly cluttered. And I'm such a visual person that I have the hardest time focusing in a place that is cluttered. Nate graciously allowed me to make all the decorating decisions when we moved here so I really got to have fun. The bedroom is the only thing that isn't finished because we're searching out the perfect bed to match Nate's antique dresser and chest so you'll have to wait on seeing that until we find the missing piece. On Saturday, right after we finished moving, unpacking, organizing, and decorating, I was able to get a few photos of the our place and some of our favorite details to share with everyone. We are both so excited about how it all turned out. We both keep joking about how grown up we feel now. I hope it inspires you to have fun with your own space! And for all of our out of state family and friends, grab a cup of coffee and pretend you're here with us!

The living room was pretty much designed based on our curtains. You can't see it really but they have a subtle graphic leaf design. It's just an outline and we loved the simplicity of it. We carried it over into the rug, the lampshade, and the throw pillows which all have graphic designs with interesting line patterns. Since drumming is one of Nate's passions we added his red jimbay for a bit of color and a vase filled with old drumsticks.

We both fell in love with a silver lamp that was way out of our budget. I found this little guy at Urban Outfitters on sale for nine dollars and we topped it off with a shade from Target. Voila!! I bought Nate those Scrabble coasters from an artist on Etsy because it is his favorite board game and he's unimaginably good at it. And last but not least, my beloved Anthropologie candle. Best purchase ever!

A bubbly throw blanket from Ikea added the perfect bit of texture to the overall smooth feel of the furniture. Plus, it's ridiculously comfortable. Thank God for Ikea!

Since Nate and I are big movie night fans, we wanted a way to display our collection that wasn't cluttered or an afterthought. We found these Lerberg Shelves at Ikea and decided to turn our DVD collection into a makeshift art installation.

This is a photo that Nate took on our trip to New York City last March. Both of us had such an amazing time that I decided to have this image turned into a canvas as a surprise for him. We decided to hang it right over the TV so that it would be a focal piece in the room and always remind us of the fun we had.

Here is our little dining room. We hardly ever actually eat at the table so its more for show than anything else. (Or to use like a buffet when we entertain.) The faux-brick wall is one of our favorite things about this place. The bricks are actually hand carved into the wall and then hand painted. The painting in the corner is a piece by Emile Bellet called D'or et de Reve and the rug was another score from Urban Outfitters for twenty bucks!

Ikea wine racks decorate the left wall. And no, we aren't huge Yellow Tail fans, they just happened to be on sale at the store the other day.

This plate is a tradition in Nate's family. Every year he would get to eat off of it on his birthday and other special occasions. I got my first turn on the plate last year for my birthday. We found the matching mug this year and added it to the collection. Celebratory ice cream anyone? Yes, I think so.

You already saw the kitchen but I had to add this shot because Nate and I love to cook together! That cookbook on display is the absolute best baking cookbook out there! The writers tested every recipe for every dessert and then picked the best one and wrote about why it's the best. It's insane. And no, we're not vegans, but I do like to bake vegan when I can. Keeps the goodies lower in calories anyway. ;)

A few months ago I found a photo of a purple bathroom online and told Nate that I really wanted a purple bathroom one day. Well that day has arrived!

I think our bathroom is Nate's favorite room in the house. It's the first thing he shows people when they visit. :)

Studio222 Photography headquarters. I love having an actual office to myself! I feel much more productive. And everything is so much more organized now than it's ever been! Excuse our mass of hard drive cords. We have yet to organize them all. If anyone has a great system for that, please share it with us because it's kind of crazy over there right now.

This art piece is on top of the bookshelf. I ordered it about a year ago from My Little Underground. I am still completely in love with it. It's so creative! And it's a happy reminder every day to aspire to greatness on our own accord. Plus, did I mention... we're macs.

This is our little canvas. It's 8x10 and it's the one we bring to our client meetings so clients can see and feel how amazing these things are. If you are a client who hasn't seen one of our canvases in person, you are more than welcome to stop by anytime! The little easel is from ikea. I love ikea.

This little guy sits on the corner of our desk to welcome visitors with some of our business cards. These are our old cards because we just got our new ones in yesterday and I haven't taken any pictures of them yet. I'm a busy woman. ;)

Last but not least is our tiny little pepper garden on our patio. I surprised Nate with a baby habanero plant last year because he has a ridiculous tolerance for spicy food and loves to add habanero peppers to jars of pickles. Just this summer it started to produce little peppers. I'm not what you would call a "green thumb" so this is a huge accomplishment.

I hope you enjoyed the tour! Thanks for all the sweet emails and comments everyone has sent us from the few snapshots we posted during our move. Your kindness keeps me going on days when I'm about to fall over from exhaustion! What's your favorite room in your house, and why? And what's your favorite little design element you've added?

On Good Things...

2009-07-06T02:22:00.004-04:00

Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a fantastic Independence Day weekend. Yesterday Nate told me that the 4th of July was becoming his favorite holiday. (I still hold on to Christmas as the reining all-time champion of holidays.) But it did get me thinking about the little things that make life more fun so I thought I'd go all Martha Stewart on you this Monday with a list of "Good Things"...

. Sundried Tomato Basil Pasta. Believe me, it's a very good thing! This was soooo easy to make, and so delicious! But don't skimp on the fresh basil. Seriously, it makes the whole recipe. Oh and I added a bit of crushed red pepper to the sauce. That was a good thing too.

. This Young House. I got so much inspiration for our condo from this blog. This (super talented) young couple bought an old house and completely transformed it into something that has gotten them national publicity from magazines and design shows. Check out the House Tour for photos of the finished interior. It's a really good thing!

. Nate suggested Tom Clancy's Hawk. The new XBox 360 fighter pilot game with "ridiculous graphics". So apparently, the graphics are a good thing. ;)

."Maries Cosy Cusions" on Etsy. I just picked up these beauties for our bedroom. Buying handmade, it's a good thing.

. A new favorite of mine is Pacing the Panic Room. It's a blog written by a husband chronicling his wife's 2nd pregnancy. He's a talented photographer so the images are amazing and his writing voice is absolutely hilarious. Reading baby blogs all day? It's a good thing. (Don't judge me- I'll be super prepared when that day comes for us...in the future.)

Nate and I celebrated by finishing up the condo (yes, it's officially done and decorated!) and having a small condo-warming get together with a few friends. We live right on the south side of downtown Orlando which means that we are lucky enough to be within walking distance of Lake Eola. Which is, if you don't live in Orlando and already know, the location of many city festivals including the annual Orlando fireworks display. And being able to walk down there sure beats battling the crowds in a caravan of cars! And, just to let everyone know, my twittered-about pasta salad was a HUGE success!

Hanging by the food ;)

Wonder if there is a 222 Robinson Street? That would be the perfect place to live:

Nate and I love these ones that explode with stuff in the middle:

FAVORITE: Progression of a firework...

Five Senses Friday...

2009-07-03T14:22:00.003-04:00

It's been a busy busy week. A really fantastic week, but really busy. I cannot believe how much we've done since this time last week. We've moved, met with a bunch of clients, booked some new brides (hi new friends!), finished editing a few weddings and portrait sessions, designed and ordered all our new marketing materials (they're so fun!), sent out our July newsletter, and decorated. The condo is finally coming together and although we still don't have much bedroom furniture (asian inspired, perhaps?) the rest of the place is looking pretty sweet. Now it's time for me to be signing off for the weekend. I've got to finish a wedding (or two), paint and clean the old condo, burn a bunch of discs, and then finish decorating and getting ready for 4th of July! I love this idea from the ever-inspiring Modish blog (did I mention my addiction to interior design blogs? Don't judge me.) She did this Five Senses Friday on her blog and I loved the idea. So, I thought I'd give it a whirl too. She asks others to participate so feel welcome to do your own Five Senses Friday. :)

tasting:
the most delicious lemonade in the world (it may only be so delicious because I'm so thirsty)
and perhaps a bite (or five) of cruelty-free cookie dough

seeing:
photos, photos, and more photos as I catch up on all of our post processing
a single silvery hair? what?! whhhhaaattttt?????
a house finally coming together, but needing some cool garage sale finds!
an old friend for coffee

hearing:
the electronic screwdriver- a girl's best friend. Hanging things on the wall is a breeze!
Kings of Leon, Nate's new favorite thing to listen to, all the time
a domestic dispute next door- that lady is not happy.

touching:
the smooth steel of a Chef's knife (our new kitchen has re-ignited my love of cooking)
the bubbly fabric of our new throw blanket (thank ikea) while I edit wedding photos
the soft microfiber arm chair while I move it around the living room 4 times before settling on an arrangement

smelling:
Oh so sweet Baltic Amber (aka "Anthropologie candle", no I won't shut up about it.)
the smell of our old condo on our clothes as we organize the closet
Spicy ramen noodles from the asian market for lunch

Have a fabulous fourth of July weekend! See ya'll on Monday. :)
Since the kitchen is the only room that's finished, here's a little look:

Thank you so much to everyone who has taken the time to take out quick one-question poll. I am so excited by the answers coming in because it looks as if you guys are wanting exactly what I was wanting to give. This is going to be the beginning of a beautiful friendship! If you haven't taken the poll yet, please take a second to let us know what you'd like to see more of here on the blog.

Matt: Personal Portrait Session

2009-07-02T14:22:00.000-04:00

Matt Tucker is a phenomenon. (That's why I felt the need to use both his first and last names. Clearly.) I really have no other way to describe him. And if he reads this, I know he's going to smile and chuckle ("smuckle", if you will) and shake his head at me. Humor me, okay Matt? You are awesome.

Matt is one of the kindest souls I've ever encountered. I'm not sure I'll ever meet another person like him. His heart is pure gold and I'm not sure that there is any person out there, having met him, that doesn't instantly feel a sort of soulful kinship to him. We love Matt Tucker for many reasons, the least of which are because he uses direct address every time he talks to us ("Hey Becka, how are you today?") and because he looks directly in your eyes and nods along the entire time you're talking. For his birthday we promised him an epic personal portraits session. And now it's time to deliver on our promise.

This... just... happened:

It's bright at noon in Florida

Hottie

Love this...

Want in on the fun?

Only a few July dates remaining. Now booking pp sessions for August-September

Carl & Lillian: Wedding at the Celebration Hotel

2009-07-01T14:22:00.001-04:00

Celebration Hotel | Celebration, Florida

"He told me he sits by the prettiest girl in the world." One of the bridesmaids gushed to me while Lillian was getting her hair styled. "After the first date he told me, 'This is the girl I'm gonna marry.' He came over for dinner and told my mom too. She looked at him and said, 'Shut up Carl and eat your potatoes.' We all thought he was being dramatic, but he knew from the very beginning." She sat back in her chair and smiled at Lillian who was laughing the way people laugh when they are completely and utterly amused by someone else telling a story about them. She picked right back up where she had left off- "Three months in he called me and asked me to meet him to go ring shopping. He would have asked her right then but she made him wait 6 months." She cast a dramatic glare in Lillian's direction. Lillian rolled her eyes. She leaned back in to me and concluded, "He finally popped the question at Epcot, 6 months later, but he knew from the beginning."

Sometimes you don't need to know. Sometimes he knows. And 6 months later when you know, he'll have known all along. ;)

A bouquet like this needs something more than your standard bouquet shot. Boom!

Hair by Lauren Rathmann at Salon Salon

Featherd hairpiece by Lo Boheme on Etsy

A last minute letter...

The gorgeous wedding party in front of the gorgeous Celebration Hotel

We had our own placecards at one of the tables. How much do I love that?! Thanks Lillian!

Downtown Celebration

Summer Canvas Sale!

2009-06-30T14:22:00.006-04:00

To celebrate the 4th of July, we're offering our 16x20 canvases (regularly priced at $275) for $150! Every single person who gets their hands on one of our canvases "oooo"s and "awww"s over them! They are instant conversation starters and the most beautiful way to display your favorite images. We even have a big canvas of this picture hanging in our dining room!

For all you blog readers, you are hearing about this first and have an additional day to get your orders placed as we're starting the sale right now as a thank you for being so awesome. Everyone else will be hearing about it tomorrow via our monthly e-letter. This sale price will last from now until 12pm EST. All orders must be placed and paid for before then to take advantage of this discounted price. To order, simply click the button below, select local pickup or delivery, and make your payment. Please let us know the filename of the image you want as your canvas in the space provided while ordering. If you need help, feel free to contact us at any time and we'll walk you through it. We are now available to allow local clients to pick up their canvases at our downtown condo at no extra shipping charge! If you are not local or wish to have the canvas shipped to you there will be a $20 shipping charge added to the total. If you select to have the canvas shipped to you, make sure you enter in your shipping address when finishing your payment (no P.O. Boxes) You may order as many as you like, just make sure to specify how many of each specific image you would like. We will send you a confirmation email once your order has been processed with a small sample of what your canvas will look like and will notify you when it is ready for you to pick up! :)

Update: We had a few people ask if they could order some of our personal work from our vacation to New York as fine art canvases. The answer is yes, most definitely. Just let us know which image you would like. Here are some popular ones:

Left: "Central Park" Right: "Brooklyn Bridge"

Lyndsey & Jonathan: Vero Beach Wedding Sneak Peak

2009-06-30T02:22:00.001-04:00

Vero Beach | Florida

Lyndsey and Jonathan's wedding could not have flown by any faster! When we left, we looked at each other and remarked, "That was the fasted 8 1/2 hours we've ever worked!" Everyone in attendance was smiles and hugs all day long and Lyndsey and Jonathan were surrounded by love the entire day. You could feel it, thick in the air, like a blanket covering everything. Even the rain subsided in perfect timing, leaving us with a cooler than normal breeze and some beautifully wind-strewn clouds high in the sky against the setting sun. Lyndsey and Jonathan's ceremony was the first mass we had ever shot and we were blessed with a fantastic priest who pretty much gave us free rein of the sanctuary allowing us to get angles we wouldn't normally be able to get inside a church. (Thanks friendly priest!) They celebrated at the Bent Pines Gold Club and danced late into the night to the music of a live band. I cannot wait to get through the rest of the images and show them off to everyone!

Lyndsey and Jonathan,
Have an amazing time in New Zealand. We are completely jealous and will facebook stalk you to see all the pictures you come back with! We had such a wonderful time celebrating with you. Thank you so much for trusting us completely and letting us have some creative photo fun with you! We are so excited to show these pictures to you and cannot wait to show you the rest. Until then, enjoy your sneak peak. And your honeymoon!

Check out the gorgeous embellishments on these babies...

Rain rain, go away...

Work it out girls...

Her train was perfection!

I am just head over heels in love with this one:

Shotgun shells? Hell yes. (Can I say hell? We weren't in the church at this point.)

Are you kidding me with those baby blues?

Um, GQ called and they'd like their smoldering look back ;)

FAVORITE

Love the golden light...

Hello perfect dress swirl! It's party time!

Things that are true today...

2009-06-29T02:22:00.003-04:00

. I am officially behind schedule and I'm misplaced my Delorean.
. I have about 5 car loads of stuff that still needs to be moved to the condo.
. Watching 16 and pregnant makes me oh so very thankful for Nate.
. The kitchen is officially the only room that is completely moved in and organized.
. Having this newly organized kitchen ignites my desire to bake delicious things.
. Nate and I are coming up with personal fine art projects to do and I'm really excited about mine!
. I really love the smell of my affectionally titled 'Anthropologie candle'.
. I really love Anthropologie in general.
. We have the absolute best landlords in the world. They came over and repainted two walls for us last night.
. Ikea is sneaky. You go in thinking "I just need a few cheap things" but come out a few hundred dollars lighter. Be ye warned.
. I have a girl crush on Leighton Meester.
. I am in the market for: a coffee/espresso maker, bedroom furniture, a table runner, and pillows from Etsy. Watch out!

