Georgia photo tour with Sunira Photography

Before I left for NYC, I had a chance to spend an awesome day in Athens with my wonderful friend Sunira to take some photos for her photography business. For as long as I've known Sunira, we've bonded over the outdoors and photography (in fact, we found out we both lived in the same town and were photographing the same farm park before I moved away and then met her through a mutual friend). I've always admired that she isn't afraid to get the best creative shot -- even if that means going into the deep woods or climbing over barbed wire to get it. Or doesn't mind when her subject starts to fly away ...

For years, we've talked about doing an epic photo tour of Athens, in which I'd play guide to some of my favorite parts of town, and we'd explore old Southern Gothic ruins together with our cameras. We finally were able to make it happen last spring, and here are some of those photos! We had a chance to explore some places I've captured before -- the Oconee Forest Park, the REM Murmur Trestle, the University of Georgia's north campus, and downtown Athens. We also visited a park I've never gone to before -- Hurricane Shoals Park in Jefferson. That park had a lot of opportunities -- historic buildings and cabins, as well as beautiful fields, a covered bridge and a creek.

Since I've been blogging, I've mostly taken my own photos. While I relish that kind of creative freedom, it can get lonely and scary sometimes going to locations on my own. With Sunira behind the camera, I was able to do some things on my Photography Bucket List that I would have difficulty doing solo (climbing trees, levitating in the air and balancing precariously over streams). Plus, it was great fun to share some of my favorite spots in the world and see them captured with reverence by a friend. Now that I am a few months removed from these photos and have moved away to NYC, I treasure these photos even more as mementos of my time in Athens.

Thanks so much Sunira for a wonderful time! And if you are in the Atlanta/Athens area and need a photographer for your next event(or if you're like me and just want to capture and remember How Things Are Now), I highly recommend Sunira.

Give me the splendid, silent sun

Dress: Sag Harbor, thrifted; Scarf: Burlington Coat Factory; 

Moccasins: Minnetonka; Belt: Loft; Hourglass necklace: gift from Sunira.

Wearing this dress felt like an act of defiance toward the weather and a last stab at keeping summer around. Since I'm not doing too much shopping these days, I've been trying to transition my summer pieces into colder  times. With its Hawaiian print, I think this may be the loudest summer item I own, but I think it can find new life with some dark tights and boots.

I spent a tiny part of the weekend at the park, watching the leaves change and documenting it with my camera. And I spent the majority of the weekend working on projects and papers for my research projects class. Fall break is just around the corner, and you can believe this girl is so excited to sleep in.

My hourglass necklace is a gift from my friend Sunira, and I adore it. Though I am powerless over the changing season or time moving forward, it does amuse me to play with the hourglass during class, and watch the sands pile neatly onto each other -- until I tip it over again ...

Into the woods

As promised, here are my friend Sunira's photos from our field trip through the farm park on Sunday. Since Sunira is a photographer and she and Jeremy were showing me some new locations, I got to do some portrait modeling, which was fun. I think Sunira did an awesome job with setting up each shot and figuring out which locations would work best. Jeremy did a great job with the lighting, too. It was wonderful to learn more about the farm park -- a place I thought I knew everything about -- by going through thick fields, creeks, woodsy paths, and on one occasion, barbed wire. I failed terribly to take many photos when I was with them in the fields -- mainly because it was such an education in good photography to watch them in action. Hopefully this will mean more photo adventures together in the future ...

Sunira also does many engagement/wedding/portrait sessions, so if you're in the Atlanta/north Georgia area, here is her website. She is creative and awesome to work with, and doesn't mind going further (in our case, deep into the woods) to get the best creative shots!