This Is The Way

Photo Cred: Meagan Abell

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, 
“This is the way; walk in it.” 
Isaiah 30:21 


I've been thinking a lot about this verse during the past week or so.
Just about how God's got us. 
In whatever situation, whatever circumstance.
Regardless of the decisions or choices we make, in the end, if we're really pursuing Him whole heartedly and as genuinely and honestly as we know how, things are going to turn out okay. More than okay actually. Because His perfect love involves such a beautiful plan for us. One that's better than anything we could ever come up with on our own. 
I've definitely learned this first hand.
God's plan > My plan.
Always.


Matt & Savannah

Meet Matt and Savannah.
Basically one of the cutest and funnest (yes, I pretend that's a word) couples I've ever had the pleasure of doing a shoot for.
They were so much fun to watch as they interacted with one another.
Not to mention I got to do it in front of this beautiful yellow wall, which I've driven past for years and always wanted to incorporate into a photo shoot.
But anyway, you can tell these two are just best friends, which is such an awesome thing to see in a relationship. They are just so fun loving and goofy with each other. Which is pretty much a dream when it comes to super cute candid shots.
I actually like candid photos more than posed ones.
For isn't that a more genuine and real moment captured?
One that's spontaneous and unplanned?

Side note: Savannah pretty much can't keep a straight face, ever.
Which I absolutely love about her, she has so much joy and happiness about her, it's infectious and I love being around people like that.
But I'll stop talking now and let you see for yourself.

 
 
 

 
......................
See? Told you they were the cutest.

Check out more here.
Interested in getting some portraits of your own done?
Email me for more info: by.leney@gmail.com


Life According To Instagram

This week I...

-Shared my Summer to do list
-Second shot a wedding with my main girl 
-Confessed my love for maxi skirts
-Dressed like I wanted to hang out with Jay Gatsby
-Wrote a little about how and why I love film
-Made/ate lots and lots of fried eggs. (No seriously. At least 5-6 during the week...)
-Was thankful for how good May was been to me
-Was personally serenaded by a barber shop quartet. Yea. I know. It's okay to be jealous.
-Shared a dream of mine involving travel. Of course.
-Announced a super awesome giveaway! Make sure you check it out. It ends Tuesday!!



Follow me on Instagram at @agirlnamedleney

Summer To Do List

California Shot with 35mm film/Minolta x-700


So Summer doesn't technically start until June 21.
But you know what, it's the first day of June and man it's hot enough out there to feel like summer so I'm still gonna post this.

Summer To Do List

Drive In Theatre
Beach beach beach beach
See The Great Gatsby at The Byrd Theatre
Go to some farmers markets (additionally: find and eat some country style donuts while there)
Visit Poe Museum
Visit Holocaust Museum
Get typewriter working
Do the Color Run
Take some road trips alone
Go to the park and read lots and lots
Watch Pride & Prejudice at least once
Go star gazing
Flying Squirrels game
Have multiple slurpees at 7-11
Attend at least two concerts
Shoot more film
Build a fort
Read every spare moment possible
Go the the VMFA every spare moment possible
Drive along Blue Ridge Parkway
Attend a few First Friday's
Try some new Richmond Restaurants
Do something incredibly brave that I've never done before
Go sailing
Get better at free lensing
Spend more time outside
Have brunch at Can Can
Re-watch Flight of The Conchords
Re-watch Gilmore Girls
Enjoy some summer rain
Go on an adventure that requires a back pack at least once

See last year's list here.

Fashion Friday's: Another Maxi Skirt

This Fashion Friday post is pretty much just about my love for maxi skirts.
Because, well, I love maxi skirts (and maxi dresses too actually).
I honestly probably wear them too much.
But they're just my favorite.
Not to mention they're always weather appropriate. 
You can have a thicker wool one in the colder months and when it gets warmer a lighter flowy (that's a word, right?) one knotted up, voila! 
Instant hippy chic. Right?

They're just perfect. 
The end.

Not to mention most of them have pockets.
And we all know how I feel about articles of clothing with pockets.

P.s. Yes I did get my haircut!



Outfit details
Skirt- Thrifted (The Clothes Rack)
Belt- Thrifted
Shirt- Forever 21 
Shoes- Thrifted and given to me by my pen pal (Thanks Alex!)
Watch: Michael Kors
Jacket: Thrifted (also seen here)
Necklace: Forever 21
Brown Camera Bag: Vintage via Etsy

All photos by Meagan Abell

Things I Love Thursday: My Minolta

Hurray for the first official addition of Things I Love Thursday!

