Welcome to our blog!

Hi, thanks for stopping by our photo blog! I'm Anna, the person behind all of the blog posts you're reading! I work with my husband Travis, aka TT, a wedding and portrait photographer for MD/DC/VA area. What you'll find here is our latest photography work, our life, passion, family, and all the moments that I want to remember about everything else that happens in our lives. We'd love to hear from old friends and new friends so don't hesitate to leave a comment / subscribe us to get the latest blog posts.
By the way, be prepared for some music pumping on here as it's loading; Turn your volume up/down, put on your headphones ;) Enjoy


email embrace @ embracephoto . net ; anna @ embracephoto . net ; travis @ embracephoto . net ;
phone anna 240.506.1491 travis 703.608.8152


Friday, November 30, 2007

Spark things up a little

Some of you might know I have picked up a new addiction. Guess what that is? A hint for you, some of the tools I will need are some brushes, paints, a spectrum of different pigment colors. No, not a painter, but very much in that same family. So, I will use this blog not just for photography but will add even more colors with makeup artistry and beauty related information that I have gathered and want to pass along to all. As I'm taking my first steps into this, if anyone has any information, please feel free to contribute! We could really use them so we can become better-informed buyers = better-informed decisions.

I'm super duper excited. So let's get started with my mini findings! As the holiday season is approaching, a question was raised by me actually, this morning. This post is for Jin-Jin, thanks for answering my question and inspired me to do this research!!

Q: Where should you apply fragrance? Most of us wear fragrance at one time or another yet surprisingly, most of us do not know this. This is a shorten list of what I have researched! I want to keep it as simple as possible.

A: Pulse points became a repeated phrase: for example, behind the ears, insides of wrists, crook of the arm, knees, and base of the throat.
Why? This is where the blood vessels are closest to the skin giving off more heat and acting like mini fragrance pumps.

TIP And here is another one for you: First put a tiny drop of baby oil and rub it well, THEN apply the fragrance. As the baby oil helps bond the scent to your skin and makes it lasts longer. This is definitely something I'll remember!

Until the next time, hope you all have fun out there!! Maybe put a little sticky note to your fragrance holiday present so your loved ones can smell good all day long!

You can read more First resource and Second resource

Some Love

We have another wedding that's a mixture of east and west!! We took these on behalf of our awesome Glamour Photo. Here are a few for your enjoyment:




I thought this was really cute!!! How they were holding each other's hands!! That reminds me of a lasting friendship shake.



I went wild with this one, will probably keep this on for a few days only (:

Friday, November 23, 2007

Family's Annual Pilgrimage on Thanksgiving Day

It has been a while since our family took a road trip. Today, I will introduce to those who hasn't been to this unique place that is right down I-270. If you and your family haven't visited this place, then don't miss out because it's virtually down the streets. This is one of those unique places you really should visit at least once. Here is what the website has to say: The National Shrine Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes is the oldest known replica of the revered French shrine, dating to about 1875. The Grotto has been in use since 1805 when Fr. John Dubois founded it as a place of prayer and devotion. More info can be found at the above link.

Note: More than half of the following pictures were from my small canon. While TT's capture, well, you can clearly tell.
The winding road that overseas the mountain, beautiful falls scenery hidden in the clouds and rainshower:


The gate:

Family seeking the Grotto Water:



Our very own TT here:



Continuing the journey through the shrine:


Our little girl prays, she knows how to do this gesture as early as the age of 11-month old:



Our babygirl enjoying the Falls:


My capture:

Family Falls Portrait:

A glimpse of the 'other' family strolling through the shrine (notice the girls are sporting identical princess shoes):

Cousins:

This is the statue that you greet from the highway:

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Our Niece's 4th Birthday

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! I'm feeling very thankful. I'm thankful for my family and friends, my life and what I've accomplished thus far, and my small niche. Thanks to all of those who inspired me, and helped to shape who I am today. My love for photography and make-up artistry have far exceeded my expections. Shout out to those make-up artists who make us look stunning. A combination of photography, graphic design and make-up artistry, really inspired me. (YAY to MAC products!!)
This year, Torie's favorite is Hello Kitty! So here is the HK cake (hint, Classic Bakery). I brought my little Canon along.


Hello Kitty Decors

Birthday Girl's Sister Taylor

Sisterly love...I wish I had a sister to play barbie dolls with. I grew up with 3 brothers, so instead of dolls, I know kung-fu! AII--YAAA!!!

It's unbelievable how fast they grow. So we must enjoy more time with our little ones before they outgrow us!

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

A glance at a different wedding story

Each wedding is really unique, not just people from different ethnic background but each bride's dream wedding makes each wedding stands out and speaks for itself. We had the honor of capturing this beautiful couple with Glamour Photo and want to share with you all how each wedding can be breathtaking!

4/5 of the following collages had gone through three basic Photoshop clicks: crop, drag, and re-size. So enjoy:
Check out this table. It's a true spectrum of rainbow, absolutely beautiful:

More decor that really shows a well executed wedding dream-to-life:



Monday, November 12, 2007

Life's Miracle

Happy Veteran's Day- a day where we give our respect to honor those brave men and women who safeguard our country.

As I'm staying home today, let's do a catch-up post:
We got together with this beautiful couple for an almost-near-due-date maternity session. Actually to be exact, believe it or not, it was just 5 days before the delivery of her beautiful babygirl!! This couple got an exception (: We were able to monitor her progress with just a phone call away(: So this post is dedicated to Linh&Linh and Congratulations to their new arrival! Sessions like this is truly the capture of the miracle of life.

Started out a little differently, getting comfy, with a focus on just the mom:


Notice the beautiful features that define this miracle:

Fav Fav!

Bringing in Daddy

"The Three of Us"

Can't get enough of them!!

Another Fav!

And of course we couldn't possibly leave out the other side of dad!


Stay tuned for L&L's next chapter of life...

Friday, November 9, 2007

Not the greatest feeling

I think everybody experiences this type of mood swing and frustration every so often. A lot of things have been happening lately, that I regret for not taking control of it as soon as it started. Not that I didn't want to control the situation, just that I didn't know of it, of all the possibilities. But behold- I'm prepared to fight this feeling. So, for this second, just to cheer myself up, I am looking at my family's picture, swinging with the music and be mindful of my breathing. I need to gather these blues together and let them go with this dreaded weather we're having today as I'll be having a 3-day weekend and need to prepare for it. Not that rain isn't good, we've been needing it in our area. Bare with me guys. I promise next week, after I recovered, to have all of the explanations.


My girl asked me two nights ago while on the way home, if she can go swimming. There, I explained to her that we have four seasons in this country, and that we're in the Autumn, next will be the winter, and it will be cold which we cannot wear bathing suits and swim like we did in the summer. And at 3-yr old, they question a lot. So she then questioned, "Why do we have winter", "I don't want it". And the questions go on. Reason why I brought it up is b/c of this M&M pic I made of her a while back. She's my little adorable princess. She makes me smile.