Congratulations to Amy & Mike! Their wedding ceremony took place on May 25th at Sandbridge Beach in Virginia Beach. This was a very intimate occasion with about 50 close family members and friends in attendance. The reception was held at a nearby beach house, where the bride’s sister prepared LOTS of great food. Once many of the guests were full, they realized the coconut shrimp, beef skewers and crab cakes were just appetizers… whew! Anyway, here are some images from Amy & Mike’s special day.

For the Spring 2008 issue of gospel’s IAM Magazine, two of my photos from this year’s Stellar Awards are on the cover. There’s also a two-page spread inside (pages 34-35), featuring some of my images from backstage at the awards show in Nashville. Thanks to Val and Jerry for selecting my images to be published! You can check out this issue online here. For more info about IAM Magazine, visit their website at www.iammag.com.

On Friday May 16th, I had the pleasure of photographing the JET program’s Annual Black Tie Gala. The event was held at Hampton University’s student center ballroom, where Wavy 10 (NBC) news anchor Don Roberts served as emcee. City of Newport News mayor Joe Frank was the recipient of the 2008 JET Visionary Award. Congratulations to all of the JET program participants! Also thanks to Gary for helping with the photography, and Myrtle for assisting with on-site portrait orders.

Don Roberts, Wavy 10 (NBC) morning news anchor

Newport News Mayor Joe Frank w/ JET program director Don Rose

I recently held a studio portrait session for Amber, a music major at Hampton University. We created lots of great images to be used for her upcoming vocal competition. Hopefully we can narrow them down to just one for the program.  Here are a couple of my favorites.

On Mother’s Day ‘08, Hampton University held their 138th Annual Commencement Exercises on the campus at Armstrong Stadium. This year’s speaker was Christopher Gardner, whose life story was the made into the movie “Pursuit of Happyness” w/ Will Smith.

This was a very emotional speech for him, since his daughter Jacintha was among the graduates that day… the first in his family to graduate from college. President Harvey made it a “two-fer” by presenting Gardner with an honorary doctorate degree. My cousin Greg also graduated Sunday with his MBA… Congratulations!

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Commencement speaker Christopher Gardner

On last Thursday I traveled to Aurora, Colorado to attend my nephew Jayde’s graduation from Aurora Community College. Congratulations Jayde, and best wishes to you as you continue your education in Colorado.

On Wednesday, I held a studio portrait session for a few members of the Miss Southeastern Virginia Pageant committee. I thought it was neat how they just happened to show up wearing red, white & blue. Their solid-colored clothing worked great for these promotional images. Here are a few from our studio session.

I recently had the opportunity to photograph Bishop Ted Thomas Sr., pastor of New Community Temple COGIC. This session included studio portraits and images created on location at his church in Portsmouth VA. Here’s a sample of images from that afternoon.