Dakster

Dakster Dalfin is our neighbor's puppy. The neighbors foster a couple dogs at a time, giving them a great home until the dogs can find new owners. Dakster is nearly a year now, and he is a hit with all the kids. Plus, he's kid-sized. If you know anyone looking to adopt a dog, you now have a cute one to suggest.


He is Ainsley approved.


See... she loves him.

Golden Snow

At some point, everyone has a perfect moment. One of those instances where everything seems right with the world. Your mind clears, and all of a sudden it occurs to you that this is one of those moments you want to hold onto. Now, I have memorable moments all the time. But I am talking about those precious times when your ears block all sounds, the people around you clear, and it's just you and the world. For me, it only happens for a few seconds before the traffic or chatter comes rushing back to my senses. However, this experience happened to me twice this month, and both times were triggered by golden snow.

Golden snow is my term for when the breeze blows through the trees in springtime, shaking the branches just enough to shower your surroundings with petals. The time of day has to be right, so the sun filters through the leaves illuminating those petals. Saturday I went to the White House Garden Tour, and saw my golden snow. I was caught up in the beauty of the moment and thus slow with the camera. Luckily, I still captured a glimpse of the golden snow in front of the West Wing.

It makes me relax every time I look at it...

It makes you want to breathe deeply.

Erin and Charlie's Engagement Shoot ** Harrisonburg, VA Photographer

Spring is a funny time of year in Virginia. One day the temperature reaches 90 degrees, it's sunny, and you keep thinking the pool should open early. Then the next day it's freezing, windy, and rainy. When I went to Harrisonburg for Erin and Charlie's engagement shoot, we were faced with lovely option number 2! Nevertheless, we were determined to try and get some good shots through the cold and the rain.

I must say, despite thinking I was going to freeze to death, we all had a blast walking around the campus of James Madison University and downtown Harrisonburg, VA. We laughed for hours, and ended up with great results! JMU has a beautiful campus, and is known to attract throngs of students to its quad on sunny days. With the cold and on-again-off-again rain, we lucked out with a nearly empty campus.

I love this shot. You can see the love...






Thank you, Charlie and Erin for braving the cold with me (and for being just as scared by that duck as I was)!

Melissa and John

I think about a lot of things while I shoot. I think about angles and poses and capturing the moment my clients show their truest smile, their real laugh, that sparkle in their eye. Usually, I keep my fingers crossed that those real moments will happen and that I will have the camera in focus when they do.

Melissa and John were different. I couldn't help but hum throughout our time together. The lyrics in my head? So... it's not the best love song, but to be fair, I was only humming the first two lines of the chorus... over and over. "All that I'm after is a life full of laughter. As long as I'm laughing with you...."

That was John and Melissa. John is a natural comedian. Always ready with a quip, instantly making Melissa laugh. Laugh they did. And it was easy to find that look of love in their eyes. They made it easy. Because their love for each other shined through. That's saying a lot considering I made John late for the Duke game.

Congratulations, Melissa and John. I know your wedding in July will be filled with just as much sentiment and laughter.

Cherry Blossoms **DC Photographer

1912 was a big year. Woodrow Wilson became the President. The Republic of China was established. New Mexico became a state. The Titanic sank. And the Japanese gave us 3000 Cherry Blossom trees as a sign of friendship.

I can't believe this is the case, but I have never been to see the cherry blossoms. Perhaps that doesn't sound like a big deal. To give you a little perspective though, the metro reported a higher ridership this past weekend than it did during inauguration. Those droves of people came for the Cherry Blossom Festival, another aspect of this whole cherry blossom thing I have never participated in. To be fair, I have seen them. They are in other parts of the city than around the tidal basin. In fact, there is a series of them outside my office. But those don't count. And I do drive near them almost daily, but that doesn't count either.

We decided this year was the year to see what the fuss was about. Well, we failed. Sort of. We went and saw them Saturday night. Technically, we went to see the fireworks show (which I didn't know was happening), so our first up close sighting of these trees was in the dark. Good thing I had a flash.

I didn't take many pictures, but this was one of my favorites. Due to the fireworks show, there were lots of boats on the river. They provided the perfect lit backdrop for my first ever cherry blossom picture.

Even in the dark, I could see the potential for a fabulous engagement or portrait session! I will definitely need to visit in the daylight next time.

Melissa and John - Sneak Peek **Lorton VA Photographer

Here's a glimpse into the amazing shoot I had last week with Melissa and John. Having met in high school (as teachers, not students), we had the shoot at the place that brought them together. These two are adorable together. John sang, cracked jokes, and endlessly made Melissa laugh. Anyone could see that these two are a great match.