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About Me

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North Georgia, United States
I have been an artist for as long as I can remember and photography is my passion. I used to be a successful fine artist, but since I shot my first wedding I never looked back. I am madly and completely in love with weddings, I guess it is the romantic in me :)

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Engagements!


This past Sunday I had engagement sessions with two lovely couples. Those sessions give me time to get to know the couples before their wedding. The more I know them the better I can cover their event. I don't know how some photographers just go cold turkey to a wedding. Sure you can take pretty pictures even then, but somehow it seems to me that the more you know about somebody the more you can catch their true personality and those special moments. I love engagement sessions for that reason alone.
Congratulations to Laurie and James and of course Maggie and Donald too!

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Rain induced thoughts!

Last night we had a lot of rain, more then I have seen in months, with so much rain coming down the mountain it was no surprise that the power went of.
I work 7 days a week on my computer to do all the post processing of the pictures I take and designing the albums for my couples, so much of the time I am to busy to let my thoughts wander to other things. Last night with the blackout in my little home all kind of things came to my mind. Most of all I was thinking about families..........
Almost every weekend I am surrounded by loving families sending their children of to a new life.
It warms my heart when I see that over and over again.
But there are other kinds of families, not just those bound by blood. I found that out when I lost my husband. Of course, my children were here for me and I knew their father would have been so proud how they stood by my side, but when tragic events happen you find out who your friends are.............those that go beyond the normal. Those people are our chosen families.......
people that love us not because it is expected, but simply because they do. Laying there in the dark last night I knew that I was very fortunate to have all those people in my life and all of a sudden I did not feel lonely or even scared anymore (that rain and wind in the darkness was somewhat scary) I knew I was surrounded by "my" big family ..........the phone calls I received last night from friends checking on me were proof of that.

Monday, August 25, 2008

On a more private level!


I am really enjoying blogging and I will over and over thank Katy for being instrumental in getting me started. Not only can I post work that many of my friends or even clients would never see, but it also opens up the doors to me to let those people that are interested get to know the more private side of me.

Last year my husband of 30 years passed away very suddenly and I prepared myself to a life alone in my little house in the mountains. But things changed when an old friend of mine came back into my life shortly after that tragic day. He was there for me during the darkest moments with his kindness,understanding and presence. Sure it was limited to phone calls and the Internet, but he was there for me even though he was all the way across the ocean in Wales.

Late last summer I invited him for a visit and our friendship turned into much more. More then I ever hoped for. This spring at one of his visits he asked me to marry him and I knew that I had found love again and that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him.

We are now waiting for all the paper work so we can start our life together. The months of waiting are very hard and I am just so glad that I have all the support from my family and friends. Work is helping me so much too. My busy season has started and I hope that it will make the days shorter and whatever time is left pass quickly.

In the meantime Steve stays in touch with me on a daily basis. We had wanted to get married on one of our lakes, but the longer this is dragging on I realise that we might have to get married on the top of a snow capped mountain. Well, like Laura and I always say, IT IS WHAT IT IS! When I start to miss him I keep thinking of the all the wife's and girlfriends of the sailors of ancient times. Their husbands and boyfriends would leave for years on end and they would not hear a word from them, at least we have the Internet to keep in touch.
Not long ago I made a portrait of Steve and I thought I would share it with my friends.

Creative Muse




Some days I feel like I have to create something beyond the box of photography. I love taking photos and making them into more then just another photograph of a pretty face. Taking the image to another level. Many of the traditional photographers frown on this, but to me it is just another form of artistic expression. Why no go into a fantasy realm if you are able to do so!

Why not take my knowledge of Photoshop and push it to something that is creative and art.


Sunday, August 24, 2008

The artistic side of me



Many of my clients don't know that before I became a photographer with a passion for weddings I was a fine artist. I had 5 major galleries handling my work and a corporate agent. I did this for over 20 years and it was great. I was known for my underwater paintings of the reefs with all its natural wonders. Being a diver it came natural to me and I was told over the years that my paintings truly represented the world beneath our oceans.

