Sail Away With Me...

This weekend I got to get away for a few days and go see my sister.  It was also one of the last weekends that my friend Michaela will be in town before she goes to Montana for the summer.

We left on Friday night after we got off work and headed down towards my sisters house.  We got there kind of late but were excited to get in bed and get ready to head to the beach the next day.

We decided to head to Emerald Isle, NC to hang out on the beach and do a little sight seeing.

This was the first time I had been to the beach since last year.  It was a little chilly so we definitely didn't get in the water but did lay out on the beach for a few hoursl

The sky was overcast and cloudy but had this beautiful purple/pink hugh to it and made for some really pretty pictures.

I kept seeing this fishing boat coming up the horizen of the beach and new that I had to snap a picture. 

Michaela was being a sea shell hoarder while we were there.  She kept finding all types of them and stashing them on her towel.  I don't know how many she ended up with but I'm sure it was enough to start a serious collection.

My sister and her boyfriend.

Again, I could not get over how beautiful the sky was and how amazing the views were.

After laying on the beach for a few hours we headed to the pear to see some more of Emerald Isle.  This has to be one of the longest pears I have ever been on and it had an upper level deck.

The clouds were rolling in, the breeze was blowing, and the views were amazing from the second level of the pier.

After the pier we headed to grab a bite to eat at a place call the Crab Shack in Salter Path.  All I can say is this is some of the freshest seafood I have ever eaten in my life.

Michaela and I decided to split their steam bowl.  It was two parts of crab legs, clams, shrimp, 2 crabs, clam chowder, and coleslaw.  Everything tasted so good! If you are ever in the area I definitely recommend giving this place a try.

Sunday we headed to eat breakfast at Cracker Barrel.  Then we hit up a local tack shop and spent a little bit of money!

It was a great weekend and I can't wait to see what other exciting weekends we have this summer!

A Weekend Update

Last weekend was a great weekend for the books.  It was one of those weekends that I wish could have lasted a few more days.

Friday night we met up with my dad and step mom and grabbed a bite and then wandered around wal mart aimlesly for an hour or so and spent money that we didn't need to spend.

Saturday morning my cousin came over and we decided to take a short ride with the horses. My father in law decided to join us and we had a good afternoon laughing and goofing off while riding.

After we rode a couple of hours we took the horses out to a new pasture to enjoy some fresh new spring grass.

Also this weekend we finally got our farm logo on our horse trailer.  I was super excited because it is something that we have wanted to do since we bought it.

After our ride on Saturday we decided to head to the local fire departments truck pull.  I know this sounds red neck but don't knock it until you try it.  It is a lot of fun and a fun evening to sit and hang out with everyone.

Sunday we headed off to church for a great service.  After church my friend Casey, who is also a photographer, asked me if I would be interested in heading to a Motocross race right up the road from my house. 

I was excited because I have never gotten to photograph motocross and I'm really always up for a new challenge.

What I didn't know is how much walking and red dirt we would get into.  But getting dirty, hiking through the woods, and almost getting run over by a motorcycle was all worth it.  I can not wait to do this again and get some awesome shots.

What are some fun things that you like to do on the weekend?

Photography Series | Cat Ekkelboom-White

You are in for a treat this week.  Cat is an amazing photographer as well as an awesome member of the FCA.  So lay your camera down and enjoy getting to know another amazing photographer.

1. What is your Name? 

Cat Ekkelboom-White (It's a bit of a mouthfull, but I wanted to keep my maiden name and take my husbands name to celebrate our different backgrounds (Dutch and English)).

 2. What is the name of your blog and photography business?

I work under Ekkelboom-White Photography, but my wedding and travel photography is Wild Connections.

 3. Where are you located?

I'm located in Innsbruck, Austria but I'm UK (Suffolk) born and bred. I've been living in Austria for almost 5 years and I love being surronded by the mountains.

 4. How did you get interested in photography/how long have you been

 shooting?

I've always been one of those people who always too a camera away with me, but it was usually a little point and shoot (or a disposable film camera back in the day). When my grandfather passed away we found his old SLR cameras. My husband was interested in photography, so he inherited the cameras. I bought him a DSLR that worked with the old lenses, and he got really in to photography. I was always impressed with his pictures and it sparked my interest a bit. The real passion started when we were looking for a photographer for our wedding. I fell in love with how the images of people I'd never met could move me to tears, and I realised how powerful photography is, and despite the fact that I didn't yet own my own camera, I knew I wanted to be a wedding photographer. So after the wedding, I went out and bought myself a DSLR.

