Susan Solo – Photographer | Traveler | Adventurer

Blog

  • Lily Allen and the Camera Snatchers

    Friday night my friend, Jenn, and I went to see the Lily Allen concert at the 9:30 Club. She sounded absolutely incredible – she blew me away with her performance. Jenn and I both agreed that it was better than last year’s show. The only bummer of the night came when I got the tap-tap-tap on my shoulder from security asking me to surrender my point & shoot. Darn! I have to admit that I did see the “no photography at the artist’s request” sign on my way in, but I thought I’d give it a shot anyway. We were up on the balcony (great view, but pretty far away), so I only got about two crummy shots in before the confiscated the camera. I got my camera back at the end of the night unharmed, so just to show that I was there, here’s one of the bad shots. 🙂

  • Brittlea & Andy – Engaged!

    Last weekend was just the most perfect weather for being outdoors. Brittlea (isn’t her name so great?!) and Andy met up with me at Burke Lake Park for their engagement session and we just had the lovliest day! This was my first visit to the park and they really picked a great spot. There are fabulous trails winding all around the lake’s shore, and I was excited to find out that there was a little train that looped around the park as well. Too cute!

    I’m starting off with one of my favorites – I love how adoringly they look at each other! 

    And so it began, our rebellious sign-ignoring visit in the park. Now, I would never put my clients in harm’s way, but I think some rules have to be broken for the sake of good photography. (P.S. I loved the colors they chose to wear!)


    Keep…off…what? Trestle? Oh, oops. Too late!

    Despite the crowds, there were still so many great quiet spots around the lake.


    I really love their expressions in this last one. Clearly they are giggling over something super witty and charming that I said!

    Brittlea and Andy – you two are just so sweet. Thanks for hanging out with me for the afternoon! I’ll see you next month for the big day!

  • #45. Keep the Plant Alive For a Year – Check?

    This is really embarrassing to post, you guys.

    One of my 101 in 1001 tasks was to get a plant (see exhibit a below), and then another follow-up task was to keep the plant alive for a year. Well, today is Day 365 of having a peace lily in the house, and I have no idea if it’s truly alive or not (see exhibit b). It doesn’t flower any more and there are less leaves, but it still kind of perks up when I remember to water it, so that counts right? I’m counting that as alive technically, but I don’t feel very good about checking it off the list.

    Exhibit A – New peace lily one year ago:

    Exhibit B – The same peace lily after it has been in my care for one year.

    Ugh, I’m even more embarrassed to see the side-by-side comparison! Did I totally fail this one? I just can’t figure out when to water it. This is supposed to be the easiest plant to take care of, too. The you-can’t-mess-it-up variety of greenery. Does anyone have any tips? If the leaves are crunchy but still green, do I cut those off? Can this plant be saved? It still has some life in it, I know it does!

  • Jennifer & Dennis – 03.21.09

    On the first official weekend of spring, I had the privilege of joining Marlene Hawthrone of Obsidian Eye Photographyfor a fun and beautiful wedding in Warrenton, VA. I started out the day by hanging out with the guys before the ceremony.

    I asked Dennis to stand by the window for a minute where the light was nice, but doesn’t it really just look like he’s searching out the window for his bride?

    The best moment before the wedding was when the best man gave Dennis a really touching gift from Jen. I’m willing to bet there wasn’t a dry eye in the room (including me):

    The beautiful Warrenton Baptist Church:

    The church had this great rounded staircase leading out into the light of the front doors, and I caught this quick image of their exit after the ceremony.

    I know I didn’t quite nail the focus in this next one, but I still like it!

    I’m just a little jealous of Jen’s flawless skin and perfect smile!

    Marlene did some scouting before the wedding and found some beautiful colors and textures around Warrenton. This peachy wall was one of our faves:

    Jen’s “something blue” was found in her bouquet and at the candy bar for the guests (I’ve never tried rock candy but it looks yummy!):

    The father-daughter dance:

    And speaking of dancing, this crowd could DANCE. Including the flower girl…she had some moves!

    I love how happy they are!

  • On a School Night

    When I was about twelve, I was living in Colorado and my absolute favorite band (as in, I literally wore out tapes and CDs from playing them over and over), Depeche Mode, was touring. It was their World Violation Tour after the release of the album, Violator, and they were playing in Denver. I was a very dramatic pre-teen/teenager, and I desperately-more-than-anything-in-the-world wanted to see the Depeche Mode concert with my friends. Unfortunately, both shows were on school nights, and I might have even been grounded at the time, I can’t remember, but ultimately my parents said, “NO.” And that was with a capital ‘N,’ capital ‘O.’ I seriously felt like I was going to die, like I needed to go to the concert just as badly as I needed air to breathe. I can remember pacing back-and-forth in my room like a caged animal, listening to the Violator CD, and just aching about the fact that my friends were at the show and I wasn’t. (I told you – dramatic!)

    Well, now that I’m all grown-up, I do completely understand why my parents would have been a bit hesitant to let me run off into the city with a couple of other twelve year-olds, unsupervised, on a school night. Not to mention I was an absolute grouch before school in the mornings and they probably didn’t want to make that even worse by letting me stay out super late. BUT as I said, I am a grown-up now, and if I want to go out on a school night I CAN. And I will!