The Hunger Games: It's impact.

If you knew anything about me you know that I don't do fads. I don't do gossip magazines, reality tv, or trends. I won't wear my cowboy boots just because I'm going to a western place. For me, scarves are meant to be worn when it's cold out, not 72 degrees. The idea of being told that I only wear my hair in a braid because Katniss Everdeen dons one in the books makes me angry. Unless instructed to, I rarely wear pink/red on Valentines day or green on St. Patrick's day. It's just not in me. Someone told me once that I march to the beat of my own drum and I told them, no, if I like the music, I'll dance.

And in this case I did. With The Hunger Games trilogy. And when I refer to the Hunger Games, I mean the book series, not the movie. These are separate things and don't try to analyze them as one unit. Because they aren't. But anyway, not the point of this post. The point of this post is to speak about the impact of a book, story, or series.

I first heard about The Hunger Games about 1 1/2 years ago from my friend Vanessa. She explained to me the premise of the story and I rolled my eyes because again, if you know anything about me, I hate futuristic anythings. But I respected her opinion and told myself I would give it a try because I can't resist a good book (or for that matter, a good trilogy.) Fast forward 2 years and I still hadn't gotten around to reading it. Crap. Now the movie is coming out and I'll belong to that meme that people will no doubt be creating about reading a book just because a movie is coming out. Like this one:

But whatever, I really don't care because when it comes to books, I'll jump on a bandwagon. As long as they're worth my time. And they were. Completely. In all reality it didn't take much of my time because it took me a total of 4 days to read the whole trilogy. By the end of it, I was sobbing. No, not watery eyes and a lump in my throat. Full. On. Sobs. It's been a long time since a series, or even a single book for that matter has elicited such a response out of me. Throughout the series I went through a full gamut of emotions. Excitement. Pain. Intensity. Remorse. Grief. Delight. Sorrow. At times they stressed me out; sometimes I felt like a teenage girl giddy over romance; and at others I felt intense mourning because I knew the feeling of losing someone loved. Regrettably.

I haven't felt some of those feelings in a while so while it was refreshing to revisit, I'm sad it's over. I'm sad that I won't have something exciting to come home to. A place to lose myself in. To get away from responsibility and just enjoy a good story. This is what a good book does to me. Moments spent on the hammock in my back yard, straining to find a comfortable position to read in all, all the while knowing I'll just move in a few minutes anyway because a story this good can't keep me still for long...

Its pretty obvious from my ranting that I recommend the books. Whole heartedly. Do yourself a favor and take the time to read them. Not because it's popular. Not because a movie just came out. But because when you find a gem, one that makes you think "Crap, I can't put this thing down" at the end of every chapter, where you were in life will be forever etched into that book and it's those memories that sustain us.

Baby:: Lydia Rust

I remember when Judith told me that she didn't think her and Mike would ever have their own child...and she was ok with that; because the Lord brought them Kyle and he's been a blessing to their life. But obviously God wasn't done with them yet because He gave them Lydia. Judith called me up and we were quickly able to put together a time for me to photograph Lydia because she wanted to get her in her newborn stage. Just a precious 9 days old. I'm so glad I was able to do it for them and have the experience of shooting a newborn! Enjoy!

Engagement: David + Devin

David jokes "Well where to I start?" "At the beginning..." I say


And he did. He went through his relationship with Devin like a timeline while she sat in the front seat of the car, fixing her makeup. He went through carpool stories, mutemath concerts, New York city travel guides, and Star Wars brownie points before he got to this point, the engagement. If you go up and ask Devin where her favorite place on earth is, she won't just tell you Disney World, she'll most likely break into song. So much so that her and David have a "going to Disney" song. The morning her life would change, David woke her up with that song, took her to Disney, and under the castle fireworks, he asked Devin to marry him; and she said yes. So now we prepare for their May wedding under a big tree, surrounded by friends. I can't wait for the day where you two get to start your lives together.

When we started the engagement shoot, I automatically knew that this was going to be fun. Mainly because of this picture. She couldn't stop laughing. I think that's important.

And making funny faces...

