Feeling Spoopy

Just a handful of nights left to come out and experience the wonders and scares and magic of Halloween Horror Nights 26 at Universal Orlando. It's been an amazing year and the last couple of weeks are on deck. Haven't made it out yet? Why not?





Terrifying houses and relentless scarezones abound...what are you waiting for? Come out and play. Take a chance in the fog and see if you can survive.







Visit www.halloweenhorrornights.com/orlando to get your tickets...hope to see you there!

Sarah

Holy nellie, is this girl ever beautiful. Sarah's session this week in Sanford was a blast; it was great catching up with her a bit since we hadn't seen each other (or done a session) in a couple of years. She is always a delight.







Sarah is back in the Central Florida area after a stint in Washington state, and she's gearing up for some projects and auditions. She exudes elegance and classic beauty; her look and style remind me of the styles of the 60s and 70s.





I'm having a great time going through and editing her session (and understandably having a hard time narrowing down--we got too many great shots!). I'll be featuring more of Sarah's photos on www.facebook.com/rachelsullivanphotography in the coming days. For now, enjoy a few of my favorites here--she's just stunning!





We even met a Storm Trooper and had an impromptu 'couple' photo. Because, of course we did.

Hello Out There!

Just popping in to say howdy to everyone! I am catching up on wedding, portrait, and event stuff, and preparing for other things on the jam-packed schedule, and fall is looming large as always, eeeep. This sassy Orlando photographer is working hard but still finding times to slip into the backyard and enjoy a few brief moments of respite in the pool, because, everyone needs a break here and again, especially when the heat index goes into triple digits. I hope you're all enjoying your hot summer months; I just hadn't made an entry in a bit and wanted to say hi and post some of my faves from recent sessions. As always, for more timely updates (yeah, I know, I know, I'm terrible and I habitually neglect the blog; sorry, y'all, I'm trying), visit us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/rachelsullivanphotography, and you can always see some of our newest stuff on the website at www.rachelsullivanphotography.com, too.

Happy Summer, everyone! Go out and play, but wear your sunscreen, because heaven forbid I inadvertently contribute to an epidemic of skin cancer!

Continually in Awe

...I find myself constantly gobsmacked, glad, and grateful that I am able to do what I love and that I'm able to be with people on their most important days. I am finishing up a wedding right now, loving the results, and feeling just so darn happy that I got to be with James and Valerie as they became Mr. and Mrs. Fadool in Tallahassee during their gorgeous winter wedding. Can't wait to share their full album with them; lovely, sweet, funny, silly, meaningful, and beautiful. I sometimes get mired and even bogged down in the planning, business, and technical sides of my job, but then just when I need it, the Universe lands in the middle of me and reminds me that I am truly a lucky lady to be able to get to say to people that, yes, this is what I do for a living. And for that, I am so thankful. I am thankful for every single little moment of my life and my work.

Setting up for a super busy spring, feeling glad to be able to do what a lot of people wish they could, counting my blessings, and enjoying a peaceful Friday after a really long week that tested me. Thank you to the new Mr. and Mrs. Fadool, and as always, thank you to all of my clients. Thanks for your continued faith, patronage, support, and love. You all are my world and I'm glad to know every single one of you.

Happy weekend to you all, friends!

Santa Portrait Day!

We are thrilled to announce that we are now accepting appointments for our mini-sessions with Santa Claus! This special holiday portrait event! Space is limited, so if you'd like to reserve a session, don't hesitate!
We are very proud to bring this event to life with the help of the amazing Santa Jim. Santa Jim has been the official Santa of the Macy's Holiday Parade at Universal Orlando since 2011, and we are so happy he's bringing us a bit of Christmas cheer for these fun portraits, just in time for the holidays!
When: Saturday, December 13th from 9am to 1pm
Where: Cypress Grove Park
Cost: $50 for up to two children, add $5 for each additional person
You'll receive a 20 minute session with Santa, plus 10-15 high resolution images via digital download, a print release, and a private password-protected gallery for viewing and sharing!
For questions or booking info, contact me at (407) 435-3929 or by emailing rsullivanphotography@gmail.com!

