Waiting for Daddy

We recently did a very touching shoot.
A Mother and Wife…waiting for her Hubby,
and a Daughter waiting for her Daddy.
Daddy is overseas servicing in the military….the Marines.
Daddy also loves Old Cars and Rock n’ Roll….which is probably enough to explain the shoot.
We really enjoyed this shoot and felt honored to shoot it.

Heidi & Casey Wedding

We truly are blessed with the most adorable sweetest couples ever!
We had the pleasure of developing yet another awesome friendship with Heidi and Casey.
They compliment one another so well as a couple.

Casey always talking and making funny jokes…Heidi the sweetest girl one could ever meet.
I will NEVER EVER forget the moment at her wedding when she 100% tugged at my heart strings….
while in her room capturing her “getting ready” shots…across the room I heard this little voice saying..
“Erin, your smile comforts me”. At
that moment I put my camera down, took a deep breath, and just reminded myself…yes even though this does not feel like work, you are working…now breath Erin..no tears.
haha
Heidi you are beautiful inside and out…the most adorable thing ever.
I will also NEVER EVER forget the special moment I shared with Casey before the ceremony.
I normally never have the chance to spend special moments with the groom, as I’m always aside the bride during this time.
But this was probably a one time thing..I happen to be getting some of our equipment, when Casey sat down on the chair beside me with the biggest smile I have ever seen! He was full of excitement, a bit nervous and was just all in all the anxious groom. All I had to say is “She is beautiful Casey” and he turned bright red and smiled even bigger..which by the way I did not think was possible since he was already all smile! haha
It was the coolest feeling in the world to be able to share this moment with him.
Then doing the same as I proceeded to my position of bride side.

The ceremony was so beautiful, so in love, so in the moment, shedding many many tears of joy as they said “I do”
We also want to say how amazing the family and friends were.We loved all of the Wedding Party, and Heidi’s parents were so sweet to come up to us throughout the day making sure we had enough to eat and drink and her dad thanked us so graciously at the end of the night.

As Most of You know, We LOVE meeting face to face with our couples to show them the finished work of art.

We were so surprised when Heidi and Casey invited us into their home for dinner and just a nice time to spend with them as a couple. This was so awesome! We had nice quiet time to just sit back and talk about their honeymoon, about the wedding and things we all remembered and then of course unveil the photos captured by us.
Watched their dvd and looked at their book.
You can see from the photos how excited they were!
We plan to continue our friendship with these two very special people.
We love you both and couldn’t be happier for you

An Evening with Andrew McMahon “of Jack’s Mannequin”

“An Evening with Andrew McMahon” at Sixth & I Historic Synagogue in Washington, DC…… and indeed it was!

Andrew McMahon for those of you who do not know is the lead singer of Jacks’ Mannequin and founder of The Dear Jack Foundation

Wow…I truly don’t remember having a night of music like this since back when we saw John Mayer at The House of Blues. It will forever be one of our best musical moments ever. So intimate, so cozy, well taken care of as photographers, and just a truly truly brilliant artist.

Corey introduced me to Andrew’s music after he fell in love after one listen. Then of course reading his inspirational story of his battle with cancer, we were even that much more touched. Since Corey has also had an ordeal in his life..thank God not cancer…but still a battle of his own to learn to live and walk again.

There is not a day that goes by when we don’t listen to his cds. Needless to say when we saw he was doing a “special tour” of acoustic “evening with Andrew” nights we were beyond excited! As photographers, our first thought is to capture this amazing night within the still moments of our minds and eyes through our artistic abilities as photographers.

We were provided with the needed photo passes “a HUGE thank you to Aaron” As you can see we captured the night of emotion, music, laughter, and fun throughout our eyes.

Andrew preformed songs from his bands “Something Corporate” , “Jacks Mannequin” and even a few rare songs like “Katie” written for his sister…wow…such a touching song. He also threw in a little fun throughout the night like when he took the stage holding up signs introducing himself and when he threw out fortune cookies….of course “I” caught one. To help you get a feel for the night…he threw out three cookies…and then asked if any of us had one good enough to share. I of course decided to share my fortune “You will be Successful in Business” I thought oh what an awesome fortune! Andrew instead decided to turn it into a joke..saying…you told me that was a good fortune…blah blah blah. haha..it really made for a fun intimate night. What amazed me most was, this was a sold out show…bottom level and balcony were packed full, but the moment Andrew spoke, the moment myself and the other fortune cookie readers spoke..the entire place went to SILENCE. Such respect for this brilliant person. It was such an awesome thing to be a part of. If the world could have that type of respect daily for others…we’d all be so much happier and at peace.

This night will live in our hearts, minds, souls, and vision always.  A friend/client of ours once asked…who do you dream of shooting…..Virgil, our dream has been fulfilled…as his music hits our soul so very much…so to capture this through our eyes truly was a dream.

