March 24, 2016

Downtown Durham Engagement Session

Megan and Carly met at a gym when they lived in North Carolina (Carly went to UNC and Megan to NC State). They lived in Durham for a while and it still holds a special place in their hearts, so they packed up their backgammon game and adorable mugs and hauled themselves back here from Lexington, Kentucky to have their engagement session with us. We had this planned for a long time and they were already in from out of state when both Geoff and myself came down with fevers and a sickness similar to the plague, so we awkwardly waved hello at them from about 10 feet away when we first met them as to not spread the contamination. Our jokes were far more awkward and made even less sense than they usually do, and my already poor ability to give verbal instructions to my clients based on pictures in my head became even poorer, yet somehow Megan and Carly appeared to have a good time (or they’re at least humoring us).

Despite our illnesses, we still had a great time romping around the Bull City with these two. I especially enjoyed that Carly is barely 5′ tall and I did not need my step stool to photograph her. They handled all obstacles (and parking cones) in stride, and our biggest hurdle was them being cool with the new Ghostbusters remake while Geoff tried desperately to verbalize that the original Ghostbusters is a national treasure that should probably have at least a few monuments in its honor. We talked politics and dogs and they told us about their wedding and Carly wore really cute shoes while Megan made me want to cut all my hair off again.

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November 17, 2014

Jen+Chris // Engagement Session

I used to teach with Jen back when I first moved to North Carolina and she was the best: a great teacher, a supportive coworker, and I was so happy to have met a new friend. When I quit teaching, she remained my friend and actually modeled for me when I started my photography career, agreeing to be pictured in the middle of some grass in a bright plastic purple chair without complaint. ;) Over the years we remained in touch and we knew she started dating this guy named Chris who seemed pretty great based on his Facebook profile (how else do you judge people?). When we finally got the chance to meet him, we were SUPER EXCITED to see that he was every bit as amazing and hilarious and personable as Jen… plus he had a pretty epic beard. Geoff isn’t known for striking up conversations with people he doesn’t know well, and I believe him and Chris sat at a wedding for a good twenty minutes discussing their beards when they first met. Plus Chris didn’t seem disturbed when I told him about my affinity for reading mountaineering disaster books.

Now we’re so excited to be their wedding photographers! They’re getting married in Asheville next year and we couldn’t be happier to be there with them as we love them both a whole lot. It’s that thing where you love your friend, and then they get a boyfriend and you’re not really sure what that person will be like… and then you meet them and they’re just like your friend and so it’s like having two of the exact same friend now so it’s like friendship amplified? It’s awesome. They are perfect for each other… they love the outdoors and nature and beards (Chris’s is longer than Geoff’s now) and they have an adorable one-eyed dog named Gunner who loves water, sticks, and the woods and is scared of cats and children. We hiked through the woods to take their engagement pictures in the fall (yay!) and down to the water. We occasionally stopped Gunner from running gleefully around in order to take his picture for a minute or two, then let him loose again. He only found one unidentifiable bone, so… that’s a plus.

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October 24, 2013

Allyssa+Ryan on a Pumpkin Patch Farm

Every once in a while you run into a couple who is willing to take off their shoes and lie in a giant vat of corn kernels and cover everything except for their heads for you.

Allyssa and Ryan live in Fayetteville where Ryan is stationed at Fort Bragg (he’s a medic in the army), but they were willing to travel up to Durham to get couple pictures taken. They’ve been together for a few years and have made it through Ryan’s year-long deployment and decided, “Hey. You know what? We should have some pictures. Particularly buried up to our heads in corn kernels.” Well, maybe the conversation didn’t go quite like that, but it might’ve.

They enjoy cats and the Walking Dead and unusual pumpkins (Ryan picked out a strange oblong-shaped pumpkin that can really only lay down and sit there. It took Allyssa a little bit longer to find hers… and she debated between several odd ones before choosing a French pumpkin that looked like it was covered in peanut shells). They are adorably in love and we enjoyed their company immensely… running around a farm, cautiously petting goats, and observing the cutest little spotted pig of all time.

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