S. Carter Studios

I’m not sure if you can feel it on days like today (Noah may be floating past my house some time soon) but we’re on the verge of a beautiful spring season. Now, I know, verge might be a bit of a stretch but I’d like to start ringing in the Spring with a celebration of Love. It’s fitting that Valentine’s Day is just three weeks away. So, I’d like to make it easy for you to surprise your special someone or someones (or nudge them to surprise you) with an S. Carter Studios Love Is In The Air mini session. I’m happy to help celebrate dating love, married love, the love between parents and even sibling love. I’m just a sucker, a lover of loving love if you will.

The session fee for our special is $40 and will come with an online gallery of your images. Sessions must take place on Thursday February 11 between 2 and 4 pm or Saturday February 13th between 1pm and 4 pm, contact us to get priority scheduling! We look forward to celebrating with you!

You know that feeling when you’re strolling around the boardwalk of a beach and you see an older couple ahead of you holding hands? It’s the feeling in the air of a deep, gentle love that is less about how fun and fantastic things can be and more about the joy of sharing your life with someone else. This past weekend, I had the opportunity to take pictures at a wedding where it was that kind of love the bride and groom shared. I know what you’re thinking, wait, how is that possible when the bride and groom are in their twenties? I thought that too but it’s undeniable. The way he held her hand. The way she glanced at him. Their serious, contemplative faces as they said their vows and the relief in their shoulders after they had been pronounced husband and wife. God has given them a sweet, weathered kind of love that most couples take decades to develop. Congratulations Dan and Michelle!

i know what you’re probably thinking. The shot below is a very traditional shot. It doesn’t seem very S. Carter Studios but it is perfectly Dan and Michelle. Simple, beautiful and timeless.

Dan was so nervous as the ceremony grew near. I hope you can catch a glimpse of his intensity in this photo, it wasn’t marrying Michelle that made him nervous but the anticipation was hard to bear!

I love seeing my couples incorporate their engagement photos into their wedding!

The ceremony and reception took place at Quiet Waters Park in Annapolis, MD. It was a breathtaking location. I think I could have shot there all day!

I love summer weddings and how they somehow usually involve water!

A glimpse of Michelle looking over her shoulder at her husband of just a few hours!

They danced their first dance to a song that Dan wrote for them! It was absolutely lovely.

A note about their cake: it was made by bridesmaid Carrie and groomsman Ben. It was absolutely beautiful and very unique!

I have to share this picture of my little protégé. I’m not talking about Jenny (our intern who you’ll hear more about soon) but Dan’s nephew who followed me around for half an hour with his disposable camera taking pictures when I took pictures. It was very flattering!

If Josh thought our wedding had paparazzi, he should have seen theirs!

Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your wedding!

This post is about Brinley. Brinley and I were well acquainted at the ladies retreat. We shared a bed! Well, it was a king size bed and his mom was in it too, but still. This little boy has the very best facial expressions you can imagine. Since I get to see him at least twice a week and they still make me laugh each time, I thought I’d share them with you! It’s only natural to be jealous!

This is a classic Brinley face!

Hopefully we’ll be taking one year pictures of Brinley so you’ll see his handsome face again soon!

I can imagine every mother may feel like their child is a miracle, a gift straight from the Lord. I know that Carrie feels that way for Elijah. Carrie has been my boss and friend for FIVE YEARS! It is strange to me that she was basically my age now when I began working for her. I’ve watched in the background as she has completed her masters, tackled publishing and now is at the helm of both the yearbook and the career center. She’s quite a force. But when it comes to Elijah she’s different. She lays down the idea of being in control, of being on time and perfectly dressed. She still manages those things most of the time but they aren’t non negotiable. She becomes Carrie, mom to Elijah, no she doesn’t wear the mom jeans I bought her for her birthday, but she is observably consumed with the task of loving, guiding and admonishing Elijah and everything else takes second place. It’s really a beautiful thing to watch. I know that many people have been blessed to read the Barnhouse Family Blog as Carrie has written letters from her and Ed to Elijah. She’s told him how the Lord prepared his parents for him, how they prayed for him before he was even born, how they longed for him as they went through the placement process and how much they celebrate him now that he is in their home. They adopted Elijah from the Godparent Home. He truly is a miracle baby chosen to be carried to term by his birth mom and then brought home to the Barnhouses on May 31st. To celebrate this beautiful boy, we took some one year photos of him. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have!

Got to love this scrunchy face. I personally enjoy watching Carrie and Ed make this face at him just as much as I enjoy seeing him do it!

Carrie got to him fast enough that he didn’t swallow the acorn!

SOOOO cute. Just ask his grandma.

You can imagine the sounds that came with this face!

I love finding out something quirky about my couples. For example, Mike and Candace and I were on location and a cat came to join the fun. You can only imagine my excitement as they began to refer to the cat as Binks! Yes, I’ll admit it. I love Hocus Pocus. It was one of the first DVDs I bought and my brother, sister and I would watch as many times as ABC Family would have it on around Halloween. To my delight Mike and Candace love it too! I’m very thankful to have been able to spend some time with them yesterday. We braved the possibility of a potential downpour for our second attempt at their engagement shoot. The weather was perfect and so were they as they smiled, cuddled and laughed. I am looking forward to hearing how their 2010 wedding develops and if it’s anything like the proposal, it’s going to be a very special event! Enjoy a few photos from their engagement session!

