the laura kay blog »

i know most photographers talk about how difficult photographing their own kids can be. my kids are so used to me having a camera in hand and they usually hate it when i try and put them some where cool for a few shots. mostly they just act silly. they do great with lifestyle type shots, but sometimes i just want to play and shoot them somewhere cool. so today i was out with josh, the kids and his parents that are in town. we went all over DC and then we stopped by the scrap metal bins over at the airfield at josh’s work. i decided after looking at this cool thing I wanted to get the kids out and try and play with my new 5d2. anyone that has shot with me before knows i love crazy weird places to shoot that most people think are ugly and strange. but i love it and it is my “thing”. so these are a few fun shots i got of them. it got me thinking. really, should i expect sweet little innocent shots of them all the time when they are not always that? just thinking out loud. so here are some fun shots of kate and will. and this is them acting just like them. perfect i think!

so i am so loving my new lens! this is so fun and i can’t wait until next weekend at jennifer and lloyd’s wedding to do some detail and ring shots! i can’t believe i thought i would never want a macro lens. i was so wrong and i am thinking this might be one of my fav lenses i have now!!! wow!!! i sooo love details and details of details is crazy fun!

this has been an amazing year! i have amazing family and friends and amazing clients that are now friends. thank you everyone for reading my blog this year. i know there was a lot of down time this summer while we moved from Texas up here to Virginia. i hope to blog another exciting year in 2009. i hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!

the jacobsen’s are good friends of ours here in northern virginia. we met over the summer just after we moved here. they are from corpus christi texas so being texans and all we were automatic friends. these are stacy and joey’s  two sweet girls paige and hailee. last saturday they came over for dinner and we went out for 10 minutes in the freezing cold to take some quick pictures just for fun. it was past my normal point of sun setting picture taking. BUT with my new camera it was ok. i would normally not shoot portraits at 800 ISO but i did and it amazed me. this was shot jpeg with the mark ll 5D with the 24-70  lens. aperture at 3.5 and shutter speed of 1/125.  i love my new camera. 

last week i had the opportunity to shoot erin’s (of erin j photography) maternity pictures. gosh i can’t even remember the last maternity shoot i did it was 2 or 3 years ago. so anyhow this was fun!! i shot with another great photographer here in the area that we go to girls photographer dinners with. rashmi pappau photography is great and it is fun to see how we shot the same thing and got different shots and looks. erin was such a trooper putting up with two of us! she has the most perfect little belly. her daughter haley jumped in and out of a few and those ended up being my favorites. this was my first shoot with my new mark ll 5D (aka 5D2) and this was also the only shoot i have ever shot in jpeg. i didn’t really have an option since this camera is so stinking new my software has not come out with updates to support the raw files. but i must say there is no difference in shooting raw and jpeg for me. i get the images right out of the camera so i don’t need the security of the raw info. something to think about. so i am loving this 21.1 megapixel and the higher ISO! wow! calling b&h every morning when they opened paid off to get to be one of the firsts to get this baby!

nat and ka-loon were married on a cold rainy sunday at white hall manor in bluemont virginia. despite the weather this was such a fun wedding. nat and ka-loon are so fun to be around they are always being silly together. nat is from Australia and her family came to virginia for the wedding. all three of her sisters were her bridesmaids. during the toasts they wrote and sang a song to nat. it was there own version of westside story’s America teasing her about meeting a boy in america. ka-loon was nat’s boy from new york. they are so cute and sweet to each other. we went out and took pictures after the ceremony in the dark cold rain. nat must have been freezing since it was 35 degrees but we got some really great pictures! nat had so many unique little details for the day. i loved her shoes and the designs inside, the place card board with all of the guests pictures on it. how cool is that?! i also loved how many people had cameras at this wedding. i mean normally several people have cameras but this wedding took the cake! there were flashes all over the place and during the reception they were walking around taking pics too. so funny! luckily it did not interfere with mine and lisa’s shots. oh ya i almost forgot to mention lisa flew up from Houston for this wedding! we are going to try and make that happen for every wedding! also tim and talida were there from NYC! it was so good to see them. congrats nat and ka-loon, thanks for being so wonderful!

            click here to see the slideshow.

jeanie and chris were married at the wortham in downtown houston. it was fun being back home in houston again for a wedding. i especially loved the 70 degree weather. everything about jeanie and chris’s wedding was beautiful and i loved the unique setting of the wortham, home of the houston ballet and opera. the dressing room was so fun and i really liked the movie star feel of the lights. natalie dawley with two be wed’s plan happy coordinated the day and everything went perfectly. i love showing up to a wedding where i know without a doubt the coordinator is amazing and will have everything under control. perfect face did the make up, stems by holly made all for the beautiful flower arrangements. I must say my favorite thing about the decor was the cherry blossom cake. macauley did an amazing job and i was so excited to hear she was doing the cake. cakes by macauley is my favorite cake maker in houston. she wowed everyone with this stunning cake. it even had it’s own speciality lighting. jeanie and chris were awesome and up for anything when it came time for pictures of just them. we hung out in the parking garage, walked a bit around downtown then we got to take pictures on stage! it was so cool being back stage and just being in the wortham was an honor. jeanie and chris kept the party going and danced all night long. at one point i noticed chris was loving the cake so much he was out on the dance floor holding his plate and still taking bites. to end it all they left in a super cool lotus! this was an amazing wedding. 

so today was my lucky day! i got to ride in an army black hawk and flew all over DC tour guide style. josh’s unit here dose a spouse fly day each year. that is awesome because i didn’t think i would ever get to fly in one much less get a tour of DC! i think josh has such a cool job as a black hawk pilot! he is actually an instructor pilot now. sorry had to brag on him. i am so proud! so anyway, i am not an aerial by any means and the black hawk is quite bumpy but here are a few of my favs from today. enjoy!

national cathedral. amazing!!! now i just want to shoot a wedding there! 

good old 95

fort washington in maryland

look how low we got to fly by the capitol!!!

the bottom of the washington monument and the white house. look the christmas tree is up!

the memorial bridge

arlington national cemetery

the watergate hotel correction: georgetown water front…thanks emily!

not sure where this is but in between tysons and 95 i’m pretty sure. 

jeanie and chris were married last weekend but i shot her bridals for her in Houston last month. jeanie and chris’s wedding was amazing and i can’t wait to get to work on that but for now here are her amazing bridal images. she is so stunning, i love her flawless skin and she is wearing the most stunning dress. jeanie is a pleasure to photograph. her dress is from casa de novia in houston and her flowers were done by stems by holly. it has been a while since i have done a bridal session and this one was amazing! i wonder if bridal session are becoming less popular, going to make a come back or maybe just more of a southern thing.

i hope all of you have a happy thanksgiving! we are staying in DC and cooking for the first time ever! i hope i can make it somewhat like my mom and mama. also josh was in iraq the last two thanksgivings so we are really just thankful to all four be together this year. 

i had a fun weekend in houston shooting jeanie and chris’s wedding! it was fun being home and eating so much mexican food! kate and will went camping with my parents for a night and josh went on a manly hunting trip with all of the boys from his side of the family. poor bambi. anyhow i have some pictures to share. here are two recent albums that came in. i realized i have not blogged about albums ever. here is a 10X10 dark brown and an 8X10 black. carley picked white lettering and laura chose blind emboss. the white photographs better but i typically like the blind the best. these are the two most popular color albums. i love getting a little funky and upgrading the covers like one of my albums that is solar yellow with black lizard spine and photo on the cover. albums are so fun!