Emily & Chris Wedding || CrossKeys Vineyards, Mt. Crawford VA

Emily and Chris met on a chilly Saturday night at a club in Charlottesville. Two years later Chris proposed Emily on his sister’s wedding, right in front of the White House on a nice October night. Their wedding was simply a celebration for their true love, their friends and close family. The day was perfect, warm and beautiful. The view at CrossKeys Vineyards was amazing with the Blue Ridge Mountains in the background. Their wedding has been featured on Main Street Weddings.

Venue : CrossKeys Vineyards

Baker : Albemarle Baking Company

 

Aida & Isaac || UVA (University of Virginia) Engagement

UVa is distinctive for its beauty. It’s the only college campus that is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site, it was designed by Thomas Jefferson himself, and the Lawn (the most famous part of UVa) and the surrounding gardens are distinctive from an architectural standpoint. UVA campus holds more significance to Aida & Isaac and their relationship. The couple chose winter engagement photos, unfortunately the snow was pretty much melted on the day of photo shoot. Anyhow, I got some awesome photos of these two enjoying their time with each other.

Beat the Winter Blues with Beauty Shoot (part two) || Fredericksburg Portrait Photographer

Continuing from my blog post part 1 with a blue-color-themed winter styled shoot, the outfits from the images here are bursting with a beautiful red color. I always love the pop of red against the snow. As one of my favorite colors, red is the color of energy and the symbol of life. It also evokes strength, power, and creates a visual impact. People tend to look more happier and attractive by wearing red.

Thank you again to my fellow photographers, models and friends who made this winter styled shoot possible. I look forward to working again with all of you. You guys really put your hearts and souls into this shoot.

Model: Ally, Morgan, Emily and Sarah

Hairstyling and Makeup : Rachel Ranno

Dress and accessories : Personal collection

 

Beat the Winter Blues with Beauty Shoot (part one) || Fredericksburg Portrait Photographer

Winter is generally regarded as the slowest season for photographers. For many of us, that is such a great time to rest and recharge, the time to update the website and set new goals. Some of us probably tend to have the winter blues as our mood rises and drops with the temperature. When other fellow photographers happen to be available, why not we plan a styled shoot together. This should be one of great ways to beat this winter blues and to boost our mood and our creative spark.

We then spontaneously styled a lovely shoot in the winter wonderland with just simple and elegant touches. For this part 1, I highlight here all blue/grey-color -themed style shoots that look elegant and fit good on Emily and Sarah (they were such troopers, brave the cold). Thank you all the teamwork for your wonderful contribution, I loved every bit of it! Stay tuned for next blog post (part 2) a red-color -theme from our snow winter styled shoots.

Model: Emily and Sarah

Hairstyling and Makeup : Rachel Ranno

Dress and accessories : Personal collection

 

Winnie the Pooh Cake Smash 1st Birthday Session || Fredericksburg Child Photography

I think Winnie the Pooh is a classic theme for the perfect first birthday party . I loved all the ideas come from baby Gabriel’s mom who created a simple setting for the cake smash session surrounded by the beauty of natural Fall colors that suite Winnie the Pooh colors as well. This handsome little guy had fun demolishing his birthday cake. We got lots of great picture for his family to remember his big milestone.

Soon to be Mr. & Mrs. Santa Claus || Occoquan Engagement

When Mr. W gave me a call and asked if I could help him in his plans to photograph his surprise proposal to his girlfriend Ms. V, I was more than willing to help. He came up with a plan to make it seem like I was going to be there for their family holiday photo shoot.

Dressed as Mr. & Mrs. Santa Claus and their Elves, the photo shoot begun with the family paddleboarding around Occoquan river. Just when they were in the middle of fun, I saw Mr. W approached her to be close to each other and got down on one knee (yes, on his paddle-board). I kept snapping their moment furiously and didn’t want to miss their special moment. From the whole scene photos, you’d see how Ms. V was completely surprised and had absolutely no idea but she looked quite happy at the same time.

After the proposal, we spent the rest of the available sunlight taking more family and engagement photos. I feel honored to have been a part of their engagement story. There is no doubt in my mind that they have a beautiful life together right in front of them. Congratulations you guys!

The ring was tied up  with a piece of string to prevent the risk of falling in the water.

Gwen & Mike | Vienna VA Fall Engagement

Gwen & Mike are such a lovely couple and very easy to photograph. We did their engagement session on a great Fall day at the beautiful Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in Vienna, such a great location for photo shoots as it looks always good in almost all seasons. I was worried not to get the shoot done at this location when Gwen told me they were stuck in traffic. I felt relieved when finally they showed up almost 30 minutes before the garden closed. Although we missed the golden lights from sunset, I tried my best to get amazing shots for their engagement session. Enjoy some of my favorites!

Paula & Logan | Charlottesville VA Engagement

Seeing a couple so in love with each other is very heart-warming and everybody shows it so differently. When I’m trying to capture the love between a couple during their engagement session, I like to notice how they look each other. Paula and Logan are a sweet couple and very friendly. The two had a great smile and had such great chemistry between them. I enjoyed myself photographing their engagement session. I took advantage of the beautiful fall colors which just started in the 2nd week of October to get some great photos.

Fall is Apple Season!!

My family love apple picking. We started apple-picking when the kids were as young as 1-2 years old. We always look forward to it every year. There are also a number of fun activities for kids at the apple orchard which it keeps my boys entertained for a long while.

It was a beautiful fall day when we went to the apple orchard, not too cold, bit cloudy, just nice weather. The apple orchard is beautiful as usual and even though the end of apple season is quickly approaching, the trees were still busting with beautifully colored apples and leaves. We walked around filling our basket and we did our best to find what we wanted.

Of course we couldn’t leave without grabbing a gallon of fresh apple cider. Before we headed home, we stopped by the pumpkin orchard and the games area. The boys didn’t play much in the games area because the farm was almost closed. We had a really fantastic day.

We’ll surely be back later in the season to pick more apples and have some more family fun!

Picture from my cell phone!

Picture from my cell phone!

Picture from my cell phone!

Picture from my cell phone!
Picture from my cell phone!
Picture from my cell phone!
Picture from my cell phone!
Picture from my cell phone!

Picture from my cell phone!

My First Wedding Styled Shoot Ever!!

I have been a professional photographer for more than 2 years now. I started my own photography business in mid 2012. I only wanted to do a family photography, not any single mind to do weddings at that time. In 2014 someone asked me to photograph her summer wedding that made me the leap to become a wedding photographer.

Knowing that I lacked the skill and experience to shoot a wedding on my own, I decided to have a simple wedding styled shoot at the park together with MUA from All Gussied Up makeup by Heather, a florist from The Floral Palette, and a photographer friend Ade from Adettara Photography, and a young couple Miranda and Eddie as our models. The purpose to create this wedding styled shoot was simply to build my portfolio. Please enjoy the pictures from my first experience of photographing a wedding couple.