And because I believe that posts need pictures, here is one from our photographers get together last night. This was our G10 self portrait, held by Nate:

***Don't forget. Our early bird promotion begins on the 1st! If you are booking a wedding in 2010 you can take advantage of this amazing discount but you gotta be quick! Each day that you wait, the discount drops. ;)

Moving Day...

2009-06-26T14:22:00.002-04:00

If you asked us last Friday, we would have said that moving was the LAST thing on our minds. Our plans for moving were more of a distant future type. We had pretty much decided that we were going to stay where we were until we bought a house because buying a house is the only thing worth moving for. We loved the location of our condo downtown and how we could walk to all the fun nightspots, run around the lake, get coffee in the mornings, enjoy our view of the skyline, and cultivate relationships with the wonderful network of amazing young professionals, artists, and entrepreneurs who we had gotten to know so well over the last year. Other than a house, nothing was going to get us to move.... until Sunday afternoon.

We had been living in a small, one bedroom condo that, if the walls could talk, they'd have probably used phrases like, "Groovy man". As our business grew over the last year, we converted half of our bedroom into my office. The condo was cooled by a wall AC unit and as summer approached, it was starting to become evident that this condo was not a good fit for us anymore. The shower broke, and as our landlord stopped in to give the final okay for the plumber he mentioned in passing a 2/2 that he owned in the same area that was available. He told us it was completely renovated and asked if we wanted to see it. We said yes, to be polite, because we honestly thought "How much nicer can it be?"

When we stepped inside and the cool 73 degree centrally cooled air hit us, we knew we had stepped into heaven. The condo was unrecognizably different than the one we were living in. It was beautiful and had everything that we needed. We shook on it that night and signed a contract a few days later. And today, we moved about 70% of our stuff in.

Here's a quick iphone shot:

That candle is Volusia Baltic Amber from Anthropologie. I went in today and asked the clerk which candle was the store's signature smell and she brought me to this one. Now our condo smells just like Anthropologie. Heaven? I think so.

I'm not going to lie, I'm a little sad about leaving our old place. The year I lived there was one of the most transformative and influential years of my life. It's going to be a bit sad to leave it behind. But, I feel like moving couldn't come at a better time for us, both logistically, and emotionally. New condo, new phase of our relationship, new summer in business, and big things on the horizon. The best is yet to come...

On Broadway...

2009-06-25T14:22:00.009-04:00

Last March we went up to NYC for a week to visit our friends Rachel & Matt and shoot some updated headshots for them. Rachel and Matt are both ridiculously talented singer/actors and are up in the big apple pursuing their dreams in musical theater and acting. And please don't think that I'm just flattering them because they are our friends. They are both unbelievable singers and actors. Trust us, not only do they randomly break into song all the time, but we also got to hear them belt out some show tunes at a karaoke bar while we were there. (Rachel does a mean Elphaba in Defying Gravity!)

We just got word that Matt got a role in the upcoming showing of Hair ON BROADWAY! Everyone give him a huge congratulations because this is insanely exciting and I've literally been bragging about it to everyone I know. Nate and I are going to try to get up there to see the show so if anyone sees some good deals on flights to New York in the next few months, let me know.

Matt,
You are an amazingly talented guy and we are so excited/thrilled/proud/elated/down-right-happy for you! We know you're going to be a force to be reckoned with and we know that this is just one in a lifetime of amazing accomplishments in store for you! Cheers to dreaming big and seeing big dreams come true!

You can see their websites and hear how amazing they are for yourself here:
Matt DeAngelis
Rachel Potter

This was a quick shot we got of Rachel and Matt on the train

And showing off some dance moves in the street at Time Square...

Our Secrets- Caught on Tape!

2009-06-24T14:22:00.000-04:00

Since Nate and I are photographers we rarely get any pictures of both of us doing our thing at weddings. Every now and then we'll snap a few of each other, or our assistant Matt, will catch a shot with both of us in it at the same time, but they never really capture us in all of our true goofy glory. I was so thrilled when Seth, from Visual Effects by Seth, sent me a link to a highlights video he had put together from Justin & Lindsey's wedding. I watched the video expecting to smile because of how much fun I had at the wedding, but I was absolutely thrilled when at 2:16 in the video I saw that Seth had caught Nate and I in one of our patented (okay, maybe not actually patented) photographing positions. Check it out. :)

Also, check out the dance moves at 3:25! This crowd danced the night away. We've never been to a wedding with that much dancing! And, my favorite part of the reception is at 3:28 where you'll get to see when Lindsey tossed her bouquet into the chandelier, and then hit her sister in the face on the second try. :)

Justin & Lindsey from Visual Effects by Seth on Vimeo.

Thank you so much Seth for sending this our way and for being such a fun and easy videographer to work with at Justin & Lindsey's wedding!

Katie & Jon: Engagement in Jacksonville

2009-06-23T02:22:00.000-04:00

I was watching the news this morning because I wanted to get caught up on some world events and a woman was being interviewed about how in today's world, and especially with the younger generation of twenty-somethings (represent!) the world is bigger and smaller than it has ever been before. What she meant was that people, young people especially, are viewing themselves more as citizens of the world than of their particular nation. That we are all very concerned with the well being of our fellow world citizens and feel a strong sense of justice for all of mankind. I love it. I have been to a few other countries and I always come back feeling like I've grown as a person just for having been there and learning more about the people I meet and places I visit.

It all just reminds me how small the world is. We are really all just people. We are not Americans, Europeans, Iranians, Floridans, or even Orlando people. We are all people, all sharing this beautiful world and sharing responsibility. We all wake up in the morning and go to sleep at night. The immense worth of each individual adds up to a planet rich in stories and love and although we are separated by many factors, in more ways that one we are all interconnected. I always appreciate the way those connections work. One of my favorite things about my job is that I get to meet people I would have never gotten to meet otherwise. Photography brings people into my life that are amazing, with beautiful stories and beautiful quirks. I love feeling my world expand with each interaction. Meeting Katie and Jon was one of those connections. They are a fantastically cute duo and we are so excited to share these images of them as we count down to their wedding this August.

Oh sweet symmetry!

I haven't done puddle shots in over a year but this one was too good to pass up...

Hello gorgeous eyes!

Time for some Studio222 Rocktography...

This one may be my favorite...

On gravity...

2009-06-22T14:22:00.006-04:00

I've always had a rebellious spirit. I'm proud of it now but I'm sure it brought a lot of grief to my mom during conversations that went like this: "You need to clean your room now!" "Well I was planning on it but now that you told me to, I don't want to!"

Just the sheer act of someone telling me that I had to do something a certain way or that I couldn't do something ignited a fire of ambition inside of me to prove them wrong. Seriously people, it's bad. So when I was told that I could never be successful I thought, "Just wait." When they said, "It will take years before you can do it full time." I thought, "Uh uh, I'm doing it right now." When they told me, "You're doing it wrong" I thought, "Nope, we're giving them something new." And then when they told me, "You're both too young." I thought, "Watch us."

I've been hearing a lot of people talking about following their dreams lately and it makes me so excited. Go for it! Do it. Let me be the first to tell you that you truly can. Find something that inspires you and hold on to it. Repeat it. Watch it over and over. Write it on sticky notes and put them all over your house. Your dreams are too important to let them fall away because of fear. Do not let the world, or your family, or your friends, or the economy scare you into settling. Find that rebellious part of you that wants to prove everyone wrong and let it run free for a little while! Recently, I've been extremely drawn in by Wicked. And the song "Defying Gravity" has pretty much become my mantra. I will play it on repeat for hours while I work and sing it over and over again. This song is what inspires me. Find whatever it is that inspires you, play it on repeat, and go!

Published: Professional Photographer Magazine

2009-06-19T14:22:00.000-04:00

A few months ago I put together an inspiration board. For those of you who don't know what an inspiration board is, it's basically just a collage of things that inspire you. But even more than that, it's positive images of goals you have for yourself and your life. You display them somewhere that you'll look everyday, usually in a workspace. Mine is positioned on the wall right behind our desktop computer so whenever I sit down to work, it's the first thing I see. It's 20x30 and has cutouts from magazines, a few things I printed out myself, and some extras just because. If you subscribe to the views in the book The Secret then you would believe that by focusing brain power on these positive images, you will actually manifest them into being in your life by the law of attraction. I'll be honest, that philosophy sounds pretty cool to me even though I'm not too sure of it's validity. But, I do think there is something to be gained from positive thinking and focusing on your goals. Recently I asked my friends on facebook if they had inspiration boards and if they've seen anything come true in their lives from them. I was really excited to see that many people have seen things go from pictures on their boards to events in real life.

Becka, this all well and good by why are you babbling on and on about it?

I thought you may ask that. I'm talking about it because recently we've watched some things go from inspiration board to real life without even realizing it completely. They weren't even exact, established goals. They were more like ideas too bold to actually vocalize and yet, here they are as real life things.

We were published in Professional Photographer Magazine this month with a little blurb about our trash the prom dress sessions. Professional Photographer Magazine? WHHHHAAATTT? I know, right? Oh wait, it gets better. We're going to be in there again this fall! With a full feature.

Hold the phone, Becka... WHAT?

Yeah, I know. Crazy cool. Mind-blowing. Nate and I were literally sitting in awe for an hour while we were interviewed by the talented writer who will be turning all of our babbling into a story worth reading. I still can't really wrap my mind around it. And that's all I'm going to say about it until it comes out because I don't want to ginx anything... Here is our stuff from this month's issue. They used one of our photos for the contents page and then the little story with another photo is on page 22.

Details: Southern Charm

2009-06-18T14:22:00.001-04:00

Nate makes fun of me all the time because although my head is normally up in the clouds, planning for something 5 years from now or talking about big dream goals and aspirations, sometimes my focus can be extremely narrow. (Nate would probably call it "painfully narrow".) I'll obsess over the fact that the shade of yellow is wrong on the DVD's we had printed and decide that we need to send them back and have them redone. I'll stand in the ribbon aisle for an hour trying to match the perfect packaging combinations. I'll work and rework designs for days, changing things by the teeniest bits until they are perfect. Yes, world, I am a perfectionist, and I can't relax until every detail is perfect. I like to serve tea in fine china cups just because I think it's prettier. I put brownies and cookies in our big glass cake plate even when no one is coming over just because I think it makes the table look better. I bought Nate a cheese platter for Christmas so he could serve our guests snacks on something other than an old plate. And oh Lord, you do not want to get in my path when I'm trying to set up for a party. Because I know that everything is in the details. All those tiny little things that make someone feel special or that dress up a house, or that fancy up an event, add up to one big picture. So much of life is in the details. I think that's why I have so much fun shooting weddings with a lot of details. Because brides, I totally get it! (And because it makes me feel less obsessive compulsive about my own life. HAHA!)

As promised, here are the rest of Traci's details. You can see how everything has so much of their personalities in it, from the rhinestone-embellished invitations to the table numbers featuring snapshots with their Labs, to the unique floral arrangements on each table, to the Florida State Seminole's beer pong groom's cake. The entire wedding with dripping with elegant yet relaxed southern charm. Take a look at all these details and be inspired. :)

Traci & Steve: Wedding at Cypress Grove

2009-06-17T14:22:00.003-04:00

Cypress Grove | Orlando | Florida

Traci is another example of a bride who handed the reins over to us completely. From the first time we spoke, to the first time we met, to the wedding day, Traci kept telling us that we had "full creative control" (which is pretty much the 3 best words any photographer can hear). "If you want a certain picture and I'm off talking to someone, literally grab me and pull me away!" is what Traci told us on the morning of the wedding. Nate and I just smiled at each other knowing that this was going to be a good day. I cannot emphasize how important this trust relationship is. If you're an upcoming client of ours and you feel disconnected, give us a call, we'll go get coffee, or wine, or cheesecake and just hang out. We promise we won't bring our cameras. ;) Traci and Steve not only trusted us, but they really brought us in and made us feel like friends. The magic that was created is unmistakeable and Traci and Steve's wedding is undoubtedly one of our best to date. We are extremely proud of it. But it's not all us, Traci was a planning goddess! She had pages of details that she had hand-chosen to incorporate. Seriously people, pages! I couldn't even fit all the details into this post and I have over 50 images in here! I'll have to dedicate another post just to her details! ;) Her goal was to get her wedding into her favorite wedding blog,Southern Weddings. Let's see how we do...

Kate Spade

Loubou's...my heart is all aflutter!

Wondering what's on that computer screen?

Well hello bachelor number one!

Natalie did such a fabulous job with Traci's makeup. She even brought an airbrush machine!

Flawless...

And Teresa worked her magic on the locks...

Perfection!

Traci wanted to scope out the ceremony and reception site as it was getting set up...

Jim Hjelm, ladies and gentlemen...

...and Betsy Johnson!

Something old: Her fathers hospital bracelet from when he was born

Waiting...

I love his face...

Last chance Steve!

Traci & Steve's "babies"...

Dum, dum, da dum...

Yay!

Work it out!

Traci and her bridesmaids are all old soccer teammates...

...and are all beautiful

Bromance...

I think this was Traci's favorite detail:

Kristen was such a wonderful coordinator. Seriously, just look at how amazing this wedding turned out!

Traci's dad was by far the most fun father of the bride we've ever met...

Greenery productions blew our minds with the amazing arrangements:

Smooches & Sunsets

48 seconds...

Goodnight!

Traci & Steve,

Congratulations! And thank you so much for trusting us and allowing us to be as creative as we wanted. It means so much to us that you allowed us that freedom on such an important day in your lives. We wish you years and years of wedding bliss! And we absolutely cannot wait till you are back here in Florida for your trash the dress session.

Traci's recommended vendors:
Getting ready location: The Grand Bohemian Hotel
Venue: Estate House at Cypress Grove Park
Wedding Coordination: Kristin at Blush
Wedding Gown: Jim Hjelm
Reception Dress: Forever 21
Makeup: Natalie at Knockout Artistry
Hair: Teresa at Capricci Ricci Salon
Shoes: Kate Spade, Christian Louboutin, Betsy Johnston
Catering: Creative Cuisine
Linens & Runners: Custom by a family member
Stationery: Glory Thorpe at Revelry Invitation Studio
Floral: Tom Murphy of Greenery Productions
Photobooth: Photomagic
Photography: US! ;)

Since Nate and I are a team, we usually only end up with pictures of one of us at a time shooting but we were lucky enough to have our oh-so-fantastic assistant Matt with us at Traci's wedding and he got this shot of both Nate and I shooting the mother/son dance....

(Thanks Matt!)

Corissa & Kurt: Grand Bohemian Wedding Sneak Peak

2009-06-16T14:22:00.005-04:00

Grand Bohemian Hotel | Downtown Orlando | Florida

Corissa and Kurt trusted us. They trusted us completely. They trusted us so much that if I really wanted to, I could have gone Austin Powers on them (shouted, "You're a tiger baby!....and I'm spent!" tossed my camera into the hands of my assistant and walked out of the room) and they probably would have just laughed and continued on with their day without worrying for a second where I was going.

