Stacey Bode Photography

I love to dance.  Any style, any place.  Every now and then, Matt and I will have what we call a “Friday Night Dance Party” where we hang out in the basement while he plays dee-jay, and I dance around like an idiot.  Yay!

One of the many things I love about my clients is that they know how to have FUN!  So, I decided to do a little tribute to some of the best move-busting moments of 2009.  I hope this puts a smile on your face, and maybe makes you want to get up and break it down.

I adore how joyful John’s mom was.

I’m sure there was a time in my life when I could do this next maneuver.

I love how this little gal is so full of confi-dance!  Yes, I just made that up.

There may not have been any “official” dancing at Evita and Michael’s wedding, but Trudy dances to the beat (and music) of her own drum.

I want to be this couple when I grow up.  Smokin’.

Dell and Ferlando’s wedding even had an impromptu limbo contest!

You break it down, Jessica!

Sarah and John even danced it out during their ceremony exit!

If both feet actually leave the floor during dance time, I am way impressed!

I hope everybody has fun dancing their way into 2010!

Not that there’s any kind of interweb blog entry coolness contest or anything, BUT this post is going to be hard to beat in my book.  First, let me start by saying that I’m lucky to have the most awesome-est mother-in-law there ever was.  I’m always saying that knowing Susie makes me feel like I won the mom-in-law lottery.  Not just some $5 scratch-off either.  We’re talking power ball mega millions.  On top of all that, Susie has had a wonderful man named John in her life for over 30 years.  He’s a super-smart, generous person, and they make such a fantastic pair.  So, these two incredibly special people just happened to get married this past weekend!!!  Woo hoo!

We headed to their place in Florida for the festivities.  In true Susie-and-John form, the wedding itself was low-key and marvelously relaxed.  However, the weekend was filled with friends, fun, and lots of love.  I’m so excited to share these pics with you!

Their friends Rick and Jinny stopped in for a surprise visit, and brought Susie this gorgeous bouquet.

Here they are taking care of the paperwork at the courthouse.

Dominic and Vilma also came out to share in the celebrating.  They are the closest thing to family without technically sharing genetic information.  Vilma made the bride and groom a lovely quilt (she made it in only 3 days too!).

Again, not a contest, but how many brides have a wedding photo with a rest room sign on one side, and a stairwell of prisoners being transported on the other side?  That’s gonna be hard to top.

This is why I should never be released from behind the camera.  Must.  Attack.  Bride!

Here’s Matt sportin’ his courthouse mannequin look.

Their ceremony was short, sweet, and totally made me cry like a baby.

Matt congratulating “the new dad”!

Who invited these goofballs?

Susie, do you even realize how adorable you are?

My second favorite post-wedding activity is chasing Fletch around the yard.  My most favorite post-wedding activity is……

…eating CAKE!  Look Evita, we used the birds you gave me!  They worked real darn well I think.

I crack up at this pic of Dominic giving Fletch the what-for after he tried to “cut” the cake before Susie and John.

I told Susie to hold her bouquet and act “bride-y”.  Here’s what she came up with.  Equally angelic and hilarious.

I love you both so very much and can’t properly express how much it means to me to have been part of your big day, and all the other non-wedding days.

To view a slideshow of more images from Susie and John’s long-awaited, highly-anticipated wedding, please click HERE

I am really excited about some big things coming up.  I think 2010 is going to be huge, and I keep feeling that there will be a wave of positive change.  Anyone else gettin’ this vibe from 2010?  Don’t get me wrong, this was a great year.  My gut is just telling me that gems of goodness are on the way.  No, I am not drunk, and I have not been smoking the ficus tree.

One plan that’s in the works is a new project I’m working on with the lovely Robin Nathan.  Can’t tell you what just yet, but here’s a clue…

Stay tuned…

Why I hate rain…

SERIOUSLY!  He comes into the kitchen, and with one good shake, it looks like a clay-colored crime scene (can you tell I’ve been watching lots of “Dexter”?).  Um, this spatter pattern leads me to believe that the godzilla-sized killer entered the area from the back porch, committed the act, and then proceeded to eat all the household rugs.  Must be some type of calling card.

