Stacey Bode Photography

Mark now understands first-hand how easily misled I am by facial hair.  We had been chatting for a while and were about to start shooting his headshots when he pointed out that he had acted in 1:23, a recent show with Synchronicity Performance Group.  I shot the press photos for that show, and suddenly realized I had photographed Mark before.  However, he had a moustache back then.  Just that little difference is enough to throw me for a curve.  I remember when I used to be a smarty-pants scientist, and my observational skills were slightly more accurate.  Sorry I’m so clueless now, Mark!

This was one of those headshot sessions where I had to keep reminding myself to shoot photos because we were having such a good time talking and laughing.  Mark not only has lots of stories, but they’re GOOD stories.  I dare you to talk to him for just 2 minutes.  Can’t be done.  I’m a bit on the chatty side too, and I’m amazed that we actually took some pics!  Mark, thanks for being so great, and so easy to photograph!

A few weeks ago, I had a wonderful photo shoot with Jenna, Florent, and their new little fella, Rio.  For those who might have seen the post, it was the photos taken in the movie theater.  SO much fun!  Jenna had some family in town for a visit, and wanted me to swing by for some more photo time.  Yay!  What a fantastic group of people.  Definitely the kind of folks who in an instant can make you feel like you’ve known them for years.

Jenna had talked about getting some shots with her front porch (which is super pretty and cozy), some pics of the family around the dinner table, and for fun, I thought I’d do some black & white portraits with the family.  Her only other request was to get photos that show the eye color of baby Rio and her dad.  Both of them have stunning eyes, so I can see why she’d want us to capture them.

Jenna and Florent, thank you for yet another day of fabulous photo play time!

I have so many emotions behind this post, that’s it’s hard to even know what to write.  I was really fortunate to have met Kerrie and her phenomenal son Jonah when I photographed Bert’s Big Adventure earlier this year at Disney World.  I remember being impressed by Kerrie’s friendly and joyful personality, and everyone on the trip absolutely fell in love with Jonah.  None of us will ever forget seeing him in his Buzz Lightyear costume!  I think we’re all grateful for the memories we have from that trip.

Imagine how thrilled I was when Kerrie contacted me to say that not only was she getting married, but she also hoped I would photograph it.  As far as decisions go, that one was a no-brainer.  Few things make me happier than taking emotionally-driven photos, and I knew what an important time this was in their lives.  There was not only a wedding to celebrate, but also the fact that Jonah was successfully recovering from a very crucial surgery.  He’s quite the little super hero.

The lovely wedding was held in the back yard of a neighbor of Kerrie’s parents.  Now, when I say “back yard”, what I actually mean is “one of the most beautiful gardens I’ve ever seen”.  I think I actually gasped when I saw it.  It was also such a pleasure to meet Craig, and see what a wonderful combination of families was being created by this marriage.  I am so thankful to have been there to capture images of this gorgeous day.

Here is a small sample of pics, and if you’d like to see a few more, there’s a slideshow at the bottom of this post.

Craig was working on getting Jonah’s tie knotted for him

This stunning lady is Kerrie’s sweet mom, Judy

I lost track of how many times Jonah said “Mommy, you look beautiful”.

Here’s Craig and Kerrie getting their first glance at each other before the ceremony.  Yay!

Kerrie looked radiant and gorgeous

Craig totally has the dashing groom thing figured out

I LOVE couples that crack each other up!

This picture of Jonah makes me so happy

I often like to point out which moment at a wedding makes me cry.  Here it is…

Oh Jonah, you just couldn’t possibly be any cuter!

There are so many touching moments in Jewish wedding ceremonies, but I think this one speaks volumes about this family.

I’m completely thrilled for this awesome new Mr and Mrs.  Thanks so much to both of you.

Meet the Singletarys!  We met up at the beautiful Sims Lake Park.  I had never been there before, and discovered what a wonderful little oasis it is.  When I first got there, I thought I had shown up extremely under-dressed until Kimberly explained that a bunch of kids were there taking homecoming photos!  It’s a good thing I didn’t know that ahead of time, or I would have totally worn a cocktail dress and heels.  I had such a great time meeting and photographing this lovely family.  Here are a few pics from what I’m going to call their “Homecoming Shoot”.

Matt and Liz were gracious enough to let us capture video during their day after shoot.  I’ve been wanting to put together something that gives a little insight into how I work.  An unfortunate side effect is also showing what a total weirdo I am in front of the camera.  However, Matt and Liz make up for any of my dorkiness by being completely natural and fabulous.  In the future, I might do more of a tutorial video, but this one was just for fun.  I have to give a HUGE thanks to my hubby Matt for being our videographer, chauffeur, equipment carrier, and all around swell guy.

