I had an absolute BLAST taking pictures of the Mercurio family! Aidan munched on an apple for much of our shoot, and after each bite he said, “MMmmmm….” In one word: adorable. What a delight to spend a Sunday afternoon with this little man (oh, and his mommy and daddy too!). Thank you for such a great time you guys!!!
I had a great time with Sarah last weekend shooting her bridal portraits! We traipsed all over the Dallas Arboretum taking in the beauty. What a gorgeous place for bridal portraits, or even a wedding. We cut it pretty close for her portraits as Sarah and Andrew’s wedding is only 32 days away! But, seeing as she wasn’t able to pick her dress up from the seamstress until the afternoon of the 9th, the 10th was pretty much the soonest we could do it…. With this in mind, I have to say, I love how laid back Sarah is! She is extremely organized, but she also knows how to sit back and just enjoy. A breath of fresh air….
Now, I don’t want to post without an image or two, but I also can’t reveal Sarah’s wedding day look before her big day. So, I leave you with these:
As all good bridal sessions do, Sarah’s ended with these on her feet…
and these in her hand….
Thanks so much for a fun morning Sarah! I will be seeing you VERY soon indeed. 
A year ago a beautiful young woman, Alese Coco, lost her fight against Hodgkins Lymphoma. She went through the typical ABVD chemotherapy treatment that my husband, Rich, has just gone through, but she relapsed several months later. She then had a stem cell transplant (this is standard for all HL patients who relapse), followed by intense radiation treatment. Remission for the second time was short-lived, and once again, she relapsed. Currently, there is no cure for HL after a second relapse. There are clinical trials being done, and Alese participated in these; but sadly, they did not help her.
Alese’s family describes her as a young woman who was a strong fighter. She kept score of her relapses and remissions. After her stem cell transplant she declared it Alese: 2 Cancer: 0. And she believed in fighting to win. In a way, she did win. She never stopped living life to its fullest, and she did it fearlessly.
Alese’s family also believes in living life to its fullest, and they have a deep desire to help other HL patients and survivors do the same. Out of this desire, and in Alese’s honor, they have started the Fight 2 Win Campaign. Its purpose is to create a greater awareness of Hodgkins Lymphoma and to raise money to fund further research on the disease. Because it is a relatively rare form of cancer, affecting only about 8,400 people per year in the United States, and considered curable, it does not receive much attention from researchers. However, 3-4 people in the United States die from HL every day. Obviously, more attention is needed.
Please consider checking out the Fight 2 Win Campaign website. And perhaps Alese’s story will touch your heart as it did mine.
I have had these images hanging around for about three months now, and for three months I’ve had every intention of posting a few here for you! This was a lovely model I had the privilege of photographing back in the earlier part of the year here at the San Antonio Botanical Gardens. She is a breathtaking girl, and extremely comfortable in front of the camera. A photographer’s DREAM!!!
