Haute Damn! Charleston Fashion Week

  If I did not already love Charleston, SC enough...I now have had the experience of my first CWF!  (Charleston Fashion Week)

  Designers, emerging and otherwise, take their designs to runways and I was lucky enough to be invited along for the ride by the fabulous Kristen Morris of Kristen Morris Jewelry (http://kristinmorris.com/) whose gorgeous, 'non-traditional' bridal jewelry was paired with bridal fashion designs by Lula Kate. (http://lulakate.com/)  Wow! is all I can say!  (see below for confirmation)

  Though we were 'bridal focused' it was a week long affair with fashion ending with a huge, bass pounding after party.  We enjoyed good food, friends and fashion. (If you have not been to Fig..its a must:-) 

  This was my first fashion show that I have shot and I certainly got caught up in the dazzle.  Enjoy the gorgeous frocks and rockin' jewelry designs!

Jewelry by Kristen Morris/dress by Lula Kate

Jewelry by Kristen Morris/dress by Lula Kate

Jewelry by Kristen Morris/dress by Lula Kate

Jewelry by Kristen Morris/dress by Lula Kate

Jewelry by Kristen Morris/dress by Lula Kate

Katherine McDonald, Lula Kate Bridal designer

Carol Hannah Whitfield, Project Runway Finalist and Bridal Designer

I loved this shot!  Is the little beauty on the right not the cutest with her camera??

The 'gang'- Cassandra Mooney(that's me!  Weddings by BlueSky), Ivy Robinson, (Wedding Planner Extraordinare! Ivy Robinson Weddings & Events), Kristen Morris (The Jewely maven mentioned above! Kristin Morris Jewelry) ,Aubre Vaugn-the-invitation idol! (Chic Impressions) and Rachel Lewis

What a good, good time!

Sneak Peek: Charleston Fashion Week!

With a full week of travel last week and a ton of catch up to do this week...  I wanted to share a quick sneak peak from the 2010 Charleston Fashion Week.  Stay tuned!

http://www.charlestonmag.com/fashionweek/main

Meet Adria & Rich: Our e-session contest winners!

Spent a cold late afternoon at Epicenter with our 'E-session Contest' winners, Adria & Rich. 

(Remember them? They were one of our  2010 e-session contest winners!)  They were just as sweet in person as in the email Rich had sent to win the session for Adria.  We walked Epicenter and stopped by a few of their favorite places to try and make the session personal to them.  And though I froze them to the bone by spending much of our time outside....they were troopers and it so great to meet a couple who seem to just adore each other.  (And Rich--I agree..one of my faves is also the shot of Adria leaning on your shoulder...I love when a couple forgets all about me being there and I can capture a private moment like that:-) Thank you too so much for a great session and I wish you all the love and happiness in the world!

  

Happy Valentines Day= 'Weddings by BlueSky' Launched!

Well, its official:  www.weddingsbybluesky.com is 'live!'  

-This is a 'soft' launch; meaning, no marketing efforts will begin, cards printed or site promoted without some feedback from you, my charming friends, family and clients.   Please  take a look (just know its a work in progress...:-) and provide any candid feedback you are willing to share.  --An image less than stellar?? Let me know.  Font not readable?  Let me know..  A typo..you get the picture.  Or, if there is something you just love..of course, I'd love to know that too:-)

As many of you know, I absolutely love shootings weddings and I am very excited to make this official.  The next 6 months will be a building time for me and due to that--our rates will be priced very reasonably as we build up the portfolio, add to the website and begin to build our 'wedding reputation' of excellence.  (If you know anyone getting married and booking a photographer int the next 6 months..check out the 'investment page' on the site.  I am also willing to 'shoot second' if you know of anyone who has already booked a photographer but is seeking a more full day of coverage than 1 photog can offer...)

With fingers crossed and a smile on my face....welcome to 'Weddings by BlueSky!'

Baby Penn--3 Months!

Meet little Miss Penn (Penelope) !  (I am so in love with both her name and her giant, blue eyes...)  As you know...I also love a sleepy baby and much to my cameras' chagrin--there is something about our presence that no matter how hard we try--even the new, newborns become wide-eyed.  So needless to say--when Penn's sweet mommy and me were able to collaborate and set our session for the time we thought she would most likely nap and baby girl was wide awake--we were not surprised!!!  Good news though--my sleepy baby dreams were answered...after 3o minutes of shooting...night, night Miss Penn.  (and low-and-behold...her sleeping shot may just be my new favorite!)  And since Penn's mommy decided to be a part of our 'Welcome Baby' program...I am so happy to say I get the honor of documenting Penn's entire first year!!  I can not wait to see the sweet little girl she becomes this year.  (PS:  Big thanks to Krista Wainscott for introducing Paige to my work)

Night, Night sweet baby.

