Li & Henry at Lake Johnson

What a beautiful weekend we've had. 

It has been the perfect weekend for a bike ride, the perfect weekend for a picnic, the perfect weekend for a bonfire and the perfect weekend for a fall wedding. 

My weekend was made very special when I was fortunate enough to photograph Li and Henry's nuptials at Lake Johnson in Raleigh. I only met Li and Henry shortly before their wedding but I knew immediately that they would have a lovely, heartfelt ceremony. Their love is built on so many years of experience with each other; I knew that there would be an exorbitant amount of emotion in the air. 

It was so lovely to see how everyone, friends and family, got together to make their day joyous and special. And special it was...from the fall colored garland, to the basket of apples to the mishap of the unbroken glass (gotta stomp extra hard on red wine glasses, apparently)...everything was uniquely them and perfect because of that. 

Enough of my yammering, on with the teaser photos. 

A special moment between father and daughter only moments before Li became a wife. 

After the ceremony, we took a romp through the woods. Li has such an amazing laugh and an amazing smile when she's laughing. But most of all, I love the look of complete adoration I captured on Henry's face. 

Together finally, as husband and wife. I have no doubt in my mind that they will live happily ever after. 

I'd wish them luck...but I don't think they'll need it. 

Congratulations Li and Henry. Thank you for letting me be a part of your day! I wish you a long and fun life with lots of laughs. 

Thanks for reading!

-Liz DiNatale
www.oakcityphotographync.com

Photo Friday: Animal

Rawr...

That's my impression of this Photo Friday challenge word. 

Good Friday morning to everyone! It's going to be a gorgeous day and even if it isn't...it's still Friday...YAY! For this challenge I had to dig deep in my collections to find a photo of some animal that isn't a canine, feline or lizard. 

What seems like forever ago, Chrissy and I attended a sheep dog training weekend with our pups. It was a cold February (it even started snowing) but it was a lot of fun to see Border Collie's doing what they were bred to do. Chase bit fluffy things. These things...

I can't remember what kind of sheep they were called. But they were cute. I mean look at em. Big, fluffy, smelly things. The training day was hosted by the lady who owned these sheep and was held by a well known herding instructor, Mr. Knox.

I wish I had participated. It looked like so much fun. They started the new dogs off in a pen with the sheep. Mostly to get them used to the animals and used to still listening when faced with them. Then the more experienced dogs got to herd the sheep in the open field (which is where this picture was taken). All the spectators (Chrissy, myself, our 5 dogs and a couple other people) watched as several dogs drove the sheep back and forth and back and forth. It looked to me like they were supposed to be doing that but apparently they were just having fun and not listening to their handlers. haha. Doggy shenanigans. Eventually it was the owner of the sheep's turn and she brought out her herding pup. Within a couple minutes he had these sheep rounded up and in their pen. It was pretty amazing.

I wonder if Rhea, Gunnar and Masi could do that? Maybe someday I'll give them a shot at it. It's got to be Border Collie nirvana. 

In other news, almost a week until Li and Henry's wedding on Lake Johnson! It's going to be a gorgeous intimate ceremony. I'm very much looking forward to capturing their special day for them! 

The leaves are starting to change...that means it's time for family portraits! Take advantage of our inexpensive family sessions. 1 hour with full print rights to at least 50 images for only $75! Pick you favorite location and give us a call today! 

Everyone have a great weekend and thanks for reading!

-Liz DiNatale
www.oakcityphotographync.com

Photo Friday: Glowing

Good Friday morning to you all! I hope everyone has awesome plans for the weekend. I'll be heading over and up to Asheville, NC this weekend for our much anticipated 1 year anniversary trip. I can't believe it's been one year. This time last year...I was hanging 14,000 Christmas lights with friends and family. Good times, good times. 

The Photo Friday challenge word for this week was Glowing. I dug through my library of photos (which is dwindling, apparently I need to carry my camera with me more often) and found one of Steven cutting a stubborn bolt off the Rusty Bucket. I thought this was an appropriate "glowing" photo, no?

I see this and I wanna scream "FIRE!", in the evil crazy person kind of way. Yes, those glasses are safety glasses...I swear...

Upcoming news for SOR: Nikki and Travis are back from their amazing wedding and honeymoon in Aruba and St. Maarten. You know what that means? Bridal portraits! Yay! Nikki and I will be getting together sometime in the next few weeks for some dress up and posing. I'm super excited! Can you tell?!

