July 4th, 2007 | by: Doug
Boating with friends on the Potomac River - waiting for the DC fireworks
When I was younger I use to boat on the Potomac River almost every weekend during the summers. It wasn’t until several years ago when I reconnected with a good friend of mine from high school that I realized how much I truly missed having a boat of my own. Chris and I started hanging out again after catching up at our 20 year reunion in 2004. I didn’t know it at the time, but he was really into power boating and takes his wife and kids out on the Potomac just about every chance he gets.
He invited me out a couple of times and low and behold it has become a weekend habit again (when time permits of course). I find it truly relaxing to be on the water no matter where it is and boating has always been in my blood, so when he invited Julie and myself to go out for the Fourth Of July I couldn’t say no!! I decided to bring my camera along and see what kind of photos I could get from a rocking boat in the middle of the night… take a look, you might be surprised at how well they turned out… ;-)!!
You can see the photo gallery here»
June 23rd, 2007 | by: Doug
The famous Watergate Hotel (Potomac River view)
Julie’s sister Susan and her husband Jason took it upon themselves to put together a very nice Engagement Party for Julie and I aboard the river boat Potomac Belle. Here is a small photo gallery of the fun and festivities from that event… we hope all those who were able to attend had a great time!
Thanks Susan & Jason for a Great party!!!
Check out the event photo gallery here»
May 12th, 2007 | by: Doug
It seems that 2007 is going to be a busy year for weddings. Not only are Julie and I taking the plunge but several of our friends are also venturing into this thing called marriage. This weekend we are in Virginia Beach to support two of our closest friends Francis and Jill, who are having their wedding at Francis’ parents place. It is a very nice setting for a wedding (on the water with lots of trees and big tents)… It should be a great show!!
I normally don’t shoot weddings… some people have a real knack for taking pictures of people all dressed up and others (like myself) are more inclined to be shooting fish or large marine animals who smile at you all the time! This time I made an exception and brought my camera along just for kicks. I was really surprised how nice the photos I took turned out… I didn’t really think I would shoot many pictures so I didn’t bring a large zoom, just my 12-24 mm Nikkor wide angle lens (I will know better next time).
After I posted some of the photos online I received emails from friends commenting on how nice they turned out and asking how they could get prints… so I put together a DVD of all the image files and gave it to Francis and Jill as one of their wedding presents from Julie and myself. They Loved It… at least that’s what they told me ;-)!!
I am going to shoot two more weddings later this year… stay tuned!!
You can now browse the photos & buy prints online here»
UPDATE: I’ve just added their wedding photo gallery here»
January 1st, 2007 | by: Doug
Doug & Julie on New Years Eve 2006
Julie and I have been kicking the idea of marriage around for a while now, but I really wanted to make sure she was okay with it before I popped the question. I guess you could say I kind of set her up… I didn’t do it on purpose, it just kind of worked out that way. For the past month I have been throwing the idea at her that we should get engaged but I kept telling her that I would have to ask her at just the right time and in just the right setting. For some reason she started thinking that New Years Eve would be that place and time; maybe I hinted around in that general direction a little but I never actually told her that!!
Anyway, I was planning on taking Julie out on New Years Eve for a nice dinner, some wine and maybe a little dancing… you know, just the two of us. Well, it turned out that Julie invited another couple (friends of ours) to join us for the evening at the Old Anglers Inn Restaurant in Maryland… I really didn’t think anything of it at the time, after all, we have gone out to dinner with Christina and Tom before and always had a great time so I knew this time would be no different.
The evening went very well and all parties had a great time… the one thing that none of us new was that the restaurant closed before mid-night, so there would be no watching the ball drop from the dance floor not to mention they didn’t even have a dance floor!! So in trying to keep this short I will just get to the punch line… I didn’t realize that Julie was expecting me to pop the question sometime during the evening… so I didn’t!!
Boy, did I get an ear full the next morning!! It all worked out anyway… I popped the question while she was crying and confronting me first thing in the morning (that was fun). Then I had to put up with her crying after I asked her too. Well at least I didn’t have to see her get all emotional while we were at dinner… that could have been very ugly!
We will be posting some photo galleries of the pre-wedding festivities… so stay tuned!!