 And sweet moments like these make things so much better

There was this wonderful carousel where we were shooting so naturally we had to pay to ride. And naturally I had to make them try to kiss. While moving. And spinning. So. much. nausea.

There was a Bar Mitzvah happening nearby so we snuck in to take a peak. We found this R and since David's last name is Rodriguez, well, it was only natural that we use it...

 Yep, they're a little quirky

 But they're also sweet

  And maybe just a little bit nerdy

David and Devin, it was wonderful shooting with you! Looking forward to May!

Day Of Coordination: Shadrack + Ludy

To say that this wedding ran perfectly is an understatement. I think the statement "You could see God's hands all in it" is more appropriate. It was just funny, the way things happen. Things that could have gone bad worked out perfectly. Like my car not starting (more on that later). Or the chuppah being knocked down. Or the threat of rain....it was perfect.

Since the Day-Of Coordinator comes in about a month before the wedding, there can sometime be some anxiety on the part of the day-of because you may be working with vendors who, quite frankly, don't know what they're doing. This wasn't the case with Shadrack and Ludy's wedding. All her vendors were fantastic. To begin with, I had the fabulous Shelley Cameron of Better Half Weddings and Events, Inc. on my side to help me out. Check out her website to pick up one of her wedding planning CD's to give you all the tools you'll need to stay organized on your wedding day!

Ludy went with Beca Companioni as her photographer. Now it's a well known fact that I am VERY particular about photographers and when I found out who her photographer was, I immediately jumped on her site to check her stuff out. I was REALLY impressed. She's professional and provides some really great images!

Ludy and Shadrack opted to do a first look to give them more time for pictures and to have time to enjoy the cocktail hour. Of course, I had to take a couple of sneak shots...

The ceremony and the reception was held at Plantation Preserve. Shannon, the venue coordinator was fantastic and such a sweet woman to work with! The space for the wedding opens up to water overlooking the greens and it's quite beautiful!

Field of Flowers in Davie provided the flowers. Major cool points go to them. About halfway through the set up, the chuppah they were setting up fell down because of the 15+ mile an hour winds. Sandbags needed to be brought in. 20 minutes and a couple of red lights run later, they arrive in enough time to weight down the chuppah and all hands were on deck!

Timing went so smoothly! It was important to Ludy and Shadrack to start on time, no matter who was there! The unexpected windy conditions through us behind only about 10 minutes, which in wedding time is fantastic.  The skies also threatened to open up on us throughout the ceremony. This next part is important; now with me being a Haitian wedding noob, I assumed the wedding would take the usual 30-45 minutes. I was quickly corrected by Ludy. Apparently Haitian weddings can take up to 2 hours! Bring your bibles everyone and get ready for a full on service. However I was quickly assured that this wouldn't be the case at HER wedding. 35 minutes was the pastor's limit! And he stuck to it with enough time to get everyone inside for the cocktail hour!

The rest of the evening went off without a hitch! DJ services were provided by Soul Movement Crew. It was important to Ludy and Shadrack that the Lord be glorified through everything and they definitely provided an evening that was right in line with their expectations! 

To Ludy and Shadrack: You guys were truly amazing to work with. Thank you so much for allowing me to be a part of one of the most important parts of your lives. May God truly BLESS your marriage. Enjoy the Dominican Republic and all those little umbrella drinks!

 

Creative Shoot: Carnival Playtime

Hannah- "I'm coming home for Thanksgiving and I want to do a shoot where two different things come together." Me- Ok sure......all the while not knowing at all what that meant. Then we finally sat down and got to the root of it. Bringing two seemingly different things together. While we both had great ideas with no budget and no connections to make it really spectacular, we settled on this. Bringing together two adults, and putting them in a child-like situation. And it was awkward. And it was fun. And Kyle kept making funny faces while we made him stand with his face to the sun, play with a toy truck, and act like a giant kid. But Shelley and Kyle were such great sports. And they take great pictures. I mean, have you seen their wedding pictures? Please...

And these pictures? Well they're a lot different than my usual style. Or should I say edited much differently than my usual style. But it was fun to play around with different editing techniques, trying to get the pictures to say the story I wanted them to say. Or rather, what the fabulous Hannah Roberts and I wanted them to say. Enjoy!