Oh man!! Have you ever typed out the best story ever told that was so long but worth it and then your computer looses connection?? THIS JUST HAPPENED! I’ve got this HILARIOUS story I’m going to share in tomorrow’s blog because I can’t possibly sit here a type it all out again! Man.. frustration here at the Hensley House!

Anyway..  being able to post these next shots makes things all better.  Tonya, who is a photographer in the Johnson City area, called me up a few months ago with this killer idea! Since her dress was just sitting in the closet.. why not put it to good use and get some great pictures at the same time. I’ve seen a-many trash-the-dress sessions.. most of which were beyond cheesy so I’ve always replied to anyone interested in a “Trash The Dress” session, “Only if you REALLY want to trash it! None of this wading in the water stuff.” Sometimes I get another email.. sometimes I don’t. So, if after seeing these you want to do the same BRING IT ON! I’d love love love to! However, you better be ready to really trash the thing.. I’m thinking: rain storm, dirt, beach/sand, gallons of paint being thrown at you, ripping, burning… trashing the thing! If interested.. let me know! Think of the dirtiest place possible and I’ll meet you there!

This idea was all the brainchild of my new friend Tonya. I couldn’t wait to shoot this “rockstar” session from the moment we got off the phone. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did!

Location: Bristol, TN

Listening pleasure while blogging today: Vampire Weekend

Ready … set… Wedding Season!! For 6 months it’s all I’ve been able to think about and it’s finally here! I couldn’t be more excited! Now it’s time for all the lists, scheduling and equipment purchases to do their work.

Megan and Wells are saying “I DO” in June and their wedding is going to be stunning! The duo are Alabama alums and still live in the Tuscaloosa/Birmingham area. They met and fell in love on campus so it only makes sense to shoot their engagement session there. I always try to get my couples to choose a session location that means something to them.. or has special memories attached. Sometimes that ends up being an ice-cream shop in some obscure part of town.. in which case we’ll take a few shots there and then head to a more visually pleasing part of town! Not for this session! As much as it pains this VOL fan to say it.. Alabama has a beautiful beautiful campus. All the buildings have a pre-war feel and in the middle of everything is a gorgeous park called the Quad. I was in photographer heaven.  It helped that Wells used to be a campus tour guide so not only did we get to take in all the beauty we had a history lesson as well! It was a great evening all around! This couple is so in love and inspired me in so many ways! Megan also inspired my sweet-tooth by making the most amazing sweet scones I’ve ever had! Thanks Megan!

One a short side note I spent a morning this week listening to a recording of a WPPI session speech given by the very inspirational Jesh De Rox! This guy oozes inspiration and creativity and on top of that humililty. So many GREATS in the photo world are truly great.. and know they’re great.. so you end up loving loving their work.. but not so much the person. Jesh seems to have it down and his work rocks! Anyway.. his talk was about an amazing trick/method of shooting a couple.. that he just “stumbled” apon. He challenged his convention goers to stop worrying so much and trying to force a shot to look natural and pose the couple to allude to their deep love… but to lead the couple into really falling in love all over again right in front of you. Sounds silly, I know. As Jesh spoke he truley revealed he has stumbled on something amazing! I feel so enriched and blessed to have even listened to the hour long talk… and I would fully fully encourage you to do the same! He dubbed his theory “Beloved” and has a PDF you can purchase given specific details to achieving this on his site here —> CLICK

Enjoy the so in love Megan and Wells.. and look forward to their wedding in June here in Knoxville!

sing it with me… love love love.. is the most beautiful thing….

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! ;)