Anytime Session...

Ok, so one of my favorite wedding photographers, Jasmine Star, every so often is asked to photograph an individual for all different reasons. Some want pics of themselves for web-sites or resumes, and some just want fun and beautiful pictures of themselves just to have...and why not! I think there is a piece of us all that wants to feel beautiful, or glamorous, or just plain hot! If we are truly honest with ourselves, it's kind of fun to see great pictures of yourself. Anyway, when Jasmine takes these sessions she calls them "anytime" photos. For a lack of something better to call them, that's what I'm going to call this one!

This particular "Anytime" shoot was done for a professional profile picture to be sent with his bio for speaking engagements. (He's a pastor...and a new friend of ours here in N.C.) Although he's already seen these pictures (sorry I'm behind on blogging), I hope the rest of you enjoy the "sneak peek"! Have a great Monday!

Trip to Ohio

These post are a little out of order but that's ok. We went to Ohio for a week so that Jeremy could officiate an old high school friend's wedding and we could visit his family. Before the wedding we had our annual family photo shoot with Jeremy's family. Here are a couple favorites from that shoot! Two precious little girls were born into the family since we had visited a year ago...the first two are those adorable princesses with their mommies.







Cousin Georgie and his daddy, Uncle George (Jeremy's brother).



The oldest of the grandchildren, cousins, and best friends!



Gammy and Grammpy with their seven beautiful grandchildren!

Vacation at Hilton Head...

...with the in-laws. We had a very nice time relaxing and spending time with Jeremy's family in South Carolina last week. One of our favorite things to do while we were there was ride bikes on the beach...so fun and peaceful. Another great memory I have was hunting for shells! We didn't find very many impressive shells but we did find lots of STARFISH and even a few sand dollars (I thought that was pretty cool and turned into a bit of a kid again with excitement! :) I didn't get much time to photograph like I'd hoped with my professional camera because of "technical difficulties" but here are a couple I did snap before that happened.











So I was bummed because my CAMERA BROKE!!! The shutter collapsed before I could do a photo shoot for my sister-in-law and her family on the beach. I was really looking forward to doing a session for them at sunset on the beach. But we improvised. We did a mini shoot anyway with our little five year old sony cyber-shot point and shoot camera. Here are a couple pics from our trusty 7.2 mega pixel point and shoot. The black and white one below was from the afternoon on the beach and Jeremy shot it. The others were after everyone was cleaned up for the evening and I shot them. The picture Jer took of G-man and I was a bit grainy so I decided to add to the effect with a grain filter...I kind of like it but am a little on the fence about the added grain. (love the pic though)



I love this generation picture too. I snapped it real quick while Jeremy was looking at Graydon, Graydon was looking at Grampy, and Grampy was laughing at Gramy who was busy making everyone smile.







Not exactly what I wanted for this family photoshoot but not too bad for the camera I had to work with!

Back from a long trip...

...and way too much to blog about!! Jeremy, Graydon and I have been gone for a little over two weeks and man did I take a ton of pictures! I have a bunch of stuff I will be blogging about over the next week but I wanted to start with a wedding that I was NOT the photographer at but a guest. My husband officiated the wedding of a long time friend of his from high school and I just couldn't leave my camera at home. So please keep in mind as you scroll through these that I only stuck to details and candid shots. I did not want to get in the way of the "hired" photographers or step on any toes so I just snuck around and snapped when I had the chance or the other photographers weren't around! So, sorry you won't see any bridal shots or beautiful portraits of the wedding party but I hope you enjoy anyway! The first few are of the rehearsal...that IS the bride but not in her wedding dress.









Since yesterday when I posted this original post I have spoken with this beautiful bride and discovered that her new husband's grandfather was rushed to the emergency room last night after a family dinner. He had extremely low blood pressure and very shallow breath. I am pleased to say he is stable now and doing well. I snapped this picture of the groom's grandfather at the rehearsal the evening before the wedding. He is 95 years old and I remember thinking how well he looked for his age and I could tell he was well loved. We will keep you in our prayers Grandpa Gander!



Now For the wedding day "sampler"!













The reception was BEAUTIFUL! They cleared out and transformed this absolutely gorgeous greenhouse for their grand celebration.









Once the sun set and the moon was up the atmosphere certainly changed! The lighting was fun and beautiful with pink and blue lights everywhere. I chose to photograph with only available light (which means I did not use flash for ANY of the pictures on this post), that way you get a better feel for the ambiance and mood!



First Dance





Parent dances



The bride and groom had a unique feature at their reception. In the main room was the traditional DJ and dance floor but in a smaller secondary room was a cigar lounge complete with a professional cigar roller originally from Cuba who rolled a couple hundred complimentary cigars for the guests while they listened to a live musician...it was definitely the hot spot of the night! The bride and groom even had an opportunity to try their hand at rolling a cigar...that's the picture you see here.



If you would like to see more details and candids from this wedding you can find Defining Grace Photography on facebook...while your there become a fan and leave a comment! (if you haven't already :) ALSO check back because I'll be posting more blogs over the next couple days!!!