Hardcover books :D {mt. pleasant, tx engagement and portrait photographer}

I was taking pictures of hardcover books for my third week of The *I love* project, and I was inspired to do a blog post here about my love for them :).

Hardcover books.

What's funny is I used to hate hardcover books! I thought they were annoying to read from and I thought "Paperbacks are so much cheaper!" But then I began to realize that paperbacks don't last very long if you read them a lot :/. So, now I adore hardcover books (and if they're pretty, that's even better!).

This is the spot on our sun porch where I love to read :). But sometimes I get distracted by the beauty outside the big windows; like the birds coming to the bird feeder...or a funny squirrel attempting to :D.

Oh, and these books that I photographed are just some of my favorites: Persuasion by Jane Austen (Romantic, emotional, love it :) ), Don Quixote by Miguel De Cervantes (Absolutely hilarious! Seriously!! People had great humor in the 1600s too :D), Letters of John Newton by Josiah Bull (I wrote down so many quotes from his letters; they're filled with practical truth. I love the way he writes! This is one of my top favorites), The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis (Classics :D. You never outgrow enjoying them! And I love the illustrations in it as well :D), and The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (I personally like it better than the Lord of the Rings trilogy, even though I still love the trilogy. The Hobbit is very exciting :D).

So, what are some of y'all's favorite books?

With a smile,
{ Rachel Leigh }

P.S. Happy first day of March!! :D

A day at Karnack :) {mt. pleasant, tx engagement and potrait photographer}

This past Friday, my family (minus one brother) and our dear friends the Brunsons went out to a tree farm/ ranch/ fun-woodsy-get-away called Karnack (If you'd like to learn more about Karnack, please click here :) ).

I could kick myself for not having taken any portraits while we were there! But I did get pictures of fun random things that caught my eye :).

Notice any thing missing in the picture on the left? Hehe.

These are the feet of Allix B. and I by the lovely jonquils that smell like honeysuckle...mmmmm :).

And here is Allix B's hair ribbon :).

...and her earring :)

That evening, after the guys had got the deer they were wanting, we had "Bodacious Barbecue"! It was great as always :D...and you know, it's been a Texas tradition since 1960...;)

Happy Monday to y'all!

With a smile,
{ Rachel Leigh }

Dear Spring :) {mt. pleasant, tx engagement and portrait photographer}

Hello, dear Spring!

It's SO good to see you :).

Hooray for pretty yellow flowers :D.

This is my hair; I like it :).

I love how moss adds color to things (and this shade of green is lovely :) ).

Haha, well, this tree missed out, but the bark is still intriguing, right? :D

You know what I was looking at? The sky. And you know what?...

I could not keep my eyes off of it; ALL day God filled the blue sky with the most lovely and enchanting clouds!!

These little green plants that hug the earth make me smile. Wouldn't it be fun to have these instead of carpet? Like in a sun room! And it wouldn't be that hard to take care of. You could just keep a few rabbits in there! It'd be fun for everyone and the rabbits would keep it mowed, fertilized...ok, maybe I ruined the whole plan with that last part...moving on! Hahaha.

There's so much to see and enjoy in this world God created :).

Here's my artsy picture ;).

While riding in the car yesterday, I kept seeing more beautiful clouds! So, I whipped out my camera to capture them and I accidentally took this picture in the process, but I like it :).

God's Handiwork is astounding.

With a smile,
{ Rachel Leigh }

Scripture Pictures {mt. pleasant, tx engagement and portrait photographer}

This is another side to my photography; a more personal side.

{ Scripture Pictures }

This is something I started doing even in the very beginnings of my photography. I'll take a picture of flower, some scenery, a random object, etc...and then I'll look at it...for a good long while. It's making me think of something, but I'm not quite sure what it is yet....

And then I know!!

Something about the picture reminds me of a command in God's Word that I need to obey, a promise He has made to His children that brings me peace, or an attribute of God that puts me in awe!

Then they MUST be combined! And that is how a "scripture picture" comes about :).

So, here's the news:

Y'all can now order prints of them!

All you have to do is click on my "Scripture Pictures" link at the top of the blog. There you can go to my online album of scripture pictures, view them, and order all different kinds of prints of them on professional quality photo paper.

So, enjoy looking at those and have a happy weekend! :D

With a smile,

{ Rachel Leigh }

A lovely Sunday :) {mt. pleasant, tx engagement and portrait photographer}

This past Sunday was lovely :D (including the warm weather! Praise the Lord!! We East Texans are glad to see the cold gone...very glad indeed :D )

My dear friend Susanna Joy Simpson was back at church after having been gone for a month in Austin! We didn't have any recent pictures with her, so we decided to change that :D.

(Oh, and Susanna now has a website for her photography: Southern Pines Photography. Check it out! :) ).

