BIG NEWS!!!!!!!!!
The blog has officially moved! You can now find me at www.amberkayphotoblog.com. Please come and check out the new look 🙂
Tim & Sara: Intimate Forest Wedding
Tim and Sara were married last weekend in an intimate ceremony in the woods at Locust Shade Park in Triange, VA. It was a lovely rainy day in the middle of the forest. They say rain on your wedding day is supposed to give you good luck…if so then Tim and Sara will be very lucky in love. Here are a few of my favorites from the day.
Absolutely smitten with the next series of images. Makes my heart do a happy dance.
The cutest flower girl ever!
And the handsome ring bearer…he was an adorable little guy.
We managed to find a few things still blooming in the park.
 Love this shot.
Monday Madness: Volume 21
Quote of the Week:
“You are what you do, not what you say you’ll do.”Â
― C.G. Jung
I am full of good intentions. It really is on my mind to order that birthday present so it will arrive before your birthday. Then I say…oh I’ll order it tomorrow…and it doesn’t get ordered until after your birthday. t think about that nice card I want to buy just to brighten a friend’s day…but never make it to the Hallmark store. As I’m driving I think…oh let me call so&so because we haven’t chatted in forever. Then a different call rings in. And I don’t call. I get a thoughtful package in the mail from a loved one and instead of dropping what I’m doing right then and calling and saying thank you…I put it off until after dinner. Then after dinner I’m editing. Then I’m in bed. There’s also that errand someone asked me to run or that piece of business I really need to get accomplished and I put that off too. All with the good intention of getting it done right away. But it doesn’t get done right away.
Here’s the thing…good intentions really mean nothing. No one knows you have all those good intentions rolling around in your head. The only thing they know is that you dropped the ball on them. Or they think you’re not grateful. Or they think you don’t care because you didn’t even take the time to show them how important they are to you.
Over time you’re not known as the person with great intentions…you’re known as the person who doesn’t follow through and is ungrateful. I really don’t want to be that. So I challenge you…do what you say when you say you’ll do it! Really I challenge myself on this one more than you.
Highlights of the Week:
* I’ve had a couple of really awesome engagement sessions in the last few weeks. Super fun couples = super awesome session. You can view Stephanie & Phil’s here or Zoey and Wade’s here.
* My kitten boys are seriously the cutest things ever!!! My instagram feed is flooded with kitten cuteness these days. Make sure to follow me @amberkayphoto so you don’t miss any 🙂
* Last Wednesday I read my calendar wrong and thought I had a wedding consult. I cleaned my entire house and made myself presentable…only to realize 10 min prior to the consult ….that the consult was really the following week. Better early than late right? Oh and I had a clean house. (perhaps I should do this to myself every week!)
* On Friday I cleaned out my front flower bed while singing at the top of my lungs. I figure that my singing will surely scare away all the snakes. It didn’t scare away the giant toad and jumped out at me and made me scream. Now I’m not afraid of toads but it scared me. Lol.
* Saturday I had the pleasure of shooting an intimate wedding in the middle of the woods…in the rain. It was romantic and beautiful and I can’t wait to share lots of photos.
* Mother’s Day this year was wonderful. My Dustin came up from Richmond to spend the day with me and having both of my kids together, chatting, and laughing always makes for the best day ever. We went to brunch in Old Town Fredericksburg at Kybecca (which is always a favorite) and had yummy food, yummy drinks, and of course awesome dessert. I of course also made the kids take a few photos with me. Which…is always a challenge with these two.
Take #1…my fault…camera on tripod with self timer…cut off Dustin’s head. ( But this may end up being the best?)
Take #2…fixed my camera mistake…Savanna’s face is now a mistake…
Take #25+…finally got decent smiles from everyone…but now have dappled light on Dustin’s face…oh well…we’re done.
I don’t get too many photos of Dustin by himself anymore…but I LOVE this one. He looks so handsome and grown up!!!
Mean mugging me…
Finally….here are my cute cute “babies”!!!
The Adventure of Raising Baby Kittens: Part 4
I can’t believe the kitten boys are getting so big!!!!!! Oh my goodness. They’re eating canned kitten food now and starting to lap their kitten milk out of a bowl. They’re getting super tired of the bottle because it just doesn’t put food in their tummies fast enough. They’re also about 75% litter box trained! Woot! Woot!
They’re crazy playful when they’re awake and then they crash hard and are out for hours. They’ve discovered they can crawl up your pant leg and they have super sharp claws and teeth. My arms and hands have the proof.