 5. What do you shoot with (Canon, Nikon, Sony, etc)

I shoot mainly with Canon (digital and quite recently film too), but I also have an old Olympus film camera and a Lytro light field camera.

 6. What is your favorite lens?

It has to be my 24mm Tilt Shift lens and it's an absolute dream. You can be so creative with it, and being manual focus, you really have to take the time and focus on the shot.

 7. How do you edit your photos?

I use Lightroom and only if necessary, Photoshop, as I don't really like to retouch images.

 8. What is your favorite type of photography to shoot?

I absolutely love weddings, and my favourites are ones that take place in beautiful remote locations. But for myself, I also love taking my camera on a little hike and capturing some beautiful landscapes.

 9. How did you find out about the FCA?

The FCA first came on to my radar during the European Wedding Congress in the Netherlands. I read a bit about it and signed up for the free facebook group. Everyone was so helpful and supportive. At first I didn't think that I had the funds to join shining lights, but after a couple of workshops that left me a little bit frustrated, I realised I'd be better investing my money on something that was going to really help grow my business.

 10. What does the FCA mean to you and how has it helped you grow your business?    

The facebook mastermind group has been an absolute godsend. There are so many wonderfully supportive women involved, and whether they are seasoned professionals or just starting out, everyone supports everyone else. There is no ego or bitchyness that you get in some groups. It's all about supporting each other, celebrating success, and helping us work through our problems. It's lead me to be so much more confident and assertive in my business, and it's given me direction when I felt like I was going round in circles with too much to do and not knowing where to start.

    

 11. What are some good tips for upcoming photographers that are trying

 to get started in the business?

Invest your money in to a mentor or mentorship program like Shining Lights which is gives you a program to work to and a network of support. Forget taking workshops, or limit yourself to only doing one workshop a year, as sometimes I think it's too easy to just do lots of workshops because you tell yourself you need to learn, but really it's just procrastination, and you need to be out there and shooting for REAL. I realized after 2 workshops (which cost me over €1000 in total) that I could probably learn just as much by shooting a wedding for free, and I would be less out of pocket for it! So offer to shoot a few weddings for free and don't be ashamed of it. You'll learn so much more from that than you ever would at a workshop.

 12. Be creative and let your juices flow.  Is there anything fun about

 the type of photography that you do/what drives you to do

 photography.  

I absolutely love what I do. Put me in a room with a camera and I'll keep myself amused for hours. I put my heart and soul in to my photography, and I still cry at weddings! I love trying to find new ways to see things. I walk the same route to work every day, and each time I challenge myself to look for something I haven't seen before. It's the same at weddings. I like trying to find new ways to photograph things, so that every wedding album is different. Playing around with tilt shift lenses and double exposures are my uttermost favourite things to do, especially as I don't get to do that very much on a wedding day. I'm also learning to shoot film which is such a great experience, but it's quite an expensive hobby!

I'm also a bit of an adrenaline junkie. Our free weekends are usually spent skiing, snowboard, hiking or climbing via ferrata routes. I love wild landscapes and I'm always trying to translate the excitement that I feel in to my photographs. I'll pretty much do anything to get a great shot.

 13. Facebook: www.facebook.com/wildconnectionsphoto

     Instagram: @ekkelboomwhitephoto

     Website: www.wildconnectionsphotography.com

     Blog: www.wildconnectionsphotography.com/blog

If you would like to be featured in the Photography Series please contact me at sarahjteague@gmail.com

Photography Series | Ilaria Petrucci

I'm so excited to welcome Ilaria Petrucci to the Photography Series this month. Ilaria is a free soul and captures photographs that make you feel what is going on in the moment.  She is truly an inspiration and I have enjoyed getting to know her.  Please enjoy this amazing photographer! 

What is your Name? Ilaria Petrucci (Italian, in case you are wondering )

What is the name of your blog and photography business? Ilaria Petrucci Photography

Where are you located? I am based near London but always happy to travel and explore new places. I love exploring! On my top list of places I would love to shoot a wedding at are Santorini, Tuscany and Venice!