I’ve photographed family portraits, engagements, and even weddings where people’s furry friends joined in the fun.  I LOVE capturing a few shots of my clients’ pets….especially when they tell me that it’s impossible to get a good photo of their little pal.  I like a challenge!  It was time for me to try my hand at a full-on doggie portrait session.  I knew my friend Stacy’s dog Maddie would be the perfect photo subject.  She’s calm, adorable, and really well-behaved.  Every time Maddie and Fletch play together, I hope that Fletch will learn by example.  Nope.  He can’t seem to shake his crazy puppy bad-boy status, even around a good influence.

I had such a blast taking these pics, and Maddie was an awesome fluffy model.  I’m glad we got some shots with Stacy too.  Seeing that bond between someone and their pet makes me so happy.  These were actually taken a couple months ago, and I finally pulled some up for the ol’ blog.  Yay!  I hope there will be many more photo shoots in my future with whiskers and wagging tails!!

We had to get a shot of Olive too!  Sorry Maddie.

Aw, so much puppy luvs!

Kip and Katie are two fabulous, patient, and photogenic models-slash-volunteers!  They are a super-cool engaged couple who are friends of Christa’s.  I’ve been mentoring Christa for (wow, how long has it been Christa?….) I think about two years now.  She wanted to do a bit of a lighting workshop, and Kip and Katie were kind enough to lend us their time and their gorgeous faces.  Thanks so much you two!  I asked Christa if she wanted to work with indoor or outdoor lighting, and we ended up doing a little of both.  Woo hoo!  Since I don’t do a lot of indoor engagement shoots, we had to pick a place that would be cool yet challenging.  What better place than Paris on Ponce?  It’s eclectic, quirky, fun, and full of spaces with all sorts of lighting variety.  Everything from bright lights, to really low light, to disco balls!  Great place to practice some techniques.  The folks who run Paris on Ponce were nice enough to allow us to briefly invade their magical space.  Thanks George and Judi!

Here are some of the shots I snapped while working with Christa on her flash and camera settings.  I hope she got some useful info out of our workshop.  I feel like on the day of our shoot, my head was in a million places.  At least I remembered to take my lens cap off.  So, at minimum I taught Christa to always remove the lens cap.  Very important and useful info I’m passing on.  Ground-breaking, really.

Here’s Christa doing her thing!  Sorry I didn’t get a better pic of her in action.

We got a little time in The Moulin Rouge Room.  My favorite part of shooting in there is bouncing my flash off the disco ball to get that spotted light effect.  Yay!

Then we took it outside where there was more cool stuff and some very dreamy natural light.

MANY, many thanks to our wonderful models Katie and Kip, and congratulations on your engagement!

This ray of sunshine is Monica.  She’s an enjoyable mix of pretty/girly and easy-going-outdoorsy.  She owns and works with horses, which is basically what every girl wishes she could do when she grows up.  Way to live the dream, Monica!  She’s also far more tolerant than I am since it was pretty daggum cold the day of this shoot.  I was shivering in a winter coat, and she was posing in a sleeveless shirt for a while!  Mad props to you, Monica.  Here are a couple pics of this gorgeous and fun lady…

Gotta give a thank-ya to my gal Sloane for doing a great job with Monica’s hair and makeup.  Yay Sloane!

I recently had the pleasure of second shooting at a wedding with the talented and lovely Robin Nathan.  Megan and Jeremy’s wedding at the Ritz-Carlton here in Atlanta was a gorgeous event full of opulence and joy.  What a great night!  Here are a few of the pics I snapped on this fabulous day.

Please check out Robin’s website HERE and her post on Megan and Jeremy’s wedding HERE!

I flat-out ADORE this family, and I’m so glad we were able to share some photo playtime this season!  I’ve been friends with Carribeth for ages, and I can’t believe how fast her little boys are growing up.  It seems like another lifetime back when we worked together at our fresh-out-of-college jobs and would have to hold back giggles during meetings.  Although, I would probably giggle even more now than I did then!  It’s always so great when I get a little time to catch up with her and the fam.

Nate is such a sweetie.  He kept wanting to give me a tour of the house.  Very hospitable!

These pics were shot on Nick’s first birthday!  Happy Birthday Cutie-Pie!

Baxter!  The last time I took pics of him, he would have fit comfortably in my pocket.  Who’s a big boy now?!

Carribeth just keeps getting more adorable as time passes.  Not.  Fair.

Carribeth and Brian totally get my vote for Homecoming Queen and King!

A million thanks to the ever-terrific Ramey family!

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??

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!