Anna & Damon [Married]

One day I was working a Sunday lunch, couldn't wait to get out of there. I looked at the schedule to see who my replacement was, "John Skomp". Huh? 'Skomp' is not a common name, and I've known John Skomp all of my life. Well, he has known me that long, can't say I was much of a conversationalist at 1, 2, or 3 years of age. He was the preacher at the Leisure family church. The man on the schedule I was looking at was his grandson. Glad it only took me something like 3 months to put that all together. (That was sarcasm, I know you can't hear it.) John and Jordan, his fiance at the time, were about  to get married at this church, where my mom and her husband still attend. They had already hired a photographer, but his sister, Anna Mae, was getting married the next year. That would be this year! It was  this year, October 13th!
Anna was such a pleasure to work with. She was such a sweetheart the entire day; letting things that would have had me obviously flustered as a bride, she let roll off her back. And she made everything for her wedding herself. I love DIY!
Her ceremony was held in Greenfield at a little church the members helped build.

 And here are some decorations she made, and the boutonnieres she made too!

 Anna's brother, John, was the leader of the guys getting ready. Having done this just a year ago, he knew what was going on. :)
Her brother, Daniel, is so funny and kept me laughing...until I needed portraits!

 John and Jordan were the best man and maid of honor.

 I about died when I saw that her mom had brought a photo of Anna when she was a little girl playing with a veil. And the best part is that the exact same mirror was in the room where Anna was getting ready. Of course I tried to re-create that photo!

 Anna's "something blue" was her shoes. She made her bouquet and all of her bridesmaids bouquets as well.

 I love the photos of her putting on her mother's makeup.

 More details...

 

I mean, I'm loving any party where there's a coffee bar.

 I poured ^that^ hot apple cider into these glasses for their toast. I remember thinking "please don't crack, please don't crack"

 I love cake.

 The couple spent a week in Disney World for their honeymoon!

 Thank you to Missi Shoemaker for second-shooting/assisting me on this day. After each little segment of the day we got in my car and said, "this is so fun!".
Best wishes to Anna and Damon as they begin the journey of married life. Thank you for trusting me with these memories.

Mia & Kenny [Engaged]

I don't know why I put off writing blogs for so long. I think it is because I can't decide who I'm writing to. Prospective clients? Fellow photographers? Photographers just starting out? The people in the image? And who cares really? This is my website. So I should write what I am feeling, right? Is that how this works? I'm always blabbing about how I don't care what people think, but clearly that's not true or this wouldn't be so hard.
This particular blog is for Mia & Kenny. I met Mia at Ivy Tech 2 summers ago while trying to get a web design class out of my way. (I loathe web design...see my current site?) We spent many lunches together getting to know each other. And even though she is going to school for web design, she is an amazing photographer. You can see her work at www.miastringer.com. When our class was over for the summer, we met at Starbucks and Mia is the one who showed me the basic ways of Lightroom. If you aren't a photographer, then maybe you don't know that Lightroom is THE program to use to edit photographs. A semester later, Mia was off to San Diego to start the next chapter of her life. Luckily I was able to have lunch with her, and her then boyfriend Kenny, at Pure in Fountain Square before she left. (Is that info relevant? Yes, this is my story.)
A few months later the two of them were engaged! Woo! Great news! And then I get the message that she wants me to take their engagement photos. Whaaa?! ME? Really?? I can't even tell you how stoked I was. But I was jumping up and down in my living room. 'Why was this such an honor?', you may be wondering. Well, Mia AND Kenny both know about photography, lighting, and posing. While this made it totally easier to shoot them, this was extremely flattering to me that they wanted me to do it while they were on a short trip back to Indy. They were traveling across the country at the time and have loads of friends who could have done it. (If this isn't true, Mia, just let me believe it. LOL!)


So...here are my favorite shots from the few short hours I spent with them on the canal and in Fountain Square.

 I love this photo because being completely in love means being "one" with the other.

 I mean, honestly, I couldn't have posed them this way if I tried. :)

 I love this entire session. I am grateful to Mia for giving  me the opportunity, and having these photos in my portfolio.