Saying Goodbye ...

It is never easy to say goodbye to a loved one when they have to leave on deployment, knowing that they will be gone for months at a time. I faced it for 20 years while my husband was a Marine. It never gets any easier. I saw it this past October when my daughter had to say goodbye to her boyfriend and watch him fly his helicopter off to Norfolk.

I accompanied Jenn to keep her company immediately after Andrew left and to drive back to Orlando with her the following day. Of course mom is never without her camera so I captured the entire goodbye in photos. I have since created a slide show accompanied to music for Jenn to send to Andrew. It must be good because it has brought tears to the eyes of everyone who has seen it. This is one of the photos from the day.

Jenn's Christmas Card

Jenn asked if I would photograph Maddie and her for thier Christmas card this year. It is never easy working with a dog. Maddie immediately decided to face Jenn rather then the camera. There were a few images of Maddie's rump, but after some coaching Jenn was able to get Maddie to almost smile at the camera. lol I kept shooting until Maddie got tired of the whole process and decided it was time to play. As it turned out Jenn had quite a few images to pick from for her card and she decided she liked this one best. Both Jenn and Maddie are actually looking at the camera. Everyone who received a Christmas card have commented on much they like it and how striking it is in black and white with Maddie's pink collar. I have to admit it is one of my favorites too!

Still at the beach

more beach photos

At the beach...

I like taking environmental portraits... I don't like to take portraits inside, I prefer to take them at the beach, at a park or any place that the people I am photographing are comfortable. I want to capture the true person... the inner person... maybe the gleam in the eye of a child being mischievous... the smile of a husband looking at his wife... the love of a family spending time together.
The weekend I traveled to Jacksonville one of the wives from the squadron asked if I would take some family portraits for her. She wanted some photos before her husband deployed. We decided to do the secession at the beach and even though it was windy with the sand blowing into everyone's eyes we managed to capture some good shots.

The Dusty Divas

Recently, I had the opportunity to meet a wonderful group of ladies. They are the wives and girlfriends of the officers of HS-7. They wanted to have a photo taken to give to the men for their wardroom when they deploy. The helo was brought out and the men were banished while I photographed the ladies. It was fun. Being a retired military wife, I know what these ladies are facing in the next few months. This was a few minutes to do something fun before their men are deployed. I hope that both the wives and the men will enjoy looking at the photos we created that afternoon. I know I treasure the opportunity to meet each lady... here are a few of the images we captured that afternoon.

missing you...

This is the other perspective... the pilot has deployed and now someone is home missing him.... This one unlike "leaving" was posed in as far as Jenn walked down to the waves and stood there looking out to sea. Andrew's ship was pulling out that morning and already she was missing him. When she saw the photo she agreed with me the title "missing you" was perfect.