We had the super-duper honor of preserving our friends’ Jon and Abigail’s wedding memories. We’ve known Jon for a while now and of course, not only was it a pleasure to participate in such a beautiful day, but we couldn’t be happier that Jon and Abigail found each other. You know, life is too short to not find that special better half, and whenever we get to be a part of that union, it’s very satisfying to see two people who have found each other and will be going through life together as one.

Abigail started her day at her sister’s house, where she got ready. What a beautiful bride! Abigail is from Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico. And her sister has this beautiful statue of the Aztec calendar, which made the perfect backdrop for the ring shot. Cool, huh!

 

 

Gotta love the shoes!

 

Getting ready….

 

Jon and Abigail exchanged vows at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Naples, Florida. What a beautiful church and look at the pride in her eyes….

 

The happy newlyweds! Congratulations Jon and Abi!!!

 

So in love….

 

Didn’t I say she was a natural beauty…..Abigail really made my work easy for me!

 

I LOVE this shot…

 

Off to our favorite beach for some sandy pictures…

 

 

So dramatic…I love the beaches here in Naples!

 

And then we made our way to Grandezza Country Club in Naples, where Jon and Abigail had a fabulous reception. I got some major Hurrell-inspiration when I shot these in the balcony in front of the club. I just LOVE dramatic lighting and this image is really something to see as a print! The entire series is breath-taking….

 

A close-up from this series.

 

You guys make my job so easy!

 

Wow is all I can say….

 

The official grand entrance! I love this formal portrait. The colors really give it a bit of je ne sais quoi!

 

Ok, this is probably my favorite of the entire day. Just look at the awesomeness Jon and Abi exude here….they look like royalty!!

 

Some of the details inside the Grandezza Club….yes, this is during the holidays! Remember, fine art like this doesn’t happen overnight!

 

Love the classic and very elegant touch of style that Abi brought to everything she touched…

 

A romantic moment during their first-dance…

 

Their cake, like everything else, seemed to GLOW…..

 

An end to a fabulously unforgettable night. Congratulations to you both! We can’t think of a better match…..!

Tags: Florida Weddings, Naples Florida weddings by Astrid
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Rene and I wanted to wish our mom’s a wonderful Mother’s Day.

Being parents ourselves now, we can really appreciate all the many sacrifices our mothers have made for us throughout their lives. And as parents, nothing is more important to us than our girls. And there is no greater job than being a mother. Really, though. I feel such pride for being a mother and while it’s the toughest job I will ever have to do, it’s the most rewarding in so many ways. My girls are the source of my pride, joy, laughter and love. And my role as a mother reminds me of just how lucky we both are because we have such wonderful moms. If it weren’t for our moms, we wouldn’t be the people we are today and the parents we have become.

Thanks moms! We love you so very much and truly appreciate all the love, patience, pride and strength you have in us. The world is such a better place because of moms and we should all celebrate Mother’s Day, every day! Moms ROCK!

~Astrid and Rene~

Tags: ramblings... by Astrid
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It’s getting too hot to enjoy camping comfortably down in these parts of Florida. So our last camping trip before summer sets in was a really a wonderful one. We took a week off and headed up to the Oscar Scherer State Part, in Sarasota, Florida, ready to explore our world!

What a lovely park! And we had a great camping spot, too. Nice big backyard of dense coverage with a trail that lead in, perfect for setting up chairs and lounging around a campfire, away from civilization. The park is really quite lovely, just like the other parks around Southern Florida. Lots of Oak trees, covered in Spanish Moss. The bathrooms and showers were sparkling clean, and the campground hosts were very friendly and made sure everyone felt at home.

We saw an abundance of Cardinals here. Their brilliant red colors stood out vibrantly from the greens and golds of their surroundings. They have a great song, too. I love those birds and it was great to be surrounded by them at any hour of the day.

Since we had a lot of time to kill during the hot hours of the day, we headed into the town, Sarasota. I’m no stranger to this town. We lived here for 4 years while I went to Ringling School of Art and Design for my degree in photography. It’s a neat town, home to St. Armands, the Ringling Museum, the Medieval fair and lots of other art-related activities and centers.

It was great to see my alma mater, too. It was especially wonderful to see how much the school has grown both in size and in offerings. If you are serious about art, whether it be photography or interior design or computer arts, I recommend Ringling highly!

So what camping trip wouldn’t be complete without pictures? I did a flare picture of course (for those of you new to our blog, I love to shoot flare pictures)! But for the most part, my photographic challenge during this camping trip was reflections. I wanted to focus on a different part of the scene this time. And while reflections are hardly anything new as a photographic subject, I haven’t played around with them too much. And I like shooting things I don’t usually do on my off time.

So on with the goods! My first shot here is probably one of my favorites of the park. You have to drive over a lovely one-lane wooden bride to get to the campground. So on one of our exploratory missions, I jumped down and below the bridge for this shot. I love the angles and texture here. And I didn’t find any trolls under this bridge!

 

This is one of the first reflections studies I made. I like that you can’t really see the ground here, and if you do find it, it’s all the way at the top!

 

And what would a trip to the great outdoors be without some lovely flare? Here I was practicing some post-production in Photoshop, too. I wanted to create some rainbow-ish flare color.

 

The contrast of color in the woods is fantastic. Most striking are the contrasts of deep reds and greens.

 

Another study on reflections. I love the mystery I see in this image.

 

This reflection study does include land. I just love woods that look like this. I’d love to have a house with this view as my front or backyard!

 

Another example of bright color in the woods. The Cardinal, we love this birdy!

 

Playing with line and shape.

 

And of course, next to flares, I also love to shoot Palm trees. Good thing I live in Florida, huh! I love how the colors came out here. And the texture adds a nice dimension to the image. This image was shoot at dusk in Sarasota Bay.

 

This is another reflection study, taken at Sarasota Bay, with the lights of the Ritz Carlton reflected in the water.

 

There are a good amount of bottlenose Dolphins in Sarasota Bay. These dolphins are immortalized as statues. I love how this shot came out. A low shutter speed at dusk and a bit of flash, and the dolphins look almost superimposed. The shadows were caught in camera and the only post-production done here was color!

 

Hope you have enjoyed this visual trip. Camping at Oscar Scherer and a visit to Sarasota is definitely worth it!

~ Astrid and Rene ~

Tags: flares by Astrid
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