Merry Christmas!

I had intentions of doing things like blogs, but even Christmas cards were neglected; so thankful at least I made time for a session with my two darlings:


2009 brought many changes for our family, but for each challenge we grow and become more able to empathize and love others. As the new year approaches, I hope to make '010 not just a better year for my children, but embrace a new home in North Sanford, just off #1, equi-distance to Raleigh and Greensboro. I also intend to be more client-focused; I'm so grateful for the blessings I am continually receiving as I document each wedding. This year I'd like to give back more through my work and personal time. Any ideas are welcome!

I hope you have a wonderful year! Blessings, Lacey.

2009 vacation (family style)

The Gadwill's took another cruise! This time we were not hurricane- diverted and actually made it to Cozumel. Let me tell you something.. planning a major expedition away from your cruise ship but expecting to also experience and absorb local culture-- just asking for too much. It's like, cookie or brownie... you can't have both (although you might like to). Seeing the Mayan ruins of Tulum was spectacular...next time I'd just like to stay in Mexico for a week and see that and everything else! Guess I'm greedy.

We had most of our fun on the ship, languishing by the pool, laser tag for the kids and cigar bar for the parents (John and I, if you need clarification, hah). I accidentally bid on a $2000 piece of art during the auction (so thankful they let me meekly back out.. Peter Max, is cool but not for us). I managed to get John to dance a little bit-- not to the newly resurrected Michael Jackson sets, but the climb back to the modern charts, Purple Rain or something... Hunter managed to get lost and found in the guest services when he wasn't playing in the arcade and taking all the sushi back to the pool for us to share (he's quite smart and wonderful, that son of mine!) and Miya was Ms. sociable poolside. Dancing every line dance they offered night or day really made it great... as did the food. We took Carnival Imagination this time, which trumped the food on the Triumph.



We made sure to be among the last to leave the ship before meandering across Florida to visit with family. Good times! We all reminisced and bemoaned that we now live so far apart and can't often play rummy to the wee hours of the day or argue over who's paying for dinner (or go to their fabulous God-filled church).



We did fireworks with the rest of the good ol' USA, but we did ours mostly via boat. OOoh!



We did stop by Pedro's sombrero on the way back north, but I'll spare you. If you want to see them.. look me up on facebook!
Now back to work for me. I'm sitting on, like, five album design requests. And an entire wedding to work on. TTFN, Lacey

ADOPT US NOW!

update: Two are adopted, these two still need a home!



Please share with your friends. Thank you.
.........................................
I'll admit it. I'm not too proud.

We've found ourselves in a real big, fat pickle here with the kitten situation.
The mama cat and our old cat just are hatin' eachother these days. And the kittens are ready-- box trained, eating solids, fun and curious, love people... they need good homes!

PLEASE adopt a kitten if it tugs on your heart. These kittens have been well cared-for, and I can tell you about each of them... if you even THINK you know of someone that MIGHT want a kitten...please tell them where to look and let them know I will arrange a meeting. :) ADOPT NOW!
Kitten 1... (female, SO friendly and smart, love her!)




Kitten 2 (male, think he's taken, Praise God!)




Kitten 3 (female, shy!)


Kitten 4 (male, playful!)



Thank you for looking and considering. I'm pleased to say I'll give a few free portraits when you come to adopt. :) Just do so whole-heartedly with the intent to love and neuter or spay your pet (!!).

Memorial Day '09

Wonderful weekend. I had a great mini-reunion with my in-laws and was lavished with sun, sand, water and wonder at life. I am so richly blessed.



There are more on my facebook page, friends. And if you're a client, I'd love to have you as a friend too! I promise not to bombard you with application requests. Hah!

Slideshow of Victoria and Jon's wedding tomorrow! I can't wait to show off their gorgeous style and artistic images we made-- but, my kiddos are about to disembark their buses. :)

Lame Cat Pictures

I was incredibly thankful that while I was busy worrying that I might have to help the cat and really (sarcasm) admiring those videos of cats delivering (/ sarcasm) she was busy doing the deed on her own. Thank the Lord!





Two grays, one orange and a blackie. Can't tell if their fuzzy coats will wear off yet...heck I can't see their eyes yet. They are totally adorable. Can't wait to move them out of my closet...

Wedding in Charlotte tomorrow! So excited to get back to work.

ps/ that first image was Scarlett the day before she gave birth... hanging on the window screen.

kittens

...are imminent. I'm not sure why I thought it was a good idea to take in this stray and let her bed down in our home to birth her litter. There's some nasty things going on here involving fluids and I'm alone! OhMYGOSh. Just watched a video of cats birthing, and am ready to get sick.

Not taking pictures of this process. Will post pics of the kits when my stomach settles.

