Gainesville, Florida - August 25-26, 2006

Eric and I went on a short vacation to Gainesville and Orlando. These pictures were all taken with my little Sony point-and-shoot (P&S) that I travel with.

These are from the lake on the University of Florida campus. I was freaked out by the baby gator and all the mosquitos, so we didn't stay out too long. Apparently, where there is a baby, the momma is also nearby.

We also visited the Florida Museum of Natural History which has a totally awesome Butterfly Rainforest. It's a fairly large space packed with hundreds of butterflies. There was one lady walking around the whole time with a large butterfly that had landed on her butt :)

Brett and Will - July 3, 2006

It was my privilege to attend Brett and Will's beautiful wedding. I loved all the attention that was paid to details. And Vintage Villas is absolutely gorgeous. I think these images are an improvement over the first two weddings. I was more familiar with the camera this time, and paid better attention to lighting. Hopefully I keep getting better and better! Congratulations Brett and Will!



The white fabric in the foreground is Brett's wedding gown, and the background is actually the suite where Brett got ready, and where the newlyweds spent the night. I thought it was a neat picture!





This is my very favorite picture of this group. The professional photographer told Will to dip Brett, which made Brett's dad roll his eyes and groan. He continued to watch with interest though. I was hoping to get more of his face into the shot, but someone was standing next to me and I couldn't very well shove them out of the way :)

Erika and Joe - April 29, 2007

Erika and Joe's wedding was an absolute blast, and yet another learning experience. I did get a lot of better pictures this time around, but had some lighting issues again. I didn't get an opportunity for ceremony pictures because I couldn't get a good seat near the front and I could barely see. The first two pictures here are in full sunlight, so I should have used a faster shutter speed and fill flash. Even the professional photographer had issues with the bright sun and dark shadows. I have some very cute pictures of Erika and Joe walking in the shade, but I think they are too dark, darn bright sun and dark shadows! Overall, I was pretty pleased.

Immediately following, I received the following comments:

"What a sweetheart you are to share your photos. Mike and I had fun looking at them last night, and we'll be sure to pass them on. We were particularly tickled to see the pictures of Mike's mom and dad dancing--I'm not sure you realized that the couple who 'won' the anniversary dance was Joe's grandma and grandpa, but you got some great shots of them. I also loved the action shot of Steve and Clay going for the garter--you caught a great moment there." -Joe's mom

"I was just thinking about whether or not I had written you since we got back and everything, and I don't think we did---I wanted to THANK YOU SO MUCH! for the pictures you sent over email. We love the album...Joe's mom got it too and passed it along to members of the family up there in Nebraska, as I'm sure my mom did the same here. You got some great candid shots and really nice ones of the chapel, too. Perhaps you've missed your true calling! :) ... I apologize for being so tardy in my reply---but we absolutely love the pictures, and we've gotten so many compliments about them already! Much love, Erika =) "

A few months later, I received this note:

"Thank you so much for being part of our special day! We were so glad that you were able to come ... And secondly, thank you for all the beautiful pictures - you truly have a good eye, and some of those pictures even the [official] photographer didn't get!" -Erika

"Indeed, thank you for the amazing photos - many were better than the 'official' photographer's shots! And a big thank you for coming to the wedding - it was great to have you there!" -Joe

Jenna and Jason - March 4, 2006

This is the very first wedding that I took pictures of. I learned a lot that day about flash and lighting, which is why you don't see many pictures here! Flash was not allowed during the ceremony so I should have turned up the ISO, but wasn't smart enough to do that. And then it was really dark at the reception and my flash wasn't powerful enough to compensate. Here are a few from the reception that I found to be decent:

Grand Opening

I am starting a blog specifically focusing on photography and the pictures that I take. The old one will still be functional, but the focus will be more personal. I'm sure that nobody here wants to hear about research, graduate school, and my dirty laundry :) Everything that I show here is going to be unedited as I still have not mastered Photoshop, but I will be sure to announce when I do.