I cannot say it enough, in the relationship between photographer and subject, trust is integral. It's the same reason why you hear me say all the time how we look for that special *click* with our couples, it's not just a happy extra for us, it's a necessity. We need our couples to trust us. We need them to be able to be comfortable in front of us and our cameras. We need them to relax and have fun. We need them to be willing to open up and show us glimpses of who they really are. I think that most people want this, but it's so hard to really do it. It's hard to let someone see into you that way. Portraiture is not just about getting a picture of a person, it's about capturing a piece of who that person really is. You know the feeling you get when you look into someone's eyes and can feel that they've let you passed their everyday wall and into who they really are, in their soul? That's what we look for. The best, most epic, most breathtaking, and most touching images come from moments of exactly that.

When people meet with us we hear a lot of, "Will you get this shot? Will you make me look pretty? I usually don't look good in pictures. I look better in person. I am not photogenic...." And with every question they ask I keep hearing the same thing: "Will you capture who I really am? Can I trust you, if I let you in on this special day, to capture who we really are?" The answer is yes. Yes if you will trust us to do it. And if you will let your guard down and relax, you will be shocked by the beauty in you. Once the trust is there we are free to be so much more creative and that opens up all kinds of doors. I am so excited to share this sneak peak because of these reasons. These images are beautiful and are a perfect example of the images that come into being when we are trusted completely.

We're having a lot of fun with ring shots lately...

When the nerves kick in...

A private first look before the ceremony

This is one of my favorite wedding party shots, ever.

Chandeliers

First dance...

Love this moment with Corissa's parents:

Painting with lights...

Nate's new thing is trying to get goofy shots with the bride, my new thing is trying to sneak in like a ninja...

Goodnight lovebirds...

Katie & Michael: Destination Wedding at the Disney Boardwalk Sneak Peak

2009-06-15T02:22:00.002-04:00

SeaBreaze Point | Disney Boardwalk | Florida

We had never met Katie before her wedding day. She and Michael came down here to Florida from Chicago with their closest family and friends for a destination wedding at Disney. They spoiled us rotten with just about 2 hours for portraits all around the Disney boardwalk before heading to the gorgeous Bluezoo for their private dinner reception. The entire affair was extremely personalized and Katie takes home the crown for the most hidden details! You'll see more of them in the next big post but let me just give you an idea: mouse Marc Jacobs Flats, gemstone Mickey's hidden in the bouquet & boutonniere, a custom-designed booklet for her guests, and a surprise visit from Donald and Daisy Duck!

Right now, they are soaking up the sun at Disney and I am so happy because it has literally been thunder storming EVERY AFTERNOON for the last few weeks. Enjoy these teaser pictures everyone, we'll have more to come in a few weeks. :)

Katie has the kind of eyes that other people have to photoshop in ;)

Live Long and Prosper, yeah, we went there

Fairytale much?

SeaBreaze Point

Surprise!

Photobooth Fun

Looovvvvveeee it: FAVORITE

The GORGEOUS spread

Private room in Bluezoo at the Dolphin Hotel

Sneaky pants...

Stay tuned to the blog because we've got tons on deck:
.Corissa & Kurt's Grand Bohemian sneak peak
.Traci & Steve's wedding at Cypress Grove
.Lillian & Carl's wedding at the Celebration Hotel
.Katie & John's Jacksonville engagement
.Matt Tucker's oh-so-smoking hot portraits
.Laura & Chris' wedding at the JW Marriot
.Photos of our new sample album (yeah, it's waterproof!)
.Photos of our canvas gallery wraps (we ordered one for our condo)

Told you we had tons ;)

If you haven't already, you can keep up with us easily by subscribing to our blog in your blog reader: Subscribe to Studio222 Photography

Studio222 Photography's Early Bird Special (for 2010 brides)

2009-06-11T14:22:00.004-04:00

Here are some things we know about brides planning weddings in 2010:
. They are recession-savvy
. They are on a tighter budget than ever before
. They are already planning
. They don't want to sacrifice quality
. They want their weddings to be stylish/romantic/fabulous/fun/stress-less/memorable/magazine-worthy
. They understand the importance of out-of-the box photography
. They want pictures that blow people's minds

We get it. We're with ya. We're planning our own wedding so we can completely understand where you're at. And we don't want you to have to sacrifice something as important as your wedding photography because of your budget. And so, we decided to help out those of you out there who are ahead of the game...

The mumbo jumbo...
The date that will be used to figure out your discount is the date upon which your booking is complete. Wedding bookings are complete when a signed contract and non-refundable retainer have been turned in and accepted. We are letting everyone know about this promotion now, even though it hasn't officially begun, so that if you want to set up an appointment to meet with us before you decide to book, you have time. If you wait until July to meet with us, each day that goes by is $2.22 less that you'll be saving. The promotion will run until August 31st and is limited to brides booking weddings in 2010. Weddings are not limited to a specific location and events both in and out of state, as well as internationally will be included. The total discount you accrue will be subtracted from your total. Offer applies only to wedding coverage of at least 8 hours. To set up a time to meet with us, simply email us and put "Early Bird" as the referrer. We prefer to meet near downtown Orlando in the evenings. Meetings outside of the area are subject to our availability. If you know you love us and want to book before July 1st, we will go ahead and give you the July 1st discount which is the biggest one possible. :) Ready? Set? Go!

Our Wedding: Inspiration Board 1

2009-06-10T14:22:00.004-04:00

Nate and I had already decided (even before we got engaged) that we would be eloping in Italy. Since our engagement that plan has evolved a bit to include some of our family and closest friends but basically the idea of a very simple, organic ceremony on top of a cliff on the Amalfi coast remains the same. We won't be having a reception, probably just grabbing dinner afterwards. (Who needs wedding cake when there's gelato?!) and then touring Europe for a few weeks as a honeymoon. Nothing has been set in stone as of yet but Nate and I had tossed around a few ideas (including the color purple and tattooed wedding bands) and I had been stashing away pictures and websites of things that we just loved. Today I thought that I'd put them all together and see what develops and I'm happy to say that I really like what came out of it. Not very traditional, but still classic. I've officially dubbed it "the new classic". Yup, I just made up an entire design genre. So what? ;)

Wedding things I'm obsessed with right now:
. The thought of eating gelato for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for an entire week
. Short wedding dresses
. Plum, lilac, and various other shades of purple
. Antique pocket watches made into necklaces
. Feathers: in hair, in bouquets, on dresses, etc.
. Anemone boquets (Do these remind anyone else of Alice in Wonderland?)
. Christian Louboutins
. Finding the perfect design for a wedding band tattoo
. Classic men's suits in shades of gray
. The thought of seeing Nate's face when he first sees Italy

Image sources: Chanel Polish | Capri | Gelato | Ring Tattoo | Priscilla of Boston Dress | Very Prive Loubous | Private Beach (my image) | Sangria | Black Titanium Band | Hair Piece | Necklace | Suit | Very Galaxy Loubous

Jon & Katie: A Jacksonville Engagement

2009-06-08T14:22:00.002-04:00

JACKSONVILLE | FLORIDA

We met Katie and Jon through our fabulous friend, Matilda. And Nate met Matilda through classes in college. And I met Nate through college. And we both met our college randomly because it was in our state and you can get some pretty great scholarships for going to school in state. And I started making A's back in elementary school. So... you can see that the chain of events leading to this engagement session started very long ago and the Universe has been aligning things for decades to have brought us all together on that (slightly stormy) Sunday to work some photography magic.

We shot for the afternoon all around Jacksonville from Atlantic Beach (where Jon serves as a Police Officer) to downtown (where they will be having their wedding reception in August). We had to keep moving to dodge the looming thunderstorms that were following us around town but we made it, and the rain made for some pretty great clouds and puddles for us to work with. This was our first time shooting in Jacksonville and let me just say that we can't wait to go back because we were like kids in a shiny new candy store!

We tried some new things at this session and I tried even more new things while editing these images. I hope you love them as much as I do. Seriously, I've had these 10 images spread out across the screen of our iMac for the last 10 minutes just staring at them, because I'm in love. And apparently too proud of myself. ;)

Enjoy...

I just looooovvvveee this one...

Groom-to-be's request. This is one of their favorite local spots to hang out:
(Inside the tavern that is, not out by the sign obviously...)

My view:

Nate's view:

My view:

Nate's view:

I think he deserves some sort of award for this one. :)
(ps. because some people asked: those are bullets because he's a police officer)

The Proposal...

2009-06-08T02:22:00.001-04:00

Somewhere in the Caribbean Sea, sometime in the dark of night between May 31st and June 1st...

It wasn't completely a surprise. Nate and I have known for a while that we wanted to be together forever. Of course, knowing and sealing that commitment with a diamond(s) are two very different things. One opens the floodgates of the "now" and all the baggage and beauty that implies, the other keeps things in the safety of the future. After many late night talks about our future, our dreams, our goals, our desire for dogs and kids, and our mind-blowing ability to work so flawlessly as team ( ;) ) both for our business and in life in general, we decided that we were ready to start walking in the direction of an "I Do". As wedding photographers, we're constantly immersed in the business of marriage so we were a little weary of diving into it all. But we talked about it, and since we knew that we wanted it, it was silly to delay the promise of it any longer. It's kind of like that famous line from When Harry Met Sally: "When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible."

I'm extremely picky when it comes to my jewelry so I wanted to pick out my ring. After much protest and debate, Nate finally agreed and I fell in love with one. It was purchased and then hidden and never spoken of again (except my constant begging to know if it was somewhere in the house). Nate and I had set a tentative date of early 2011, late 2010 to tie the knot and Nate had been leading me to believe that we wouldn't be getting engaged until later in the year.

The second night of our cruise, the Captain's formal night, he was dressed in a brand new dark gray suit that I made him buy and I was in my favorite little black dress and pointy heels. Our friends wanted some pictures so we decided to do a night shoot on the cruise. We walked all around the upper deck trying to find enough lighting for some cool pictures. We snapped a few of them and let them snap a few of us. Nate found a spot with some great lighting. They offered to take pictures of us there so we set the cameras and handed them over telling them our ideas for composition. After a few poses Nate suggested a shot with my back turned to him, looking out over the water. I turned and looked out over the rail. I heard the shutter and saw the flash behind me. After a few moments I grabbed my butt and lamented that these pictures were just going to be of my derrière. Nate tuned to me and said, "Becka, go look at those and make sure they look okay for you to edit them." (This is a common interaction between us since I do all of our post processing.) I walked over to the camera for me to see the screen and started clicking through images of Nathan on one knee behind me holding something. I turned around to him quickly to see him behind me on one knee with the ring held out towards me. I then had a complete time-has-stopped-and-I'm-floating-outside-of-my-head experience where I kept telling myself, "Pay attention so you can remember what he says to you!" I do remember his words and they were extremely sweet but I'm going to keep them for myself. ;) I said yes and was instantly spun around in circles. These
images of the whole event were captured by our friends and I think they did such a fabulous job! I feel so blessed to have had them there to share the moment with us!

The pose set up...

Me: "I feel like everyone is staring at my butt!"

You can see Nate getting down on his knee behind me when I realize what's going on...

The illusive and infamous victory dance (reserved only for the most epic wins)

And... the goods:

in 1900 images or less...

2009-06-06T14:22:00.001-04:00

I'm sitting at home editing images from our May weddings to get them all ready for our lovely newlyweds (hey Traci, Lillian, Jayce, and Laura!) and watching the movie "He's Just Not That into You" (for the 2nd time today) on TV. I'm about 3/4 through it and I just came across a scene that made me stop and pay attention. It's the scene where Jennifer Aniston's character is taking care of her sick father after breaking up with her long time boyfriend. Her father is the only one in her family that really gets her and she is the only one in the house actually doing anything to help. Her brother-in-laws are all sitting on the sofa watching TV and goofing off and her sisters are emotional wrecks. She's handling the entire burden herself and is completely frazzled. She turns the corner to the kitchen and sees Ben Affleck (her ex-boyfriend) standing by the sink quietly washing dishes. He fumbles around the words telling her that he went to the store and got food for her dad, started doing some laundry and that everything is going to be okay. It's just one of those moments. It's the moment when he proves himself to her. It's the moment when she knows that he's her support. I loved it. Because I know that moment. I've had that moment. That moment when the man you are with proves he knows that sometimes real life requires him to be an adult and proves that he can be that rock for you. I had that moment with Nate. And I'll spare you all the details but I'll just say that deep down in the core of my being I knew that I had a partner. Not a partner like another person who hangs around a lot, a partner like someone who will share the weight with me. I won't be expected to do it all alone. I won't be allowed to do it all alone. He'll be shouldering it alongside me. And although I'd like to say, as a modern woman, that I don't need it-that I can do it on my own, I'll be honest and say that sometimes I can't. And most the time I don't want to. So I am beyond thankful.

Speaking of Nate, he put together this fun little video using just under 1900 images he took while walking all around the cruise ship that we were staying on last week. It was such a fantastic ship! And you'll see our gorgeous friends/travel buddies Eric & Katie scattered throughout the video. So... I present to you a tour of the gorgeous Enchantment of the Seas...

The Best Vacation Ever...

2009-06-05T14:22:00.005-04:00

FT. LAUDERDALE | GRAND CAYMAN | COZUMEL

For those of you who didn't know, we went on a 5 night cruise to Grand Cayman and Mexico last week. We just got back yesterday and have been catching up with voicemails and emails but I just had to edit some of the images from our vacation to share with everyone. I'll spare you a lot of writing on this one because I'm about to drop so many images, you're eyes are going to burn off. Seriously though, we had such an amazing time last week and are now officially big time cruising fans so if anyone wants to go on one with us, just let us know!

PS: about half of these images were taken with our Canon G10 point and shoot and half with our Canon 5D. That's how hard the G10 rocks. I bet you can't even tell which are which. ;)

Hello Enchantment of the Seas! It's lovely to meet you.

Goodbye Ft. Lauderdale!

Sunset over Miami (I hope Edgar likes this one!)

Deck 9. Our personal favorite:

Anyone know what animal this was supposed to be?

Day 3: Welcome to Grand Cayman

Getting on our catamaran

If anyone wants to get me one of these for Christmas, I wouldn't be opposed...

Are you kidding me?

The night he proposed. I like to think these are his "I've got something planned" eyes...

Ceiling Self Portrait

Night shoot....and....GO

Day 4: Hello Mexico!

Apparently this phenomenon is called the 22 degree halo. Really wikepedia? 22? Perfection!

On our way to our excursion...

Nate can't dive because of a collapsed lung when he was younger so I took him on a submarine to see the reef...

We got down to 112 feet below the surface!

Lunch time in Cozumel...

Stop taking pictures of me!

Our cruise friends from Indiana. No one is safe from our impromtu photo shoots!

Aren't they just lovely?

Goodbye Enchantment. We miss you already...

Hope you enjoyed a glimpse into our vacation! We are happy to be back home but a little sad that we have to cook and clean for ourselves now. We got spoiled last week with around the clock free food and twice a day maid service. Seriously people, who wants to go on another cruise? I'm thinking Jamaica... Hawaii... Alaska...?

Proposal pictures coming Monday. ;)

Yes, we are...

2009-06-04T14:22:00.004-04:00

We're back from our amazing vacation! If any of you are thinking of taking a cruise on Royal Caribbean, please let me just tell you to DO IT! Everything was wonderful from the rooms to the food to the ship and the excursions. We had a fabulous time laying by the pool, stuffing our faces, meeting new friends, exploring Grand Cayman on a catamaran and Cozumel on a submarine. Oh, and something else pretty exciting happened. I've only got a few minutes to give you a little sneak peak and then you'll just have to wait for the rest so here you go...

taken by our friends

PSA:
For everyone who has called or emailed in the last week, I will be getting back to everyone starting tomorrow morning. We needed an afternoon to unpack, relax, and get back into our routines. Thanks for your patience friends! Oh, and we were published in this month's Professional Photographer Magazine. They interviewed us about our Trash the Prom Dress sessions and published two images of Mary and Paige! More to come on that later on too!

