Sam Hughes Photography

Terri, Maddox and I recently went to Wintergreen Resort outside Charlottesville for a skiing trip. I’m completely terrible at both skiing and snowboarding, so decided to take a few pictures. Terri hasn’t skied since I proposed to her 10 years ago, but you couldn’t tell. She’s always been a great skier and picked it up like she had been going every week. Now…let me tell you about Maddox. That kid surprises me daily, but that day, my jaw was dropping. I’ll be signing him up for the next Winter Olympics. I don’t think he fell but once or twice the whole day, and was completely bummed when we had to leave. Next year, we’ll be getting season passes and going up there a lot more often. Below are a few shots from the day. Check out Maddox high fivin’ his instructor.

Jewelry designer and founder of Bella Designs, Melissa Emerick, gave me a call recently to photograph her new designs for the spring and summer edition of her website.  Melissa has been a friend of mine for several years and I’ve been shooting all of her designs, which are unbelievable!  This time it was special as we photographed at the Junior League headquarters in Norfolk.  Melissa was going for a more relaxed, airy look for the shoot and the place had great lighting from every angle.  It’s always great when we get an opportunity to work together.  For all the brides out there, definitely check out Melissa’s site for those bridesmaids gifts.  Go to www.belladesignsshop.com.

In November,  I had the honor of photographing Brooke and Sean Caufield’s wedding and recently found out that Brooke, who is a Navy doctor,  shipped out to Afghanistan.  I understand about duty calling, but it’s really tough for newlyweds!  The couple found out about Brooke’s deployment two weeks before their wedding.  When she told me about it, I asked her to send me a picture from where ever she was and I’d post.  I thought it would be cool to show how beautiful she was on her wedding day and how tough she looks now.  BTW, the picture with her in the fatigues was photographed in Kansas during training before her deployment. Be safe, Brooke, and get home soon.   

I’m not sure if you all have heard of this, but it completely blew my mind.  Last night during our superbowl get together, my friend and neighbor, Rick Murchake, began talking about the magic of nines.  Here’s how it works:  Pick any double digit number and add them together.  Then, subtract that number from the original number and add that sum up and you will always get the number “9.”  Here’s an example: My age is 43, so 4+3=7. Now, subtract 7 from 43, which leaves us with 36. Add 3+6 to get “9.” Go ahead, try it!  It works every time!  Don’t forget…it has to be a double digit number. Have fun!!