Double-decker buses. These pictures were taken by Erik! The London Eye and Westminster Abbey. While he was catching these great shots, I was off with Tina and Johnny, who you’ll see a few pictures down. These were taken in Green Park, next to Buckingham Palace. I just liked his feet!The “wildlife” there is crazy! They are NOT afraid of people. Also, I love to take pictures of flowers. These are for you, Andrea (my favorite florist friend!)I LOVED the gardens in front of the Palace, so I convinced Erik to get in them with me for a pic! Again, Tara was the gracious photographer for this shot, which I’m planning to print and hang! Don’t be afraid to go big when you print — and 8×10 is too small for a wall unless it’s part of a set! I’m thinking maybe 16×20? I love getting my clients in 20×30, but I’m not sure I want to see myself that big everyday!Okay, you’ll probably be happy to see I’m done with flowers — I just could not get over how gorgeous the gardens were there! But now, more of my specialty: a couple’s session with Tina and Johnny!Tina is an American expatriate living in London, and Johnny is an English bloke (don’t worry, I didn’t embarrass myself by saying that in front of him). The two met at work, which is a stone’s throw from the Houses of Parliament and St. James Park.

Everyday they’d eat lunch in the park together, and this bridge (in front of the London Eye) is where Tina first told Johnny she loved him… awww!The two have friends in high places — their boss is a former Minister for Margaret Thatcher, so they’ve been to a number of events at the Palace of Westminster, which is generally closed to the public! and whatnot).Is there anything that says London more than a red telephone booth in front of Big Ben? What an amazing place to shoot!

The park was created in the 17th century, and was visited by aristocracy and royalty, alike. Almost 100 years ago, it was turned into a school, and now the gardens are open to the public. And to the sheep!The Gothic Temple. There were six statues to the gods of each day of the week (except Thursday… not sure where that one went). And Chris, making up for the missing deity. A few days later, we headed off to the city of Oxford, including the world-famous University of Oxford.

We began the tour, and I found out there was a wedding finishing up at Christ Church! So of course, I had to try and get a picture in front of the bride and groom in front of the incredible architecture. My gracious friends humored me while I waited 45 minutes. And THEN… the couple went the wrong way! But I was able to sneak this one shot…After the couple got in their Rolls Royce to move onto their reception, we continued through the beautiful and historic town. Here I am with Tara, who lives right near Oxford, and Lil, who you may remember as my former Australian roommate who I met up with in Hawaii last year! We got REALLY lucky… I was paid to shoot a wedding in Ireland the same month she was paid to present a paper at a conference in the UK! Of course, we had to meet up. And Erik and I on the cobblestone streets, surrounded by century-old buildings. I love this photo. And I take NO credit for it. Okay, maybe about 1% credit… it was shot by Tara, who was my protegee for week! The morning before she took this picture, I ran a small workshop for her and some friends on how to use the DSLR camera.Another activity in the English countryside… afternoon tea at Hartwell House.Fancy fork.Our arrangement — scones, un-crusted bread, desserts, cream, and jam to go with our tea. I think Tara took this one. Back at home — meet Daphne!The whole family! As a thank you for everything they did for us, I took some family pictures. I must say, I was sooo excited because about 75% about the pictures hanging in their house were taken by me or my associate — I shot Chris and Tara’s wedding, their engagement, as well as Tara’s sister’s wedding!England is full of these beautiful fields of rapeseed, which were at peak bloom while we were there! Tara calls them the “yellow fields of happiness”. We spent some time finding one that wasn’t privately owned so we could take a picture. And finally, Chris and Tara’s favorite meat-pie restaurant. Yummy, and very British!And nerdy. 

In the case of Caitlan and Mike, I was really bummed when Caitlan called and I had to tell her that I had already booked her wedding date — especially because it would have been a destination wedding for me! But since they wanted to shoot engagement portraits on the UVA campus, and their day-of photographer lives so far, I still got to hang out with them for awhile in Charlottesville A few months later, I got a call from Mike’s sister, Katie. She had just gotten engaged, and though she didn’t have a date or a venue, I was flattered that she wanted to line me up as her photographer right away! Anyway, after I shot Katie and her fiance John’s photos at the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley, I decided to do a combined blog post! I asked each of the couples to tell me their story. Caitlan says:

“Michael and I met, fell in love, and got engaged before the beautiful backdrop that is Charlottesville and the University of Virginia. Michael transferred to U.Va. in the fall of 2005, and we met through First Year Players, a student theater organization on Grounds. After making eyes at each other at plenty of social events, we both managed to muster enough courage to make a first move, had our first date on the Downtown Mall, and were inseparable until my graduation in 2007. From that June until August of last year, we lived 2+ hours apart, but I knew when Michael was accepted to medical school in the beginning of 2011 that things were about to change. On a beautiful Saturday last May, we had the perfect Charlottesville day–walking through the Rotunda and Alderman Library, lunch at Take It Away, wandering the Gardens–and then Michael made it even better by getting down in one knee in Garden VI and asking me to marry him with a ring he had made with diamonds from his mother’s family. I said, ‘Of course I will!’”