I hope everyone has a great weekend filled with fun and love. Steven and I will be doing a zipline tour while in Asheville and we just bought a nifty video camera to capture the experience. Hopefully I'll figure out how to post a couple snippets on here!

Thanks for reading!

Liz DiNatale
www.oakcityphotographync.com

Photo Friday: Cars

I'll admit it, this Photo Friday challenge word is from a few weeks ago. I have been preoccupied with planning vacations, pickling cucumbers, riding 175 miles in two days and baking birthday cakes that I haven't gotten to my pictures! Finally last night (after prepping some sweet pickle relish) I was able to sit down and edit a photo for this Photo Friday. I didn't want to not post a photo for this challenge because I had such a perfect occasion to gather the perfect photo. Allow me to elaborate...

At the end of July, I surprised Steven with his "Annibirthary" gift: a trackdaze event at VIR (Virginia International Raceway). Ever since I met Steven, he's talked about racing. About his uncle who races. About how he went around the track and it was the most amaz-balls thing he's done. I always had the opinion that racing was kinda dumb (I mean, really, you go round and round and round and never get anywhere), so I would just smile and nod and be secretly thinking of the next cake to bake/veggie to can/photo shoot/house project. However, I always stored it away as a great gift idea if I could ever manage to make it work. Thanks to Ryan from TurboTime, I learned about Trackdaze.com. They are a great group of guys who organize track events at local tracks. It just so happened that they were having a track event at the end of August and that a single days participation pass was within my budget for Steven's gift! It was meant to be.

Fast forward a month from when I surprised Steven, we wake up at 4:15 am and drive our groggy selves to VIR. We promptly met a fellow non-racing-car driver who was driving a VW Scirocco and buddied up in the parking area. He used some of our painters tape (for car numbers) we borrowed his toque wrench; it was a good match.

Before I knew it, it was Steven's turn. He was shaking, I was giddy, his instructor might have been nervous. The first session (each session is 30 mins, you get 4 of them a day) was kind of slow. All the newbies were getting used to driving their cars on the track. But by session 3, Steven had it down to a science. He wasn't nervous anymore, he was calculated. His instructor gave him high marks and said he had "real talent". I  may have created a monster. Also by session 3 I had found the perfect vantage point where I captured my favorite photo of the day and what would have been my submission to this Photo Friday challenge. 

The Subaru was at home on the track. Its big fat, heavy bum and all. I now have a new opinion of racing. It's epic to watch (at least on a road course). The rumble of the engines, the whine of turbos, the talent, the nerves, the smooooooooth asphalt, the way the cars would hug the turns....my MINI would be so much fun.

It was a good day; Steven wouldn't stop talking about it for days. I think I would call that a successful "annibirthday" gift. 

In resent news, remember Travis and Nikki? They got married over the weekend! Congrats to Travis and Nikki! SOR has been busy signing contracts for this year's and next year's wedding season. Looking forward to a lot of awesome parties with a lot of fantastic people! 

That is it for now. Hopefully I will have a submittable photo for this coming Photo Friday challenge: Near. Near...near what? 

Thanks for reading!

Liz DiNatale
www.oakcityphotographync.com

Photo Friday: Spot

I can imagine that for most people this type of challenge word would be difficult. However, for me, there was only one choice. 

You see, we have this lizard. He's a leopard gecko. His name is Spot. Spot is an old, old lizard. Easily 16 years old (I think). And he's still going strong. So when I saw this Photo Friday challenge word, I had no choice but to photograph the lizard. I thought this would be a struggle. As lizards are usually not too keen about being out of their environment. Least of all when surrounded by dogs and a cat. Who would have thought that Spot was one of the best photo subjects I've ever had (as animals go). I swear, he moved less than most dogs. Trained dogs. AND he stared right into the lens! It was only with his patience that I was able to snag this little piece of awesome:

Behold, I give you, Spot! I think I can hear Kate Nothnagel Stone screeching from Trinidad (she's not a fan of lizards). How can you not love that face?! Look at him! He's poised! He's ready! He's going to kick some chess ASS! Aha...I die. Good, Spot.

While I was at it, taking photos of Spot, I figured I'd snap a few new ones of the fury type. And since I'm already here, writing this post, I might as well share them, right? Right. 

