ErinChris Photo Blog

Traveling in Italy: Venice

2011-05-07T18:14:00.006-04:00

The last stop on our trip to Italy was Venice. We had one day to tour the city by boat and walk around in St. Marks Square. I love seeing cities from the water so this was a perfect fit. We started our day by hopping on the Vaporetto which is the easiest way to get from one end of the city to the other. We rode down the Grand Canal to St. Marks Square.

The algae growing on these steps had quite a variety of colors.

We hopped off the Vaporetto to visit Doge's Palace.

Then St. Marks Square.

It was quite unfortunate to find out that The Bridge of Sighs had been totally covered up by advertisements. You couldn't even SEE the bridge from the other side.

Then we hopped back on the Vaporetto and rode over to the island where San Giorgio Maggiore Church is located to get some views of the St. Marks area (and the advertisements apparently).

St. Marks Square was nothing like I had imagined. There were hardly any pigeons and the ads and scaffolding covered up a lot of the buildings.

After lunch we made our way over to the famous Rialto Bridge.

And a view of the Grand Canal from the crowded bridge.

Plenty of tourists took their gondola ride, but we decided to pass this up... the Vaporetto wasn't nearly as expensive, and we got the pass so we could hop on and off all day.

This was where we had our last dinner in Italy, right on one of Venice's many canals.

Our trip to Italy was incredible, and now that I can't jinx us, we couldn't have asked for better weather! Hope everyone enjoyed the trip as much as we did. =)

Traveling in Italy: Cinque Terre

2011-05-02T21:40:00.006-04:00

The next area we visited was Cinque Terre on the upper western coast of Italy. There are 5 villages right along the water and some have houses located right on the steep cliffs. There are hiking trails connecting each of the villages, but when we arrived we found out that all the trails were closed except one, because of landslides that had occurred from all the recent rain. Luckily, we were able to go far enough on some of the trails to get pictures of each of the villages. We stayed in the most touristy village called Monterosso del Mare, which is more of a resort area with a beach.

Our first night, we started on the hiking trail toward Vernazza (which is supposed to be the most difficult of the hikes) but since the path was closed we had to turn around and take the train to Vernazza and hike backward a little bit to get some photos of Vernazza.

Vernazza is mainly known for its quaint little harbor.

Then we climbed up the tower that you can see on the end of the peninsula in the photo of Vernazza above.

It gave us some great views down the coast.

On our second day, we walked along the one path that was actually still open, the Via della Amore. Here you can see some of the paths along the cliffs.

This is Manarola and might be one of my favorite shots from the trail.

We were definitely disappointed when we found out that the trails were closed, but learning that the boats were running made it a little better. Some of these views could only be seen from the water.

Here are some of the landslides that required the trails to be closed.

On our last day in Monterosso we explored the areas away from the coast. Monterosso is known for its local wine which is really light and fruity, and their vineyards have been around for hundreds of years.

Our hike led us back down to the beach, which I couldn't get enough of. Yes we have beaches in Florida, but the water and landscape doesn't look like this.

Il Gigante used to be a famous landmark in this area of Italy. It was built out of concrete and used to hold a trident, but lost his arms and was damaged in WWII bombings.

Our last night in Cinque Terre, we had dinner on our balcony overlooking the village. This was our view.... amazing.

The last stop on our trip was Venice, which is coming up next.

Traveling in Italy: Siena and San Gimignano

2011-05-01T11:29:00.005-04:00

We took a day trip from Florence to visit a couple towns in Tuscany: Siena and San Gimignano. Our first stop was in Siena where we walked the incredibly steep streets and really enjoyed the relaxed feel of this town.

We made our way from the bus station to the city center and visited the Siena Duomo. Again, the architecture of the outside was incredible, and this time the inside was just as ornate as the exterior.

This is looking up at the dome from inside.

Then we visited a few other sights and as part of the museum entrance fee, you can climb up to the panoramic view which gives you a view of the Duomo as well as Il Campo. What's another 300 steps right? This was our view of Il Campo... yet another perfect day! I could've spent hours up here... it was THAT beautiful.

Here is more of a panoramic view.

You could see so much of the countryside from up there.

We got some pizza for lunch and ate it in the middle of the plaza.

Next, after a difficult time trying to figure out how to buy tickets with no information center or manned ticket stand, we headed to San Gimignano by bus. This town is mostly visited by tourists who come to see the towers that are still standing from medieval times. We had to walk down the hill to see all the towers together.

This was a cute little secluded walkway on our way to one of the viewpoints overlooking Tuscany.

And the views were so beautiful and peaceful.

We decided if we ever get the chance to return to Italy, this is the region we'd spend our time in.

Traveling in Italy: Florence

2011-04-30T10:42:00.007-04:00

Our next stop was Florence, which ended up being our favorite city of the trip. After leaving the crowded, fast-paced streets of Rome, it was nice to enjoy a slower-paced city that wasn't as full of people. We stayed right on the south side of the Arno River and could see it from our room. Our one day in Florence was spent walking around and seeing all the churches and museums from the outside mostly. We also checked out the local market and browsed the street vendor's stands, which smelled like leather because there were tons of purses, jackets, and other leather goods for sale. I'd been looking for a new purse for a while so I picked up a souvenir. =)

Then we headed into the heart of the city to see the Duomo. This enormous church was surrounded on all sides by buildings so it was tough to get a good shot, so here is one that shows the incredible detail that covered the building.

We thought it was interesting how plain the inside appeared after being blown away by the ornate detail on the outside.

Looking up towards the dome, before climbing the steps to the top.

The view from the top of the Duomo was one of our favorite views in Italy. The weather was absolutely gorgeous as well, which made the experience that much more amazing.

It might have been a cool view to see the Duomo from the Campanile as well, but we had to pick just one... we had already climbed tons of stairs the first part of the trip.

This was just a typical plaza that we saw with a relaxed vibe.

After weaving our way through the city, we came back around to the river and visited Ponte Vecchio.

Later in the evening we headed up to Piazzale Michelangelo which is a hilltop that overlooks the city. We had planned on taking the city bus since we'd already walked so much that day, but in typical Italian style, they were on strike... so we ended up having to walk the entire way. In the end, we both agreed it was worth the walk. The view from the hill was incredible. We got there a little before sunset and stayed for at least an hour.

This was the shot I had envisioned, and was so excited to get it even without a tripod!

Next up, our trip out into Tuscany to see Siena and San Gimignano.

Traveling in Italy: Rome Part 2 and Pompeii

2011-04-26T20:16:00.010-04:00

Our last day in Rome was "Vatican Day". We made our way toward Vatican City on the bus just after sunrise and took a walking detour by Ponte Sant' Angelo (shown below) and the Castel Sant' Angelo.

It was actually a good idea to get to St. Peters early, because the crowds weren't nearly as bad as they got later in the day.

We decided to book our Vatican Museum tickets online ahead of time and it was well worth the extra 4 euro to skip the long line. Once inside, we had great views from the terrace.

This was one of the few museums we went to in Rome that actually let you take photos inside.

After the Vatican Museum, we waited in the long line to get into St. Peters Basilica. It wrapped around one half of the plaza but only took about 20 minutes to get through security. This place is just incredibly ornate with all the gold and the light coming in through the main dome was beautiful.

The wait to ride the elevator up to the first part of the dome was much longer than the wait to get into the Basilica. Then began the steps... But the view was totally worth it.

After experiencing the crowded streets of Rome for 3 days, we packed up our stuff and headed down past Naples, to Pompeii. We were forced to get the audio guide because they were conveniently out of info packets and maps in English, and the audio guide came with a map. (Plus I need all the maps I can get because of my scrapbooking obsession.)

It was really easy to get lost walking down the streets because they all looked so much alike. This was a typical street in Pompeii. The streets were sunken down so they could be flooded with water to clean them, and stepping stones were placed where people could walk across.

We didn't have time to hike all the way to the full amphitheater but this was the smaller theater that we did get a chance to see.

This was the bakery which still has the stove and mills in tact.

Mount Vesuvius was basically our compass every time we got lost. You could see it from almost everywhere.

Next up will be Tuscany, which was our most enjoyable part of the trip.

Traveling in Italy: Rome Part 1

2011-04-24T16:50:00.011-04:00

Chris and I recently took our big 10 day trip to Italy! We flew into Rome and stayed for 3 days, then continued on to spend time in Pompeii, Florence, Siena, San Gimignano, Cinque Terre, and finally ended up in Venice. Since we saw so many things and I took SO many photos, I've decided to break it up into a few posts.

I'll start with Rome, which was the biggest photo chunk of our trip since Rome itself has an incredible amount of sights to see. On day one we decided (actually I begged) to go see Aqueduct Park since we had a couple hours that were unplanned (yes, if you know us, we plan a detailed itinerary down to the minute). After a 30 minute Metro ride (luckily the metro was actually running) and a 30 minute walk, we arrived at the park. It is so strange to see a huge chunk of Roman Aqueduct just looming in the distance. As we got closer, it was cool to see how civilization has just built around these structures. We crossed a field that had a some sheep, and then on the far side, there was a running/biking trail and even a golf course.

Later that night we met up for the New Rome Free Tour and learned some of the history of Rome and some random facts that I hadn't expected. This is where we started the tour, the Spanish Steps, which was covered with people and street vendors. We didn't climb to the top because there wasn't enough time before the tour started (we did plenty of climbing the rest of the trip to make up for it).

One of the random tips was that Rome has these water fountains all over the city that are free to drink from and if you use your fingers to close the bottom of the spout, the water comes out a smaller hole on the top and it's like a water fountain. We didn't try the water fountain technique, but did refill our water bottle whenever we ran across one. I am really picky when it comes to the taste of water, and I was very impressed with how great it was in Rome.

Our tour took us by the Pantheon and we only spent a few minutes here, but it is so overwhelming thinking about how old this is.

The inside was incredibly dark, but I managed to snap a few shots that weren't too blurry.

Our tour ended up in front of Trevi Fountain which was all lit up at night.

The next day was our "Ancient Rome" day where we started at the Colosseum.

Then hiked up to Palentine Hill.

And finally down to the Roman Forum, which was one of my favorite places for photos.

At sunset we made our way back to the Colosseum for a few more photos. I've heard people say that it is so strange to have ancient buildings on one side of the road and newer buildings on the other, but until you see it, it's hard to envision. (Google Maps Street View does a pretty good job if you want to save yourself the trip, haha.)

Portraits - Palm Harbor, FL: Kara and Chris Maternity

2011-04-20T18:29:00.003-04:00

It took a while for my good friend Kara to redeem the photo shoot gift I gave her for her birthday last year, but this year there was more motivation to get it done sooner. The reason: She and her husband have their first baby girl on the way! Here are a few photos of the expectant parents. Kara looks amazing for being 31 weeks along!

We took some photos at a park that hopefully they'll be spending a lot of time at in the near future.

And since they both love volleyball, they decided to be a little goofy.

I'm so excited for you guys and can't wait to meet your little girl!

Portraits - Safety Harbor, FL: Kara and Chris

2010-11-22T12:00:00.007-05:00

Life has a tendency to get very busy. Kara is one of my best friends, and for her birthday back in March I gave her the gift of photos... family photos... of her, her husband, and their dog Kodi. The last time they had official portraits done was for their wedding over 4 years ago, and since then, their family photos have consisted of setting the timer on her camera and running over and hoping Kodi would cooperate in time for the timer to go off. It wasn't until this past weekend that our schedules FINALLY lined up and we were able to meet up and take them. Of course, it wasn't a bad thing that we waited until the scorching heat of summer had subsided down here in Florida. I'm so happy we finally made time to do this!

We found this cool old car in front of an auto shop and stopped in for a few fun photos.

These two are huge Gator fans so as much as it pained us to photograph, we had to capture a few in gameday attire.

Wedding - Homestead, FL: Erica and Matt

2010-11-09T10:47:00.006-05:00

Erica and Matt are one of the nicest couples we have met, and the love and happiness between them is contagious. Their wedding was held at Matt's grandparent's property down in Homestead, FL and everyone welcomed us in as one of the family. The weather was gorgeous except for the cold front that had just come through and the guests from Florida (including us) were a little chilly. Here are some of our favorite shots from around the property which had everything from beautiful gardens to old machinery.

The setting for the reception was beautiful with lights strung across the dancefloor and candles hanging from the trees.

Thanks for including us in your beautiful day, we wish you both many years of happiness!

The Sunshine Skyway Bridge

2010-10-10T19:02:00.002-04:00

Ever since we moved to Florida, I've wanted to take photos of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. We recently ventured down that way, and drove around the rest stop and fishing pier on the south end of the bridge which is part of the old bridge that used to connect St. Petersburg to the Sarasota/Bradenton area. After the old bridge was hit by a freighter and collapsed, the new bridge was built and it's recognized for its bright yellow suspension cables. The Skyway is listed as one of the Travel Channel's "Top 10 Bridges" in the world, which was all the more reason to indulge into my bridge obsession.

When we drove out on the south fishing pier there were lots of pelicans scoping out their lunch in the water below.

Traveling the Pacific Northwest: Mt Rainier and Seattle

2010-09-26T20:24:00.006-04:00

The last of our 6-hour driving days brought us to Mount Rainier National Park. We changed our itinerary to include this detour and it was such a great idea! It helped that the weather was absolutely perfect. There were lots of little things to see on our trip through the park to make it to the main parking lot at Paradise.

As we made our way into the state of Washington the views along the road were incredible.

As we got closer, we were so excited at each glimpse we could catch of the huge mountain.

Once we got to the park we stopped at all the different view points that didn't require any major hiking. =)

The view was so amazing that this photo doesn't even come close to doing it justice.

As we headed out of the park we spotted a momma bear and two cubs passing through a valley.

Since it was such a clear day as we left the park, we headed straight to this amazing view point once we got to Seattle to capture this view.

The next day we roamed around Seattle. Our first stop was the top of the Columbia Center Skyview. We decided to go up and see the view from the 73rd floor of the tallest building on the Seattle skyline instead of going up in the Space Needle. If you look closely you can see that the Space Needle looks tiny from this height.

To fully get the Seattle experience, we rode a ferry over to Bainbridge Island. The view of the skyline was just gorgeous!

Then the famous Space Needle.

Our last day in the Seattle area, we drove up to Anacortes for a whale watching tour in the San Juan Islands. We had a really long day on the water (6 hours) but it was great to see a handful of Orcas. I only wish we had been able to get closer to them.

The views out on the water were just gorgeous.

The naturalists on board the boat can identify each individual whale by their dorsal fin and markings. The first whale we saw was Ruffles, who was the star of the movie "Free Willy". He was around for most of the day because he apparently likes to have his picture taken.

We even got to see one Orca do a spy hop and a few others do some flips in the water.

This really gives you an idea of the size of these creatures.