It's that time of year!

Time for snow!


Time for family!


Time for changes.

(no cats were hurt in the making of this image)

things changing:
my business...website, name...
my life.. homeschooling! getting involved at church...
my approach... working even harder to document moments and relationships

As you can see I have messed around with the blog already..and probably will more soon. Bigger than that-- flash site is going away. John has decided to take a back seat and leave business to me, so I am taking the name back, too! And we're going to add our version of family photography-- meaning a documentary approach to your life. Stay tuned for a sample of that.

There's always room for growth and change in our lives, and I'm excited! I hope you'll continue to visit and let me know what you think! Blessings, Lacey

Meghan Coffee

Hey! I am in the midst of hectic proofing, and my darling children are done with school for summer break. Hurrah! Busy busy, but I wanted to take a second to give a shout out for Meghan Coffee. I know someone who knows her, and I have exchanged emails with her about a certain photography seminar. So...yeah, I guess I still don't know her.

Love, love her voice:


Listen and enjoy. :)

Music ----->

As I work on the computer, editing image files and designing albums, it's not like I can walk around outside or watch TV. Additionally, we live in the country so there's always significant drive time to engagement sessions and weddings. I listen to a lot of music. I want to hear things that get my creative energy going, you know? So, yeah.

I recently discovered Pandora! I am in LOVE. For, like, three weeks now that's all I listen to. I created my own station by naming my favorite artists, and the cool little dealio they have over there plays them plus other (frequently obscure) artists with similar harmonies and tempoes. I can give it a big fat veto if I don't like a song and they promise to never play that particular song again... I can fast forward songs... I can add artists or songs to my station (to influence the music)... I can remove artists (The Beatles are great but didn't fit the flavor of my station).

So over there...on the sidebar..I added a widget that shows my recently bookmarked songs. But feel free to listen to my station, one of thousands of other stations, or create your own. ...I need to add my station to my phone and I'll probably never have to listen to anything else again. Did I mention Pandora is free online?

PS, I am realizing that I really like some techno. Who knew?

busy!

It is 6:30am on Saturday, and I am up. I woke up with the thought of "Jennifer and Jeff's wedding was awesome" and "I can't wait to share those pics" and then realized it was 6:30 on Saturday. I got up anyway. I cannot believe I got so busy that I haven't blogged favorites for them! I know they were too busy themselves in GREECE to notice. Right? Right?

What am I busy doing now? Well, yeah, lots of stuff. Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending the Yervant/Busink seminar in Chapel Hill. I don't sit still well... I was that annoying woman who kept getting up for coffee and then just staying standing. The seminar was interesting-- Yervant's style is definitely not my own and I fell in serious like with Joe B. He had me crying talking about autism....look for his book out soon. Anyway, the best part of seminars is meeting other photographers. Wish I could have stayed for the mixer after. ...I have to add here (so I can get it out of my head) a quote from a friend photographer "...we tell each other, this sucks, did you take this shot with your butt?" HAHA! My new goal.

Anyway, my goal today is to do Jen and Jeff's blog, and then go shoot another fabulous wedding tonight! I am living the life. :)

As they say in Greece: Adio. But just for a few hours...

my.brain.is.everywhere

What the Duck comic strip is so funny for us photonerds (altho I confess not to like the animated series much). I am hankering for a tee... one of these days I'll stop putting them in the cart and actually pull out the ol' credit card. Visit the What the Duck site for their funnies and other t-shirts ('my camera takes really pretty pictures' too).

I am in the midst of learning LightRoom. Someone quickly showed me (like in a minute) that with this program I can run actions and adjust background separate of the foreground from RAW. And fast. Or did I imagine that? New programs are so confusing. This one has lots of bells and whistles and I could probably play all day...but I really need to figure it out so I convert the RAW's to Jpegs already.

I've also finally ordered prints for the aluminum covered album I've flashed some of you with. I know, it was amazingly cool without photos in it, just imagine what it will be like finished. WOAH. Also ordering Kristine and C's album as we speak, which apparently will take 3 more hours. Ah...highspeed internet rules!

I could use a nap...but Dustin and Meredith's wedding needs to finish proofing. And I know... Autumn and John's album design, too. Somewhere in there I need to tease you with last weekends Duke Garden's wedding (so great!). And make Gwynne and John's proof book... I love being busy!

This has nothing to do with Earth Day

but Happy Earth Day, just the same!

Minor miracles today:
.Miya, my daughter, had her name called THREE times for awards day today. I'm so glad I went! I've never seen her look more proud.
.Even though I am not an aggressive person, I got sick of not having internet for two days and not getting a response from Charter, so I drove until I found someone from the company (bonus, he was only one street away). He came right over. I am now back to work.
.I am unequivocally happy that there has been lots of rain lately, beautiful skies, new growth in the garden, and a lessening of allergies!
.I have personal photo projects in my head. They look beautiful. They will require models, so, for now, they are just in my head. I am excited by the drama.
.I have gotten a little more used to my flaming red hair. A construction worker cat-called me, too.
.I wrote a letter.