Last but not least, the queen of the house:

Now you know why the first thing we bought as a couple was a Dyson (after the house...of course). If only we could teach the dogs how to vacuum.

I hope you all enjoyed my little fur-kid (and lizard-kid?!) photo session. This next week's challenge word is Gold. I'm at a loss, any suggestions?

Thanks for reading!

Liz DiNatale
www.oakcityphotographync.com

Nate, Veronica and Baby P

This past weekend Chrissy and I went to Marbles Kid's Museum with Nate and Veronica and had a blast! It was really yucky outside so we were glad to have chosen an indoor location. We got to play in a pirate ship, play a little soccer, shoot some balls in a big hoop to fill up the pig, bob and sway on the big bridge and play chess with HUGE chess pieces. Yes...I enjoyed myself. More importantly, Nate and Veronica (and even Baby P...he was kicking and moving all over the place) enjoyed themselves.

I love how sincere Nate and Veronica are grinning in this photo. They both look so happy and so excited to become parents.

It wasn't all fun and games though. If there's one thing Nate and Veronica share, it's their competitive spirit. Do you remember those fitness tests you did in middle school? In particular, the stretch test? Well, they had one at Marbles and although it was an unfair match, I think Nate won. 

At least no one held a grudge. 

There is so much to do in Marbles that we got a little distracted. I think we even lost Nate at one point. At about the end of our photo shoot the museum was becoming crowded. We were lucky enough to find an unoccupied reading room to snap a couple of the more serious photos.

 

We really enjoyed spending the morning with Nate and Veronica and having a blast in Marbles. We are looking forward to meeting Baby P and maybe if our track record holds true, that might happen sooner than later! I'll leave you with one last photo: the gratuitous itty bitty baby shoe photo. 

**swoon** Little things are so cute. 

Thanks for reading! This Photo Friday challenge word is "Spot" so I'm going to try and convince our Leopard Gecko, named Spot, to do a photo shoot for me. Stay tuned for the results!

Liz DiNatale

www.oakcityphotographync.com 

Photo Friday: Vertical

Good Friday morning to you all. It's going to be another hot one. *insert pathetic whimper* Can we skip the rest of summer and go straight into fall? I'd be ok with that. 

My garden enjoyed the random rain we had a couple days ago. I mean, besides the one corn plant that got rained to death, literally, and slumped over in demise. Everything else is going NUTS! So I felt that the most appropriate photo for a Photo Friday challenge of "vertical" would be my plants that are literally trying to reach the sky. 

"I think I can, I think I can"

Fully story...I hope...anywho...last year was my first year planting a garden. I thought I knew what I was doing. In fact, I was certain. The seed packets read "plant 5 feet apart" I thought "But I want more than 1 squash!!!" Yeah...I should have listened. I also should have done some research. You see, for some reason, I thought cucumbers and squash and cantaloupe were ground plants. That bushed more than climbed. So I planted a ton of cucumbers and a ton of squash and a ton of cantaloupe and before I knew it my garden was a big viney mess with everything trying desperately to climb the corn. I did eventually get it under control with a couple trellises, tears and curses. But this year I had a plan. I was going to plant my cucumbers on the perimeter of my garden and let them scurry up the fence. Perfect! I wouldn't need to buy any trellises. That worked great for a while...until that rain. That cucumber you see there in the photo above. Yeah it is well over 6 inches above the top of the fence now and it's still trying to grab onto something. I am not building a taller fence, cucumber, start vining DOWN.

On a cooler note: look I have a cucumber!! 

WEEEEE!!!

Ok, back to the purpose of this blog post. The Photo Friday challenge was Vertical. I had thought of using the climbing cucumber picture but I felt this photo was much better. 

"What kind of tree is that?", you ask. This is not tree, this is my towering tomato plant! By towering, I mean 3 feet tall. Don't laugh, they're still growing! I start from seeds people! They take a while. I believe this one is a Roma style tomato. AND they have their first blossom! I'm looking forward to some yummy garden fresh veggies. 

Ok, that's all the photos I have for you today. However, I am very tempted to kidnap my husband and the dogs, throw the tent in the car and escape to higher altitudes and cooler temps this weekend. If I do, I'll take pictures of my antics. 

Everyone have a great weekend. Stay cool. Don't die of heat exhaustion. Until next time, thanks for reading!

Liz DiNatale

www.oakcityphotographync.com