Katie & John are huge goofballs. But don’t take my word for it. If you can’t tell from the pictures below, just read what Katie told me about how they met and got engaged. I definitely laughed out loud when I read this…not to mention our entire session through!

“John and I met online (I messaged him when I saw that his hobbies were reading Robert Jordan novels and racing rally cars; he responded because I wasn’t ugly). When we went out on our first date he told me I would hear his car coming before I saw it, and true to his word he rolled up in a grey, sticker-covered subaru that sounded like it had a jet engine. We hugged, hesitantly, and I knocked a small child over in the revolving door on the way into the restaurant. Instead of being appalled, John appreciated this careless act of violence. It is this quality, that John finds amusement in my awkwardness, that keeps us together.

“Even though we lived an hour apart from one another, we found ourselves making the drive – daily – to spend time together. We moved in together in our second summer, and on a random Tuesday in October, John proposed. He did wear a suit, and get down on one knee. There were flowers (roses, lilies, and the like). But those things were nothing to what he had done to our house. He had papered (floor to ceiling papered) our entire first floor in neon signs. They asked if I would marry him in foreign languages. They revealed all our little inside jokes. They said kind things about me. They carpeted the floor. By the time I made it upstairs to find John waiting for me, I was basically already on the verge of tears. Even John got a little red eyed when he told me he had bad news: he didn’t want me to be his girlfriend anymore. Somehow, I didn’t mind.”

By the way, if you like this venue, check out this month’s Washingtonian Magazine, where the Museum is featured on the COVER of their latest issue! If you’re not reading this during April 2012, just check out their archives.

Welcome to springtime in Washington! I don’t think Ella Fitzgerald ever wrote a song about it the way she did for Paris, but it’s still pretty breathtaking if you catch it at the right time!

When I first discussed doing engagement pictures with Christa and Kenny on St. Patrick’s Day weekend, I didn’t think we’d catch the snowy effect of the Cherry Blossoms. Thankfully, Mother Nature worked her magic for us and the spring started early around here

We were especially lucky because Kenny actually lives and works in Cincinnati, and only gets to see his love Christa, who is getting her graduate degree at Marymount University, about once a month. The two met during undergrad at Morehead State University in Kentucky.

Since Christa will be graduating soon and moving back to Ohio (where they’ll get married), the two wanted to take advantage of the DC landscape during one of Kenny’s last few visits. We (along with about a zillion other people), spent time at the Lincoln Memorial, where the two got engaged.

We followed our visit to the monument up with some of my favorite cherry blossom shots I’ve ever taken!

Congratulations, Christa and Kenny!

1) send out pics from last month’s shoot

2) edit and process about 200 order forms/pics from a sports league shoot

3) send w-2s to my employees

4) write up a couple more contracts for 2012 weddings

5) design albums

6) prep for a possible boudoir session in Orlando (looking for h0tel ideas… any thoughts?)

7) Hang up the huge pile of clothes that have been taking up the entire floor of the extra bedroom (or as I like to call it, my “charging station” for camera batteries) since we moved to Winchester

the list goes on, but you get the idea. Point is, it has been a VERY busy month for JNP, and while I’m sooo thankful for the work, I am also feeling a little overwhelmed.

BUT I just HAD to post an image from this past weekend’s second annual weekend of boudoir at the GW hotel. The model will remain nameless for now, but she has graciously (and courageously!) agreed to let me post this shot of her looking absolutely STUNNING.

Make-up/Hair: Stephanie Novak Artisty

Venue: George Washington Hotel

Jewelry: Lia Sophia from Jeanette Weiler

Flowers: Flowers by Snellings

The rest of their pics will be available from their hired photographer, Melissa Robotti out of Boston. Finally, thanks to Lauren at  EnVogue Salon in Danvers, MA, for a great job on Jen’s makeup… and my hair!Last-minute dance practice

The bouquet and centerpieces… thanks to my second shooter, Lauren, for the second shot!

So before the traditional Jewish ceremony, the bride, groom, and a few witnesses take place in the Ketubah signing. Here’s the proud mother-of-the-groom getting ready.

The Ketubah is the marriage contract. As you can see, they aren’t boring black-and-white text documents, but often colorful pieces of art.

Traditionally, the contract was used to outline the groom’s responsibilities to his bride (so here he is signing in agreement). Check out Wikipedia’s article for more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketubah  After the contract is signed, the larger ceremony can begin! The Ketubah is displayed and explained for the rest of the guests. The explanation of this and other traditions is one of my favorite things about the Jewish ceremony… to be it somehow ties this modern couple to thousands of years of history.  The bride makes seven circles around the groom…and the couple shares a cup of wine. The service was officiated by Cantor Ben Tisser. Cantors lead congregations in song, and can perform many of the same functions as the better-known Rabbi.

After the glass was smashed (another tradition!), Alina and Joe ran off to enjoy a few private moments as husband and wife before the obligatory picture-taking began. How cute are they?And to finish the evening, a gorgeous sunset overlooking their big party at the lodge! Lots of great music provided by Copycat, who came all the way from Long Island. Just had to include this couple I caught mid-kiss

Another successful weekend complete!