It’s a bouncing baby blog!  I’ve been needing to add a fresh style to my blog for ages, and I finally have something that is more “Stacey” and less “Template #86″.  Old blog, I thank you and I hope we can still be friends.  It’s not you, it’s me.

Posts from my previous blog  (which I’ve always affectionately referred to as “Kenny Bloggins”) have already been added to this new one.  Yay!  I’m going to have to get a little post-happy to keep this new blog moving forward.  I’ve had so many fantastic shoots lately, and I can’t wait to have them up here on the interweb!

I can’t think of a better way to launch this here blog, than with a few shots from Matt and Liz’s day after shoot.  I’ve known Matt for years, and can’t express how thrilled I am that he found such a wonderful lady to share his life with.  They are a stunning couple, and truly good-hearted people as well.  These are just a few of the images we took, but soon I will be posting a fun behind-the-scenes video of their shoot that my hubby and I put together.  Another thing I’ve been wanting to do for ages.  My to-do list and I are in the middle of an epic arm wrestling match, and I’m totally gonna win.  Anyway, I had so much fun with the video, and it will show more of the pics from their awesome shoot.  It was really nice of them to let us invade their photo session that way.  So, here’s a little sneak preview…

We were walking through the parking lot, and couldn’t resist taking this pic.  They were married on the 15th of August.

I love happy surprises during shoots.  We wandered into Piedmont Park, and had no idea that there was a Pride event going on.  There were so many people there, which made for some cool images….and we made some new friends that you’ll see in the video later.

Thanks so much, Matt and Liz!

How wonderful it was to finally meet Lena’s family. They are so fun and easy-going, and I even got to have a battle with imaginary laser guns. I’ve decided that every photo session should have one of those, so be forewarned. Chloe, you win! What an enjoyable shoot, and this may sound corny, but you can tell there’s a lot of love in their home. Well, love and Chloe’s laser beams! Yay!

Woo hoo! I’m so glad my friends Evita and Michael were in town this weekend for D-Con! Not only did I get to hang with them, but we also finally got to do their wedding “day after” shoot. I guess a more appropriate phrase would be “four months and four days after ” shoot. We got to take lots of photos of just the two of them in their wedding “gear”. Both of their outfits were made by hand, and Evita made her dress! She’s incredible.

We needed a fabulous location with a special mood and style. I’ve known Evita long enough to be comfortable suggesting a cemetery. Well, not just any cemetery. Oakland is both historical and beautiful, and I was confident that we could get photos that didn’t appear to have been taken at grave sites. They were nice enough to trust me, and we had a blast. Then again, I could have fun with Evita locked in a gas station bathroom with rabid badgers.

Evita + Michael, you are awesome. Please find more reasons to visit Atlanta, and I’ll find ones to visit Charleston!

What a joy to finally meet Jenna and Florent’s little fella, Rio. Before she knew the gender of the baby, she had nicknamed it “Sparkle”, which is just about the best thing ever. However, the name Rio ranks really high on the coolness chart. He’s named after the place, not the Duran Duran song. As awesome as the name is, he’ll always be Sparkle to me. Just like baby Henry will always be Chauncey Rocket, little Max will always be Robot Zillionaire, and Alasdair will forever be Soul Crusher X.

There are several things that you’ll have to bear hearing me repeat a million times. One is that I LOVE when people come to me with new and inventive ideas for their photos. I can always come up with something, but then there’s the question of whether or not it will fit the people in the shoot. If folks bring their own ideas to the table, we’ll definitely be working with a scenario that suits them. Win, win!

Some of you may recognize Jenna, who was looking fabulous in an earlier post of her maternity pics. She had worked on a film that played at the historic Plaza Theater, so she thought it would be cool to take some shots of her adorable new baby there. Man, was she right! The powers that be at the Plaza were kind enough to give us free reign of the space before movie time. At the moment, they have the front of the theater entirely decorated to promote Halloween II. Lots of devils, headstones, and even a tiny coffin. We looked at each other and were like, “NO!”. Not quite family portrait material. Not a problem. There were plenty of other incredible places.

So here are some examples of what I shot with this rock star family. Note for other photographers: if you’re ever in a low-light situation, it sure is nice to have a gigantic white movie screen for bouncing flash. Yay!