I had a quick two hour shoot with my buddies of Unhindered last week in Atlanta and was really happy with what we created. Their new project is coming out January 3 – head on over to their website to get a quick preview of their stuff before it releases.

It’s hard to even begin to describe how incredible both Cindy and Eric are together. I have had the blessing and honor of knowing them now for a few years and my life is better for it.

I first met Cindy back in 2009 when I took the head shots of the Star 94 DJ’s. After that experience, Cindy would always say that I would one day shoot her wedding – I had no idea she was actually serious!
At around the same time that Cindy asked me to shoot her wedding, my wife and I had been dreaming up a way in which I could use wedding photography to help bring restoration and awareness to an issue that is heavy on our hearts and currently gripping Atlanta, and that’s the commercial sexual exploitation of children. Atlanta is one of the top cities for sexual trafficking of adolescent girls, and we believe that couples who are celebrating their love to each other have a huge platform to impact lives from whom love has been stolen and distorted.

So, as we began to think up this idea that’s now Love Gives Way, I called up Cindy to see if she would be on board and if she thought it was a good idea. She and Eric were shocked to learn that this was true of Atlanta, and they immediately wanted to do their part.

In a brief summary, Love Gives Way is this: metro Atlanta brides and grooms choosing that their Love Gives Way to the recovery and restoration of girls who have been exploited as a result of CSEC (commercial sexual exploitation of children). Through this campaign, I am partnering with Wellspring Living who works directly with the girls and women. I can’t thank Cindy and Eric enough for being the very first couple to go for this idea and become a Love Gives Way couple. Their wedding day will impact these girls’ everyday as a result of their efforts. Thank you both so much!

Cindy and Eric shared a small, intimate ceremony at the Log Cabin Community Church and then it was off to the The Pace House for the reception. Every detail, from wearing her mother’s wedding dress to the polaroid picture wall and the creative dinner setup consisting of miniature sized portions of hamburgers, tater tots and chicken wings, made for a wedding that was unique and reflective of Cindy and Eric’s personality. The sweetest moment of the day though came when Eric not only presented his vows to Cindy, but also to her daughter, Lily, as the three of them begin this new chapter together.

I’m beyond excited for these three and can’t wait to see how they continue to grow together and impact the lives of those they come across.
Thanks Cindy and Eric for everything – love that you are in my life and I was able to capture your special day!

As a thank you, my friends at Mickey Lynn Jewelry are providing incredible hand made pieces of jewelry to our Love Gives Way couples. Here, Cindy is wearing the necklace that the brides receive – it’s our Love Gives Way charm paired with a salt water pearl

It’s been awhile since I last blogged, but the next few posts coming your way should hopefully make up for that.

Well, my Love Gives Way campaign has officially kicked off and I can’t wait to see what happens over the next year. If you are unfamiliar with what I am talking about, click here to read the full post. But in a brief statement, it’s metro Atlanta brides and grooms choosing that their Love Gives Way to the recovery and restoration of girls who have been exploited as a result of CSEC (commercial sexual exploitation of children). It is couples all over the city leveraging their day of celebration and love to bring hope to those where love has been perverted, distorted, and taken. I can’t say how excited I am already about the response people have had towards this campaign and their eagerness to be involved. It’s going to be an exciting year as weddings taking place every weekend become not just days of celebration, but also of restoration. I can’t think of anything more beautiful.

As I talked through Caitlin’s wedding day with her, she wanted to make sure we were able to get plenty of bridal portraits and knowing that the day would be shorter, we decided to meet up 2 weeks before her wedding to shoot a bridal session at The Carl House where the wedding would take place. This was the first bridal session I have ever done and I loved it! It was great having 2 hours for just her portraits and knowing that she fully trusted me to do whatever creatively. Many of them are probably not your typical bridal shots, but I love that we were able to get so many different looks in that short amount of time.

Caitlin was not only making a commitment to Jack on that day, but also to his beautiful little daughter, Malaya. It was a joy to capture this day for all 3 of them.

Congrats Caitlin, Jack, and Malaya. Thanks so much for allowing me to shoot and for all you did to bring restoration and awareness to the people of Atlanta with your wedding day!
Also, thanks to Bobby Russell for helping 2nd shoot.

this is the incredible jewelry being provided by my friends at Mickey Lynn Jewelry as a thank you to couples choosing to become Love Gives Way couples

A couple things I have learned when getting opportunities to teach: I enjoy it and it’s tough.

It’s hard to take everything you want to share and condense it down to a couple short hours. Everything from exposure, composition, lighting, scouting, working with a model, developing a style, post-processing, etc. But just like with photography, the more you do it the more you learn. You develop a style of teaching and flow for the sessions.

I had the chance to teach in the photography class at the local high school for a couple days where we mostly focused on off camera lighting and mixing that with ambient light.
In the short amount of time, my main goal was to show them all of the different options and variations you provide yourself with when being able to control your light beyond what the situation provides you.

Here are a few images I took of the students as I taught before handing over the equipment to allow them time to shoot.

Everyone has a story and that’s why I love being a photographer – it allows me to meet people with incredible stories and tell a small part of it with my photographs. When I first had dinner with Hayden and Emily in late October, they were so open to share their story with me and the journey they have been on as well as the direction they are headed. Their story is one of restoration, grace, and new beginnings.

With a life of drug abuse in their past and then realizing they were expecting a baby, Emily and Hayden have totally changed the direction of their lives and now have all of their attention set on making things right and becoming incredible parents to this beautiful little girl they are about to welcome. But what was even more amazing was the support, love, and encouragement that was so evident the day of their wedding.

All of their family and friends have come along to support these two, soon to be three, in every way possible and it made for a beautiful celebration.

I’m so excited for what’s in store for them and hopefully getting our kids together to play!
Thanks so much Emily and Hayden for sharing your story and lives with me.