Sarah and Jake

Thanx to Zac in Black Thomas for the fabulous ring shots

As promised below, I wanted to share some photos from Sarah and Jake's Ruston LA wedding. I enjoyed getting to know both Sarah and Jake a little bit as well as thier many friends and family. I also enjoyed seeing former a.i. bride, now wedding planner, Ashley Hall and her husband Ryan who is becoming quite the photographer himself. After a sweet ceremony we enjoyed a lavishly decorated reception with some killer cajun fare. I really dig all the dishes they have with Crawdads and if you know me I cannot get enough shrimp or any shellfish for that matter. After the reception Sarah and Jake were sent off to Mexico with a cool firework display. You can see a slideshow from the big day by clicking right here.

a.i. on da bayou

I was very happy to be part of Sarah and Jakes wedding in Ruston La ( photos coming soon) and I was happy to make my first visit to the Big Easy. New Orleans was as cool as advertised. in fact for a combination of music, art, food, and people watching, it may just have my beloved NYC beat. However it was a sobering trip in many respects, it was obvious that the average person ( such as myself) does not fully appreciate what they went through. I watched the news like everyone else but it wasn't until I talked to the gentleman below that I really started to appreciate what these folks went through. He told us about wading in waist deep water past corpses to fnd shelter at the Superdome, where again he had to avoid dead bodies. He saw women giving birth and he saw people die because they lacked medication. The photo below will inspire me for a long time to remember that night when I finally started to grasp Katrina.

Another image that really I feel strongly about came from the backroads of Mississippi. In a tiny town with one bank and no red lights, we found ourselves the only customers in a mom and pop dinner. We talked with the owner and his wife who are apparently raising their grand daughter. The owner was telling me he used to be a truck driver but wanted to settle down, so he opened up the dinner in what was once a busy little town. Then as he told us about how the town was drying up and times were tough, he started looking out at the empty streets with a look of concern for his family. I didn't ask, I just did what comes naturally, I fired off an exposure , hoping he wouldn't mind. He didn't seem to mind. His grand daughter (?) Seirra not knowing about the recession or the economy or any of sort just jumped around and begged us to play with her and take her photo. I will never forget these images and these people.

To see more of my photo documentary of New Orleans, the happy , sad, and sometimes scary faces of the Big Easy. Click this link www.aaronimaging.com/la then drop by and let me know what you thought.

Castle Ladyhawke

Castle Ladyhawke is the hot new wedding location in the mountains. The Castle sits on a mountainside surrounded by undisturbed forest and pasture, just north of Cashiers. I was fortunate enough to be able to have a photo shoot there a few weeks ago. I was very impressed, to say the least, with the incredible castle and grounds, and the photo possibilities are almost endless. We had Barnabas and Danilelle ( a former a.i. couple) from Cashiers and Nathan ( guitarist with The Great Imponderables) and Hannah from Asheville, as our real life model couples and they did great! Zac helped out and Aaron Morrell of Grae Skye Studios came up to film some video footage. Our awesome flower arrangements were created by the exclusive Blossoms at Biltmore Park. I also want to give a very special thank you to the owners and staff of Castle Ladyhawke for letting us explore this unique venue with our cameras.

The Castle is booking quickly as you can imagine. I can't wait to be a part of some of the weddings that will happen there at the castle.

My slide show from the day can be found here: www.aaronimaging.com/castle

Aaron Morrell's video projects can be found here: http://www.vimeo.com/3520654 and http://www.vimeo.com/3452527