Jessi & Darren "Trash the Dress"

The day after Jessi and Darren's wedding in St. Croix, we all got up early and met first at the estate where they were staying and later moved to the beach. The goal was to shoot a "Trash the Dress" session.

Now, if you're not familiar, a "Trash the Dress" session is a photo shoot where the bride and sometimes the groom has portraits made doing things in her dress that she could never do on her wedding day (for fear of "trashing" it). Our TTD was a lot of fun, and I think we got some great images. I've got some video of us shooting that I will add later.

If you'd like to see the whole session, simply click this link: http://www.andyarmstrongphoto.com/jdttd/

St. Croix Wedding Day Images

On May 1, 2009, I was lucky enough to shoot Jessi and Darren's wedding in St. Croix, Virgin Islands. What a great place to get married, and what an incredible day and event. I'm so glad I was a part of it.

Here are a few images from the wedding day itself. I'm still working on the "Trash the Dress" session we shot the next day, but they'll be up soon. If you want to see all the wedding day photos, simply click the link at the end of this blog post.













































Link to slideshow: http://www.andyarmstrongphoto.com/jdwed2009/

Blake and Traci

Last week in St. Croix,
I shot a wedding and a trash the dress session,
but I also had the pleasure of shooting a portrait session for the groom's sister, Traci and her boyfriend, Blake.


We rolled out early in the morning the second day
of the trip and shot these portraits.


It was great to meet and work with both Traci and Blake,
and I wish them all the best.

I'm back from St. Croix...

...and I'm diligently working on the many sessions I shot while there, but first I wanted to share a beautiful sunset and a few little tidbits about my trip with you all. I'll post more and more photos as they become available.

First off, they drive on the wrong side of the road in St. Croix. That's right - er - left actually. The cars, however, are standard American cars with steering wheels on the left side. My Ford Focus was no exception. It really messes with your brain - left turns on red - right hand turns where you can't see anything - and no matter how many times it happens, you still get a little "butt pucker" when you see a Mack truck headed your direction on the right side of the road. I was lucky I survived.

There is an Armstrong's Homeade Ice Cream on the island, and it's incredible stuff. If you ever get a chance to go there, try the Pina Colada flavor. Of course, eat inside and pay attention to what the Cruzans are ordering. "BuhNAHNAH" was my favorite to listen to.

I also managed to dislocate my pinky toe while I was in St. Croix, and no, I wasn't even drinking at the time (maybe I should've been). Nope, I nailed my foot on a stone in flip flops, and when I looked down, my right pinky toe was pointing at a good 45-50 degree angle out from my foot.

If you've never looked down and seen one of your body parts doing something it ought not do, then you don't know what you're missing. I was shocked at first, and then I didn't know whether to laugh or cry... I chose to laugh.

I pulled it as best I could and taped it to the neighboring toe (as recommeded by the EMT groom). It's still a nice color of blue and purple, but it's feeling better.

And finally, I had to make several connection flights on the way home. My first flight from St. Croix to San Jaun was on a Cape Air, twin-engine Cessna. There were eight of us on board, including me and the pilot.

When we got out to the plane, the young man loaded our carry-ons to "balance us out" and then surveyed the group. He pointed to me and said, "You go sit by the pilot." I boarded the plan and immediately asked the pilot, "He said sit beside you. Does that mean here or there?" - He pointed to the co-pilot's seat.

Yeah. I rode for an hour with the optional controls right there for my use, and let me tell you it's an interesting experience to see a takeoff and a landing from the front seat.

More later - I've got to go keep on editing photos.

Heading to St. Croix

So, I'm sitting here in the Knoxville airport waiting to board a flight to Atlanta and then switch planes to St. Croix. I'm headed down to shoot Jessi Shivers' wedding on the island.

It's supposed to be between 76-90 degrees year round in St. Croix and always gorgeous. This should be no exception.

We're shooting both the wedding and a trash the dress session. I can't wait to share the results.