Bright and early on Saturday morning, Shawn and I headed down to Old Town, Alexandria to meet up with Kristin, Andrew, and their fluffy pup, Murdock. We also had our friend Karen with us to keep an eye on Murdock, and Andrew's cousin, Frank, was there to catch all of the Pokémon that were encountered, haha! Kristin and Andrew's session was the first time that we were meeting in person. For their initial consultation, we had a Google Hangout's call that lasted over an hour, so I had an idea that when we officially met, we would be very fast friends. I'm not sure if it was the donuts that they brought to the session or just how sweet of a couple they are (probably a mix of both), but it immediately felt like we've known them for years. It made the entire session easy and comfortable. Wandering around the empty streets of Old Town was a total goldmine. Every single corner, alley, and building offered something new and exciting. Whether it was a pop of color or an interesting roadway, we could have spent 10 hours just exploring all of the nooks and crannies of the small city. I loved that we got to this location at sunrise, because that allowed us the opportunity to avoid crowds that would have definitely distracted Murdock. Instead, he was a true model that complemented Kristin and Andrew's power couple status. For the second half of the session, we took a 5...

It always fascinates me with how close we get to meeting our "other half" for the first time, but we don't actually interact with them until a much later because of life and timing. Chelsea and Ryan know this well, since they even shared a backyard, yet didn't formally meet until a mutual friend introduced them. It's pretty interesting to think about how life goes along until the perfect time when paths can cross, and everything can work out perfectly. I had been eager to meet these two since Chelsea and I started emailing last year. Both of them live in Saint Croix, so our meet up had to wait for a little bit until they both returned back to Maryland. I can totally understand it not happening too frequently, since I'm sure their families always want to come to them, haha! Shawn and I are definitely envious of their island life :P. While we were emailing, Chelsea mentioned that since her and Ryan both attended The University of Maryland, College Park, they wanted their engagement photos to have the beautiful campus as their backdrop. I had never gotten the chance to shoot at the university, so I was definitely looking forward to their session. From the moment that Shawn and I pulled up, I could tell that every piece of the school was going to be fabulous. The grounds were well kept, and the colonial architecture of every single building was breath taking. Every second with Chelsea, Ryan...

No, this post isn't covering every single off-season weekend in the Squire household. If I went over the entire winter we've had that would be an incredibly long post and mostly just talking about how staying up to play the video game The Witness messed up our sleep cycle after a few late nights working the different puzzles. I have to thank my friend, Marlayna, for the game recommendation and subsequent obsession that Shawn and I now have :P. When we weren't busy drawing puzzle solutions, we spent a good portion of our Saturday and Sunday outside running around with our Pony pup. Thank goodness for the amazing weather, because we had been wanting to take Pony hiking since we first started the process of adopting him. We chose to stay close to home for this first adventure and went to Patapsco Valley's Cascade Falls Trail. Since Sunday was basically a preview of Spring, the hike to the waterfall was fun, easy, and I was able to take photos! (Something that wasn't fun, though, was figuring out that our little angel needs leash training.) We also got to take Pony to his very first dog park for his BFF, Benny's, first birthday party. Happy belated birthday to that adorable little furbaby :D! While these relaxing weekends are nice to recharges our batteries, Shawn and I are looking forward to the 2016 weddings and engagement shoots. I've been reading up and attending a lot of educational webinars that I know...

This blog has been such a long time coming. I have been wanting to formally introduce our dog, Pony, for a while now. I'm kind of glad I waited, though, because over the past 7 months we have gotten to know all of his goofy quirks and build up a semi-obsessive photo collection of him.  We adopted Pony (formally known as Indie) from a wonderful organization called PapAdopters. Our journey to puppy-hood was not easy, because we fell in love with a dog on the opposite side of the country. Shawn and I had always said "we'll get a dog when we have a house", but that never stopped us from Internet window shopping different local rescue sites, or making lists of what the perfect dog would be. While Internet looking, I came across Indie's photo. Something inside me just knew, and as soon as I showed Shawn, he knew as well: this was our dog. Reading what he had been through was heart-breaking. Indie was a 2 year old Papillon mix from California. The organizers at PapAdopters told us that they believe he was in a hoarding situation with almost 200 other dogs. He was malnourished, dirty, and his tail was stained yellow from having to sit in his own mess. Our hearts broke for him and I cried after hearing all that had happened to him since no animal should suffer through that. We carefully filled out the application, and heard back the next day...

We met up with Kati and Chris on a cool November morning at St. John's College in Annapolis. Though it was a sunrise session, these two showed up with bright smiles and a wonderful positive glow around them. They also brought along their sweet goldendoodle, Dempsey, who is so goofy and charming that you cannot help but laugh when you see him. We were just into the first few minutes of the session when the cops came and hauled us off to campus jail... Just kidding! Although we did have to take Dempsey off campus grounds, the security guard was totally nice about it and even hung around for a little to talk to us about how adorable dogs are. (Shout out to that awesome guy!) Once we stepped off campus, Dempsey he made his triumphantly adorable return for the rest of the session :). Shawn and I loved wandering around downtown with these three, chatting about how nice of a day it was and about their proposal. Kati and Chris showed us just how crazy their height difference with a reenactment of Chris on one knee (so funny!). We made stops at the State House, Ego Alley, and then the William Paca House and Gardens. There was some construction  going on out front of the house, which meant that the workers on this fall day got a nice little glimpse of romance, haha. Kati and Chris are so cute and fit together so well that they look...

A beautiful couple with beautiful doggies in a beautiful location; could there be anything better? Rocks State Park is such a great location on its own, but whenever I get to shoot in a place that is special to a couple, that location becomes even more amazing! We started off this wonderful engagement session with a visit to this really cool waterfall. Since it was such a great day out, there were loads of swimmers all around the waterfall, but Cal and Emily did not let that affect their model posing. I could almost forget the people around us, except for all the splashing, haha! As Shawn stayed back to hang on to the pups by the waterfall, Emily, Cal, and I traveled up the river and really explored more of the area. I just cannot say enough about this location. It was so green and bright - the perfect indication that Spring is here to stay! Our next stop was to the King and Queen Chairs where the dogs were let loose to have fun! This area was gorgeous, and had a spectacular view of the park below us. As long as no one thought of how far up we were, or looked over the edge of the rock cliff, we were totally fine! The three dogs - Sarge, Harvey, and Pickles - acted as my assistants in getting Emily and Cal to burst with laughter. At one point, Emily and Cal were off being cute and as I...

This Christmas was pretty cool. I received a lot of great camera stuff from my mom and step-dad and even got a Kinect from them too! What was more fun than the things I got was the fact that the previous night I had spent the whole day with parents and, since I usually stay next door at my grandma's house, I spent the night in my old room. It was a lot of fun getting to wake up on Christmas, go into my parent's room, and bug them at 7:30am, instead of having to call them, and then walk over, and blah blah blah boring stuff! Unfortunately, my mom wouldn't wake up, so I had to sit for 30 minutes with my dog, Thor, by the Christmas tree. I started thinking how his health and spunk haven't been what they use to be and that he's already 10 years old. I decided right there that I would show how Thor's Christmas went, it was a fun little project for the morning and helped past the time while my mom and step-dad slept (but seriously? Who sleeps on Christmas?).   Thor waiting patiently (much better than me) FINALLY! Mom woke up! Ready for presentssssssss   Hahaha   Wasting nooo time (he also stole a lot of his Busy Bones behind our backs)   After chowing on his treats, it was time for breakfast. But Thor's begging got him kicked out of the kitchen :P Thanking Mom for his...