It was just that kind of day.

my favorites...

I thought I'd share some of my favorite photographers, you know, those blogs I stalk often. The ones I have on bloglines RSS reader speed dial type thing. If you love photography too, you might want to go visit. :)

I think Angelica Glass is in NY somewhere. Her photography is sexy, sophisticated, almost naughty sometimes but above all gorgeous. I think I'd be completely tongue tied around Angelica.
http://angelicaglass.bigfolioblog.com/

Paul Johnson has been a favorite of mine since we lived in Florida. His work is clean, bright, thoughtful. Plus he added me as a friend on facebook the other day, which makes me feel cool.
http://pauljohnsonphoto.com/blog/

Cliff Brunk is a new find for me. I'm not sure where he came from all the sudden, but my gosh is he talented. Uber.
http://brunkblog.com/

Sol Tamargo does fabulous sexy work in exotic locations, and takes her once-boyfriend now husband Matt Adcock with her. She throws in personal snaps a lot. She seems like she'd always be happy... her photos are rich with color.
http://www.soltamargo.com/blog/index.php

Erin of Halo Photographic is the reigning holga queen. I bought an holga several years ago before putting it on a shelf to collect dust. She makes me want to pay for developing. Or something.
http://halophoto.blogspot.com/

So those are my very favorite favorite photographers across the country. It's really cool that I can view their photos and post links to their awesome work here, and consider it an extension of my work day? Awesome. Oh, I guess 'work' is stretching it... anyway, enjoy!

me!

What are friends for?

I am so, so wonderfully blessed to have friends that are honest, full of warmth, love, and very trustworthy. One local friend is Sherri Winstead, a very talented photographer from Fayetteville. We hang out or shop with each other about once a month... I wish it were more often but I'm so thankful for the time we do find to hang out. As you can see I have spring fever. Happy to see me out of black, Sherri grabbed her camera. Or is it the new hair? She shot me with my car. I love my car. John picked the personalized plates-- his says 'His PT' and we both have plate holders that say the business name and website. Again, his present. Come to think of it... the car was a present last JULY/AUGUST...

Thanks for the pics Sherri! I like them.. so rare to get pics of myself, and while we only had 2 mins to do these, it was so odd to be on the other side of the camera and have a photographer focus on me. It was a bit windy when we did these and my hair was loads of fun. And also the shirt/dress.. I actually have a pretty darn tiny waste if I dosaysomyself. John keeps saying he hates the current style of blousy shirt... ah, well, whatever. Tight stuff for dates I guess.

So funny, but the car was slightly greenish yellow, you can just barely see the tint on the far left side. The pollen is NASTY everywhere. There are eddy's of it by our front door... on the deck... obviously on the car. I've been given an inhaler-- how weird is that? Maybe they just like handing them out these days.

Hope you all aren't suffering with me...

Peeved

I have debated this post for months. But I have to say it. I have such a bad taste in my mouth from seeing this over and over and over.

First let me say that a LOT of photographers attend workshops, and I think this is great. It's fun, you meet other photographers, you might learn something, you might see an easier way to do something with software... It's great to stay fresh and current and keep challenging yourself to learn.

But I personally think it's unethical to use images from workshops in your portfolio. Especially as your opening image. I think it's misleading, and if what you learned (cough, copied, cough) at a workshop is the best you have... ugh!

I'm talking to more than one photographer. There's greatness in your own work. I think brides and grooms want to see what you did on your *own*, because those famous photographers aren't going to be there on the wedding day.

my .02.
...moving on...

locally...

worth trying again soon, longer lens next time.

I heart Charleston.

For those looking for Alex and Shelley's **amazing** wedding, a tease:

Shelley and Alex hired us for their 'destination wedding' in Charleston. We decided to make a weekend of it...because my best friend, Mary, thought it was marvelous as her family lives there (her sister being the most wonderful singer/song writer Milani Estrada, whose wedding I shot last year, and who is soon to dominate the airwaves... I digress). Mary said 'bring the kids! I'll meet you there, watch them while you and John work'. Mary lives 5 hours from me in Asheville, and with our busy lives as working Mom's-- and opposite schedules as I am working on weekends, when she is off-- we don't see each other nearly enough.

This was obviously an amazing idea. Mary is sweet and wise, and therefore my best friend forever. :)

Our trip starts with us snatching the kids from school just before their spelling quiz's. Strike one. Strike 2, the pouring rain slows us for a long while when... our car decides it's tired of all this shifting and throws itself into 2nd gear, while we were propelling forward at 75 or 80mph. Not so comfortable.

