Portraits | Inspired by Audrey Hepburn

Ok, so, I realize I'm not the first photographer in the world to style a shoot after Audrey Hepburn. She's iconic, after all, and her look has made a tremendous impact on fashion and photography...and movies and Hollywood and culture as a whole. That kind of success and status is BOUND to be copied time and time again. But! When you have a friend who has, more than once, been told she resembles this famous actress, it's impossible to pass up an opportunity to play with that resemblance. (Especially since, lets face it, we all love Audrey!)

So, at the end of last summer (yes, it's taken me THIS long to catch up on personal photographic projects) Tara and I went to the house and property of some very dear family friends of her's. They had wonderful old cars they let us use, not to mention fabulous hats, coats and accessories that added wonderfully to the look. And, most of all, Tara herself has the positively stunning features and beautiful confidence in front of the camera that made the results of this shoot so gorgeous. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

These were the particular styles that primarily inspired this shoot:

(I know there are a ton of photos - but it was so hard to choose favorites that I decided to share almost all of them with you. Hope you don't mind...)

I love how Tara is so good at rocking the serious/model look AND natural smiles and laughter. :)

It was so much fun to have a fabulous classic car as a prop!

Just LOOK at her eyes! I can't even stand it. So big, so beautiful. It's one of the many reasons I love photographing her. They're so expressive and gorgeous.

I love how dramatic she's willing to be for the camera. :)

Again I say....those EYES! Just breathtaking.

Tara is a wonderful pianist, so it was fun to grab a few shots inside with her playing the piano for a bit.

And lastly, we had to throw in a couple zany shots specifically inspired by Audrey in "Funny Face".

I absolutely love having such a dear friend in Tara and that so many of our times together involve tea, classic movies, vintage dresses and much laughter. It's a pretty winning combination, if you ask me. :)

Personal | Irish Cathedrals

In the middle of this first February week, as I've found my brain overloaded with tax-talk and all-things that have to do with business finances, wedding Thank-You cards, and endless household chores/projects to accomplish my sister so lovingly reminded me that I STILL have yet to post the rest of my Ireland pictures. It really is kind of ridiculous....as that trip happened in September & October of last year. But, there are just always so many things pulling my brain in a million directions that sometimes I forget to take time and just work on and show the photos that I took for ME. For the pure joy of photographing something beautiful that holds a memory and special experience.

So, on this Thursday morning, after getting a few things done around the house, I made my cup of vanilla caramel tea (an all-time favorite that all-too-rarely I can ever find at the store) and sat down ready to show the world one of my favorite parts of our time in Ireland - visiting two of the hundreds-year-old cathedrals in Dublin.

Our first stop was at Christ Church Cathedral, where we chose not to pay the money to go inside because we were saving that for the next stop. Plus, the outside was lovely enough to keep us both entertained for a good while, and I enjoyed capturing a few photos of the gorgeous architecture. (It was perfect weather, too!)

Our second stop, St. Patrick's Cathedral, was by far my favorite, though. The richness of the history it contained, and the pure beauty it exuded were the exact kind of thing I hoped to experience while being in such a beautiful, old country. We paid the money to go inside this time, and it was well worth it.

This next one is one of my favorite photos of the whole trip. Just such a beautiful structure, with such fantastic dramatic sunlight.

The gorgeous inside....

My sister checking out the beautiful area that was sectioned off for private prayer.

The sun coming through the gorgeous stained glass made for lovely colors and reflections all over the place.

When being inside such a lovely place with so much rich history, it was a joy to take note of so many things that pointed to the beauty and goodness of the Lord. I love looking back on all of these photos and hope I get to do more traveling of this nature in the future - there are so many beautiful, historical places in this world that just need to be seen, enjoyed, and photographed (by me)!

Portraits | Irish Light Makes for Great Photos

So, getting married and moving your residence from one state to another (that happen to be several states apart from each other) takes its toll on your schedule - especially in regards to keeping up with personal photo editing. But I'm FINALLY caught up on weddings/portrait shoots for clients (and the crowd rejoices!) and have been able to turn my attention to finishing the last half of photos I took while in Ireland for two weeks with my sister in September/October.

One of the highlights of that trip was getting to meet up with one of my darlingest friends in the entire world, Lindsey. She happened to be studying for a semester at Oxford in England (yeah, she's a smart one) and hopped on over to the Dublin area to visit us for a few days. She's practically a second sister and currently I'm just brimming with delight to have the privilege of being in her wedding in July!

But back to Ireland. One early afternoon we were strolling down a quaint street near our hotel and happened upon a cemetery that had the most beautiful light. I convinced Lindsey and my sister to let us stop and take some photos, and this mini portrait session resulted. She's so lovely that I just had to share her sparkling blue eyes and beautiful smile.

She certainly has never lacked personality or spunk. Which is one of the things that makes her such a fabulous person to be close friends with.

Her beautiful Claddagh engagement ring.

I love her dearly and can't wait to see how gorgeous she'll look on her wedding day this summer! :)