we're baaaaaaaack!

is it august already!? the wedding has come and gone, we're home, settled and unpacked, married life is great, and it's time to get back to work! (no offense, but i already miss jamaica.)

although i'm working already (just did not one, but TWO fabulous weddings last weekend), i thought i'd take a minute to share the photos that so many of you have asked to see.



i also wanted to say a great big THANK YOU to carol, joe, and the ladies at conway photo & print shop for giving alan and i the greatest gift we could ever receive - a lifetime of memories of the craziest, most exciting, most blur of a day of our lives. we could not be happier with the result!

and yes, this is really me raving about another photographer on my photography blog. every photographer has those that they admire, and carol is and will always be at the top of my list. thanks again!!!

BAAAAD, bad photographer!

if someone had said to me, "allison, you better slow down on work if you want to get your own wedding plans done," i probably wouldn't have listened anyway. so here i am, doing both as hard and fast as i can. :) that's where i've been...so sorry for being so slack on the blog. i have SO many fun stories and photos to share! here they come!!!

hey sandfoot, WHERE are you NOW?

i understand that it's kinda ridiculous for me to create a post without images. i'm a photographer. photographs are what i do. i know, i know. the photos are backed up and waiting in line to hit the blog and i can promise that i've got some great stories and beautiful faces to show in the next couple of days. hang with me - first thing's first!

i've already dubbed 2009 as "the year of change." (hopefully not the kind that jingles in your pocket, but the kind that brings excitement, challenges, growth, and new opportunities for us all.) i just made my first change of the year last week, and i thought it deserved some quick recognition of it's own before i dove back into the good stuff.

on february 1, i moved to roxboro. for those of you who know me well, you might be thinking, "what's the big deal about that? you've moved once a year since 2002. what's the difference?" but you see, this time there IS a difference. for the last 6 years i've moved from home to college, from dorm room to apartment, from apartment to house, from house to apartment, from apartment to apartment, and so on. everytime i moved, i moved with the knowledge that i'd be moving again soon...probably to another corner of the triangle. hey, i'm young and flexible, why not try it all, right?

i've loved parts of chapel hill, raleigh, cary, and durham, and had i not found such a fun and handsome best friend to marry me and drag me out of there, i probably could have continued to be content in whatever corner of the triangle world would have come next. but then, i didn't say 2009 was the year of content...i said it was the year of change.

i've been in roxboro one week now and i could not be happier with the thought of living here for the rest of my life. i didn't realize how much i'd missed home cookin', sunday afternoons, completely southern accents, and being part of a tight community until i found it again here. so thanks roxboro, for welcoming me into your family. my camera and i are here to stay!

and finally, to answer the number 1 question of all of my triangle friends and clients - it changes nothing. sandfoot photography will still operate in your area - you're not getting rid of my face (or my camera) anytime soon. ;)

xoxo all around,
allison

happy happy new year!

now that i'm back from the wonderful madness of the holidays, i'm so very excited to welcome 2009 - i'm calling it the year of change. aside from the millions and millions of weddings coming up this year (half of them friends, half of them clients, and one of them...well, me!), it seems like everyone else i know is either anticipating the arrival of a new baby, changing jobs, or moving...wait, that's me too (just the moving part, not the baby or the job this time thank goodness).

so, in the spirit of another wild and crazy whirl around the sun, happy happy new year to you and yours! i hope it's filled with as many wonderful memories as you can fit into 365 days. don't forget the CAMERA!

i'm still here...promise!

whew! with the end of my '08 wedding season, i expected to have more time on my hands to catch up on other things - i couldn't have been more wrong. i'm not complaining, just leading up to a big apology for neglecting my blog. SORRY! i'll be posting a series of images to make up for it. here's the first.

when my crazy friend and favorite wedding planner, nikol murphy of chantoosie events called me before her session and said her boys had been feeling kinda icky that morning, i wasn't sure what to expect. i like my kids wild and smiley, but this session taught me that it's not always such a bad thing to catch 'em on a day when they're mild...nikol swears that the angels i saw in our session don't always show their wings. :)

this is my favorite. not that i like to make kids cry, but i think it sums up the day and i hope that one day when the boys bring home dates to mom and dad, this will be one treasured photograph that comes out with the embarrassing bathtub pics.

