| Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— |
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| I took the one less traveled by, |
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| And that has made all the difference.
-Robert Frost |
This past weekend David and I made a trip to Boone, NC which has always been one of my favorite little snow towns. We had to deliver a car to a couple there and made a little adventure of it.. as we always find a way to do. We’ve been talking so much lately about life and the adventure that we want it to be. Life is about the living and the doing and the loving. It’s about doing what you were made to do. I once heard one of my favorite pastors, John Piper, speak about glorifying God with what you were made to do. The birds glorify the God that created them by their beautiful singing and their soaring. The trees glorify God by swaying, growing and dying. We glorify God by doing what we were made to do… living, walking, breathing, loving and laughing. This was a weekend where I fully felt as if I was alive and really living. Life isn’t about the silly negativeness or the petty foolishness.. be very careful of this… find it, cut it out and really live! In our conversations about life, David and I are making some really big plans that we can’t wait to see happen! Stay tuned over the next few years as we make our dreams happen and attempt to fill our lives with amazing memories and people. Don’t only stay tuned… but go make a LIFE of your own! It’s never too late to chase your dream and make changes to your life to add the positive! Go for it! Go do what you were made to do!
This post is filled with snowy winter wonderland goodness! Since it was 60 degrees in Knoxville and about the same in Johnson City we thought it would be so much fun to go on a great hike on part of the Appalachian Trail while in NC! So I packed my favorite tennis shoes and shorts and I took David to one of my favorite outdoor places in that area.. the balds on Roan Mt. As we drove up the mountain we found SNOW and the snow kept getting deeper and deeper and deeper! Laughing the entire ride up, we finally made it to the top. Here we were in our tennis shoes, short sleeved shirts and non-snow gear! Luckily we had our suitcase with us and made a quick change. It was also surprisingly warm and we were not alone! So many people came to enjoy the mountain.. but they were properly attired. 
What a BEAUTIFUL place this was! It was a tough hike but very relaxing with the sun and the snow. We stopped and talked with several people there.. some with their dogs.. others with their kids.. and some just stopped to ask questions about our camera. We met one young couple who had just camped the night before on Grassy Bald, which was at the end of our hike. They had such a blast and it really gave us the itch to do this same! At the highest point of our hike there was clearly 1.5 ft. of snow!! In some places MORE! This was an incredible journey and the views were breathtaking. A few times we stopped to just sit and look out at the beauty. It’s incredible to know God loves us so much to give us the gift of something so beautiful and to bring glory to Him. Enjoy the breathtaking wonder!!!
this was the road up..
the trail was covered by the snow so we just made our own way up… shhh..
and then there was an apple
I love the face on the right.
the campers I talked about in the post…
a species of goat had recently disappeared from it’s habitat here… an organization placed this here to bring awareness to this
This is going to be a very shorty mcshort post today because I’ve GOT to start packing for our little mini-vaca to North Carolina. We should be leaving pronto! That being said this is a post I’ve been wanting to have the chance to do for a few months now! Over the last year I have been shooting weddings, sessions and such using a canon backpack. I can’t explain to you how very frustrating this has been! I usually have 2-3 lenses with me at all times so when it comes time to change I can be spotted slinging, unzipping, dropping this backpack over and over and over again. Can we say HASSLE?? On my hunt for a new bag my requirements were: 1.) the bag must be at my side at arms reach at all times, 2.) the bag must not have a zipper access to my lenses/extra camera 3.) it must be comfortable, 4.) and last but CERTAINLY not least.. it must be very attractive! After not searching very long I found EXACTLY what I was looking for in the new Kelly Moore Bag! I also love that when I’m traveling, people have no idea I’m carrying thousands of $$ in equipment because my huge bag no longer says CANON across the front. It’s the perfect carry-on. I’m beyond thrilled with this purchase and can’t wait to use it this wedding season! Get your own here —> KellyMooreBag.com
Once the bag finally came out of the box the first thing she wanted to do was tour this awesome city of Knoxville…. so that’s exactly what we did! Enjoy our little mini-trip around the city below! Yes, I’m a goofball.. full blown and proud of it! Enjoy!!
my pure joy excitement of having the new bag!
Kelly Moore bag @ the Tennessee Theater
Cheering on the VOLS!
Becoming more cultured at the Museum of Art!
waiting for the bus!
You can’t visit Knox-vegas without seeing the Sun Sphere! Thank you 1982 World’s Fair!
Yes, we did.
Not only is she cute and stylish but she’s TOUGH too! Hope you’re enjoying this FAB day!!!
Hanging from the cork-board in my office is a long list of “must haves” for our growing little business. It’s been beyond exciting to cross off each item over the last few months. And, yes I’ve danced a little dance after each little black mark was made for things such a lenses, camera bags, an iMac, Crazybooth Manual, Adobe products and the most exciting recent purchase… a 35 spread SoHo album from Renaissance that is in the mail as I type! That one got a BIG dance move as we crossed it out (maybe a little running man).
Next on the list? Lighting for the “Crazybooth” which we’re still brainstorming a swag name for AND a few Photoshop Actions I’ve had my eyes on. In the search for the best Actions out there I downloaded a few free samples from a highly recommended website. I’ve been testing them out and so far, like what I see. In the search for “LHP’s photographic style” I’ve found that the fewer color enhancements, the better. I really like clean, sharp, non-colorwashed images. When I import my images to Lightroom I love to boost the color that is already there, but tend to steer clear of over editing these days. I used to love love love the antique look and play around with split toning… not so much anymore. This is an exciting discovery on this search for what I want my style and brand to be. That being said, I’d still like to have a few options in my back pocket to play with from time to time. I also hear this website I’m going to mention has GREAT sharpening tools. That’s what I’m really after!
The website is: www.gettotallyrad.com
They have been suggested to me by more than one person. Yesterday, I downloaded a few free samplings and this is what I got:
#1
#2
#3 my favorite
I used that last one on the latest series I posted. So, what do you think?
It seems every time I sit down to write a blog post the sun comes out from it’s favorite place to be these days… behind the clouds. Maybe I should blog more often, eh?
This is Kelli and Brad Holt. One of the couples that agreed to be my guinea pigs for some things I’ve wanted to try. What a sweet couple! The more I talked to Kelli the more I found we had in common. We even traveled to the same remote community in the bush of Africa and made the same friends with the women there. After experiencing something as life impacting as that trip it’s difficult to really explain the experience. It’s so exciting to find someone to talk about it with who completely understands. I hope to have the chance to go again and this time, take my best friend so we can share those memories together. Yay for Kenya!
Kelli and Brad are so sweet and seriously so in love. Watching them reminded us of newlywed times and reminded us how lucky we are to still share that after almost 4 years of marriage. They never wasted an opportunity to hold the other’s hand. And my goodness… they were up for anything! There’s a shot in the series that could only be achieved by them standing in harms way. Several times they had to bolt as oncoming cars were racing around the corner! Because of their fearlessness I snapped one of my favorite shots of all time (the one with them standing in front of the tunnels). Hats off to a great couple!
They have long term plans of one day moving the Knoxville which we’re super pumped about! We will surely become friends.
A few of the first shots of this series were used to experiment with new PhotoShop Actions I downloaded from Totally Rad Actions. So, if you’re wondering about the color in the first set, that’s where it came from. The next post I write will be about the free Actions and what I think of them. Leave a comment to let me know what YOU think! Thanks for stopping by!
I love the face on the right. 
a species of goat had recently disappeared from it’s habitat here… an organization placed this here to bring awareness to this
by Lori
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