Helpful:

slightly blurry, but still a great illustration.

this wedding would have been impossible without her super extendo flash holding arm.

Don’t be fooled, she’s holding the bride and groom’s cherry limeades, not vacationing in Florida.

Silly: I guess it deserves mention that I am the one photo boothing-it-up with her in these. I mean, if you set the whole thing up, it’s totally worth it to have the experience!

and finally, enjoy some of the shots she’s taken as an assistant and with her own company: Julie Lauren Photo

Thank you Julie for all you did this summer, I’m so proud of you & can’t wait to see what the Lord does with your company!

Follow Julie on Twitter

Visit her website

Collin & River’s Indiana Wedding

Steve & Breanne’s lovely Lynchburg wedding & Trivium reception

John and Kristen’s Barren Ridge Vineyard wedding

Kent & Alisha’s Roanoke wedding & rooftop celebration

Solomon & Angi’s Avanel wedding

& their wedding photo booth

Emily’s bridal portraits

Daniel & Emily’s challenging & rewarding Phenix, VA wedding

and finally, the icing on the cake, all the way in Alaska!

Lane and Jenna’s engagement session

and Inn at Tern Lake wedding in the rain

Do you feel tired yet? haha. We so look forward to sharing about these events with you!

A normal day: I get there early and we play.

Then, when he gets a little grumpy he crawls up to me and this means its time to eat.

I mean really, look at that face!

Part of the reason I can’t eat bananas like I used to.

Then we get down and do some crawling.

We do this until we get grumpy again and then it’s time for lunch.

I promise, he’s teething, I’m not torturing him but just look at that expression. Have you ever sen anything so sad?

George ( a throwback from his dad’s time) keeps us company.

But the truth is, Ezra is a messy eater.

So somtimes lunch time is also followed by bath time.

Which is followed by nap time.

Nap time is very helpful for renewing.

Just one standard, 1 year photo session shot. Which is now hanging on my fridge.

I’m sure it won’t be long until he can crawl up in that chair all by himself, but until then, I’m thankful I get to be there to help!

Supplies: Monogram letter ($2.50 at ACMoore), ribbon ($1.50 at ACMoore), hot glue gun, one glue stick, recycle fabric (old shirt ruined by a rogue post-it note in this case).

Step 1: Draw two different sized circles on the fabric, these are about an 1.25 in & .75 in. Cut out.

Step 2: Place smaller circles inside larger circles.

Step 3: Pinch together, add glue to desired location on monogram.

Step 4: Place the “point” of the flower into glue, then twist the flower in the glue to desired shape.

Step 5: Cut ribbon to desired length, apply to back of monogram with hot glue.

Step 6: Install! This one lives on our front door and it makes me smile each time I walk in!

My, oh, my, how I was LOVING this vehicle!

See the picture below: a groom tearing up as he waits for his bride. Well, it was beyond welling, for both of them! Full on tears from start to finish. Emily’s started before the wedding when she accepted a phone call from him and through a tear smile relayed to her bridesmaids, “He’s just so good to me.”

The mist turned into a drizzle but I really don’t think Emily or Michael had a clue. They were pretty wrapped up in each other. It was just lovely.

It was beautiful and brief and then just like that they were husband and wife!

There weren’t many tears after that, just big joyful smiles.

Props to my intern Julie who lined this shot up!

Just a few horses in a pasture with mist rising up off of it, no big deal!

Loved their moms who held hands several times and celebrated God’s goodness together.

a sparkling exit

in the classic car

so classy. Thanks for letting me be a part of your celebration Emily & Michael It was such a pleasure to be there!

Between lots of laughing & comments about hairspray we talked about our families, challenges of married life and what we hoped God would do with our lives. It was like being with old friends! So, please feast your eyes on S. Carter Studios first ever sunrise engagement session! Seriously, leave them some love for being this good looking at 6:30 am.

If you found yourself driving over the overpass into Lynchburg and wondering who those crazy people on the side of the road were taking pictures, well, proudly I’ll answer, it was US. I think they’d agree it was totally worth it.

After a quick outfit change (which was clever to pull off at 7:30 am in Lynchburg) we were back in action at a more relaxed location.

one of my VERY favorites!

Bling, Bling.