We've got our swim trunks, and our flippy floppies...

2009-05-30T02:22:00.002-04:00

We are currently ON A BOAT headed for Mexico and Grand Cayman for our first ever real life vacation together! Wish us luck (and smooth seas) it's our first time cruising! We will be gone from May 30th to June 5th and will not have access to our email or voicemail services (I don't know what I'm going to do with myself!) so if you email or call us, please note that we won't be able to respond right away. Thanks for your understanding and patience! We promise to respond to everything as quickly as possible when we get back.

I tried and tried to think of something interesting to write for this entry but the only thing that I can think of at this ridiculously early hour is that hilarious SNL short with Andy Sandberg. So.... I'll leave you with that, because we love Andy Sandberg, and it's one of our favorites...oh and we're on a boat!

Because he deserves to know...

2009-05-28T14:22:00.012-04:00

He kisses me goodbye and heads off in an opposite direction. For most of our weddings, everything is in opposites until the ceremony. Sometimes I'll turn around and see him standing there. He'll ask a question. Or, he's just checking in. I was so caught up in my busy independence that I didn't realize I needed checking in on. But now I like it. A random text message buzzes against my hip. "I love you". I inhale against my nerves and then turn back to catch a quick smile from the bride. *snap* That one is going to be good. It's time to put her veil on. And again, I'm diving head first into my art. Light from the window. Light from the lamp. Light from the ceiling. Lines and angles. The world through a camera is a magical place.

Another buzz against my hip. "The groom is headed to the ceremony location. See you soon!" I won't see him again until it's time for the ceremony to start. And to be honest, I'll be so caught up in this work that I won't even enjoy my first glimpse of him. I'll probably be rushed, stressed, my first words to him being some sort of hurried sentence about what we need to be doing next. He'll smile. Or sigh. And he'll switch lenses with me. Then he'll make sure I have an extra memory card. And battery. He'll tenderly squeeze my arm as he walks away. He's ever looking out for me. And I will forget to say "Thank you".

A hushed room. I lean out into the aisle from the front. He winks at me from the back corner of the aisle and my heart flutters. Our places are reversed from where a man and woman usually stand at this moment in time. Time stops as the bride comes into view. *click* Now that moment will be frozen forever. The groom gasps in his breath. *click* She's going to make fun of him for that expression later on, but she'll treasure that photo forever. A love poem is read. I haven't written him a love poem in months. I make a mental note to do that. And then forget.

Our favorite time of the day is upon us. Portraits with the bride and groom. For the first time in the day we are able to fully work as a team. Our movements are like a dance. I direct a shot, he directs a shot. We mindlessly move around each other to get the angles our imaginations are envisioning. The bride sneaks a kiss from the groom. *snap* Nate turns a second too late to get the shot and smiles at me as he sees that I got it. We are team. He can count on me and I on him. We both, instantly remember that we are not alone today. Or any day. I see him smile to himself.

The reception will fly by. He will ask me to dance. I'll say no. He'll continue asking me to dance until I give in, even if only for a sway or two. I'll worry that it won't look professional. He won't worry. I'm not sure if he ever worries. I probably do enough worrying for the both of us. But he knows how much I love to dance so he will make me do it, even against my will, for at least a second. He'll kiss the top of my head and push me away. Back to work. But never off of his mind.

He is my inspiration. My constant rock. My soulmate. My best friend. He is my comedic relief. My supporter. My driving force. He is exactly what I need every minute of the day without me ever having to ask. He will let me cry in frustration. He will pour me a glass of wine. He will listen to me talk, no babble, with plans and ideas and dreams, and he will never tell me that I can't do it. He will offer to do my errands on top of his full work day. And he will make me dinner when I haven't stopped working long enough to realize that it's dinnertime. I will forget to tell him how much he means to me. And that is never okay. Because he deserves to know every minute how wonderful I think he is and how lucky I feel to have him loving me. He deserves to know that I see all the work he does for our business, our life, and our relationship. He deserves to know that I know the sacrifices he makes for me, the ways that he goes out of his way for me, and that even when life is chaotic, we are grounded with each other. Nathan, I love you more than anything. I love you more than you can imagine. And even when I get too caught up in everyday business to tell you like you deserve, I still love you endlessly.

Image by: Heather Ahrens

Laura & Chris: JW Marriot Wedding Sneak Peak

2009-05-27T14:22:00.000-04:00

ORLANDO | FLORIDA

Laura and Chris, whom you may remember from their oh-so-adorable interview and engagement session a few weeks ago, tied the knot last Sunday at the JW Marriot Grande Lakes here in Orlando. Their wedding was beyond beautiful and I cannot say enough good things about the entire staff at the JW. From start to finish, the day went on without a single delay and we were even spoiled rotten with an extra hour for portraits when the bride and groom snuck away from the reception with us. :)

Laura and Chris have quickly become some of our favorite people to photograph. They are so genuinely fun, so sweet to each other, and so effortlessly in love that they are just complete naturals in front of our cameras. There were multiple times during the day when I started to give them some direction and before I could finish my sentence, they would already be doing exactly what I had in mind, but even better!

Not only was this wedding especially fun for us since we had gotten to know them both so well during their engagement session, but Laura works at a school that I used to work at in college for autistic children called the ABC Schoolhouse and a bunch of my old co-workers were in attendance. (Hey guys! XOXO!)

Laura & Chris,
Have fun in Hawaii! We cannot wait to finish the rest of these images for you. Thank you for including us in such a fabulous way on your wedding day and for trusting us completely. We feel so blessed to have gotten to know you both and wish you years and years of wedded bliss!

Elegance...

Laura, are you kidding me with this? You are so beautiful!

Nate has been rocking the face off our ring shots lately:

An afternoon thunderstorm provided us with some epic skies...

The sheer magnificence of this art display almost made me go cross eyed...

Oh hai!

Boom! Best sunset ever!

Jayce & Matt: St. Petersburg Wedding Sneak Peak

2009-05-26T14:22:00.008-04:00

ST. PETERSBURG | FLORIDA

Does anyone remember "Senioritis"? It's that all-consuming feeling that takes over once you enter the final stretch to graduation and leaves you practically incapable of thinking of anything other than graduation. When I was in high school I had it bad. For months I drug myself to class repeating in my mind the days left until I was finished, "18 days, 18 days, it's just 18 more days..."

Right now, Nate and I are struck with a similar ailment. It's called Vacationitis (medical term) and it's much worse than senioritis. I'm not going to lie, every few minutes my mind wanders.... What lenses do we want to take? Should we buy that underwater housing for the G10? I hear Grand Cayman has crystal blue water. Speaking of blue, I think I want to go get those turquoise flip flops I saw the other day. Oh, and Nate still needs new board shorts. I hate wearing shorts, maybe I'll go pick out a few new sundresses. Oooo- and a hat, one of those big J-Lo beach hats so I can lay out and read magazines and books all day. I should go to Barnes and Noble to get some new reading material. I want to lay on the boat and read with a drink in my hand. I wonder if the margaritas are really better in Mexico than they are here. 3 more days, 3 more days...

This last weekend we shot our last 2 weddings of a very busy May and our last sessions before vacation so now all that's left is to wrap up the business side of things. I am excited to show you the sneak peaks from this weekend's two weddings. First, I present to you, Jayce and Matt's sneak peak from their wedding on Saturday in St. Petersburg. Their wedding was held at the church that Matt grew up in and that his parents were married in! I am such a sucker for histories like that! Enjoy these favorite five teaser images. And Jayce & Matt, have a fabulous time in Aruba! We're jealous because it's raining like crazy here...

We are soooo in love with our new macro lens:

Their first act as husband and wife was this intimate communion ceremony. I just love this shot that Nate got of it:

Too cute...

FAVORITE

Lauren & Mr. E: Destination Wedding in Sanibel

2009-05-22T14:22:00.000-04:00

SANIBEL ISLAND | FLORIDA

Destination weddings are something we are definitely excited to do more of. We have a few more planned in 2010 and are so excited about them. There's something immensely fun about knowing that everyone is coming from out of town to this one, special location to celebrate. There's an air of "vacation joy" among all the guests as they sip on their drinks and enjoy the surroundings. Everyone is a bit more relaxed. And usually, it's someplace extremely beautiful.

Lauren and Mr. E chose Sanibel Island, Florida for their destination. His aunt owns this amazing spanish-style mansion right on the beach and was gracious enough to let the family transform it into a wedding and reception site. They kept everything casual but stylish with an airy, tropical flair. Small wooden fans with silver charms and personalized water bottles were available for guests as they took their seats at the outdoor ceremony. 4 stately palm trees served as an altar while a quartet gently filled the air with wedding melodies. Afterward guests were served cocktails by the pool and dinner facing the sunset. The entire evening was beautiful and lovely and we felt so welcomed and loved by the entire family. We even got to see and catch up with one of our couples from last November, Shea & Brittany. There's nothing better than already knowing someone at a wedding. ;)

TRUE STORY: This is our biggest post yet! But hey, it's a long weekend so it's completely appropriate. ;)

Location. Location. Location

Instant "something blue"...

It's almost time!

Everyone kept asking me what I was doing with the dress. Well, here ya go!

FIRST LOOK. These make me soooo happy.

Quite moments...

Wonderland...

Thank you Nature, for this perfect setup...

My view:

Nate's view (I love that you can see mom laughing in the background!)

Perfection

Details...details...

I love this

Flare for days: FAVORITE

Emily & Matt: Downtown Orlando Engagement Session

2009-05-21T14:22:00.001-04:00

Lake Eola | Orlando | Florida

Now that I've begun to really plan out posts for this blog I've become really hard on myself when I don't get them done in time. As I type this, I'm already almost an hour late to post it and I still need to upload all the images. *shakes head in shame*

I love living downtown. No matter where in the world I live, I want to be near a big urban area like this. Just last night Nate, our friend Matilda, and I all went down to the lake to watch the Magic game and get some munchies. We started at a place called Dexter's where we munched on sweet potato fries that were so tasty that they sparked a discussion on who has the best sweet potato fries in Orlando. Nate adamately proclaimed Spice Steakhouse the winner. (Even though their fries are technically chips, they have this secret cinnamon sauce that's made of black magic and tastes like heaven, so we overlooked the technicality.) We decided to walk over there to introduce Matilda to their sheer magnificence but got diverted on the way by rain. We popped into Wildside Grill where it was dry and enjoyed a few drinks and some great conversation before heading on to the ever-popular Hue to watch the last 2 minutes (aka 25 minutes with all the time-outs and fouls) of the game before heading back home. How could anyone not love living in a place like this? (Oh, and GO MAGIC!)

It's needless to explain why we are so inspired when we shoot downtown. Our love for the area easily translates into our images. And when you've got a couple as show-stopping as Emily and Matt, you've got an easy job on your hands. We took them all around Lake Eola and down into Thornton Park a bit for their session. We had such a fabulous time getting to know them both better and are so excited for their wedding this November. Emily is going to be using some images for her Save the Date cards and maybe if you all leave her nice comments she'll send me one so I can show it off to all of you as inspiration. ;)

Boom. That just happened.

BLING-ALING-ALING-ALING

I'm gonna go ahead and dub this the "Offical Oh-So-Awesome 222 Pose"

Cuuuttteee

Hello gorgeous!

NATE: "Do a really corny pose. I love corny!"

LOVE THIS

You may need to look away because of all the FIERCE that is flowing from this one. We understand.

You aren't even ready for these last 2...

BAM! FAVORITE

A Fear of Commitment...

2009-05-20T14:22:00.003-04:00

At one of our recent weddings we were spoiled with tons of time for portraits beforehand. But, since this is Florida, it was about 90 degrees outside with a blazing sun so we took the bride and groom for ice cream right after their "first look". (Yeah, we're a daring bunch here at Studio222 Photography.) Let me set the scene: Nate and I, carrying all of our gear, and a bride and groom dressed to the nines in their perfect ensembles are waiting in Kilwins (Kilwins, like Starbucks, is a frequent guest star at many of our sessions.) amidst random locals murmuring their congratulations. We were standing at the front of the line drooling over ice cream flavors when we heard the groom, Carl, say to the counter attendant, "Can I try the raspberry sorbet? I want to taste it before I commit..."

-silence-

Nate and I immediately burst into rolling laughter. A few seconds later the bride, Lillian, started laughing hysterically as well. At this point everyone in the shop was laughing. It took a moment for Carl to realize the hilarity of his reluctance to commit to an ice cream flavor while standing in his tux beside his bride-to-be. But then he started laughing as well. He did commit, to the raspberry sorbet and to her. And they all lived happily ever after. I just love when real life breaks through the hoop-la and reminds us all that at the end of the day, it isn't about planned out perfection, it's about being able to laugh at and with the one you love most. ;)

It reminds me of a line from the song "The Lark Ascending" sung by David Crowder:
"And I’m trying to make you feel that this is for real, that life is happening, and that it means everything."

I have no idea how I got this shot because I was laughing so hard that I was almost crying...

Hello Honda...

2009-05-19T14:22:00.001-04:00

It's been rainier this week than it has been all year. So it only makes sense that this is the week Nate and I would decide to go motorcycle shopping, buy one, and then stare at it because we can't actually ride it around anywhere.

Nate grew up riding dirtbikes and motorcycles, reading motorcycle magazines and memorizing specs. Back in the early nineties, one of the more popular bikes in the pages of the magazines was the Honda CBR 600 F2. So when he saw one for sale for a steal on Craigslist, he told me we had to jump on it.

After sharing one automobile for the last year, we were both excited by the possibility of both being independently mobile and the price couldn't be beat so we drove across town in the rain to meet the seller. The bike was in great shape for it's age and ran extremely well. Other than a few scratches and quirks it was perfect for us so we transferred the title and bought a tag that afternoon. Nate and I went for a short spin on it during a break in the rain yesterday. It's pretty sweet! Now maybe he can surprise me with things like flowers and candy when he comes home since I won't be in the car with him to ruin it. ;)

Melissa: Portraits at Lake Eola

2009-05-18T14:22:00.000-04:00

I was just at a coffee shop last week with an old friend. We both were working on our laptops and chatting when a friend of his walked into the shop. He introduced me to his friend and then turned to me and asked, "When was it that we met? Freshman year of college?" I nodded in agreement and then laughed as I did the math. "I can't believe we've known each other for 6 years already!" I can't believe I haven't gone to a class in over 2 years. Oh my gosh- I hated classes.

Melissa just graduated from our alma-mater, the University of Central Florida- a university affectionately nick-named "U Can't Finish". (I say affectionately but that probably isn't true. I know a few people who are going on their 7th year of undergrad!) So when she contacted us to see if we could do a short portrait session with her to commemorate this time in her life, we were more than happy to ablige. Melissa also brought 3 pairs of ridiculously cute shoes that she switched out during our hour-long session and immediately won her way into my shoe-addicted heart! And although she said that she had no idea what she was doing while posing for the pictures, I think we can all see that she definitely knows how to work it for the camera. Plus we performed a little black magic portrait session dance right before the session to make sure the images came out HAWT. Not really. Maybe. You'll just have to book a session with us to find out. ;)

Work it out...

FAVORITE

...like a boss

Happy Graduation Melissa. Now go take over the world!

