Trip to Virginia Part II

Thursday

Well, we had a huge promotion in the family this past week, guys!  Aunt Rita was just promoted to Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) with the United States Army!  The promotion ceremony was in The Pentagon and I tell you what, I felt like I was doing something wrong every second I was there!  I was even walking down the halls feeling like I wasn't doing it right!  It was truly a once in a lifetime opportunity to be inside of The Pentagon.  Maybe I'll be able to go back one day.  Anyway, Aunt Rita has been in service for almost 17 years and is still kicking it and doing well.  I couldn't be more proud of her for her accomplishments over the years.  Now we're just sitting back and waiting to see if she will pursue a Colonel position in the near future *inserts winky face emoji*.

Saturday

Saturday rolls around and I took off to the old stomping grounds of Harrisonburg, VA.  There, I met up with my best friend, Sarina.  We invited Tenisha (Teeni) to do a photoshoot with us in the blistering cold because, why not?  We probably spent about 20 minutes in each location and ran back to the car because it was just too cold for this Texan to take in one day.  After the shoot, I was pretty blown away at how we were able to make Harrisonburg not look like Harrisonburg.  It low-key felt like we were out west somewhere.  New Mexico?  Anybody see it? Maybe it's just me.

Sunday

Just like my last VA visit, I went to Divine Unite Community Church (DUCC) and worshipped with my spiritual family.  There was nothing better than seeing all of my good friends, hear good music, worship, and even have a jam session after service!  My dad came up and experienced his first service at DUCC as well.  It was good for him to finally put names to faces as I am always talking about DUCC. Every time I come back, the worship team asks if I'm going to be moving back.  I'm always super hesitant to answer because if the Lord wants it to happen then it will happen.  However, the inside of me is screaming, "PACK UP AND GO!"

Later on Sunday, I was able to meet up with some of my other good friends, Steele, Alice, and Cedar to do a quick family session in Purcell Park.  It's so wild to me that Cedar was literally so small before I left from Harrisonburg last November.  Now, Cedar is getting big and is talking!  Crazy how quickly kids grow up.  After the photoshoot, we went to eat our family dinner together and catch up on each other's lives.

Monday

Well, Monday was my last day of being in Harrisonburg but I couldn't leave until I did a shoot with my homie Caleb and his wife.  We met up at Purcell Park around 7 in the morning to do a quick shoot and it was awesome!  Yeah, it was cold but I sucked it up for these photos!

Before leaving Harrisonburg, I had to run over to EMU to see Scott and my former EMU professors.  It was super nostalgic to be back on campus for a few moments to see everyone.  Even more nostalgic to be hearing some wisdom from Jerry Holsopple.  He continually says things that makes me really rethink how I'm doing things in life.  I think those words of wisdom is what pushes me to see things in a different perspective.  I've always appreciated that.  Good times.  Let's close this thing out!

Overall, a good trip.  My "vacation" turned into me taking a bunch of photos and running around VA like a chicken with no head but I can't complain.  It was a great time to be around friends and family knowing that everyone was in good health and doing well.  Keep living well.  I love y'all!

Dallas in October

Fredy and I finally got back together to shoot after over a month of planning and failed attempts because... well... life.  We met up with Arthur yesterday and set out to take some photos.  

We set out and walked all over downtown to see what we could create and I'm super happy about the shots that I got.  We made a pit stop at Carmines, a New York Style pizza joint, where you can converse, laugh, eat good food, and look outside the window and see two Fisker vehicles like it's just a normal day in the neighborhood.  By the way, anybody visiting Dallas should stop by Carmines because the Philly Cheesesteak is absolutely amazing!

Also, I'm planning on taking a trip to Cali towards the end of this year so if you've ever been, let me know what places to check out!

Gabrielle

Gabrielle and I have been trying to do a shoot for a while now.  The day finally came yesterday after both of us had some free time after work.  We hit one of the trails in Dallas for a quick shoot and I must say that I am very pleased with how the images turned out.

Also, if anybody wants to send some fall weather to Texas, let me know!  It's still in the 90s out here during the day!  Keep your eyes open on shoots coming in the next month or so.  Looking to have some fun things to photograph and great people to work with.

Homecoming 2017

It's that time of year again!  Seeing this high schoolers definitely takes me back to my glorious high school days.  I will say that our Homecomings back in Virginia were nothing like they are out here in Texas!  Back in the day we used to have the Homecoming dance after the football game and everybody got there all stinky and "smelling like outside."

This shoot was one to remember though.  I was super excited when my friend Kelsey hit me up to see if I could photograph her sister and friends for homecoming.  I accepted with no questions asked and when you have a group of high schoolers that dress to kill, these are the results!  Thanks for allowing me to photograph your special day, guys!  I hope you had a fun and safe night of dancing!

Surprise Engagement

Love is in the air, y'all!  I got to shoot my first mini engagement shoot yesterday at the Dallas Arboretum.  With Hurricane Harvey a little over 4 hours south of us, we still managed to get a little shoot done.  We did get caught in the rain several times so we pretty much just gave up trying to shoot after a while.

So here's the backstory.  Carl hit me up last week saying that he was going to propose to his girlfriend and wanted it to be a surprise.  I happily agreed to do it since I've never had to shoot a surprise engagement!  When I arrived at the arboretum and met up with Carl so we could plan where we were going to get the perfect shot.  After about five minute of setting things up, we set out on our mission to get the engagement rolling.

I had to put my 007 spy gear on for this one.  It was hard to follow Carl and Kierra without looking like a creep.  It was interesting because a lot of people gave me weird looks but I kept thinking to myself, "obviously I'm following a couple for an engagement shoot."  I had this huge 70-200mm lens strapped to my camera (still got weird looks) and was constantly giving a thumbs up to let Carl know that I was set and ready to go.  We sat in one spot for about 10 minutes but because there were so many people, Carl made the wise decision to move to another spot.  Who knew the arboretum had so many people come through on a Sunday afternoon?

Finally, the moment was right.  Carl sent me a quick text saying that we were at a good spot.  I hid behind a bush here and caught the beautiful moment!  Right before he knelt down, there was literally nobody around.  By the end of it, there was literally a crowd full of people behind me and behind Carl and Kierra, clapping and congratulating them.  As the photographer, it was quite a rush.  I'm sure Carl had some weak knees for a moment as well but he pushed through and is now going to have to help plan a wedding!

Thanks, Carl for allowing me capture the beginning of the next chapter of your life!