And here is one last photo as we headed back to Anacortes.

We had a great trip, but as with any trip, it was exhausting and it's always great to get home.

Traveling the Pacific Northwest: Napa and Crater Lake

2010-09-12T18:23:00.013-04:00

Our next leg of the trip involved driving from San Francisco to Napa and then up to Oregon to see Crater Lake National Park. It was our first of three 6-hour driving days. I guess that's what you get when you take a "road trip". Once we got to the Napa area we headed straight for the winery that we had signed up to tour. I was only able to take a few photos out the car window before we arrived and ran in to meet up with the tour group.

After driving the Silverado Trail, this sums up what most of the area looks like this time of year.

The tour we took was at the Frog's Leap Winery in Rutherford. The owner took part in one of the wine competitions that put California on the map when it did so well against the better known French wines. They are known for all the organically grown grapes and for their "green" approach to running their winery. Here are a few photos from our tour of the grounds and the barn.

After leaving Napa we made our way through Northern California on our way to Oregon. For most of our drive through Northern California, the roadsides were filled with golden fields.

We also saw a mountain that I'd never heard of, Mount Shasta. After living in Florida for so long, snow capped mountains are such a nice change of pace.

Once we made it to Oregon, we headed on to Crater Lake National Park. The day we visited Crater Lake was the worst weather we encountered on our trip. The problem was that it was a cloudy day, and when you're at 8,000 ft you are IN the clouds. The first time we took the 33 mile loop around the lake we weren't able to see much.

We decided to wait in the visitor's center for a couple hours for the fog to mostly blow over before we headed out on the loop again. The second time was much better and we stopped at a number of view points and could see all the way across the gorgeous lake.

On our way down the mountains the weather magically became perfect again.

Stay tuned for the next part of our trip, which was the state of Washington.

Traveling the Pacific Northwest: San Francisco

2010-09-08T08:40:00.008-04:00

Last week we flew out to the west coast of the country to take a road trip from San Francisco up to Seattle and see a few things in between. We started our trip by flying into San Fran and staying there for a couple days. We left the tropical storms of Florida and were met by much cooler temperatures and lots of wind.

On our first night we decided that the hilly streets were a bit much and opted for some touristy public transportation, the Trolley Cars. Our first destination was the crooked Lombard Street. It was quite the tourist hangout and we saw a good number of people take the drive down the curvy street.

The view from the top of the street was pretty amazing.

The next day we wandered down around the Embarcadero Plaza area and took a few pictures of the Bay Bridge. It doesn't seem to get as much attention as the Golden Gate but it is really beautiful as well.

Our next tourist visit was to the Coit Tower which sits on top of a hill that you can see from the top of Lombard Street.

It is quite the vantage point to see all parts of the city. From the lookout you can see all the way from the Bay Bridge to the Golden Gate.

We decided to do the Alcatraz night tour which included a boat tour that circled around the island as the sun was going down. This was probably the coldest part of the trip because the wind was so intense and brisk.

We even got to see the sunset behind the Golden Gate from our spot on the island.

For our last full day in San Fran we rented bikes and rode along the water and up to the Golden Gate bridge. If I haven't stressed it enough yet, that city is hilly! The views along the water were really gorgeous as we made our way toward the bridge.

Riding across the bridge was quite an experience with it being so crowded and the wind blowing so hard.

Then, inevitably, the fog began to roll in as we headed back toward the city.

Stay tuned for the next part of the trip.

Power Lines

2010-08-04T08:28:00.002-04:00

Something about power lines has always intrigued me. I love the depth that can be captured in a photo of them. I drive by these power lines everyday and finally stopped to take a picture around sunset. Since it is the summer in Florida, we have thunderstorms almost every afternoon so luckily they held off long enough for a few photos.

Wedding - Valrico, FL: Heidi and David

2010-05-08T14:04:00.001-04:00

Heidi and David flew in from Chicago for their wedding at the beautiful private residence, Twenty-Eight Twelve in Valrico. The team of vendors was absolutely amazing to work with and really played a big part in making the day so great. The whole wedding day was really relaxed and great except that it ended up being the hottest, most humid day of the year.

We thought this old barn was really cool and made for some great pictures.

The gorgeous flowers were done by Fishhawk and Josh with Inspire did an amazing job setting the mood with lighting and playing the perfect mix of music all evening.

Wedding - Clearwater Beach, FL: Amber and Greg

2010-04-08T12:16:00.007-04:00

Amber and Greg were married at the Carlouel Yacht Club on Clearwater Beach over Easter weekend. The weather was bright and sunny which made for a crowded day at the beach, but luckily we got away from most of the crowds on the north end of the island. Erica with Occasions did an amazing job of coordinating all the details, and even making sure we were taken care of. She really did a great job behind the scenes before the wedding and made sure everything ran smoothly on the day of.

Amber and Greg chose to see each other before the ceremony to relax their nerves and spend more time together on their wedding day. We always love when couples choose to do this!

The details at the reception had a very elegant beach theme and the cake was one of the most unique we've ever seen! Since Amber and Greg love to scuba dive, their cake was a buried treasure chest.

Bubbles were such a great touch for the first dance!

Wedding - St. Petersburg, FL: Amanda and Ryan

2010-03-29T21:08:00.001-04:00

Amanda and Ryan have known each other since grade school as they both grew up in Polk county. It was great to be a part of their day as they finally became husband and wife. They had a beautiful day for their wedding on St. Pete beach at the Grand Plaza.

I absolutely loved Amanda's dress! It was the perfect mixture of fabrics, and she looked amazing in it.

Spring break was in full swing so the beach was busy, but I don't think they noticed. =)

Since we had such a gorgeous sunset, we snuck out of the reception for a few more photos.

Wedding - Sarasota, FL: Whitney and Chris

2010-03-14T20:49:00.004-04:00

We met Whitney and Chris back in November when we shot their engagement session. They are such a genuinely nice couple and they welcomed us into their wedding day like one of the family. The wedding was held at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota, and the gardens and trees really make this a beautiful setting for a wedding. We were so happy that the crazy rain from the previous two days had blown through, and we were left with a gorgeous sunny day. Whitney got ready in the mansion house and the lighting was amazing.

Whitney had a gorgeous group of girls by her side all day.

And the guys.

Whitney and Chris chose to see each other before the ceremony to take advantage of the daylight since their ceremony was close to sunset.

Whitney and her bridesmaids put a lot of thought and time into the details of the wedding. Here are a few of the many details.

Engagement - Safety Harbor, FL: Amber and Greg

2010-02-01T21:06:00.005-05:00

We had quite a brisk day for this engagement shoot, but at least rain was out of the forecast for one day. We met Amber and Greg at Phillipe Park to take advantage of their love of nature. One of their favorite things to do is scuba dive so we figured a park was the next best location, above water. Sadly, as we walked closer to the water the cold wind became super strong, so we decided to find some other spots that were warmer.

Amber and Greg went to rival colleges, Ohio State and Penn State, so they threw on some jerseys and the rivalry was quite apparent. =)

And one last adorable moment. =)

It was so great getting to know you guys and we're really looking forward to hanging out with you on your wedding day!

Wedding - St. Petersburg, FL: Jennifer and Nikolas

2010-01-03T17:00:00.004-05:00

Jennifer and Nikolas are from Chicago and planned their destination wedding from out of town. We finally got to meet them in person on the day of their wedding and Jennifer's smile is so infectious, you can't help but be in a happy mood when she's around. =) I was so impressed with how the heavy rains early in the morning didn't seem to bother her at all. She was more focused on the bigger picture of marrying her best friend.

The wedding was held at the Sirata Beach Resort on St. Pete Beach, and Patrice McHale-Gibson did a fabulous job with the girl's makeup. It rained super hard all morning as the cold front moved in, but the rain eased up just in time to head outside for pictures. It actually ended up being a gorgeous day and a beautiful wedding!

Traveling in Europe: Paris

2009-11-22T11:46:00.009-05:00

I know it's been a while since we posted about our trip to Europe, but here are photos from the second half of our trip. We took the Eurostar train from London to Paris, which was super easy and nice. Public transportation is something Europe definitely has over us. On to the pictures!

Along the Siene River in Paris.

Outside Notre Dame Cathedral was filled with tourists and lots of vendors. It was pretty much impossible to get a picture without tons of people in the shot.

There is so much detail carved onto the front of the cathedral. The churches in Europe are simply ornate and unlike anything we've seen before we went there.

Inside the cathedral were even more ornate carvings. This is the view, looking straight up toward the ceiling. We were glad photos were allowed inside. Sadly, St. Paul's in London was really our favorite, but we don't have any photos of the inside because we were good tourists =(

The first night in Paris, we went to the Louvre at night to see the inside, but didn't bring a camera. The place is just out of this world huge. It was super easy to get lost in there and the maps they give you just don't cut it. Since the outside it just a cool as the inside, we went back the next day to grab some more pictures. This is a shot of the courtyard and the famous pyramid. Being there definitely reminded us of the DiVinci Code, which Chris and I both loved.

Here is a video we took in the courtyard of the Louvre. It was just too massive to take a picture. This is almost a 360 video to capture the entire building from the center.

At the end of the courtyard are the gorgeous gardens of the Louvre, and this was our first sight of the Eiffel Tower from afar.

One of the many Egyptian obelisks.

We walked all the way from the Louvre to the Arch de Triumph. It was a heck of hike to get there walking down the famous Avenue de Champ-Elysees, but we finally made it to the Arch de Triumph and took a few pics from the median.

Finally, on our self-guided walking tour of the city, we made it to the most iconic and visited site in the world, the Eiffel Tower.

The line to ride the elevators was really long, so we decided to take the stairs, even though our feet were really tired at this point. This was our view of the city from the first level.

We went back to the tower at night for the famous light show and it was all lit up which made it much cooler.

Every hour, on the hour there is a light show.

Eiffel Tower Night Show:

Then, on our last full day in Paris we visited the Chateau de Versailles. There is so much history here and the decor on the walls and ceilings were like nothing we've seen.

The gardens around the chateau were even more amazing. This is the Versailles Orangery.

The property stretches on for miles. Trust us, we know. We walked like half of it and couldn't take anymore!

We saw so many great things in our week overseas, but it's always good to be back home. =)

Wedding - Tampa, FL: Shaena and Davit

2009-11-13T22:21:00.004-05:00

Shaena and Davit are such a sweet and loving couple. They are the kind of people that make you feel happier just being around them. I think Shaena might have been the calmest bride we've ever seen. She just knew that all the details were taken care of and spent her energy on enjoying the entire day. When we first spoke to Shaena, she told us that we could work out the details later, but she definitely wanted to have a First Look with Davit so they would have a lot of time for bride and groom photos. Of course we supported her 100% and we had plenty of time for photos.

Shaena must have spent countless hours planning the wedding and there were many details that made the day super colorful and special. One of our favorites were the parasols she had for photos. They just added another colorful dimension to the day!

One of Davit's favorite things about Shaena are her bright green eyes... it's easy to see why! The flowers were done by Dana Dineen and she really outdid herself with these gorgeous bouquets.

During their First Look, Davit and Shaena were all smiles. =)

Loved the bright blue shoes!

I just adore the way these two look at each other.

And the parasol was such a great touch!

Shaena didn't have just one maid of honor, she had three.

Their ceremony was full of laughter and tears, and they couldn't be happier to finally be husband and wife. =)

Thank you guys for allowing us to capture your wedding day. We wish you both the best and hope you have a great time on your honeymoon!

Engagement - Tampa, FL: Whitney and Chris

2009-10-28T21:44:00.007-04:00

Whitney and Chris came down from North Carolina for their engagement session last week. Since Whitney grew up in the Tampa area, we decided to wander a few blocks around her childhood house for some photos. It was great to finally meet these two after all our phone calls. =) From day one, Whitney has been asking our advice on different wedding related things from a photography standpoint, so we are really looking forward to their wedding in March! We had a great time hanging out with these two, and they were very comfortable in front of the camera. Here are some of our favorites below.

Whitney and Chris's dog Jackson is absolutely adorable, so we had to get a few shots with him even though he wasn't very interested in photos.

Whitney is a huge cupcake fan, so she brought some to incorporate into the photos. It was hilarious watching her fight the urge to eat them. =)

Hello gorgeous shoes!

Right around sunset we headed down to the water for a few shots before the sun went down.

Traveling in Europe: London

2009-10-15T20:59:00.009-04:00

Last week Chris and I took a trip to Europe for vacation since we've never been out of the country. We finally got a chance to put our passports to good use. =) We decided to start our overseas travels with London and Paris. On Saturday, we flew into London and spent a few days seeing the sights and experiencing new things including The Tube (London's metro). I included some links to Wikipedia for a lot of the sights in case you wanted to get a well rounded history lesson. =)

To start with, here are a few of London's famous red telephone booths.

Here is one of London's most famous sights, Big Ben. We found out on our tour bus that Big Ben is actually the bell inside this clock tower, but everyone just calls the whole clock tower Big Ben.

Next up is another very famous sight in London, the Tower Bridge. Most people think this is the London Bridge, but the London Bridge is really plain and not much to look at.

We took a water tour down the River Thames which goes right through the middle of the city. Here is a view of part of the Tower of London from the boat.

On our way in to see the crown jewels at the Tower of London, we came across these colorful canons.

The London Eye was built to be a temporary attraction but was such a big hit (and brought in so much money) they decided to keep it. It really provides a great view of the city but it is a bit overpriced.

Here is a view of our neighboring pod as we reached the top of the revolution on our ride. It takes about 30 minutes to go all the way around.

This is a view of Big Ben and the Parliament Buildings from the London Eye.

On one of the days, we decided to take a guided tour outside of the city and went to Windsor, Stonehenge, and Bath. It was definitely your typical rainy/misty day in England. This is part of Windsor Castle.

Stonehenge was one of the places I was most excited to see. Unfortunately, it isn't much to look at really. you drive an hour and a half out in the middle of nowhere to see some random enormous old rocks in a big field. It was still pretty cool to see something that old and famous.

The last stop on our tour was the city of Bath. It is an old city built by the Romans on natural hot springs which later became a spa resort.

This is a shot of the Avon River before we left Bath and headed back to London.

On our last day in London, we visited St. Paul's Cathedral . St. Paul's was one of our favorite places, but sadly we weren't allowed to take pictures inside. The interior is absolutely incredible and ornate. To get the most out of the cathedral, you have to climb a lot of steps. The first level up is the Whispering Gallery, which is at the base of the dome of the cathedral. They call it the Whispering Gallery because it is perfectly round, which allows someone on the opposite side to hear you, even at a whisper. Chris and I tried it and got it to work, and it was really neat. Then we climbed up to the Stone Gallery to see the view of the city. This is all we could see instead... more of that lovely London rain.