And here's Susanna living up to her middle name: Joy :D.

Then, another great part of the day, Allix came over to take our family pictures!! We hadn't had any done since Thanksgiving Day of 2009. She did a very good job! You can see them here :D.

In between family poses, I was able to snap some shots.

This is my brother Daniel's girlfriend Emily Anne Aitken. Isn't she precious? :)

Allix and her trusty camera :).

Oh, and Susanna tagged along and watched :D.

I'm so thankful for fun days like these :D.

With a smile,
{ Rachel Leigh }

The *I love* project :) {mt. pleasant, tx engagement and portrait photographer}

Since many photographers I know started some kind of photo project at the beginning of the year, I was inspired to start one as well. But I thought
"Well, it's too late. It's already February. Ill just do it next year."

But then I was looking at a follower of mine's blog and saw where she did this thing called an "I love project." She started on Valentines Day and once a week for a year she'd post a picture of something she loved. "Hey! I can still make it!"

So, yes, as of today, I have started my own blog called "The I love project." It'll be a great place to learn about the random things I love :).

Well...I feel weird doing a blog post without any pictures in it, so here's a sneak peek of my next post (my church friends+wind=fun times :D ).


With a smile,
{ Rachel Leigh }

Fifth and last day of the internship :'( {mt. pleasant, tx engagement and portrait photographer}

One of the most fun days of the internship :).

Our work was centered around finishing up our blogs. And again I have to say how happy I am with how mine turned out (thank youuuuu, Jessica!).And here is Allix with one of Jessica's nifty old cameras she has in her room on display (it used to be her great grandmothers!).

We had lunch at "Arby's" and then had frozen yogurt at one of the coolest places I've ever been too: "J'adore Yogurt." Oh, we had SO much fun there! Like getting to sample all the different flavors of frozen yogurt. My choice was coconut with chocolate chip cookie dough and granola sprinkled on top. Yum! :D

The place was so fun and funky, it made a fantastic place for taking pictures and fun videos :D. (I'm very much looking forward to seeing how our video montage of the week Jessica is working on turns out :D :D )

All in all, the week was so worth it.

I feel much more grounded in my photography and where I want it to go, I believe I have a more serious and professional mindset about the business side of things (which is what I needed), and...I had a blast :D. My fellow interns were SUCH fun! Don't forget to check out their awesome new photography blogs! Carissa and Hannah's: Once Upon a Time Photography and Allix's: Allix B. Photography.Then last, but CERTAINLY not least, our dear teacher, mentor, and friend...Jessica Shae.

Jessica, thank you SO much for letting us be a part of your first internship. We learned so much and had a great time: you're the best!!

With a smile,
{ Rachel Leigh }

Fourth day of the internship :) {irving, tx engagement and portrait photographer}

That morning, we headed to "Starbucks" to have some one-on-one time with Jessica for asking questions and setting up pricing. It was very beneficial!

Then after a quick repast at "Subway", we headed home and got all dressed up for the portraits Jessica was going to take of us for our businesses :D :D. We drove to an old abandoned frame house and it made the PERFECT place for Jessica to take our pictures! It was great :D.
Here are the Koehn sisters :D (pronounced "Cane" in case y'all forgot ;) ). I think it's really neat how they share their business as sisters :). And, hey! Y'all need to go look at their new photography blog!

Some of the awesome broken-down-ness.

Jessica doing her thing :D.

Allix dear :).

Allix's beautiful dress.

I love LOVE this on of you, Allix!

Then we drove to Irving for a couple's session and praise the Lord we got there safely! The rental car Jessica has been using most of the week started acting up when we got on to the 4 lane highway; it started chugging and wouldn't accelerate when Jessica was pushing on the gas pedal....eek! So, we exited, parked, restarted it, and it was sort of back to normal (we were still unsure). I think we got bad gasoline (we had just filled up right before it started acting weird).

Anyway, we finally got to our destination: Las Colinas canals. Basically it's a nice little shopping/eating part of town and it's right next to some canals they put in.

We got there early, so Jessica had time to take more portraits of us.

Down by the canal :). And don't be fooled by the pleasant look of the picture; it was FREEZING outside!! By the end of the session with the couple, I couldn't feel anything with me hands :'(. But I'm alive, so it's all good :).

The couple (Aaron and Rachel Dodson) were gorgeous!! They were great sports to take on the cold and they were still cheerful and adorable :D.

My favorite shot of the evening :).

And Rachel is actually 16 weeks pregnant! You could just barely see her little belly :).

Beautiful people (and especially beautiful people in love) make taking pictures so easy :).

When we got back to the Garner's house at 7:00 p.m., we were all starving! But thankfully the Garner's had prepared and made ready a bountiful meal of breakfast food...it was devoured heartily. Haha :D.

With a smile,
{ Rachel Leigh }