I’ve spent the bulk of today going through 2011′s images, picking some out for a year-end slideshow, re-living the sessions and weddings and all the travel we did. It wasn’t the busiest year for weddings… 2012 is already shaping up to be a great deal busier than 2011. But what 2011 lacked in busy-ness, it more than made up for in just about every other way.

In 2011, we put 24,000 miles on the car, traveling to weddings in Missouri, Virginia, North Carolina, DC, and South Carolina. We stayed in seven different hotels, ate at countless fast food joints, and became really fast friends with the Gas Buddy app for iPhone. We cooked at home whenever we could, and we each gained at least ten pounds. Ellie started the second grade, turned eight years old, discovered Justin Bieber, and got her hair cut to above her shoulders. I chopped almost all my hair off. Mike grew a beard, hated it, and shaved it off. We all found out that we love scarves and thick, comfy socks. Mike and I ate some AMAZING food in some incredible restaurants, from Aubriana’s right here in Wilmington, to Kramerbooks in Dupont Circle, to Maggiano’s in Durham.

2011 wasn’t just fun and travel and calories. We lost Dino, watched some good friends move far away, and went the entire year without seeing my mom or my siblings. In “this isn’t bad, but it’s kind of weird” news, Ellie gained a stepmother and stepbrother in 2011, along with a hamster named Gibble. Mike started a new job, and I reunited with an old boss who has asked me to do some contract administrative work for him in my spare time next year.

In 2011, Mike and I got engaged. (Squeeeeeee!!!!!)

One of the most significant developments from 2011 was Mike picking up a camera at a session early in the year. He’d spent years pursuing photography as a hobby, but it honestly didn’t occur to me that he might want (or be able) to do it professionally. That is, until I downloaded his images. Holy crap, the man can shoot! And, better still, he LOVES it. I’ve spent the last decade rejecting second shooter after second shooter, for reasons ranging from “your work never rises above awful” to “I can’t babysit you while I’m working” to “you smell really, really, really bad”. A good second shooter is hard to come by; an excellent one (who smells good, doesn’t need babysitting, and actually knows what he’s doing with a camera) is damn near impossible. And I somehow stumbled upon the man that not only wants to marry me (squeeeeeee!!!!), but also happens to be an excellent second shooter.

So, in 2011 I quite naturally began the transition from Charo: Solo Shooter to Charo + Mike: Shooting Team. How lucky am I, to be able to work side by side with the man I love (and am marrying! Squeeeeee!!!!!)… pretty damn lucky. (Along with this change we’ll be launching our new website soon… but… one thing at a time for now!)

And, finally… the real point of all this rambling. The pictures. The pictures of the people who made everything possible for Mike and I this year. Our clients friends, who got married, had babies, celebrated anniversaries and family reunions and birthdays, and asked us to capture their joy. In the slideshow below are 165 images of incredible couples, families, friends, who trusted their memories to us. I don’t know how best to express my gratitude and my pride, other than to commemorate their beautiful faces just one last time this year.

Happy New Year. I love you all…

There’s no way to talk about Amy and Neal without gushing.

Amy was referred to me by Danielle, whose wedding and engagement I shot in 2004, and who now makes amazing custom lamps which can be found at Blue Hand Home in Wilmington, and Nube Green in Washington state. It won’t be long before her work is shown in more major cities and states – she’s amazing. I have been meaning to create a blog post just about her work, and of course because I’m lame I haven’t done it yet… but this will be a good kick in the pants to get that done. Because I owe her. Yeah, she totally posted an out of this world article about me on her blog a while back… it almost made me cry when I read it. Wow do I love her.

Now, Amy and Neal are friends of Danielle’s, which means they’re automatically my friends. Which makes perfect sense, because when I first met Amy it was like kismet. She is the BEST. She’s hilarious, hyper, scattered, and wonderful. I love her. I didn’t meet Neal until the day of the session, and he was a tad under the weather, but he is the perfect match for Amy. The yin to her yang. They were wonderful to be around, and were such a gorgeous visual reminder to me of how great love can be. Not that I’m not reminded of that every day… it’s just nice to see “outside”… you know?

On to the PICTURES!

How cute is Elizabeth? She contacted me a few months ago about their Oak Island wedding next June. Dan and Elizabeth live in Chicago, but her family has vacationed at Oak Island for years, and it’s become a second home for her. From the early planning ideas, I can say that this wedding will be incredible – casual, elegant, and filled with meaning.

I’m really excited to get these two back in front of the camera next year. They’re absolutely adorable, funny, and so easy to get along with.

Anyway, I realized recently that I never blogged their engagement session. Here are a few images from that day in July of 2009, not far from where they lived in Crozet… back when they were living the simple life.

All this travel has taken its toll on my poor blog. I have had the worst time trying to find an hour here, two hours there just to get some new entries out for you. I’m still in a time crunch, heading out for another very long distance wedding this weekend and trying to get caught up on the few that are in the queue for editing, but I thought I would take a quick breather and show two images from each wedding and engagement that I’ve shot over the last 6 weeks…

I’ll be posting full-length blog entries on each of these sessions and events … in August. Yeah. I think August will be a little calmer!

first up! Mary Lee and Dave were married over Memorial Day weekend in Yakima, WA. It was gorgeous, and I finally got to shoot a bride and groom in a wheat field!

Stephanie and Anthony were married in the resort town of Duck, in the Outer Banks of North Carolina

Shilpa + Sunil were married at the Marriott Hotel in downtown Richmond, VA just a couple weeks ago…

Then I shot Whitney + Alex’s real engagement session at Wrightsville Beach:

I met Maggie and Matt in downtown Wilmington for their engagement session, and then we went and had a couple pints at one of my favorite Wilmington pubs, Cape Fear Wine and Beer.

Ashley and Harold had the sweetest, most romantic wedding in Greenville, VA – a tiny mountain town nestled between Roanoke and Staunton. So, so sweet.

And, finally, right after shooting Ashley and Harold’s wedding in Greenville, I drove about 45 minutes to Crozet VA (near Charlottesville) and met Loren and Adam at their house in the middle of nowhere. I’m apparently the first person to actually find their house the first time without a GPS, and without getting lost. Yeah, that’s right. I’m a walking GPS.

This is another couple that made me drink beer with them. It’s a terribly tough job.

Their wedding is coming up fast! Late June in Richmond, where the fabulous Stephen Seward will join me to photograph their two-day event. For now, we’ll have to be satisfied with a few romantic images from their engagement session, at the sparse (we were a bit early in the season for the foliage!) but still lovely Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens in Richmond.

This was just a quick session to grab images for their Save the Date cards. The “real” engagement session is coming up in the next few days!