Carl & Lillian: Wedding at the Celebration Hotel Sneak Peak

2009-05-15T14:22:00.002-04:00

The Celebration Hotel | Celebration | Florida

Wow, May is a busy month. Luckily, this weekend we are completely wedding-less and free to just relax and recuperate. Nate is feeling better but now I'm feeling exhausted and a bit under the weather and we definitely do not want to be sick on our upcoming vacation so this is perfect timing for a little bit of a break. Oh, by the way, we are going on our first cruise ever at the end of the month so if any of you world travelers out there have been cruising before and want to offer us some advice, we'd love to hear it!

You may remember Carl & Lillian from their romantic engagement session at the Rosen College here in Orlando. (Here and Here) They made it official on May 9, 2009, at the gorgeous Celebration Hotel surrounded by enormous tropical flower arrangements, their closest friends, and a family beaming with pride and joy. It was the same day that Carl graduated from college and they had both been ridiculously busy with graduation and wedding planning up until the moment they said "I DO". (Not even kidding- Carl walked at graduation that same morning!)

They are off relaxing on the beach in Jamaica as we speak! (Or well...type) ;) Have an extra Piña Colada for us you two! And have a WONDERFUULY RELAXING honeymoon!

L O V E

FIRST LOOK: Nate's view

My view

Um...favorite!

Love means never having to look goofy alone...

2009-05-14T14:22:00.003-04:00

There are many defining moments in romantic relationships: the first kiss, meeting the family, the first "I love you", the first time he sees you without makeup on, the first time you cry in front of each other... and the the first time one of you gets sick.

Last week Nate started telling me that he wasn't feeling so well. He was "tired and achy" and his throat "felt strange". We're both pretty healthy people so I figured I'd avoid kissing him for a day or so and we'd both make it out alive. Yesterday, though, he sent me a text from work and informed me that he was most definitely sick. 24 hours later he's still a little feverish and pretty tired, but mostly bored. Apparently, I'm not that fun to hang out with all day at home during "work hours". Luckily this is our only wedding-less weekend this month so we can both rest up and relax. Although I hate to see him not feeling well, his being sick did give me the excuse to pick up some of those breathe right strips for him in hopes that it would keep him from snoring all night from a stuffy nose. He'd never used them before, but I think I've converted him...

iphone shot

Natalie & Danny: Engagement in St. Augustine (Part 2)

2009-05-13T14:22:00.001-04:00

St. Augustine | Anastasia Island | Florida

Fun story: Danny is a musician and proposed to Natalie by writing her a love song and singing it to her on the Jacksonville pier. (Collective: "awwww") They wanted to incorporate music and the beach into their shoot so after strolling around St. George street we drove over to Anastasia Island and headed to a spot on the beach that Nate knew would be picture perfect. We got there just in time for a buttery, golden sunset, that bathed us in perfect light for the remainder of their images. It's funny to return to St. Augustine now that I am more familiar with it. This spot of beach is one of the first places Nate took me in the beginning of our relationship and it's strange to see it through my memory's eye because it seems so different than it looks to me now that it is more familiar. Does that ever happen to anyone else? Anyway, here is part two of their engagement session.

An impromptu guitar lesson :)

Natalie's nod to Taylor Swift...

Havana? Nope, still in St. Augustine.

Love this.

Natalie's requested image:

As if you don't break into dance while walking down the beach?

Natalie & Danny: Engagement in St. Augustine (Part 1)

2009-05-12T14:22:00.003-04:00

St. Augustine | Florida

I said it before, I'll say it again, engagement sessions are the new black. We are thrilled that the majority of our couples are scheduling them with us. They come included in our wedding collections and can easily be added on to coverage from our a la carte list, so if you are a current bride who wants to add one of these sessions, just contact us and let us know. It's super easy!

We met Natalie and Danny up in St. Augustine for their engagement session. They'll be tying the knot this September in Orlando but are currently living in Jacksonville so it was only natural for us to meet up in Nate's hometown of St. Augustine for their session. Natalie and Danny were one of those couples who we instantly clicked with. One of those couples that we left thinking, "How on earth have we not been friends with them for years?" Danny assured us of his modeling skills right from the beginning and even broke out Blue Steel a few times during the session. Natalie humbly informed us that she didn't know how to pose for pictures. (It's always the humble ones that end up working it out like no one's business.) "That's what she said"s abounded throughout the afternoon and so did the Kilwin's ice cream. Nate even found a new hot sauce store to drool over. (If you didn't already know, Nate likes hot sauce more than he likes me.) I was supposed to edit just a few images for their sneak peak but I loved all the images so much that I couldn't stop and went ahead and finished their session. Of course, there's just too many to fit in one post so this is part one, come back tomorrow for part two!

I just love these colors...

Oooo la la...

Peekaboo gorgeous!

Classic

Sometimes goofy pictures end up being my FAVORITES

Soulmates

We'll see you tomorrow for the rest! We'll just call it your humpday eyecandy. :)

Bootcamp with Liene Stevens of The Smart Planner

2009-05-11T14:22:00.002-04:00

One of the things that makes being a part of the wedding industry so much fun is joining its community of artists and business people. Since we are photographers, we are usually surrounded by other photographers, deep in photography conversations and geeking out as we talk about the new lens that we've been trying out or a new concept or idea for our businesses. Last week I (Becka) had the pleasure of branching out a bit and getting to hear some great perspective from another side of the industry: event planners.

Liene Stevens, founder of Blue Orchid Designs and whirlwind force behind The Smart Planner came to Orlando for the day for a workshop called Blogging Bootcamp. Liene, on top of being ridiculously fun to spend a day with (Not even kidding: we sat for 4 hours chatting over coffee!), is an amazing business woman. As we all typed away on our laptops, she dropped gem after gem of social media wisdom into our laps. I was able to relax and take a minute to evaluate what we are currently doing via social media and dream up ways to make it better. I am excited by all the things that I took away from the workshop and am thrilled to start implementing them in our business, especially here on our blog. One of the first of which is the new Subscriptions link in the right sidebar where you can easily add our blog to your google reader (or whichever reader you prefer). Just trying to make life simpler for ya. ;)

Twitter talk. Join us: Liene, Me, Nate

The lovely and talented Trisha Hay of Black White Bliss supplied us with these lovely custom journals and centerpieces

Business time!

The entire group. That's me third from the right. (Can you tell I prefer to be behind the camera?)

Laura & Chris: Engagement at the JW Marriot

2009-05-06T14:22:00.007-04:00

JW Marriot Hotel | Orlando | Florida

We say it all the time: engagement sessions are invaluable to our relationships with our wedding clients. They just are. If weddings are "going steady", then engagement sessions are the first date. First there is the awkward ice-breaking conversations, usually a little Starbucks, and then the inevitable *click* that happens when we finally get to know who you are as a couple. Laura and Chris are an excellent example of this. The first time we met them was during our initial consultation and they came with their wedding coordinator and a lot of questions. We spoke a little about their plans but it was mostly business and we left not feeling like we really "knew" who they were as a couple. When we met up with them at the JW Marriot here in Orlando where there wedding will be taking place in just a few short weeks, we were a little nervous but after spending just a few moments with the two of them we knew that we were going to hit it off perfectly. Through the session we got to learn their story, their quirks, their looks, and exactly the moment when they each knew for sure that they were meant to be. We left smiling, feeling like we really connected and made new friends, and feeling so excited to see them again for their wedding. And they left feeling more comfortable and confident with us as their photographers. Not to mention we got some pretty rocking images, because they are natural models. But I'll let them tell you all of that themselves.

Meet Laura and Chris (keep in mind, we aren't videographers)...

Engagements with Studio222 Photography from Studio222Photography on Vimeo.

and the finished product:

I LOVE this smile:

Shhh...don't ruin the magic...

Cute, cute, cute

I could not love this any more...

White hot!

Stay classy Orlando...

Emily & Matt: Downtown Orlando Engagement Sneak Peak

2009-05-05T14:22:00.005-04:00

ORLANDO | FLORIDA

We just LOVE living and shooting downtown. Seriously, I don't think you could pay me to move. Unless you were paying me to move into one of those ridiculously amazing town homes I've got my eyes on down off Broadway. Actually, you wouldn't even have to pay me to move there, I'd do it voluntarily... but I digress...

Emily and Matt met up with us last weekend for their engagement shoot. Emily is super organized and we share a love for fashion so she had been emailing me all week showing me different outfits that she was thinking of purchasing for their session. When she emailed a picture of this dress I got so excited. In case you're wondering, it's Arden B, and it's ridiculously cute. (And have you glanced at the shoes yet?)

Emily and Matt are adorable together. They have an ease with each other that only comes from the perfect matching of personalities and a deep, kindred, trust. The kind of trust that lets you drop the everyday facade and completely be yourself, safe in the knowledge that you are entirely loved. We are so excited to shoot their wedding this November. I only had time to pick out 5 to share for now so enjoy this sneak peak, there's lots more to come...

I am completely in love with every aspect of this picture...

I think it's safe to say that she's smitten ;)

Helloooo gorgeous!

Don't look now, but he's totally checking you out!

I couldn't resist...FAVORITE

Traci & Steve: Cypress Grove Wedding Sneak Peak

2009-05-03T14:22:00.006-04:00

The Estate House at Cypress Grove | ORLANDO | FLORIDA

When Traci first met us one of the first things she said was, "I found you because of the Southern Weddings Blog and my goal is to get my wedding in there!" Let me be the first to tell you, if anyone could plan a wedding worthy of Southern Weddings Magazine, it is Traci! Don't believe me? Maybe I'll send you a copy of the itemized 5 page list of details she had incorporated into the day. ;) Seriously, this woman is a wedding planning goddess!

Traci and Steve were married Saturday in an elegant outdoor ceremony at Cypress Grove Park. We had such a fantastic time and met so many wonderful people that we are excited to tell you all about in our bigger post later on. We took more pictures than we ever have at a wedding! There are so many images to go through but I just couldn't help but pick 10 for you all to see. Enjoy these teaser images, we'll be posting the rest up in the next month. I absolutely cannot wait for you to see all of her detail- eye-candy goodness! Here's some hints: there were 3 pairs of high heels, 2 dogs, 2 dresses, and different centerpieces on each table!

In case you were wondering...

2009-05-02T02:22:00.000-04:00

In case anyone out there is wondering if they should have a destination wedding in Florida, here is your answer...

Call me. ;)

Children of the 80's...

2009-04-30T14:22:00.000-04:00

What is it about old pictures? I could sit with boxes and boxes of old pictures and be entertained for hours. Over Easter weekend Nate's parent's brought out a book of pictures from when he was a baby. The pictures were so fun to look at that I called my mom and asked if she could send me some of her favorites of me. I thought that now would be as great a time as ever to prove to you all (with photo evidence) that we we've pretty much been this awesome since birth. See for yourselves...

I LOVE this!

I am fairly certain I still make the same exact face. I think Nate has a picture of it.

He's pretty easily distracted.

I really like to talk.

Please God, let me have a son this cute one day!

I enjoyed fashion, even at a young age. Check out that side ponytail people!

A double shot of Sneak Peak

2009-04-27T14:22:00.002-04:00

Lisa: Sneak Peak

2009-04-26T14:22:00.001-04:00

ORLANDO | FLORIDA

Lisa: "I've got balloons in the car. I wasn't sure if you would want me to bring them in"-
Me: "Oh my gosh, I'm so excited!!!"

I have been wanting to shoot a session with balloons for months and so to say that I was exited when Lisa actually brought some balloons to our session would be the understatement of the year. I'm sure I made a complete dork of myself as I flipped out about them. Just look at all the amazing colors she brought! Seriously, I think we may be soul mates. ;)

We're so blessed with amazing clients. We leave shoots all the time, get in the car, and say to each other, "I hope they liked us. I'd like to hang out with them again." And that is one of the best things about what we do, we get to meet such amazing people. Today we got to meet Lisa. Lisa is one of our "Recessions Suck" participants and we are just loving these little mini portrait sessions. Seriously, they are so much fun. And when you have people like Lisa, who are just absolutely stunning, it makes our jobs ridiculously easy. Thanks Lisa, for being so much fun today! We hope to see you again soon. And we'll be finishing your images in the next week or so but for now, here's 5 of our favorites...

Featured: The Wedding Chicks

2009-04-23T14:22:00.002-04:00

This morning I got a sweet email from my good friend, Lauren telling me congratulations and that she had seen one of our weddings featured on The Wedding Chicks today. Excitedly, I clicked on over to the website and sure enough, we are one of the featured photographers today on their lovely wedding blogsite! They featured images from Lindsey & Justin's gorgeous wedding at the Lake Mary Events Center. We love the Wedding Chicks and the work they do each day to create fresh, beautiful, and inspiring posts for all the brides-to-be out there. If you are planning a wedding, or just love browsing wedding sites, bookmark their blog now and be inspired daily!

We were recently added to the Wedding Chicks family and are now a Preferred Vendor in their Central Florida listing. Thanks ladies! We love you, your blogsite, and all the work you are doing for brides-to-be!

*image collage from The Wedding Chicks

Thank you to everyone who participated in our Earth Day Giveaway! Everyone left such great responses that it was impossible to pick a favorite. All of you have such wonderful uses for these little bags and I hope that even if you don't win, you'll go and purchase some for yourself. I love mine and use them all the time! Since we couldn't pick a favorite, we let the random number generator pick for us and #1 Josh & Ashy are the winners! Here is what they said they would use the bags for:

Thanks to earth day, I've been making an effort all day to think of ways I can minimize my carbon footprint this year... and these bags would be a great help! now that I'm a mom, I'm constantly grabbing little tidbits (baby socks, shopping lists, lunch) as I run out the door. More often than not, I end up throwing them in a grocery bag which I later toss in the garbage. Tisk, tisk. I could definitely make good use of a baggu or two!!

Ashley, you'll be receiving an email soon asking for your shipping address and I'll be placing the order this week for the bags! You'll have a peacock and rhubarb coming your way!

Happy Earth Day!

2009-04-22T14:22:00.004-04:00

For some reason, I've just been feeling down the last few days. A little frustrated, but not at any one thing in particular. Sometimes I feel stuck in my life, even if there is no real reason for me to feel that way, and I just have to either ride it out or figure out how to un-stuck myself. This time, I think I'm just going to have to ride it out. Hopefully it passes quickly.

Today is Earth Day and it's lovely outside. Maybe I'll feel better if I go outside for a while. As soon as this blog post is up I'm going to force myself to go for a run. But first, I thought it might be fun to share with you my favorite, simple, "green" way to be a better consumer and decrease your carbon footprint.

It's... BAGGU Bags!

I don't even remember how I originally heard about these bags but I just love them. They were originally created by a mother/daughter team (how cute is that?) and their small little business has boomed into something amazing! Each of the regular sized bags holds as much as 3 plastic grocery bags and using just 1 baggu bag for a year keeps up to 700 plastic grocery bags out of our landfills! They also come with a tiny pouch that they can be folded up and stored in. They are small enough to carry in your glove compartment or even your purse. They have a rainbow of colors available. So many, in fact, that you could literally color coordinate your bags to your outfit any day of the week! Or, if you're planning a wedding, you could go and be inspired for your own wedding day color palette.

In honor of Earth Day, we're going to give some of these awesome bags away! The winner will get their choice of either 2 regular sized bags or one large bag. (The perfect amount for your weekend trip to the farmer's market!) So head over to the BAGGU site and take a look around. Let us know your favorite colors and what creative things you would use them for in your life. Make sure you leave your email address in the comment so that we can contact you if you are the winner! Nate and I will read over all the comments and pick a winner tomorrow at 2:22pm. :)

Laura & Chris: Sneak Peak

2009-04-21T14:22:00.000-04:00

ORLANDO | FLORIDA

We had such a great time shooting Laura & Chris' engagement session at their wedding venue, the gorgeous JW Marriot Grande Lakes here in Orlando. We completely clicked right away and had such a fabulous time getting to know them better. We cannot wait to finish the rest of the images but until then, enjoy these five...