Later that day we took a train to Oxford and visited Christ Church College. This is the large dining hall where Christ Church College (and Hogwarts) students eat their meals. =)

As the rain started to clear, we got a pretty cool view from the courtyard.

Next up will be photos from the second half of our trip in Paris.

Trash the Dress - Clearwater Beach, FL: Krysta and Justin

2009-09-28T21:05:00.004-04:00

Right after their wedding, Krysta told me she couldn't wait to go in the water with Justin and get some more pictures taken in her wedding dress. This weekend we finally got the chance, so we headed down to Sand Key Park for a few more photos. Krysta wore her hair up in a formal style for the wedding, and I love that she wore it down in a more relaxed style for this shoot. We walked around the park for a little while and when it got too hot to stay dry any longer, she and Justin took the plunge. Here are some favorites!

Wedding - Clearwater, FL: Marie and Jason

2009-09-13T20:49:00.006-04:00

Marie and Jason had a very small intimate ceremony at The Church of the Ascension near downtown Clearwater, and penciled in a couple hours for pictures afterwards. We loved that they left so much time to roam around and get some great images. Unfortunately, the morning rain continued almost the entire day. Luckily, these two were up for anything and we had a great time! Here are a few of our favorites.

Hello gorgeous ring!

If you look closely, you can see some rain drops in this one.

Marie, your eyes are beautiful!

Thanks for letting us be part of such a special day. We you guys have a great time on your honeymoon in St. Thomas!

Day After Session - Clearwater, FL: Maggie and Mike

2009-09-08T10:39:00.008-04:00

I realize it has been a while since the blog has been updated... sorry about that! We've been quite busy with "spring cleaning" and getting our life and business back in order after a very busy spring wedding season. Summer is our off-season since it is so hot out, and not as many weddings are going on this time of year down here. It has been good to catch up on some reading and other things we had been putting off.

My brother and sister-in-law were in town this weekend visiting for the holiday and Maggie wanted to have a few more pictures taken in her wedding dress. She convinced Mike to take part as well, for a Day After Session. They got married about 4 months ago up in the DC area, and Chris and I were in the wedding so we weren't able to capture any images for them.

We decided to go out early in the morning to try and beat the Florida summer heat, but it caught up with us pretty quickly. Here are some of my favorite images from the morning.

We found this antique car sitting in the back of a warehouse and just had to take a few pictures with it.

The morning light was quite nice. =)

One last shot with the old car. This one felt vintage, and even though that isn't our normal image style, I decided to give it a try for this one. I really like the feel. =)

Wedding - St. Petersburg, FL: Krysta and Justin

2009-07-04T11:26:00.006-04:00

Krysta and Justin were married at St. Mary's Our Lady of Grace and the reception was held at the beautiful Mahaffey Theater in St. Petersburg. We somehow managed to dodge all the rain that had been drenching the Tampa Bay area over the past couple weeks.

This couple has quite a few years of history. Krysta is so cute in telling her story of how she pined for Justin from a distance in her early years of high school. And a fortune teller told her she had already met the guy she was going to marry. Sure enough after they started dating in high school and continued through college, they eventually tied the knot.

We started the day at Accardi Salon in St. Petersburg and Rheannon did an amazing job with Krysta's makeup.

Krysta was absolutely stunning with her long veil.

All of Krysta's bridesmaids were so helpful and supportive throughout the day, and gorgeous as well!

The bridal bouquet brought all the wedding colors together beautifully.

Justin and his groomsmen looking quite dapper.

I just love the way these two look at each other. They share a lot of fun and laugher, and there is also a lot of love between them. =)

Engagement - Safety Harbor, FL: Ashleigh and Adam

2009-06-20T15:56:00.004-04:00

We met Ashleigh and Adam out at the beach playing volleyball and since then have become good friends. They're getting married early next year in their hometown over on the east coast of Florida, and we are so excited for them! We had such a great time hanging out with you guys.

Ashleigh is going to make such a gorgeous bride!

Wedding - Clearwater Beach, FL: Corie and Thor

2009-06-11T10:13:00.009-04:00

Corie and Thor flew in from Memphis, TN to have their wedding at the Sandpearl Resort on Clearwater Beach. While it was super hot out, we were spared from the rain which was a huge relief to Corie who had been following the weather on her iPhone all week.

It was great spending the day with them again, since the last time we saw them was at their engagment shoot in Ybor City a few weeks ago. Everything went very smoothly throughout the day thanks to a good group of vendors alongside us. Debbie with The Bride's Bouquet did an amazing job as usual with the florals, and Tanya and her team at the Sandpearl were really great to work with.

Here are a few of our favorites. First, the gorgeous Corie.

I have to say that I love the color of the bridesmaid's dresses. You can't go wrong with orange, right Thor?

Many of these fine gentlemen are from Tennessee, and from what I hear, a few rounds of Rocky Top were sung throughout the day. =)

LOVE this shot Chris got!

Corie and Thor chose to see each other before the ceremony to give themselves extra time for photos, and it also allowed them time to hang out with their guests during cocktail hour.

You can just feel the pure emotion between these two. =)

Sometimes when the sun is super bright out, a back alley can provide amazing light. Having gorgeous subjects helps too.

Corie and Thor both grew up playing soccer and it's something they enjoy together to this day. What a great idea to get some photos in their wedding clothes playing some one-on-one out on the beach?! This is a perfect example of how to add something truly personal to your wedding experience and images.

Since there was such a small group that attended the wedding, the toasts were that much more heartfelt and personal. Corie's bridesmaids took the opportunity to roast her and offer the groom some words of advice.

To end the night, they had their first dance on the beach after the sun had gone down, and the only light came from their 30 guests holding sparklers.

Corie and Thor, it has been great getting to know you guys, and thank you for pushing our creative boundaries. We hope you two have an amazing time on your honeymoon in Greece!

Wedding - Tampa, FL: Jessica and Jeff

2009-06-01T14:19:00.006-04:00

From the moment I met Jessica, we just clicked. Her bubbly sense of humor, her love of organization, and it turns out that we played volleyball against each other in college and never knew it! Then she told me that photography was the most important part of her wedding day (other than marrying the man of her dreams of course) and we were a match made in heaven. =)

Ok well enough about Jessica and me... onto the wedding day. As many of you know, there had been a crazy drout in the Tampa Bay area until a couple weeks ago. Then the rains came... every day... sometimes all day, sometimes with a super loud thunderstorm. When rain threatened to move the ceremony indoors, Jessica made every request possible to keep it outside. Somehow the weather cooperated and the clouds circled around the outdoor ceremony location at the Tampa Marriott Waterside and we only had a small sprinkle of rain an hour or so before the wedding. This was the first scheduled outdoor ceremony at the Marriott Waterside, so we were so excited that it worked out!

Jessica and Jeff were such naturals in front of the camera, which made it so much fun to capture them and their happiness together.

When we were outside taking some bridal portraits Jessica totally went over to the trolley and sweet talked the driver into letting us take some pics in the doorway, and he even let her borrow his hat!

Jessica and Jeff opted to see each other before the ceremony, so we had much more time to take pictures of the two of them. Right before Jessica saw Jeff for the first time, she told me she had no idea how nervous she would be and she ended up being really glad they got some time to themselves before the ceremony started. =)

As the last of three sisters to be married, Jessica shared some emotional moments with her father throughout the day.

These two were all smiles during their first dance, along with singing to each other. How sweet!

Then the party turned crazy when the dancing turned into a Carnival. Jessica's family is from Brazil and they wanted to incorporate some of their heritage into the wedding day.

I just had to get in on the fun... silly glasses, boa, and all. =)

Jessica and Jeff, you guys were so much fun. Thank you for letting us take part in your wedding day.

Wedding - St. Petersburg, FL: Julie and Greg

2009-05-05T22:14:00.006-04:00

Julie and Greg had a beautiful beach wedding at the Grand Plaza on St. Pete Beach. Since they planned their destination wedding from Connecticut, we didn't get a chance to meet them until their rehearsal dinner, the night before the wedding. Luckily, we couldn't have gotten along any better! Julie's bubbly personality just radiated from her the entire day. The entire group was so much fun and treated us like we were part of the family.

Everything about their day was so heartfelt and emotional that I found myself tearing up behind my camera a few times. The personalized vows they wrote for each other, and the first dances were the moments where I lost it. =)

Cari with KyleLynn Weddings did an amazing job as the hairstylist for this beach wedding. Julie's hair was perfect for a windy beach wedding and the flowers were a beautiful touch.

This little guy decided that he wanted to be the center of attention and started posing for some pictures. =)

After the ceremony we took some pictures down by the water since this was really important for Julie and Greg. It turned out to be such a beautiful evening.

Here are some details from their day, including the beautiful diamond earrings that Greg surprised Julie with... gorgeous!

This guy was an amazing guitar player and played a few songs for everyone to enjoy including White Wedding, 311, and even some Ozzy. He was incredible.

Julie and Greg, we wish you the best and hope you guys are having a great time on your honeymoon in Hawaii!

Engagement - Ybor City, FL: Corie and Thor

2009-04-22T14:39:00.002-04:00

It all started at Starbucks... side glance here... quick look there... Corie was working for a local tv station where they would broadcast their morning show live near Starbucks. Thor and his colleagues from a local architecture firm would make their daily walk to Starbucks for a quick pick me up. Corie & Thor admired each other from a distance for months... until one day, their timing worked out and they no longer had to admire each other from afar, but instead, got to share time together... in front of Starbucks.

Corie and Thor met in Memphis, Tennessee and are planning their June wedding at the Sandpearl Resort on Clearwater Beach. It is going to be an intimate celebration with a small number of family and friends and we can't wait! Thor is actually a fellow graduate of the University of Tennessee so we're planning on seeing some other UT grads at the wedding as well. =)

Since Thor is big into photography himself, he and Corie encouraged us to try some new things during our engagement session in Ybor City. I am so excited to show you some of our favorite images. =)

Some our loyal blog readers have been asking to get some shots of us in action since we shoot as a team. Bobbi+Mike are some of our favorite photographers and they do this all the time, so we're going to try to add in a little more of setup along with the results. I was lookin' pretty good for this shot since I just got done lying on the ground for another shot... and I'm pretty sure I had some old gum stuck to my pants too. ;) It's okay though, Corie and Thor looked good enough to make up for us.

What I saw from my angle was nothing short of hot.

Yummy warm light plus happy good looking people = sweeeeeet.

Everybody loves a trolley! We hopped on for a few quick shots at the end of the shoot.

Corie and Thor, we had a blast shooting your engagement session. We can't wait to hang out with you guys again at the wedding!

To the guy...

2009-04-21T18:38:00.008-04:00

To the guy...
...who sits on the couch and curls his fingers in the holes of the blanket I crocheted for him,
...that likes to keep me up past my bedtime so we can watch a funny tv show together in bed,
...that started playing volleyball so we could spend our weekends together at the beach,
...that reaches over to hold my hand when we're in separate seats,
...that rememberes to drive slowly around corners because I get car sick quickly,
...that rolls his eyes at my jokes but deep down I know he thinks they're funny,
...that can calm me down after a long day by just wrapping his arms around me,
...that always pushes me to do more than I think I can,

Happy Birthday baby, you mean more to me than you know. I will always love you boo!

Feel free to leave some comment love for Chris. =)

Wedding - Tampa, FL: Andrea and Eric

2009-04-15T10:32:00.009-04:00

Andrea and Eric got married at the beautiful Saddlebrook Resort in Tampa. The couple's sweet family and friends, who had actually flown in from around the country, made us feel so welcome. Everything went beautifully throughout the day thanks to Kristen K and her team at Saddlebrook and Debbie of The Bride's Bouquet did a fabulous job with the flowers.

Here are a few of our favorite photos.

Andrea's shoes were so glamorous!

I hear the dresses made it hard for these gorgeous ladies to breathe, but it was worth it because they sure looked great!

Chris and I just love it when our couples choose to see each other before the ceremony. It is a great way to ease the nervous energy and spend a quiet moment together before the craziness of the day really picks up. It also allows a lot more time for pictures. =)

Seriously, could this flower girl be any cuter?

One of the sweet moments during the ceremony. =)

Andrea did a great job coordinating the details of the day.

I just love this shot Chris got as the guys hoisted Eric into the air.

Thank you guys for such a fun day. It was great getting to know you and your family!

Client Information: Canvas Wrapped Prints

2009-04-13T19:45:00.001-04:00

We just received a new 20"x30" canvas wrap sample. We just love this image! The colors and quality are really great! We haven't found a place for it yet so here it is sitting on our buffet table. These are a great piece of art to hang on the wall, and don't even need a frame.

The image can be printed so it gets wrapped around the side as well. We decided to have the image wrap all the way around the canvas for this image. Our first canvas wrap just had black edging because the image didn't work well for a full wrap. This image looks really cool when wrapped and it definitely adds something to the print.

You can see some of the pottery I made, stored in the right side of the buffet. =)

This photo gives you more of a size reference. The 20"x30" is definitely a better size than our first canvas sample which was only a 16"x24". The smaller size of our first one is nice, but it really just isn't big enough to stand on it's own and would look better as a pair or a group of 3. 20"x30" sounds big, but it works best over a small piece of furniture. We love this one so much, we may just hang it up right where it is.

More Traveling and the San Diego Zoo

2009-03-29T17:15:00.006-04:00

After our trip to Vegas and throughout Arizona, we made our way through the desert of Southern Arizona and mountains of Southern California on our way to San Diego. Our travels brought us really close to the border of Mexico. It looks like the thick black line in this picture is the border fence.

As we made our way closer to San Diego through the mountains, there were all sorts of signs warning us of high winds. It must've been a calm day, since half of these enormous wind turbines were completely still.

One of the biggest tourist attractions in San Diego is Balboa Park and the San Diego Zoo, so we spent almost a full day there. I've seen some of these animals before at the Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa, but it was fun to see them again as well as some that I hadn't seen before. These bears were brothers and, of course, had to play-fight like brothers do. =)

The meerkats are so cute!

We had to wait in a line to see the pandas. They just look so cuddly. =)

This was the first time I've seen polar bears. The one in the water was enormous!

And a video from the observation area under the water.

The rest of Balboa Park had some amazing architecture.

Our last day, we had to check out the beach on the west coast. Coronado Beach was pretty overcast but it had the same feel as the rest of San Diego, really relaxing.

Our trip out west was jam packed full of fun, but quite tiring. We're glad to be home now and looking forward to more great weddings this spring!

Wedding - St. Petersburg, FL: Christina and Ryan

2009-03-17T12:00:00.008-04:00

Over the past week, we have had some of the most beautiful weather down here in the Tampa area, and the weekend of Ryan and Christina's wedding was no exception. The light breeze down by the water created a perfect setting for a wedding on the water.

