A few weeks ago I photographed my first Nigerian wedding with Wale from Wale Photos. The ceremony took place at a beautiful church in Landover Hills, MD, and the reception took place at the Anastasi Room in Bethesda, MD. I absolutely loved photographing this couple. She was just beautiful, and you could just feel the love that they had not only for each other, but for all their family and friends. I wish you two the best of luck in stating your new lives together!
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Today my amazing sister Katharine gave birth to a beautiful baby girl! I feel like getting on a plane right now to see them! I love you already baby C. Being an aunt is the greatest thing in the world. I am sooo happy!
My mom took this picture at the hospital. How amazing do they both look! I don't think I've ever seen a 1 day old that adorable!
My friend Katie just made my day by posting this on her blog and I since I too am obsessed with Earth Wind and Fire, I thought I would share it will all my friends!
Can you believe that we only have 1 more day of summer left?
Happy Friday everyone! The work week may be ending for some, but mine is getting into full swing. Tomorrow I am photographing a wedding on the Eastern Shore, MD and am super excited because the B&G are having an outdoor ceremony, and weather.com is showing clear skies! I hope everyone has a relaxing weekend, and be sure to check back next week to see more new wedding photos :-)
A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to photograph a beautiful wedding in Gaithersburg, MD. Charles and Emily are pretty much the most adorable couple I have ever met. It was amazing for me to see how much they loved, not only each other, but everyone else in their lives. They met while teaching a children's group at church (how cute!), and their friendship grew over the years into a love that I know will last forever. I want to thank Kristen Leigh for inviting me to photograph this beautiful event. Here are just a few of my favorites from the day. 
Yesterday I came across this awesome campaign while reading a favorite blog, and wanted to share it with my readers. The 3/50 campaign encourages people to spend at least $50 a month on 3 independently owned stores in their own communities. I know the economy is bad, and that we are all looking for deals and ways to save money, but if we don't spend money on local businesses, many of the places that make our communities great will not survive. My husband and I were at our favorite Mexican restaurant the other day and there was hardly anyone there and I am really scared that it will be a causality of this economy (the food is so good!). You can read more information below:
Do you remember this cutie? I had the chance to photography my little second cousin Adam last weekend, and seriously, how cute is he?!! I can't believe he is already 6 months old! Like I've said before, I have the cutest neices, nephews (and 2nd cousins) in the world. I am sooo lucky! 
I really wanted to start making my blog more about who I am, my journey, and my photography point of view instead of just place to post my new photos. I thought I would start off by sharing the story of why I decided to start a photography business.
I am not one of those people who grew up taking pictures of everything and everyone. I loved taking photos when I would travel and always felt extremely inspired by the beauty of the places I went, but when I would come home, the inspiration would leave and I would usually put away my camera until my next big adventure. My point and shoot digital Camera broke in November 2007, and I started shopping around for a new one. I decided that instead of a small point and shoot I would really go for it and purchase "nice" camera.
In January, 2008 I purchased my very first Digital SLR camera, the Canon Rebel XT and after I bought it, it pretty much sat in my camera bag untouched. My husband gave me a hard time about spending all that money (which was nothing, now that I know how much photography equipment really costs) for something I didn't even use, so after three months of sitting in a lonely camera bag, I decided that I would finally take some "nice" pictures with my "nice" camera. My sister was visiting my parents with her adorable children, so I had the perfect subjects! I got to the house, set my camera on automatic and had my very first photo-shoot. As I was chasing my almost 2 year old niece around the house, making my best attempt to capture that sweet smile, it happened... I fell in love with photography (yes that abruptly).
The next thing I did was to I called up all of my friends with kids and asked if they could be my test subjects. I then embarked on a journey to learn everything I could about photography. I e-mailed photographers I liked, I read books, I read articles, and soaked up all the information I could. I feel like I have come a long way in the past year in both the knowledge I have and the understanding of how much more there is to learn. I am grateful for all those who have and continue to support me (especially my wonderful husband and my mom :-). 
This was taken back in May. She is my adorable niece Lacee, and I love her to death!
(Disclaimer: I'm NOT a writer, I do not claim to be a writer, nor do I have any desire to be a writer, so I apologize for all my grammar and spelling errors!)
So I have a blog, a website, a facebook fan page, a twitter page, a wedding wire page, and adds on craigslist, but I'm still not meeting my goals of website viewership. I was wondering if anyone out there has experience with SEO (search engine optimization) and would like help a web illiterate soul out... I have been doing a bit of research and it seems that having your website linked to other websites helps increase your search engine rating, so anyone who wants to put a link to my website on theirs would be my new favorite person ;-)
Now, for those who don't read my posts and only like looking at the photos (I'm not a big text reader either...), here is a favorite Image of mine that I have never shared:
Emily Hayes Photography
Washington DC Wedding Photography
So for the past several months I have been uploading my photos to Photobucket.com and attaching the HTML on my blog. I decided that it was probably a better idea to have them loaded onto my blog, so this is my test to see if it will actually work. I will probably delete this post shortly, so don't be alarmed if its gone (not that anyone would be).