Baby get your shine on

Hey ya'll,

 it's been over a  year since I have updated this blog!

.... WOW, where does time go???

I have had so much happen over the past year, I moved from the beautiful coast of South Carolina, to the Poconos of Pennsylvania, to be with my boyfriend that I have been seeing for two years.

It was a big change, but I was willing to do it, and I'm so happy I did! I realized, apart from missing my beautiful mother, my smart father, my butt head brother, my friends, the lowcountry, and that saltwater air, that there was more out there. It was hard leaving that first month back in November, but my parents said "try it, if you do not like it, you can always come home". And that was nice.

 As of right now, I'm actually back in the South! Enjoying the salt air, loving my sun kissed skin, being next to a pool on the weekends, and most of all being with my family and my pets! I have been here since Mother's Day, and I will be leaving a few days after Father's Day, it's a long vacation, but I'm not complaining!

 

 

____________________________________________________________

 

 

Since I've been here, I have done a few photo shoots.

This first one is of my handsome brother, Nicholas, and his beautiful girlfriend, Hope. These pictures were taken on a Farm that is right on the river, you could smell the saltwater through the Corn... it was pretty peaceful out, perfect for kissing under the Pecan Trees, and messing around on John Deer Tractors!

 

 

Taken with a Nikon D3200, with lenses 18-55mm and a 55-200mm.

 All natural light, apart from the faded pictures, which was the only thing edited.



In the garden..

There's something lurking on my Dill, in my garden..

It's fifteen little Swallowtail Caterpillars!

Over the past week and a half, I have been watching these little guys, they started down low in the Dill, and started moving their way to the top.

They were so little at first, then as the days went by, they started getting chubby, just eating away at the tasty Dill.

This morning, I walked out to visit the garden and noticed that all but three have left.. I wonder where they went. I hope birds didn't get them. There are three left, two are already in cocoons, and one is in the process.

It is such a gift to see these little Caterpillars, I'm so blessed they ended up in my garden!

It would be so nice, if I could see them turn into beautiful Butterflies!

But until then, I will just have to keep an eye on them, and a camera close by!

In the midlands of South Carolina...

I just recently photographed a wedding in the Midlands of South Carolina, 

on a little Plantation called Buck Ridge.

It was such an amazing place, perfect for a wedding!

It is actually a hunting preserve (which I don't care for since I love animals alive, rather then .. you know, dead). But it was still beautiful.

 When you first pull into the plantation, you drive through Leland Cypress Trees, then it turns into Bradford Pear Trees, then you have a field on the left, and a gorgeous colonial style home on your right, when you keep driving, you see the pond with a bridge going across, and a waterfall, let's just say, it's the perfect place for a wedding ceremony.

 As you keep driving, you have Pine Trees to your left, and the Hunting Lodge to your right, and if you were to keep driving, you would come up to cabins nestled in the woods. On the other side of the Plantation, you have another Colonial style home and a lodge, there is also Fields, with gorgeous Horses, and dog kennels for hunting.

It was a simple wedding, I would say there were maybe 100 people or less.

The ceremony was outside (let me just say that we have been getting very strange weather here in the South, one minute it's sunny and beautiful, and then the next minute it's windy, and raining). So during the ceremony it was sunny, then clouds rolled in, so they had to have the reception inside. Which sucks for me, I hate shooting photo's indoors. If you've seen my work, you know I prefer outside, with natural lighting. Oh well, good thing I was working with another great photographer.

It was a very fast wedding, we got there at four, took pictures, had the ceremony, went to the reception, watched the couple dance, everyone ate delicious food, then it was time for the cake, and then the tossing of the bouquet, and garter, then a little dancing, and it was over by 9:30 (but we stayed and took drunk pictures of the bride and groom, along with the bridesmaids and groomsmen, they were all so hilarious)!

Congratulations to Josh and Nicole!

And thank you Amy for giving me a chance to do this with you!