It was sweet to watch Ryan and Christina communicate through smiles and facial expressions throughout their day. Here are a couple of images that jumped out at us as we were going through them.

Christina's sister-in-law did an amazing job with her makeup.

Ryan wrote a note and sent it over for Christina to read before she finished getting ready.

Christina and her girls got ready at a house down on the water and we found some beautiful light for bridal portraits.

Most first kisses aren't funny but when the groom went back for a second first kiss, he had everyone laughing. =)

Some sweet moments after the couple was announced as husband and wife.

A lot of thought was put into the reception details, from the colorful flowers to the LOST table designations. (Chris and I are huge LOST fans so we enjoyed seeing the Dharma Initiative inspired table names.) The delicious spread of food was prepared by Delectables Catering, and DJ Josh of Inspire Entertainment kept the party going all night.

Traveling Through Arizona

2009-03-13T21:25:00.008-04:00

Taking a road trip through Arizona was pretty incredible. In the winter, the climate is quite diverse from one end of the state to the other. Temperatures in the northern part of the Arizona were in the 20s with snow and ice on the ground as we made our way up to the south rim of the Grand Canyon. The observatories on the south rim had ice right up to the guardrails. This made me a little nervous as I tip-toed to the edge, with camera in hand, and the wind whipped through the canyon, freezing my hands and face almost instantly.

The snow capped mountains made for beautiful scenery on our way to and from the Grand Canyon.

The view was really incredible, but hard to enjoy in the bitter cold.

We were all bundled up and I still could hardly feel my fingers.

The rock formations and view are really breathtaking. It certainly makes you feel small.

After leaving the Grand Canyon, we headed due south on our way to Phoenix. The scenic route through Sedona was probably the most amazing part of the drive. The red rocks here just dwarfed those that we saw back in Vegas. Chris and I were staring up in awe as we wound down through all the canyons and in between mountains (of course Chris was driving so he could only pay so much attention). The GPS gives you an idea of how crazy these roads were.

Getting to the southern part of the state meant a huge temperature rise. It was in the upper 70s when we met up with Phoenix wedding photographer, Melissa Jill, and a few other Phoenix based photographers later in the afternoon. We had a great time hanging out with Melissa and playing some Nertz... even though she totally beat up on us. =) We also got to meet her blog famous sidekick, Dixie, who was more than happy to share her couch with us as long as we agreed pet her. I'm ashamed to say that we didn't get ANY pics while we were there.

On our way out of Phoenix, we finally found a rest stop and this was all I could find to take a photo of. I was really hoping to get a shot of one of the huge cacti that are all around Phoenix, but by the time we stopped, they were gone. This other interesting plant was all I could find. =)

Stay tuned for more photos from the last leg of our trip!

WPPI and the Hoover Dam

2009-03-10T15:37:00.007-04:00

The next big part of our trip was the time we spent in Vegas for WPPI. It was great seeing so many friends from all over the country, and meeting new ones. It is pretty sad that we had to go across the country to see some friends from Florida. Here are Chris and I at the trade show with our friend Mary Beth Tyson who is an amazing wedding photographer in Tallahassee.

It's always great when we get to see DC wedding photographer and good friend Armin! Check out his blog for more pictures and videos.

One night Celebrity Photographers, Bob & Dawn Davis organized a night shoot with a few models. This was one of my favorites of the night. I didn't bring a flash with me, but luckily someone had a video light that worked really well for off camera light.

Another place we went that is fairly close to Vegas, was the Hoover Dam. We saw it from the plane as we flew in, but it was even more amazing when we got there.

As we got close to the dam, the scenery was gorgeous.

Here is another fun tree with Lake Meade in the distance. The lake had the bluest water I've ever seen.

This was the view from the plane.

Looking down to the bottom of the dam.

The river at the outlet of the dam.

They're building a new highway that goes over the gorge. It is really amazing to see all the cranes and cables that are involved with it.

Looking to the north, toward Lake Meade. The tour guide said there has been a drought, and you can definitely see that the water line is lower than normal.

This was our chance to become the typical tourists for a week, with our point and shoot camera always ready. There were always tons of people surrounding us, but it was a lot of fun. More photos are coming soon.

Red Rock Canyon - Las Vegas, NV

2009-03-05T12:34:00.007-05:00

I know... it's been a while since I've blogged... We went on a trip out west and then I brought back a sinus infection that I'm FINALLY getting over. So, in addition to getting ready for all the great weddings we have coming up this spring, that's the majority of what has been going on the past month.

To start, we flew out to Las Vegas for the annual WPPI convention where photographers from all over the world congregate to network and learn about products and different shooting techniques. We always make lots of new friends and get to see old ones that live far away.

On the day we arrived in Vegas, we visited Red Rock Canyon for the first time and were amazed by how gorgeous the landscape is out west. The mountains and desert area is quite beautiful when you don't see it much. Sadly, some of the plants out there had been burned in recent fires so they were quite crispy looking. Here are a few of the images we got as we drove around the scenic loop.

The burnt baby palm trees.

This was just to show you how huge these rocks are. The arrow is pointing to someone riding a horse down there.

The plant life that was still alive was really interesting... nothing like we have out on the east coast.

I made Chris pose in front of the rocks.

I had to wait my turn in line to climb up on this rock to take a picture, then my wallet fell out of my pocket when I climbed up. It luckily fell down into the shallow ravine below and not the really deep one. =)

The mountains made for such great backgrounds in all of the pictures!

The shadowy side of the mountains were speckled with snow!

I was so excited to go out west and take pictures of cacti... this was one of the only ones I actually got a picture of... kinda sad I know.

25 Random Things About Me...

2009-02-03T09:31:00.007-05:00

This is something going around Facebook, so I'm sure a few of you have already seen it but I decided to put it up here for the loyal blog readers who are feeling neglected. =) This was supposed to be the last part in an older post where I got tagged, but I didn't realize it until a while later.

25 Random Things About Erin:

1. I took ballet for 10 years when I was growing up. I stopped when I couldn't get toe shoes big enough for me anymore.

2. I had a ton of hair when I was a baby, and when my mom took me to the mall in a little baby pack, an old lady asked if she could pet her puppy.

3. My first car was an '87 Isuzu Trooper stick shift. My mom made most of my family sit in it while I was learning how to drive it... I'll never live that down.

4. I have superhuman hearing and can hear the smallest little sounds from across a room, but have a hard time hearing people when they're right next to me talking to me.

5. I was an all-state setter on my volleyball team in high school up in Virginia.

6. Other sports I played in high school were basketball, softball, and tennis.

7. I was addicted to AOL Instant Messenger in college. I would compulsively check away messages and that's how I found out about the attacks on 9-11.

8. I am an oldest child. I have an awesome younger brother and sister who have become great friends now that we're older. =)

9. I do not have a green thumb. I have such a hard time keeping plants alive.

10. My nose runs when I eat... it doesn't even have to be hot food.

11. I was on a swim team when I was younger and my best stroke was the breast stroke.

12. I went to the University of Tennessee and my blood runs orange! I picked up a southern accent that comes out when I go back to visit.

13. Since I like wrapping presents, my mom would have me wrap all the xmas presents except mine.

14. Oh and speaking of xmas, I found out that Santa Claus wasn't real because I noticed he had the same handwriting as my dad... "all men have the same handwriting" was the explanation my dad tried to hold me over with.

15. I am very OCD. Everything on my desk has to be at right angles.

16. I can't chew gum for very long because my jaw locks up.

17. My husband's grandmom taught me how to crochet after I graduated from college. Since then, I've made about 10 full size blankets that can cover a queen sized bed each.

18. I love assembling that put-it-together-yourself furniture.

19. I had 2 beagles growing up so I think they are the cutest dogs ever!

20. I've never been out of the country but I have my passport ready and waiting.

21. My first job was a lifeguard. Over the 4 summers I worked, I only had to save a total of 2 kids.

22. I have enough hair for 2 people. And at the rate it sheds, that is pretty amazing.

23. I don't think I'm lactose intolerant but I get crazy stomach cramps when I have sour cream, white milk, and heavy whipping cream (I really enjoyed that lobster bisque the one time I ate it, and later found out that it was a one-time-deal).

24. I took a wheel thrown pottery class a couple years ago and still have close to 30 pots and bowls. We actually use some of the bowls for soup!

25. I grew up eating venison... for those that don't know, that's deer meat. I had a good number of friends growing up that would steer clear of the garage during hunting season because they got surprised by a deer hanging in there.

Erin Chris Photography got a facelift!

2009-01-16T22:12:00.004-05:00

As you guys might have noticed there's a new look here at Erin Chris Photography. While we did love our old colors and branding, we decided that as we've grown we wanted to update our look to better match our style and brand. The new look is modern, clean, sophisticated, and with a touch of bold color, just like we strive for with our images. =) We want to say thanks to Eric, our good friend and graphic designer extraordinaire, for helping design the new splash page, business cards, and pricing sheets. We hope you guys like it, and there will be a few more tweaks here and there along the way.

Leave us a comment and let us know what ya think!

Trash the Dress - Amy & Doug: Palm Harbor, FL

2008-12-30T08:53:00.011-05:00

She knew she'd never wear it again so Amy was all about trashing her dress. She and Doug brought their adorable dog, Mango, to the park for a few final pictures in her wedding dress. We were happily surprised with the cooler weather as we walked around and found some unique spots for photos. This is our third time photographing these two, and we always have a great time together. We had hoped to get it dirty in the water, but there were signs everywhere warning us about the alligators... so we decided to find alternate means of trashing Amy's dress. =)

Down by the dock.

Gotta love this girl's shoes!

This was the only tree around that wasn't a palm tree so of course they had to climb it. =)

Then some fun on the playground. This totally brings back memories of when my brother and sister and I used to see who could swing the highest, and then jump off. =)

This bright red dump truck was great for a few photos... to really get us in the "trashy" mood. I just love this shot that Chris got.

At this point, Doug decided it was time to throw the dress in the trash... I guess he forgot that Amy was still wearing it.

And stuck.

And now, how the final trashing began.

Happy Holidays from Florida!

2008-12-22T10:23:00.004-05:00

We had a cold front come through last night and I didn't even realize it was going to hit us. When I saw the weather lady say we were going to have a high of 59 today I thought, wow I guess winter has finally arrived. Then our good friend, DC wedding photographer, Armin DeFiesta said that with the wind chill it was down below zero up in the DC area!

Chris and I will be heading up to Northern Virginia to visit my family for the holidays so I guess we had better find all the warm clothes we have stuffed away in the closet. =)

We wish everyone a happy and healthy holiday and we'll answer any emails and phone calls when we return!

Portraits - Chattanooga, TN: Kelly and Kevin

2008-12-18T08:47:00.002-05:00

While we were up in Chattanooga visiting family for Thanksgiving, I got to spend some time with one of my best friends, Kelly. She and her boyfriend, Kevin, wanted to have some cute pictures made for Christmas Cards. We decided to go down to Coolidge Park for some photos on the walking bridge, and a few other spots.

Here are a couple of my favorites. First, the beautiful Kelly.

And the ever adorable couple. =)

And this nice Christmas Card worthy shot down by the water. =)

Unnecessary Quotation Marks

2008-12-10T08:49:00.004-05:00

I ran across this little gem of a blog today and couldn't stop laughing. I'm somewhat of a grammar police, because there are a few grammar rules that are commonly misused. Don't get me wrong, I certainly make my fair share of mistakes, but this is too funny not to share.

I definitely enjoy the sarcastic explanations of these profound signs. Here are a couple of my favorites. =)

Ever wonder...

2008-12-08T10:41:00.008-05:00

...what happens when you put detergent in a fountain?

This was my view from the fourth floor window on Friday. Apparently someone decided to vandalize the fountain in front of the building, by adding some sort of detergent to the fountain. I've heard about this and always wondered what it would look like, but I thought there would be a lot more bubbles... like overflowing to the street. (Don't get me wrong, I had NOTHING to do with this, nor do I know who did!) From what I hear this wreaks havoc on the fountain pump, so please don't try this at home. =)

I shot these with my point and shoot since it's all I had with me at the time. Has anyone else seen this done before?

Client Information: Canvas Wrapped Prints

2008-11-15T19:23:00.004-05:00

As the holidays approach and you're trying to think of gift ideas, here is one that you might not have considered. Canvas wrapped prints are an alternative to framed photos that you hang on the wall. The image is printed on a canvas wrap and then stretched around a wood frame, and all you can see is the photo. The photo itself can be wrapped around the edge or you can choose to have a black or white border. In the photos below you can see an example of the black border.

This first picture shows you how great the print quality is.

Here are a couple shots showing you how the canvas is wrapped around the edges. It is a very clean and modern look.

Wedding - St. Petersburg, FL: Amy and Doug

2008-11-11T10:00:00.011-05:00

Amy and Doug got married at the Tradewinds Island Resorts on St. Pete Beach and Chris and I were blown away by this place! The resort is huge with lots of different tropical areas you can get lost in. It was a beautiful day for a beach wedding, and Amy and Doug were such a fun, laid back, couple.

When we first met with Amy we were totally excited when she said she knew she wanted an album and a trash the dress session, haha! We instantly fell in love... ok, well at least we knew we were going to have a lot of fun together. =) She also has a passion for photography and even asked our advice on what kind of lens to bring with her on the trip she and Doug took to Africa a couple months ago. Amy got some really cool shots on their trip! Especially of the giraffes. =)

Here are a few of our favorites from the day.

They chose a First Look so we had time for a bunch of pictures before the ceremony. It gave us a LOT more time to venture around the resort for photos.

I loved the bubbles as the couple was announced Mr. and Mrs.

I think Doug is a little excited. =)

After the ceremony, we headed down to the beach for a few more shots. I just love these next two!

The reception was held on an outdoor patio near the pool. It was so nice to have the first dance outside, with the beautiful sea breeze, just before sunset.

We hope you two had a great time in Mexico on your honeymoon, and Amy, we can't wait to trash your dress!

WebSite is fine. Got a new toy!

2008-11-09T08:50:00.003-05:00

Sorry it took me so long to post this. The website actually switched over to our new host in the middle of the night, so most people probably didn't notice anything happened so that is good. Anyway, all is back to normal.

Now on to the good news! We got a new toy: the Canon 100mm F/2.8 USM Macro! Big, super sweet ring shots here we come.

Web Hosting Issues =(

2008-11-04T09:12:00.002-05:00

Our web host provider is causing us some major issues right now. We are currently in the process of moving to a new host. In the meantime, hang in there with us while we switch.

How Erin is feeling:

To potential clients:
If you filled out the Contact Form on our Website and didn't hear back from us, please shoot us an email directly or give us a call. Email erinchrisphotography@gmail.com until we can get our new site up and running. (Should be about 3 days)

To current clients:
Your slideshows may temporarily stop working, but it should only be down for a couple of days. All of the images on your InstaProofs gallery will remain fully functional. Please also hold off on sending us email to our normal images account.

