Stacey Bode Photography

Yay, Tom and Julia!  Good grief, I adore these two.  I’ve known them for a while now, and they are the swellest of the swell.  Tom is one of the nicest AND funniest guys you’ll ever meet.  He did a show called “Teddy Bears, Rainbows, and Milkshakes” for cryin’ out loud!  A roomful of people is always way better with Tom in it.  Julia is one of those gals you think only exists in movies.  She’s smart, kind, witty, and happens to be drop-dead gorgeous.

I felt like a happy little kid when I went to shoot their engagement pics last week.  We strolled around the park and the High Museum, and it was a total blast.  I love how easily they can shift from silly to romantic, and then back to silly again.  It’s also nice that they forgave me for shouting things like “Is that a bale of hay, or is it my birthday?”.  Man, I just couldn’t have asked for two more awesome people to have photo playtime with.  Now this is me shutting up so you can see some photos.

Stay tuned….this is only Part I of their engagement pics.  We’ve got some more photo plans.  Tee hee!

Dear Mother Nature,

Please feel free to extend the autumn season as much as possible.  Thank you for your consideration.

Yours truly,

Stacey

We have seriously had the most incredible fall season this year, and I’ll be sad to see it go.  However, I’m pleased as punch that I got to snap some engagement photos for Hastings and Lee while the loveliness was still all around.  We headed to Grant Park, which seems to get bigger every time I visit.  It’s full of unexpected pockets of awesome.  These two fabulous people were super to hang out with, and I love how willing they were to participate in my goofy ideas.  Note:  See every previous post on this blog about how I have the BEST clients in the world.  So, here are some pics from our leaf-filled extravaganza!

Pets are always welcomed at my shoots.  We just had to get a few shots of Tate.  He is a little love muffin.

Most couples would rather wait until the end of their shoot to lay in the leaves.  They were into it at the very beginning.  See how cool they are??

We saw the most freakishly ginormous leaves ever.  I was glad to find one with a little hole in it.  By “glad”, what I mean is “I was utterly obsessed with this leaf!”.

Hastings had this cute idea shown below.  We talked about how it might end up being a “butt shot”.  I think it turned out showing more romance than butt.  Yay!

I kept thinking that Hastings had a face that reminded me of something in a movie.  It was this next image that made me realize it’s Princess Buttercup from “The Princess Bride”.  One of my all-time favs.  Hastings, you are a beauty.

I thought this one looked like an old-timey postcard.  Diggin’ it.

Leaves simply must be thrown.

I can’t wait to shoot the wedding of this uber-gorgeous couple in January.  Great way to start a new year!

Nancy and John are engaged!  Well, at least for another 10 days.  The big wedding day is just around the corner.  Woo hoo!  Back when I first met them, I was very drawn to the fact that they are creative, friendly, and so easy to talk to.  I’m glad we got to have some photo play-time before their big day, and Mother Nature was nice enough to keep the “r” word at bay.  For anyone reading this who doesn’t live in Georgia, rain has truly earned it’s 4-letter status.  Thankfully, it turned out to be a gorgeous evening with some dreamy light.  We strolled around, played, laughed, and even took a few photos.

Nancy’s lovely face hardly needs makeup, but I have to give a shout-out to my girl, Sloane, who worked her “natural look” magic.  Brilliant as usual, Sloane.

Every now and then, I come up with a little idea to experiment with.  I’ve been working on making some fun goodies to use in my photo booths.  I thought one of them might be fun for John and Nancy’s shoot, and they were kind enough to participate in my plan.

I hadn’t played with my Lensbaby in a while and thought I should dust it off and see what it can do.  It’s a little lens attachment that added the blurred effect in the next 3 images.  With pics of couples, I think it creates a nice “time stands still” sort of feel.  Nancy and John certainly seem to share some of those moments!

As the sun disappeared, we were treated to the most yummy golden light.

Only 10 more days to go!  I can’t wait!

Sarah + Dan are a super-cool couple from New York, and I’m lucky that they picked me to shoot their Georgia wedding. They are the first couple who found me via Flickr. Yay Flickr!

Fortunately, they were in town a few days before the BIG day, and we were able to squeeze in a fun pre-wedding portrait session in Piedmont Park. They’re one of those couples that makes photo-taking seem almost too easy. There was also some really beautiful light to play with that evening, so it was win WIN!

