Norfolk Botanical Gardens Bridal Portrait Photography of Shaneka

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

I was out at the Norfolk Botanical Gardens this past Friday to shoot traditional bridal portraits of Shaneka for her upcoming wedding May 24th. I also did the photography for her engagement session with her fiance Derek. What a GORGEOUS day out at the botanical gardens it was. Shaneka brought her wedding coordinator with her which was a big help and the session went wonderfully.

Shaneka flew in Thursday night from New York City and she and her dress had traversed the NYC Subway system on the way to JFK to make the flight down to Norfolk. Both the Bride and the dress arrived safely and unscathed! Nice!

Shaneka expressed interest in traditional bridal portraits at the Botanical Gardens so this is how I shot this session. Below you’ll find a few of my favorites from the session.

I had her use Baker hall as a changing area. She had hair and makeup done professionally earlier in the day. When she was ready we started a little loop that I like to do during bridal portrait sessions.

The first stop was the Perennial Gardens.

bridal portraits in the perennial gardens at norfolk botanical gardens

norfolk botanical gardens photography in perennial gardens
norfolk botanical gardens photography in the perennial gardens on the fountain pond

norfolk botanical gardens photography in the perennial garden on the fountain

Then, we moved over to the covered arbor and Shaneka put on the jacket that went with her exquisite wedding gown. This is also the first break area after the first part of the session. It’s shady there, and there are benches which come in handy since most brides don’t really try to walk in their shoes before the wedding day. (so, I’ve learned to have seats nearby!). Once we finished there, we moved down the pathway toward the back of Renaissance Court to the shaded area to the rear of that garden at the base of the entrance stairs.

This first image is from the pathway.

norfolk botanical gardens bridal portrait photography

Then, we get to the rear stairs for Renaissance Court.

norfolk botanical gardens bridal portrait photography renaissance court

The next two images are from the rear renaissance court stairway and then the pond at the Botanical Gardens.

norfolk botanical gardens photography in renaissance court
norfolk botanical gardens photography at the pond

Here is a veil shot into the sun to back light the veil.

norfolk botanical gardens bridal portrait photography of the veil

The shot on the left below is in front of the Botanical Gardens pond and will be displayed at the wedding framed as a 16×24 wall portrait. The shot on the right below is spot colored.

norfolk botanical gardens photography at the pond
norfolk botanical gardens photography spot colored

We then started to loop back to Baker Hall since we couldn’t get through to the bridge the normal way. There is a Bald Eagle nest in that area and the park service has roped that area off. Nobody can go in there, not even botanical gardens employees. So, I used a few other spots on the back loop.

norfolk botanical gardens bridal portrait photography in renaissance court

norfolk botanical gardens bridal portrait wedding photography

Looking forward to the wedding on the 24th! Should be fun!:)

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Maternity Portraits of Ashanti

Sunday, March 30, 2008

I had the pleasure of doing a maternity portrait session yesterday for Ashanti. I also had the pleasure of shooting her wedding last July. Originally, we were going to do these on the beach and combine that with a family portrait session, but the weather didn’t cooperate, and there were time constraints to be dealt with. So, I decided to shoot the maternity session indoors, using all natural light. No flash, no nothing. Just window light and reflectors. (Ok, a big reflector!)

It was a wonderful portrait session. The whole family came down with Ashanti to help out, so I included everyone in the shots in some way. Here are some of my favorites from this maternity portrait session.

maternity portrait of ashanti pose 1
maternity portrait of ashanti pose 2

I did a few things differently in the capture of these portraits and in the post processing. I much prefer a low key lighting scheme for portraits over high key, so I was trying to push the limit of the camera. I had to use a tripod. There was no way around that. But the results were worth all the effort in my opinion.

maternity portrait of ashanti pose 3

maternity portrait of ashanti pose 4

This is Ashanti and Steven’s FIFTH child. I always thought of them as just very serene people. Now I know it’s just an outward sign of complete EXHAUSTION.:)The above image is One hand on the new unborn child from every member of the family. Obviously, the new baby’s name is Sidney!

maternity portrait of ashanti pose 5
maternity portrait of ashanti pose 6

maternity portrait of ashanti pose 7

maternity portrait of ashanti pose 8

This was a great maternity portrait session! Best of luck on the new baby Ashanti and Steven! Keep em’ coming!

Here’s some words from Ashanti below:


Bill is extraordinary. We got married on one of the most highly publicized days of 2007; that’s right 7.7.7! We decided to drive down on a Sunday in March 2007 to visit the Norfolk Botanical Gardens one more time and this is where we met Bill. My husband, being a photographer, already knew what he wanted. Well, Bill was all that and more. And get this, he was still available for our wedding, now only 4 months away. We knew he was heaven sent – prices and all.