We are really sorry for this and we'll let you know as soon as everything is back the way it should be!

Thanks,
Erin & Chris

Wedding - St. Petersburg, FL: Allyson and Jeronimo

2008-11-02T16:38:00.009-05:00

Allyson and Jeronimo got married at the Renaissance Vinoy in St. Petersburg and with the help of Stephanie, everything about their wedding day was perfect. In addition to the gorgeous venue, the weather and the lighting were amazing all day, and Dana Dineen put together some incredibly beautiful flower arrangements and bouquets. When we first met with Allyson and Jeronimo, we knew they'd look amazing on their wedding day and boy were we right! In addition to being "ridiculously good looking" (said in the Zoolander voice) they were so sweet and made us feel like part of the family. Even both of their families couldn't stop saying how excited they were to become one happy family, and it made for such a loving atmosphere.

First, here is a shot of the ceremony site from the 5th floor suite that Allyson got ready in.

Allyson getting her hair did.

This great big window was totally dramatic so we had to get this shot.

I had so much fun with the bridals. This girl just couldn't take a bad photo.

We were really glad Allyson and Jeronimo were up for a First Look. It gave us SO much more time for pictures throughout the day since their ceremony was scheduled pretty late. This was when they first saw each other. They were both filled with emotion and the way they looked at each other was just adorable. You could see them both light up and the world disappeared when they locked eyes.

This was our favorite from the day. =)

Working it. =)

The Vinoy had so many great spots for photos!

The couple even arranged for an antique car to stop by for photos. We weren't sure if it was actually going to work out, then we got the word that it had arrived! This was one of our favorites. These two really know how to ham it up for the camera. =)

After the ceremony, we took a walk down by the water for a few sunset shots. Can you say models? Big props to Chris for his vision on this one. =)

Here are a few details from the reception. I have to say it again, the flowers were just gorgeous!

It was so easy to photograph these two. They were just totally into each other all day long. Thanks for such a great day and for making us feel like family. =) We wish you guys nothing but happiness!

Engagement Session - Chesapeake Beach, MD: Dana and Jeff

2008-10-27T12:36:00.005-04:00

On the day we had originally set up Dana and Jeff's engagement session, it was raining buckets and the forecast showed there was no end in sight. So a few weeks later when Chris and I arrived to meet up with Dana and Jeff, we were happy that the rain seemed to be holding off. When I asked Dana where she wanted to go for the engagement shoot, she had already picked this spot because it was where they first met. It is really sweet when a couple picks a place that has a special meaning to them. Chesapeake Beach was full of colors, and for a small area, we were amazed by all the cute places we found to take pictures. It got a little drizzly in the middle, but we found an overhang with these cute little benches.

For the next few, we took a stroll down by the marina.

This little cart had some fun colors and drew our attention.

By the end, Dana and Jeff had warmed up to the camera and we captured some great emotions. =)

Tagged!

2008-10-20T12:42:00.007-04:00

We were tagged by our friend and super talented photographer, Jason Angelini and unofficially by our own wedding photographer and good friend, Armin DeFiesta. Well, without further adieu, here we go. I'm going to change the first question because yesterday was more interesting than today:

4 things I did yesterday:

Had dinner at a mediterranean restaurant with my mom, brother, and soon-to-be-sister-in-law Maggie near DC, before heading to the airport. My mom took a quick pic with my point and shoot.

Drove up the mountain with my mom and hubby to Sunny Ridge, to see the beautiful fall foliage.

Backed up a bunch of pictures from the e-session and wedding we shot this past weekend.

Had the most entertaining flight attendant on our Southwest flight back to Tampa last night. As part of our entertainment, he conducted a race between a bag of peanuts (the Rays) and a bag of pretzels (the Red Sox) to predict who would win game 7. They were placed at the starting line (the front of the center aisle of our plane), and the first bag to reach the back of the plane during takeoff won. I'm convinced he had tried this before and chose the peanuts on purpose since there was a plane full of Rays fans. Yay for the Rays! I'm not a fan, but it's cool that part of the World Series will be so close to home.

After the Rays (peanuts) won the race, we looked out the plane window and saw this. (Again, point and shoot.)

4 things on my to-do list:

Edit pictures from this weekend's e-session and wedding.

Buy a new car... I've been talking about it for over a year.

I need to go grocery shopping. We've been traveling a lot so we haven't been keeping fresh food around.

Plan our honeymoon... oh wait, we FINALLY scheduled it for February and bought plane tickets! It's official, and only a year and a half late. Better late than never. =) Southwestern US, here we come!

4 of my guiltiest pleasures:

I love the purple bag of skittles. You know, the berry kind? If they're around, I can't stop eating them till they're gone.

Soda... Dr. Pepper and Mountain Dew to be exact... and not even the diet kind. It's terrible. It's enough to make me dread the dentist. Wow, this is like an intervention.

Facebook. I am obsessed. Come be my friend if you aren't already!
Blog Stalking. Well I try to leave comments on as many as I can, so maybe it is blog browsing. But I have a list of at least 50 blogs I follow on Google Reader. It's fun to keep up with everyone and get inspiration from other great photographers.

Ok new it's time to tag 4 friends. Theresa Marie, Shem Parsons, Gina Leigh, Courtney Fries, and Mary Beth Tyson (even though I know Mary Beth won't play along), you're it!

Wedding - Bluemont, VA: Taylor and Pete

2008-10-06T11:31:00.005-04:00

Last weekend, Chris and I flew up for my cousin, Taylor's, wedding in Northern Virginia. You could tell she had been looking forward to this day for a long time and was really excited it had finally come. Taylor and her bridesmaids were a great group to hang out with and made the day lots of fun!

Here are a few of my favorites from the beginning of the day.

The wedding was held at a vineyard which made for some great details shots.

Of course a lot of my side of the family attended the event and we had to grab a few shots of them as well.

Here they are strollin' in and this is Maggie (being her adorable self) with my brother. I'm so glad she'll be officially part of the family in May!

And my sister, Lindsay, and Maggie looking fabulous as always.

Chris and I are glad we got to be a part of your special day, Taylor. Congrats to you and Pete!

Client Information: Engagement Guest Sign-In Book

2008-10-01T08:25:00.001-04:00

If you are looking for an alternative to the guest sign-in matted picture on the easel, this is a great option. Maybe you don't have a room or wall where you can hang that matted picture, so how about keep this right next to your wedding album on the coffee table? The engagement guest sign-in book is a more modern option for keeping your wedding guests' thoughts in your home, while saving room on your wall for that large canvas print of your favorite wedding image. =) Guests sign the book just like they would a yearbook, while pictures from the engagement shoot fill the other parts of the pages.

Here is an example of an 11"x 8.5" horizontal book with a black leather cover where we can stamp your name and wedding date in silver.

The hinged pages allow the book to lie flat for ease of signing.

In our designs, we use opacity and white space so guests have plenty of room to sign and leave their thoughts.

The pages are nice and sturdy so they'll hold up as you read and re-read all the notes your friends and family wrote on your wedding day. =)

Wedding - Orlando, FL: Sarah and Vincent

2008-09-18T10:09:00.009-04:00

The preparations began bright and early in the morning. Sarah had a lot of family fly in from Hong Kong for the wedding, so when we arrived at her house, everyone was busy making food, getting ready, and taking care of last minute details. The smells coming out that that kitchen were amazing! It was great to see all the Asian influence that was added into every aspect of their wedding day. With Sarah's family being Chinese, and Vincent's family being Filipino, you knew that everyone was going to eat well all day long... and those are my kind of people!

Here are a couple getting ready shots. Peggy DeLeon did a fabulous job with Sarah's hair and makeup. She was so easy to work with and actually helped us climb around on the furniture and snap photos over her shoulder.

Chris captured so many great shots of Sarah getting her hair and makeup done. Here is one of my favorites.

Sarah had so many great expressions throughout the day, it really made our job easy! She must get it from her dad, because he was full of emotion himself. =)

The pure excitement was great! Here is Sarah checking out her new bling. Of course smiles like that are infectious, which made it hard for Vincent to contain his happiness.

After the ceremony, we headed over to Rollins College to take some pictures around the beautiful campus. The wedding party was an absolute blast and they were totally up for doing all sorts of fun pictures! The hot sun wasn't going to stand in the way us having fun. =)

...sorry to interrupt, but I think you have an audience, hehe...

These iron gates we found were very dramatic.

The reception was held at the Winter Park Civic Center and the park area around back had some beautiful spots for photos.

The table arrangements and details were put together perfectly to tie their colors and theme together.

In case you are curious about the cake topper like we were, it means "Double Happiness". Or at least that is what we were told by the bridesmaids =)

Sarah and Vincent arranged ample time for us to set up a slideshow during their 8-course meal. Before the dancing started and the party really came alive, we projected the slideshow with photos from earlier in the day, as well as engagement photos from their engagement session in Tampa. It was so cool to see everything projected onto the big wall! Jay with Liquid Entertainment did such a great job keeping the party going all night and was great to work with! The music was soo good that it was tough for Chris and me not to put our cameras down and hit the dance floor. Sarah and Vincent's crew all knew how to have a good time and definitely entertained with awesome dancing including a few spectacular breakers.

Thanks so much to Sarah and Vincent for inviting us to be a part of your big day. You guys were so much and we hope you're having a great time on your honeymoon in the Dominican!

New York City Trip - Part 3

2008-09-09T10:36:00.010-04:00

After seeing so much on the first day of the trip, we had to sleep in a little before getting back on the tour bus for Day 2. The second day we decided to take the "uptown loop" which took us everywhere north of times square, including Central Park and Harlem. I know I said it before, but the architecture in New York City was just amazing. The wide variety of styles and colors put a big goofy smile on my face. I couldn't have looked any more like a tourist. Here are some examples of the architecture that caught my eye.

I was so busy taking this picture that I didn't hear the tour guide say what this building is. Anyone know?

And this was just painted right on the side of a building.

I'm a geography nut, so this globe caught my interest as we rode on the tour bus on our way to Central Park.

This is one of the bus stop signs for the tour that we were on. Obviously this was one of the stops to get off and wander through Central Park.

So we did. It was nothing like I had imaged from all the TV shows. I couldn't believe how huge Central Park really is. You walk down this little path away from the huge buildings and then it's like you are literally in a park with nothing but trees and running trails and the most adorable little buildings. I took a few pictures of these cute little buildings, then once we got past them I realized they were restrooms. After the second time, I caught on.

I guess I expected the great lawn to just be a strip of grass with huge buildings lining all sides. In reality, the skyline was actually pretty far off in the distance.

Then we stumbled upon this beautiful "pond" which turned out to be a reservoir. Right in the middle of New York City, yet so serene.

As fast as we entered the park, we walked right out the other side and we were back to the monster buildings. I was really excited to see the Guggenheim Museum, but was sad to find out that they were refinishing it just like so many other buildings in the city. This ended up being the best shot I could get, hahaha. Bucket truck, paint patches, and all.

That concludes our trip to New York City. I'm so glad we went! Now we are onto a busy fall wedding season. =)

New York City - Part 2

2008-09-08T13:08:00.004-04:00

There are so many fun pictures from the trip! I have to start off with my goofball brother who decided to test out the size of the armoir when we got into the room our first night... yes, apparently he fit. =)

I still can't believe how much we got to see on the first day there. One other spot that that was really cool to see in person is China Town. While it was pretty much what I expected, the shops and signs went higher than I had envisioned.

One surprising thing about New York City was all the scaffolding lining the buildings. It was tough with all the scaffolding, but I had to get a picture of the McDonald's in China Town.

This might have been the coolest building that we saw, in my opinion. The Empire State Building is just so tall it's unbelievable. Ok, ok, so I haven't been to many big cities before so this was the tallest I have seen in person to date. The sky was the most beautiful shade of blue while we were there, which was a perfect backdrop for all the photos of the tall buildings.

I know I got a little carried away, but each angle was better than the last!

Later that night after dinner, we went to the top of the Empire State Building. First we waited in line for security, then we waited in line for tickets, then waited in another line to ride the elevators up to the 80th floor, then, last, but not least, waited in the final line to ride another elevator up to the 86th floor where the observatory is. I'm so glad we decided to go at night because the view was amazing!

You can see the Statue of Liberty in this one! (I pointed it out for you if you have trouble, hehe.)

Since we were up so high, we were basically in the clouds. Here is a pic looking up toward the top of the building. At first, the clouds were moving pretty fast and we all got dizzy looking up.

One Year Anniversary!

2008-09-02T13:22:00.004-04:00

So last night wasn't the best anniversary eve... it was sad to watch our Tennessee Vols lose the season opener at UCLA. Hopefully it was just a game to get all the rust out of our system and get ready for the SEC games.

On a happier note, today Chris and I are celebrating our first anniversary! I can't believe it has already been a full year. It's amazing how fast the time flies (when you're having fun, right?). I know it's mushy, but it is such a great feeling to continually grow closer in a marriage as time goes on. It has been really fun as our friendship, relationship, and business has grown over the past year. Also, it's great to be around all the wonderful couples we've met and see how happy they are. It is a great reminder of true love, and makes us fall in love with each other all over again. I'm definitely looking forward to many more great years. I love you baby!

Here are a couple images from our wedding. Thanks to Armin for a great job documenting our wedding last year, and inspiring us. =)

New York City Trip - Part 1

2008-08-28T10:00:00.009-04:00

Wow. That is the first word that comes to mind when I think about our trip to New York City. As soon as we got into the taxi at the airport, the driver had the windows rolled down for us. The beautiful cool breeze that greeted us was a welcome change from the hot and humid weather we left behind in Florida. My brother and his fiancee, Maggie, had flown in from DC to join us on our trip. They met us at the airport and rode with us on our cab ride to the hotel. We took a tunnel, a bridge, and the back way through parts of New Jersey on our way into the city from the airport. Driving in New York City was a wild experience that we hadn't encountered before. The dashed lines separating lanes were merely a suggestion as we drifted from one lane to another. And all the people.

There were more pedestrians than I'd ever seen in one place before. Huge groups of people were waiting for the crossing signal to change from the red hand to the white person, while a few impatient natives tried their hand at "Frogger" and dashed across traffic.

By the time we got to the hotel, I was really starting to appreciate the aggressive driving style our taxi driver employed, and I could feel myself converting to that "big city" state of mind. Chris and I realized that the manners we were taught growing up in Tennessee and Virginia, respectively, were going to leave us stranded on the first floor as everyone else pushed us aside on their way into the elevators. We finally made our way onto one, and up we went... It took off so fast, it was like a ride at an amusement park. Once we made it up to the 33rd floor, we couldn't believe the view overlooking Times Square. If you look on the top right of the picture above the Toshiba sign, you can see where they "drop the ball" on New Years Eve.