This may be my favorite engagement shot ever...

Nate's favorite

Hello gorgeous

Lauren & Mr. E: Destination Wedding in Sanibel Sneak Peak

2009-04-20T02:22:00.000-04:00

SANIBEL ISLAND | FLORIDA

What we do at weddings is an interesting job. We are part artists, part business people, part psychologists, part best friends, part paparazzi, part macgyvers, and sometimes part makeup and hair emergency helpers. Each wedding requires it's own mix of roles for us to play. And then there are those magic weddings where everything falls perfectly into place, the roles mesh into one glorious day of laughter, hugs, magic moments, and "Oh my gosh, let's take a few over here!" camera clicks. This was one of those weddings. We were instantly welcomed and treated like part of the family when we arrived at this remarkable mansion right on the beach. We were like kids in a candy shop as we surveyed the surroundings and our minds filled with the photographic possibilities. I am so excited to work on the rest of the images but for now, here are 10 of our favorites...

My favorite detail shot of the day:

Hello gorgeous Florida Flora!

Lauren's perfect ensemble from The Dressing Room in St. Pete, FL.

Oh Romeo, oh Romeo...

My favorite portrait...

PDN Magazine Top Knots 2009

2009-04-17T14:22:00.002-04:00

I became a list maker because of my friend Megan. She loves lists. In middle school we would read Seventeen magazine and take all the quizes, jotting down our answers alongside doodles on scraps of notebook paper. We made lists about boys, we wrote a best-selling novela (at least we thought it could become one, one day) and made annual lists of resolutions. Megan instilled in me a love of list making (and color coding) and that has remained with me through all these years. (Seriously, look at my iCal. It's a spectrum of color coded craziness.)

In the beginning of January I decided to make a list- a 101 in 1001 list. It's like new year's resolutions, except you have 2 3/4 years to finish it. And instead of resolutions, they are goals. I think the whole thing has a much more positive vibe and since positivity is something that I am trying to cultivate daily, I figured that this would be a great way to start. Since I made the list, I've crossed 18 items off and this week, I got to cross off one more. A big one:
#64. "Have a wedding image featured in print."

Booyah!

We entered an image in Photo District News' Top Knots 2009 Contest and it was chosen as a finalist which means that it was printed in this month's edition of the magazine. I cannot even express how excited we are to have been given this huge honor. We are so blessed and thrilled and excited and in awe and all, "Break open the bubbly babycakes!" Thank you to Lisa, the bride in the photo for being so ridiculously fun and trusting of us as we explained our idea for this shot. And lastly, to make sure that credit is given where it is deserved, Nate is the one that snapped this photo even though the magazine printed my name instead of our studio name when I submitted it. So everyone tell Nate how much he rocks. ;)

Carl & Lillian: Engaged Part 2

2009-04-14T14:22:00.003-04:00

ORLANDO | FLORIDA

It was a little surreal being back at the Rosen Campus. That campus is, without a doubt, the most beautiful college campus I've ever seen. It looks more like a luxury resort than a college. Everything is pristine. Everything is state-of-the art. The last time I was there, I was carrying books and a laptop instead of a camera and a bag full of lenses. The last time I was there I was working toward a degree that had nothing to do with photography. The last time I was there I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. If you would have come up to me and said, "Hey, you'll be coming back here in 2 years to shoot an engagement session for a couple who hired you to photograph their wedding. They'll be one of many couples whom you will do this for. And you'll be doing it for a business that you own and run." I would have immediately laughed in your face, said, "Yeah right. I wish!" and told you that you needed to go take advantage of the free psych counseling back on main campus. So sitting by the big fountain in the courtyard with professional camera gear, a talented (and handsome) partner, and a ridiculously exciting business was a bit surreal.

Carl & Lillian's engagement session is a record for this blog. I don't think I've ever posted this many images from a single engagement session yet. But I can't help it. I just love too many of them! Carl and Lillian are simply too cute. (Check out how well dressed they are!) And were such naturals in front of our cameras. When we first started shooting, Lillian was nervously laughing as she told us that she didn't know what to do. It only took a few camera clicks (and forcing them to make out in front of us) for the two of them to let their true personalities and love for each other show. (Funny how publicly making out helps that happen. Be prepared people! We will make you kiss!) And from then on we got to document what makes these two so perfect for each other. We got to capture the smirks, the nose-kisses, the belly laughs, and the little glances that only two people who are destined to be together can share.

We are so excited to shoot their wedding next month! Let the official wedding countdown begin...

I'm not quite sure why, but I just LOVE these next two...

I LOVE how the soft, minty colors compliment the tender moments in this next series...

"I forgot I was being photographed" moments of laughter like this are the best!

Whatchu doin?

Check out these super hot Gianni Bini heels Lillian rocked...

Happy Easter

2009-04-13T14:22:00.000-04:00

SAINT AUGUSTINE | FLORIDA

We spent the weekend with family celebrating the Easter holiday and our nephew's 15th birthday. (Watch out ladies...and drivers!) We were up in St. Augustine for linner (lunch+dinner, it's all the rage for family holidays) on Sunday and I took this picture. My mom told me it was "resurrection fern" so I thought it would be a good thing to take a picture of on Easter Sunday. But it wasn't until I got back home and did a search to learn more that I realized how fitting it was, not just to Easter, but to life in general in the world right now...

The resurrection fern gets its name because it can survive long periods of drought by curling up and appearing dead. When just a little water is present, the fern will uncurl and reopen, appearing to resurrect and restoring itself to a vivid green color. It has been estimated that these plants could go 100 years without water and still revive after a single soaking.

I'll spare you my explanatory metaphor and let you just savor the beauty of this little plant for yourself. I am secretly hoping that the next time I am there it is rainy so that I can get a picture of the leaves all lush and open and alive. I love nature.

On 150 posts and talented nephews...

2009-04-10T12:22:00.000-04:00

Welcome to our 150th post! I can't believe I've had that many things to post about! We will have to do something special for our 222nd post. Any ideas? Speaking of 222, I just LOVE when you all send me little notes letting me know that you're 222 days away from your wedding (Woot Woot Megan!) or that your favorite image we took at your wedding is file number 222 (Hey Lindsey!). Keep 'em coming!

I hope everyone had a wonderful week and is having a blessed Good Friday. With a big family weekend ahead, I thought I'd share some personal pictures of the nephews and brag about them for a post. Nate and I don't have kids, or cats, or even a dog, so you get to hear all about our nephews. They are all on Nate's side of the family and are extremely close to their "Unc". There are 3 of them, and they are all quite amazing but this post is going to be about the oldest two who, at 13 and 14 (almost 15, look out drivers!), are old enough to come hang out with us for a few days in Orlando on their spring break from school.

They are both extremely active guys and are into something called Parkour (or Free Running). If you're scratching your heads and wondering if that has something to do with Twitter don't worry, I'll explain.

Parkour is a discipline that is gaining tons of popularity in the states because of movies like Casino Royale. Parkour is a way of moving through an environment as smoothy and efficiently as possible using primarily the ability of the human body. David Belle, one of the originators of the discipline describes it like this, "The physical aspect of parkour is getting over all the obstacles in your path as you would in an emergency. You want to move in such a way, with any movement, as to help you gain the most ground on someone or something, whether escaping from it or chasing toward it. Thus, when faced with a hostile confrontation with a person, one will be able to speak, fight, or flee. As martial arts are a form of training for the fight, parkour is a form of training for the flight". Even if you have no idea what Parkour is, you've probably seen it in some spectacular movie chase scenes thanks to Hollywood. Here is a very popular scene showcasing Parkour in a recent Bond movie: Casino Royale. Since the practice of Parkour is much bigger in Europe, the states are just catching up, but groups are popping up everywhere as the appeal grows. It really is spectacular to watch. Our two oldest nephews are quite talented at it. They asked us if they could go run around downtown and have us take some more photos of them and of course we said yes.

This is them scaling a wall to get on the roof. It took all of 15 seconds.

We thought we'd get one bad-A portrait for Z

This shot was their idea, and I absolutely love it

I just kept telling him, "If you fall, fall to the right!"

You can see the videos they make of their stunts here.

My favorite. Right after he ran up that brick wall, jumped off, and turned around in mid air...

Check out some of their craziest stunts here. Watch "My Jump" and "Vertical Wall Run" first.

If you love me...

2009-04-08T14:22:00.003-04:00

A few weeks ago I was asked to come help shoot a wedding for a really fun couple. The bride happened to be a wedding photographer herself and spoiled us rotten with 3 hours of time before the ceremony for portraits. Brides, if you are reading this, and if you love us, please please please give us time like this at your wedding. You don't even have to give us 3. We'd be thrilled with an hour before the ceremony and an hour after. I promise you won't regret. it! We'll get the most amazing images and everyone you know will be jealous. Yeah, I said it.

Here is a little teaser, I'll post some more soon...

Best of Bridals 2008 from Modern Photographers

2009-04-06T14:22:00.005-04:00

When Modern Photographers started their Best of 2008 Bridals contest, I entered a few images, and honestly didn't think that amidst all the crazy talented other members, we'd even make it out of the preliminary voting. So when 2 of our images made it to the top 50 and were then put online for anyone and everyone to vote on, we were elated. With amazingly talented submissions by people like Sean & Mel McLellan, Poser, and Fuller Edge, we were thrilled to be counted among them and didn't really think that our images had a chance. I mean, these are the photographers who I blog-stalk, who I am inspired by constantly, who I hope to one day have the privilege of meeting and getting coffee with and picking their brains. They are all amazing!

Then, it happened. I got online and saw the postings on Modern Photographers, Trash the Dress, and Don't Box Us In advertising the contest and telling people to go vote. And I saw it. One of our images sandwiched on the screen between an image by Poser and one by the McLellans. WHHHHAAAAATTTT? To try to explain the sheer magnitute of this to everyone else, we've come up with some analogies...

For an up and coming musician this would be like seeing your single on iTune's new music Tuesday between new singles by the Dave Matthews Band and Paramore.

For automotive lovers, this would be like seeing a design you created for your dream car highlighted between designs by Chip Foose and Jesse James.

For computer nerds, this would be kind of like getting a program you designed listed in Wired Magazine between ones designed by the guy who made Twitter, and the mastermind behind iFart. You with us? This was crazy!

Wondering why they chose our image for the ad I logged into the contest and noticed that we had a shocking number of votes. Enough even that when the contest closed we were counted among the top finalists and showcased on the Modern Photographers' main website. (I think it's like the equivalent of "runners up" or an "honorable mention") You can see the rest of the wedding that image was from on our website under "Josh & Lisa" in the "Wedding Style" section of our portfolio. Thank you to everyone who voted for us!

10 minutes, a yellow building, and a fierce hair cut...

2009-04-04T02:22:00.000-04:00

My dear friend, Heather Ahrens just got a fierce new hair cut. It's sassy, it's summery, it's hot (while being oh-so-cool), and it was begging for some documentation. When she texted me the other day to ask if I'd take a few quick promo shots for her blog I was more than happy to help her out. This was an extremely quick session. These images were from a span of about 15 minutes in front of these amazing yellow walls near our condo. I shot this one by myself since Nate was at the Apple store. (I figured I'd throw that little fact in since he likes to tell people that he takes all the good pictures.)

Here's what can happen with 10 minutes, a yellow building, and a fierce hair cut...

We could fit a few more spots into April for our Recessions Suck promotion. If you want some fun, updated portraits likes these, drop us a line and we'll talk dates!

Before & After: Striking B&W Images

2009-04-03T14:22:00.012-04:00

I am very excited about this installment of "Before & After". The reasons I am excited for it are twofold (picture Chandler from "Friends" sticking his fingers up from a little hole in a big box...) First, we received a lot of feedback on our black and white images from New York, and some really good questions about how we get the look that we do. And that is exciting because we went to New York with the intention of shooting some nice Fine Art stuff. So I am excited to talk about that. Second, mastering black and white photography is something that takes a lot of work, and we are no where near masters yet, but we both really love it and we actually were talking on the plane ride to New York about how we want to go out and practice shooting with the intention of the images being black and white afterwards. So this area is one in which we are learning and growing so talking about it is exciting as it forces me to know my stuff even more!

The inspiration for this came from reading this month's Popular Photography magazine. On page 24 there is a fabulous article on black and white photography and some tips and things to practice to become better at it. We all know that Ansel Adams was practically a god of this type of imagery and he often talked about visualizing how you want a finished image to look in your mind before you even snap the shutter of your camera. That skill is even more important when you're shooting for black and white since the things that usually turn out great in color images can muddy up your shot in black and white. Have you ever been playing around in Photoshop and turned a great image from color to black and white only to feel like the image went from "POW" to "blah"? The difference between the two is all about tones, or degrees of brightness. Brightly colored flowers and green grass may evoke a joyful emotion in a colored image but may appear drab in a black and white if their tones all translate to the same shade of gray. Generally, images with high contrast and look much more striking when converted to black and white than those with lower contrast.

So, Nate and I decided that we would start practicing this different way of seeing. To look at a scene in degrees of brightness instead of colors. This is an interesting shift of thought and a fun challenge.

Here is Nate's image of a building along the Hudson River straight out of the camera...

It's a good image. The bottom is a bit distracting though so I pulled it into Adobe Lightroom and cropped the angle to cut the street and cars out and also to draw the eye up to the building and the sky. Next I brought it into Photoshop and started playing...

I primarily use actions from Totally Rad Actions so I talk about them a lot but you can create the same effects without them just using Photoshop's own tools. I used TRA's Ying/Yang to lighten the building and the staircase and to darken the area along the bottom and the building to the left. Then I used TRA's Big Blue to bring out the blue tones in the sky to create more contrast between them and the clouds so that when we converted to B&W they would stand out more. Next I sharpened the building and then ran our own warm black and white conversion on it.

And now one more time without the writing on it...

We hope to continue to learn and grow in this area. There is just something magical about black and white images. They carry no emotions from the colors they include but instead create emotion based on their essence. They are just timeless. What are some of your favorite things about black and white images?

I'm like a "your mom" cobra- you never know when I'm gonna strike! | Studio222 in NYC

2009-04-01T14:22:00.005-04:00

Nate is usually the witty one. And I'm the pretty one, clearly. ;) But I dropped a few fab one-liners on this trip. The one in subject line is one of them. What can I say? The city just brings out the best in me. And I quickly fell in love with it. I love that Urban Spoon found 17 Starbucks shops within 0.3 miles of me one morning. I love that everyone wears boots. I love that people spontaneously break into song and no one cares because the city is full of performers. I love that Julia Stiles takes the subway (yes, we saw her!) I love that the drag queen host of late-night karaoke had a better manicure than I did. I love that there are bakeries- EVERYWHERE! I love that in 5 days of eating like a pig I actually LOST 2 pounds because of how much walking the city demands. I love that in 30 minutes you can get almost anywhere in Manhattan. I love the Village. I love the architecture. I love the energy. I love that you can still get coffee, dinner, drinks, toilet paper, or caramelized pecans at 3am. And I love that fashion is so free.

We loved all the suggestions that everyone sent us! They really helped us to see so much more of the city and helped to give us a sense of purpose as we explored. We fell in love with the Village and decided that if we ever move to the city we will have to live there. I think it was by far my favorite place to be. Nate loved it too but I think he likes midtown the best. He loves the bright lights, the hustle and bustle, and the energy around Times Square.

