Tabitha & Jason | Judiciary Square engagement | Washington, DC

Tabitha and Jason are so patient. We must have changed their engagement photo shoot three times, chasing the cherry blossoms. In the end, they were just too damn late (mostly) so we just went with what we had. I think it worked out pretty great, actually. engagement photography in washington dc Clancy came along for the ride. Bonus extra morning walk - score! washington dc engagement session with a dog engagement photo shoot on the capitol grounds And we found some cherry blossoms after all! engagement photos in dc with cherry blossoms engagement photo shoot with dogs washington dc engagement session judiciary square engagement photos engagement photos in washington dc A real bonus of getting up super-early for  engagement photos is that the metro is empty and you can play on the escalator without annoying half the city. engagement photos in the dc metro engagement photos with columns in washington dc adorable engagement session in washington dc engagement photo shoot in washington dc Congratulations guys!

Erin & Patrick | Arlington courthouse wedding

Erin and Patrick are going to rock out the big dress, big ballroom, party-for-everyone-we-know a little later on this year. But sometimes life (or bureaucracies) dictate that you have to go to the courthouse a little early. And if you're going to do that, you might as well bring along your photographer and rock out a courthouse/engagement session duo of awesomeness. So they did. wedding pictures on a metro escalator In Arlington, you don't get married in an actual courthouse, but in a lawyer's office across the way. Apparently two dudes in the basement duke it out for couples (I'd photographed weddings at the other guy's office - this was my first time on this side). Arlington intimate wedding ceremony exchanging rings at arlington courthouse wedding arlington courthouse wedding Some lawyer's offices are cooler than others. posing for a picture in the lawyer's office After their short ceremony, I took the newlyweds across the way to Bayou, where they were promptly given free beignets. post-wedding coffee and beignets at bayou It was pretty cold, and raining, so we went underground. wedding pictures in the metro escalator portraits in the metro hallway arlington cutesy wedding pictures wedding photography in arlington, va Woo! portrait of a bride in arlington, va arlington courthouse wedding photos portraits on the wedding day in arlington, va This is one of my favorite ways to do portraits - just wandering around an area, looking for cool spots. We finished up our photo time in the entrance to a parking garage. arlington, va wedding photography for courthouse wedding Congratulations Erin and Patrick! I'll see you guys again soon for the big shindig!

Random from the D80

I'm really hard on my cameras.  Lenses, I coddle to death but camera bodies get banged around, dropped, rattled, bumped.  And because I like to have a camera on me at all times, it tends to be the one that can sustain the most damage.  Therefore, my "bang around" camera is the D80, demoted from main camera to backup camera and finally to "oh, do I still have that?" camera.  So it sits in my purse and comes out when I'm bored or on the metro and cursing myself for not doing more street. Today I downloaded the files to see what was on there.  Snaps from a hotel tour, Jasmine Star from her little speaking thing a while back, metro shots and, well... cheese. little girl on the washington dc metro dc metro street photography Sooooo there was this cheese.  Moody Blue, made by Roth Kase.  I tasted this cheese at Cheesetique (a magical place, you must go if you are near!) and then it disappeared from their shelves.  Every time I took David (the best friend, not the husband - that's George, who hates cheese) to a cheese store, we would look for the cheese but it was nowhere to be found.  So for my birthday, the ever-intrepid David actually phoned Roth Kase and specially-ordered an entire block of the stuff.  Yes, folks, what you see here is a seven pound block of blue cheese. seven pound block of blue cheese Oh, that huge cake-like slice cut out of it?  That's the part I had consumed about a month after receiving the block.  At this rate, I estimate it will take me near two years to finish the cheese, accounting for vacations and getting tired of it and such.  In the meantime, isn't it kinda gross?!  You can see where they drilled in to put the mold in.  Fascinating!  Ah, cheese. It is one of life's supreme pleasures.