my first feature/interview!!! yay!

so... i've not been a very present or consistent blogger this year... or not since spring, anyway. and when i finally find time to explain all that has been going with me, you'll understand why.

but i did feel i should post today and let you know that i am honored {to say the least} to have been featured on the blog of an exceptionally talented photographer, miss melanie... founder and owner of the velvet trunk photography.

i actually met melanie for the first time in may of 2008 when i attended the wedding of a good friend who lives in nashville. wait... let me back track. i used to work with a girl named michele {another dear friend}, and while we worked together, she told me one of her best friends was a photographer in nashville. then she led me to this friend's {melanie's} web site to show me her work. i was instantly smitten with her style and beautiful way of capturing people... particularly babies, toddlers, pregnant women and other portraits.

well, little did i know i would meet mel some day. back when i started my blogs, mel had started a blog for her photography business. so i got to know her a little in cyberspace first. we had a friend in common, as well as a love for photography. and i really admired and aspired to her level of skill and artistry {which i am still so far away from... but that's okay}.

anyway, when i found out i would be attending the wedding of a friend in nashville, knowing that mel lives in nashville, i knew i must meet this sweet girl that i had heard so much about and really looked up to. so we arranged to meet!! it was a wonderful time... breakfast at the most picturesque spot outside of nashville and some time taking pictures on the side of a bridge overlooking the most incredible scene of green hills and countryside that stretched on forever.

and now, i am possibly going to get to meet up with her again in november, as now another friend {michele, who introduced us} is also getting married in nashville {which i am uber excited about}. mel will obviously be at the wedding, but even if she was not, i would arrange to see her again while i am there.

okay... enough back story. all that to say, this is how i know melanie, and i was so very humbled and honored that she should ask to feature my photos on her blog. i mean, just look at her work, and you will see what i am talking about. but she is so sweet and so encouraging to aspiring photographers like myself... she was once there herself. so i am grateful that she featured my photos and even interviewed me a little. it made me feel like a real-live photographer!!

and you know what?? i kind of am... of course, you need to be caught up on all that's been going on with me to get the full story on that, but as i said... another time. hopefully soon.

for today, it's just this... thank you melanie, for such an honor to be part of your monthly featured photographers set!! i can only hope to be as talented as you are in my future as a photographer. you are ridiculously gifted, but even more sweet and thoughtful than you are great at photography. thank you for the inspiration that you are!!

to the rest of you, do check out her lovely blog and web site. i assure you, it will be time well-spent.

and have a super day!!

. . .

{by the way... i used this photo, because it is one of the photos that mel featured, and of all the photos she used, this is the only one that i had not previously posted on my blog... so although summer fun is over, and this photo was taken a few years ago in florida and thus has nothing to do with this post, i thought i would use it anyway. i almost discarded this photo it took of strangers on the beach, because when i saw it on my camera lcd screen, i thought it did not turn out at all like i hoped. but then when i got it on the computer and saw it in a larger format, i realized that with the proper crop, i really like the photo. i decided to use it as one of my 100 strangers additions. i almost posted about it after seeing this post on shutter sisters, but never got around to it.}