DAWN & JOSH - PREVIEW

I had another fun-filled weekend shooting with Amanda Donaho, and I'll have a better blog post soon. I just had to share this one, though. It makes the guys look so mysterious/James Bond squad. I love it. I also love that all I had to say was "James Bond" and they all immediately looked cool.

Be on the lookout for more soon!

KALEIGH & JASON - WEDDING IN SE INDIANA

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of second shooting for my wonderful friend Amanda. Amanda is a photographer in Northern Kentucky/Cincinnati that I met last November during our trash the dress extravaganza. Thanks so much for having me along for this wedding, Amanda. You rock!

Now onto Kaleigh & Jason. I had such a great time shooting this wedding. The ceremony was held at the absolutely fantastic Veraestau Historic Site. Amanda and I went out before we started shooting, and we couldn't believe how incredibly beautiful the house and property were. One of the employees at the Veraestau, Josh, was kind enough to fill us in on a little of the history along the way. (As well as some crazy ghost stories! Yikes!)

Here's Kaleigh sharing a wonderful moment with her mom at the hair salon.

Girls will be girls. I love seeing everyone's make-up spread out while they're getting ready.

Kaleigh, you are truly gorgeous.

The morning of the wedding, it was fairly rainy. We didn't know what we would be dealing with at the ceremony, and Kaleigh was on top of the weather. She had up-to-the-minute status reports on her phone!

I just want to point out that absolutely everyone should have a best man that is will to work it with the Blue Steel face. Way to go, Matt!

Here are a few details. The shoes + the bling.

Kaleigh's dress was g-o-r-g-e-o-u-s!

It looked even better when she put it on, though. Here she is with her mom.

After the ceremony, we headed out on the grounds to take some shots. Here's the new couple. They were workin' it!

Kaleigh should totally get a prize for workin' it out. Seriously, could her eyes BE more intense?

This last one might be my favorite.. You can just feel the love.

Kaleigh & Jason, I hope you have a wonderful honeymoon! Thank you so much for being such natural models, and totally workin' it all day.

THE SHOT

Kevin and I are often caught goofing around on the job. I'm admitting this only because it is the best kind of goofing around I can imagine. Sometimes, when we're waiting around for someone to get to the location or change their outfit, Kevin will say, "Photo challenge!" and we compete to get the best shot of something mundane around us. This week, we had an early morning headshot session downtown. While we were waiting for a wardrobe change, Kevin announced that the photo challenge would be to photograph our own shoes. Between fits of giggles over Kevin's shoe-related comments (ex: "Your shoes look like lovers."), I got this shot:

I don't know if I won the photo challenge, but this one jumped out at me. Plus, it reminded me of my days at Starbucks as a barista... (I used to wear those beat-up Chucks.) I'm not really remembering those days fondly (nasty customers and all that), but I do kind of miss the regulars that came in every morning. I still hold firmly to my belief that every single person should be forced to work in food service for at least a year. (Most people need a taste of their own medicine!)

OLIVIA - BRIDAL

A few weeks ago, I headed up to Cincinnati to shoot a bridal session with the wonderful Amanda, Annie, & Toby.. Oh, yeah.. Kevin came, too! We were all afraid that we would be rained out of our shoot, but luckily the rain held off just long enough for us to have a nice session in the Spring Grove Cemetery.

I know what you're thinking... Bridal shots in a cemetery?! Yep! If you're not familiar with Spring Grove, I would definitely check it out. We barely scratched the surface of this HUGE cemetery. There are a ton of beautiful locations to shoot, and they have quite a few chapels where they even hold weddings. Check it out!

Now, meet Olivia.

Isn't she a knockout? The tiny flowers poking through the grass were really great for the beginning of our shoot.

I went back and forth on this one in color and black & white, but finally settled on black & white. Sometimes, I just can't make up my mind.

Work it.

This one is a little dark for a bridal session, but Olivia ended up stick on some black, lace gloves toward the end, and "dark" seemed the way to go. I love it when brides decide to go a little funky. 

Seriously, Olivia.. You're gorgeous.

Are you interested in doing a fun bridal session before or after your wedding? It can be arranged! These sessions are always fun and laid back, and it's a great chance to get some more pictures of yourself wearing the awesome dress you picked out for the wedding!

amanda donaho photography

Did you know that I'm also a graphic designer? Sometimes I forget to blog about the importance that design plays in my everyday life. If you took a look at my Google Reader, you would see that I subscribe to a ridiculous number of photography and design blogs as well as a bunch of random advertising sites. I'm a nerd for advertising... Promise you won't tell?

It's taken me way to long to blog this, but I recently designed a logo for my wonderful fellow photographer, Amanda Donaho. She is simply amazing.

Click on the logo to visit Amanda's blog, and be sure to tell her how great her photographs look!