Sara called one night and asked if I could do a set of just black-and-white portraits with a plain dark or light backdrop as a Christmas present to her parents. She wanted to bring her brother Nick along too, and these were a few of the results.

My college friend Sara was married in 2003 and now has two beautiful girls. She saw my post a couple months ago offering a free TTD session to any bride who was willing to get her wedding dress dirty. Sara immediately jumped at the chance. Man, was she a trooper! She told me as we were driving to the location that she was ready and willing to do anything for a great picture. We did lots of “dry” shots first before she waded out into a creek. Here’s the sample shot (again, I will post more once I get through some post-processing):

This session was the morning after Roganne and Matt’s wedding, so I was a little tired and achy, but it was SO fun and totally worth it. I’m glad it worked out! And I hope more brides (both present and former) will be jealous and want to have a TTD session as well.

p.s. ladies… you don’t HAVE to get your dress completely dirty or even wet. As long as you don’t mind a little dirt, we can work something out!

Hannah and Dustin were married on May 31 at the Church of Christ in Champaign. It had a somewhat beachy feel as Hannah wore no veil and instead a flower pinned in her hair just over her shoulder and NO SHOES! We also took some outdoor shots at the reception with a cornfield in the background “since we are in Illinois!” Hannah said. The entire set of photos is here: www.colepadget.weddingherald.com.
My favorite one of the day was this very chic photo of Hannah with the beautiful stained-glass window in the background! I love it!

Christopher and Jennifer were married on May 24. The reception was at a cool vineyard just outside of Champaign and mostly inside a big white tent which was great for my lighting purposes. We also got to grab a few shots at the Quad and the Arboretum.

This was one of my favorite shots of the day. The title of this post comes from the great headshots I got of the two of them and their gorgeous blue eyes. Congratulations, Jen & Chris!

When I first heard about this new phenomenon of trashing the dress post-wedding, I wasn’t too keen on it. But the more I browse through the samples on various blogs and Flickr!, the more I want to give it a try. I’ve been having fun doing engagement portraits lately, and I think TTD is similar to that only kicked up a notch and a little more edgy.

So, in honor of my wanting something new to try, I’m going to give the first person interested a free TTD session (valued at $100!). I’ll even throw in a free 8×10 (and you might even get a coveted spot on my office wall if I get a print myself. It will be SO FUN… I promise!

You can view other photographers’ samples here.

Ivory purse

Originally uploaded by hollyhereford

My friend Rob and I photographed a wedding on Saturday for my old boss, Scott, at Memory Lane. This was probably my favorite shot from the whole day. After looking at all the photos, I was thinking how much easier and fun it is to do a photojournalistic wedding when you don’t have to be the one doing all the traditional, posed shots. I got to do the fun stuff! Sorry Rob!

Picture 1

Originally uploaded by hollyhereford

I have at least one graduation and one wedding to photograph each weekend in the month of May (and sometimes 2 or 3!). So, when Sunday rolled around and Kayla and Ryan were on their way to town for their photo shoot, we went ahead and worked through it (quite well, I might add) even though it was drizzling/sprinkling off and on the whole time. We also like to be a little adventurous by getting locked into Memorial Stadium (oops!) and having to climb out. I have a bunch of favorites, so here are just a few of them:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hollybirchphotography/ (check the first 11 or so photos)

Danyella came over last night for her 2nd photo shoot. She was in a little better mood this time. And I have to thank Aaron for a couple of these shots because he was sitting around the corner from the studio setup and she’s leaning so she can peak around the corner to see who’s there. The result is a perfect shot of pure curiosity and innocence!

HBP_0187c

Originally uploaded by hollyhereford

It’s engagement portrait season! This means weddings are right around the corner too…

I did two engagement sessions this weekend, and both were a lot of fun. There wasn’t very much green grass or leaves yet, but we had BEAUTIFUL blue skies both days. Roganne & Matt’s wedding is the last Saturday in July.

Here’s another version of it!

First Christian Church hosted a Girls Night Out on March 7. The planning committee asked me to be the photographer. I supplied my camera, the lights and the black backdrop and they provided the go-kart and props. It was a fun time and here are 3 of my favorite shots:

(I’m in the red!)