. abbey & justin - engagement session .

Abbey and Justin and I had a ton of fun shooting their engagement session at Santa's Workshop in Manitou, and I am so SO excited to shoot their wedding in Burlington this summer!  Abbey has been telling me all about her decorating plans, and it sounds like it's going to be amazing.   We headed to the North Pole / Santa's Workshop on a cold cold morning a few days before Christmas, and then played around at the penny arcade in Manitou (photographer's paradise!).Let me also insert that Justin is a cop, and once left me a parking ticket.  I picked it up off my windshield, thinking, "oh man!", until I noticed what it said : "Your vehicle is in violation of____" and he wrote, "being stupid".   I knew at that point that it had to be Justin :)

Thanks so much, you guys.  I had a ton of fun.  Not everyone gets to hang out at little kids' amusement park with cool people for a living.  Love it!  I can't wait for the wedding!

. fort christiansvaern .

When I was in St. Croix, I loved having the opportunity to visit Fort Christiansvaern in Christiansted.  There is so much cool history that's evident throughout this compound (Courtyard! Archways!  Color!  Right on the water!  Alexander Hamilton grew up here! Dungeons!  Cool windows!  Oceanfront cannons!)  I wandered around, my mouth pretty much drooling at the thought of shooting a session here.  I have maybe a thousand ideas for this place, and it costs all of, I don't know.. three dollars to get in to.  So, here's what you want to do.  You want to get married or do a Trash the Dress session.  You want some amazing amazing pictures.  At the same time, you want a vacation that's fun and off the beaten path, but you don't want to have to deal with the hassle of passports and visas.  You want to hire me to come back to St. Croix and shoot your wedding / Trash the Dress at Fort Christiansvaern. Trust me on this.  This is in your best interests.  Haha.  See?

The view from Fort Christainsvaern:

Yep... you know you wanna :)

. melissa's trash the dress session: part two .

As promised - the beautiful Melissa with her beloved horse, Tempe.  The first shots are in her riding field (hey St. Croix people- she teaches lessons!),  and the cool gourd-looking fruits are mahogany... We had absolutely perfect light and perfect weather!

. melissa's trash the dress session: part one .

I have been looking forward to this shoot ever since Melissa and I started emailing back and forth.  She and Ivan got married just over a year ago, and when she heard I was coming down to St. Croix, we scheduled a Trash the Dress shoot immediately.  Having lived there for many years, she knows the island so well, and she was kind enough to drive us all over to scout out locations, get ideas, and introduce us to St. Croix.  What a fabulous tour guide, and what a beautiful, beautiful bride!

One of the many things I loved about St. Croix is all the old sugar mill ruins from the sugar plantation days.  The one that we used in this shoot is just down the road from her house!  Incredible.  I was surprised to find that they used bricks made of coral, along with regular stone blocks, to build the mills.  How cool.  And the very last shots with the pool... um, yeah.  That's the view from Melissa's house.  Not only does she have an incredible ocean view, but you can see the sugar mill and pretty much the whole island, too.  What?  Jealous?  Nooo, not at all...

Because there's such an abundance of stunning locations, this post is only part one.  Oh my holy color... seriously, from the sky to the water to the green lushness everywhere to the pinkish sand at sunset.. I'm so in love with shooting in the Caribbean.  Part two, with her horse Tempe, is coming soon soon soon!  And a huge thanks to Zach for being the best flash /gear holder ever!

THANK YOU THANK YOU Melissa!  Much love and the rest are coming soon!

. welcome to st. croix .

I plan on doing a much longer blog post when we get back, but for now, I'm just enjoying it.  Great family shoot yesterday, amazing trash the dress shoot on the beach tomorrow, and plenty more to come.  Holy crap do I love this light.