Tag Archives: hampton roads

Erin’s Trash the Dress session at the Virginia Beach oceanfront.

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The rebirth of Erin, in her own words.

I’m turning this over to her so she can tell you about our Trash the Dress photo session.

My name is Erin, I’m 32, and am going through a divorce. With that being said, the split has been very amicable and we still remain good friends. However, people don’t get divorced for no reason and I had some feelings about it. Our wedding was exactly what I wanted, and so was the DRESS. I hadn’t even gotten it all the way on at the bridal shop and knew it was the one. But life happens and here we are.

I had heard of the trash the dress concept years ago, and loved it but had honestly forgotten about it. That was until my best friend, who also just got divorced, sent me some pictures of other women’s experiences and I knew it had to happen. My mind went straight to Mark, who I’ve known for years. There was no one else for the job, and he didn’t hesitate when I asked. It was meant to be.

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More images after the break

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Eileen is my Throwback Thursday with a twist.

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Also – there’s still plenty of nice days for beach portrait sessions left in the season.

Before I get into Eileen’s inspirational story I want to take a moment to point out that there’s still time to book a outdoor portrait session. As I write this, the forecast for the day is calling for highs in the upper 80’s with the next seven days in the lower 80’s. So, if you are thinking about a portrait session outside like at the beach, contact me today.

Ok, so a little backstory about this series. Eileen and I teamed up for a beach sunrise session back in the summer of 2014. She was, and still is, a fitness enthusiast and wanted images done to document her hard work and effort. We met up one morning and created what I thought were amazing images.

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Tershia’s fashion session in Virginia Beach’s Town Center.

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Picking up from where I left off and pushing further with this proof of concept session.

I’ve been doing this photography thing for a while. How long, you ask? Well, lets just say that I launched my business the same year Fox and Mulder started exploring their “X-Files.”

I’ve covered a lot of ground over the years. I’ve worked with color, black and white, and infra-red film before crossing over to the digital age. I’ve shot fashion, wedding, beauty (which was called glamour when I started), photojournalism, portrait, boudoir, landscape, sports, automotive, and much more. This is extended to every technique/fad like shallow depth of field portraits, cross-processing film/filters, editing image files, et cetera.

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Severine Bertret’s newest Virginia Beach fitness session.

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We joined forces at First Landing State Park after her most recent competition.

Severine is no stranger to this page. We’ve teamed up several times in the past to document her hard work training for, and participating in, bikini fitness competitions. This dynamo of determination doesn’t let anything stop her from doing what she wants to do and I am privileged to work with her.

This time she had just placed 3rd in the Open Division of the Carolina Fitness Festival, made the drive to Virginia Beach, and stepped in front of my lens while still in peak condition the next day.

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Susie’s sunrise beach and boudoir Super Session in Virginia Beach.

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Tis the season for Super Sessions.

Ah, I love this time of year. The weather is warm, the sun is bright, and the sessions are often. This is exactly why I moved here nine years ago.

Where I’m from, we get less than three good months of shooting at the beach. There’s still snow on the ground in May. It doesn’t get warm enough to go near the lake until late June. Then the temperatures start to drop right after Labor Day. I mean really drop.

Here in Virginia Beach we can start doing sessions with sand between our toes around mid-April and keep right on to almost Halloween. Even then there’s an occasional day where the temps spike into the low 80’s well into November and off we go.

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Sunrise session with Whitney Lockwood at Hillier Ignite Fitness Park.

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My first time shooting at the Virginia Beach-based outdoor park at the Oceanfront.

Normally I hold my beach sunrise sessions somewhere other than at the resort area of our great city. All those hotel patrons coming out to the beach or watching from the patio of their rooms really adds to the pressure of someone trying to relax and get comfortable posing. I’ve had beach goers literally try to get in the picture with the clients, try to ask me photography questions when the lighting is peaking, or just stand there five feet away, ignore the sunrise, and stare at us.

But then there’s Whitney. Whitney is fearless. She’s a powerhouse of confidence and strength in a compact frame. She’s a powerlifter, personal trainer, and a fitness bikini competitor. So, she walks the walk and talks the talk. She would be just fine.

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Carrie’s farm portrait session in Virginia Beach.

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“Hey Mark, I have an idea” are my favorite words to hear.

It’s been far too long since I had the honor of working with Carrie so when she reached out to me recently with an idea to do a fashion session on a local farm I couldn’t say “yes” fast enough.

You see, I’m a farm boy born and raised so this was a homecoming of sorts.

I know I’m known for sessions at the beach as well as in urban environments. However, when the world is your backdrop anything and everything becomes an option. All we need is an idea and we are off to the races.

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