i'm in love with downtown apex! thanks so much to the apex fire department for having us, and to conner and tucker for hanging in there. murphy's, let's do it again soon!!!

joining the brides-to-be!

forgive me for the long post - this one's pretty important.

can this be real? i've spent so much time with brides-to-be over the last year that it's been hard not to think about the possibility that i might get to actually be one someday...still, not wanting to jinx it, i've done a pretty good job at keeping my mouth shut and my mind on everyone else's weddings! well guess what - it's MY turn. :)

i met alan a little over 6 years ago at hanes mall in greensboro. neither of us remember many details. i was 17 and spending a week with girls from all across the state to prepare for the north carolina junior miss program. one of those girls happened to be from roxboro and as she and i quickly realized that we had more small town north carolina in our blood than concern for our fitness routine, we became inseperable. on a quick break from rehearsals and interviews, the girls hit the mall. half the town of roxboro had already arrived to watch their very own junior miss - stacey - hit the stage that night, and alan was right there to cheer her on...with an airhorn. airhorns are now banned from the junior miss program.

over the next few years of college i made countless trips to roxboro with stacey to visit her hometown. alan never failed to show up when i was around. after years of playing hard-to-get, it finally hit me like a ton of bricks that i had no choice - he was "it." one year ago yesterday, july 20, 2007, alan and i ended up at the same concert in raleigh. brad paisley. that's where i told him that i quit. and i did...i quit pretending that he was not absolutely made for me - cut-off sleeves, pick-up truck, and all.

we had no choice but to celebrate our anniversary at the brad paisley concert. because this time around i'm a wedding photographer, and would be working cara & martin's big day (photos coming soon) on saturday during the raleigh show, we headed to charlotte friday night.

i'm a smart girl, and i expected that something would happen sooner or later. still, i believed him when he couldn't eat much at dinner because "the food was too spicy and that energy drink made him feel funny." when he rushed me to get to the concert waaay before it started, i considered the possibility, but convinced myself that those backstage passes that he picked up (courtesy of mr. andy griffith, brad paisley's hero and a frequent customer at my family's butcher shop in nags head) were the one and only reason he was so worked up.

the concert was just as awesome as it was last year. when brad sang about how "it's time to put a ring on the finger i'm wrapped around" followed directly by my favorite - everything, and NOTHING happened, every suspicion i had disappeared and i knew i'd be waiting for another day.

after the show, we lined up with 68 other fans at the backstage gate for the meet and greet. since i knew where the passes came from, i recognized the initials "ag" on the bottom corner of our passes. the guard noticed those initials too and asked us to step to the side, we would be going in to meet brad last...after the crowd was gone. 20 minutes later, we were standing face to face with brad paisley (who knew the plan all along). after a little small talk and a quick photo, alan proceeded to stutter through our story. before i knew it he was on his knee, my brain stopped working, and thank GOODNESS that photographer kept snapping.

visit the tour blog at http://www.bradpaisley.com/ for their (much shorter) version of the night. this photo is courtesy of the tour blog.

thanks mr. griffith and mr. paisley for helping to make this the most special night of our lives. now we just need to know if brad wants to sing at the ceremony or the reception. :)

my biggest fan...busted

when someone new discovers that i'm a photographer, a series of questions usually follows: what kind of camera do you have? did you go to school for that? who's your favorite photographer? what's your favorite photograph of all time?

i usually tell them that i work with a canon, i took a few classes, and then rattle off a list of some of the greats - annie leibovitz, sally mann, etc. it's that last question that i usually can't answer. it's like someone asking about my favorite song. it depends on the day. my mind might jump from bon jovi to joss stone to george strait to chris brown in a span of 15 seconds.

maybe it's selfish, but today, this is my favorite photograph of all time.

i grew up lucky enough to have an awesome family behind me in everything that i did (or attempted to do). a little more than a year ago when i called home to say "i'm quitting my job and i'm going to be a photographer," my daddy said "if this is what you want to do, then do it. i'm behind you."