We cannot wait to go back. (Scroll to the bottom to see our video.)

If we get 20 comments on this post, we'll give you a before and after from one of these...

Our only day with sunlight, we had to capture it...

Central Park (How many birds do you see?)

Nate's favorite bird shot

My favorite bird shot

My favorite image from the trip.

Rally at NYU

My view...

Nate's view...

Nate's self portrait

An amazing jazz band in Washington Square

Law & Order filming in the Village

Our future home? ;)

Spring in the City

Walking along the Hudson River

Through the telescopes...

Our hosts/tour-guides/models ;)

And now, our very first stop-motion video, from our last morning in the city. Enjoy!

NYC with Studio222 Photography from Studio222Photography on Vimeo

Rachel & Matt: Headshots Sneak Peak

2009-04-01T00:22:00.001-04:00

MANHATTAN | NEW YORK

It was one of our goals for 2009, as artists, to do something that stretches us outside of our normal comfort zone in our photography. We really were not sure when we made that resolution, how we would go about it, but we figured that the right answer would present itself when it was time. And, as fate would have it, we only had to wait 4 months.

While we did have fun stuffing our faces with all manner of amazing food, snapping thousands of pictures, shopping for shoes and cameras and vintage boots, walking miles upon miles, and meeting amazing new people, we did have an actual photography purpose for our trip to the big city. That purpose was to push ourselves outside of our normal portraiture box into the world of head shots. What better place to learn than in New York? Our talented actor/singer/performer friends needed new head shots and we were more than happy to help them out. (We even snapped a few for ourselves while we were at it.) These two are so gorgeous that they made our job extremely simple and they really took the time to explain the crazy-intense world of "New York Head Shots" to us giving us quite an education on what the aspiring artists in the area are in need of. We had a great time and got some really beautiful images. We hope to continue to grow in this area and hopefully make the trip back up to NYC for more sessions like these.

Enjoy these samples from our sessions. I'll have more after these two pick out their favorites...

Tomorrow I'll post our personal shots from the week and a surprise that we shot the last morning in the city. Stay tuned...

A quick hello...

2009-03-28T14:22:00.005-04:00

BREAKING NEWS: Becka's iPhone fell out of her pocket in a cab and was then stolen. If you need to get in touch with us please email us at info@thestudioishere.com. We will be getting Becka a new phone this week and will let everyone know when our communication is back on track. Thanks for understanding.

Hello from New York City! We are having such a fabulous time. We have been sightseeing and exploring, meeting new friends, and taking lots of pictures. We have gotten the chance to visit some of the places everyone had recommended and it's been so nice to have those as goals because otherwise we'd get completely overwhelmed with options and probably never decide where to go or what to eat. Yesterday we literally walked from 11am till 8pm and today my legs are still holding a grudge. Hopefully they'll get over it because we are going to attempt to do our photo shoot (weather permitting) with our fabulous hosts.

Here are just two quick shots since I've had no time to even dump our cards, let alone edit anything...

A rainy view from Central Park

Fun at dinner

Thank you to everyone for all of the wonderful suggestions of places to visit. So far we've:
Walked in Central Park
Eaten at Murray's Cheese Shop and Amy's Bread
Been overwhelmed by crowds in Times Square
Fallen in love with Bleeker Street
Walked around at night in the rain
Visted the meat packing district
Shopped in SOHO
Visted the Christian Louboutin Boutique and had a massive shoegasm
Joined in on a rally for garment workers at NYU
Saw Law & Order filming
Watched the most amazing live Jazz Ensemble and bought 2 CDs (expect a giveaway!)
Shopped at Zachary's Smile
Tried to eat at Po but didn't feel like waiting till 10pm
Ate at Pesce Pasta instead and it was molto bene
and Had some Mr. Softee

We've still got 3 days to go! We're shooting today. Let the adventures continue...

Leaving on a Jet Plane...

2009-03-25T14:22:00.003-04:00

We're off to NYC!
We will be out of the office from now until April 1st.
Emails will be returned as best we can, but there will be some delay.
All voicemail messages will be returned when we return to our office on the 1st.
Thanks for your understanding.

Ps. Our second E-Letter will be going out the first week in April. If you didn't receive one last month, you are not on the cool list, and you should be! Click on the link in the right sidebar to be added. :)

Bye Bye!
Love,
Becka & Nate

Carl & Lillian: Engaged Part 1

2009-03-24T14:22:00.001-04:00

When we met Carl and Lillian last year, I felt an instant kindship to them. They were both students at UCF's Rosen College of Hospitality Management here in Orlando. I spent two days a week at Rosen during my senior year of college for my minor. (You were all wondering why I was so hospitable weren't you?) Some of my favorite classes in college were held at the Rosen Campus and I discovered my love of cooking (and how to properly dice an onion) in the enviously large kitchens there during my "Quantity Food Prep" courses. The Rosen College is one of the most beautiful campuses I've ever seen! It looks like a luxury hotel and puts UCF's main campus to shame. So when Lillian told me that she felt like the campus would be the perfect backdrop for their engagement images, I couldn't have agreed more.

I couldn't pick just 5 so I decided to just split their session into two posts. Here is Part 1, Part 2 will come after we get back from New York. Enjoy...

Nate's view:

My view:

PS.... we are on Southern Weddings again today. They are featuring Bonnie & Steve's amazing wedding reception at the Celebration Hotel. :) Check it out. Leave us love. Make us look good! ;)

The Persampiere Family!

2009-03-21T14:00:00.004-04:00

I'm not going to lie, sometimes it's awkward to hang out with babies. (You know, since we don't currently have one. We don't even have a dog, but we have kept an aloe plant alive for about a year now!) It's awkward partly because we aren't sure how excited we are allowed to be in front of each other. I don't know if I'll freak Nate out by going 100% classic girly with excited squeals of, "She just yawned/sneezed/smiled/blinked/breathed! Oh my gosh she's soooooooo cute!" And he isn't sure if he's allowed to break macho character and actually admit that the baby is, in all honesty, very cute and cuddly and that some part of him is secretly wondering if his future children will have this much hair. So, we spend the time in an unspoken dance around each other's feelings, trying not to draw too much attention to ourselves and trying to avoid the inevitable question, "So...do you guys want to have kids anytime soon?"

Luckily, Anthony and Bristin are easy going and put us instantly at ease. And Aarayln helped us out by farting, burping, and peeing on her parents just to remind us that she is, in fact, a big responsibiliy. ;)

Little fingers and little toes, that enviable scent, the velvety hair... Aaralyn is just too adorable for words (even with the farting, burping, and peeing.) She is a smooshy, sleepy ball of cuteness and we had so much fun spending the evening taking pictures of her. Honestly, we'd photograph anything to have the excuse to hang out with Bristin and Anthony. They are such fantastically adoring parents and are so adorable as they learn, together, how to care for their new daughter. We hope that one day we can be as great of parents as they are! One day...

Bristin needs to be an interior decorator. Isn't this gorgeous?!

Tiny fingers

Tiny toes

and because I posted a goofy one last time, I thought I'd share one more...
look at that face!

Jules & Michael: Wedding

2009-03-20T14:22:00.002-04:00

Timacuan Country Club | Lake Mary, Florida

Have you ever seen the movie "Sweet Home Alabama"? One of my favorite movie quotes of all time is in that movie. Jake, in a moment of defeat, mumbles, "Nobody finds their soulmate when they're ten. Where's the fun in that right?" Since this movie is a complete and utter chick-flick, his statement is proven wrong when Melanie decides that she does belong in Alabama with him, kisses him in the rain on a beach and then marries him again that same night. (Southern girls don't waste any time!)

There is something extra special about finding your soul mate when you are young. It's almost as if it proves the magic. The magic that a soulmate is really something beyond our well-constructed boxes for how people should fall in love and who they should fall in love with. The magic doesn't need age, it doesn't need specifications, it doesn't need location or luck, it is pure and innocent and deep. And that is why it seems so special when it happens young. Because it reminds us all that this type of thing is stronger than us.

Work it out gentlemen

I love this quiet moment...

This one was one of Julianna's ideas :)

Bright lights, long nights...

2009-03-16T14:22:00.006-04:00

The conversation went something like this...

Becka: Plane tickets to NYC on sale today.
Nate: When are we going?
Becka: I don't know, wanna go?
Nate: Yeah
Becka: Really? Ok!

And that was it. Two tickets were bought for March 25-30th. It is just now hitting me that we are actually getting to go on a vacation. We haven't gone anywhere in a long time and I have the travel bug like you wouldn't believe! (Thank God for Jet Blue!)

I've been randomly shouting "We're going to New York!" as the excitement hits me.
Nate opened the door for me at a restaurant... "We're going to New York!"
We were waiting in line at the store... "We're going to New York!"
And today while watching TV..."We're going to New York!"

If you can't tell, I'm a bit excited. Nate's excited too, he's just much less like a 4 year old than I am and maintains his excitement like an adult. We don't have much planned. We have one photo shoot on the calendar but other than that, we will just be going wherever the glorious city wind takes us. We would love to hang out with any of you up there so if you wanna grab some dinner one day or be our tour guide, let us know. And if any of you locals can give us the inside info on some of the best places to eat, drink, dance, and shoot, we'll be your best friends forever. :)

So far we've been told that we absolutely MUST visit...
Pommes Fries
Pure Food & Wine
Zachary's Smile
Candle Cafe
John's Pizza
Mr. Softees Ice Cream
Soho
Greenwich Villiage
MOMA
Manolo Blahnik
Central Park
and TKTS for last minute tickets to the shows

Is there anything we're missing?

Before & After: What is style?

2009-03-13T02:22:00.001-04:00

I recently read an inspiring quote by Cheryl Jacobs, an amazing fine art portrait photographer. She said, "Style is a voice, not a prop or action. If you can buy it, borrow it, download it, or steal it, it's not a style. Don't look outward for style; look inward." I thought that was such a wise statement. There are so many wonderful tools our there for photographers right now. There are amazing action sets from talented artists like Jesh De Rox, the Boutwells, and Kevin Kubota, among many others. And I think that a lot of the time, it's easy to purchase those things thinking that they will define your style and take your images to the next level. But unless you can define your style in your camera first, you will never find it in Photoshop. I love doing these before and after shots and sharing how we create our images but I never want anyone to think that it's all about a process, or an action set. Those things are tools. Real style comes from inside. It comes from vision, connection and from the imagination of the artist. Everything else is just accenting.

I chose this image for a reason. This image is a perfect example of how you don't need to go photoshop crazy to create a style. If any of you reading this know me personally, you know how much I LOVE editing images and how much I think that the post processing is just as much a part of the artistic process as taking the picture. I just want to be clear, photoshop should never be a crutch.

This one was shot by Nate and as you can see, this image looks pretty great straight out of the camera. I did not have to do much editing to it. Just a few tiny corrections and a bit of toning and sharpening. (I pretty much sharpen everything, we just like how it looks.) The actions we used were from the TRA set and are our favorite action set to use. We also used Nate's newest toy, a neutral density filter, to help during this shoot as we were pretty much shooting straight into the sun for most of it. Nate nailed the shot in the camera, I enhanced it and voila! How's that for teamwork? ;)

Billy & Megan: Engagement

2009-03-11T14:22:00.001-04:00

When Megan and Billy first met on September 10, 2005, they were 1512 days away from being husband and wife.
When they celebrated 2 years of dating, they were 743 days away.
When Billy asked Megan to be his wife, they were 365 days away.
When we shot their engagement session, the were 236 days away.
And today they are 233 days away.
Time flies, doesn't it?

September 10, 2005 started out like any other day for both Billy and Megan. They woke up in their own separate worlds, made their own separate arrangements to attend the big game (UF vs. Louisiana Tech, for you college football fans), and decided separately to celebrate afterwards at the same local watering hole. Little did they know that this was the first day of a 1,512 day countdown from "separate" to "complete".

As they walked up and down the beach, laughing into the setting sun, we knew that these two were meant to be standing there, on that beach, in that setting sun, letting us capture images of their love exactly how it was at "236 days to go". And we are excited to be there again capturing images of their love when their countdown ends and their days start to count forward from 1.

Love at 236. Love at 1. We wish you tons of love and happiness to fill all the days between and after. See you soon!

If we can get 15 comments on this post, we'll give you a before and after showing you how we did this one! ;)
Share the love babycakes!

The Persampiere Family: Sneak Peak

2009-03-10T14:22:00.001-04:00

I knew that this was the beginning of a beautiful friendship the first time we walked into their house and saw Anthony's room of video game memorabilia. Nate and him were destined to be instant BFFs! ;)

We got to hang out with Anthony and Bristin for the 2nd half of their "Before and After" family sessions. (You may remember them from their steamy maternity session a few months ago.)

I can't wait to finish the rest of the images for everyone to see. Anthony and Bristin are just the cutest, coolest, funniest, most adoring parents and their daughter is lucky to have been born into such a family. More to come, until then enjoy these three!

World, meet Aaralyn...

This may be the most beautiful thing I've ever seen...

He's going to kill me for this one but it is MY FAVORITE!

The promotion you've been waiting for...

2009-03-09T02:22:00.003-04:00

If you received our email newsletter this month, then you got to hear about this first and you were lucky because there are now limited dates remaining for these ridiculously fun sessions. (If you want to be in the know for the future, sign up for our monthly e-letter here.)

Yeah, the economy basically sucks. But there's no reason your pictures have to as well. In response to many of our friends telling us how badly they have wanted some professional portraits, we are offering mini portrait sessions for individuals in April at a discounted price. (Who loves ya baby?)

We are only going to be able to offer a limited number of these special sessions during which you will get to work your stuff for our cameras for an hour wearing as many different outfits as you like in as many places as we can fit into 60 minutes! If you are interested in taking part in one of these sessions with us, fill out our contact form with "Recessions Suck" listed as the referrer. We will email you back available dates and answer any questions you may have. You will be able to book and pay online after you select your date.

Ready for this? We'll give another $25 off to the first person who can guess what we shot in front of for that amazing blue background in the banner photo above. (If I've already told you, then you are excluded from this one.)

*Space is limited. Available dates in April only. Full payment is required to book your session. Winner will be able to book their session for $100. Prices do not reflect sales tax.

Trash the Prom Dress with Studio222 Photography

2009-03-06T02:22:00.002-05:00

What's the deal?
Trashing dresses isn't just for brides anymore. Join in on the fun by trashing your prom attire and feel like a supermodel!

What's a "trash the prom dress" session?
It's like senior portraits after a Starbucks Venti Latte with 3 extra shots. These sessions are designed to make you feel like a supermodel. We create concepts for them based on your personality and interests and our goal is to give you pictures that look like they were ripped from a 6 page spread in a magazine.

What's included?
A 1-2 hour high-fashion photo session with Becka and Nate at various locations, a mini album with your favorite 20 images, a proofing gallery, and all kinds of ordering options for your parents.

Can my friends come too?
Sure, just have their parents contact us after they book and let us know that you'd all like your sessions to be done together. Best friend shoots are always fun!

Do I have to "trash" my dress?
Not if you don't want to, but it will most likely get a bit dirty.

How do I start?
Contact us here and type "TTPD" in the referrer line. We'll get back to you with booking information and answers to any questions you may have!

Show me more!
You got it! You can see Danielle's urban session here and Mary & Paige's sessions in the springs below

What does 222 mean to you?