Our mission for the first night was to get all dolled up and stroll a short 20 blocks to Cafe Fiorello, a restaurant that was recommended to us. We had the most unique thin crust pizza I have ever seen. It was pretty much hanging over all sides of the plate and was teetering on the edge of the table as well. This wasn't a good thing because I have a pretty good record for spilling food on myself.

(I took this with Maggie's point and shoot.)

On day 2, we started our jam packed tour of the city. Getting tickets for the sightseeing open-air tour bus was the best decision of the trip! We got great seats, had the beautiful wind blowing in our faces, had someone explaining the history of everything as we rode along, and best of all didn't have to drive or walk to all the great touristy spots. Of course you could hop off and on at any stop, so we got off at a few to see some of the sights and take lots of pictures. Here we are all ready to go! (Courtesy of Maggie)

Our first stop was the ferry to the Statue of Liberty. By the time we got our tickets, found the line, then found the END of the line, we realized it would be another 4 hours before we could actually get to the statue. This was as close as we could get from the mainland.

So we decided to cut our losses and sell our tickets and get a couple of the famous "dirty water hot dogs" I was told we just had to try. Maggie snuck this shot of me. (I'm not sure why she was the only one with pictures of us. I was busy taking shots of all the sights I guess, hehe.)

And now to one of my favorite parts of the trip. Since the ferry to the Statue of Liberty didn't work out so well, we decided that the next best thing would be to take the "water taxi" tour around the south part of Manhattan Island. We got really close to the Statue of Liberty and the famous Brooklyn Bridge.

Here is a shot of Michael, Maggie, and me with the Statue of Liberty in the background so we can prove that we were really there. =)

And the New York City skyline from the water taxi. If you look closely you can see some famous bridges on the right side.

I just loved some of the bridge pictures! New York City really gave me a new appreciation for architecture.

The water taxi tour guide told us "BMW" was the best way to remember the order of the 3 bridges we saw, which stands for Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Williamsburg. Here are a few shots of the Manhattan Bridge. I love the classic look of this one.

And one last classic shot of the Brooklyn Bridge.

Stay tuned for more from the trip!

New York City Vacation Weekend

2008-08-22T09:36:00.004-04:00

We're headed to the big apple!

Chris and I are flying to New York City for a fun vacation weekend before the fall wedding season kicks into high gear. We are super excited to finally get to visit the city for the first time ever! My brother and his fiancee will be meeting us up there, so we'll all get to explore Manhattan together. We have gotten a ton of recommendations on what to see and more importantly what to eat! I hope to have lots of good pictures when we return. Here is a photo from Google Maps Street View of the hotel we'll be staying at, which overlooks Times Square.

We apologize ahead of time for any delay in email responses. Talk to ya when we return!

Tropical Storm Fay

2008-08-19T07:39:00.002-04:00

Well Tropical Storm Fay never reached hurricane status (top wind speeds were/are 60mph) but that hasn't kept people from taking precautions. It reminds me of the snow days we used to have when I was growing up in Northern Virginia, where school would be canceled the night before. Well here we are, the day of, and the only thing we've gotten so far is a little wind. Not even a lot of wind. It looks like the rain and strong wind are on their way. Of course I'm not complaining. I love tracking the hurricanes on the news as long as there is no major threat. Here is a water vapor images I got off the National Hurricane Center website from early this morning. Fay made landfall a few hours south of the Tampa Bay Area.

Client Information: KISS Wedding Albums

2008-08-07T17:55:00.006-04:00

We've had KISS Wedding Albums available in our packages for a while now, but we finally got around to taking photos of our sample album for reference. KISS albums are absolutely fantastic! As far as print quality goes, they are unmatched by other vendors we have seen. Everything about the design of these albums is perfectly thought out. The leather is soft and supple with rich colors, and the page thickness is just right with a quality feel. The overall production of these albums is spectacular. The album is just put together so well. The gutters are almost invisible, which really makes the spreads feel like one true image that looks great opened up. We really do love these albums and definitely feel like they are the best out there for us. Check out the pictures below to see what we mean. This sample album is a 12x12 with 30 pages.

The binding is high quality and the pages lie flat against each other with no signs of warping or distortion. The top and bottom cover are thick and substantial to really give the album a solid quality feel.

As you can see, the pages lay perfectly flat. Two page spreads are great for displaying fantastic album designs.

The page thickness is just right.

KISS albums just rock. It's that simple.

Bridal Portraits - Cincinnati, OH: Abby

2008-08-06T20:50:00.004-04:00

Ok, so this was somewhere between a bridal portrait session and a trash the dress session, but honestly Abby is so gorgeous it might as well have been a model session! Chris's best friend, Eric, was interested in learning more about photography, so Chris decided to give him some hands on training after a little in home tutoring. Eric's wife, Abby, luckily turned out to be an awesome model, which made for great practice. Since Eric and Chris were going to be messing around, I decided to make a mini post-wedding bridal session out of it. Abby got married almost two years ago and since Eric needed a subject to practice on, she decided to pull her wedding dress out of the bag in the closet for some more pictures. I mean really, what else are you going to do with it after the wedding? *hint, hint girls* Day After and Trash the Dress sessions are extremely fun!

The tree was totally Abby's idea, and what a great one! Her eyes are incredible.

This one makes me think of Tarzan and Jane, but wayyyy hotter.

I'm pretty sure this girl has a modeling career ahead of her. You can't teach someone to look this good. =)

This one was probably my favorite from the day.

Wedding - Cincinnati, OH: Heather and Dan

2008-08-03T15:07:00.008-04:00

Heather and Dan's wedding went perfectly. Heather was a gorgeous bride, which makes getting great pictures so much easier. Here are some of our favorites from the day.

A few of our favorite details.

Heather's bridesmaids were an awesome group of girls. All of them were incredibly sweet and took great care of Heather on her big day. Also, these girls really knew how to work the camera. Talk about striking a pose! Love it!

Because there were so many beautiful bridal portraits that we loved, it was really hard to narrow them down. Nonetheless, here are a few that really stood out. Heather is really a classic beauty.

We were so happy to hear that Heather and Dan were up for a First Look. We love when our couples are up for the First Look. Having the extra time together before the ceremony really allows for some relaxed photos that usually make some of the best of the day.

It was so sweet capturing them seeing each other for the first time. Heather's face was full of happiness and excitement all day and Dan couldn't hide his either.

Then it was time for some portraits around town. We found some beautifully manicured yards and the homeowners were so supportive and gladly let us use their beautiful gardens for backgrounds.

The ceremony was held at the Heatherwoode Golf Club and had amazing windows that looked out over the golf course. Instead of just tossing her bouquet, Heather tossed all the bridesmaid's bouquets. I guess she didn't want anyone to be left out =)

The first dance.

I loved the sparklers as the couple made their grand exit.

After Heather and Dan left, a few of the bridesmaids wanted to have some fun with the leftover sparklers. It took a while to get the settings right, but the shots turned out to be really cool!

Chris and I just love this last image.

Playing volleyball isn't the only time I wish I were taller. There aren't many things to climb on to get higher on a volleyball court though. Chris got this action shot of me as I was teetering on the bathtub and sink trying to get some shots of Heather getting all dolled up. Just in case you are wondering or noticed, the shot was taken in the mirror. I'm not actually left handed. =P

Thanks guys for the awesome wedding and wonderful hospitality!

Engagement Session - Cincinnati, OH: Heather and Dan

2008-07-28T11:49:00.006-04:00

Chris and I took a trip up to Cincinnati last weekend for Heather and Dan's wedding. It was quite an exhausting adventure since every minute seemed to be packed full of fun. We arrived in time to drop our luggage off and head out to meet Heather and Dan for the first time! These two were so sweet and accommodating. They really made us feel welcome, almost more like guests.

Since we like to scope out the wedding site ahead of time, Heather and Dan showed us around before the rehearsal. The wedding took place at Springboro Baptist Church which is in the cutest little town of Springboro. We took the opportunity for a short little engagement session, so we posted few of the pics below. It seemed like everyone in the town was either at work or was home and willingly let us use their yards and front porches for pictures. We pretty much had a field day with all the colorful bulidings and beautiful flowers. We had to save some of our favorite locations for the wedding day though, so more pictures will be coming!

As Dan can attest to, Heather is a ball of energy and it didn't take long to feel like we were all old friends. It was so refreshing to see these two together. You can't help but smile when you're around them. =)

Stay tuned for more pictures from the wedding weekend, and a model/day after/trash-the-dress photo shoot!

Dan just can't keep his eyes off her... and who could blame him.

Chris and I both looked at this one and knew there was something fun and different about it. Maybe it's the color, maybe its the perspective, but we like it.

Heather spotted these rocking chairs up on someone's porch as we were about to head to the rehearsal so she and Dan snuck up there for one last photo.

Engagement Session - Dunedin, FL: Amy and Doug

2008-07-27T12:50:00.005-04:00

It was yet another one of those summer evenings where we weren't sure the rain would hold off long enough for us to get in the engagement session.Thankfully, the rain held off, however, it was still quite humid out as Doug and Amy can attest to. No matter what the weather, these two were only interested in each other. This was our first time meeting Doug, but we knew he would be great since he snagged Amy and she is definitely a catch.

We went to downtown Dunedin in search of a more unique feel with a variety of colors. It is a quaint little downtown that is really fun to walk around. Chris and I really love the atmosphere of the area. These two are so sincere and good-hearted and we are really looking forward to their wedding in November!

In case anyone is wondering where to find many of the cute shops and restaurants downtown, this cute little montage of signs will get you going in the right direction.

Of course Amy had to show off that gorgeous ring!

It is so sweet they way they look at each other. =)

Wedding - Dunedin, FL: Laura and Matt

2008-07-15T09:00:00.006-04:00

I'm sure everyone would love for everything to go smoothly on their wedding day, but most brides have the inevitable snag here and there. It poured the morning of the wedding, so we all hoped we were in the clear for bad weather later in the day. However, before the ceremony started, we could all see the rain surrounding us. We all had our fingers crossed that it would hold off for the ceremony on Honeymoon Island, but the clouds were extra dark and ominous. They did make for some really cool photos though!

You can see the awesome clouds and rain all around us here.

This little boy gets the cutest kid award. He was a super cutie and was having a great time at the ceremony & reception.

Laura and Matt let us in on their first dance surprise... they started out slow dancing and it turned into a whole choreographed routine to Michael Jackson's Thriller! As you can tell, everyone thought it was hilarious.

Engagement Session - St. Petersburg, FL: Laigha and Clint

2008-07-03T10:00:00.010-04:00

Getting up bright and early on vacation isn't much fun. However the nice breeze, warm sunlight, and lack of people make it a very nice time to go to the beach for a shoot. Laigha and Clint were in town on vacation from Dallas, as the west coast of Florida was one of their many vacation destinations this summer. The last time they were here, Clint proposed to Laigha on the beach, so it was the perfect place for us to go for their engagement session. Fort De Soto is such a great place for an engagement session because there are so many different backdrops for pictures, and as you can see, we found a ton of great spots!

One of their vacation destinations for next summer is Puerto Vallarta in July, which also happens to be where they're getting married! I'm sure it is going to be an awesome wedding and a great time since both of these 2 are a lot of fun!

Engagement Session - Tampa, FL: Sarah and Vincent

2008-06-23T07:54:00.007-04:00

Last Sunday, we met up with Sarah and Vincent at the University of Tampa for their engagement shoot. They are from the Orlando area and had their fingers crossed that the weather would cooperate once they made the drive to Tampa. About half an hour into the shoot, the skies opened up and dumped the inevitable rain on us. Luckily the campus had some beautiful buildings with covered porches that were perfect for the 30 minute retreat while we waited for the storm to pass.

I know they say to try and avoid gray skies in photos, but it really captured the ominous feel of the storm in this one. Also, we have always wanted to shoot at the University of Tampa with this unique sculpture.

They said they weren't very comfortable in front of the camera, but they could've fooled us!

I've always wanted to do some shots in the rain. Finally got the chance!

Sarah is absolutely stunning... we can't WAIT for the wedding in September!

Mmmm... warm sunlight just before sunset. =)

And two feel-good favorites from the day.

Engagement Session - Safety Harbor, FL: Nicole and Ross

2008-06-14T18:49:00.007-04:00

About one hour before the engagement session was supposed to take place at Honeymoon Island, the thunder could be heard in the distance slowly getting louder. As we got in the car, the sky darkened and flashes of lightning filled the sky in front of us. We knew the storm was headed west, right toward Honeymoon Island, so we decided to make a last minute change of plans and head east toward Philippe Park in Safety Harbor instead, crossing our fingers that the storm would blow over there. We took a big sigh of relief as we arrived and the clouds began to part.

Nicole and Ross were down from Maryland visiting family in Florida, so we didn't have much time to reschedule the shoot. Aside from the crazy humidity that the storm left us with, the weather was really nice! It's a good thing Chris and I were behind the cameras and not in front because we were dripping with sweat. We have officially entered the typical rainy season for late spring/early summer in the Tampa Bay Area where it rains almost every afternoon. Nicole and Ross were so much fun to hang out with and were total naturals in front of the camera.

As soon as we set up to start the session, we noticed a rainbow across the water. How fun!

These two forgot to mention that they are secretly models, but we figured it out. =)

They both have the most stunning eyes!

It is always great when we are photographing couples that can totally be themselves. These two laughed pretty much the whole time (except when they were modeling of course). Nicole, this one is for you... we caught him =)

Wedding - Knoxville, TN: David and Molly

2008-06-09T09:58:00.010-04:00

Last weekend I made the trip up to Knoxville for my good friend David's wedding. It was a reunion of college friends from all over the eastern United States. It was so great to see everyone again, since some I hadn't seen since we graduated from the University of Tennessee 4 years ago. David was the last one in the group to get married so now I'm not sure what will bring us all together next time.

It is strange attending a wedding as a guest after photographing so many recently. Since most of my good friends were busy being groomsmen I hung out with Molly and took a few getting ready shots.

Here is the adorable flower girl at the rehearsal dinner the evening before the wedding. This was taken with the 135 f/2. I had to wait for her to take a nap before I could get a shot of her holding mostly still. I think she had just gotten up at this point and was too sleepy to make any quick movements.

David and his groomsmen let me steal them away for a quick photo before the ceremony. We left in such a rush that we didn't even grab the jackets. It was so hot outside though, I doubt they would have humored me by wearing them anyway. =)

A closeup of the rings and their reflections on a glass table.

Of course I didn't take many pictures of the reception because we were busy "decorating" the car.

Here is one last shot I got of Molly before the ceremony. Isn't she gorgeous? David is a lucky guy!

