Monday, April 27, 2009

The Great Outdoors

I love being outside. Unfortunately my fair skin and the sun do not get along. At all. Thank goodness for sunscreen though. Without it, I would not have been able to enjoy the sunny day at Talladega yesterday.

And so my love for the outdoors means I'm quite excited that we have all of this land on which to take pictures around the studio. Jonathan is doing some awesome work as our new "groundskeeper", making sure everywhere you go is like one very gorgeous backdrop.

Since there are some who have not had the pleasure of experiencing our wonderful new space, Beth and I thought we would have some fun in order to show them what they are missing. So here's a few shots we took of each other and our area last week after we had our makeup done by Christina.







Thanks to Jonathan for taking some images of the both of us!


To see more of our outdoor space, watch the slideshow!

Happy Monday!
~jess

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Christina Kazadzis: Touch of Color Airbrush Makeup Artistry

Last year I had the honor of being a bridesmaid in my friend Laurie's wedding. We were given the option of having airbrush makeup and/or our hair done the day of the wedding, and of course we all chose to let the professionals make us over for the day (and actually those two items became part of our bridal party gifts, which I thought was totally awesome as I'm all about practical gift-giving). In the end, we all had some gorgeous hair and makeup, but it wasn't airbrush makeup as I had thought.

So you can imagine that I was totally stoked (wow, haven't used that word in ages) when Beth told me we were going to have an airbrush makeup session with the fabulous Christina Kazadzis of Touch of Color. Christina recently relocated here from California and I'm glad we have her here in Atlanta.



For anyone out there thinking of airbrush makeup...it's totally worth it. I'm not blessed with good skin, but Christina knew what she was doing and managed to cover up all of my imperfections. I'm also not a very girly girl...I like to wear jeans, t-shirts and comfy sneakers. I don't like to wear a lot of makeup, and I hate having that heavy, cakey feeling on my face. Airbrush makeup is my new friend though, my skin looked good and I didn't feel like I was wearing a lot of makeup. The one word I have to sum up the experience: fantabulous.


Afterwards, Beth and I had our own photo session around the new outdoor studio space. I'm not quite done going through those images yet, as it's been a very hectic day here, so stay tuned for more!

~jess

Friday, April 24, 2009

5 good things

I haven't done my 5 good things in awhile, so here they are...

    5 good things:
  1. Warm weather...never mind the fact that it went straight from not-quite spring feeling to warm and sticky...it's nice to not be cold
  2. Airbrush makeup
  3. The upcoming weekend
  4. Spending time with my sister before she moves to Nashville
  5. Having dinner with a friend I haven't seen in at least 4 years



Speaking of good thing #2, Beth and I had an airbrush makeup session this A.M. with the fabulous Christina Kazadzis of Touch of Color Airbrush Makeup Artistry. It was my first experience with airbrush makeup, and I must say I am now definitely a fan. There will be more to come on Christina and her awesome service, but for now I leave you with an image taken after the makeup session.



Happy Friday! :-)
~jess

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Botanical Gardens in Historic Norcross




Pat and Beverly Eidt have been enjoying Historic Norcross for many years now. Both community leaders they are active in our Norcross Neighbors Association, Corners 2 Crossing Race and countless many other events that make our town an awesome place to live.

When Bev called us to photograph her family in her backyard, we were very excited. As well as working tirelessly as co-founder of the Norcross Tour of Homes, Bev has transformed her backyard into an amazing garden of walkways, lush green plants, blooms galore and places to sit to enjoy it all.

To photograph the joy of family in the midst of all of the green splendor of Spring was a wonderful request!



How cool is this building as a backdrop?

Enjoying a road less travelled...

Monday, April 20, 2009

Jared: Senior

Jared came to the studio last week for some senior portraits. He and Beth roamed around the property here at the studio, getting some really great shots.


The old car is always a favorite of mine..















~jess

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Amanda, Miguel, Michael, David: No Matter When

Ok, once again, I've been a real slacker in the blogging department. It seems like ever since I got back from vacation I just haven't been able to get back into my routine. Of course this week has been all kinds of crazy what with the tree falling outside the studio, taking some power lines down with it on Monday, completely interrupting the entire workday (btw, this is the 3rd tree in the past 5 months that has fallen near me...I think the trees are trying to tell me something). And it seems once Monday is messed up, so is the rest of the week. :-P

Anyways, this lovely family came into the studio a couple of weeks ago and they came away with a lot of great images. It was hard to narrow down the ones I wanted to post here, but I think I've got a good selection to share.


A cute shot of some brotherly love




This is my favorite...I love his eyes...


I adore silliness, so I had to make a collage with these images.


Another thing I adore: laughter.


Hope everyone has a fantabulous weekend!
~jess

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Thomas stops by to help...





Jess and I had been discussing some cute new ways to pose babies yesterday. So... when Jaime and Thomas stopped by I took the opportunity to put a new idea in practice. Thomas LOVED it. Sorry my blog doesn't have sound - or you would hear giggling and cooing aplenty!
Our photo shoot turned into Hide and Seek for Thomas.






















He finally realized his mom was holding the blanket up and he thought that was HILARIOUS!







This was a FUN photoshoot! ~ beth

Friday, April 10, 2009

Sheri & Bill: Engagement

Sheri and Bill were in for their engagement session a few weeks ago. Beth took them to the Chattahoochee River to have some fun, and came away with some wonderful images.








This is one of my favorites. I adore laughing shots...there's just something so real and joyful about them.






and because it's Friday:

    5 good things:
  1. Being able to spend time with my friends this week
  2. Chocolate (I splurged and had a Chick-fil-A brownie today....so yummy)
  3. Being busy
  4. Reformatting the hard drive on my computer here at the studio
  5. Wisteria


Happy Friday everyone!
~jess

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Amy & Buff: Engagement

The good news: we've been so busy lately that my desk isn't big enough to hold all of the things I have to do.

The bad news: my desk isn't big enough to hold all of the things I need to do, and I've been a real slacker when it comes to blogging.

I have quite a few sessions to blog about, but here is the one I promised to show the other day.

Amy and Buff are getting married in October. They were here a couple of weeks ago for their engagement session. Beth took them to the river and got lots of cute shots, then brought them back here for some more fun shots on our property. All in all it was a great session and their images turned out beautifully.


I love this series:









The old car is definitely my favorite :-)




Amy and Buff could not be any sweeter and I'm really looking forward to seeing the images from their wedding!

If you'd like to see more of their engagement session, watch the slideshow!

~jess

Friday, April 3, 2009

5 good things

It's Friday...yipee! (nevermind that it's not the beginning of our weekend as we have a busy day in the studio tomorrow :-P)

And since it's Friday:
    5 good things:
  1. The rain washing the pollen off my car, if only for a couple of days
  2. Twitter! Yes, I've been sucked into the Twitter craze...
  3. Live oaks w/ Spanish moss
  4. Tuesday's game night with a good friend
  5. The scrapbook paper aisle @ Hobby Lobby


Here's a peek at an engagement session I'll be blogging about tomorrow...enjoy!



~jess