last weekend when every head in the room was turned on the most important woman of the day, one man was looking right back at the camera. there was all kinds of love in the room that day.

thanks daddy for believing. you're sitting in the back of the church next time!

a DAY in the life

not long ago a normal work day for me began at 8:30 and ended after 5. i'd get up from my desk, leave the office, and come back the next day to do it all again. it was a good life, but when it comes to interesting excitement, this life knocks that one out of the park.

last saturday i began my workday in on my favorite campus in chapel hill at 8 a.m. with heather and chase. this pretty pretty couple will be married on january 31st and i guarantee that it will be as sweet and as much fun as they are. love you two!

at 10 a.m. i headed over to hasentree, an luxury development just off of highway 98 in raleigh, to capture the grand opening of the family activity center. residents gathered at the pool for a full day of activities, music, and food to celebrate their surroundings and socialize. i documented their entire day until 5 p.m. did i mention it was 102 degrees?

"by the way," i was told, "we'll have a helicoptor here for you at 3:30 for you to take some aerial photographs of the community." no sweat.

when my watch hit 5, i hit a shower (thank goodness for the locker room in the hasentree fac!) because at 6, i was scheduled to be energized and smell nice with a camera in hand at the north carolina education ball.

benefitting our state's school children through communities in schools of north carolina, this is one of my favorite yearly charity events in the triangle. the evening took place at the progress energy center for performing arts. it began with a progressive dinner and silent auction, followed by a live auction, (a false fire alarm...oops), and some incredible performances by the perfect mix of local students and professional entertainers including tina fabrique, brandi massey, michelle jennings, scott pearson and more. i had a front row seat for the show that made me love my line of work even more - even at the end of such a long day!

high and mighty

there are lots of perks to being a photographer. i get to meet interesting people, capture their moments, and give them a memory that they can't possibly forget - at least not unless they destroy the evidence...then again, i always keep an extra copy. ;)

as staff photographer for both wake living and fifteen501 magazines i've had several opportunities to shoot some exciting stuff. i had one of those chances on monday when we took a ride with ed fritsch, president and ceo of highwoods properties, to the top of the brand-spankin'- new rbc plaza - so new in fact that i noticed a few walls were missing.

rbc plaza, expected to be completed in late 2008, will soon boast the title of the tallest tower in downtown raleigh. when the elevator stopped on the 23rd floor (the lowest floor of residential space in the mixed-use tower), mr. fritsch pointed to a condominium balcony and noted that "this is the worst view in the entire building." that "worst view" was breathtaking. he then stopped to borrow my camera and snap a shot of me in dreamland.

back to the elevator we went (did i mention that the elevator is currently hanging from the OUTSIDE of the building?) and up to the top. so my answer is no, this was not taken from a helicopter. and yes...this is the first photo shoot i've done in a hard hat!

Where It All Began

i didn't "just know" that i wanted to be a photographer. i've always liked to do lots of things. over the years i've wanted to write novels, play the piano, dance on stage with janet jackson, and work in a fancy new york pr firm. later, as a journalism student at my favorite university on the planet, i was fortunate enough to take a trip across the ocean and spent 5 weeks in florence, italy. i took my first art classes there just for fun, and one of those happened to be photography. i fell in love.

i returned to chapel hill in a panic. i was working toward the wrong degree, i thought. i was supposed to be an art student. i was supposed to be a photographer. public relations?! what was i doing? in the end i opted to continue with my pr degree. after all, i needed a real job.

it took me nearly 3 years to figure it out.

there i was, running with the big dogs and working my way up that slippery corporate ladder when again - just for fun - i offered to take a few engagement photos for some friends on the beach. we had a blast that afternoon and without even really trying, came home with a gorgeous set of fun, sweet, real portraits that didn't just document the soon-to-be-married couple...they showed who they really are.

that afternoon in the middle of a shot, i looked over to my left and saw a family walking down the beach with a professional photographer. oh yeah, this is a real job. at that moment i knew that i had to make it happen. life is too short not to give it a shot.