If you are not from the Winchester, VA area, do you know about the Handley Library? I didn’t until Olivia’s email came through at the end of January and I promptly texted my cousin Robin, she herself a Winchester native, and asked, “Where can I shoot in Winchester!?” Olivia and Nathan were planning on eloping […]

Wedding (and pollen!) season is in full swing and it feels so good to be back. It feels not so good to be sneezing and wanting to claw my itching eyeballs out upon even cracking a window, but as my sister-in-law says, you can’t sneeze if you’re unconscious (thanks, Benadryl!). I’m headed to Stone Tower […]

coming up for air Today feels hand-wringingly good. I’ve got fun news to share! I’ve had the same website for many years – after bouncing around with different styles, I settled on a simple, gorgeous design that highlighted the images with minimal text. Every time I updated it, it was through the lens of, “How […]

I’ve got an ambitious GoodReads challenge set for myself – 20 books this year. I love the little dopamine hit I get from checking books off the list. I love watching the digital cover move from Want to Read to Read. I love the little message that appears reminding me that I’m one book ahead […]

Hello and good morning from the icy depths of January, the worst month of the year! Like most of the East Coast, we’re buried under several inches of snow, but I’m a housecat by nature and canceling everything on my schedule for the day feels nice. Although suiting up four children into snow gear feels […]

The impending cold snap on the radar this week means it’s time to transport us to a warmer, happier place – how about we take a trip to the Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in Vienna, VA for Amy & Dan’s greenhouse wedding? I photographed this lush, floral-filled wedding at the atrium alongside Amanda Summers. These colorful […]

Swan Cove Manor in Cambridge, MD is the perfect venue for a weekend-long wedding celebration! Privately tucked away on the Eastern Shore with waterfront views, there’s multiple homes on a single property, making it perfected for a 3-day affair. From a welcome party to a farewell brunch, Adam and Grace invited their family and friends […]

I’ve got new portraits for you today – let’s head to downtown Frederick for this gorgeous family session. But first! It’s my birthday today, but I wasn’t served breakfast in bed. No, instead my three-year-old kicked open my bedroom door at 6:00 AM shouting out, “WHERE IS THE CAKE?” I get it. I established this […]

I write to you this evening from the Pit of Despair, a place where three of us have succumbed to a highly unpleasant combination of cold symptoms and the others are waiting to go down, too. I’ve been wearing the same cardigan for two days, and the pockets are stuffed with Halls (one pocket for […]

Love is what carries you, for it is always there, even in the dark, or most in the dark, but shining out at times like gold stitches in a piece of embroidery.  -Wendell Berry What an absolute joy it was to photograph Olivia and Craig’s wedding day at Dulany’s Overlook! Olivia leaned into her Italian […]

And I remember being younger and my mother told me the truthFind someone who grows flowers in the darkest parts of youTake heed when things get hard and don’t you ever turn aroundYou’ll find someone, someday, somewhere that grows you to the clouds Zach Bryan, Sun to Me Her sister-in-law messaged me just a few […]

I’ve been really lucky to work at Dulany’s Overlook in Frederick, MD a few times this year and Rachel and Andrew’s sun-soaked day was one of the best! I loved all the soft, lush bouquets, the blush, peach, and mint color palette, the soft candlelight reception in the barn – so many gorgeous details woven […]

Friday! We made it! It’s was oddly cool and breezy last night and we let the kids run laps around the yard chasing fireflies (and each other) until it was decidedly beyond their bedtime. My husband, who will tell you until his dying day that autumn is the supreme season, commented that it felt like […]

Luck is a thing that comes in many forms and who can recognize her? –  Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea If you are reading this post and you know Missy and Scott personally, you are one of the lucky ones. A toast was given at the start of the reception, chilled champagne […]

I come to you this fine Thursday afternoon lightly crisped, my skin a fading pink from a weekend in the almost-summer sun. I spent the first part photographing a stunning wedding on the Eastern Shore, followed by an all-outdoor Memorial Day weekend picking strawberries and sprawling out in the grass surrounded by wafts of smoke […]

I’m coming to you as a new resident in the Land of the Living, having spent the last 8 days in the pit of despair with our youngest who is currently the proud owner of two flaming red eardrums and a sinus infection, to boot. He is on the mend, thankfully, which means I’ve temporarily […]

Justin and I are coming up on twelve years as a married couple, which is roughly fourteen years together, which, in my life, feels like a very long time. Whenever we do the math surrounding our first date, our oldest child, or how many years in a row I’ve made Black Forest Cake for his […]

I’ve just spent the last 6 days in Florida which, wedged between Thanksgiving and Christmas, was a slightly jarring experience for someone who has forever lived within a few miles of the Mason Dixon Line. I will absolutely take the 85 degree weather, but there’s something about the sight of Santa riding a riverboat while […]

I don’t get to photograph the same families every single year but there is a reliable group I can count on to come see me every autumn because…she’s my sister. 😉 I get to see my nieces and nephews on the regular, but there’s something special about getting dressed up and having a little Treat […]

We’re enjoying the sunshine for the first time in 5 days and no one here is mad about it. One of the big perks of homeschooling is that we can all soak up the extra Vitamin-D and my children are currently sprawled out like starfish on the warm concrete of the back patio while I […]

Perhaps, like me, you are thoroughly waterlogged after four days of rain, and find yourself craving something sunny and warm. Maybe you also have a head cold that is proving to have Olympian-level endurance and you’re beginning to wonder how many boxes of Kleenex a person ought to go through before purchasing it in bulk. […]

I come to you today, September 20, to tell you about Hannah and Jonathon’s gorgeous, champagne and ivory wedding, but in writing this sentence, it also occurs to me that perhaps you are also in the thick of wedding season, possibly as a guest. You are likely inundated in a Summer of Love right alongside […]

If you could see me now, seated at my modest desk in the corner of our dining room (and you would graciously ignore the too-loud replay of Kung Fu Panda coming from the family room), you would see my shameless beverage line-up: an iced coffee, half a green smoothie, and a giant jug of ice […]

I’ve got the dearest in-home newborn session to share with you today – and I’m presenting it with a sheepishly proud grin because I photographed this darling new family on film! I’ve been shooting a roll here and there, dipping just one toe into the water, but this time I dove right in. I think […]

The majority of my college classes took place in the same fluorescent, concrete-block classroom on the first floor of the Performing Arts Center at Frostburg State. There was no cell service, no windows, and the clock was on the back end of the classroom, so the professor would absolutely know if you craned your neck […]