Portrait Session

Meet Brandon, the subject of one of my latest shoots.

We had a great time on a private farm capturing the last bit of fall color before Hurricane Sandy swept across the Eastern Seaboard and pulled down all the leaves.

I've done a great many portrait shoots, but this one was the only time that I've ever had a horse take part. Fortunately Brandon's mom had a handle on the reins while I was shooting!

These are just three of my favorite shots and the one of them together is definitely my favorite. Josh, however, prefers the one at the top of the post. Either way, I'm really excited about the results and I hope that you'll enjoy them too.

Family Portraits

Busy doesn't begin to describe the past couple of weeks at Hagy's Photography. Since my last post, I've had  ten separate sessions and I've processed a few thousand photographs. I still have plenty more to process, but I thought I'd better take a moment and reconnect with the world.

These sneak peeks are from a family portrait session that took place a couple weeks ago at The Swinging Bridge Restaurant in Paint Bank. It was one of the first cold mornings we'd had, but a hearty breakfast put everyone in the mood for photographs.

There were quite a few photo opportunities to be found around the restaurant, including a working gristmill powered by a waterwheel and a nice trout pond full of some of the largest trout that you'd care to see.

I won't write much tonight, except to say that there are plenty more photos to come. Now that I have a better handle on the processing, I'll be happy to share some more sneak peeks before I take a week off for vacation.

If you want to find out more about Hagy's Photography, log on to our Facebook Page or send an e-mail to hagysphotography@gmail.net and stay tuned to this blog over the next few days for a lot more sneak peeks!

Hello World

Meet Lilly, who was born on October 4, 2012 and was only a little more than three weeks old at the time these photos were taken.

I was lucky enough Friday and Saturday to be able to take her newborn pictures and she was my first true newborn photo shoot. Most of the babies I'm fortunate enough to photograph are three months old or older by the time their parents bring them to me. While small babies can be a challenge, newborns require an entirely different set of skills since they are so new to the world.

The trick, I've learned, is to photograph them while they're asleep. Lilly was in such a deep sleep that I was able to place her in quite a few poses. I had plenty of help from her grandmother and mother, as well as a good friend of mine and we were able to capture the preciousness that you see here.

The pumpkin hat was a last minute addition that I found at the Clifton Forge Fall Foliage Festival on Saturday morning. Her dad's an author, her mother enjoys reading, as does most of their family and friends, and if the books you see in the photograph below are any indication, she's going to grow up in a warm, loving environment filled with countless exciting stories.

Speaking of exciting, this past weekend has been filled with plenty of adventures and photographs. Over the course of two weekends, I have seven separate shoots booked and my stack of photos to process is growing by leaps and bounds. You'll be seeing plenty of sneak peeks over the next few days if you "Like" Hagy's Photography on Facebook or follow this blog.

As always, all photos appearing on this blog are a copyright of Hagy's Photography and may not be printed or reproduced without the express written consent of Bethany Hagy.

Bridal Sneak Peek

Now that her wedding has passed, I can share a couple of sneak peeks from a bridal shoot that I enjoyed a couple of weeks ago.

Douthat State Park has always been one of my favorite places to shoot and one of my favorite places to take brides for their bridal sitting.  It was a beautiful day with just the right amount of clouds in the sky to make for a pretty backdrop. The dock that hangs out over the lake always makes for some great shots and that day was no exception. My bride was very excited about her "ruby slippers" so I had to make them a featured portion of at least one photograph.

On a related note, did you know that Dorothy's famous ruby slippers were made out of silver in L. Frank Baum's original "The Wizard Of Oz" novel? I didn't either until I read it yesterday and that can be your handy piece of trivia for the week that may help you win the big money on "Jeopardy!" one day.

Fall has turned out to be a busy season for me and I've yet to have a weekend pass that hasn't involved at least one shoot. I know this weekend I have two big ones, including the first portraits for a little girl who has only been in the world for about two weeks. That shoot will be a lot of fun.

Of course, every portrait shoot creates at least three hours of post processing and every wedding creates much more than that, so I won't be running out of things to do for the foreseeable future. 

I don't know how it is in your neck of the woods, but around here the fall colors are really beginning to flourish. I'm a bit surprised at how they've shown up, however, since the trees appear to have turned at the bottom of the mountains first, instead of turning at the top as they normally do. Either way, the colors make for some great fall shoots!