Coming Soon: the Halloween Mini-Session Portrait Day!

It's hard to imagine that we're approaching autumn when the heat index today was near 108 degrees...but the fact remains, we've entered the latter stages of summer and that means it's almost time for our 3rd annual Halloween portrait event!

We'll be holding this mini-session marathon on Saturday, September 27th from 10AM to 3PM. Still working out details on location and specifics, but here's the nitty-gritty:

When: Saturday, September 27th, 10AM to 3PM

What: Mini-sessions in celebration of Halloween and all things Fall!

Cost: $75 per groups of up to 5 people and pets (for groups of more than 5, add $5 for each additional person)

What you'll receive: a mini-session of portraits, 25-30 minutes in length, with as many props and outfit/costume changes as you can fit in during your allotted time. After your session, you'll receive a disk with approximately 15-20 high resolution images and a print release as well as one free 5x7 print of your favorite image.

Booking for this event is EXTREMELY limited; we'll only be taking 7 appointments for this! As always, the sessions are first come first served and must be pre-booked; due to the limited number of slots available and the popularity of this event, we will not be able to take same-day or walk up appointments. (A $25 deposit down will be required to hold your time slot and will go toward your total amount due.)

Questions? Comments? Want to get on the list? Email us today at rsullivanphotography@gmail.com and we'll keep you in the loop.

Trick or treat, everyone!

Christmas Time is Here

Thanksgiving has come and gone (and I'm still digesting, ugh, so much food) and that means that the holiday season is officially underway. 

This year will bring us another busy season; I'm looking forward to sessions with my beloved regulars as well as some new faces, a special portrait with a lady and her horse, and what I'm sure will be a completely hysterical session with Becc, Travis, and Seth (you'll remember them from our "Zombie Apocalypse" portrait last Christmas) as we try to top last year's undead melee. This year we are going straight-up "Awkward Family Photo" for Becc and Co, employing all the choicest photo techniques and fashion savvy you might have found in a cheesy Sears Portrait Studio circa 1978. Oh yes. It's gonna be fly. And I can't wait. 

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Blessed Festivus, and a Grand Decemberween to you all. Here's hoping your a Turkey Day was magnificent and your holiday season is off to a cheerful start. 

Falling Through Fall

I say this every year, when I hit my high stress levels as fall gets deeper and deeper into its crazy throes, that I shouldn't shoot weddings in the Autumn. Never, never again, I tell myself, and then every year I have a fit of amnesia and forget how hard it is to try and post-process a wedding in a timely and efficient manner while also dealing with HHN, portraits, and the pre-holiday rush, and I do it all again. This year I double-whammied myself with one wedding in September and then another one less than three weeks after that in early October. Add those to my Horror Nights shot load and various other things and toss in an early November wedding that I just photographed, and I'm just about at my max right now...and I still have the Horror Nights party circuit to assist with planning and execution of. Yeesh. At least I'm conditioned for low amounts of sleep...that's my saving grace. 

So I say it here, committing it to digital paper: never, never again. Until next year when I inevitably forget. 

Even still, check out some of these beauties from my recent weddings. They ARE quite pretty...I suppose that makes it all okay. 

The Toil and the Rewards of the Wedding Photographer

One lesson life continually teaches me in my profession is that there are few things as difficult, as time-consuming, as maddening, and as rewarding as photographing weddings. They are completely in a class of their own.

I'm in the midst of sorting and post-production for the most recent wedding I photographed (one little rain-soaked soiree you may have heard of in the national news; the wedding of Grant Hetherington and Jyssica Lasco, which took place in Colorado during the epic crazy flooding in September...more on that whole adventure in a later post), and I am in the final prep phase for the next wedding on my plate. This one will take place a little closer to home in Lake Mary and I'm greatly looking forward to it...can't wait for it, really. It's going to be a great day.

Weddings are, to say the least, quite an undertaking. I don't know that the casual photographer or regular Joe understands the amount of blood, sweat, and tears that go into every single wedding; they are such a huge amount of work, from start to finish, and most certainly not an easy process. They can be super frustrating, but, if done well, they're also quite a lot of fun and some of the most gratifying work I take on as a photographer. I spend months prepping for a wedding, then spend roughly 10 hours (or often more) on the day of the event itself capturing the day for the couple, and approximately 60 full hours after the fact sorting, editing, and preparing the images for the couple. It's exhausting, quite frankly. But I love it. Like a masochist, I keep coming back for more.

But I beg you, don't take any of what I've said to be a complaint; I love what I do. There are few higher privileges in my profession than that moment when a couple selects me and trusts me to capture their day for them; this is a double-edged sword in that it is also part of the reason that weddings are stressful. I strive so very hard to deliver a good product to each of my couples, and I get very entrenched with them and attached to them. I cry with them and celebrate with them. I mist up when they see each other for the first time as the bride walks down the aisle. I laugh and cry with them during the toasts. And never for a second do I take for granted that I have been selected to be with them on one of the most important days of their lives together; it is an honor of the highest order. I don't take it lightly.

Speaking yesterday to my upcoming bride, I was going over a few things with her to assist her in ordering a matted print from her engagement session to have at the reception for her guests to sign, and making sure there was nothing she needed of me. I asked again (as I always do) if there were any questions she had or anything she needed me to do to make these last few hectic days before her wedding smoother, easier, or less stressful. She laughed a bit, and said the following: "Rachie, Jon (her groom) just said to me the other day, 'Allison, you've called the DJ twice, the caterer a few times, and the venue a few times to double check things, but I don't think I've heard you mentioning anything about calling the photographer; is everything okay?', to which I responded, "Rachel is the one person who I completely trust, and I just know she's got this. I've always known that she's got this completely under control and she's the one thing I have absolutely no concerns whatsoever about." This sentence may be the highest compliment I can hope to receive; knowing that what I do and what I fight for has given my couples the utmost of faith in me and my abilities is flattering, wonderful, intimidating but in a postive way, and amazingly uplifting.

Jon and Allison, I can't wait to be there with you as you become husband and wife. I sincerely thank you, as I thank all my couples, from the bottom of my heart for trusting in me to capture all the sweet, gorgeous, funny, heartfelt, beautiful moments of your day. My cup runneth over.

Summer Slammed

I'm getting ready to travel out to Colorado for the first of two weddings I'll be shooting in the rockies this year; next week, Sheena and Max will say "I Do" at Ascension Lutheran Church in Littleton and then celebrate with their family and friends at the beautiful Denver Botanic Gardens for their reception. I'm greatly looking forward to this; it's going to be a gorgeous day! Then in September, I'll return to Colorado once more for the wedding of Grant and Jyssica; this time the big day will take place at a lovely lodge in the mountains, and I simply can't wait.

Things here on the home front are chugging right along as well; along with the two Colorado weddings, we're busily planning some weddings here in the Sunshine State as well; Allison and Jon will be married in early October, and Bryan and Phalicia say their vows on the beach in Jupiter in November. Next year we're already booked for the nuptials of Nikki and Stephen in March for their wedding in Auburndale, and then we'll head down to Key West for Kristen and Thomas's awesome wedding on the Schooner Western Union and the weekend of partying to follow in the Southernmost City. All this on top of our usual portrait sessions, events, and an on-going contract fashion project for a local screen-printing and apparel company. And of course, just as always, the specter of Halloween Horror Nights looms larger every day; we have some really cool kick-off festivities for the Season this year and auditions are rapidly approaching. Suffice to say, it's an exciting and very, very busy time for us; but I'll say it again...busy is good and you won't hear any complaining from this happy photographer!

Enough from me for now. I'll leave you with this: we're celebrating summer with a portrait session giveaway to kick off the season of fun in the sun. If you want a crack at winning the session, simply visit www.rachel-sullivan-photography.com and click on the summer portrait giveaway tab. Want to earn some bonus points? You got it. After you fill out the form to enter the contest on our website, hop over to our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/rachelsullivanphotography and leave a comment on our WALL, and we'll gladly double your entry into the contest. Twice as much chance to win, whoopee!

Hoping you are all well, happy, healthy, and behaving yourselves!

Spring Flings

With a sigh I realize yet again that I've been neglecting my blog. Apologies, gentle reader. Life seems to get away with me more than I ever expect.

We are having a record breaking year so far; more portraits and weddings than ever. (You won't hear me complaining.) This past weekend we shot a wedding redux for a pair of dear friends; Josh and Marisol had a second wedding 4 years after their first go-around because they'd never done it in the church before. Saturday they had an intimate ceremony at Holy Family Catholic in Orlando, surrounded by their families, and we were honored to be on hand to capture their day for them. You may know Josh and Marisol from some of our past portrait sessions with Miss Evie; she is their now 2 year old daughter. They are an awesome family and it was great to get to help them celebrate as they said their "I Do"s again.

Keep an eye on us over on our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/rachelsullivanphotography) for all the latest news and photos. We hope you and yours are having a happy healthy year so far. Happy Spring!

Sneakity Peekity

Just a taste from the zombie photo session on Saturday. Oooh, I'm proud of this album. More to come soon...

Hooray for technology

This is my first time posting a blog from my iPhone via the Blogger app. How exciting.

I realize it's been a whole lot of time since I last dropped in, so here's a quick update of what's been going down in our world lately:

HHN, portraits, bridal consultations, HHN, more portraits, newborns, more HHN, holiday booking, print orders, and oh, more HHN. Phew!

We are back from our foggy sojourn and can't wait to share all the images from this year's event. For now, we will say happy fall, and we hope you are all doing well and enjoying the season.

A Year in the Life of Olivia Jean

I am at the end of a year of incredibly rewarding photography--little Miss Olivia has reached her first birthday.

It seems like just yesterday we were waiting for her to make her debut, and now we're more than a year past that point, watching her grow, walk, learn, and change every day.

Capturing milestones for babies and their families is always a tall order and always special, and Olivia was no exception to this rule. From her very first session, I knew this baby would be a delight and a challenge...she was trying to sit up during her newborn session! She's always been a few steps ahead and a lively little bundle, and I'm thankful for every little moment during what ended up totaling 15 sessions over the course of her first year; newborn portraits, a session for each of her months one through eleven after that, two sessions for her twelve month milestone, and a sweet session we shot with a photojournalistic approach, cataloging a "normal day" with Olivia and her family, going about their day as we documented the proceedings in a more candid and casual way.

All of this led up to her first birthday party, where Olivia, surrounded by her family and friends (and her favorite photographer, naturally), decided it was high time she took her first steps. She literally started walking, with her adoring crowd watching and cheering her on, on her very first birthday. Never let it be said that this girl wasn't born to be in front of the camera!

It doesn't end here; we now get to watch as Olivia keeps on growing, learning, playing, and amazing her family every step of the way. It's bittersweet, in a way, to know that she's growing up, but in another way, it's so exciting to know we'll get to watch her as she continues on her journey.

Happy birthday, Sweet Olivia Jean, with love from your Personal Paparazzi. We can't wait to see what the world has in store for you next!

Dan and Brittnee

Dan and Brittnee's engagement portraits in beautiful St. Augustine were quite windy but also quite a lot of fun. We had a great time capturing the happy couple as they prepare for their upcoming wedding. Here are a few of my favorites from their album so far!