We went down by the water and I asked them to just go and have fun, this is what I got in return lol

Take a look at the slideshow for more photos from this awesome session!

Devin & Katelyn – Engagement Session from sabrena deal on Vimeo.

It was such a pleasure to spend time with you guys. Thanks for letting me celebrate with you!

This one taken in Mystic Connecticut (thanks for the extra day Jen & Matt)

This one of our little house of love taken during storm 2 of Snowpacolypse 09-10

This one taken to show texture and in celebration of a trip to Georgia to see our family.

Fireworks last 4th of July.

Virginia Tech monument to those who were killed April 2007.

So what are the things I love about this camera? Well, it has facial recognition, image stabilization, 4X optical zoom, video capabilities, 10 megapixels (really anything over 6 on a pocket cam is just silly), selective color shooting (picking only blues to show in color and everything else in gray scale , etc) and a sweet 3 in LCD screen & can go up to ISO3200.  Another reason that I love it is that it’s resiliant. I’ve had the camera for 2.5 years and in that time it’s travel all along the eastern coast as well as down to Brazil where it took the photo below.

The battery life on this thing is incredible, if I used it daily, I would only need to recharge it once a month! I don’t use it every day so I recharge it about every 2 to 3 months. Now, for the best reason of all: one day it took a swim inside my purse. Let me explain, I carry water bottles around with me. One particularly sad day my water bottle tipped over. This wouldn’t be a problem except that I’d forgotten to properly screw the top on and it flooded my purse. You can imagine my distress as I fished my wallet, iPod, cell phone and camera out of the bag. Even after being submerged & then left alone to dry for three days in a bag of rice, this little camera just keeps on kicking! We had actually bought a new one and took it back once Frankenshot was resurrected!

I haven’t seen them in Best Buy (which is where I originally purchased mine) but here’s a link to a few you can purchase from Amazon.com! They come in silver or gold, but do yourself a favor and get the silver! It was a graduation gift to myself but was also the camera we took on our honeymoon. I promise you won’t regret it if you go with any of the Powershot cameras.

So, here’s one final picture, taken recently (months after the disaster) of me and our new intern Julie, she’s the cute blonde one, lol!

Courtney didn’t wear shoes at any point of the session which turns out is how she normally rolls and usually Nathan doesn’t either so we had him take them off. I  love this image, it just makes me think, “All you need is love.”

Congratulations you crazy kids, I think you’ve got what it takes to make it!

Today is a slightly sad day in S. Carter Studios history. We’re saying goodbye to our very first intern: Jenny. I remember the first time that she emailed me, about a year and a half ago, just asking if we could get together for coffee and a few questions. I’m not sure that either of us knew what God had in mind from there but I can tell you that looking back, I’m not sure what I would have done without her! Instead of having some photos of her (because she’s asked me for a rain check ont hem) I’ve decided to encourage you take a look at some of her work!

Just take a look at what she’s done over the past year: edited over 15,000 photos, packed and repacked camera bags and batteries, helped pack and move an entire office, swept the office floor, gift wrapped albums, organized random props, seen me get a speeding ticket, slept in a king size bed with me, done my dishes, dealt with irritating mothers of the bride, battled demanding priorities, moved bookshelves into the creepy basement, entered hundreds of receipts, started a new company, entered the blogging sphere, carried gear, done your first wedding by yourself, began to twitter, and developed a complete identity for paper napkin photo!

She’s pushed me to be a better photographer, to be a clear communicator, to not take anything for granted, to really live the things that I say I believe and to be organized and focused. I’ve been encouraged by her joy, hard work, commitment, sense of humor, willingness to try new things, ability to rise to meet the challenges put before her, humility, and love for other people!

I have seen her grow so much in shooting, editing, and professionalism. I am proud to suggest her to potential clients because I know that they can trust her to do her very best and I know that you’ll honor the Lord with the talents and gifts that he’s given her.  So, Jenny, you’re officially an S. Carter Studios internship survivor and I couldn’t be more proud to be able to say that I was a part of your journey!

He makes her laugh, I believe this was the story about discussing a mammal of the donkey family in 4th grade. I had to laugh at that one too.

Just 5 days until they tie the knot! Best of luck to you both!