I hope you'll follow the link to the Hagy's Photography Facebook page and hit "Like" to keep up with all of my latest shoots. Judging by my calendar, there will be plenty more photographs added to the page in the near future!

As always, all photographs appearing on this blog are a copyright of Hagy's Photography and may not be reproduced or printed without the express written consent of Bethany Hagy.

Different Strokes

Every now and then, I loan my new camera to my husband, Josh, when he gets the urge to chase a picture or needs a better camera than his Rebel XT to shoot a sporting event. We have two entirely different approaches to photography, as well as different areas of expertise. We've had different training, different classes and different jobs and I love to study the contrast in our styles.

If there's a label for Josh's style, it's journalistic. He began studying photography more than 10 years ago when he started his career on the staff of our high school yearbook. By the time we had graduated from Alleghany High  School, he'd found employment at the Virginian Review, our local newspaper. Believe it or not, those were the very early days of digital photography and the first thing he learned how to do was process film in a darkroom. 

While my interest is in people, Josh's interest lies in storytelling. My shots typically center around the emotion people are experiencing at some of the happiest times of their lives, or finding just the right pose that brings out my subject's personality. When I shoot weddings, my attention is focused on the bride, groom and their families because I know I'll find the emotion with them. 

Josh's photos, on the other hand, are more often notable for their absence of people. He's happiest when he's wandering around a waterfall and at wedding's he's usually off on his own creating a still life photograph out of the decorations. Our styles complement each other really well, however, and I have faith that he'll come up with at least one interesting photograph.

Josh took the photo at the top of this post during halftime of Alleghany High School's football game against William Byrd. Ten years ago I was a senior playing in the marching band and I remember well the short break we were given after the halftime performance. We bolted for the bathrooms and the concession stand and we left behind a mess of hats, music and instruments, just like those band members did Friday night. The photo is as much a memory for me as it was an evening's work for Josh.

I don't know that I would've taken this shot, or even seen it, but he did. That's one of the reasons we work so well together.

To see more of my wedding, engagement, bridal and portrait photography, follow Hagy's Photography on Facebook and keep coming back to this blog for the latest sneak peeks from my shoots.

As always, all photographs appearing on this blog are a copyright of Hagy's Photography and may not be reprinted without the express written consent of Bethany Hagy.

A Sneak Peek

I never know where my photography is going to take me.

My shoots for little babies typically take place in my home studio, or the home of my clients. As you might imagine, that adds the challenge of learning how to pose babies and keeping the ideas fresh from one client to the next. So when I had a request to conduct this photo shoot at The Homestead in Hot Springs, I was excited to have the chance to do something different.

The Homestead, for those of you who haven't been there, is a resort hotel that can trace its origins back to 1776. While construction is currently underway on the hotel's new water park, The Homestead is known for its old school luxury and it earns the capital "T" in "the." I've taken portraits at the hotel a couple of different times, but they've always been engagement, bridal or wedding photos. A baby at The Homestead was going to be a new experience.

As it turns out, the hotel was just as perfect for a baby as it is for a bride. There were plenty of fall colors outside the hotel and I was able to take advantage of this perfect window seat for this beautiful three-month-old girl. 

A Look Back

I thought I'd start this week off by taking a look at the engagement session that dates back to my very first post on this blog.

The photos were delivered last week and, now that the happy couple has seen them, I want to share them with you as well. It was a fun shoot, as you can hopefully tell from the photos. Not only did I get to break in my new Canon Rebel T3, but I also had the opportunity to explore some new photo opportunities at Douthat State Park and downtown Clifton Forge.

The most challenging aspect of this particular sitting came in post processing. If you're unfamiliar with this area of Virginia, then let me tell you that we have a serious gnat problem. In the summer, clouds of the irritating little bugs follow you everywhere you go. Not even copious amounts of bug repellent will hold them off. Photoshop, however, is a pretty effective remover of gnats even it if takes a little extra time to erase them from the frames.

I won't say much today, except that I'm hoping you enjoy the new blog design, courtesy of a helping hand from The Student Knitter, a good friend of mine that I had the chance to hang out with over the weekend after I finished up a great shoot at The Homestead Saturday afternoon. I'll be sharing a sneak peak from that shoot on Wednesday, so stay tuned!

Be sure to check out and "Like" Hagy's Photography on Facebook to see more from my wedding, bridal, engagement and portrait shoots.

As always, all images appearing on this blog are copyright of Hagy's Photography and may not be reproduced without the express written consent of Bethany Hagy.