However, since all of you (blog readers) have been and continue to be such a HUGE part of {a}strid photography, I want YOU to be the ones who nominate who this special person should be. Simply send me an email letting me know who you think should should receive a free photo session of their own and why. There are no limitations to why you think this person/family deserves this gift. Maybe they have gone through some hard times, or lost a special person, or are always giving to others and never themselves, or simply wouldn’t be able to afford one otherwise. It truly can be anything. Email me your thoughts to and I will be choosing a winner on December 20th!

What :: Free photo session for someone truly special and amazing

Who :: YOU email me with their story and why you think they should receive this

When :: Winner will be chosen on December 20th!

Where :: Email submission to astridphotography@gmail.com

Now it’s up to you all to give someone a fun little extra gift this holiday! :)

xoxo

could it be more perfect?

this is officially the last full wedding blog post i have for the year. and it gives me tingles cause it was truly one of my favorites. and susan + canon are one of my absolute favorites. it reminded me a lot of my own wedding actually (maybe that’s why?). it was a true southern event, every detail planned and articulated with rustic, yet elegant personal touches from susan + canon’s life. i can’t even describe how much i loved this wedding, i’ll have to let the pictures do the talking this time.

susan + canon :: thank you for being so patient waiting for this blog post! hopefully it was well worth the wait :)

enjoy :)

i am creativity. a free spirit. i am passion.

yearning. sensuality. i am the sound of roaring laughter.

i am taste. the feeling of sand beneath bare feet.

i am movement. vivid colors.

i am the urge to paint on an empty canvas.

i am boundless imagination. art. poetry. i sense. i feel.

i am everything i wanted to be.

when i was a little girl, i loved all forms of art- drawing. painting. sculpting. writing. fashion. i would go to my tia nixy’s house were i would anxiously await what amazing new thing we were going to create. she always had the best projects! we made our own butterfly purses, elephant sculptures, painted canvases, decorated frames. i even backed out of a dance recital once because all i could think about what how my tia nixy had a project at her house waiting for me. and there was no way i was waiting any longer than possible to get my hands on it.

this carried on in me until i was older. in grade school, i covered the walls of my bedroom with hand drawn pictures and paintings (okay and Jonathon Taylor Thomas posters as well), i loved to take still objects and try to draw replicas. i learned charcoals and played with watercolor. years later (in a different house with a different bedroom) those pictures would be replaced with photographs and new forms of art. witty ad campaigns, beautiful magazine spreads, black and white photography, quotes on life to get me through the ever-so-dramatic teenage years, and pictures i loved but wasn’t sure why. my wall was a mural of art and creativity. if you opened my double closet doors, the mural continued in there as well. i am so far right brained that it’s no wonder my left-brained husband just looks at me utterly confused when i try to convince him we should just live in the moment and paint how we feel. (eaassyy there my little hippie…he says)

so when i saw this ad for mercedes-benz i had one of my “this would be perfect for my art mural!” moments (my art mural is now reduced to a folder on my desktop labeled “Inspiration”) the creative-advertising major in me would have died to create a piece this good in college. i love that without even reading the copy, the artwork gets the point across in an instant. love love love.

disclaimer- i never really asked my husband to paint his feelings…but i bet if you asked him, he would say he wouldn’t put it past me :)

want to EAT this face as much as i do? check out how she has grown up here and here