Susan Solo – Photographer | Traveler | Adventurer

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  • Blizzard of 2009 – Day 1

    Even if you don’t live on the East Coast, you still might have heard that we were completely buried in snow this weekend. The blizzard started Friday evening and steadily continued well into the night on Saturday. Normally I love a big snowstorm as long as I can stay inside, snuggled up with Chris to watch some good movies. But this storm went a little differently since we were actually scheduled to photograph a wedding on Saturday in a town about 1.5 hours away. Camera in hand as usual, I documented bits of our our snowy weekend adventure!

    Friday, December 18, 2009:

    • 10:00 am – Started to hear reports of significant snowfall predictions for our area (at the time they were saying 6-10 inches). Decided at the last minute that it might be a good idea to leave the night before Saturday’s wedding.* Searched for the closest hotel to the wedding day action.
    • 11:21 am – Booked a suite at an adorable hotel just feet away from the reception venue.
    • 4:00 pm – Packed the Jeep with our usual photo gear plus ample amounts of emergency supplies: blankets, snow shovel, hand warmers, extra gloves, UGGs, etc. Heard new reports of 10-20 inches of snowfall.

    • 4:30 pm – Hit the road before the snow started falling.
    • 6:15 pm – The snow started falling.
    • 8:00 pm – Arrived in Culpeper and stopped at the Wal-mart to obtain additional emergency supplies: snacks, water, sodas, Us Weekly magazine. Tried to find a fan because I forgot mine and can’t sleep without one, only it’s impossible to find a fan in the off-season. Settled on a small heater with a fan after an employee helped me plug a few in to see what they sounded like. (You think I’m kidding? The employee in the hardware department found an outlet for me and tried three different heaters from the display so I could listen to them. He laughed, but was really nice about it.)
    • 9:05 pm – Finally left Wal-mart where we (and everyone else in Culpeper) were in line for about 40 minutes.
    • 10:35 pm – Arrived at the super fabulous Suites at 249. Fell completely in love with our beautifully appointed room.



    • 10:45 pm – Turned the news on only to hear that the snow had no plans of stopping and that we’d probably get around two feet of snow total. Took a “before” view of the patio furniture. Stay tuned for the “after” shot.


      • This is our view from the patio – that’s the reception venue across the street (the historic train depot)!

    • 12:05 am – Turned the lights out to get some sleep before the wedding day.

    *Note: I’ve decided that this spontaneous trip counts towards fulfilling item #85 on my 101 in 1001 list: Take a spontaneous weekend trip with no plans. Chris and I literally had no idea how the weekend was going to go or what was going to happen with the wedding. We didn’t know if we’d just stay Friday or if we’d be snowed in the whole weekend or into the week (we ended up staying two nights). We basically just said let’s be prepared for anything, and pretty much everything that we had originally planned for the wedding was out the window. But I love the results we did get – more on that later! Well, okay…just a couple of sneak peek photos of Patty and Travis (more soon!):


    How cute is Patty in her boots?!

    Day 2 to follow! In the meantime, how did the storm affect you? Were you stuck somewhere? Did you miss out on last-minute holiday shopping? Leave a comment and let me know about your own snowy adventures!

  • Perfection

    Yay! We are pretty much back up and running now that the computer has received a much-needed makeover! So I’m back to my regularly scheduled photo-editing, but I’m taking a quick 5-minute break to say hi – I hate to leave the blog so stagnant. And I also wanted to mention that I have quite a few 101 in 1001 updates, including this holiday related one: #76. Shop for Toys for Tots instead of donating money.

    Every year for the past four years, I’ve donated a little money to Toys for Tots, but I always see the piles of toys in the drop-off locations and think how much fun it must be to actually shop for specific toys and games instead of just making a donation. So this year Chris and I went to Target and picked out a few things, all of which ended up being my own favorite childhood board games. I went in armed with a budget (related to one of my other 101 in 1001 goals – sticking to a budget) and came away with three games for Toys for Tots, and…one game that I felt I personally needed to revisit from my childhood (intending to donate it to another charity after I was done): Perfection. Have you ever played it? I had it as a child, but I never actually played it by the rules. The thing scared me to death! Oh the pressure of putting those shaped pieces all in their appropriate slots in sixty seconds, else hear the wrath of the tray exploding the pieces everywhere. When I did play it, I would set the dial, switch it on and nervously place the pieces until the dial reached about T-minus ten seconds and then I’d shut it off.

    So I figured I should give it another try as a brave adult. Only I got completely side-tracked with trying to take a picture of the pieces popping out of the tray as a kind of fun photo challenge. The first few tries were blurry because of course I kept flinching at the sound of the tray popping, but I did get a few good ones. And for the record, Chris mastered the game at having all pieces placed in 55 seconds!


    What are your favorite childhood games and toys? Were there any that scared you or made you nervous? Operation was another one that stressed me out now that I think of it…

  • Fall vs. Winter

    Considering the fact that crispy fall leaves are still around but we also had our first snowfall in the DC area, clearly it’s an all-out battle between fall vs. winter. I have to say though that the current temperature makes it feel like winter is going to win here shortly. I expected that the snow from Saturday would be melted by now, but we still have a bunch of the white stuff sticking to our yard. I found this one little leaf hanging out in the snow on one of the balconies, trying to stake claim on the last few days of fall.

    Brrr! The onset of super cold weather means shooting season is winding down (almost) and Chris and I can get some chores done, one of which being major computer upgrades for both of us. So bear with me in the next few days while I piece my technological world back together. If you’re waiting on an email from me or anything else, I should be getting back to you shortly!

  • Heather & Dan – 11.28.09

    Wedding season isn’t quite over for me yet, and in fact I photographed Heather and Dan’s wedding this past Saturday. The day was crisp and breezy but really sunny, and we couldn’t have asked for a better day late in November. Enough about the weather though – I’m going to get right to posting the images because I promised one of Heather and Dan’s friends/wedding guests who reads my blog (hi and enjoy!) that I’d have these up by Tuesday. 🙂

    Heather and Dan both got ready at the fabulous Lansdowne Resort, where we also did a few quick group portraits before the ceremony. No peeking at each other beforehand for these two!



    Shoe shot:

    The shoes obviously belong to these fierce ladies – work it out girls!

    Let me go ahead and just state the very obvious: Heather is stunning.

    Hello, gentleman…

    The last bit of the day’s warm and gorgeous sunlight was just pouring in through the windows at St. David’s.

    Chris caught this wonderful moment where (don’t be mad at me, Dan!) Dan was a little choked up:


    Just after signing the marriage license…newlyweds!

    Back at the resort for the reception and this sweet first dance:

    Yay for wonderfully written toasts…

    …with reactions like these!

    Chris always amazes me with his ability capture the perfect moment like this one during the father-daughter dance:

    There was no shortage of cute kids at this wedding, and this little guy danced ’til he dropped – literally.

    Taking a stab at cutting the cake (oh yes, I totally went there with that pun…)

    A couple of moments during the reception were stolen to take just a few portraits around the clubhouse:

    Favorite:

    One of the details at the reception was a candy bar full of treats for the guests and full of inspiration for a ring shot:

    Heather and Dan, thank you for inviting Chris and me to spend the day with you! We’re so happy for the both of you and wish you all the happiness in the world!

  • Melissa & Land – Day After

    Melissa and Land were married on a day in October that was a little less than cooperative weather-wise, so we met up a few weeks after their wedding for some shots around DC. Who wouldn’t love having a good excuse to put that dress on again?! We walked around on a cool, cloudy day this past weekend and pretty much hit all of the major monuments. Some of my own favorite images are the ones with the beautiful natural bits of the city, like these first few pictures with these huge knotty/twisty trees along one of the basins:



    Perhaps the most important spot we visited was the WWI memorial where Land proposed. There is something so fun and flirty about this image that makes me love it:


    We almost had the memorial to ourselves, with the exception of a few tourists who wanted to get a shot with Melissa and Land:

    You know I love details! And just a side note for anyone looking for a way to have fun personalizing their shoes – Melissa bought the shoes and then added the little jewel she found on Etsy for the perfect bit of color and sparkle.

    Okay and here’s what I’m talking about with the nature – how great are all these trees? Thank you, fall, for hanging around just long enough for these pictures!



    I love that this shot is completely candid and other than the wedding dress, it looks like it could just be any day in the life of these two, walking around the city.

    How quintessential-DC is this shot with the hot dog stand?!

    Just hanging out on the steps of the National Archives building…

    And I’m going to wrap up with one of my very favorite images from this session. Land had this spot picked out and I love it! (Please note that no traffic laws were broken in making this image.)