This week I'm sharing my Minolta camera.
Most of you know that I have quite a collection of film cameras.
Well, this one is my favorite.
It's identical to one my Mom bought my Dad when they were first married, which is mostly why I love it so very much.
I started using my Dad's when I first started messing around with film, and soon decided that I definitely wanted one of my own.
I have to preface this with saying that I'm by no means an expert at film photography.
I mostly just do it for fun.
I love the time that spans a roll of film and its 24 exposures. It can last a week, or a few months.
Twenty four specific moments you deemed important or memorable.
The feeling of getting film developed is basically the equivalent of Christmas.

One of my favorite sounds in the whole world is the sound of a film camera's shutter releasing. 
It brings with it thoughts of long gone times, a slower and less hurried culture, filled with more care and patience.
Though I admit I almost always look at the back of the camera after I take a photo, half expecting to see a screen with the image I just shot.
Old habits die hard.
But there really is nothing like the sound of that shutter when it releases.

When I was growing up I remember going to Costco with my Mom and picking up film that we'd gotten developed from the various family cameras.
We documented the typical events in families' lives: Birthdays, vacations, graduations, holidays and other big moments like losing your first tooth, riding your bike, that turtle you found in the back yard and your first day of kindergarten etc.
I remember my brother and I would always fight over who would get to rummage through all the "B" envelopes to find ours.
I always loved doing that.
We would look through all the photos together and my Mom would routinely remind us to hold the photos gently at the edges so as not to smudge them.
Inside the envelope would be pieces of our lives: twenty four moments that spanned an event, or most often, if the camera had been used more sparingly, a couple of months or years.

Speaking of film, it's actually been a dream of mine for some time now to take a dark room class of some kind, which I know they offer at the Visual Arts Center.
So hopefully I can do that in the near future.



Thanks for helping take these photos Lorissa!

I've Got The Month Of May

Photo cred: Meagan Abell

May has been so very good to me.
There have been beautiful not too hot, not too cold, almost-summer-nights filled with good conversation, notebooks and journals bursting with new, happy and interesting thoughts and revelations, fun lists made, ears filled with new music, cameras chock full of photos, rolls of film in need of developing, new freckles, new books, weddings and engagements, some goodbyes along with some hellos, an astounding amount of new likes on the Facebook page (I still just can't get over it, you guys are awesome), the most profitable month yet with my business, new loves, discovery and many many new and exciting adventures, dreams and plans in the works.
Pretty much all of my favorite things.

Thanks for being swell May.
I know you'll be just as lovely next time you come around, but thanks for being especially nice this time.


Vanished Frontier

source

This was a photo I found around this time last year, and it's remained sort of a staple image for me when I think of road trips. Especially cross country ones.
Remember when I talked about how I, as a photographer, think of and see everything as a photo?
Well I guess this sort of ties in with that.

It's been a dream of mine to do a road trip across the United States for quite some time now. I don't really know when it started, but I imagine most people have a desire to do it at one time or another.
I mean how could you not?
Maybe it's even something, as an American, you're just born with wanting to do.
Especially if you've ever had a taste of out West. 
Which I am fortunate enough to have had, with many adventurous family vacations and trips to New Mexico, Idaho, Arizona, Montana, Nevada, Wyoming, etc.
And then of course recently California.
(Photos from which I still plan on sharing once I get through wedding season!)

There's just something so mysterious and romantic about the home of the vanished American frontier.
It's vastness, it's beauty, it's ungraspable wonder.
I don't know if it is just because I am an American, and this is my home, but there's something that makes me want/need, to explore it and see it, touch it and feel it and experience it in the most real way possible, in as many ways possible.

Life According To Instagram

This week I...

-Went sailing! Photos forthcoming. Obviously.
-Read five books. And started two more. Summer reading has been going most excellently (I know I know, it's not technically summer yet...)
-Shared a new favorite quote
-Shot TWO weddings in one weekend! Oh it was so much fun. I cannot wait to share the photos!
-Announced a super awesome giveaway! Make sure you check it out.
-Talked about routines
-Shared a verse I read and especially loved


Follow me on Instagram at @agirlnamedleney