Portraits | Emily on the Beach

Ok, I just can't wait any longer. I'm simply too excited about all of the photos from this shoot to spread out the 3 installments too far. So, if you didn't get a chance to look at the previous post just below this, please take a few minutes and scroll through the beautiful shots of my gorgeous sister. Isn't she stunning? (I may be biased, but it seems like a lot of people agree with me, so....)

Now that you've seen those, allow me to introduce my equally gorgeous cousin, Emily. She's been one of my best and dearest friends for, well, ever. Technically not quite ever, since I'm a year and a half older than her, but lets just say for as long as I can remember. I have the best memories of childhood summers at my grandparent's house playing dress-ups and Barbies, singing randomly and loudly, and fighting with both Aimee and Emily about which Disney Princesses we each got to be....

Yeah, so, our childhood was pretty girly. But we also shot BB guns, played with gross creepy-crawler rubbery toys and awesome dinosaur figurines, took golf lessons (at our Grandpa's insistence), and spent countless hours swimming, rollerblading and generally running around outside. It was a pretty great childhood, let me tell you. And the summers were always the best, because that's when we got the most time with Emily (and the other cousins). The fact that I still get quality time with my sister and cousin after getting married and moving several states away is truly priceless to me. I hope those opportunities never end, even if they get fewer and farther between as life goes on. But no matter what, I know I'll always cherish the memories we share, and the new ones that are able to be made.

Enough of the trip down memory lane, though. I'm sure that's much more interesting to me than any of you. So, why don't I go ahead and just show you how gorgeous she is, now?

(I love that her beach attire was very different from Aimee's, and that their personalities are totally different, too. It allowed for different types of shoots, while still being at the same location. And both with equally good results, if you ask me.)

I also love how she can pull off this "model stare", like few can.

But smiles and laughter are much more true to her personality. :)

I've ALWAYS been jealous of her amazing, long eyelashes.

I think the combination of her, the fabulous light, and beautiful ocean is just lovely in every way.

I love the bird that perfectly accents this photo. Thanks, O'Reilly. ;)

One of my favorites....just look at those beautiful eyes!

Her hair just flows perfectly in beachy winds. I love it.

Absolutely one of my top favorites.

So you see? I wasn't exaggerating in the least. My cousin and sister are two seriously gorgeous people, and I had a seriously wonderful time getting to take beautiful photos of them.

Stay tuned for one final beach installment...a few photos of them together and some snapshots of your's truly that Aimee took. Coming soon!

Portraits | Aimee on the Beach

For those of you who are wondering, and who didn't see my Tweets or Facebook updates while I was gone, I had a positively wonderful time in Florida the other week. It was so great to spend the weekend with all of Aaron's family, and then to get 5 good days with my sister, cousin, grandparents, uncle and aunt. The sister, cousin and I had many memorable adventures (as we always do together). Lots of uncontrollable laughter, the eating of far too many calories and the getting of tans! I'd call that a downright successful vacation. (Minus the part where I was sick for 24 hours with the stomach flu or food poisoning. But even that couldn't manage to ruin an otherwise perfect vacation.)

Not surprisingly, one of my favorite parts of the week was definitely the beautiful sunset beach shoot we did. When you have a sister and cousin as gorgeous as I do and are spending the week near the OCEAN, it would be a crime not to get at least some photos. Thankfully the girls agreed with me and were more than willing to be my models. In fact, so willing that they even tried out some pretty dramatic poses, of which I think resulted in some positively stunning images. But, don't just take my word for it. You can see for yourself...

Due to the large number of images that I realllly want to show you all, I decided to break this up into a few posts. So, to kick off this mini-series I'd like to introduce my sister, Aimee, who was sporting her fabulous find from H&M that she purchased here in Richmond when she visited me in January. It was the PERFECT dramatic touch for this shoot, if I do say so, myself.

This wasn't even an actual posed moment, I think she was in between poses but I just love it. So much emotion and drama.

I love what the ocean winds will do to hair. So fun and free. And crazy. :)

Emily's necklace that made for the perrrfect accessory. Props to her for bringing nearly all the jewelry she owned on vacation. ;)

Is she just beautiful, or what?

For those of you who don't know my sister, let me tell you a not-so-secret about her: she HATES getting or being wet. So the fact that she willingly volunteered to do some shots IN the ocean was a moment in time that quite possibly will never again be repeated. But I didn't stop to ask questions, and instead chased her into the water before she could change her mind. Consequently, all of these in the water are some of my top favorites.

Look at her! She's even laughing and having fun in the water!

One of my most favorite shots from the whole thing. I just love how her posture and attitude turned out, with the beautiful water and lighting.

Allllso favorites. Especially the one on the left.

And these.

My sister is just gorgeous, and it was so fun to capture that in such an inspiring environment. I hope you all enjoy them as much as I do!

Stay tuned for Emily's portraits in Part 2!