One on One Session: With Alison + Sweet Bridal Portraits

Last week I got a chance to spend an evening with a new friend and an old friend,  sharing two things I'm passionate about, photography and weddings.

{my model and friend Meghan, myself, and my new friend Alison}

Two weeks ago I received a sweet email from budding photographer Alison. She's got quite the porfolio and so much talent, as you can see on her sweet blog. She contacted me for a one on one session because she wants to start shooting weddings, which I'm certain she'll be great at. So we set up our session for just the two of us, but then I wanted to go even further and I wanted her to practice working with a bride. 

Two days before our session I asked around if any one was free or even interested to model for us with their wedding dress, thankfully it worked out that my darling friend Meghan could. 

Here's some photos from our shoot.

I love, love, love Meghan's ring!

Alison handled herself like a pro I'm dying to see the images she took.

The three of us had a blast talking while shooting. Alison was actually refered to me by one of my friends, who is also one of Meghan's college friends {Thank you Joanna!}. Sharing friends is always fun. And the more Alison and Meghan got talking the more they had in common, like Cru and mutual friends in the ministry. The world seems to get smaller the older you get.

Another thing the three of us couldn't stop talking about is weddings {not just photographing weddings}. Alison is also engaged and is a little over a month away from her wedding. YAY! If you put two engaged girls in a room together wedding talk could go on forever. The conversation gets even more interesting with a newly wedding near by, with her wedding dress in hand and wedding stories galor. We could have talked all night.

 Meg, you are gorgeous my friend!

The rest of the evening was spent talking, eating, laughing, fellowshipping and learning. It couldn't have been a better Thursday night. It was a blast spending time with Alison and getting to know another sweet photographer who shares the same faith,  the same love for rustic beauty, who also has a sweet spot for young, fun love. But more importantly it's always a treat to gain a new friend. Alison you're going to be great, and I know your calendar is going to fill up faster than you think! I'm so excited for you and I know God has much in store for you. Happy wedding planning, you're almost there!!!!

A big thanks again goes out to Meg, you're such a doll for modeling for us!

Hope everyone is having a great week!

One-on-One Session: Two>One

Another pair of brave souls came to do a one on one session with me,

hungry to learn more about photography, ready for fun galor.

Meet Divya and Renee.

These two best friends were so much fun. Their smiles were contagious,

their styles yummazing and it felt like meeting old friends for the first time.

We talked, and laughed, learned and shared all our photography stories and knowledge and also ate a nice and early breakfast {they brought their appetites, I loved that}. Then we finished the learning I took the girls outside to practice all they learned. They were pretty amazing in front and behind the camera.

*Thanks for this shot Divya.

Divya you're gonna be a rock star!

These two are serious knockouts.

Then they turned their cameras on me

And they did quite well, they made me comfortable in font of the camera and kept making me smile.

{Please excuse the frizz called my hair ... haha}

Oh you two were all kinds of amazing.

I'm so thankful and blessed to have had such a fun session with these girls.

Teaser: Another Happy One-on-One Session

A lovely warm Monday spent sharing more photography with my new friend Adeline. Fun, fun, fun.

And we had cupcakes.

YAY!

Happy Monday!!

Teaser: One-on-One Session {Round 2}

Score! Over the weekend I got to once again spend a beautiful morning sharing

 what I know and love about photography with two more willing hearts for my second round of 1{2} on 1 sessions

Meet my new friends Divya and Renee. Our time together was beyond belief amazing and I'm glad these best friends came together. Can I just say these two are gorgeous and also talented.

They got me in front of the camera to test out their new skills, 

and by golly they made me blush they are so good.

More is on it's way,  sooo excited to share!

Happy Mondaying!

One-on-One Session: The First

Last month I hosted my first official One-on-One session ... that in actuality ended up being a 3-on-1 session with three wonderful women, It was amazing.

I must admit I was quite nervous before the ladies arrived and hardly knew what to expect, but above all I was excited. Excited to share what I know and love about photography, excited to pass on knowledge I have gained, and practiced over the years with my little camera or knowledge that was gracioiusly passed down to me, and of course I was excited to go on this new adventure with three willing hearts. 