It was so cute that when he hugged her, she all but disappeared!

We found a field of buttercups, much to Candace’s delight. I think this is one of the sweetest ring shots I’ve taken in a while. Mike had taken Candace out to Arby’s, looked at her across the table and said, “I just knew. So, I thought, well, I’d better buy a ring this week.” And he did!

And the finisher, with Michael Jordan-like intensity, Mike conquered the swing. I know, I love my job! Can’t wait for the wedding guys!

My, oh, my. Dan and Brooke, I really couldn’t have asked for a better Saturday afternoon. You could see it in the glances they stole at each other as we drove around Lynchburg, the little smiles and funny faces when they thought we weren’t really looking. They are absolutely in love. Dan and Brooke met at Applebees, she was a hostess and he was a server.  I love that I know things about them that I don’t know about most couples, like that Dan called the place he ordered the ring from and told them under no circumstances were they allowed to tell any interested callers about her particular ring, because he wanted everything to be a secret :: a GREAT ring story coming later in the post::.

Brooke works with me at Liberty and I would like to point out that I totally called their engagement just before Christmas break! I’m so glad Josh and I could hang out with you guys today. You were perfect and I had a terrible time narrowing down photos for this post! I hope you guys enjoy just some of the great shots from this sunny afternoon!

Cheers to Dan who spotted these tubes from far away!

Yes, they made our job VERY easy by being so good looking!

Sneaking a peak at his bride-to-be. They’ve been commuting between Raleigh and Lynchburg to see each other as regularly as possible.

We may or may not have snuck into an abandoned warehouse to find some perfectly soft lighting. [I’m a little bummed because I was just previewing the post and saw that it kind of looks like Brooke’s hair behind Dan’s head makes him have a pretty dashing mullet. I’m going to leave this in there because I think that’s funny and I think they might think so too.)

Back in the fall, I asked Brooke what kind of engagement ring she’d like to have. I loved it when she said,”Wait, I’ll show you.” She and her mom had randomly gone browsing. You know, one of those, pick any ring in the whole store just because you like it type of things. Well, she found one she liked and had taken a picture of it. Months later when she wrote to tell me she was engaged, I asked about the ring and it was THE ring! I don’t know many girls who ever thing that dream is possible but Dan Gordon knows how to get it done! The first thing I did when Brooke got back in the office was take some decent pictures of it, you know, for Facebook, but I think this one tops all the others!

One of those looks I was telling you about!

A note about this picture: I love this picture for a few reasons: a) Josh took it and that makes me so proud b) it’s so intimate, passionate and tender at the same time. Even though he may pick little fights with her about where their first date technically was, and whether or not she splashed him too much in the river, he really, really loves her and this is a small evidence of that.

Finally, a requested and highly anticipated photo for the couple. Just 189 days and it will be official!

Stephen and Lindy came all the way from Canada to Lynchburg to visit his brother Philip. Josh and I were so flattered that they wanted to spend some of their time here with us for an engagement shoot! It was wonderful to hear about their wedding plans, excitement about marriage and the providential story of how they met. Lindy was a coordinator for student missionaries during her time at the Honor Academy and made a strong connection with Stephen’s sister Sarah while she was there. Two Canadians becoming friends in the Texas heat! Sarah and Lindy were friends for over a year before Stephen and Lindy met. They really hit it off and the rest is history! I love the fact that he proposed to her at Niagra Falls. Thank you so much guys for allowing us some of your time! Safe travels and happy wedding!

They told us about Canada and how it had snowed there last week so we tried for locations that really showed the beautiful, snow free landscape here! I should knock on some wood with our weather trends but I am pretty sure they were soaking in the little bit of sunlight and dry shoes experience!

He picked out the ring with no help at all! She is pretty happy with it and had the same request that I did: that it be sparkly!

They were great dippers! I learned they had been practicing! 

I just loved her springy curls! 

You guys were a real treat! Come back soon!

I’ve known Marianne since the good old days of undergraduate work at LU. We spent several semesters of grad school together and I was thrilled to hear when her boyfriend Peter, of four years, proposed over Christmas! They are getting married the first weekend in August and I’m so thankful I get to be there for their beautiful wedding! Thanks for a great shoot guys!

What’s an engagement shoot without a ring shot…

I love this shot, I know it’s not typical but you can’t deny the raw emotional appeal!

Let the record show that not ALL of their photos had kissing in it! Thanks for the fake and real laughter guys!

S. Carter Studios is officially “in season.” These images came from the first engagement shoot of spring! Josh and I met Scott and Jessica just two doors down from where we live because Scott is sort of our neighbor! They walked over and our little Lynchburg adventure began. We had such a great time with them. It’s really sweet to see how God works to bring people together! Scott met Jessica randomly in Lynchburg while she was here visiting from New Hampshire! They are getting married in just over three months and I’m so glad I’ll get to be there too! Enjoy some photos from our afternoon!

I mean, seriously, they have matching blue eyes and incredible smiles! How can you not love them?

And cue wind for dramatic effect!

Let me introduce you to, the ring. The center diamond belonged to one of Scott’s family members and he said he kept going back to the store because he saw this ring, “and it was just HER.”

I’m a big fan of the ring.

 just love this picture, bare feet and all!

Thank you guys for a wonderful shoot! We can’t wait for the wedding!