I suddenly realized that I have not shared this website that I helped create with my great friend Brandon Flayler. Brandon is an amazing web developer and teacher. I've learned so much of working with Drupal through him. I can't wait until our next project!

This site was created for my husband, Hank. I cannot believe that in such a short time Hank's grown his business so fast. He's such a great coach and husband. He made a real sacrifice to me when he went with me to Ohio for me to go to graduate school. It was a tough year for us because of the fact that we were living in the poorest county in Ohio and jobs were scarce for Hank. He did everything for me, including cleaning the house and bringing me dinner every night. I am so thankful and know that I couldn't have made it through school without his support. So, for me to be able to help return something to him like this website, it's definitely a very special thing. I am so excited for where he's taking it. He's got some cool things cooking right now that I can't wait to share!

This spring I'm having to take care of the amount of work I have committed to because of teaching and working on my thesis. I have some gorgeous weddings coming up of course and a few trips planned for shooting. I can't wait to share those.

I also have another web project that I'm working on with a super friend that has me so incredibly excited. I absolutely cannot wait to share that one!

One of the cool things about this site is the rotating picture. I have shot all of these images over the years from attending Hank's races. I have quite a stock portfolio of sporting events :)

I have realized that I haven't shared any of the great albums I made last year for wedding and portrait clients. So please check back because I'm going to be sharing those very very soon!

We received this refrigerator magnet in the mail the other day from my wonderful clients Kelly and Neil, or as we affectionately call them, Nelly. I photographed Neil's surprise engagement to Kelly back in June when visiting Nashville. I shot this image on the side of a hill at Arrington Vineyard's, which is truly a spectacular place. Hank and I are so excited to photograph the wedding this coming June in Alabama. Not only will it be special because of Kelly's great taste, but they're our family so it's going to have a special place in our heart.

Isn't this just adorable :)

*****UPDATE****
Ericka Walters of All About Me Spa Parties won the gift certificate I donated to the party. Congrats Ericka! I can't wait to photograph you and your son in a portrait session in April!

I was fortunate to attend the Wedding Professionals For A Cure fundraiser on Wednesday night at the Quorum Hotel in Tampa. The fabulous ladies from Elan Event Studio know how to throw a party!

There were so many fabulous vendors including Doug from Grant Hemond, Lifelong Studios, Andy from Just Let Go Photography, and of course the gorgeous flowers and pink decor were by MMD Events! There were a ton of other vendors but I couldn't begin to list them all here.

I enjoyed getting to know a ton of new people. I even got my picture taken with the ever cool Lauren Grove, who has such a great blog, Every Last Detail!

I made my good friend James from James Ostrand Photography pose for a picture with the go-go dancer. Do you think he was uncomfortable?

I am so humbled to announce that I won another award with the Wedding Photojournalist Association. The image came in sixth place in the dancing category in the Q3 competition of 2009. This image was shot at Laura and Bobby's wedding in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on a cold snowy day :) Their reception was held at the Soldiers and Sailors Hall & Museum .

I absolutely love this image. I've gotten a lot of compliments on it and just fyi, it's actually a color image that I converted to black and white.. I shot it with a borrowed lens and have promised myself to buy the lens this year :)

If you get a chance, go check out all the other images in the competition. There's some great moments!

I spent the better half of yesterday shooting video and stills of my husband's triathlon clinic, The Art of Motion. I also played flag football (soo sore!) and graded papers the better half of last night. In my busy day I forgot to share the blog posting I had started last week. Here goes:

I am completely humbled and honored to announce that I won a Bride's Choice Award last week. The email came to my inbox as a complete shock because I didn't even know I had entered :)

Here's the email as follows:
Congratulations! We are excited to announce that Studio Blu Images has been chosen to receive the Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2010. This award recognizes the top 5 percent of local wedding professionals from the WeddingWire Network who demonstrate excellence in quality, service and professionalism.

The Bride’s Choice Awards™ are determined exclusively by recent newlyweds (brides and grooms) through extensive surveys and reviews, which means your past clients have spoken on our behalf and selected you to receive this honor.

I have another competition announcement to share but for now I leave you with this image :)

I just wanted to share this print we had framed for Colleen and Brandon's wedding (part I and part II) back in October. The shoot took place on the campus of Ohio University at the end of summer. Brandon, who is finishing up his graduate degree, was one of my teachers in graduate school. Since then, we've built a great friendship and I've gained the greatest clients :)

I think this framing job is gorgeous. If you'd like to talk about framing some of your favorite images, give me a call!

I love the silver!

Thanks!

I thought I'd finish up all the portrait sessions I'm going to share with Meris and Brooke's shoot that we did in Birmingham, Alabama. Save the best for last, right?

Meris and Brooke are two sweet sisters who are so easily photographed. They wore the cutest outfits and brought the cutest smiles.

I just love the look of this image!

The girls were having so much fun!

I hate that I'm not able to blog as frequently at this moment but with teaching and all of the multimedia I'm creating for the St. Petersburg Times, I am soo slammed! I have some really cool projects to share soon. I'm also gathering all of my images from all of the albums I created last year as well as the christmas cards I did and other things. So check back!

Some of you may know that my husband, Hank, has a triathlon coaching business, Tri With Hank. I'm so proud of him. It's been his dream to create this business and it's amazing how fast it's taken off. Hank's coaching style is so motivating. He works with the athletes one-on-one and just really pays great attention to helping them achieve their goals. He's also helping me. I'm going to attempt to run my first 10k in a month and then hopefully a half-marathon after that. I can't wait!

So, being as I just went to school for these things, I am doing a lot of work for Hank's business. I'll share more on that later, but here's a flyer I designed for an upcoming seminar he has. It's filling up quick so if you're interested in improving your triathlon skills, you don't want to miss it!

Thanks!

This was one of my first holiday portrait sessions this past season. Like I say, save the best for last :) Anna Bella was such a joy to photograph. She's so sweet and cute and fun to be around. We shot Anna Bella's session at Aldridge Gardens in Birmingham. I am going to try to return there sometime in the spring for more portrait sessions!

Anna Bella came with the cutest outfits. Check out her style!

I think this light looked magical.

Love, love, love the boots!

I love the way she's standing in the picture on the right.

I have one more holiday session to share and then a ton of albums I'm going to show off for my brides this year. I also have some personal projects I'll be sharing soon. Can't wait!

Seth and Benjamin's Holiday Session took place at Sand Key Park in Clearwater in late November. These two boys have a ton of energy and are super fun to photograph. We started out at the beach and then headed to a little swingset to have some more fun.

I have just a few more holiday sessions to share. I also want to share some of the holiday cards I did this year as well as a ton of albums. I'm going to start teaching adjunct in a few weeks at the University of Florida so it's going to be a super busy spring but please check back. I might also start sharing some of the other projects I'm working on such as a few websites I'm helping design.

Thanks and Happy New Year!!!