Winston Salem Photographer

As a Southerner and a NC wedding photographer, I am a huge fan of the thank you card. I send one for just about anything, and with wedding season in full swing and everyone hosting all sorts of events from baby showers to bridal showers to weddings and receptions, we all have tons of reasons to send a thank you card. That’s where this fantastic service comes in.

Postable is an online service that not only collects addresses from your friends and family, but allows you to send thank you cards online! These are not digital e-cards, but honest to goodness, print cards. They even carry cards from Rifle Paper Co. (I’m obsessed with their work right now!) and tons of other wonderful designers.

Basically, you sign up, send out a link via Facebook, Twitter or email to collect the physical address of your nearest and dearest. Once you have that information you choose the card you love, the recipient, and type in a sweet personal message and viola! Postable prints your message in the selected card, stuffs it in an envelope, sticks on a stamp and drops it in the mail. They even use fonts that look like real handwriting! Amazing!

I can already see myself using it for business, holiday cards, birthday and Christmas thank you’s, just to start. Plus, the address book feature is completely free and you can export any of the information collected to your preferred system, whether it be Apple Contacts, Google Contacts or Outlook. To send the cards themselves, it’s $2/card + the stamp, so right now it’s $2.46 per card.

Now your hubby-to-be can’t claim bad hand writing to get out of helping with the thank you’s! The guy can type, right?

A couple of months ago we added a new member to our family. Introducing little Willie Nelson!

He’s a rescued deer head Chihuahua. Willie came from a home where he was severely neglected and was found by a friend of my mother’s who wasn’t able to keep him. My mom had Willie for a little over a week before she brought him to me because he wasn’t getting along with Mom and Dad’s dogs. I agreed to take Willie on a trial basis to see if our first fur-baby, Amos, would be okay with another dog in the house.

Willie has been such a fun addition to our little family. Adam likes to joke that Willie is the perfect cat. See, Adam doesn’t really like cats, but I grew up with cats in the house. Willie is actually smaller than the cats I had growing up, but some of his mannerisms are the same and he likes to curl up in your lap and run along the back of the couch. As for Amos Moses, he thinks that Willie is the best toy ever. They love to play tug and chase and hunt for things in the yard.

How could you resist that face?

PS – these were test images I took with my new Sigma 24-70 lens, which I am loving. I also tested my VSCO film packs in lightroom for the post processing. Love love love.

Last week I went to a lovely brunch hosted by Lara Casey for the local Making Things Happen crowd. I can’t tell you how much I needed to be surrounded by that group of women. It never ceases to amaze me how generous, supportive, and special each and every person I’ve met through MTH has proven to be.

As a brand new small business owner who has just taken her business full time, it’s been a daily challenge. I’ve been blessed to have been able to make it work so far. It’s been through the support of my clients (Bless you!! I appreciate each and every one of you!!), and the support of my community that I’ve been able to make this dream a reality. That’s the thing about MTH. Each person I’ve met has big, impossible dreams. And they make them happen! It’s such an inspiration.

Lara tasked each of us with bringing a small dish for brunch. If you don’t know already, I love to bake. And I anytime I get the opportunity to bake for a crowd, I jump at the chance. For this event, I went to my trusty Cooks Illustrated Best of Baking magazine and chose to make the berry scones. They suggested choosing blueberry, blackberry or raspberry, but when I went to the grocery store they were all sold out of blueberries and I couldn’t choose between the blackberries or raspberries, so I went for both.

These were such a hit that I’m including the recipe below:

Rich and Sweet Berry Scones

10 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/4 sticks)
7 1/2 ounces (1 1/2 cups) fresh blackberries, blueberries, or raspberries
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup sour cream
2 Cups (10 ounces) all purpose flour
1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon grated fresh lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Freeze and then grate 8 tablespoons of the butter on the large holes of a box grater. Keep frozen until needed. Place the berries in the freezer until needed. Whisk the milk and sour cream together in a medium bowl and refrigerate until needed.
3. Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and lemon zest in medium bowl. Add frozen butter to flour mixture and toss with fingers until thoroughly coated.
4. Add milk mixture to flour mixture; fold with spatula until just combined. With rubber spatula, transfer dough to liberally floured work surface. Dust surface of dough with flour; with floured hands, knead dough 6 to 8 times, until it just holds together in ragged ball, adding flour as needed to prevent sticking.
5. Roll dough into approximate 12-inch square. Following illustrations, fold dough into thirds like a business letter, using bench scraper or metal spatula to release dough if it sticks to countertop. Lift short ends of dough and fold into thirds again to form approximate 4-inch square. Transfer dough to plate lightly dusted with flour and chill in freezer 5 minutes.
6. Transfer dough to floured work surface and roll into approximate 12-inch square again. Sprinkle berries evenly over surface of dough, then press down so they are slightly embedded in dough. Using bench scraper or thin metal spatula, loosen dough from work surface. Roll dough, pressing to form tight log. Lay seam-side down and press log into 12 by 4-inch rectangle. Using sharp, floured knife, cut rectangle crosswise into 4 equal rectangles. Cut each rectangle diagonally to form 2 triangles and transfer to parchment-lined baking sheet.
7. Brush tops with melted butter and sprinkle with remaining tablespoon sugar. Bake until tops and bottoms are golden brown, 18 to 25 minutes. Transfer to wire rack and let cool 10 minutes before serving.

To Make Ahead:
After placing the scones on the baking sheet, either refrigerate them overnight or freeze. When ready to bake, for refrigerated scones, heat oven to 425 degrees and follow directions in step 6. For frozen scones, heat oven to 375 degrees, follow directions in step 6, and extend cooking time to 25 to 30 minutes.

And cheers to my lovely ladies for such a wonderful and encouraging event. I love you all!

Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to assist J. Darren Photography on Alisha + Jake’s beautiful wedding in Greensboro, NC. Jake’s family are originally from Egypt, so they chose to have a traditional Coptic Christian wedding ceremony. I love experiencing new types of weddings and other traditions and the ceremony at the Greek Orthodox church did not disappoint.  A Coptic wedding ceremony is a little longer than a traditional Protestant ceremony as there are many scriptures that the priests and deacons chant throughout.  They also bless special vestaments that are then placed on the bride and groom and crowns that are blessed and worn by the couple.

After the ceremony, the couple joined their closest friends and family for a beautiful reception at the Proximity Hotel. One thing that I love about assisting other photographers is that it often gives me the opportunity to photograph new locations and work with new vendors. Alisha + Jake’s wedding reception was the first time I’ve photographed an event at the Proximity and it did not disappoint! It’s a fantastic venue with a wonderful staff. I love the modern architecture and ambiance of the place.

Principle photographer: J. Darren Photography
Ceremony: Dormition of the Theotokos Greek Orthodox Church
Reception: Proximity Hotel
Catering: Print Works Bistro