Living and working in Durham has been so great for us. We bought our home here in 2012 and we’ve seen the city grow a lot since then: new restaurants and entertainment, new buildings and apartments, and new places for me to find gluten-free pizza (thank you, Durham!). So I was pretty excited when I was asked to shoot some photos of the Central Park District for Discover Durham. My client Jacques, who you all know and love!, works there and asked me to do these pictures (yay!), and together we walked 13,000 steps of Durham and talked to a lot of strangers to get these shots. Discover Durham is every Durhamite’s best friend. They’re essentially the folks who help Durham thrive via marketing, advocation, attracting visitors and spreading the word about events. If you don’t follow them on Instagram, you 100% should. Their stories are great at listing all the local Durham things you can do every weekend, usually accompanied by a hefty dose of humor. They’re one of my favorite accounts. Follow them here! PLUS they always have great photos, so I’m thrilled that they asked me to do this shoot. So many thanks to Jacques and Ashley of Discover Durham for hanging out with me at this session, and thank you to all the Durham businesses and individuals who gave their permission to be a part of this project.

We’re so glad that we got in one last Indian wedding before our retirement! This one had a Sangeet event, which we hadn’t photographed before and was just delightful. For those who don’t know, a Sangeet event is essentially a dance party that takes place during an Indian wedding. It’s kind of like a reception, but a little bit more organized in terms of the dancing. There are specific dances that are traditional, and others that are choreographed Bollywood dances. Krishna and Dan’s family and friends learned dances for the event and preformed them one after another, and it was so fun to get to be a part of! I also adore Indian sarees and clothing because they’re so colorful and gorgeous, so I was extra excited to see everyone’s outfits (which did not disappoint). Krishna and Dan’s Sangeet was held the evening before their wedding at Duke Gardens, where we got to photograph even more fabulous outfits and henna. It was amazing! The only not-amazing part was when I almost passed out during a very hot ceremony in the sun (many thank yous to the vendors passing out coconut water that saved me! – and a reminder for photographers to hydrate frequently!) but taking Krishna and Dan’s photos in the bamboo in Duke Gardens later made up for it. So happy to have been a part of your lovely wedding, guys. Congratulations!

Date: August 31, 2019 and September 1, 2019
Sangeet Event Venue: Sheraton Imperial Hotel Raleigh-Durham Airport
Ceremony+Reception Venue: Duke Gardens // Durham, NC
First Dance Song: “Dance with Me” – Mandi Mapes
Krishna’s Occupation: Nurse practitioner
Dan’s Occupation: Physical Therapist
How You Met: Through friends
Interesting Face: A 10lb terrier mutt rules our lives and hearts
Honeymoon: Thailand
Officiant: Madhu Sharma
DJ: DJ Rang
Florist: Blooming Buds
Cannoli Food Truck: Holy Moly Cannoli Food Truck
Caterer: Nazara
Hair+Makeup: Belloviso, Inc
Videographer: JRB Weddings
Coordinator: Emily Katherine Events
Lighting Company: Get Lit
Bartending+Food Service: Nancy Reyes of Andy’s Tents

Sam Lipman // Yoga Photography

My lovely client Sam, who some of you may remember from her and Mark’s wedding earlier this summer, is a fantastic alignment-based yoga instructor who asked me to take some new photos of her doing yoga-y things and I was so excited! This was my first time venturing into the world of yoga photography and it’s quite different from what I normally do. There’s a lot that goes into making sure that Sam’s body is properly aligned as well as taking into account the pose vs. the background, and it was quite fun! Mostly it was fun because Sam is a ton of fun, and if I didn’t routinely get injured doing anything remotely physical, she’s who I would take yoga from. She currently teaches at Carolina Yoga Company, Duke Fitness, and Thousand Petals Yoga. You can find her schedule on her website here: http://yogawithsamlipman.com/ So if you’re looking for a super sweet, kind, happy person to take yoga with – I’d highly recommend Sam, who is all of those things and more. *Huge thanks to Elana for assisting and to the NCMA for giving us permission to use Sam’s photos.

Branding Photographer - Sam Lipman // Yoga Photography
Branding Photographer - Sam Lipman // Yoga Photography