Adventures in Fernadina Beach

This past weekend I had the pleasure of taking this gorgeous high school senior on a trip up to Fernandina Beach. We started our late afternoon at the train tracks which serve as a “landing” for unused cargo trains. After exploring there for a few shots with her favorite sport accessories the train authorities came and asked us to leave. 😦 But we already had what we wanted so it was actually just kinda funny to get “kicked out”.

After that we walked around the historical downtown Fernandina, explored some awesome looking brick walls, old houses, porches, antique cars and escaped from a short rain shower in the air-conditioned coffee shop that also served as a clothing change spot!

After all that, we headed out to the beach. Our original plan was to go south and shoot at the “Beach of the Dead Trees” but we took one look at the sky in that direction and pulled over to shoot in Fernandina Beach instead. You’ll see why in the next photo. 🙂

But, we still managed to get some great shots there at the beach in between lightning bolts!!!

Overall, I think I can say that this Fleming Island High School Senior had a great photo session with tons of variety to capture her personality!!! I’m booking now for Class of 2011 seniors who want their senior pictures to be completely personalized TO THEM without spending thousands at the “school contracted photographer”!

13 Going on ???

A few weeks ago I took my daughters best friend around Green Cove Springs for her birthday photo session! We had a blast exploring old abandoned houses out in the country and finding other neat spots right in the center of Green Cove Springs. It’s amazing how grown up 13 year old girls can feel and look when they are in the “discovery” mode about the world around them!!!

Here are a few of my favorite shots.

Way OVERDUE for posting!!!

Where has the summer gone??

Sorry I haven’t been updating my blog here much… let me add a few quick favorites from this summer!

Now is a great time to start booking for fall…. cooler weather is around the corner and makes for GREAT photos without getting all hot and sweaty! LOL

Hanna Park

This weekend I had the pleasure of photographing Family “R”~ Mr. and Mrs. R and their 4 beautiful children! We met at Hanna Park around 6pm (a typical time and location for a family session from Memories Captured). We started off at the northern end of the beach near the Mayport dividing line… the girls were having fun goofing around.. and the guys were laid back and easy going. We focused on both family shots, smaller grouped shots and of course some individuals of the kiddos too.

Here are some of my favorites so far. (Still editing away, so who knows, I might have more favorites later!)

Football in the Spring

Nothing says football like evening sun shining in your face and  gnats and mosquitoes buzzing in your face as soon as that sun drops below the stadium seats. Well, maybe that’s not true.. since football is usually associated with cooler weather on the way and stadium lights turning on with the kickoff.. but tonight it was true for me. 🙂

I’ve been asked to cover the Fleming Island High School football games again for the next season.. and to kick off their summer of killer workouts they had a spring game against Nease. This game was a chance for the coaches to see both the Varsity roster and the JV roster playing against an equally competitive team.  Guess you could call it a “pre” preseason game.

This year I will be posting some of my favorites directly on my facebook page (please become a fan!) so the boys can tag themselves and use them as their profile pictures. The photobucket account will still be hosting all of the images from each game for now… but that might change due to the recent upgrade for the FIHS athletic website.  And I’ll try to post at least one favorite here on my blog as well. 🙂

Remember, information about these pictures is always fixed at the bottom of this blogpage!  Anyway… without further ado…. here’s my top pic from tonight’s game.

Gotta love that "in your face" action.

Derek 2010

This weekend I enjoyed hanging out with Derek, his girlfriend, and his best friend in downtown Jacksonville. Derek is graduating from Fleming Island High in just a few short weeks! I’ve had the pleasure of photographing Derek’s family for years and was honored to be given this opportunity to capture such a memorable time in his life.

Since he loves to skateboard, I encouraged him to bring it along. We are also going to meet up later this week to get some pictures with his truck so check back for those later!

Here’s a preview of our evening photo shoot

During senior sessions, I always make a few shots WITH the people you enjoy spending time with! Here’s a few with his girlfriend and then one with his best friend.

I am now scheduling for the Class of 2011… but if you’re graduating now and realizing that you didn’t really get pictures that really show who YOU are right now… then book NOW! Once you leave for college… believe me, time for things like photo shoots won’t appear all by itself!

1st Mother’s Day Portraits

This weekend, I had the honor of photographing baby Angelina with her mommy. This is her mommy’s very first mother’s day! Congratulations!!!

We spent the morning at Eagle Landing in Orange Park. Angelina was a little bit tired and fussy, but we worked around her moods and managed to create some beautiful memories!

To begin the session, we moved some furniture around to allow me to shoot using the morning sun as my light source streaming through the front window. They were worried that their other furniture and household items would get in the way or clutter up the photos… but I assured them that these shots would be all Angelina. 🙂 Check them out for yourself!

If you’ve got a window that lets in morning light…. this is a perfect arrangement for baby portraits! Don’t ever think your house isn’t a good enough location!!!

We can always head outdoors as well…

And we make sure we do whatever baby wants! Even if it’s not your typical baby pose!

Gymnastics Team Photos

Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve posted! Things for me have been quite busy lately….but not in the photography department. I’m looking forward to getting back into working with my camera instead of just playing with it! (just finished a 365 photo project as a personal challenge). So, stay tuned for new session highlights!

I recently had the pleasure of photographing the Fleming Island Gymnastics competitive team. These girls just finished their season with the State Competition for AAU last weekend. Check out their website to learn more.

Oh, by the way… my daughter is one of these awesome gymnasts 🙂

~Deni

PS- Are you a facebook fan yet? I’m having a drawing for a FREE session… get on over there and find out how to get your name in the drawing!

FIHS Football Roundup

This week I was able to cover the JV and the Varsity game. (sorry Freshmen!)

JV totally dominated the ball.. their first drive took up the entire 1st quarter and 2 minutes of the 2nd quarter!!

Here’s the touchdown picture from that awesome drive

Final score was 21-6…. and we’ve heard that the OP team actually brought down some varsity players to play against us on JV. (That would explain the lowest score we’ve had that this year)  Click here to see the rest of the game.

Varsity played at home again and enjoyed another district win! The Golden Eagles are undefeated and definitely play like winners.

At one point we scored a touchdown 3 plays in a row (penalties brought it back each time)…. and we were 60 yards out at the time!

Here’s one of the runs…

We had a really sweet interception with a long return by #44. Our defense loves getting their hands on the ball!

We even played our future Gator Offensive Lineman on defense and offered him a piece of the Seabreeze QB.

Overall, we won 42-21… click here to see the rest of the game pictures.

Next week is HOMECOMING! I wonder if these guys will get painted up like this on the night of the dance!?

Gently Trashing the dress…

Well, I’ve done it… I’ve shot my very first “Trashing the Dress” session! I was really excited and nervous about taking this project on if you want to know the truth! The idea behind it is really cool…. you’re not going to wear your wedding dress again, and you felt really stiff and formal and afraid to get it dirty during your Wedding Day Formals… so why not GET DIRTY after the wedding, but before the dry cleaners gets a hold of your dress!

I’ve seen some dresses get totally TRASHED (paint, scissors, mud etc) and I wasn’t quite ready for that. So, we decided to do a mild version of this session and allowed the dresses to get dirty… but not destroyed. 🙂 They can still send these dresses to the cleaners, have them preserved and still have a story to tell about their photo shoot!!

Here’s a few favorites of mine…

@ 5 points:

@ Treaty Oak

@ Big Talbot Island

So… who’s next????!!! Call today to book your own session! Wedding dresses, prom dresses… whatever!! Just let your hair down (figuratively and/or literally) and have some fun for a change!!