All you need is love.

I love love.

I love being loved and giving love, no matter the relationship - family, friends, significant others or strangers. And unlike a lot of people, I love being around people who are in love with each other, and show it. PDA doesn't bother me - kiss on! A little more love in the world won't hurt nobody.

And I love how love can come in different forms. It took me being in the relationship that I'm currently in to realize that love isn't a cookie cutter shape, and that everyone has their own way of loving - their own "love language" - that they tweak to accomodate each relationship in their life.

On Easter Sunday, I shot Ashley & Del's engagement session in Aiken, SC. Engagement sessions are starting to become my favorite type of shoot, not only because (duh) I get to interact with couples and hear their love story, but it's when I can be my artsy-est. It took them a little bit to warm up to being over-the-top affectionate for the camera, but the best images I captured were the ones when they were just being themselves. They had me laughing so hard at their little bickering back and forth, just to get a rise out of eachother. I captured many geniune & loving smiles at each other, and you just can't fake that. Ashley & Del: I wish you nothing but the best in creating your future together. You two don't need a over-the-top display to show that you love each other - y'all just know, and that's freakin' awesome :) 

I also had a photoshoot recently of Madison, the 3 year old daughter of my childhood best friend Katie. She is the cutest little girl that I've hung out with in a while. I couldn't believe how mature and she is for her age, and her vocabulary - wow. I know Katie is so proud. Obviously the pictures below show how gorgeous and fun she is, but I wish I would have captured more behind the scenes moments when Madison would interact with her mommy. Though I'm not a mother and haven't developed that type of love for something I created out of love, I know Katie feels that Madison is the best thing that has happened to her and that she would give her life to Madison, unconditionally, for the rest of her life. And that's powerful. Katie, I know you know you're going to have your hands full when she gets older, but I also know with the amount of love you have for Madison, you're looking forward to every minute of it.

Love is all you need.

"Spring"ing the Business

This Spring has been a busy one thus far . The majority of my time has been dedicated to the finer details, as in getting everything squared away to legally deem this project a business. It's definitely difficult to work on these types of things during non-business hours since I have a full time big girl job and a pretty active social life. Nights are for business and the weekend is for shooting, which is pretty unfair if you ask me. Five nights of boring legal mess and only 2 days of creative release, which has forced to me suggesting dates in May and June for client sessions since my March and April 8-day-only calendars have booked up so fast.

One aspect of the business side that I don't mind so much is the creation of my website, http://www.kerripaigephotography.com/. Though it's brought out the anal retentive side of me, I do look forward to coming home and working on it and acheiving the small yet satisfying creativity orgasm that it gives me. Seriously, though; color schemes stress me out. I've had to change it atleast 10 times. I've even become picky choosing the shades of colors. Anyone who says that blue is blue, I beg to differ. I've become best friends with HTML/hex codes in the last month, and know for a fact that there are over 700 shade variations for all colors. Don't believe me? Count them. I dare you. 

Lucky enough to escape the hectic world of LLC's and EIN's and .com's, I had a shoot with my childhood best friend's 3 little boys on Saturday. Jennifer's been a mother for 6 years, and it still freaks me out to hear her be called mom. Her boys are precious though, each of them embodying the 10 year old "Jenn-Fur" I remember, attitude and quick lip in toll. The weather was awesome - the warmest we've had in several months - definitely a great first day of Spring. The photoshoot of 3 turned into a circus of 9, once the neighbors' kids joined us. Now that I can handle 9 kids, I can handle anything. Maybe. 

Below are a couple of my favorites: