LeahAndMark.com | Atlanta Wedding Photographers
A letter to my daughters- To my girls: First off. You are beautiful. I may, at first glance, seem partial to this opinion because I happen to be your mother, but it’s not a matter of opinion at all. It’s a fact. You are truly the two most beautiful things I have ever seen in my life. I could hold you close and drink in your beauty for hours on end and still marvel at how much I love you and how you both are …read more
Beauty: A Letter to My Daughters
Salvage
LeahAndMark.com | Atlanta Wedding Photographers
A few weekends ago, we were back at Ambient+ Studio for the Salvage show. Put on by Indie Craft Experience (remember Wedding Day Hooray?), Salvage was just as you’d expect: completely unexpected, unique, and all about vintage. Everything vintage. Vintage as far as the eye could see. It was beautiful. I also spent far too much money on all the beautiful (and did I mention vintage?) things, but as you might’ve guessed (or as you already know if you happen to know me well enough), …read more
To Be Rich
LeahAndMark.com | Atlanta Wedding Photographers
When I was a kid, I had very specific and concrete ideas of what it meant to be rich. Loads of money. A big house. An even bigger beach house. A mountain of toys. Crystal goblets and cloth napkins on the dinner table. Yoo-Hoo every night. A helicopter AND a waterpark in our backyard. Someone to walk our dogs. (Never mind that I’ve never even had a dog. Or a helicopter.) Man, I’d think, the people who’re rich must have the best clothes for their Barbies in the …read more
Benny & Joon
LeahAndMark.com | Atlanta Wedding Photographers
Unless it is mad, passionate, extraordinary love, it is a waste of time. There are too many mediocre things in life. Love should not be one of them. See, they get it in “Benny & Joon”. Love is, in many ways, madness. Which reminds me. If you don’t know who Benny, Joon, and Sam are, get yourself on Netflix and watch the movie. It’s about love, madness, and being a misfit. You’d like it. People are afraid of lots of things. Death. Spiders. Public speaking. …read more
Fight
LeahAndMark.com | Atlanta Wedding Photographers
You know what these past (almost) three months have taught me? I mean, other than- *deep breath in*- how to take better pictures, how to make better edits, how to use better lighting, how to network, how to hustle, how to push myself in a way I never thought possible? I’ve also learned how easy it is to get stuck in a rut and how hard- but SO WORTH IT- it is to step outside my comfort zone and do something completely different. Because this …read more
I Guess This is Growing Up
LeahAndMark.com | Atlanta Wedding Photographers
Next year will be my ten year high school reunion. I kind of feel like Romy White: “You’re kidding me. It’s been TEN YEARS since high school. God. Where have I been?” I feel like I’m still 19. Really. I forget that I’m not. I still feel like a kid in so many ways, winging my way through so much of life, or better yet, I believe that everyone else my age is an adult, and I’m merely in disguise. I may be married, with …read more
Are A Drag
LeahAndMark.com | Atlanta Wedding Photographers
I am outspoken. I’m also fiercely loyal to those I love and the ideals I hold dear. It’s my responsibility- as a mother, as a woman, as a human being- to fight for those ideals and be outspoken about them. They’re that important to me. If I don’t feel like I’m fighting for them, even just a tiny bit, I don’t know how else to be. Kindness. Compassion. Equality and equal rights. For everyone. Like gay rights. Yep. I said it. Have you ever felt …read more
Awkward
LeahAndMark.com | Atlanta Wedding Photographers
You know how you grab your laptop to just check your email really quick? Just two seconds to check the weather, or your bank account, or the movie times? And then the next thing you know, you’re SUCKED INTO THE INTERNET VORTEX? Yeah. That’s me too. Some people get sucked into Facebook. Or Pinterest. Or if you’re me, -nerd alert- Wikipedia and IMDb. Or my ultimate favorites, Someecards, Passive Aggressive Notes, and the King of All Time Sucks, AwkwardFamilyPhotos. So when +Raven needed a couple …read more
Runway
LeahAndMark.com | Atlanta Wedding Photographers
Once upon a time, I went back to school for nursing. Everybody knows that nurses are simply awesome (and to those who think otherwise, may you have stubborn veins and an extra pokey nurse the next time you need an IV). Nurses are healers, both physically and mentally. Nurses have the innate ability to turn a case of symptoms into a human being and give their patients a sense of comfort that can truly only come from a good-hearted nurse. But once upon a time, …read more
Junkyard
LeahAndMark.com | Atlanta Wedding Photographers
This past weekend, we went on the infamous Junkyard Shoot. You know, one of those once-in-a-lifetime photo shoots that, during the excruciating application period, you become obsessed with as you pour over past interns’ blogs. Now clearly, ALL the shoots we’ve been going on, whether as a group or on our own, are awesome. But there are a few that Leah and Mark have done a few times that turn a “Hey, look- a photography internship. I wanna do this!” into a full-fledged, full-throttle “Hey, …read more
Family Day
LeahAndMark.com | Atlanta Wedding Photographers
“Everything I do is completely original. I made it up when I was a little kid.” Children are funny. In more ways than the most obvious, too. Sure, my kids both make me laugh on a daily basis- my preschooler, with her clever wit and the way she (still) sometimes speaks in the third person, and my 9-month-old, with her toothy grins and mop-top hair ‘do. I was reminded of just how physically funny all kids (not just my brilliantly clever ones at home) can …read more
Oh baby!
LeahAndMark.com | Atlanta Wedding Photographers
Pregnancy is interesting. Of course, it’s all the usual wonderful things: miraculous, exciting, overwhelming, beautiful. It’s a little scary at times. It’s certainly an adventure. But if you take away all the glossy adjectives and heartburn and baby registries and endless pairs of baby socks, you’re left with the unbelievability of it all. Someone is literally growing inside of you. Kicking, flipping, rolling, hiccuping. My husband and I used to say our oldest daughter must’ve been moving furniture while still in utero, she moved so …read more