Susan Solo – Photographer | Traveler | Adventurer

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  • Venessa & Mike – Engaged!

    Venessa, Mike and I met up at Brookside Gardens yesterday evening to take some engagement photos, and I had a blast with them! I’ve never giggled so much while trying to shoot – Venessa and Mike sang, danced and goofed off all around the park. But as adorably silly as they are, we captured plenty of sweet moments, too. And we managed to get our session done right before the skies opened up in a downpour. Whew!

    I’m starting off with one of my very favorites (I always love an “almost-kiss.”) And I LOVE Venessa’s dress! Such fun colors.


    Okay, maybe this is my favorite. I can’t decide! I really love their body language in this one:

    Swoon!


    Doesn’t Venessa have the best smile?!


    Mike, you’re so goofy:

    And then right back to so romantic! Aw.


    Venessa and Mike both love playing board games and playing cards (me too!) so they brought a deck along to the park. Mike showed us his skills with a mystifying magic trick!

    Fun ring shot!

    Fun Mike shot!

    And we finished up the day with a bit of song and dance just before it started to thunder, so we decided we’d better go.

    Venessa and Mike, you are both so much fun. I wish we could have spent more time together yesterday! I seriously cannot wait for your wedding in July!

  • I’m Back!

    I spent last week in Colorado, attending a conference and also visiting my parents, sister, and brother-in-law. I am completely behind with everything I could be behind on, so this is just a quick post to say “hi” and to show one little image. I didn’t take my big camera with me because I already had too much stuff to bring, but I did tote the point-and-shoot, which isn’t at all good for wildlife photography. In any case, here is a picture of a real live native Colorado mountain goat (photo taken lazily from inside the car):

    It’s a little bit “Where’s Waldo” since you can hardly see the goat separate from the rocks, but he’s in there. More soon!

  • Operation Beautiful

    I just ran across this website via Facebook, and I absolutely love the concept so I had to share: www.operationbeautiful.com. From the website: “The mission of Operation Beautiful is to post anonymous notes in public places for other women to find. The point is that WE ARE ALL BEAUTIFUL. You are enough…just the way you are.”

  • Heather & Dan – Engaged!

    I spent a good bit of the morning and afternoon yesterday clicking “refresh” on weather.com to see what Mother Nature had in store for the evening. I had scheduled Heather and Dan’s engagement session for late in the day, and yesterday it just kept getting darker and darker, but weather.com promised that it wouldn’t rain. Lo and behold, we had a nice, unseasonably cool evening to walk around downtown Leesburg. Here are a few of my favorites!

    I saw this wall when I was at the courthouse one day (getting copies of my marriage license – I wasn’t in trouble!) and thought it might make a fun image:


    I love how you can see that Heather is giving Dan a big smile in this next one even though you can only see just a bit of her face!

    You two are so. Darn. Cute.

    Dan came up with this next pose all on his own. I just put them in that spot, and he directed!

    Would you believe they thought they didn’t know what they were doing in front of the camera? I’m going to call a big “whatever” on that. 😉

    See? You guys are reeeeeeally good at this. Naturals!

    We’re pretty sure Dan practiced in the mirror before we had the session though, and that might be why he did so well.

    Chris and I discussed it, and this is one of our very favorites:

    LOVE your shoes, Heather!

    You both really were so fun to photograph and I’m really looking forward to your wedding in November! Thanks for hanging out with me yesterday!

  • Abby & Steve – 07.03.09

    Chris and I enjoyed celebrating our nation’s birthday this weekend with Abby and Steve’s patriotic wedding. The weather cooperated, and it was surprisingly comfortable for July. (I think I have a habit of giving you a wedding-day weather report, but it really does set the scene sometimes.) Without further ado, here are a few of my favorites!

    I started out by taking a few pictures of Abby getting ready with her girls at Abby’s house. Isn’t she gorgeous?



    Take a closer look at her bouquet and you’ll see her dad’s dog tags:


    And this is how the guys spent their time at the church before the ceremony:


    The ceremony was held at Covenant Presbyterian Church.


    Chris captured this moment during communion:

    First kiss as Mr. & Mrs.!

    Are you kidding me with this cuteness?! So happy and in love they can’t take their eyes off each other. Love it!

    We had fun shooting the sword arch exit…

    And then when we were going back inside for family photos, I grabbed this quick shot with the fun dramatic sky:

    The reception was at Bristow Manor in the tent outside, which was all lit up inside with twinkle lights:

    But before the reception, we took some time to do some portraits.



    Sorry girls…Steve’s taken!

    My view of the first dance:

    And Chris’s view (love this one!):

    And then everyone was out on the dance floor!

    Even Grandma had to show off some moves…

    I love the body language here. Abby’s all, “Yeah, that’s right…I’m your beautiful wife. Now kiss me!”


    No full-on cake smooshing for these two, but Chris caught this one of Steve giving Abby just a little dab of icing on the nose.

    And the sparkler exit!

    Congratulations and best wishes, Steve and Abby! Chris and I enjoyed celebrating with you, and had a great time photographing your day! Hope you’re having a fabulous time on your honeymoon.