special friends...

I recently did a photoshoot on the beach for some special, long-time friends and it was a lot of fun.  Everyone was a good sport for the most part and then we headed to Max's Pizza for some yummy dinner.

Here are some of my faves from the day:

Nimmo Family...

I had an opportunity to photograph a sweet family this past weekend, Caleb & Laura Nimmo and their two cute kiddos, Caden & Lilly. It's always a challenge to catch young, active kids in action but I'm pleased with what I ended up with from this shoot. It was a lot of fun to hang out with this family on the beach.

Here are a few of my faves:

open for business...

If you've been following this blog long enough, you know that I've done a few photoshoots (paying gigs) for various individuals: high school seniors, families, etc.  A couple of those came about just because they knew I like to take photos and they trusted me enough to ask me to take some photos for them.

The other photoshoots have resulted from word-of-mouth and I'm grateful for that.  I've decided, however, that I'm ready to start promoting that side of my creativity a little bit more aggressively.  I'm not sure where it will go but it would be fantastic if God would use this passion of mine to allow me to provide a little income for our family.

With that being said, I want to officially promote LW Designs.  

I have posted about this in a past post and probably mentioned that this "endeavor" would encompass print designs, too.  That is true; I'm still willing to design anything from shower/party invitations, baby/graduation announcements, Christmas cards, etc.  Add to that blog/web design and photography and that's basically what I have skills/talents and passion for.  For this particular post, though, I'll focus on the promotion of my photography:

I specialize in outdoor photography in the Wilmington and Jacksonville, NC area.  I also do parties, showers and marketing photos (do you have something to sell on a website or in a shop?  Let me take your merchandise photos!).

If you're curious about what that translates into, here's the deal(s):

[all categories include a copyright release]

PHOTOGRAPHY SESSIONS: $200 flat fee

[includes 1.5 hour session + CD w/edited photos]

*couples/family

*senior photos

*baby

SPECIAL OCCASIONS: $25/hour + $50 for CD

*birthdays

*baby showers

*bridal/wedding showers

MARKETING PHOTOS: $15/hour + $3/image or $25 for CD

*merchandise in/on your:

  - shop

  - Etsy

  - website/blog

  - Facebook

You can find examples of my work here, here (& here), here and here, as well as on Facebook, where I've set up a group called LW Designs.  Find it here and join!

I would love to hear from any of you who have need of my services for whatever your special moments in life include; contact me at lindsay.wenzel@gmail.com or leave me a comment with your info so I can get in touch with you.  And do feel free to throw my name out to anyone who might be interested!  Thanks!

happy 2nd birthday, cora beth!

My niece turned two last weekend -- another year FLOWN by -- and we had a blast celebrating this special milestone with her.

The party was an ice cream theme (gotta love those summer birthdays! :) and again, my sister-in-law had the cutest ice cream decorations.  The tablecloths had ice cream cones & sundaes on them and we ate yummy ice cream out of cute little bowls.  Even Cora Beth's shirt had an triple-decker ice cream cone on it!

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE ice cream?

The party was at the home of my brother & sister-in-law's in Thomasville and family & friends gathered to celebrate Cora Beth.  She did so well, entertaining us all with new tricks and such.  And she racked up on gifts, of course.  :)

Here are some of the sweet moments from that day in photos:

[candles in the ice cream -- love it!]

[look at this big girl -- she got the hang of it real fast!]

[Cora Beth and her -- ahem -- boyfriend, Dylan]

[fun times with Uncle Jeff]

[Priceless.  She didn't actually pose for this but how cute is she??]

For more photos from her party, click here.

weekend activities...

Look what's happening this weekend!

Not sure how 2 years has gone by already...we just celebrated her 1st birthday, it seems...

The Hammells & Family...

Over the Memorial Day holiday, I had the pleasure of photographing Todd & Susan Hammell & family, along with Susan's parents and her brother & sister-in-law and their family.  They are vacationing on North Topsail Island this week -- in from the Greenville, NC area -- and wanted some family photos made to celebrate their parents' 40th wedding anniversary.

This entire family was a lot of fun to photograph -- the kids were adorable and all the adults were fun-loving and open to whatever kind of poses I wanted to put them in.  By the end of the shoot, I felt like we'd been friends with them forever.  :)

Here are a few of my faves from the evening on North Topsail Island:

class of 2010: revisited

I recently had the privilege to photograph the lovely Miss Caitlin Mason for her senior photos and had a really great time.  The Mason family attends Scotts Hill Baptist Church where I do, and Caitlin happens to be best friends with Jessica Warren, whose senior photos I had the privilege of taking last year, if you'll recall this post.

Caitlin and her mom did a lot of research before her photoshoot last week so they were prepared!  Caitlin is a fan of 'the gates' in downtown Wilmington so a lot of our shoot was spent walking/riding around downtown and stopping for photos here and there.  It was a beautiful day; perfect for strolling.

Of course, we hit the beach, too, because it IS just so close!  :)

I'm not quite finished editing the photos but here is a sneak peek at some of my faves from the day:

tis the season...

I'm posting this for my brother.  God love him, he keeps me on my toes about keeping up-to-date on my blogs.  At least I know he's checking them.  :)  Thanks, bro!

I know it's been a long while since I posted anything here and to be honest I really haven't had anything TO post that would be appropriate for this particular blog.

But I did go to a wedding last weekend and got a couple of cool (read: artistic) shots, and then we threw a bridal shower at our house last night where I got another couple of neat shots.

From the Greco wedding:

And from the shower last night:

To show some of my mad decorating skills...

And a closer look at the flower arrangement (that I made).  I'm pretty proud of that one.  It was my first time working with the little "curlycue" deals and I have to say, I like'em.  Helen really liked it, too -- I let her take it home with her as part of her gift.

I made these thank you cards for the couple as part of their gift.  Thought they turned out cute, too.  :)

Jefferys wedding

This past weekend we attended a wedding for one of the couples within our Connect Group.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day for a wedding -- sunny skies and temps in the mid-70s.  Just beautiful.

This was the first wedding we've gone to since I've had my new camera so I was looking forward to seeing what it could do in this kind of setting.  Of course, I didn't take any photos during the ceremony, which was just lovely, by the way.  But I shot to my heart's content during the reception which was held in downtown Wilmington at St. Thomas Preservation Hall -- what a great place to have a reception!

The following photos are without edit, meaning I haven't done a thing to the photos.  This is just how they came out with my Nikon.  I'm so pleased with them!

[photo credit: Jeff Wenzel]

[photo credit: Emily Ondish]