Bill has always been professional and makes us feel extremely comfortable. We are more than honored to recommend him to anyone looking for photography needs. At the wedding he seemed to have disappeared, but he clearly captured every single moment of our special day – even the children were in the spotlight. I couldn’t believe that was me in the photos. Almost a year later, people are still giving me compliments and emailing our link of photos across the country.

In fact we recently drove 4 hours with our four child, with one on the way to meet Bill for a family and photography shoot. I discussed what I wanted and again, he delivered! No not the baby, but awesome photos to celebrate our new arrival!

If you are looking for quality, punctuality, flexibility, affordability and talent? Call Bill!

We will continue to call on Bill to meet our needs as our family grows, as feel like he has become a part of our family as well.

Thank you Bill!

Aww shucks!…… Thank YOU Ashanti!

:)

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Team In Training – Virginia – Shamrock Marathon 2008

Sunday, March 30, 2008

As I indicated previously, I volunteered to do music and take photos of the Team In Training Virginia runners during the Shamrock Marathon a few weeks ago. We had an absolute blast, despite the chilly weather along the course. It would have been MUCH warmer running!

Team In Training is a great organization with wonderful people all up and down. If you’ve ever thought about trying to run a marathon, this would be a great place to start.

Here are a few photos of Team in Training runners from the 2008 Shamrock Marathon.

team in training cheering group shamrock marathon 2008

team in training runner shamrock marathon 2008

team in training runner shamrock marathon 2008

I also made a slide show of the images from the Shamrock Marathon for Team In Training. If you would like to view the images in slide show format Click Here To View It

:)

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Shamrock Marathon Photos 2008

Sunday, March 30, 2008

For the first time in quite a few years, I sat out the Shamrock Marathon. I DID run the 8K. After running full marathons and half marathons though, an 8K is kind of like kissing your sister. (*bleck*) I was a volunteer the day of the Marathon though, playing music and taking pictures at 44th street at the ocean front. I was with the Team In Training group, and we had a blast out there. (more on that AFTER this post).

I was concentrating on getting pictures of the Team in Training runners, but with around 10,000 runners that day passing my vantage point twice, it was difficult not to just shoot randomly. So, if you happen to find this article about Shamrock Marathon Photos, and you happen to find yourself among the images I took. You’re welcome to have the image. Just drop me a line, give me the image number you want, and I’ll email it to you.

Click the link to the right: Shamrock Marathon Photos – 2008

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Norfolk Botanical Gardens Photography

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

I love the results from photography at the Norfolk Botanical Gardens. There are just so many different places to produce great wedding and portrait photography that it never gets stale. To get the best results, when I do engagement portrait sessions at the Botanical Gardens, I ask the couples to plan for around 90 minutes to 2 hours to really get around the gardens and hit the best locations.

Tim and Tiffany drove up from Charlotte N.C. for their engagement session this past Saturday and I was a little concerned about the weather turning bad before we got started, but thankfully that storm we had didn’t impact this portrait session at all.

The first location chosen was in a field of daffodils. This one is a bit abstract below, but I liked the look.

norfolk botanical gardens photography abstract with daffodils

Then we headed over to Renaissance Court and then the Perennial Gardens. Photography is these areas is amazing regardless of the time of year. I’ve done many weddings in both of these areas.

norfolk botanical gardens photography in renaissance court
norfolk botanical gardens photography in the perennial garden

Here’s two more engagement portraits below from Renaissance Court.

renaissance court at norfolk botanical gardens photography

norfolk botanical gardens photography renaissance court

The last place we chose was the bridge near the Rose Gardens. They’re obviously not blooming yet this early in the year, but the bridge and dogwood trees in the background were very nice.

norfolk botanical gardens photography

I will normally shoot 200 or more pictures during an engagement session at the Norfolk Botanical Gardens. Tim and Tiffany were up there at the norm! If you’d like to see a slide show of their session, you can view it by clicking here Tim and Tiffany are getting Married this May at Kiln Creek.

If you would like to view more wedding and portrait photography taken at Norfolk Botanical Gardens there a few more posts below:

Steven and Ashanti’s Norfolk Botanical Gardens Wedding – Japanese Gardens
James and Janeene’s Norfolk Botanical Gardens Wedding – Renaissance Court
Jesse and Liz’s Norfolk Botanical Gardens Wedding – Rose Gardens

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