And the WINNER is...

Wow.  This was much more challenging than I had imagined when I decided to do an engagement session give-a-way.  The response was great and some of the corresponding emails were funny, fun and in some cases just downright touching.

All that said, being a sucker for all things fun/funny/touching...I could not choose just 1!  So see below for all 4 of our winners (yes-4...)  and for the rest of you who entered thank you so much for sharing your photos and stories and I will be sending you each 'a little something' too;-)

And the WINNERS are:

 Meet Rich and his fiance' who were just engaged December 19.  --You know funny always wins me over.  So when Rich emailed me he was fairly certain his bride-to-be wanted to do an engagement session--though he himself was a little unsure what that actually entailed or why people choose to do them-he had me laughing. (and him winning. I love the idea that he wanted to do this for his fiance' even though unsure what he was going to have to do or why:-)  Rich--see future post on the merits of an e-session soon...) Rich also sent over a multitude of shots explaining that 'like most people--we can not agree on a shot that we each think we look good in so I just sent a bunch.'  I can tell already these 2 are going to be a blast to work with. (Rich also become a facebook fan of my child and family work--which made me a fan of his as it it showed it was more than just about winning the session--he actually checked out some of the work before entering. Very cool)   Congratulations Rich and 'bride-to-be!'

The next 3 winners were all referred by friends.  (How cool is that !)  This was the main reason I chose the additional winners--I love the notion of good friends taking the time to enter someone they deemed deserving.

Meet Amy and her fiance, JJ.  Amy came to us as a referral by her good friend Paige.  In addition to Paige complementing my work (I am certainly a huge sucker for THAT as well:-)  She had the following to say about Amy:  "She will absolutely LOVE your photos! ...She is SO photogentic she will be easy to shoot---She turns out pretty even on her worst day!"   I also have had the pleasure to know Amy personally (we ran in the same 'social circle' years ago..) and know she is an energetic and fun person--and that always make for a great session! Congrats Amy & JJ!

Meet Allison and her hubby-to-be:

Allison came in as a referral from her friend Jodie (who should be a lobbyist in her next life, I might add:-) Jodie gave me lots of reasons to choose her friend, including "She is so beautiful and photogenic! I think they would make a great addition to your "repitore".....not that I am biased or anything!!!"  And, I agree--these 2 are just plain c-u-t-e! Can't wait to meet the personalities behind the gorgeous faces.

And finally, my absolute favorite entry winners. Katie submitted on behalf of her friend Michelle--when you read just a portion of the email Katie sent on behalf of her friend, you will understand why:

"Michelle is one of my best friends of years and years and has the greatest heart. She’s that friend that makes you laugh until you can’t breathe and also the one that understands you when you feel like no one else does. Michael is an incredibly fun loving guy and they’re a perfect duo. I know they would love the style of session you are suggesting (outdoorsy and wintry). They’re both so outgoing and would be up for whatever. I’m not sure how conventional this is for someone else to be submitting a couple, but I’m so happy for them and wanted to give them a chance at this"  Wow--how could I not choose this?  

Congratulations to Michelle and Michael and I can not wait to meet a couple that inspired such a sentiment! (Don;t they just look like fun?) 

Thank you all for your entires and I will be in touch in the upcoming week with additional details and to discuss your individual sessions.  Each of you will receive a full, 'lifestyle' custom engagement session (determined by your individual personalities, interests and 'stories.') along with an 8X0 of your favorite image.  Congratulations and I can not wait to post the results!  Oh, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Merry Christmas 2009!

Merry Christmas!  What a more perfect post for Christmas AM than the beautiful Shearer babies!  I have been saving this session's images as they just seemed so appropriate for today.

  I was able to spend some time with Max and Wells in hopes of capturing baby Well's birth announcement--all we wanted was a moment with she and her sweet big brother Max.  (and we worked for it! :-)  I included a few 'outtakes' as they were just too funny as well as the 'final product' of Miss Wellesley Courtland Shearer's birth annoucement.  Awww...swwet babies! 

Welcome to the party baby Wells!