Ashley + Justin’s Knoxville Old City Engagement Session July 21, 2008

Ta-da! I posted one pic from Ashley and Justin’s engagement shoot before we left for our trip with the promise that there would be more. So, here are a few of my favorites, but please check out their engagement slideshow to see them all. 

Ashley and Justin are both from Knoxville  - Ashley went to Farragut and Justin went to Bearden but they didn’t become an item until they went through Quest together at UT. Ashley and Justin are a super cute and fun couple. As I mentioned before, Ashley owns Blackbird Photography and does weddings and portraits here in Knoxville. We are super pumped about shooting her wedding at the Maple Grove Inn this October. 

Ashley and her sister live in the Old City so we decided to hit some spots down around her apartment. This one was taken in the alley close by. We just liked the yellow and blue

Ashley is a beautiful girl (and will be a beautiful bride too!)

There happened to be an old car show going on outside the TN theater. The owners of the cars were inside the theater while we were there but there were a few guys outside monitoring the cars…. and they weren’t all that thrilled with the idea of us posing around the cars so we had to make it quick. Anyhow I’m glad we were able to get a couple cool shots. 

See the guy in the red shirt on the left. He told Ashley to take her elbows off the car We were about done anyways. 

This is my favorite or 2nd favorite ( i esp. like the one in the last post). Ashley mentioned that she would like to have one in front of her door so here we are…she just snuggled up to him and he made this super cute face…and I knew when I took it that this would be my fav To see more click here.

 

Michigan, Lil Kim July 17, 2008

So we got back from our trip to the U.P. (Upper Pennsuila of Michigan) where we had a really fun time visiting Dan’s relatives. Both of Dan’s parents grew up in there and I never even knew about the U.P. until I meet him. Dan was born up there but moved when he was a baby so his accent is NOTHING like some of his family members  Think Fargo accent but a little different. It’s really funny they say OOh-A  and Eh all the time and eat funny things called ‘Pasties’ and ‘pigs in a blanket’ (which is nothing like the sausage and roll thing we eat down here. Theirs has something to do with cabbage, ground beef and rice.) And some of them think 75 degrees is burning up hot. Crazy right?? 

Here is a map …. and that is the U.P. It’s in between Lake Michigan and Lake Superior.

Speaking of Lake Superior, here is a picture of us in front of it. It’s beautiful and looks like the ocean! All of our pics together consist of one of us holding out the camera. Today it’s Dan…

…and here I’m sticking my feet in – FREEZING!!! And there were some crazy kids swimming right beside us!

We flew into Minneapolis and went to the Mall of America.  It is the largest mall in the country, I think.  It has an amusement park in the middle of it and we went on a roller coaster!! This pic is from my phone. They have some pretty scary rides in there…

From Minneapolis we drove up to the U.P. and seemed to go all over the place. We visited with Dan’s sweet, sweet grandma who gave us these two amazing pictures. Dan and I collect old photos so we are especially thrilled to have these. 

They are Dan’s great grandparents’ wedding photos taken around 1913. In real life they are huge prints (well 11×14 was for back then). Notice how the men have unlit cigarettes in their hands. The ladies also have both a corsage and a bouquet. And what’s up with that accordion? So back then you got married and then went to the photographer’s studio to have your picture made. 

Dan’s great grandmother was really short, like 4 1/2 ft tall. This picture is probably right after she came to America from Croatia. Her aunt (the one standing next to her I’m guessing her maid of honor) already lived here and sent her money to come over on a boat that landed on Ellis Island. 

And then she let me raid some more pictures – one more I’m so thrilled to have. Dan’s grandma (the bride above’s daughter) with Dan’s grandpa, who is straight up Italian. I love this picture. I like the way they look so relaxed and in love….and I like that you can see snow on the ground and the sled.

 

 

That’s it.  Back to real life. Thanks so much to all of Dan’s relatives for making the trip so  much fun!!

Oh, PS I almost forgot. We had a layover in Charlotte and guess who we ran into – Lil Kim. That’s right. I probably wouldn’t even really recognize her but a girl in the ladies room gave me the heads up. She and her entourage of like 6 people and a body guard were sitting at the table right next to us at a restaurant in the airport. I felt sorry for her because she had to wear a hat and sunglasses at it was like 9 at night and everyone was staring at her the entire time. Apparently her flight was delayed. 

Sneak Peek July 3, 2008

First thing, Dan and I will be off to Fancy Gap, VA on Friday to shoot Emily and Jay’s wedding. Yay!! Then Monday at zero dark thirty we are off to Michigan until the 15th. We will be checking emails and doing some work but hopefully not much . So if we are slow to get back to you in the next week and a half that’s why.

I am suppose to be packing right now but before we leave I just had to post this one photo (there will be more soon!) from our shoot of Knoxville wedding photographer Ashley Williams (Blackbird Photography) and her fiancee Justin’s engagement session in the Old City. We are so excited about doing their wedding at the Maple Grove Inn this October. They are a sweet, sweet couple and so obviously in love. You should check out Ashley’s website – she’s really good – and we’re super excited she chose us to do her photos! 

Jenna + Adam’s slideshow… July 2, 2008

We just finished Jenna and Adam’s slideshow – here is the link  www.watson-studios.com/jennaandadamswedding . I wish we cold post the slideshow in the here but we can’t…for now…until we have the new site. Anyways, hope everyone likes the pictures. I will be sending out a mass-email to family, friends and guests once everything is uploaded. Happy viewing!

A new favorite….. All of the bridesmaids wore different white/cream color dresses AND different shoes or no shoes and I loved this b/c it showed each girl’s unique style.