Meet Jared & Anna. Their wedding was located in the great metropolis of Whitsett NC and it was a wonderful experience. Rebecca and I had a lovely time photographing the story of their love, and looking back I can still remember moments from their wedding that I won’t soon forget. I hope you enjoy the few moments we captured below.

resuscitated

And Happy New Year!

Orson has been with me since November 18, 2004. He was found as a stray by the staff at my old apartment, and they asked if I would keep him for one night. I guess they knew that I wouldn’t be able to give him back as he’s been mine ever since. And he’s been the perfect cat for me. We share so many memories, and I could go on and on about them.

I do remember that right after I first got him I had to go out of town for Thanksgiving. I didn’t want to leave him, so I cut my trip short to a couple of days. When I got back he was behind my entertainment center trying to jump up over one of my tall speakers when he heard me come in the apartment. He was so small back then that he had trouble getting up there, but he finally did and was so happy to see me. It was a great moment.

Here is a photo of him the first night I got him. He still had on his little flea collar that he was wearing when they found him.

He’s not the most cuddly cat nowadays, however he does tolerate my obsession of constantly picking him up and holding him. Within the last year he’s starting laying in my lap when I get home, something he’s never really done. And of course I love it.

So now it’s Orson & Gretchen…and boy do they act like brother and sister. If it isn’t Orson chasing Gretchen, it’s Gretchen chasing Orson. Most of the time though it’s the former. But they seem to get a long well and I look forward to seeing how their relationship progresses.

One of the things I tell couples is that my engagement sessions are almost completely photojournalistic. If I can help it I never pose them, outside of moving them from place to place and helping create the overall scene. Sometimes I may give them guidelines as to what I am looking for, and of course we do those “look-at-me” photos, but my goal is to let the couple make their own moments. And I believe that those truly make for the best photographs – memories that they will have forever. And here are a few moments from Greg & Carissa’s Engagement.

Gretchen is a new name to our household. She’s been with us since the end of August and has been a bundle of energy – just what we needed around here.

I haven’t mentioned Orson here yet, but he is my older cat. In fact, he’s the reason that Gretchen is a part of our family. I’ve had Orson for a little over 3 years, and over the summer he started meowing more frequently when I would leave for work. Of course I felt terrible, so I decided it was time to get him a new friend.

So in comes Gretchen. At first there was a lot of hissing going on. She didn’t hiss much at first, as Orson did enough for the both of them. But she finally came around and started standing her ground and they’ve been house buddies ever since.

Now they don’t sleep together and sometimes they do lick each other….but only for a couple of moments before the claws come out.

But the one thing that’s very different about Gretchen is that she’s a little pig. I thought about getting her a little ‘pig snout’ for Halloween but I knew it would only get in her way of finding more food. She is always in search of food, whether it’s on my plate or in her bowl. In fact, I have to feed her wet food behind a closed door. If I don’t Orson will have to defend his food, and as tolerant as he is, he’ll probably just walk away hungry.

But all in all she’s been a welcome addition to our small home, and I think Orson has certainly been better off for having her here. He does get more exercise from chasing her too, which is good for his waist line.

Next time I’ll introduce you to Orson.

So, aside from my nephew begging me for an ipod (he’s 12 and doesn’t really own any music yet), it was a great time. When we got back we did our normal family photos and I’ve posted some to share with you.

This is my family. My sister, her boyfriend and my little 3 1/2 month old niece (soo cute!) on the left, my mom in the middle, my nephew and niece next to me, and of course your’s truly on the end.

This is Jayden and Trey, my niece and nephew.

Jayden is definitely a poser, and she does it so well!

Here she is upside down….begging me to take her photo. I had to oblige!

This is one of my mom’s neighbor’s, Chelsea. She’s as sweet as they come!

This is Chelsea’s sister, Kayla. They both just loved me!

I love this photo. Can you tell they are twins?

I thought this was an interesting shot. Chelsea wanted me to take a photo of her jumping off of the swing set. She’s very energetic!

Well, that’s my Thanksgiving! Thanks for sharing it with me.

Below are a few moments from their wedding:

Here are some of highlights of their wedding.

I’ve posted a sampling of the photos below.