2009-03-03T14:22:00.004-05:00

from a personal photo series of abstract bokeh

Today I talked to one of my dearest friends. He was musing about how quickly time flies and I couldn't help but agree. At this time last year, Studio222 Photography was just a dream. He was remeniscing about one early evening when he sat with me in a grass field and I told him my dream of having a photography business. I shared with him my goals, my passion, how I felt a desire in my core to be creating as a career. He was one of the only people (other than Nate) who didn't think that I was crazy for wanting it. He is one of the many angels in my life.

A few months later I was sitting in my brand new condo downtown trying to think up a name for the photography business that had basically developed out of thin air. I didn't want to use my name as I wanted this venture to be a team effort between Nate and I. I didn't want a cliched photography phrase. I didn't want to use any catchphrases. (Do you have any idea how hard naming your dream is? It's like trying to capture lightning in a glass jar.)

I came up with "Studio222 Photography". I've gone into greater detail about this on our website in the "Us" section but the basics of it are that the number "222" was always a little game between my mother and I. She has always seemed to look at clocks, odometers, and addresses when they said "222" so it was kind of her lucky number. When I went away to college she would send me little "I'm thinking of you" messages and would say a little prayer for me every time she saw those numbers. She told me about it one day and so I started doing the same thing back. You'll be surprised how many times you start to see the numbers 222 in the world around you. :)

The number was the perfect name. Not only was it close to my heart, but it would be a constant reminder to me of love, of tenderness, of stepping back and appreciating, of family, of bonds beyond time, and of a little bit of magic. Plus, there's 2 of us here, a team. So it's perfection. The number has become special to Nate and I now as well and we find ourselves sending each other little "It's 2:22" texts when we notice the clock.

The other day my mom was browsing the internet and found this. I thought it was wonderfully appropriate to our goals as photographers, artists, best friends, business people, and livers of life...

The number 222 carries a much significance in the world of numerology . Many positive characteristics are attached with it like Duality, Polarity, Choice, Cooperation, Service, Harmony, Support, Waiting, Diplomacy, Patience, Intuition, Adaptability, Empathy, Partnership, Collecting, Reproduction, Balancing of Opposites

The number 222 signifies that the person is on the right path and he/she will face fewer obstacles. This number shows that the person is doing right work and the person is going in the right direction as well.

I loved this. Nate and I are polar opposites and yet we strive to come together in harmony to create, to cooperate, to adapt, and to reproduce moments in time for our beautiful friends and clients. (We also were excited about the "fewer obstacles" thing. I mean, who wouldn't be?)

The next time you notice the numbers 222 in your daily life, I challenge you to take a second to step back, breathe, and then tell someone important to you how much they mean in your life. Oh, by the way, it's 2:22pm. And I'm so thankful for each and every one of you.

Let's Talk Film Promo: Sneak Peak

2009-03-02T14:22:00.000-05:00

I'd love to go on and on about how awesome Eric and Silas are. I'd love to go on and on about how hilarious, creative, and smart they are as well. And I'd love to go on and on about how kick ass their upcoming project, "Let's Talk Film" is going to be. But, since this is just a sneak peak from our ridiculously fun promo shoot with them, I'll just tell you to stay tuned because when their new website launches, we'll reveal the rest of the images and all the fun facts on how awesome they and their project are.

Justin & Lindsey: Wedding

2009-02-26T14:22:00.005-05:00

Lake Mary Events Center | Lake Mary, Florida

Justin and Lindsey were another one of those couples with whom we felt the *click*. By the time their wedding date arrived, we had already gotten to know them over coffee and spent an afternoon with them for their engagement session. (We love when it all works out like that!) So to say that we were excited for their wedding would have been an understatement. At the wedding, we felt like we were old friends who just happened to have a knack for photography. Everyone was so easy going and excited. Justin and Lindsey gave us complete creative freedom and were so trusting of us that we were able to truly enjoy the entire day, soak up all the love and excitement and joy around us and then translate that into images. And I cannot forget to mention the wedding party and family, who were so much fun and up for anything we asked. Thank you for being amazing and rocking it hard for our cameras!

Justin and Lindsey,
Your love for each other is inspiring and evident to everyone around. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for showing us such unconditional trust on your wedding day. We cannot even express to you the honor that we felt and how much we enjoyed documenting each moment for the two of you. We hope that through these images you can relive the joy and romance of that day over and over again for years to come.

Beautiful beyond words.

Hello gorgeous!

This may be may favorite picture! The girls sneaking a peak...

Big sky, meet the blogworld. Blogworld, meet Big Sky.

Love this moment. Love her expression.

This is how you know that you've got true friends. They make this face when you say "I DO".

"We're married!!!!!"

One of the best wedding parties of all time:

Inspired by the movie "The Notebook"

This "most beautiful cake cutting picture of all time" taken by our talented assistant, Matt

Now for the best bouquet toss ever...
Toss number one went straight into the chandelier.

And toss number two smacked the maid of honor right in the face. :)

But sisters will love you even if you hit them in the face with your bouqet. ;)

Bon voyage!

Recommended vendors:
DJ Dan Benoit (the best we've ever seen!) of White Rose Entertainment
Catering, cake and table linens by Puff & Stuff
Flowers by Shelly at Country Club Flower Shop
Dress is "Watters" and is from Solutions Bridal (Ask for Katie-she rocks!)

Featured: Southern Weddings

2009-02-24T14:22:00.002-05:00

I'm sure that I sound like a broken record and you're going to be reading this thinking, "Um, if you could just shut up about websites and features and post some pictures that would be great." And I promise, I've got a bunch of pictures coming up. We've got 2 weddings to show you as well as some fun pictures from Disney World and a kick-A promo shoot. So... bear with me while I completely freak out about the subject of this post...

When embarking on any new adventures in life, there are always those goals you have set up for yourself along the timeline of your dreams. I'm talking about the big goals marking off major accomplishments. If the timeline of a dream was a ruler, those big accomplishments would be the inch marks. Each time you get to one it's a big deal. You've grown. You're moving up the ruler. This morning we added an inch. One of our business goals for 2009 was to be featured on a prominent wedding blog. Today, Southern Weddings Magazine Online made the magic happen for us with their Real Weddings Feature on Kate and Pete's wedding. I know that tons of weddings are featured on tons of wedding blogs every day, but this just made me so excited. I totally did my celebration dance around the living room.

Please go take a look and read Katie's interview about her amazing proposal story as well as how she went about planning such a fabulous wedding. Oh, and leave us some love over at SW so we look good. ;)

For all you brides-to-be out there, Southern Weddings maintains an amazing blog full of great insights, inspiration, and amazing vendors for brides getting married in the southern states. The magazine is available in almost every bookstore and it equally amazing. The ladies over there are doing a rocking job!

Featured: Are We Married Yet?

2009-02-23T02:22:00.002-05:00

I'm so thankful for twitter. Twitter is how I get my daily news. Seriously people. I'm in love with it. Twitter is also how I find out everything that's going in the the photography world and thanks to our good friends (thanks Baxters!), we were informed on twitter that some of our images had been featured on www.arewemarriedyet.com.

Are We Married Yet is am amazing website that showcases the thoughts and images from some of the world's best wedding planners and photographers. The goal of the site is to help brides be inspired and find their perfect photographers and planners (so invaluable!). So, we were so thrilled to have some of our images of Justin and Lindsey's engagement session chosen to be featured. (And rated with 5 stars? This is just too much!)

And, as the cherry on top, the post went live on 2/22/09. :) Did they do that on purpose? It's too perfect!

The photography on Are We Married Yet is mind-blowing and we feel so blessed to be included. Thank you.

Jules & Michael: Sneak Peak

2009-02-22T14:22:00.003-05:00

Happy 2/22 friends! Nate and I should have thrown a party today. :) Oh well. Maybe next year?

To celebrate this fabulous date, we bring you a sneak peak from our wedding on Friday. I can easily say that we have never seen a bride who was more excited to be married than Julianna and it was such a joy to capture her sheer bliss and love for her new husband. There's a lot more to come, but until then enjoy these five favorites...

25 Things About Becka

2009-02-19T02:22:00.005-05:00

1. I'm kind of a hypochondriac. I have an irrational fear of hospitals and of needles so whenever I don't feel well I get terrified that something is horribly wrong with me and that I'll have to be taken to the hospital.
2. I'm an introvert. I would rather stay at home all day than go anywhere. I think most of that is because I don't like getting ready to go out. And because our laundry is rarely done so I don't usually have many wardrobe items to choose from.
3. Anthropologie is my favorite store. If I could, I would shop there exclusively. But they don't sell cute enough shoes.
4. Speaking of shoes, I love high heels. Really high heels. At least 4 inches. (I just bought these beauties today!)
5. The image above was inspired by an image that the talented Jasmine Star took a while back. Her work and story inspire me.
6. Salerno, Italy in particular holds a big piece of my heart. I spent a summer there and I absolutely cannot wait to go back.
7. My favorite show in middle school was Dawson's Creek. I think that show is where I first discovered by love for big words, and for men like Pacey.
8. I enjoy editing pictures just as much, if not more, than taking them. (Which I hear is rare for photographers.)
9. I hate those blood pressure machines. I hate when it tightens around my arm and makes it so that I can feel my pulse in my elbow. Just thinking of it gives me shivers. Nate made me do it last weekend and my blood pressure was perfect but my pulse was ridiculously high because I started to freak out towards the end of the test.
10. My dream car is a black (or silver) Mercedes roadster. One day I will have one. I will.
11. No matter how well hydrated I am, my lips are always chapped.
12. I have very little tolerance for learning curves on things I am not interested in. I will stay up for hours teaching myself css coding to tweak this blog or work for hours to learn a new studio management software interface but I give up immediately when I can't find my iTunes files. I get frustrated and angry and whine to Nate that the computer is broken. He finds this completely mind-boggling. I call it an allocation of mental resources.
13. If I won a big amount of money, one of the things I would buy would be one of those hard core personal trainers who would yell at me and force me to get into amazing shape.
14. I have one small tattoo on my left wrist. I want to get two or three more small ones but I just can't decide where I want them.
15. I really love Gossip Girl more than anything else on TV (except maybe LOST)
16. I find it extremely charming when people directly address other people. (Ex: Tell me, Alexis, how was your day?) I try to remember to do it but always forget. Our friend Matt Tucker is a master at this.
17. I could drink Diet Dr. Pepper every day and never get sick of it!
18. I don't like it when my foods touch on my plate. Unless they were meant to touch. But at holidays, like Thanksgiving, I have to strategically position my portions so they don't bump into each other on the plate.
19. I really like the taste of pancake batter.
20. If I had to pick one thing to eat for the rest of my life it would be gelato from Gerry's Gelaterie in Salerno and be completely happy until the day I die. Or Spicier Nacho Doritoes.
21. If I had to go through college again and pick a different major than the one I currently have I'd want to get a degree in Nutrition.
22. I want to be an art collector one day but I feel like I don't know enough to go into a real gallery to shop.
23. I love exposed brick interiors. (Think: Brooklyn lofts) My dream home would be a place that has them.
24. I'm really excited about having kids one day. Not now, but one day. And I want my kids to have really cool names. Nothing too plain, nothing overdone, and nothing too crazy. I have a few in mind, but I'm not telling.
25. I can't sleep unless the room I'm in is very cold and I'm covered in thick blankets and comforters. I literally wake up from a deep sleep and can't fall back asleep until it's cold.

25 things about Nate

2009-02-18T02:22:00.000-05:00

We got tagged for this game about a hundred times between the two of us on Facebook so we caved and decided to sit down and write 25 things about ourselves to share with all of you. Nate is first...

1. I am an optimist. I always see the best in people, and usually don’t notice when people are trying to be malicious
2. I never know what to say when people ask me where I’m from. I am a missionary kid, I’ve traveled all over the world, but until I moved to St. Augustine at 14, I had never lived anywhere for longer than 4 years.
3. I have a degree from UCF in human resource management, and I've never had any desire to get into that field since I got it
4. I hope no one ever adds up how much time I’ve spent playing video games. I’ve got about 3,000 games of Halo (2&3) played online, and some epic Warcraft characters.
5. I’m Apple Pro Certified in Aperture (but I use Lightroom)
6. I love Canon and always will, but sometimes I secretly admire Nikons.
7. I could sit and listen to my surround sound for hours, and it doesn’t really mater what I’m listening too
8. I cry during movies more often than I’d like to admit
9. The older I get, the more I appreciate my family
10. Despite my best efforts, I have yet to find any food too spicy to eat.
11. I love buttered popcorn Jellybellies
12. I am really excited that Blink-182 is getting back together
13. I think that Reese Witherspoon and Drew Barrymore are both rancid. Becka doesn't understand this.
14. I have no idea what I’m going to do now that it's the NFL offseason
15. I work for Apple (in addition to being a photographer), and anyone that knows me knows that it’s the perfect job for me.
16. I would love to go back to high school and be in drumline again
17. I don’t know how much it would take for me to give up my iPhone for a week, but it’s probably more than I’d make in that week.
18. Everyday I notice more and more than I’m starting to get more set in my ways and stubborn.
19. I’m adopted and have a half sister who doesn’t know that I exist
20. I’m was adopted into the most beautiful and perfect family anyone could have ever asked for, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world (not even my iPhone)
21. Sometimes I can’t believe I get paid to do my jobs, they are so much fun. I love the people I work with and the work I do. Calling it work doesnt’ seem fair.
22. I have 3 tattoos and want at least 5 more.
23. I am a clean freak trapped in a lazy person’s body
24. If I could eat Moe’s every day for lunch without going broke and getting fat, I would do it in a heartbeat.
25. I am in a healthy and happy relationship with the most amazing girl I’ve ever met, and she surprises me and impresses me more and more every day.

Coming soon: Justin & Lindsey

2009-02-17T02:22:00.002-05:00

I am finishing up the images from Justin and Lindsey's lovely sunset wedding at the Lake Mary Events Center. I am so excited to share this wedding on the blog because Lindsey did such an amazing job selecting her vendors and I've got some great recommendations for all of you Central Florida brides who are still searching for yours. Until then...

(you know how we love big skies)

PS.....

I'm currently working on the premier issue of our monthly newsletter. A portrait promotion is going to be announced in it. Limited spaces available. Those on the mailing list get to hear about it first. :)
Join or bust...

Freerunning in Orlando

2009-02-15T14:22:00.000-05:00

Have you heard of Free Running? If not, you've probably seen it in movies like Casino Royale without even knowing what it was. Free Running a sport that's gaining in publicity all over the world and it's gravity-defying moves are awe-inspiring to watch. Nate and I are lucky enough to have two extremely talented nephews who are into it and when they came to visit us this weekend, Nate took them downtown to get some shots of them in action.

Happy Valentine's Day & an image Featured in Weddings Unveiled

2009-02-14T14:22:00.001-05:00

Never knew I could feel like this.
Like I've never seen the sky before.
Want to vanish inside your kiss
Every day I love you more and more

Listen to my heart can you hear it sing
Telling me to give you everything
Seasons may change, winter to spring
But I love you, until the end of time

Wishing you a wonderful day of love and laughs and splendid things with those you care about most!
If any of you or your friends get engaged today, you know who to call tomorrow! ;)
PS. Notice the new header? The images change each time you refresh the page. Yay!

Also, check out the Weddings Unveiled Valentine's post featuring one of our gorgeous couple's Kate & Pete's first kiss picture.

Weddings Unveiled is a gorgeous magazine that showcases the brides of the south's amazing sense of sophistication and charm. Their blog is a wonderful resource for brides in the planning process. If you haven't already, head over there and take a look around their lovely site.