Here’s Arthur…in his favorite green bowl…because he can.
All of the kitten boys love Bear dog. They all want to love him and cuddle up into his soft fur. He does a great job of being patient and ignoring them. See how his head is up…that’s so Archie doesn’t touch his face.
All curled up with the Bear dog for a kitten nap.
While Archie was napping…Arthur was exploring.
I couldn’t believe that Bear laid his head down and cuddled up with Archie. Cutest moment ever!!!
Arthur decided to take advantage of the situation and curl up in Bear’s tail for a nap.
Look at those eyes! They’re said “give me food now lady.”
They all love curling up on your chest if you sit on the couch. Whoever makes it up there first is happy. Here Arthur is supervising Savannah’s internet use.
Archie says it’s not fair.
And Albert….
Albert is the brut of the kitten pack. He is bigger and noisier and eats twice as much. We actually call him Fat Albert now. And sometimes…he really poses for me. Love how half of his nose is gray and his long white whiskers.
The first time I met Zoey and Wade in person was during their engagement session. But…I knew they were awesome. You see I’ve taken  graduation photos for both Zoey’s younger brother and younger sister. As a matter of fact I’ve done graduation portraits for her sister Peige both high school and college. And over the years I’ve gotten to know her mother Robin. Everyone in this family is awesome! So I just knew that Zoey would be too…and who does an awesome girl marry? Well of course an awesome guy! Believe me I wasn’t disappointed either. We laughed. A lot! And I got to know these two and how wonderful and sweet and kind and funny they are. Oh…and a little quirky too…which is exactly my favorite kind of person 🙂
When Zoey contacted me a few months back and said that her and Wade were thinking of a vintage golf theme for their engagement session I was so excited. I knew that it would be epic and fun. We met up at Augustine Golf Course in Stafford last Sunday and buzzed all around the course in golf carts. It wasn’t too busy and really we can most of the course to ourselves. Here are a few of my favorites from their session. Enjoy!
2014 JMU Graduates
Peige and Tracy are graduating from JMU!!!! Congratulations girls 🙂
I met up with them a few weeks ago at JMU to take some graduation photos. They are best friends and have been college roomies from the beginning…so it just seemed perfect to take some photos of them together in their caps and gowns.
Enjoy a few of my favorites.
And of course a few portraits by themselves.
Anna & Phil: Manassas Engagement Photography
Meet Anna and Phil…they’re adorable! And they’re engaged! And they really love each other!
When we were planning their Manassas engagement session I didn’t envision that we would totally luck out and have a forest floor full of blue bells. I was so excited when I saw them! And Anna and Phil chose awesome colors to wear that looked so beautiful. Here are a few of my favorites…Enjoy!
Those flowers just add so much to the photos!
The Adventure of Raising Baby Kittens: Part 3
The kitties are getting so big!! They are climbing and learning how to pounce and play. Bear dog is one of their favorite “mountains” and he’s so patient! Albert seems to like climbing on him the most.
This is Arthur learning how to pounce and it’s hilarious. He does the low crawl and then instead of actually pouncing takes a little step forward. He’s so scary!
Yes biting and clawing now favorites also.
Archibald- 4 weeks old
Arthur- 4 weeks old
And last but not least…Albert- 4 weeks old.
This is Archibald’s pounce face…gonna jump on Albert.
Macaela: Brooke Point Class of 2014
Hello Gorgeous!
Macaela is a senior at Brooke Point High School here in Stafford, VA and she’s just as lovely on the inside as she is beautiful on the outside. I took photos of her family a few years back and was wowed then at how sweet and kind Macaela is. She has such a beautiful positive energy that seems to just shine from her.
Last month we took complete advantage of one of Stafford’s snow days and did an impromptu shoot for Macaela. We had a lot of fun running around in the snow and I’m so happy we decided to brave the cold. Here are a few of my favorites from her shoot.
Session #2 with greenery instead of a white backdrop is coming up in the next few weeks. Can’t wait to get this gorgeous girl in front of my camera again!
My Wish For You…
“This is my wish for you: Comfort on difficult days, SMILESÂ when sadness intrudes, rainbows to follow the clouds, LAUGHTER to kiss your lips, sunsets to warm your heart, hugs when spirits sag, beauty for your eyes to see, friendships to brighten your being, faith so that you can believe, confidence for when you doubt, courage to know yourself, patience to accept the truth, LOVE to complete your life.”
–Anon
Amber Reinink 
