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!

Emma & Harrison | Engaged

The blog is back! And I couldn't think of a better couple to be back with. Harrison and Emma have been my good friends for years, and I was so ecstatic when they asked me to be their wedding photographer! They were able to make it back to Virginia so that we could shoot their engagement photos on UMW's beautiful campus, where the two of them met almost four years ago. I loved getting to shoot with them and am so excited to share their beautiful pictures!

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.

Erin | Botanic Gardens

I've been wanting to get downtown to the D.C. Botanical Gardens for some time now, so I was so excited when Erin said she would be down for a shoot (also HELLO beautiful red hair with those gorgeous greens)! While the outdoor temperature in the city was hovering somewhere around 14 degrees, inside the giant greenhouse was a balmy 70+ degrees. Erin actually told me as we started shooting to let her know if her hair ever started to frizz! We had such a fabulous time making a day of it in the city with a couple of our other friends, and I am so happy with how this first shoot of the new year turned out :)

Best of 2016

Happy 2017! What a year 2016 was... I was lucky enough to travel to Europe for the first time, graduate from college, roadtrip across the US, and even start a website! To celebrate the end of the year, here's a look back at some of my favorite images from 2016. Cheers to the new year!

Window-Lit Portrait Session | Nicole

I absolutely loved spending this time with Nicole! She is moving all the way down to Florida tomorrow, and this was as much a catch-up date of our lives since we both graduated as it was a practice shoot for me! I wanted to test myself not only in indoor, window-lit portraits, but also to try to accomplish this in somewhat of a confined space. Since Nicole's apartment is currently filled floor to ceiling with moving boxes, I couldn't have asked for a better working location. We even had to move an entire desktop computer and speaker system in one room to be able to shoot!

I had so much fun with Nicole on this one (and wish her and her husband the very best in Pensacola!), I hope you enjoy! :)