Collard Festival!

I'm taking a break from catching up on past shoots to blog about something recent, the Ayden Collard Festival. You see, it's a festival. Of collards. It has its own mascot, Colleen the Collard Green(!). The Collard Festival truly embodies all the great things about small town America. There's a parade, an art show, a collard eating contest, a collard cooking contest, a pageant, and more. The pageant winner's title is Miss Ayden; although I think "Collard Queen" is infinitely more charming. My friend Douglas Mills always hosts a brunch at his house on the Saturday morning of the parade, and it was a fabulous time. To quote another friend, Douglas is the "hostest with the mostest." This year's brunch topped all others before it, and came complete with its own signature cups and fans.

Oh, did I forget to mention that Douglas buys tons of festive beads for the occasion? Beads that the brunch guests toss/hand to the parade participants? Well, he does. And it's fantastic.

Even the mayor of Ayden got into the festivities and put on some beads as he passed the McGlohon-Mills House.

Thanks so much to our host, Douglas Mills, for making his Festival Brunch fun for everyone, an event we look forward to every year!

Sharon and Mark

Well, I caught up on the babies I photographed in July, so now it's time to talk about the lovebirds I photographed in August. This summer, my friend Sharon got engaged to the love of her life, Mark. Sharon's daughter, Alice Hope actually got married earlier this year, and although we wanted to get together to do some engagement photos for her, our schedules never matched up, so I really wanted to make sure that Sharon and I could get together for these photos. We ended up scheduling the shoot right before she and Mark left on a romantic vacation to Cozumel, and now they think that they might be getting married in Cozumel next summer. We had a lot of fun around downtown Greenville and ECU on this shoot, and I'm sure their wedding in Cozumel will be even more fun, and more beautiful.

Introducing Owen Soffe

This post is long overdue. Over the summer, I had the opportunity to photograph my friend Abby's new baby, Owen. Abby works with me but commutes from Raleigh, and she has recently returned to work from being on maternity leave. I'm so glad that Abby is back at work because I missed her for those two weeks she was gone. She's usually my buddy at our faculty meetings. These photos were taken when Owen was brand new, only about a week or two old. He's a couple of months old now, and I saw him about two weeks ago. He has gotten so big since these pictures, and he just keeps getting cuter and cuter.

I like how you can tell that Abby is totally fascinated with this tiny, adorable creature.

Look at this adorable little noggin!

It's a baby! In a basket!

Owen did not want to take a nap during this photo shoot,  but he fell asleep right after we were "done," so I pulled out my camera and went back to work. Actually, he was napping at the beginning, but Abby and I were yapping away because we hadn't seen each other in a while and we had to catch up.  

Just Starting Out

I finally decided to do a blog for some of my photography, so here goes the first post! A couple of weeks ago, my friend Tracy came over with her daughter Maggie. We had been talking about doing some pictures of Maggie since she was born, but never ended up getting together until now, and Maggie is four months old! Maggie was a little bit fussy, but we got some great shots. Maggie's dad has been deployed to Japan for six months, so he was happy to see these pics of his little princess.

Tracy and Maggie

Why do you keep shining that bright thing in my face?

Maggie is so cute!

Tracy is always upbeat and laughing, so I love this picture.

Maggie is looking inquisitive.