 4. How did you get interested in photography/how long have you been
 shooting? I always have been the "paparazzi" of the group but never thought I could do this professionally. Until I worked at my first wedding ever as a third shooter and fell in love with capturing weddings straight away.
It was almost like finding my “belong to” place and since then it has been the most amazing journey!

 5. What do you shoot with (Canon, Nikon, Sony, etc) I am a canon girl.


6. What is your favorite lens? I love prime lenses, just LOVE them. I shoot weddings with my 35mm 1.4, 50mm 1.2 and 85mm 1.8. At the moment I am just so in love with my 35mm!

 7. How do you edit your photos? I learn from very earlier on to get it right in camera rather than relying on editing. That's where my strength is, in shooting, not in photoshop. My editing is very minimal as I like to keep my images as real and natural as possible. I am not a fun of filters and special post production effect, I just use light when shooting to give me everything I need.
Post production I do most of the editing in Lightroom and final adjustments in Photoshop if needed.

 8. What is your favorite type of photography to shoot? I want to photograph love and connections, intimacy and in the moment-moments. I love to photograph people, people and more people!

 9. How did you find out about the FCA? A beautiful fellow photographer and friend of mine recommended it to me and she talked about it with so much excitement she totally enrolled me into looking into it and when I did, I loved it and still do.

 10. What does the FCA mean to you and how has it helped you grow your business? I am still one of the newest members and only at Module 3 but so far it has given me huge insights into what type of business I really want to create and pushed me to have the courage to pursue it. Everyone in the Facebook group is so lovely and really always happy to help and share, which is refreshing!

 11. What are some good tips for upcoming photographers that are trying
 to get started in the business? My tip would be to forget about what everyone else is doing and do YOU. There is no right or wrong, if there was, what would be the point? Create a business that is an extension of you and who you are. It is so easy to lose yourself into looking through endless “inspiration” online. I found that nothing would kill my real inspiration more than looking for it in someone else’s work. When I first started I would turn up to a shoot with a lot of images in my mind only to go completely blank as soon I started shooting. Now, I turn up with myself and with my words in my mind and this allow me to be fully self-expressed and create work that comes from me rather than being a copy of other peoples work.

 12. Be creative and let your juices flow.  Is there anything fun about
 the type of photography that you do/what drives you to do
 photography.  To me, photographing people is my way to spread beauty in the world. To show people how beautiful they really are and to create images that will make you fall in love with everything about you and your life over and over again. That make you recall memories and emotions, a moment that you couldn’t recall otherwise.
This is the gift I was to be and give to my couples.

 13. Facebook: www.facebook.com/ilariapetrucciphotography
     Instagram: @ilaria_petrucciphoto
     Twitter: @ilariaphoto_
     Website: www.ilariapetrucci.co.uk
     Blog: www.ilariapetrucci.co.uk

If you would like to be featured in the Photography Series please contact me at sarahjteague@gmail.com

Big South Fork, TN

So this past weekend we decided to head to Big South Fork, TN to ride horses for the weekend.

I have never been here so I was excited to check out the trails.  All I can say is I wish we had been able to stay for an entire week to see much more of the beautiful trails.

Friday was spent all day driving, cooking supper, and setting up camps.

Saturday morning we got up early and fixed a HUGE breakfast.  Then we hit the trails.

First stop was the over look.  I can' even explain how beautiful this overlook was.  It felt like you were standing on the edge of the world.

The cliffs judding out over the gorge below was one of the most beautiful views I had ever seen.

Then we climbed back on and headed down into the gorge.  We followed one of the creeks until it came into a huge river.

Once into the river we decided we were going to walk across until my horse decided to walk on a huge rock that flipped and we almost went under.

Luckily he got his footing back and we just decided to stay on our side of the river.

By this time the horses were getting tired so we decided to head back to camp.

On the way back Lindsay decided to let her horse stop in one of the creeks to get a sip.  As she stepped into the creek her horse marred up in the sand.  She went belly deep but she got out and both of them were good to go.

After a long day of riding, we hosed the horses off and turned them out into the small pastures to play and chill for a bit.

I couldn't have asked for a better trip.  These ladies definetely made it a lot of fun.  I can't wait to go back next year.

Thank you to Saddle Valley Campground in Jamestown, TN for being such a great host and letting us spend three wonderful days there.