They are the epitome of high school sweethearts. And now? They are married with a beautiful baby boy. The groomsmen toasting the couple wished them a happy marriage. Obviously the bride and groom agreed. The looks exchanged by couples never ceases to amaze me. Congrats Chelsie and Tim! 
I’ve never done food styling before. In fact, it was a little bit terrifying even attempting it–in a good way. A few weeks ago, my mom and I were eating lunch at a local restaurant in Destin. I noticed a young woman eating cake and laughing with two friends; across from her sat a lady in a chef’s white uniform smiling and holding up an Ipad to show off her portfolio. Pastry chef. I knew instantly that I had to meet this other wedding vendor.
Now, in any other profession this vendor would be considered competition, and it is highly frowned upon to fraternize with the enemy. Fortunately, I work in the wedding industry where we love and support every type of vendor.
I nervously introduced myself after the bride and her posse of cake-tasters had left smiling and excited. Her name is Kara of KaraBoo Cakes. We chatted for a few minutes, and I offered to do a Food Styling Photoshoot of her next wedding cake.
And here I am. Another thing that I never thought I would be able to say I had accomplished. That’s not to say I’m fabulous at food styling, but I certainly have a new appreciation for pastry chefs and food stylists.
Give Kara some love and support: http://www.destinbakery.com/default.html or http://www.facebook.com/#!/KaraBooCakes
It’s cold in Florida. Kind of. The weather has been rather bipolar and hasn’t decided whether to be 20 or 60 degrees. Not the most fun to shoot in, but perfect weather to look back at the wonderful shoots I’ve had this season.
I wanted to share with you all of the fun moments from this year and some of my favorite shots. In no particular order:
1.
These two photos were taken in the exact same place a few months apart.
On the left, I used pear tree leaves that had turned red for a senior portrait session with Becca. I adore how the colors of the leaves matched her dress and hair perfectly. Plus, she was saying how silly she felt. I love silly photos. On the right, Ashley and George were such a pleasure to work with. They are so many kinds of in love it’s almost ridiculous.
2.This was a year of firsts for me as a photographer: my first wedding as a second photographer; my first wedding as the primary photographer, and my first senior portraits for a guy. You would never know it, but I was so beyond nervous. Stephen was wonderful to work with though because he is super chill and we’ve known each other for a few years. The funniest part about working with guys versus girls is the height difference. I mean, I’m tall for a girl; Stephen is 6′ 7″! I had to stand on tiptoes for a lot of the shoot. It was so much fun though.
3.
I’ve known Kelsea since elementary school.
This shoot made it into my favorites because of the truly awful lighting situation. Explanation time. I check the weather compulsively before every shoot(and every other day of the week). On the day of Kelsea’s senior portraits session, there was a 10% chance of rain. Meaning there is a 90% chance it WON’T rain, right? I give up on trusting the weather channel because it rained on us while we were shooting. On top of that, the light was sparse and really odd when it did show through the thick clouds. However, Kelsea was a complete trooper and we kept shooting despite the nasty clouds in the distance and rain. The shoot turned out some of my favorite photos.
4. 
You might recognize Lauren from her senior portraits blog post a few months ago.
This photo made it into the Year in Photos because I love the care-free expression on her face. Who doesn’t love rolling around in grass surrounded by ants? I think Lauren and I both got bitten by over a gazillion(estimated) ants while shooting. But look how happy she is!
5. 
I love balloons. Like a lot.
So when Alexis asked if we could have balloons in her senior portraits I jumped on the chance. My favorite part of this entire shoot was when she let go of the balloons. Watching them float off into the air was a perfect end to a wonderful shoot.
These are just a few of my favorite moments from this year. I believe that next year will be just as amazing and then some. I’m so excited to keep sharing my experiences with you.
Side notes:
If you’d like to see more of my work visit my website. I am now booking for next year, so feel free to contact me.
I’m revamping my price list and my website, so look out for those changes coming soon!
Lots of love and hugs!
Aislinn
I have been non-stop go,go,go for the last 4 months with my photography business. This month alone, I’ve been shooting almost every single weekend(even on my birthday!) So, I wanted to fill everyone in on why I haven’t been particularly available lately.
1. School. Did I ever tell you how much work being a semi-perfectionist is? I don’t have the attention span to be a full fledged perfectionist. This past month, I’ve cranked out more than 10,000 words for essays alone. School plays a major factor in my ability to blog and get more photos out.
2. Holidays. I adore spending time with my family, so when I get the chance, I bask in it. This month is chock full of holidays and end of the semester breaks(and essays!).
Yeah, that’s not really an excuse is it?
How about this. I’ll tell you about the cool things I’ll be doing in 2011 and we’ll call it even.
2011:
I already have a wedding scheduled and several senior portraits on my calender. That means there are plenty of spots available for you to have your own portraits or wedding done! Feel free to contact me about getting on my calender for 2011 before I revise my price scale.
I will also be dwelling more in some artistic fun shoots and would love some models to work with. If you’re interested, this would fall under the Photographer’s Choice category.
I will be blogging more. I hope.
Hope that clears some things up!
Love and Hugs,
Aislinn
I’m such a bad blogger!! I am so sorry for leaving this unattended for several weeks. I’ve had a shoot every weekend for the past two months, and a wedding this past weekend. I am super busy, but that’s no excuse for not blogging!
Ok. Story time.
Last weekend, I had senior portraits with an old friend of mine, Sarah. Luckily, we’re the exact same people we used to be. She goes to Niceville High School,but dual-enrolls at the local college. We were friends until I left for Collegiate High School a few years ago and lost touch with a lot of my peers. The cool thing about Sarah is her creativity and willingness to get completely messy.
A few months ago, I asked Sarah what she wanted to incorporate into her senior portraits; her response was immediate: Ke$ha, the singer. I laughed a little and then started to figure out ways to make this work. Getting drunk off a bottle of Jack in the morning: not going to work. Glitter: check. Bubbles: check. Glow in the dark suit: next time.
In this blog, I wanted to show everyone that you don’t have to be a super model to look like a model in photos. It’s the intensity of the eyes, in my opinion, that makes a model…a model. Sarah shows this beautifully:
See how in left photo her smile is what engages you to look? The right photo is visually interesting because of the soft smile in her eyes and the glitter drawing the attention to that. Of course, when I’m selecting photos to edit, I don’t think like that. My thoughts generally are more like, “OMG glitter! The purple sets off the blues and reds. I love my clients!”
And because I know how much ya’ll love looking at photos here is another one of my favorites from this shoot:
If you would like to see more visit my website.
Until next time,
Aislinn
I wanted to share the top photos of August 2010 with you this week. I am interested to see what will be next month’s top photos.The scoring is based on views. The links below the pictures are to the albums, so that you can see the rest of the photos.
1:
http://aisphotography.zenfolio.com/p287990277
2:
http://aisphotography.zenfolio.com/p194382878
3:
http://aisphotography.zenfolio.com/p891222640
Much love,
Aislinn
