July 30th, Joe and I decided we would elope on our Colorado-bound roadtrip. On July 31st, I bought my dress (on clearance at BCBG) and bright and early on August 3rd I headed to Atlanta where I’d pick up Joe from the airport. We were married on August 4th and headed to North Carolina on the 5th. We decided to take the slight detour to Asheville, NC as a quasi-honeymoon and to celebrate Joe’s 3 year vegan-niversary. Asheville is one of the most vegan-friendly small towns in the US.

While in Atlanta we stayed at an adorable bed and breakfast in Grant Park. The owners were very friendly and had no problems accommodating our  vegan diet.

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On the way to North Carolina, we stopped at an old-fashioned convenience store that advertised  views of Tallulah Gorge. I am a sucker for waterfalls and old things so we stopped.

I’ve shared similar stories before and they all break my heart a little. But, I am so happy to be able to capture memories for these families to hold onto while they are apart.

Dina requested that we do her family’s session in an old car shop near their home. Thankfully it was covered-because, of course, the rain came. It was hot and humid… if you aren’t from THE South, you can’t possibly know humid like we do. It was pretty miserable, but the DeFlavis’ were great.

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Two of my favorites!!!

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Tony, you’re a hoot.

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Can you get any cuter, Tommy?

Cruisin’….Can’t you just hear the “brrrrrrrrr” sound?

Sleepy baby

Left Photo By: Mason

Right Photo By: Mason

Top Left & Bottom Left Photos By: Mason

Presenting Mr. and Mrs. William (Reed) Mason.

Photo By: Mason

Top Photos By: Mason

Then a little goofy time. Our version of the toast . It was HOT HOT HOT, so we stopped in front of Paula Dean’s restaurant to grab a cold one.

Then a stop on Bull Street.

Bottom Right Photo By: Mason

Right Photo By: Mason

OH, I could just fall in love with Savannah and its architecture!

We ended things at the waterfront-cobblestone streets and old brick.. Some of my favorites from the whole day.

Both By: Mason

Congrats you two!

Happy Birthday Krystal.

Way back at the first of the year Jennifer (who serves with me in AmeriCorps) booked a portrait session with me. She wanted to give pictures to her boyfriend, Jay, for their anniversary. We toyed with a few ideas for locations- but none of them fit. Jennifer knows Jay loves the outdoors and wanted to include lots of pretty scenery in her photos. She came up with the absolutely brilliant idea to shoot at Cumberland Island. Jay lives in Georgia and is always boating in the area and it was also a place that Jen and Jay had visited together.

Because the ferry leaves the island while the sun is still high (and way too bright) in the sky, we had to have Jay take us to the island in his boat. We shoved everything in my backpack and tried to look inconspicuous.

She smile on her face as she looks at Jay says it all.

We hopped off the boat, sent Jay off to fish… and got busy.

We shot the whole session on the Dungeness estate. Dungeness is a ruined mansion which was the home of several families significant in American history. Revolutionary War Hero General Nathanial Greene purchased land on Cumberland Island in 1783. Following his death, his widow Catherine Greene, constructed a four-story tabby home that she named Dungeness. Thomas Carnegie and his wife Lucy began building another Dungeness on the original foundation in 1884. The Carnegie’s Dungeness burned in 1959 and today only the ruins remain on the site.

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Enough history-more of beautiful Jen. This is the entryway to the ruins.

I seriously love so many of the shots from that day

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The calm before the storm….isn’t she radiant?

And then we about got killed by wild horses. That black thing in front of/below the running horses would be my camera bag- and it almost got trampled. I seriously about peed my pants. I don’t think the horses actually meant us any harm, but they ran right toward us and veered off at the last second. I don’t care to go through that again!!!

Fortunately, Jen was able to keep being gorgeous.

I won’t say where we were for these next .  No need to incriminate one’s self.

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We thought we heard someone coming and scurried out. It was a good thing, too- I found this lovely light. This is the kind of light I would chase to the edge of the world.

and a few more…The bottom is how Dungeness looks today.

The morning started off a little rough. I slept through my 5:30 am wake up call and didnt get up until 15 minutes after I should have safely left for my drive to Georgia for Marla’s session (we wanted to start early before the sun got to bright). But, I made it on time. We started the session off at the sugar mill ruins in St. Mary’s, Georgia. I love that spot!

Brandon bought a body casting kit for Marla. When she contacted me a few months ago to shoot her maternity pictures, she said she wanted to take pictures of them doing it together. I have a whole series taken during the event that are really great documentary shots- but they’re a little too private to post here

Then, we did a few black and white portraits (I know you love BW, Marla!)

Finally, I drove them to a spot I remembered passing by months and months ago. The old garage had great light.

Thanks you guys for allowing me to hang out with you all day! You were a blast!