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You can’t go home again! Or can you?    I recently went back to my hometown the place I was born and where I spent the first eighteen years of my life. Living in the south for the last twenty-three years, I have often wondered if I was missing something by not being back in the DC/MD/VA area.  Not just the food, culture, public transportation, but my past, my memories, a sea of firsts. I hadn’t been back in about ten years and we really excited for the chance to show my now grown children my past.

Somewhere during the trip I started to realize that it wasn’t like I remembered and time hasn’t always been kind to my beloved city.  By the end of the trip I was ready to get back to my house, my bed, my dog, my home. It was wonderful for a while to eat the foods, hear the music I missed, ride the Metro, but than it changed and it wasn’t so wonderful anymore.  That makes the place of my birth a nice place to visit, but no longer my home, still familiar and comfortable just not quite the right fit.

So I guess I understand that old adage now, as we move forward in our lives and our way of thinking the things we used to hold dear may be better left as just that a sweet memory.

Five years ago today I started on a new journey.  After many years of just being friends, dating not dating Kyle and I were ready to make it official.  We weren’t sure if the wedding was going to happen, not because of us but due to Mother Nature. As the minuted ticked by I remember watching the tv to see what Katrina was going to do.

As we got closer to the time for the photo shoot I had scheduled with our Photographer prior to the ceremony all I could think about was marrying my friend.  The photo’s we took in the French Quarter have turned out to be some of my favorites.

After returning to the hotel I was relieved to learn that all our vendors but one had shown up.  The one who didn’t make it was the DJ but thanks to me having back up music on CD and the chef loaning us his boom box the rest of the day went off without a hitch.

Some of our guests were unable to make it due to the hurricane, our honeymoon that was supposed to be in New Orleans got cancelled.  Our adopted home city was devastated and it took us 6 months to get our wedding license.    But it’s all part of our history, our story that we will pass on to our grandchildren and they to their’s.   And even with everything that happened then and since I would still do it all over again!!!!!!

All of our guests that did manage to make it in to the city and out again safely.

My husband and I love New Orleans.   We like it so much we had our wedding there in August 2005.  Now we go back every year any chance we can.

I was excited for the trip this year because I figured it would be the last time we would have my two youngest children with us.  Turns out that was the least of my worries.  Our trip was started out pretty normal and New Orleans was beautiful as always.  I was looking forward to the chance to take photographs in this city again and eating all those favorite foods of mine.  Our trip started out just fine but day 2 turned into something not so great.

We had to cut our trip short and rush back to Orlando due to my falling ill.  Turns out I had pneumonia and a few other things.  As my Dr. put it “I was really sick”!  But I am doing much better now.  Sadly I didn’t get many photo’s taken due to being so ill.  But I get another chance for our anniversary when we go back to Louisiana for a wedding.  I’m kinda excited because we are going to Shreveport and New Orleans.  This means new places to capture awesome images and who dosen’t like that?

Here are a few photo’s that I managed to shoot before I got sick.

This next picture is located right across the street from the convention center and the hotel where we were married.  We were married the weekend of Hurricane Katrina which I will write about closer to our anniversary and this is part of the memorial they placed in this spot.

It has been a long time since I have blogged. I wish I could say it’s because I have been on a long cruise and I had no way to blog. I wish I could but I can’t.

I have been very busy and very sick and than very busy again. I feel better than ever and am now ready to hit the ground running again.

We have a new look in case you haven’t noticed. In order to make things easier on me and simpler for you we have just launched our brand new blogsite. It’s a blog, it’s a website it’s a two for one kinda deal. Everything and anything you need to know about me or the company will be found right here. since it’s all in one spot it should be easier to keep everything fresh and new.

I have been doing some great work with some amazing people and will be blogging about it in the coming weeks. Please feel free to write comments and email me with suggestions or ideas.

Tina

It was a rainy day in Indianapolis but you would never have known that from the smile on Krystle’s face.   She radiated joy the entire day.  Emmanuel and Krystle were just so overjoyed to be getting married that nothing could spoil the day.  Their entire family and friends were such a joy to hang out with.  I love it when I get to hang out with families where everyone is laughing.  Thank you guys for making my day easy and Congratulations!

 A family friend did the flowers Mrs. B. Carter.

This is one of my favorites from the day.

This one was taken by my second shooter Jasmine.

     

This little guy was so much fun.  He got tired of waiting for his moment to walk in with the rings.

 This was taken right after the ceremony and before the family portraits.  I think the look on her face says it all.

 Emmanuel was a good sport about holding the bouquet.  My second shooter Jasmine captured this while I was taking pictures of Krystel.

 Another of my favorites of Krystel.

  The cake  was done by Mrs. D. Locke and it was yummy.

The dancing went on for awhile and a good time was had by all.  The next morning we were able to have breakfast with the lovely couple before they headed off to Las Vegas for a awesome Honeymoon. Thank You for letting us be a part of it.

In case you haven’t figured it out yet we love going to New Orleans.  It is one of our favorite if not our most favorite city to visit, and we go whenever we can.  On our trip this past spring we decided to try something different and took a swamp tour with a great compnay called Cajun Enounters.  They came and picked us up very early in the morning for a drive to Slidell.  Then we boarded these small boats and had an entertaining ride full of stories and animal sightings.  Next time we want to go deeper into cajun country and  learn more about the cajun way of  life.

 

I by no means consider myself  to be a great nature photographer.  I think I am fair at it, but I am always looking to improve my skills.  Here are a couple of pictures that I took on a recent trip to New Orleans. 

  

This is the girls at the Aquarium.

 

Is shopping really that hard?  The girls hanging out while we were shopping at the Riverwalk Mall.

New Orleans is one of our favorite cities.  In fact that is where Handy Hubby and I were married the weekend of Hurricane Katrina.  We usually end up taking friends along with us on our annual trip and this year it was a friend of our daugther Jasmine.  Precious had a great time and I am sure that she will be visiting again and again with.  Here are a few of the pictures that I took while we were there with my two ever willing models.

I know that keeping this blog up is very important.  I am planning to do better. We have been so busy lately with new work coming in and our rebranding.

We will be unvieling our new look and logo at the end of the month so stay tuned and come back to check it out.   We will be out of town for our big annual trip to New Orleans soon.  I hope to post once or twice while we are gone and will post pictures of us as well.