For those of you have never listened to this brilliant artist…please take the time to listen and to read some of his music.

Just a few of the brilliant lyrics that captivate me:

SWIM:
“I swim to brighter days
Despite the absence of sun
Choking on salt water
I’m not giving in
I swim”

HAMMERS and STRINGS:
“Give me something to believe in,
A breath from the breathing
So write it down,
I don’t think that I’ll close my eyes
‘Cause lately I’m not dreaming
So what’s the point in sleeping?
It’s just that at night,
I’ve got nowhere to hide
So I write you a lullaby
A lullaby”

FAMILY FUN “October”

So between Shoots, Editing Photos, and Weddings…the Clark Family was able to get together on a Sunday evening.
It was such a special Sunday to get us ALL in one room at the same time.
My sister surprised us all by driving up from Roanoke…love her to death and never get to see her.
Sad she lives so very far away…as I know we would do so much together if she lived closer

We also had a bit of fun thrown into the visit with the newest member “Toby”
My baby brother’s new Boston Terrier Puppy who is the most adorable, friendly, fun, smartest thing you have ever seen!
He already knows how to sit and shake!!! How amazing is that?

Anyways..thought I’d just let you guys in on a little bit of Snapp/Clark Family DownTime
Now…back to work on those photos some of you are expecting right about now
Love & Hugs!

Class of 2010 Senior Pictures w/ “Haley”

We had another fun Senior Shoot with Haley and her dog Bella
As you can see Haley is very pretty and she was lots of fun to work with.
Haley had gotten senior pictures that she was not happy with, so she found our work and hired us to do her shots.
We are so glad she found us and look forward to working with her and her family in the future
Thanks a bunch to Haley, Bella and Liz (her mom)

Engagement Shoot w/ Kelly & Alex

Kelly and Alex were such a FUN couple! She is so much like me where she is non-stop talking and Alex more reserved like Corey. haha..it was really fun to be around. Some of the things I will never forget about this shoot are: Kelly and Alex riding in the back of the van with their legs hanging out as we drove up the road to the site…..Kelly Singing The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow…such a beautiful voice! Also the way they looked at one another…so very much in love and last but not least…I will never forget watching them walk along holding the last heart balloon searching for a “Rock” to sharpie for us.

Their big day won’t come until May 2010 and we can’t wait to spend this next year with them. Planning, talking about photos, etc. etc. They are truly a special couple and we are blessed to be working with them and getting to know them as our new friends!

SEE THEIR STORY IN THEIR OWN WORDS HERE:

http://alexandkelly.wordpress.com/

Singer/Songwriter Aaron Crawford

Wow what can I say about this shoot….first I want to tell you a little bit about Mr. Aaron Crawford.
Aaron, former front man of rock band Rude Buddha, has now gone back to his roots. Playing a stripped down acoustic style…with a bit of a sexy, mysterious way. I highly recommend you check this guy out!

He contacted me and right away asked me to go listen to his new music. This is something we do with all bands, it helps us decide what visual we want to go in and if we want to work with them on their new project.
Right away I was blown away. I had heard Aaron many times before in his Hard Rock Style…which was also very good, but this new side of Aaron is something I had never heard and left me wanting more.
I returned Aaron’s e-mail with the concept of the visual that went to my head and heart as I sat there listening to this stripped down sexy rock…with almost a 50′s sound.
He was totally on-board with the concept, which meant my mind was now in FULL-MOTION.

We exchanged many e-mails….me, Aaron and his beautiful wife Heather.
Finally the big day had come and yes folks..it was “RAINING” and not just a little rain…I mean “RAINING”
But we thought what the heck, gathered as many trash bags and rain guards that we could and continued on with our plans.
We were also assisted by one of the most beautiful models ever…I can not name names at the moment, but she was everything we had hoped for…so elegant, so graceful, so beautiful and pulled off the 50′s style perfect.

We were all drenched by the end of the day, but we did survive and so did our equipment…but the laughter throughout the day, the praises from Aaron, and of course not to forget getting to hear Aaron sing a little…all combined made the day a little bit brighter! We totally can not wait to follow Aaron along in this new musical journey he is on.
We were lucky enough to have the Crawford’s want to meet with us to see the photos and they were 100% blown away.
It’s so awesome to have reactions so much more than “oh that’s awesome”
Aaron went into great depth as to why he loved the work in front of him and as to why he loved working with us so much.

On top of this, I would like to give the BIGGEST shout out to my DAD…our “POP”
You were such a trooper, and not only did you give us the proper permission we needed to make this shoot happen…but you stayed the entire day with us! Holding the umbrella, carrying equipment, etc. etc.
We really do have the best Pop in the entire world and could not have done this shoot without you. We love you!