At one point, I can't even remember when I started to feel that I could create my paintings in my sleep and even though I could paint other subjects well, the galleries that handled my work did not want me to present them with those..................I was known for the aquatic paintings and they were selling well so a change was not in the picture as far as the galleries were concerned.

More and more I felt my passion leave me and so one day I decided to take a break from creating paintings and give myself a couple of years to decide what I wanted for myself.

I pulled all my paintings out of the galleries and put them in my main one in Naples, Florida and took that break that I needed.

Being interested in photography all my life I decided to teach myself Photoshop and take pictures to manipulate into artwork. One thing let to another and one day a friend asked me to
cover a wedding and even though I really did not want to I did. THAT was the beginning of a new love affair for me. I loved every minute of that wedding. How could I not..........I was surrounded by people in love...........happy people that were there to celebrate that love, how could it get any better.
Well the rest is history.................I have not painted since and devoted my life to capturing the weddings of so many happy couples. I design all their books from scratch without the help of templates and my knowledge of Photoshop comes in very handy in all the designs. This gives me the freedom to make each and every book a one of a kind piece of art work and hopefully I will never get back into having to do the same thing over and over again just to make a living. I want my creativity to stay alive for as long as I am allowed to be on this earth and not die as it did when I painted.

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Meghan and Shaun



What can I say...........Meghan and Shaun and their entire family were such a joy. Laura (my Associate Photograher and FRIEND) and I enjoyed covering the event at Chateau Elan. We started photos by 10:30 AM because we wanted to make sure we could get some really nice shots before it got to hot. At first the family was not so sure about doing the before pictures, but as it turned out it saved the day. We would never had time to get all the nice shots, because the girls were stuck in the beauty parlor for hours because they lost power and to make things worse the bridesmaids had hung their dresses in the shower to get the wrinkles out and forgot about them.
So before they could dress they had to dry them with the hair dryer...........needless to say everybody was happy that we had done the bride and groom shots before.

After everything was done and over with................everybody enjoyed the wedding and we ended up taking pictures in the pool way past midnight. Not only did Meghan go into the water with her gown, some of her bridesmaids ventured in after her. What fun and what great pictures.

A New Baby!


Congratulations Cyndi and Javi on your new baby!

At first the little angel could not figure out who this person was that took his pictures one and a half weeks after he was born, but he adjusted quickly and became a real little model. It was so nice to see the results of so much love.

Mary and Josh




Anybody that knows me a little also knows that I am a
photographer and they also know that I love and live for my work, it is truly a dream come true for me.
There is nothing more romantic then a wedding as far as I am concerned. The start of a new family and when I am very lucky I can even record the first baby. How much better can it get. In the last couple of months I have had some of my most wonderful weddings (not to say I did not have those before), but sometimes you really get a chance to click with a couple, their friends and their families and it is those weddings that make me love my job even more.

One was held on Sapelo Island which is part of the Georgia Coast. What a wonderful place. I have traveled the world and seen many beautiful beaches including the ones in Rio, but the beach on Sapelo were incredible. The Reynolds Mansion was a dream with all the live oaks and the guest truly enjoyed the pool which sat right in the middle of those massive trees all covered in Spanish Moss. The weather was perfect and I still wonder how the brides uncle was able to make all those beautiful flower arrangements in the dungeons of the mansion.

Shortly after the ceremony and the dinner the couple decided they wanted to have their pictures taken at the beach. We had such a good time and it was fantastic to take photos of them laying in the water with a beach behind them that looked like anybody had ever walked on it.

Thank you Mary and Josh for such an incredible wedding experience!
















A new adventure!

I can't believe I am doing this...........but here it goes.
Thanks to a chance encounter with the blog of a new friend I decided to join the world of bloggers.
It might be fun to keep my friends, new and old informed. Thank you Katy for starting me on this new adventure in cyber world.