Save The Date Card Idea

2008-06-03T14:44:00.005-04:00

My brother is getting married! I have been looking forward to this for a few years now. Maggie has been like part of the family ever since these two started dating over 3 years ago. She is Michael's perfect complement and I am so excited that Chris and I get to be a part of their wedding next year! This will be my first time ever being a bridesmaid, so I am happy to help where I can. Since we don't live very close I asked if there was anything I could do to help from afar.

Chris and I went through the wedding planning experience just last year, so we had some creative money saving ideas that we were hoping to share with Michael and Maggie. Luckily Maggie liked the postcard Save the Date idea that we used for our wedding, so I was happy to hear that I would be able to help by designing one for them.

Maggie helped me come up with an idea to incorporate their wedding colors and I tried out some new things with Photoshop, so let me know what you think. I am so excited for the wedding next year since Chris and I both get to be in the wedding party. =) Congrats you two!

This will also be a special event because our wedding photographer, Armin DeFiesta, will also be documenting Michael and Maggie's wedding. Armin did a great job with their engagement photos last month and we're looking forward to his wonderful work with their wedding next year!

Maternity Portraits: Jessica and Greg

2008-05-21T21:19:00.007-04:00

Greg and Jessica are such a genuinely sweet couple. Jessica is a kindergarten teacher with a heart of gold and Greg makes any situation a ton of fun and always ends up making everyone laugh. Together, these two are just so enjoyable to be around. It took Jessica a split second to decide that she wanted to go to Honeymoon Island for her maternity shoot. Greg was happy to go anywhere that would make her happy... even if it meant swatting away the "no-see-ums" every couple seconds. Most of the maternity shoots I've seen have been done in studios or indoors, but this couple loves the outdoors and especially the beach, so we had to try it out. We ran into some interesting yet supportive people along the way, haha.

Jessica has about 6 weeks left to go in her pregnancy, so this was such a great time to capture her belly in all its glory! This was my first maternity shoot, but we decided to make it partly a couple shoot as well because we had to capture the future father's excitement too.

They are waiting until the baby is born to find out if its a boy or girl. It's going to be a great surprise no matter what, but I am too much of a planner to be able to keep it a mystery for that long. Anyone want to guess if it will be a boy or girl??

Wedding: Haley and Ted

2008-05-16T10:59:00.010-04:00

Last weekend we were honored to drive up to Tallahassee and shoot a gorgeous wedding with our friend and super talented Tallahassee wedding photographer Mary Beth Tyson. If you are unfamiliar with her work, please check her out. She is one of our inspirations (you can find her in our menu above) and is definitely one of the best in the country. Her image quality is 2nd to none and she is so fun to hang around with. We enjoyed getting to see Mary Beth work her magic and always have a great time!

Haley and Ted got married at Ted's family's horse farm just north of Tallahassee and it was a scorcher of a day. Hooray for getting a sleeveless fancy shirt in time for this wedding. =) I found out later on that one of the THIRTEEN groomsmen almost passed out from the heat. It was still a GORGEOUS wedding scene to be at so we were excited to be there!

That's right, this was by far the largest wedding party we've ever seen! There were 12 bridesmaids and 13 groomsmen. Definitely needed the wide lenses to get them all in, but they were a blast to work with and be around.

Haley was such a gorgeous bride. We heard that she had been compared to Jessica Simpson, so we were really looking forward to getting some great shots of her and Ted. Mary Beth's bridal portraits made her look stunning and there was no let down on the wedding day. She truly is that beautiful. It was almost impossible to get a bad shot if she was in it. She looked absolutely flawless in her beautiful gown.

It's no wonder Ted got all teary eyed when his gorgeous bride came walking down the aisle toward him. It was such a great emotional moment.

Check out the cool country style home and huge front porch. It made a fantastic backdrop for the wedding.

This group had so much fun despite the hot temperatures. I mean, it's not every day that you see a group of groomsmen building a pyramid in their suits and ties.

And the lovely ladies.

I had a great spot up on the porch (hidden behind part of the wedding party) during the ceremony and I was so excited to get to capture some wonderful emotions of the bride and groom.

As always, we have to snag at least one shot of the other photographer in action. Here's Mary Beth working her magic.

I've seen this shot done by a few other photographers out there, so I thought I'd try it out. It is pretty cool if I do say so myself =)

Mary Beth took Haley and Ted back to the willow tree where Haley had her bridal portraits done to take some photos after the ceremony. While she was getting some great shots of the couple, I snuck up from the side and got this shot through the trees. These two were just too cute for words.

Mary Beth gets total credit for setting up this shot, and you can see more on her blog, but this was the moment when I was in total agreeance that Haley looks so much like Jessica Simpson! Do you see it? So gorgeous!

Then off to the reception we went. The party bus held 33 and had one seat free after the wedding party, Mary Beth, and I loaded on. After a 30 minute drive up to Southern Georgia we arrived in Thomasville. The reception was held at the gorgeous Glen Arven Country Club and everyone arrived ready to party. Ted is quite the dancer, so it was no surprise when the new couple rocked the dance floor during their first dance. Later on that evening there were multiple people tearing up the dance floor and even some break dancing! The band, Complete Desire, out of Atlanta did an amazing job and kept the party going all night long.

This had to be my favorite shot from the day, so props to Chris for this one! It really captures the emotion and happiness between these two!

Thanks to Mary Beth for letting us come and shoot with her. Hope to do it again soon!

New Toys!

2008-05-14T08:31:00.007-04:00

Chris and I decided we needed a few more things to be better equipped for wedding season, so we picked up a few more "toys". After seeing the amazing color that my 5D produces, Chris was too jealous to not get one of his own. The colors that come out of this camera are incredible.

Next, the two new lens additions are the 24-105mm f/4L and the 135mm f/2.0L. Chris had been using the 24-70mm f/2.8L which is a great lens, but it just couldn't get in tight enough during a ceremony. I mean, I know we smell good, but we can't be all up in the bride and groom's face as they share their vows and first kiss. I am lucky enough to have the 70-200 f/2.8L IS which is my favorite lens for staying out of the way but getting zoomed in just enough. Actually, I'm pretty sure its my favorite anytime lens too. Both of the new lenses are great in their own way. The 135mm is incredibly sharp and when used on the 30D can get you quite a lot of zoom. And talk about bokeh (which is background blur for the non-photographers)! So Chris is going to keep that lens on the 30D and the 24-105mm on the new 5D during the ceremony. This way he can get some wide shots with the 24mm on a full frame sensor and get nice and zoomed in with the 135mm on the 30D.

I really like the idea of not having to change lenses. Since we shoot a good number of weddings and portraits on the beach here in Florida, it is nice to not have to worry about the whipping winds blowing sand in places that it doesn't belong. However for me, I'm going to tough it out because I just got a Boda Bag which I just LOVE! But more about that in another post. =)

The New Website is Here!

2008-05-03T09:59:00.005-04:00

After a long difficult month of trying to get started on designing the new website, we are finally up and running! We just love the new design and of course it will continue to be a work in progress as we get deeper into wedding season. I really have to say that BluDomain has a really great product, although we have had some nightmares with customer service. Hopefully everyone enjoys it as much as we do! Here is a snapshot, but check out the new site here: Tampa Bay Wedding Photographers - Erin Chris Photography Website.

Portraits: The Hudson Family

2008-05-01T09:31:00.012-04:00

This past weekend Chris and I took photos for the Hudson Family down at Fort de Soto Park. It was a beautiful weekend so the park was packed with people. The two little girls, Emma and Molly, had their bags for collecting seashells ready to go as we headed out to the beach. After the excitement of shell collecting wore off, we headed to some shaded parts of the park for some family photos.

We had such a great time with the whole family, and it was so funny how different the girls were. Emma was SUPER cute and had no problem being in front of the camera. She was really fun to be around and we got so many great shots of her. Molly, on the other hand, seemed a little scared of the big cameras. Every time she noticed the great big lenses pointed at her, she would take off running in the opposite direction. I guess that is the downside of the monster lenses (along with the carpal tunnel syndrome I see in my near future). We still managed to sneak a few cute shots of her in during the day.

I was so excited that we finally got to explore the historic fort that Ft. de Soto is named after! There were a few windows in the barracks that had big iron bars that the girls just loved. They were a little too excited to be behind bars, haha.

I think this was the first time that we actually got to see something other than the back of Molly's head.

Emma was super excited to be in front of the camera. She was looking forward to the shoot so much, she had been practicing her poses all week. From the looks of this smile I think she perfected it. I couldn't help but laugh when I saw Molly in the background of this photo. =)

The walls of the fort had the coolest texture. I'm not sure if Emma was posing here or if she was looking for the canons after getting her history lesson about the fort. Either way, Chris and I both love this shot.

What a great background for a family photo!

Then just as we were about to leave, Molly decided it was her turn to pose for the camera. She couldn't have been any cuter!

Thank you Jill and Chris for letting us capture a few moments in your lives. We had a great time!

Slideshow: Chris and Rita

2008-04-25T11:24:00.004-04:00

We've been meaning to post this for a while now. So here is a slideshow telling the story of Chris and Rita's wedding day at Sand Key Beach and the Harborview Center in downtown Clearwater.

Wedding: Magin and Matt

2008-04-19T19:21:00.011-04:00

This past Tuesday we shot Magin and Matt's sunset wedding at the north beach of Fort DeSoto Park. They decided to have a destination wedding down in Florida to escape the cooler weather back home in Missouri. Sadly, a cold front had come in just a day or two before and the winds at the beach were unbelievable! The wind was great for Magin's long flowing veil (for as long as she could keep it on her head).

Besides the crazy wind, the sunset couldn't have been more beautiful! We were so glad that the rain from earlier in the morning dissipated before the evening came around. There were big fluffy clouds left in the sky that made for some great shots over the water. And who doesn't love the nice warm sunlight at sunset? =)

A closeup of the beautiful bride and dashing groom.

This wind finally settled down a little bit for these next two.

They were such good sports for this next shot. We got such a great response from this flower shot at Chris and Rita's wedding that we wanted to try a slight variation on it for this wedding too.

Chris got this really cool shot of Matt while he was in the middle of writing out the date in the sand. Sadly the water washed it away before he could finish writing.

One of the great things about parks along the coast in Florida is that you can be on the beach one minute and in a beautiful park the next.

This was one of our favorites from the day. Sometimes the best shots happen when you least expect it!

Thanks Magin and Matt for letting us document your wedding day. We hope you guys enjoyed the rest of your honeymoon down in Florida!

Wedding: Nancy and Phil

2008-04-17T21:12:00.009-04:00

Last Saturday we got to shoot Nancy and Phil's wedding at the Sunken Gardens in St. Petersburg. Thanks so much to Nick of Haskins Photography for letting us come and help document such a beautiful wedding. What a gorgeous place to get married! The greenery and flowers were so colorful and really complemented the reds, whites, and blacks of the wedding party.

Phil had a huge grin on his face all day that was just so infectious. I guess there were many reasons for it though; he was surrounded by lots of friends and family, was marrying his perfect match, and had his best friend as his ring bearer (his dog). His golden retriever took part in the wedding and was at his side for a good bit of the day, except for the times where he was too tired to stand up anymore. What a sweet dog!

The ring bearer, best man, and maid of honor.

Nancy looked absolutely stunning in her elegant dress and it almost felt magical how the sun reflected off it. It went perfectly with the simple beauty of her bouquet.

I had to get a shot of Nick in action.

This is one Chris took of Nick and me during the ceremony, rockin' the long lenses.

As the evening went on, the lighting got even softer which made for some great photos around the gardens.

Thanks you Nancy and Phil for letting us be a part of your wedding day. Hope you guys have a great time on your honeymoon!

Chipotle Mondays

2008-04-03T08:33:00.003-04:00

Have you ever liked a food so much that you wanted to eat it every day?

Well that's how it started with Chipotle and me. I had to part ways with Moe's one day in November of 2006 when they closed the restaurant closest to me that I used to go to for lunch. I had heard good things about the chips and salsa at Chipotle but had never tried it. So one day with some hesitation, I decided to try the chicken burrito. Low and behold, it had so much more flavor than the Moe's burritos I was used to!

Well, when I get started on a food I like, I tend to crave it everyday. I decided (along with some strong suggestions from my husband and some other friends) that I had to limit my Chipotle visits to once a week or I might burn out... (I've been known to get "burnt out" on many foods in the past). Therefore, to make sure I stuck to that limit I decided to start a little tradition called "Chipotle Monday". For a while I was able to convince a nice sized group to join me, but it has dwindled over time (I got carry out by myself today, haha). This has been going on now since the start of 2007, so we have made it well past the one year mark! Sometimes I don't even have to say anything when I order... I'm not sure whether I should be proud or ashamed of this... (in case you're wondering, my "usual" is the chicken burrito bowl)

Please tell me I'm not the only one with food obsessions! Does anyone else have any restaurant rituals??

Wedding: Chris and Rita

2008-03-29T15:37:00.005-04:00

Last weekend we second shot Chris and Rita's wedding out on the beach at Sand Key Park. Coincidentally, this was the exact same spot that Charlie and Leslie's wedding took place later that weekend. Our photographer friend, Shem with Blue Lane Photography, was so nice to let us come along. The ceremony was held a couple hours before sunset and the weather was beautiful.

Chris and Rita were such a sweet couple and you could tell they had been looking forward to this day. There wasn't a moment during the day when they didn't have a smile on their face.

Morey and Hector of Florida Wedding Services created a beautiful atmosphere full of bright colors and stark whites for the ceremony. They transformed a wide open public beach into an intimate setting of close friends and family that truly felt secluded from the rest of the world. The decorations were wonderful with a formal, yet relaxed beach feel.

A couple shots of the beautiful Rita who was absolutely stunning.

Chris and Rita taking a stroll on the beach after being announced as husband and wife. They finally got a chance to spend a moment alone... minus the 3 photographers following them from a distance =)

Of course we had to get a shot of Shem in action.

This is one of our favorites from the day. It really captures the love and happiness that these two share together.

Thanks to Shem, for letting us photograph Chris and Rita's wedding with her. Also, thanks to Chris and Rita for being awesome subjects and letting us capture all the moments of their day. We had a great time! For more pictures from the day, check out Shem's blog.

Wedding: Leslie and Charlie

2008-03-25T08:01:00.006-04:00

This weekend we shot Leslie and Charlie's wedding at Sand Key Park, which is a beautiful beach just south of Clearwater Beach. The original plan was to have it on Saturday but we got rained out. Luckily, Easter Sunday couldn't have been a more beautiful day!

Leslie and Charlie are Tennessee Volunteer fans just like Chris and me, so we had an instant bond. =)

Here are a few of our favorite shots from the day.

I love this shot of Leslie as she is about to receive her wedding band.

Their first walk on the beach as husband and wife.

And the beautiful view overlooking the water.

