An Autumn Afternoon

Sometimes you get dressed up and drag a friend into nature. Occasionally you take a personal day and do whatever you want to do.

Picture #1 here is a reminder why I never delete any photos while I’m out on a shoot (even if it’s a “just for fun” shoot): This beautiful photo of Katie was the 3rd photo I took during light testing, and the first photo she was in. I love test photos that turn out like this!!

Remember to live life in the moment. Laugh when you can, smile as much as possible. Surround yourself in life with whatever it is that makes you feel like your absolute best self. Happy Monday and Happy Fall!

Heather | Fredericksburg Funk

Anyone who follows my stories on Instagram (@kwhphotographs) knows that I've been fairly obsessed with these images of Heather since taking them a couple of weeks ago. But when you work with someone as charismatic and fun to be around as Heather, you can't help but want to spend a morning with her on a photo shoot adventure around Downtown Fred.

Not pictured: That we were managing to shoot around a giant 4th of July street festival.

 

What Heather's wearing: 

Yellow shirt: Forever 21

Jean shorts: Goodwill

Shoes: Birkenstocks (purchased from Goodwill)

Sunglasses: Aerie

Bathing suit: Aerie

Overalls: Global Threads

Earrings: World Market

Necklace: Etsy

Editing Song: Jaymes Young - I'll Be Good (Live Rehearsal)

Mary Grace | Portrait Session

Shooting in the rain (while very admittedly not good for my camera) makes me so incredibly happy! Even more so when you don't realize you've managed to capture individual drops until you load everything onto your computer after the fact.

I met Mary Grace at the beginning of this summer, when we were both hired as baristas at a local Fredericksburg coffee shop. I quickly realized she was just as weird as I am, and our shifts together fast became my favorites out of the week. MG is constantly complimented on her insanely tight curls (which she describes as looking like ramen), and I knew I needed to have her as a model before school started up again in the fall. We managed to squeeze in this super quick session (immediately following an all-afternoon thunderstorm and occurring the evening before she left for school) and I could not be happier with the images we captured!

Jenni | Jockey's Ridge Portrait Session

Remember August? A time of warmth and summer and the beach? Here's a little throwback to the beginning of August, when I dragged my sister away from her beach-time (read evening-wine-beach-time) to head over to the majestic Jockey's Ridge State Park on the Outerbanks. I've visited the Ridge multiple times over the years, but this was the first I chose to shoot there. Sandy hands, flowing hair, floral rompers, oh my!

Hannah | Portrait Session

Thank you so much to Hannah for wanting to do this shoot with me! These photos were essentially a practice portrait session for me, to get back in the swing of things for graduation/senior picture season. We spent awhile choosing outfits and getting all ready, so you could say that it was kind of my own little mini styled shoot, if you will. Not to mention that Hannah is basically a model and slayed in these pictures. Enjoy!

Eliza | Ceramics Session

The other week, I all of a sudden both very clearly and very randomly had a vision of photographing someone in a wheel throwing session. Wheel throwing is the amazingly beautiful art of shaping clay on a spinning pottery wheel. It's a tricky skill to master (I know, I took a couple classes in college and still never quite got the hang of it), but results are so worth it in the end. This was something pretty far from the comfort of what I normally shoot, and Eliza very graciously accepted the challenge. We had a lot of fun just hanging out in Mary Washington's ceramic studio, listening to music and inevitably getting covered in clay dust. Enjoy this cool shoot!

Bethany | Fredericksburg Grunge

I spent this past Sunday in Fredericksburg, catching up with my good friend Bethany while shooting a dark, grungy session in the alleys of downtown. In true Virginia weather fashion, this February day was a beautiful 75 degrees, even though it had been snowing just a few days prior. And of course, even though the chance of rain had been steadily going down over the course of the day, it decided to pour on us more than a few times. Rain is often a blessing though, and during one of these times the deluge coincided with a break in the clouds and resulted in the most beautiful raindrop/sunspot effect. I'm so glad we decided to keep shooting through these small downpours!

I'd also like to thank David Hart for the use of his sweater; it was both used in and helped inspire the theme of this shoot.