Editing with Courtney’s images is going slowly and surely, and, for whatever reason, I am LOVING the following photo:

Courtney, I tried to be a redhead for a while. It didn’t work out on me like it does on you. And it’s images like this (and, well, just SEEING your gorgeous hair and how it stands out!) that make me jealous. In a good way…

Happy weekend, everyone!

This morning, Courtney Olson and I got together for two things: a photoshoot and brunch.

A little more than a year ago, Courtney and I did a photoshoot in Centennial Park, and it was high time we did another one. This time, we stayed in my neighborhood and got a chance to explore two local parks.

One of my current favorites, having gone through the images once?

Happy Sunday, y’all!

Four years ago, I was studying art in an Estruscan hillside town in Tuscany.

That summer, I spent a lot of time photographing, painting and writing for my classes. I spent more time traveling. And I spent about the same amount of time watching football — NOT American football — but soccer. World Cup fever was in full swing, and I was there the entire month for the madness.

Every evening, we would hike down the hill to the Lion’s Well pub in Piazza Signorelli to watch whatever game was being aired. And for the first time since the sixth grade, I really got into soccer, thanks to my Italian friends and fellow students.

The night Italy played in the championship four summers ago, my town set up a huge screen in Piazza Signorelli and projected the game onto it so that townspeople, students and people from towns down the hill could come watch and hopefully celebrate Italy’s victory.

We all waited on pins and needles as the game dragged on. Then extra time. And then penalty kicks.

After hours of waiting, Italy pulled it off, and everyone was screaming, hugging, waving their flags and rejoicing. Some people drove into the square in a truck, holding flare guns and painting the buildings an eerie red.

The party continued into the night. We were offered wine from the town’s wine store owner, who happened to be carrying around the largest bottle of vino I have ever seen. We were offered pastries from the Bar Sport, a local bar my roommates and I frequented in the mornings after my painting class. And we were given hugs and kisses, despite the fact we were clearly not Italian.

I remember that night and can’t help but smile. It was one of the most glorious celebrations I have ever attended.

I have reminisced about that night numerous times in the past month as I have watched World Cup games from a variety of locations. (None of these are as exciting as a pub in Italy, though.) And I thought about it so much today as I watched Spain defeat the Netherlands in a game not so different from the Italian-French game four summers ago.

I’m sad my adopted team did not make it out of the first round, but I am so thankful I had the chance to watch more soccer this summer. And you better believe that in four summers, I will be doing the same thing, no matter where I might be.

Oh, hello there! Yes, I’m still here. And yes, I’m making more of an effort to pour some time into this blog.

So let’s start this streak back up with Friday favorites…

If I make it to Austin anytime soon, I’m checking out the Magnum exhibit at the University of Texas. It sounds amazing! (And Texas friends? Y’all better look into this for me!)

Some famous photographs have been recreated using Legos. Awesome/hilarious!

Somebody had to say it. I’m glad Jean-François Leroy did.

Andrew Fingerman made an excellent list of marketing ideas from outside the photography realm that us photographers should make use of. Umm, yeah. I need to work on all of these…

Cleva Media is blogging the World Cup. The Big Picture has posted various images from opening weekend. (I love/cringe when I see the photos of the photographers and how crowded it is. But the colors! And the action! And THE WORLD CUP!)

This list of the top 10 ways to make a photographer fall in love with you made me smile.

Happy Friday, y’all!

Last Memorial Day, I photographed a memorial service for the American, and during the service, one older veteran handed me an American flag. I didn’t think much of it at the time and kept it on display at my desk until I moved to Nashville.

This year, I have spent most of my day relaxing and thinking about how strange it is that I did not cover a memorial service or anything related to this national holiday today. And the more I think about it, the more I think about about all the men and women I know personally, as well as those I don’t, who have served and are current serving our country.

Tonight, I remembered the Hattiesburg veteran who gave me that flag and realized that I had kept it stored away during my move. So I went in to one of my moving boxes (that has yet to be unpacked — sad face), found it and placed it in a flower pot in front of my home.

It’s not much, but I will view that little flag as a reminder every day as I walk in and out of my home of the men and women who have served our country and given their all.

Happy Memorial Day, y’all!

I visited Indianapolis this past weekend with some girlfriends. It was an AMAZING time, and I cannot believe it went by so quickly!

I found myself fascinated by our reflections in the elevator, so before we left, I snapped this image of us. It was too fun not to, no?

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What is one of the stranger places you have taken a photo?

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

This past week was crazy busy — with lots of work and wedding planning (oh! the wedding planning) — and I did not have a chance to take photos until the weekend. Luckily for me, I was in Memphis and had a few fantastic models — two dogs.

Kaci, your wish is totally coming true.

I present: the week of Lucy and Callie.

Saturday, April 17 at 9:40 a.m.: This little puppy isn’t allowed to sleep in the bed at my house, but she can do whatever she wants at her KK’s. She snuggled up next to me both nights, and it was amazing.

Saturday, April 17 at 5:53 p.m.: Callie, the temptress. Callie, my mother’s Golden Retriever, enjoys drawing Lucy in by rolling around on her back and then leaping up (as best she can) to attack.

It’s a fun game, obviously.

Saturday, April 17 at 5:52 p.m.: Callie on the offensive!

Saturday, April 17 at 5:52 p.m.: Lucy fights back!

Saturday, April 17 at 5:53 p.m.: Crazy eyes!

