What a year this has been. Last year was a pretty terrible year for me personally and I was so ready for 2016. I was expecting a much better year, but I didn’t expect this!!!
Less than two weeks ago, I signed a lease on my new office space. It has been dream of mine, to get out of my home office, for such a long time but I have been so afraid to take the leap. With a HUGE nudge from my husband, I finally took jumped off the ledge and did it!
My space is located at 1642 Pleasure House Rd. Suite 108, Virginia Beach. The downstairs space is Synergy Space, an amazing multi-use space that can be rented for multiple different uses (parties, classes, networking, meetings, etc) and the upstairs space is ALL MINE!
It’s not a huge space, I’ll shoot newborns and professional portraits/headshots here, but I’ll still rent my other studio space for larger studio work. It is an AMAZING space though to work, edit, meet with clients and have my viewing sessions!
It’s been a long two weeks getting it ready and I am SO THANKFUL to everyone who helped me. Jeris at Smartgiraffe (www.smartgiraffecs.com) was amazing at helping me get my computer up and running and a new screen projector installed and working. My friends were amazing and stepped up helping me paint, decorate, rewrite and organize. My husband Brett did a majority of the work while I was out of town and did all the heavy lifting! I may run this business alone, but I am SO VERY thankful to those who lift me up and surround me with support.
Here is a progression of our before and after images!!
My Olivia helping put up my curtains and touch up all the paint!
My handsome bandyman. I wouldn’t be here without his support and encouragement!
ALL DONE!!! A few little tweaks here and there BUT I’m officially open for business!!!
Soon, I’ll be announcing my open house date and I can’t wait to celebrate with you as I embark on this new adventure… but don’t feel you need to wait. I’d love it if you’d stop by and say hello. I love visitors!
Nigel and Tia are expecting!!!! I photographed Nigel and Tia’s engagement and am so very excited to be continuing our relationship as we head into photographing the Baby’s First Year!
I was SO excited to get the call from Tia telling me the news…. they are expecting a HONEYMOON baby! YAY!!!
I LOVE that I was one of the first to know as they wanted me to photograph the announcement. Nigel is deployed so we wanted to do a shoot that incorporated him across all the miles, you’ll see him in the phone pointing at a picture of the ultrasound! I love how the images turned out and am so excited to do a maternity session in six months or so. Tia is already glowing and I can’t wait to see how she transforms into the amazing mom God has called her to be.
Congrats Nigel and Tia! So very excited for you and can’t wit to meet your little blessing.
Stunning. Energetic. Happy. Athletic. Fun. Beautiful. All words to describe the lovely Beca.
We had such a great time on both of our sessions! Why more than one session? Well sometimes Mother Nature doesn’t check with me and she does her own thing! Halfway though our beach session, the wind went CRAZY and Beca’s beautiful hair was everywhere, sand was flying into my camera and we were being blown over!! We just weren’t going to get the beautiful sunset pictures we wanted, so we scheduled a second shoot that thankfully provided a beautiful, windless, sunset.
Beca, I can’t wait to see how your last year in high school goes and what next year holds for you. I haven’t know you long but I do know you are a dedicated, beautiful, hard working soul and I know you will achieve whatever goals you set your mind too! Work hard this year, but enjoy every last minute of high school while you can, you deserve it!
I LOVE seeing my families grow! It has been a few years since I photographed Jake and Brittany’s family… and since then they have added Kenzie! So it was such a joy to photograph them again and I have to say, these girls LOVE to model! Usually I have to fight to keep little ones just looking at the camera… with Kenzie and Kira it was hard to get them to STOP posing! Future little models I think for sure! They loved the camera and were SO MUCH FUN to photograph. The next kids I photograph have large shoes to fill!
We had such a blast climbing trees and sand dunes, playing with umbrellas and seashells and enjoying a beautiful sunset. Thanks Jake and Brittany for trusting me again with capturing your beautiful family!
I love this family! We have so much in common with our kids being about the same ages and Christina and I are heading on a mission trip to Ethiopia in just a few weeks! They are such a wonderful loving family and I was overjoyed when Christina called me to capture their family portraits. But then she told me their last family portraits we taken THIRTEEN YEARS AGO! That mean big time pressure for me… this would be their first professional pictures since both Max and Clara had been added to the family!
The day came and God provided us with a beautiful day and an incredible sunset. The kids were excited to take pictures prepared to have some fun! I loved when I was trying to get the kids to smile and told a joke… everyone laughed and Max encouraged me by saying “Good job Devon, just keep the jokes coming and this shoot will be easy!” Lol, what a riot!
One really interesting thing about this shoot was that, they knew they wanted the beach, but were open to whichever beach I choose. I choose First Landing State park as it has great sunsets. Later as we were viewing their images, Christiana told me that the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel seen in the background of their images, has a very special place in the start of their family. When they were first married they traveled that bridge weekly as family and work were on opposite sides. To have the bridge in the background of their portraits, 15 years later is pretty memorable… the fact that it happened on accident is just awesome.
Thanks Christina and Frank for creating such an awesome family and allowing ME to create some beautiful images for you to cherish for years to come. Let’s just not wait ANOTHER 13 years til we do the next session! 🙂
Eli is a very talented young lady! For many years she has been acting and dancing all over Hampton Roads and I have been blessed to photograph her many times over! As kids do, she has done some growing and we needed to update her headshots so all the talent agents can see how much more beautiful and mature she has become!
I adore working with such talented clients and I see a very big future for Eli. She’s kindhearted, full of energy and love and I know she is going to shine… whether it be in local productions, the big screen or the bright lights of broadway!
I can’t wait to continue our photography relationship and to see Eli continue to grow, blossom and accomplish all her dreams!