photo of the day: perfect light

Someone asked on twitter the other day what one thing I would teach to young photographers if I could, and I responded without a second thought: look for good light. Which then brought the response: what exactly is good light. I was having a hard time defining it in 140 characters, and could only say: you know it when you see it. It's the light that smoothes skin, brightens eyes, rims hair, bathes everything in the golden glow that only actually exists in your memory.
It's the light you see here:



It's here, and here, and here. You can find it when there's harsh light, you can find it when you're picking up trash. The key is knowing how to look. (Yes, that's what we're going to spend an hour doing on Saturday. At least.)

photo of the day: happy earth day

To celebrate Earth Day on my day off, I joined a bunch of Starbucks coworkers and picked up trash by the side of the road in Ocean City, Maryland. At the very end as we were headed back to the cars, I made the boys pose in front of this sign. They're being hams, yes, but I thought the message particularly appropriate for today.

the engagement session of m&t

This engagement session has been referenced in an earlier post, so I won't go into excruciating detail but suffice it to say: there were trials. But I love the images we ended up with. Jared started the shoot at a church out on Saint Luke's Road, so the first few images are his. We then moved over to a random nursery, and from thence to Pemberton Park. I posted some of my favorites and threw up a slide show there at the end. Because, well, I'm a sucker for sappy music.

the engagement of t&m from Laura Dye on Vimeo.

photo of the day: happy family

This shoot was tightly scheduled, and I just didn't think to compensate for my non-existent sense of direction. Suffice it to say that somehow on the drive back from Wilmington I managed to end up in Baltimore. I HAVE NO IDEA. My lovely husband saved the day for me, and met up with the couple, using the spare camera to get things started. By the time I showed up they were laughing, joking, had some amazing photos, and the light was perfect. This image, however, was the second-to-last snap of the evening, I think. By that point we were so cold we could barely move our hands, and I could see everyone's breath. Despite all that, we got some amazing photos, and I love this one. Isn't Jackson adorable? I'll share more soon, I promise.

photo of the day: first look

At this wedding we did most of the formals prior to the ceremony, so the bride and groom had a first look before we started. The groom was really reluctant; he kept finding excuses not to see the bride! But when we finally convinced him to come into the sanctuary, it was worth it, because we were able to capture this look. I love.

photo of the day: the aisle

This was taken at my January 2 wedding, moments before the bride walked down the aisle. I love her expression as she focuses ahead, ignoring me, looking toward her future.

photo of the day: old school

For today's photo I went waaaay back to my very first "trash the dress" shoot. For this one I put my sister in law in my own wedding dress (she's the only one it would fit) and we went down to the house my dad had recently purchased. I pulled this image out and re-edited it a tiny bit, and it's mind-blowing: what I once considered one of my better images is now just "meh." I wasn't shooting RAW, so the detail isn't nearly as sharp as it should be, I was still working on mastering shooting into the sun, and my model looks so young. Compare the rest of the set to her senior photos. Yeah. Those were taken two years later.

But I still love this image, despite all its flaws.

photo of the day: birdseye view

This is another photo from a shoot that you've already seen, but I finished processing this week. (I'm delaying working on other stuff.) I know I do a lot of photos with focus on the eyelashes, but that's because eyelashes are AWESOME. There are several photos in this second round of uploads that I kind of liked on my first flip through, but didn't love. It's taken editing to make them really pop. Now, though, I can't stop staring at them.

This particular image I love because it makes me think of Moulin Rouge, which is one of my absolute favorite movies of all time. Visually it is such a cacophony, I can't watch it without finding inspiration. So the hat, the eyes, the hair: it's all so lovely to me. Anyway, the rest of the batch is here.

pic(s) of the day: old school

Since yesterday I was busy having a very awful day, I didn't manage to post a picture of the day. So I'm making up for it by posting two today. These images are both taken from the same shoot, one I did nearly three years ago. (!!!) I ran across them while looking for something else, and while I still love the pictures, I wouldn't shoot the whole series at all the same way now. Or process them like this. It's a good thing, I think, to grow as a photographer.

I do remember that while doing this shoot the sun was much, much stronger than I was hoping for, and I had almost no experience shooting in those conditions. Consequently most of the pictures have really hard shadows. But I think it was this shoot that started me learning the joy of backlighting. You can see the rest of the shoot (and prehistoric editing) here. Lots of learning, no?

I used to edit everything in photoshop, the early version is here. This one was done with Lightroom. Regardless, I love the sense of life in this.

I actually hate the framing on this picture. But I love the light and I adore the sparkles on the water.

The moral of the story is: practice makes perfect! Or at least much, much better.

pic of the day: say cheese!

This wedding was a little stressful for the couple: their outdoor setup got rained out. But they rolled with the punches and we ended up having a glorious time.
This was snapped at the reception venue as we waited for the rest of the family to join us for group photos. I love these expressions: they're both such hams! Love you guys. The rest of their photos are on facebook.

pic of the day: bomber

Since I'm currently in a lull before wedding season starts, I actually have a little more free time on my hands, and I'm trying to use it to get organized for the coming year, as well as catch up on all my other projects. So in the interest of sharing the things I run across, as well as keeping me sharp, I'm going to try to share one picture a day, either old or new, and why I love it or the story behind it. ::deep breath::

This photo is actually from this weekend; I did a shoot with a good friend of mine and we just played around and had fun. I was ecstatic to find out that she's verrry comfortable in front of the lens. I wasn't expecting that at all, but I shouldn't be surprised: she's one of the most unassuming, self-confident, genuine people I know.

Anyway, the shoot was a great time to bring out a little bit of the glamorous side of her, and we had a blast with it. I chose this photo because I love the way she manages to make an essentially practical, slightly ridiculous hat look fierce and ever-so-slightly sexy. Rock on!



There are a few more pictures from the shoot up on Flickr.

the wedding of j&a

This is the couple where everything went wrong at their engagement shoot. But they kept smiling and laughing, and we ended up with some amazing photos. So I knew this was going to be a GREAT wedding to end the year with, and it SO WAS.
The bride is from a family of girls, which I love of course, and the groom surrounded himself with his brothers and football buddies. The guys went shooting, the girls had homemade cinnamon rolls, and everyone danced like there was no tomorrow. In addition, there was a chocolate fountain, smith island cake, a cookie bar, and a party bus. It doesn't get much better than this!


The guys had a blast with the skeet shooting.









J is a total ham, and so is the ringbearer. AWESOME.

I personally think this is a great way to deal with boredom!

mmmmm, homemade. So, so good.







There were a few wrinkles with the reception setup. Hehe. (Sorry, couldn't resist the pun.)



Flowergirl!











Her sister sees the bride in her dress. I love this image.



Choosing the right pearls.

The bride's mother escorted her down the aisle.



I love this look.



Aren't they a gorgeous couple?

Smith Island Cake!





J is an amazing dancer, as we got to witness.

Chocolate!



Check out that ringbearer's moves!