Saturday, April 17 at 5:55 p.m.: Look at that snazzy photographer! Who is she?

… A stunner, that’s who.

Ha.

Sunday, April 18 at 3:19 p.m.: This little bird fell out of the big oak tree. Lucy found it for us — and the only reason I noticed this was because the parent birds were dive bombing Lucy. Like, swooping down from the tree to move her away from their baby. Of course, she didn’t budge, and I had to drag her away from the bird.

Once we got the dogs back into the house, my mom and I tried to scoop the baby bird into a little nest we made in a bucket so its parents could continue to take care of it, but it was not having any of that. It leapt down out of the bucket, and moved on its way.

I don’t know what happened to it because I had to leave town. Sad face.

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How was your weekend?

Woohoo, week three!
(And I’m posting this on the right day. WIN!)

This week was a little crazy, what with numerous plans throughout the week, being sick on Friday and shooting a wedding for the ENTIRE day Saturday. So it wasn’t possible to make a good image every day (again with the whole, ‘Here’s a photo of Lucy at night since I didn’t have a chance to shoot anything else all day’ thing), but I like the final results.

Here we go…

Wednesday, April 7 at 5:37 p.m.: This planter used to hang off the side of the balcony of my Hattiesburg apartment. Since I moved to Nashville, I haven’t known what to do with it. When my mother and I were planting last weekend, inspiration hit us, and we decided to hang the planter on the fence. And since eggplants are growing in this space, it will work perfectly. (And hopefully, the eggplant vines won’t take over the entire porch!)

Wednesday, April 7 at 5:54 p.m.: Whenever I go out onto the little patio, Lucy always follows me. Wednesday was no different as we were cooking dinner at the condo. He was sauteeing chicken, and I opened the door to water the plants. Lucy came along for the ride, and once dinner was on, Winston joined us outside. Here the two of them are, Winston petting Lucy and Lucy yawning.

Wednesday, April 7 at 6:04 p.m.: And after taking a few photos of Lucy, I made sure to get one of us.

Saturday, April 10 at 9:05 a.m.: Abstract greenhouse. There’s not much to say about this one other than the light is REALLY intense in the morning hours, and I wanted to play with it Saturday morning.

Saturday, April 10 at 7:00 p.m.: I helped a friend shoot a wedding at Montgomery Bell State Park, just north of Nashville, and snapped a few shots after we finished the portraits (and before heading to the reception.) The light? Was absolutely STUNNING.

Saturday, April 10 at 7:01 p.m.: This was around where we took the portraits of the entire wedding party, the families and friends after the ceremony. I love how you cannot tell this photo was taken in a state park (because there were SO MANY picnic tables and grills around!) and it looks like I wandered into the forest. And to me? These trees and the light and the moss looks like a dreamland of sorts.

Sunday, April 11 at 4:05 p.m.: Confession: I didn’t take this photo. (Because, well, I’m in it and am clearly asleep.) Winston snapped this when he found Lucy and me passed out on the couch together, “watching” the Masters. (Excuse the messy home! It’s not normally so cluttered!)

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What do y’all think?

Did you have a good weekend?

I’m a bit late, but better late than never.

We decided it might be easier if we took photos every day, but instead, chose our favorite seven from the week instead of highlighting one from every day. (Because, honestly, who wants to look at seven photos of Lucy taken in the middle of the night because I forgot to take a photo that day? Exactly. Nobody.)

Here’s this week’s selections:

Tuesday, March 30 at 11:19 p.m.: The mantle above the fireplace in my home. The same one that my mother, Doniree, and I redecorated after I moved in. (We also moved the Ragan painting, but that is another story for another time.) So hello Italian town watercolors, fleur-de-lis and glass eggs.

Wednesday, March 31 at 6:38 p.m.: Lucy doesn’t like having her photo made, and she makes all sorts of strange faces whenever the camera comes out. When this photo was taken, I was talking to her, and she, obviously, was looking up at me skeptically as I placed the camera on the ground and snapped away.

Wednesday, March 31 at 6:41 p.m.: I love watching the light at my little condo throughout the day, and I find it fascinating that the afternoon sunshine, especially during golden hour, shines so brightly on the patio. The bright gold light changes the bricks from muddy to vibrant.

Friday, April 2 at 6:07 p.m.: Everything has started to bloom in Nashville during the past two weeks, and it has been no different at the condos. All of our trees are carrying blooms of this brilliant magenta-ish purple or gold. Two fantastic colors, if I do say so myself…

Sunday, April 4 at 3:59 p.m.: For the past three years, my mother has come to visit me where I have lived for Easter. One year in Baton Rouge, the next in Hattiesburg and this year in Nashville. It has become a tradition of ours to plant my “garden” (I use this word loosely considering I don’t have a yard — only pots), make an Easter etouffee and eat chocolate cake. This year was no different, and it was amazing.

Sunday, April 4 at 4:28 p.m.: Another planting photo, though I love the close-up for this one. My mother knows what she’s doing, and she has a very green thumb. I can only hope I will learn all her skills in the coming years to one day be able to plant my own garden without her expert help. Just her advice over the phone. Haha.

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And that’s it for this past week!

How was your Easter? Do you have any traditions for the day?

Good morning, everyone! I’ve been meaning to post this for quite some time and have just continued putting it off and off and off.

But…

One of my photos was featured on the wedding blog, We Met in a Bar!

(Yes, I know it was a LONG time ago. Yes, it’s still awesome. Yes, I’m still excited about it.)

Hooray!