Becky and Jake originally weren’t going to do an engagement session, but I am super glad they changed their minds. :) They are a ton of fun and one of those couples that love and appreciate photography (Jake does some photo work himself!). They were all game and didn’t give me any weird looks when I requested strange things of them, and Jake, in turn, requested a few shots in the Kudzu jungle of Raleigh. Becky works at NC State doing sciencey stuff, and Jake works at IBM doing computer stuff (clearly I am not in a computer or science related field)! They’re going to be married at CAM next year, and their wedding pictures there will be stellar. You’re allowed to shoot inside CAM, which is pretty cool seeing as how we couldn’t shoot inside Artspace for our wedding. But since they’re allowed to take pictures inside there, we did a lot of their engagement photos around CAM in the warehouse district where it’s pretty industrial and funky. We were all set to do photos outside with our 30% chance of rain, which then became “30% chance of rain; rain stopping at 3pm”, which then became “70% chance of rain the entire evening” which translated to “it rained the entire time and was super dark and overcast.” It didn’t pour though, so we toughed it out! And to accompany us through the remainder of the session was Hobbit… whose breed is “crusty old Labrador” according to Becky, and who is adorable but totally not interested in me. “Hey Hobbit”s and “Pssst, Hobbit”s just made him look further away. He wore his little bandanna with pride and was the cutest crusty old Lab I’ve ever seen. :)

Meet the Zitzmann family! This ship is captained by Vanessa and John (mom and dad) and their crew is Luke and Scott. Luke and Scott look remarkably similar, but Luke is two years older at 6 years. Vanessa is the sister of my friend Daniel and I had the pleasure of first meeting these guys at Daniel’s wedding in March. Fast family facts: John made a lot of faces in Daniel’s formal wedding pictures which Vanessa expressly forbid him to do in these portraits, and he tried his hardest to hold back. ;) Vanessa wanted the pictures done at Theatre in the Park where she spends a lot of time currently rehearsing for A Christmas Carol. And Luke and Scott like to run, jump, run, jump, run, run, run, jump, run, and hang out with their stuffed Yoshi from Super Mario. My kind of crew. Needless to say, we had a ton of fun running around! Afterward, Vanessa had a ton of fun getting leaves all over the dressing room floor, and I had a ton of fun getting the leaves out of my boots, socks, hair, etc. ;) Enjoy this super fun and adorable family!

…and afterward they collapsed into a pile of exhaustion. ;)

Contracted out by the Downtown Raleigh Alliance to photograph their very successful Taste of Restaurant event at the Farmer’s Market last week! There was a huge turnout and lots of tasty samples were enjoyed by all. :) Stop by and visit the Farmer’s Market every Wednesday from 10am-2pm in City Plaza. There are lots of great people, great products, and great food!