Personal | JJ Horton Photography

January 24, 2011

Personal | Hey! It’s us!

2 weeks ago on a frightfully cold morning, I got up at 5 AM, and headed towards uptown to have my hair & makeup done by the fabulous Elizabeth Tolley. I jumped back in my car and headed towards University to meet up with Jeremy who was waiting for me with Candice & Daniel of The Beautiful Mess. It was a whopping 15 degrees. In the name of getting the “look” I wanted I didn’t want to wear a heavy coat. So, I toughed it out in leggings, a tunic & lightweight sweater…. while Jeremy got to be a bit warmer in jeans, polo & thick sweater. The location was just amazing and sunrise, epic. We couldn’t have asked for better lighting, it was perfect. Candice & Daniel blogged a few of our images last week, and we couldn’t be happier. I initially had these done to use them on our “about me” and “contact me” pages…. but after gawking at them for hours, I think I MUST have a giant canvas made to hang above my desk. side note: let it be known…. anything we ask our clients to do, we will do ourselves…. be it spending a little extra for pro hair & makeup, getting up at the crack of dawn for perfect lighting or braving freakishly low temps 🙂 it’s all in the name of getting the best possible photos! This one has definite possibility to be the canvas over my desk……. Thank you so much C&D for a fantastic experience and for giving us a phenomenal product!!

January 16, 2011

Hiking at Hanging Rock

We had a magazine shoot to do early Saturday in Kernersville, so we took the opportunity once we were done to go and do a little exploring up at Hanging Rock. Jeremy had never been to the waterfalls, so I thought I’d give him the grand tour….. I thought… oh it’s just off the parking lot, not far at all….. well, I guess it isn’t far, but when you’re in pointy flats with no socks…. it seems FAR! I am sure I got lots of strange looks from the hikers we passed in their full on hiking gear with walking sticks…. but I avoided eye contact with everyone we met on the trail. After all, I used to hike up to Hanging Rock once a week in flip flops, no biggie. ….. ok now, CALLING ALL BRIDES WHO LIKE “RUSTIC” PLACES…… This little shelter is on the trail, right off the parking lot…. maybe a couple hundred yards….. Someone please have a small wedding or elope here… and let us photograph it….. it’s SO ADORABLE!!! …. and then maybe head over to the Boat House for your reception…. I think it would be awesome 🙂 The view from the boat house is on the left…. it’s a stunning lake you can canoe or paddle boat on, with a beach to tan…. (fyi…. this would also be a great spot for bridals or engagement photos…. I’m just sayin’) (with the way the benches are arranged, it looks like their may have been a wedding here recently) ….. once again…. hiking in pointy flats is not advised, but can be done 🙂

January 10, 2011

Caribbean Vacation!

In light of the lovely winter weather we’re having here in NC, I thought I’d warm up a bit with memories of our first anniversary trip to the Caribbean in October. We flew down to Miami a few days before heading out to Key West & Cozumel. Here’s just a few of my favorites from the trip…. warning, this is a long post! Goodbye Miami & South Beach! Hello, Key West! Then there were the lovely street musicians…. Then it was off to Cozumel…. We rented a Scoot Coupe for the day with about 10 other couples. These things are SOO MUCH FUN!!! (although we decided we felt like we were part of a scooter gang…). We also drank Mexican Coke. It was just like regular Coke…. only I couldn’t read the can. At one of the beaches, sea turtles had hatched the day before…. their were several men walking around and checking the nests for any remaining ones, he found a couple and I grabbed a quick shot of it. Why you don’t take photos of people (up close) with a wide angle…. you’ll have crazy hulk arms, and a tiny head.

December 27, 2010

Christmas Recap….

We made it back home on Christmas night, in fear that we would be snowed in, in Durham. We had oodles to do before today, so we had to get back. One of yesterdays projects was photographing a few of my Christmas gifts 🙂 I got a glorious new Starbucks mug, which I promptly put to good use.A super cute tote bag…. in the best colors ever! (gray & orange!)A tall apothocary jar to match the short one I got for my birthday.A rusty colored scarf (which I’m wearing today!)The coolest little jewelry box from Pottery Barn (it’s mini & made for traveling, perfect for all my overnight adventures!)A sparkly new snowflake ornament. We got lots of other goodies too…. including corn on the cob dishes, VS gift card, new sheets, candy, tin jars, cheetah print bath robe & a preordered copy of the original Alice in Wonderland (it will arrive in February!)

@JJHORTON