Thank you guys for allowing us to document your special day. Go Vols!

WPPI was a blast!

2008-03-22T19:39:00.006-04:00

Ok it's definitely time that I catch up on blogging. The past week was a whirlwind of fun. I was so lucky to be able to make it out to Vegas for the WPPI convention which draws a ton of really talented photographers from all over. I was so grateful to be able to meet so many of them from around the country! Thanks so much to Armin who brought me as his guest =) He introduced me to a great group of photographers he knows from DC at the Pictage party on Monday night. There was also a photo booth that was a great addition to the party! This was just the beginning of the night.

Kenny Kim ended up with the majority of the pictures from the photo booth, so check his blog for them. Hopefully he will post them soon.

Earlier in the day we lucky enough to run into Becker at the trade show. I just had to get a picture sporting our "[b]log stalker" shirt. It was so cool that he was able to get them made in time for WPPI! I am borrowing these photos from Armin's blog since he took more pictures than I did. =)

Becker posted another one on his blog too! =) Then the three of us outside the Paris hotel after Becker took our headshots. Becker will be posting the headshots soon on his [b] school blog.

It seemed like a lot of people had flight issues on their way out to Vegas, whether it was getting stuck at a layover or luggage not making it. But after travel issues, I finally got a chance to meet up with Mary Beth Tyson who is a really talented photographer from Florida. I had so much fun hanging out with her and her super cool group of friends and fellow wedding photographers: Kimberly Jarman, Amy Martin, Jennifer Bowen, and JT. It was great meeting you guys! Sadly between all of us, we didn't get a group shot. But here is one Armin took of me, Mary Beth, and Amy at lunch.

The 4 days out in Vegas were jam packed with fun and new friends. What an amazing experience!

The other thing that blows me away about Vegas is the buffet lines... you have to get right back in line after you finish one meal so you can eat the next time you're hungry... if you've been, you know what I'm talking about...

[b]log stalking, WPPI, and Lindsay & Travis

2008-03-11T23:11:00.005-04:00

Lindsay and Travis are in town visiting so I haven't been able to keep up the blog as much as I hoped, but I wanted to give you guys a quick pic that Chris snagged at Clearwater Beach last night to hold you over.

This weekend is WPPI and I can't wait to meet everyone, especially [b]ecker who will be sporting my T-shirt idea! So be sure to check out his blog post!

Main Website Server Operating System Switch

2008-03-10T13:54:00.003-04:00

We are moving our erinchris.com website over to a Linux server from a Windows server over the next couple of days so there may be some downtime on the main page. We will still be blogging, but I wanted to give everyone a heads up.

Engagment: Quinn and Geoff

2008-03-08T14:46:00.010-05:00

This has been a busy week between unpacking from our trip last weekend, editing photos, and blogging. This was our last photo shoot while up in the DC area.

Quinn and Geoff got engaged shortly after midnight on New Years Eve up in Washington, DC. 2007 was filled with hard times for Quinn and her family, and had mentioned to Geoff that she would rather wait and start the new year off right. Meanwhile, Geoff had bought a ring back in October and was anxiously waiting for the first possible moment to ask Quinn to spend the rest of her life with him. Shortly before midnight they took a walk down by the White House and found a spot to spend a few quiet moments together. Geoff did all he could to hold off until midnight, despite the really cold weather, and as soon as the new year had arrived he bent down on one knee and asked Quinn to marry him.

Even a few months later, the weather was pretty nippy for their engagement photo session in Old Town Alexandria. We got some really great photos of these two before the sun went down and the winds picked up. Here are some of our favorites.

Quinn has the most beautiful bright blue eyes! (And there is no enhancement here.)

These guys were up for climbing on rail cars and loading docks for us. Thanks for being so open minded, hehe =)

The gorgeous ring!

And this street sign was just perfect! (I think Geoff would agree.)

Thanks for braving the cold with us! Best of luck with the rest of your wedding planning!

Video: Armin School

2008-03-07T09:36:00.003-05:00

This is a quick little note I just had to add when I saw Armin's latest post today.

He posted a video of our photoshoot this weekend with Lindsay and Travis. Check it out on his BLOG! Special thanks to Noah Hayes for video taping the whole outing!

Portraits: Lindsay and Travis

2008-03-06T13:15:00.014-05:00

Day 2 continued...
Armin's shoot was earlier in the morning on Saturday, then we met Lindsay and Travis later that afternoon. They had a little trouble navigating to meet us because of the St. Patrick's Day parade that was going on downtown. They ended up finding us without too many detours. Armin stayed mostly in the background for this shoot to give us any suggestions, and took a few pictures of his own.

However, poor Travis had been battling the flu that's been going around, but thankfully he got a little better before coming out for the shoot. We met them out at the water and took a few pictures there before walking around for some shaded pictures. Here is some of that rim lighting that I'm now obsessed with!

I just love the way these two look at each other. You can tell how much they're in love, and it just radiates. It made it really easy to take pictures of them as well.

Travis got really excited about the whole process and he started picking out great places for photos.

So if you read Armin's post, you probably realized that we don't mind bending a few minor laws (trespassing) to get our shots. We absolutely loved this green/blue bench here, but the person's house it was in front of had a boring backdrop. So Chris and Travis just borrowed it for a little while. They moved it a little bit down the road for a better look. Don't worry, we returned it to its rightful place. They pretty much look like models don't they?

Then we came back around to this awesome yellow wall and had to stop for a few more shots here.

Here is Lindsay workin' the model pose and Travis being his handsome self =)

And this last one shows just how cute these two are. Thank you guys so much for being so awesome to work with and really getting into it!

We had one more shoot from this past Saturday to wrap up our busy day of shooting. That'll be coming up in the next post. This was a true engagement shoot and we're so happy we were able to capture some great shots for this fun couple!

Portraits: Armin

2008-03-04T22:33:00.016-05:00

Day 2.

While Day 1 was mostly learning, Day 2 Chris and I were running the show. We had 3 photo shoots for the day in the very colorful Old Town Alexandria area. We went through the shoots the way we normally would, but had Armin give us some feedback on different ideas to get our subjects interacting together and make them more comfortable in front of a camera as well as being our local tour guide =). Before we got into the couple's shoots that we had planned later in the afternoon, we did a photo shoot for Armin himself. He hasn't spent much time on the other side of the camera, so he presented this as a challenge for us to capture a variety of shots for him.

Since Armin was our wedding photographer, the bar was set really high to get some great shots. It did help that Armin knew the area super well. He had some ideas of places he'd always wanted to take photos, so we embraced them! Now I know how Jasmine Star must've felt when she was asked to take photos for her mentor and wedding photographer, David Jay.

The goal was to capture the many styles of Armin DeFiesta. In our experience, he has three main photography modes:

Rockstar, (the second one was some cool shot and post-processing by Chris that Armin envisioned at lunch, so props to them for a super cool shot!)

Focused/Serious,

and Fun and Easy Going.

And possibly enlightened from above...? (This was just too funny to leave out.)

Here is Chris in action. I had to document this, because it surely doesn't happen often where the student is taking pictures of the teacher. Chris is sporting the Boda Dry Lens Bag... just for you Armin =)

Thanks Armin for allowing us the honor of photographing you! We really enjoyed it and just love how the pictures turned out =)

Check out Armin's blog for a few more pics from the day. Even though he beat us to the punch with his slideshow of Lindsay and Travis, we have a lot of awesome pics of those two that we'll be posting tomorrow. So keep your eye out for them!

Armin School - Part 1

2008-03-03T20:49:00.019-05:00

This weekend Chris and I went up to the Washington DC area to attend Armin's photography mentoring program, which doesn't have an official name yet, although Chris likes to call it "The Fiesta School." We arrived Thursday night and were in for a huge temperature shock when we got outside of the airport. We were no longer in the comfort of our mild Florida weather, but instead were greeted by temperatures in the 20s with a lot of wind.

Friday morning we began day 1 of our mentoring session. The first day was geared toward techniques and not as much about getting the perfect picture. On Day 2 we really focused on getting the shots. Expect a lot of good stuff from the next few posts! We started out meeting up in Fairfax with Armin and our beautiful model Maggie. Maggie sure was a trooper considering it was 28 degrees when we parked. We began with a little coffee and then headed out to our first lesson. We started off going over the basics with Armin so he could be sure we already had a grasp of core lighting and background concepts. We started off with a simple, but fun background to ease into things.

Next it was time to work with some more advanced lighting techniques including "rim lighting". Maggie's beautiful red hair just looked so pretty in the sun. After this lesson, I think rim lighting became one of my favorite techniques. Keep an eye out for it in later posts from the weekend.

Here is Armin deep in thought explaining the rim light technique.

We found these great columns which provided great shade for controlled lighting and still allowed us to create some cool compositions. And of course, we were still able to catch some light and bring out the red sparkle in Maggie's hair.

The next lesson was "how to shoot the bride and groom as they're walking down the aisle". Except in this instance Maggie was our bride and the aisle was a long straight sidewalk next to the road. It was probably close to 29 degrees at this point with the wind whipping around.

I know it looks like I'm eating my fist, but it was just so cold I couldn't feel my hands so I was trying to warm them up. Feel free to leave a comment making fun of me. =)

Lucky girl had a nice warm jacket that turned out to make super cute pictures!

Originally we had planned on Maggie wearing a few different outfits. After hearing the weather forecast, it became a simple change of winter jacket. The Victoria Secret jacket must've inspired Maggie to bring out her wild side. Chris found a cute light pole to take pictures of Maggie on and she seemed a little too comfortable spinning around it and posing for us. =)

Here are a couple more from the day that we squeezed in before hurrying inside to thaw. This was just a sun flare artsy shot that created a faded look that we liked.

This was just a sun flare artsy shot that created a faded look that we liked.

Thanks so much Maggie, for braving the cold for us! And thanks Armin for all the great tips and for sharing your knowledge with us! Check out some more pictures from the day on Armin's blog.

The Lowrie Family - Part 2

2008-02-26T12:07:00.011-05:00

I couldn't get over all the great colors at the playground! Here is Evie on the slide. She was moving so fast with all the excitement it was hard to get many of these.

Not only did we find colors there, but Evie brought some bright colors of her own. She says her favorite color is "all the colors in the world" but I think secretly that it's pink.

We spent the first part of the day at the playground getting mostly pictures of the girls, but we made time to get a few of Ivy and Stefan. You knew that that Evie and Lucy had to get their good looks from somewhere. ;) This is one of my favorites.

Of course, Lucy couldn't bear to be too far away.

During the middle of the day we wandered down the long maze of wooden walkways to the covered picnic area that overlooked the lake. Lucy was definitely most content when mom and dad were within an arms reach (or when she had some sort of snack in her hand).

On our way back, we stopped for a family photo op. This pretty much sums up the day... no more than 3 family members looking at the camera at the same time.

As the day wound down, Evie lost some of her energy and decided to become a model. How adorable?!

I think someone is a daddy's girl.

On the other hand, we pretty much tried everything to get Lucy to smile. Ivy knew just what it would take to get a smile. Little did I know that it wasn't my charm...

This was the last photo of the day because the shirt ended up getting more water than Evie did.

Thanks Ivy and Stefan for letting us join you and the girls at the park. You can never have too many pictures for the walls =)

The Lowrie Family

2008-02-25T14:51:00.005-05:00

You'll probably remember adorable Evie and Lucy from a few weeks ago. Well this weekend we took the girls as well as Mom and Dad out to John Chestnut Park with us. This time we went in the morning with hopes that Lucy would be in a better mood. Turns out that time of day isn't really the issue. We found a very colorful playground that Evie had a blast climbing on and sliding down, and of course is hardly ever camera shy. Lucy never quite warmed up to the idea of climbing on the playground too far from Mom or Dad.

Lucy was more interested in watching and feeding the birds and fish in the lake that we could see from the covered pier.

Here's a cute black and white of precious little Evie.

And Chris, always getting the unique angle.

Sometimes you just have to get on the ground to get cute shots like this.

Of course, as soon as we got home from the park, Lucy couldn't have been anymore cheerful. She was hugging us all and blowing kisses. Sadly, all the cameras were put away at this point, so we didn't get a chance to capture it. I guess staying at "home" might have allowed for many more happy photos from Miss Lucy.

Stay tuned for the family shots from the rest of our outing.

Portraits: Trae and Jayme - Part 2

2008-02-19T21:36:00.003-05:00

There were so many great photos from our photo op with Trae and Jayme this weekend, that I had to post a few more =)

Also, it was time to add our logo to the blog photos so this is the big unveiling!

Portraits: Trae and Jayme

2008-02-17T19:43:00.005-05:00

This weekend we took pictures for our friends Trae and Jayme. Being photographers in sunny Florida is great because it was in the 80s and it's still February! These two were real troopers and allowed Chris and me to drag them all over the park. We found some great light which totally made it worth it! Here are a few of the pictures that Chris and I took. They are just so photogenic!

Jayme has the most beautiful smile!

We ran across a firetruck in the middle of the park. The firefighters of Safety Harbor 53 wanted to get out and enjoy the beautiful day too. They were kind enough to let us take a couple of pictures with the truck. Here's one of my favorites.

Then Chris decided he had to climb in the trees to get the shot he wanted:

He ended up getting some great shots so it was worth it:

Here are a couple more sweet moments from the day:

Thanks for hanging out and taking pictures with us!

Tampa Photographers Meet-Up Take 2

2008-02-15T07:51:00.003-05:00

Our friend and fellow photographer Courtney Fries asked us to check and see if we had any pictures from our meet up the other week that had her wearing her fancy shirt and matching Shootsac. Sadly we couldn't find a single one! But here are a few other photos that Chris and I thought we'd share. Chris took most of these so give him some love!

Photographer or model... its hard to tell =)

Courtney says she'd rather not be on this side of camera. She could've fooled me!

Great shot of Shem.

I really love this shot of Shem.

Nick totally workin' it for the camera.

And the gorgeous Courtney.

Nick being a ham.

Evie and Lucy

2008-02-10T11:35:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I took some pictures for my neighbor's little girls. We thought it would be cute to get them all dressed up in their fairy costumes first. I was told that they got their fairy costumes for when they visit Disney World. Evie was so excited and proud of her costume so she had no trouble posing for the camera.

Lucy on the other hand, woke up from her nap on the wrong side of the bed and we had to work through some tears before getting some pictures of her.

Candy always helps out =)

After a quick wardrobe change, we headed to the park to play at the playground. I was kinda jealous that I didn't get to spend more time playing and climbing myself! It was all so exciting for the girls; they just ran from climbing wall to tight rope to balance log. We got in a few pictures before it got too dark.

We only got a couple of the girls together. They just didn't have time to be in the same place for very long, haha.

I have a new found respect for parents of little kids. They will wear you out. Thanks Ivy, for letting me tag along with you and the girls!