just me :)

Saturday after the wedding I crashed hard. I got sick that night and was awake a good portion of the night with a fever and generally feeling just awful.

I had planned to go out with Andrea on Sunday and be her model. No complaints here! I was more than happy to do this!

But by morning, I was sooo not feelin it. But the day turned out to be so warm and unseasonably beautiful I decided it would be a crying shame to let it go to waste. So I put on my big-girl panties and we traipsed out and about to capture some God's light at literally the magic hour.

It amazes me how this light that comes before dusk actually sets in is so consistently magical. It's perfectly soft, casting very little shadow that lights perfectly and has such a buttery effect. Anyways, enough about amazing light, here's what she did!









I saved this one for last because it's my favorite. I seriously love them all, but this one, well, I think this is me :) If you want to see a few more, check them out on Andrea's flickr.

Rachel

Back in June, when I went down to Maryland and North Carolina for a few weeks, I was able to meet up with Rachel from Savor Photography to take some pictures for her as well as get mine done! That is, in case you were wondering, where all the new pictures of me have been coming from :) I didn't just meet up with her, I actually stayed at her house with her family who was gracious enough to have me come (almost a stranger) and stay for a week!

I had such a great time staying with them and they helped me find my way around NC as I made my decision as to whether it was the place for me to move. Ultimately though, I made the decision to stay in NY.

I had such a great time taking these... and while we didn't have any crazy things happen while taking hers, the day before when we did mine, there were a couple laughable and definitely memorable moments. Like for example when we were shooting in an alley and all of a sudden noticed an army blanket covering a pile... that started moving. Or so we thought :) It was just a pile of garbage, but I swear we thought it was a person for a minute.

Anyways, back to Rachel... we headed out as early as we could really. But by the time you get that far south, it doesn't really matter what time you get out. It's stinking HOT. You wouldn't know it though the way she seriously worked it out!

Sneak peek!

Can you believe this gorgeous lady has 7 kids?!



Unreal!

Sherrie is one of the most beautiful people I know, inside AND out! She loves the Lord and is committed to Him in every area of her life.

I can't wait to get the rest of her family pics up here for you to see :) This is just a sneak peek at the entire session. I took them on Friday and only have worked on the ones of her so far as she's sending a brochure to the printer THIS week for her ministry. You can check out her website here, byGraceministries.org.

More pictures to come soon!

Alicia aka the grossest girl EVER (Rochester, NY portrait photographer)

After doing pics up in the city with Traci, I was more than pumped to take my craziest and bestest friend up there.

Unfortunately for us, the light was low by the time we got up there. Here's a visual. Alicia in 3.5 inch heels running down Scio street.

We literally were running from place to place trying to get in enough pictures to make the hike up there worth it!


At first when I looked at this shot in the camera I was kinda thinking... yaaaaaah... i'm not sure about that one. But seriously, it came out so good! I LOVE the realness of it! it's so her!


It's funny, I've been learning not to delete as I go. Because often I have found that photos I think will be awful turn out really great! you can't trust a 2 inch LCD apparently :)



This shot turned out so great. I love the pose, the wall, what she's wearing... yah, I just love it.



Then this one is the same wall as before, I was just at a different angle. What was sooo hilarious though is that while I was trying to take this one, there was this guy walking down the street giving us this creepfest weirdo smile. I actually got a shot of him in the background turned around looking at us and smiling... I don't think it's THAT weird to be taking pictures on the street!


Can we just talk for a moment about the colors in this shot? I love, love, LOVE bright colors, and they just do amazing things in pictures!



My favorite kind of picture to take are close-ups. I just love face shots. In fact, I constantly am forcing myself to back up and take more in!

Tomorrow I have a session with a family of 9 and she has specifically requested face shots. I am stoked about this and I know I am going to be able to rock it!


We had to have one for the scrapbooks :) I don't even think we could gather together all the pictures alicia and I have over the last 5 years.

Speaking of the last 5 years, that reminds me of an amusing story... the one that led to these pictures in the first place.

Five years ago September 2003, Alicia and I were mere freshmen at EBI and were moving into our respective dorms. I remember walking two doors down and striking up a conversation with her whereupon I saw a picture that was taken at the studio I then currently worked at. So I commented on it and we began to talk about photos and photography.

We then moved back to my room where I showed her some of my work... and I believe it was at that point that i became labeled as "alicia's favorite photographer."

Fast forward to last wednesday. The day before these pictures were taken. Alicia decided it was time to tell me a secret she had been keeping for years.

Apparently, our friendship was her "investment." She basically figured if she shmoozed me enough and stayed friends with me long enough... eventually she would get free pictures from me.

The gist of the conversation was her informing me that she was, "cashing in on her 5 year investment." LOL!

too bad we're still friends. I guess her plan didn't work as well as she thought HAHAHA!

Traci aka Lola (Rochester NY portrait photographer)

So I have known Traci literally for years. However, we only became friends about a year ago. We both belonged to the same community group that met weekly and were also taking a gym class at community college with the same teacher.

I seriously love this girl. I am super comfortable around her, so I asked if I could take her pictures just so that I could scout out cool new places and not feel under pressure.



We trekked up to downtown Roc and took these along East mostly. There are a TON of awesome spots up there!





I think my very favorite part about shooting her was that she is an amazing poser. I have a hard time giving direction as far as posing goes. I usually want people to look more "natural" than posed, so I hesitate to give too much direction as I want them to be comfortable. However, every single time she heard the shutter she changed position or facial expression. It was amazing! All I had to do was keep taking pictures! ... maybe I should hire her to come along with me and get other people to do the same ;)


If anyone is interested in doing pics like these in a more urban setting, email me at contact@amandaslakesphotography.com!