This picture of Julia lying in the water at Sugar Hollow for her Trash the Dress session is a great example of a few different elements of composition. First you have leading lines, the tree line draws your eye to our subject, Julia. Secondly we have a great mirror reflection of the sky, trees and Julia in the water. Aaron also did a great job of layering the photograph with a foreground, subject and background (our third element of composition). The sky’s reflection in the foreground leads your eye into the subject of the picture, Julia in the water, and the background completes the picture by framing Julia with the beautiful blue ridge mountains along with the sky and clouds!

Camera: Canon 5D Mark II
Lens: Canon 16-35mm f/2.8
F Stop: 2.8
Shutter Speed: 1/100 of a second

The picture below from Olive’s newborn portraits is a great example of the rule of thirds, and using negative space. By composing the family so they are in the right third of the frame, and there is negative space on the left (also sometimes called white space), I have cut out any distractions allowing your eye to focus just on the family and their cute little daughter. Also, by having Katie and David look at their daughter it focuses your attention on Olive … the star of the picture!

Camera: Canon 5D Mark II
Lens: Canon 50mm f/1.2
F Stop: 2.8
Shutter Speed: 1/125 of a second

Mallory is in the center of this picture, but it works because she is being framed by the corn stalks. Most of the time photographers like to use doors to frame their subject, in this instance I used the rows of corn stalks to create a more unique frame. There are a few leaves out of focus in the foreground which gives depth to the picture, with Mallory in the middle ground and more cornstalks in the background.

Camera: Canon 5D Mark II
Lens: Canon 24/70mm
F Stop: 2.8
Shutter Speed: 1/125 of a second

Recently in wedding photography we have seen a huge trend towards overexposed pictures to give an ethereal feel to the picture. I used this technique to not only give Rachelle and her bridesmaids that ethereal feel, but to bring out the color in the dresses, and also limit the distractions in the background (there was an ugly net in the background for the golf course driving range). I also like how the lines of the trees above the girls point down, bringing your eye to the focus of the picture.

Camera: Canon 5D Mark II
Lens: Canon 16/35mm
F Stop: 2.8
Shutter Speed: 1/320 of a second

In this landscape picture featuring Maria and Adam and their dog at Pharsalia, there are multiple elements of composition at work. There is the leading line of the road which takes your eye from the subjects all the way back to the mountains. Maria and Adam are also in the lower right third of the picture, and the width of the road helps frame them, which separates them from the background.

Camera: Canon 5D Mark II
Lens: Canon 16/35mm
F Stop: 7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/200 of a second

Photography by: Aaron Watson

We’re going to start with this amazing shot of the waterfalls at Sugar Hollow. This is a long exposure picture taken during the day. Aaron dropped the shutter down to six seconds so that he could get the motion blur in the water to give the picture some really terrific movement. He took the picture at f22 so that he could ensure everything but the water was in focus.

Camera: Canon 5D Mark II
Lens: 16-35mm at 35mm
F Stop: 22
Shutter Speed: 6 seconds

The picture below is a reflection picture of Sarah’s dress (which was featured on “Say Yes to the Dress” on TLC) during her wedding at Pippin Hill. Her dress was hanging in a wardrobe which had a mirror on each door. Aaron set the mirrors so that they were facing each other, so you can see a reflection within a reflection, which creates a sense of depth in the picture.

Camera: Canon 5D Mark II
Lens: Canon 100mm Macro
F Stop: 2.8
Shutter Speed: 1/100 of a second

This picture was taken at Kate’s wedding at Wintergreen Resort when Aaron was having some fun with the formal pictures after the ceremony. Aaron used an Alien Bee Light to light the girls’ faces. The Alien Bee also helped to freeze the action so the flowers were in focus as they were being thrown. He shot at a 200th of a second which also helped to freeze the action. Aaron took the picture at f11 so the the mountains in the background would be in focus, which gives depth to the picture.

Camera: Canon 5D Mark II
Lens: Canon 16-35mm
F Stop: 11
Shutter Speed: 1/200 of a second

This is a picture of Hali’s shoes taken on a porch ledge at Hali and Tony’s Wedding. Aaron took this photograph from an angle below the shoes in order to show the signature red color on the bottom of the shoes. The lower angle also helped to take out the distractions in the background. He used a shallow depth of field of f2.8 to further take out the distraction in the background so that the shoes really pop in the picture.

Camera: Canon 5D Mark II
Lens: Canon 100mm Macro
F Stop: 2.8
Shutter Speed: 1/5000 of a second

Sugar Hollow is a not-so-well-kept secret among locals looking to get out of town and take a dip in a natural spring. The waterfalls are somewhat small, but very cute and add to the tranquility and beauty of Sugar Hollow. I had fun taking some long exposure pictures of them while Willie and Stephen had a rock skipping competition. After our fun little adventure we all went to Da Luca Cafe and Wine Bar in the Old Trail subdivision of Crozet for an amazing dinner. I would highly recommend it to everyone! I will certainly be returning for the hummus and Pita bread.

The next day Willie and I visited the brand new Castle Hill Cider, where we had a chance to taste some of their cider and run into a few friends (including Paulette of Glasshouse winery and Jen, former manager of King Family Vineyards). Although the ciders are still somewhat young, it is worth a trip out there to experience the views and beautiful location they have. I especially love their barn and the Linden Grove. It’s a great place for weddings, and I hope that we have a chance to photograph one there soon! If you happen to venture over to Castle Hill, be sure to stop by Keswick Vineyards across the street and say hello to Stephen (and Kat if you are there on a Sunday).

I hope you enjoy your weekend! Today I am looking forward to experiencing one of my favorite Samba bands, Beleza Brasil, at Glasshouse Winery (another beautiful venue where I would love to photograph a wedding)!

P.S. I am proud to say these pictures are straight out of camera.

First, I hope everyone has gotten a chance to see the new wedding photography website! I started working on it over 8 months ago and finally launched a few weeks ago with over 160 new wedding pictures (and many more to come)! I really love the new destination wedding section! Eventually the rest of my website will be getting a facelift, so be on the lookout for my new fashion/entertainment/sports section! 

The second big news is we are now offering Fusion Style Cinematography services! With our new cameras we now have the ability to shoot both amazing photos and amazing HD video, so I’ve been taking full advantage of it. Check out the teaser video I made from Eric and Lora’s wedding back in December on Vimeo! I’ll probably talk about this more in a coming post, but for now I’ll just say how awesome I think it is and I can’t wait to show off some more projects that I’ve been working on in this Fusion Style!

… and for the last big news (at least for today) … Annie & Robbie are getting married! They’re two of my good friends from college who are absolutely awesome people! Annie was actually one of the first three people I met after moving into the dorms at UVA! I loved hanging out with her as she always seemed very cheerful and happy. Robbie lived just one floor down from Annie, and after becoming friends with him later in the semester I found him to be very cheerful as well. Often you find couples that make each other happy, but what I love about Annie and Robbie is that they not only make each other happy but they also have an infectious way of making other people happy! So although I don’t get to see them as much anymore, when I do, I truly enjoy being around them!

Recently we had the chance to spend an afternoon having fun at Sugar Hollow and took some awesome engagement pictures! It was by far the longest engagement session I have ever done (6 hours!), but it felt like it flew by and thankfully the rain held off! Here are just a few of my favorites from last Friday! Also, I have to thank Annie & Robbie for being troopers by wading through the river and standing in frigid cold water for 20 – 30 minutes to get these pictures! Not many people would have done that! Enjoy!