this is one of my favorite engagement shoots we've done. salene and rj are an awesome couple. they can play both the serious, beautiful card just as good as the silly card. we wandered a park and managed to climb into a shop window (how rad is that?) on an absolutely gorgeous autumn day and we were at such ease. we feel like we should pinch ourselves because not only do we tend to be blessed with awesome weather on our shoots, but the couples we've worked with in 2010 have been so gracious and easygoing and we often forget that this is our job. it was easy to think we were just frolicking in a park with old friends with this pair. we know their 2011 spring wedding will be gorgeous and we can't wait to hear their i do's!

2010 has been an amazing year.

we moved twice and bought our first home. we had our first nyc gallery show. we had a birth in the family and a death in the family. we went to ireland and biked across one of the aran islands. we roadtripped from seattle, up around the olympic peninsula, down to big sur. we got new tattoos (flowers and a dragon). we got more freckles. kendrick was awarded her first fellowship (and with it comes a solo show at the houston center for photography in may 2011!). we swam in the atlantic and tiptoed in the pacific. david traveled to tennessee and arizona and nevada and florida and alabama for a photo essay about the tea party movement for stern magazine and time magazine. kendrick traveled to sun city, arizona in january, march, august and december for her essay (sun city: life after life) on the 50th anniversary of the first retirement community and then both aarp bulletin and time magazine picked up the bills for three of those trips because they loved her photos (keep an eye out for those images in time magazine in january). we partied in vegas. meditated in upstate new york. swayed with the wind in a wheat field in kansas. ate beignets in new orleans more than once. we watched friends get married and photographed strangers who became friends say their vows. we showed our photos to national geographic editors in dc. we floated in huge natural springs in austin. we celebrated our fourth anniversary. all that is just a few of the 365 days of 2010. it's been an amazing, unforgettable year. we are so grateful to have such great families and friends and that we get to call our jobs our passion. we are so grateful that we get to do it all together.

we hope 2011 will be a year of growth and laughter and love, as well.

our labor of love xmas video from matt miller on Vimeo.

awwwwesome video made by awwwwesome smilebooth pics of an awwwwwwwesome outing with all the our labor of love crew.

we first met kim and john on a rainy spring day and we immediately loved how easygoing and carefree they were as they ran through the rain in the woods with us. their wedding was a local wedding, which is always nice to stay close to home (we shoot so many destination weddings that new spots in atlanta can be just as fun and inspiring). kim was gorgeous, and you'd never know she was freezing in her beautiful gown as we took photos--she kept smiling and her handsome hunk looked at her so adoringly. we absolutely fell in love with the band that played at their elegant reception: bobby and the aristocats were absolutely amazing and might just be the best band we've gotten to shake a leg to whilst working. everyone was dancing and bobby is quite the performer. the couple gave a donation to the american cancer society instead of giving out favors to their guests, which we loved. everyone had such a good time and we left at the end of the night with such huge grins on our faces. congrats, you two!