John limps the car into the one mile away Florence car shop while semi's thunder by and my babies don't realize the possible doom coming from behind. 2 hours and $157 bucks later we're on the road again.

But wait! Now the FAN that cools the engine... isn't working. Then we run into stand still traffic... I should mention here how lucky John is that there was a fabulous oldies station with the Beatles playing so I could serenade him. Once traffic began moving again... everything is peachy keen jelly bean. We were 5 hours behind schedule and unable to visit with my friend for Friday... but we'd made it to Charleston and the car was working as God intended.

[this is the most excellent explanation for why I come to town early for destination weddings. actually, this is true for me at just about any meeting, I am 30 mins early or more so that I am not late, I cannot stand to be late]

Saturday, all things were good to go! The wedding was really, really wonderful, and my visit with my friend was SO great. If you were at Embassy Suites, you may have seen us giggling uncontrollably over Cosmo's in the lounge downstairs Saturday night. I'm not so picky about where I find my fun, and besides, the bar made some yummy drinks.

We finished the weekend with a trip to an aquarium and a booking (knock wood) for another wedding in SC this year. Yippy! Who is more blessed then me?

Shelley and Alex's wedding pictures coming soon!!!!

good news!

I am nerd enough to have pointed out to at least 3 clients at their initial consultations just how much I thought of this image...do you remember? She was probably my compositional favorite of the year, and one of my few hanging pieces in my home. Huzzah! She placed:

And thanks again and again to my wonderful clients... Angela and Jeffrey! for giving me the opportunity to be creative.

...not sure if I should say this, but then again you all know I'm not the only photographer around. Right? hah. Anyway, I am really wowed by how many NC images placed for the Artistic Guild of the WPJA's latest contest. What a great state, full of wonderfully inspiring weddings and beautiful scenery... and humongo congrats to Shane Snider (4th overall in the country internationally!!!! WOAH, dude) and the Mr. and Mrs. of Azul Photography who each placed an image or two. Well deserved! Makes me feel warm and fuzzy to be in the same state. :) Plus I met you all before which gives me a tinge of coolness. Er, maybe not...

multi media

I really love documentary work. I keep thinking about doing some photo essays. I have like 3 stories going on in my head. Imagining them incorported into an entire piece, such as those found at mediastorm blows me away.

John has heard me several times ask him if he'd like to take up videography to compliment my wedding photography. Of course I love how we work now, but offering even more to our clients totally peaks (peeks??) my interest. ...He said no by the way. He has no interest... What happened to 'whatever makes you happy, baby"? haha! Kidding, kidding.

So back to the other site, I love this one. John and I put the cart before the horse, if you know what I mean, and I remember those early days similarly to this young couple. Their story is endearing to me, and the images are gorgeous. Matt is truly talented.

I need to take some pictures.

Fire

On a normal day, our home:

safe, sound, secure.

But just around 6pm last night we noticed fire truck after fire truck, lights flashing, sirens wailing, flying past our home. Before long they began parking in front of our home. I rushed through the woods to shoot this:

I was about 50 feet from the fire or something, with the wrong lens. I needed something longer.. Having no experience with fire before, I turned tail, ran into the house, chucked my camera equipment next to the front door and made a mental note to grab the external drives, contracts, receipts and cat on the way out should we have to evacuate. John put on the sprinklers, the neighbors all swarmed about with the firefighters, waiting sentinel apparently to see what would happen.

Finally I asked for some info, and the firemen seemed more concerned about their abandoned dinner. They said a tractor was out there, they thought that would take care of it. I guess living in a place called 'the sandhills' can have it's advantages, when it comes to smothering a fire.

Naturally I grabbed my favorite lens, slightly longer than before I marched back in the woods. I got close, it got hot, I had a little trouble with wheezing later, but I'm so glad I went closer.

I headed home, wishing that the tractors and firemen had been on my side of the flames (heck, I am a mom after all, no jumping over the flames for me). I thought, maybe if [when] the flames get closer I will shoot the men putting flames out. I was preparing an argument in my head for John to take the kids/cat/cars while I stayed and documented the day our house burnt to the ground.

Ok, if you didn't know I'm over dramatic and imaginative, you do now. I came home and John was chopping potatoes and saying the meatloaf was overcooked. Oh, how anticlimatic! The firemen drove away. The glow in the sky disappeared. I am thankful, but a drama junkie at heart.

This morning I walked through the affected area. Still smoldering, air heavily scented with burnt pine, very small fires here and there, but without yesterday's wind, I am certain it's soon to be a distance memory for all.