I recently photographed Pastor Dr. Bobby Manning and his wife, First Lady LaVera Manning of the First Baptist Church of District Heights, located at 7234 Lansdale Street in District Heights, Maryland. I first met Bobby and LaVera years ago at my own church in Glenarden, Maryland, and remember when the young pastor began leading at FBCDH.

Before our shoot, I asked Dr. Manning about his ministry and marketing goals. “As as church, our primary marketing goal is to continue to expose the surrounding community to the ministries of our church,” he said. “We will expand the scope of our communications to a larger group of people, both online and surrounding our physical location.”

FBCDH’s mission is to “Connect With Communities to Cultivate STRONG Christians.” The Mannings contacted me to take new professional portraits of them to use to creatively go beyond the walls of the church to be a blessing in the community around them, and help people to grow stronger spiritually. They’ve hosted laundromat takeovers, food giveaways, children’s fairs, and other events that help meet the needs of the community in practical ways. I was delighted to photograph inside the church itself and further their mission.

Photographing these two was so fun! LaVera had her own makeup artist, Vanessa, who did a fantastic job! What made this shoot really special were their joyful attitudes and quite honestly, the love they showed for each other. It’s infectious! The First Baptist Church of District Heights has existed for 64 years and with young, energetic leaders like these two, I’d check them out! To learn more, visit their website at http://www.fbcdh.org/.

Until next time,

Insana

 

Cue the sultry music for this post, gang!

Today I’m featuring Rae, a stunning woman I photographed in January at a private home in Bowie, MD. This boudoir session was particularly special, as she’d wanted photos for a long time, but just never had the motivation. Rae told me, “I’ve been wanting to do a boudoir session for years but never had that special someone to do it for. Well I do now, and since Valentine’s Day was right around the corner, I said, why not! I wanted to present pictures for my special guy as well as take some for me. Sometimes “we” women just need a little reminder on how sexy we really are. My pictures will remind me of that for years to come.”

As you can see, Rae is incredibly beautiful, but looks aren’t the only thing she’s got going on. She loves to bake, travel, and host parties too!

Even though she was a little nervous before our shoot (who wouldn’t be?), Rae was able to relax pretty quickly and we got some awesome shots.

“I was extremely nervous about how I was going to look in the photos. I’m not a size 4, so I wanted to make sure I was sexy, but didn’t look like I was larger than I am… I was also nervous about my comfort level of the poses. I’m pretty conservative and I didn’t want to do any awkward poses that made me feel uncomfortable or that were to raunchy. Insana put my nerves at ease! She encouraged me,  coached me, made tasteful suggestions and took my thoughts into consideration. She even gave me a few techniques to use while posing to help me get the best shot, as well as make me feel relaxed. It was like two old girlfriends hanging out, instead of a photo shoot. Laughs galore!” said Rae.

She brought 3 different outfits for the session and each looked amazing on her. A white button down with heels, a snow leopard kimono with a bra and panty set, and a gorgeous blue lace gown with matching panties from Victoria’s Secret.

Since we had such an amazing shoot, I asked Rae to share a little bit of advice for others who may want to have a boudoir session in the future. Here’s what she had to say:

“I would suggest coming to the photo shoot with an open mind. Insana suggested several poses I never would’ve thought of and they came out looking fabulous!”

That’s definitely solid advice!

No more talking – let’s get to the pictures!

 

Rae absolutely rocked her session! She had fantastic energy and it made the shoot so much fun. As for her favorite part of the shoot: “I can’t stress enough how much I loved every single moment of my session!! The side jokes between Insana and I, the excitement I felt after I nailed a pose, the actual posing itself and of course standing in front of a stranger with next to nothing on, while she takes pics of me. Lol!! This session made me feel beautiful and gave me a brief insight on how models must feel on a daily basis. For a shorty like me, that’s probably something I would never experience in the real world. Good times!”

Until next time,

Insana

p.s. Rae took the boudoir surprise a step further and ordered a 12-month color calendar for her honey! Take a look.