I was thrilled to have just one person contact me about about my one-on-one sessions, having 3 ladies come out was more than I dreamed of. I'll be the first to say that I don't know everything nor am I the most eloquent of teachers {I stumble over my words ... and it only gets worse when I'm nervous}, but I do love to learn. Note I said learn, not teach. 

If I can give of myself and help teach all that I have learned to those that are willing, then all my learning can hopefully turn into someone else's learning and so on and so forth. A little lady who I now call my friend showed me just how that worked, Kristen Leigh turned my whole photography world upside down in just one week by opening up her home and her heart by teaching all that she could to me, and my friends Jessica and Julia.  Though I can't give up an entire week to do what Kristen did for me, I can definitely give up a few hours here and there to do the same for other. My mama taught me that sharing is caring, hopefully this makes her proud.

Any ways our time together was short but jam packed with learning, sharing, shooting, laughing and eating ... and we did it all in just 3 hours but I'm sure we could have gone on for days. I taught/re-taught these ladies how to shoot manual and get off of auto and they did quite well. Considering shooting manual is basically math + lighting+ problem solving skills + lots of lots of buttons. They were champs I tell you, and they kept me on my toes with questions and scenarios galor. Let me introduce them to you.

This is Jen, the brave one. 

Jill was the first to inquire about my one-on-one session just hours after I posted it on my blog. I won't ever forget the feeling I had when I saw her email sitting in my inbox, I think I had butterflies and was thankful for just one reply {those a few followed after}. Thank you again Jill for being brave with me. Jill has a beautiful family and has one sweet little blog: Our Daily Big Top, go check it out.

Jill was the second brave soul, who thankfully Jen invited to come along turning a 1 on 1 into a 2 on 1. More is always merrier I think, and it was a treat to have another beautiful mother to fill the room with her wonderful smile. Watch out because these two beautiful soccer moms are now budding paparazzi on that soccer field, they are proud of their kidos and love taking pictures of them.

Lastly we have Emily. A friend who was in town for the week from Connecticut and wanted to sit in on our session. Though I must say Emily already knows a ton about photography herself, and has pictures from studying abroad in Europe that make me want to cry they're so pretty. Cross your fingers friends, because this pretty lady will hopefully be a VA/DC girl via work in the coming months ... and maybe we can find her  Mr. Perfect/the next Mr. President to sweep her off her feet like every girl deserves.

Most of our day was spent in my dinning room willing our brains with more and more information, but I made sure that we also filled tummies with goodness too. Thanks mom for preparing our lunch, I couldn't have done it without you!

So there you have it folks. My very first one on one session went off without a hitch, and I too learned alot from out time together. I didn't know how much fun this would be and I'm happy to say that one on one sessions are here to stay, and I'll be meeting with two new wonderful ladies again this weekend for some more one on one fun!!!

Jill, Jen and Emily thanks for spending the day with me and allowing me to share all that I could!

***If you're interested in your own one-on-one session please email me at ica.images@gmail.com

One-On-One Session: Let's get this started!!!!

Hello friends!

I've got some awesome news! So Wednesday this week I had an opportunity to sit down with a friend of mine/ fellow photographer and talk about life, photography and business.

Her name is Tina Leu and she graduated from George Mason University a few years ago studying photography. She's an fabulous photographer, see for yourself here or here. And she's also an ammmmazing dancer {My kindda gal!} I've been watching her dance for years ... wishing I had her moves.

Well anyways over a bowl of soup and sandwiches we caught up on each other's lives, sharing stories, laughing, eating and laughing some more. Then we got to the good stuff. The reason for getting together; photography.

It all came down to this. A few years ago I was in the same shoes as Tina, in love with photography but lost in how to make it more than just a passion. So I did an internship with the lovely Kristen Leigh, who sharpened me as a photographer and changed my business for the better. Tina came to me to almost do the same, she sit down and asked the questions I once had myself. And a few years of experience since I was able to share what I know and the lessons I too have learned.

Sooo what? Well I'm not ending this here. This is just the start of something sooo good and I want to offer up sessions this March for anyone who's interested. Here's the info below and if you too want in on the fun email me at ica.images@gmail.com and I'll see you on a wonderful Wednesday next month!

YAY! Ok friends Happy Weekend and hope to meet some lovely new faces through this!

***EDIT: Date's already booked March 23rd