Oh this weekend.

What a wild, long, exhausting, amazing, thrilling, inspiring weekend.

First: I photographed my first, full-fledged, I’m in charge, all official-like wedding on Saturday. And boy, did I get thrown in “sink or swim” style.

I  have to tell you though…it went beautifully. I couldn’t have dreamed up a more perfect, first, all-in-charge wedding. The bride was a delight, the wedding perfectly planned, everything went off without a hitch.

With that said, we were on task and documenting this entire wedding story for a full 14 hours on Saturday. It may not look like it, but hauling around two massive camera bodies, lenses and accessories, while jumping about to get the right angle, be in the right place, and not miss a moment is extremely exhausting. I woke up Sunday feeling like I’d been through a full-body workout the day before.

All-in-all, the results well-warranted the effort though, and we’re calling it a successful debut.

Which leads me to the second thing: I have been holding off on a very exciting announcement. While this has been in the works for some time, I wanted to keep the elusive “it” under wraps until we had something substantial to show you.

I have embarked on a new adventure with a fellow. His name is Dan Petty. He is first and foremost, a wonderful human being. And really, that’s a pretty important place to start, right? He also happens to be a very talented photographer. Together, we have started a new business: A&D Photography.

I became ever more aware this weekend that while it is possible to photograph a wedding on one’s own, it’s infinitely more rewarding and manageable with a comrade-in-arms to back you up and share it with. Dan proved to be a great teammate, and I’m so very excited to build and grow A&D Photography with him.

We’ll get a chance to do just that sooner rather than later. Much sooner in fact. We are shooting another wedding this upcoming weekend in Pennsylvania. So stay tuned for more from both weddings in the upcoming weeks.

The web site is still largely under construction, but we’ve put up a few photos from this weekend’s wedding. Give them a look if you’re so inclined here: www.andphotographers.com

There’s a lot of change afoot and I am positively thrilled by it all. Thanks for joining me on this ride, everyone.

Love ya’ more than coffee:

-a.e.