DC Birth Photographer | Documentary Lifestyle Photography in DC, Maryland, and Northern Virginia

It’s true. Ever since I can remember, I’ve loved horses.

I opened a savings account when I was four so I could save my money to buy one.

I’ve always thought I should have been born when people used horses for transportation (on second thought, I really do like air conditioning and indoor plumbing).

I ran around on my hands and knees like a horse until I was way too old to be doing so.

And growing up (in Texas), I never understood why it seemed everyone and their brother had a horse, or had a cousin who had a horse, or had a neighbor who raised horses…except me! And they never seemed impressed by the fact that they got to ride horses. The conversation usually went like this:
Them: “Yeah, we had four horses growing up. Had to ride them everyday.”
Me: “What? You had four horses? That’s awesome!”
Them: “Uh, yeah, I guess so.”

And the sad thing is, I still love horses (and I still ask for one every birthday and Christmas). Unfortunately, horses cost a lot more to keep than cameras. So, my wish to own a horse has yet to be granted…I’m still holding out though (Jay, pretty please?).

Since I don’t have a horse right now nor plan on getting one soon, I try to get my fix in other ways. Naturally, I couldn’t escape the siren-like call of this poster on the Carnegie Museum of Natural History that I spotted several months ago.

So, finally today I went with my friend Anita to see the exhibit.

Unfortunately, they did not allow me to take any pictures of the horse exhibit. But, that’s OK, because I took plenty others of the interesting rock and dinosaur displays.

You can see the actual paleontologists hard at work from inside the museum.

Mmmm…pretty green.

Snow cone anyone?

This rock was having a bad hair day:

Some of them even glow in the dark.

Martha, this one’s for you.

The variety of colors was amazing.

Yeah, it almost hurt my neck to take this photo as much as it does yours to look at it.

I wanted to capture just how ridiculously long this dinosaur’s tail was.

Jurassic Park.

I have no idea what this was, but I thought it looked interesting.

Awkward hold-the-camera-and-take-a-picture-photo.

Thanks Anita for going with me!

This past Friday I attended Shady Side Academy’s commencement exercises for the class of 2009 as a guest of my dear friend Anita, whose daughter, Justine, was graduating. (For those of you who are not from the Pittsburgh area, Shady Side Academy is a renowned and well-respected school in the area that offers a world-class elementary through high school education).

Anita and I became friends while serving together as children’s leaders in a local Bible study, Bible Study Fellowship. As an FYI, if you are looking for a good Bible study, I would highly recommend checking out a local BSF class.

I met Justine last fall when I took her senior pictures (again, pre-blog days, so I’ll share a few). She is such an amazing, hard-working, and talented girl. I am sure she will achieve whatever she sets out to do. I think what is most endearing, though, is her humility and desire to serve God. Anita and her husband have definitely raised their children well!

It was pouring down outside when I took her senior pictures, but Anita’s house has some excellent architecture that worked well for the shoot.

And here’s one of her and her mom.

For the ceremony, the girls wore white dresses and the guys wore blazers.

The graduation address was given by Shady Side Academy graduate and Harvard Professor Jonathan Zittrain.

No hats, so they threw their programs into the air:

They had these amazing cakes at the reception–that’s a solid piece of chocolate you’re looking at.

Proud family.

Congratulations Justine!