I adore these two. I was fortunate to have met Meghan and Nathaniel last year when I took pics for both of their acting headshots. I knew how much I liked them individually, and I couldn’t imagine how much cuter they were as a couple. Cute is not a strong enough word, and I can’t even describe the amount of niceness that goes with the cuteness!

We got together recently to shoot some portraits, and we had to be quick about it since their status will soon change from “engaged” to “married” in just a couple weeks. It was such a fun session! I love how they can go from silly to romantic to fierce in a matter of seconds. That takes skillz, y’all.

After the photos, we chatted and laughed for a while. Poor Matt and Nathaniel had to endure my talk with Meghan about our Twilight obsession. Seriously, Meghan should be playing Alice Cullen in the movies. Anybody else feel me on that? You should. I’m thankful they put up with me since I could have gabbed their ears off all night.

I’ll be shooting Sabrina + Rocky’s wedding later this month, but recently we met up in Inman Park to take some engagement photos.

Sabrina is also a photographer, and you should totally check out her site HERE. She has some beautiful work for you to look at. I’m always a bit nervous when shooting another photographer, but Sabrina is so wonderfully easy to be around. Oh, and she knows how to WORK IT for the camera!

I finally got to meet her super hubby-to-be Rocky, who is like me in the sense that he’d probably rather swim with hungry piranha than be in front of a camera. He did a great job of being relaxed, in the moment, and attentive to his lovely lady.

I’m really excited about these pics because I feel like they show how animated these two are and how much they care for each other. I also have to give Sabrina MAD props for one of the coolest ideas for their shoot…..orange balloons! They looked fantastic with the color of her gorgeous dress. See, there are also perks to working with another photographer!

Maybe it was the sunny day. Maybe it was being in love. Maybe it was the funky shoes. Maybe it was all the pollen. There was something affecting Kim and Mitchell. Throughout our photos session, Kim tried to convince me that the two of them were typically more reserved. I’d LIKE to believe her, but all I can tell you is that looking at these images, I hope everyone can see that they know how to let loose and have a good time. We cracked each other up the whole time. I had to wipe away “giggle tears” at one point.

Kim and Mitchell also got to witness first hand the reality of the clumsiness I often describe on this blog. I tripped over things, I ran into things, and even stepped in dog poop at one point. Oh yeah…I’m cool.

I’m happy to say that we all survived and got some great photos. Now we just have to look forward to their big day in October. Hopefully, there won’t be dogs at the wedding.

Ok, I have to tell you about these shoes. Kim was trying to decide what to wear for our session, and I mentioned that some funky shoes would be great. She SO exceeded my expectations with these!!! They were perfect…and also made it even more embarrassing that she walked over all kinds of terrain in these with grace, as I stumbled every few yards wearing my sneakers. Kim, those shoes are magical!

To see a slideshow of more images from their engagement shoot, click HERE

Wow, I’ve known these two for a loooong time, and you’ll struggle to find two nicer people. I met Jill ages ago when we both worked at the same pharmacy, I think in like 1975. Ok, maybe it was the 90s during the Grunge Dynasty. Jill looks exactly the same as when I met her…an adorable ray of sunshine. She later came to work at the biomedical company I was at, where Joel works as well. Joel is one of the people I was thankful for when I was at my day job. He’s one of those sane people who “gets it”. You know, someone who can be professional and human at the same time (NOT easy to come by).

I was so out of the loop at the company (at least about people’s personal stuff) that when Joel contacted me about wedding photography, I didn’t even know he and Jill were dating! Well, that was a very pleasant surprise indeed.

Here are some pics from their fun engagement shoot at the
Atlanta Botanical Gardens. It was so great to see you two and have a quiet stroll through the flowers. I can’t wait for your wedding next month!!!

Any guys reading this, please take note…Joel did not try to push Jill into the pond. Not once! Chivalry lives!

Oh, this next one brings me acres of joy!

Joel and Jill moonlight as supermodels.

That’s their nickname (according to Denise). Rick and Denise are far from the traditional husband-and-wife-to-be, and I love that about them. They are planning quite a wedding, which will include an Elvis impersonator!!!

For their engagement shoot, they wanted to play around their home, which is the source of a lot of hard work and enjoyment for them. Rick sported a tux, and Denise wore a very Marilyn-esque white dress. She had some really fun ideas for shots, and happily kicked off her shoes when asked to jump around in the street. It was definitely lots of playtime with a little photo time mixed in. After the camera was put away, the wine came out and we chatted, laughed, and told stories for a while. These two are fun on wheels. I can’t wait for the wedding!

Here comes the bride!!!!!!