Trying to nail down a time to do Annie and Westin’s engagement session was rather difficult because of their work schedules, but with less than a month before the wedding, we knew we needed to act fast. Annie chose the one night they had free, which happened to be her birthday. The day came and was beautiful!! Blue skies, 70 degrees, and lovely warm sunshine…that is until about 5:00 in the evening, when a hard downpour began. Annie began to worry and we prayed would let up, but it never did. We met, and decided that we HAD to shoot, and as completely against our norm as it was, we went indoors, at night, in the beautiful Hilton Cincinnati Netherlands Plaza. The images are much more moody than our normal work, but the look really exemplifies the personality of these two….they are fun, artsy, and eccentric.

Annie put on this beautiful black dress and turned it up a notch…

When we meet them later in the week to discuss wedding plans, we decided to snap a few photos as the sun was going down. We ended up loving them! :)

I have know these two for a long time. Wes is the little brother of one of my good friends from school and I have know him since he was around 6 or 7, and Annie is one of my sister’s best friends since Jr. High. I was so happy when they chose us to do their engagement and wedding photography because I know photography is really important to them. Annie and Westin, thanks for choosing us, and we can’t wait for the wedding in a few weeks!!

Last but not least, I had to put in a photo to really show their super fun personalities. :) As goofy as they are (or I should really say as goofy as Westin is), it is so evident how crazy they are about each other. That makes our job even more fun. Being able to capture the LOVE. :)

One of the things that I love about my photography job is having the chance to get to know people. Or, in the case that I may already know them, having the opportunity to think about them more deeply as I review, edit, blog, and write about each person and their story. I tend to be a very introspective person and a visual (imagine that!), so staring at people’s photos brings many things to mind. Perhaps recalling how I met them, memories, things about them that I find interesting, or characteristics that make them special. I guess that is why I enjoy my blog so much and “spending time” with each person I have the pleasure of photographing. It allows me the opportunity to feel connected.

Today was no exception. This morning I decided to do a long awaited session with my daughter. The morning light shone brilliantly across the vibrant green grass, and my daughter looked absolutely adorable. If you have been a follower of my blog for some time, you may have noticed that I have more photographs of my boys, and very few of my girl. It certainly is not the case that I favor my boys, but more the case that my daughter is not crazy about her photo taken, and when she DOES allow it, she has a hard time not being totally goofy, or worse, a drama queen.

I love my girl. She is my oldest; my first. She is 8 going on 18, and looks like she is at least 11 because she is so tall. Because of this, people tend to expect she should act like she is 11 or 12, but she is 8, through and through. She wanted to have her photo taken with her caterpillar collection today. I declined. :)

As I sifted through the photos shot this morning, I wondered if I would have any with her making a “normal” face, or smile. But then I realized, this is her, this is my Priya. And as much as I may not want to admit it, (strictly for her sake, Lord help her) I see so much of myself in her, it’s scary.

Priya is: outgoing, amazingly creative, loud, a leader, abstract, honest, level headed, extremely generous, loving, mini-mama to her baby brothers, a bit bossy :) , considerate, social, polite-with an occasional twist of sassy, tall, athletic, foodie, beautiful, an artist, and the first little person to teach me the meaning of “selflessness.”