NEW BLOG!!!!!

Hey everyone! We have finally got our new blog rockin and rollin and ready to go so PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE update your RSS feeder and head on over to our new blog! Check out how small our images used to be in comparison to our new blog image sizes and leave us a comment letting us know what you think! We're still working out a few kinks but I'm pumped that we finally have a permanent blog home.. :) The blog will also be connected to our website so...afte the next few weeks..this blog will be no longer..bye bye blogger! Its been a fun journey..but we're movin on... :)

So..head HERE to see our blog at www.melissapepin.com/blog

ITs been a while...

Alrighty..so its been 6 days since my last post and its been kind of crazy around here... I HATE when I cant post more often but..no apologies..busy is good..:) I have some family portraits to post and tomorrow night Im shooting some awesome bridals and next week will bring lots of posting..no worries friends..I havent forgotten you.I promise!

I will leave you with one image that I shot on Wed. night for Reynolds Plantation. Its for an article about canoeing and the lake was so peaceful...and still. I love it. I plan on scheduling some still and peaceful time for me and the hubs this weekend. :) Have a great weekend everyone and I will post more pictures asap!

Nature is a BEAST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay...so Im all about some cute animals and some wild animals and E all of the above and all.....but lets talk about this nasty creature who we got an unexpected visit from the other night.... ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!1

So..Anthony and I are minding our own business...sitting on our front porch having a glass of wine...like we do several times a week...just talking about how our day went and yatta yatta( Its a really special time for both of us each night..but for sake of time and the story..I'll leave out our mushy lovey details and jump right to the chase! So I hear what sounds like a cat running around in our little flower beds in front of the house...Diana is our neighbors Sam and Jessica's cat and shes a frequenter to my porch so..I just assumed it was her...but it got louder and Louder..and LOUDER until I jumped up and made Anthony go inside to get the flashlight so we could look under our porch and see what it was....

Well...Anthony gets off the porch with the giant, weapon like Mag lite and creeps around the front of the porch and shines that light in and then he gasps and opens his mouth really wide as if to say.. "OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!" IT as an ARMADILLO!!!!!!AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! The ONLY time I ever want to see an armadillo is when its made out of cake at wedding receptions...so this was super UN expected and TERRIFYING to me! There are few animals that I really cant handle...snakes (as seen from Randi and Jon's post a few weeks ago)...geese (I know its weird but the darn things surround me EVERY TIME I go jog at ANY pond....I just know one day they are going to try to peak out my eyes!) and NOW armadillos!

We realized that it had wandered under our porch through this little opening in our lattice board so we tried to get it out...we were equipped with the following:

(1) Super heavy duty Mag Lite
(1) 8ft extender painters pole
(1) pair of crocks
and (1) Canon 5D camera...

Heres how it all went down....

Anthony tried to guide it out..and it came OUT from underneath the porch..but then got startled and ran back under..BLAH! So we tried again..poking it with a little rod and trying to get it to turn around and skee-dattle... for those of you that saw when David Jay shot the bat out of his basement...you would have LOVED seeing what my husband had in mind for this little guy if we could have gotten a hold of it! (p.s. no animals were harmed during this evacuation...brought to you by Katie Moore). Long story short...we finally got it out and now its gone for good..but Im still afraid one morning Im going to go outside to get in my car and my house is going to be surrounded by an army of these scary creatures all wanting payback for making their friend leave....pray for our safety.... :)

Here are some pictures!!

This is the darn thing running back under the porch..grrrrrr

Thats me..terrified!!!!!

Thats Anthony....armed and dangerous

There it is all stuck...BLAH!

Now he means business!!!!


Shooo big ole fat armadillo!!!!!!!


The end

Sydney and Brett: Engaged!!!

Everyone, this is Sydney and Brett! These two are soooooo much fun and we cant wait for there wedding in October to get here! They are getting married at Bona Allen Mansion in Buford and that place is incredible. When Abbey and I pulled up to Bona Allen where we also did their engagement session, we were SOOOOOO excited to see that the gate was open so we could go inside. We thought they would have it all closed by then, so we made a run for it and had a really good time looking over the grounds and hearing Syd's details about where everything out be set up and how everything was going to look on their BIG DAY! We had the best time with these two and we are so excited to be a part of their wedding. We started their shoot at Bona Allen and then we migrated to some areas around the mansion itself...then off to WAFFLE HOUSE! Now you guys know I like to shoot at places that are specific and special to each of our couples...and Waffle House just happens to be where Sydney and Brett ended up at the end of their first date... so we couldnt pass it up! Thanks Sydney and Brett for being so willing to brave the heat...you guys are awesome and we cant wait until October! Click HERE to see their slide show and here are some of our favorites from the shoot...

Office Space...

Its time to FINALLY post some pictures...I wanted to wait until the grand opening to post any images...so we could finish everything...so here they are..we had SUCH a fun time! And Thanks to Jessica Mann, Jessica Mixon, and my new OM Abbey for taking pictures for the night so I could "mingle" :)

We set Matt (yea..this is my assistant/friend Katie's husband Matt...owner of Southern Road Productions) up in front of our new backdrops fabrics and flashed him Hollywood style with our new lighting gear and let him be our bar tender for the night...he was AWESOME!!!! Between all the wine and beer and our Key Lime Martini that we were serving..he was busy alllll night...


Heres a little GP for Kate... :) hehhhehehe

Shaken...not stirred....


Jessica and Jessica SURPRISED the fool out of me on Thursday night when they knocked on my door at home around 9:20pm. Anthony answered the door and he said..'I think its for you"...meanwhile..we were watching Vi for Missy and Jon and I was elbow deep in diaper changing so..I was more than annoyed to have to get up and leave little miss on the floor to answer the door..but I was sooooo shocked and surprised and excited to see these ladies...sometimes I just NEED them in my life. :) (a lot of the time....)
Before all the people came...


The new door sign..yippie! Some people live to see their name in lights..I'll be just fine with it being on a door! :)


This is our OM Abbey....we LOVE Abbey and her husband Adam...they are TOO much fun!





Several of our awesome clients and friends came by see everything..can we talk about this babies John Dear Hat....I love it..and he looks just like his uncle Eli!!! :)

This is our super cute patio area....it will be AWESOME in like October/November...(p.s. do you see my super hot hubs in the left had side..heheheh. :) )


Tons of people stopped by throughout the night...it was awesome!!!


Plenty of sitting room my friends...so come stop by!!!



Apparently I had a good time even if no one else did... :)


and the double J's get artsy with this last one... :)

Thanks a MILLION time over to everyone who helped us and made Friday night come together...thanks to AMS for providing music for us for the night and thanks to everyone who has been praying for us for so long..we feel your prayers and we see Gods hand working!

Brent Holloman is the MAN!!!

Hey Everyone!! Here is the new action that Brent created for us...i just love it so leave the man some positive feedback and PLEASE head on over to his site to check out all his cool work!!!!

Charlie's Senior Pics

Charlotte is a senior in high school and is getting ready to enjoy her last year of craziness before heading off to college!!!! I just love this girl! She is my friend Missy's little sister and this whole family is just so much fun...so I knew we would have a blast at her shoot! We started in Buford at a local Dam and worked our way down to Athens where we finished at a park with the craziest play structures I have ever seen! Charlie's BF Zack... (we LOVE Zack!!!!) came along to "hold Charlie's stuff" and we snagged a few pics of the two of them together. Charlie is a cheerleader...Zack plays football...its a match made in high school heaven and these two were sooo much fun to work with! Missy and Vi helped out with the shoot and we spent the majoity of our time laughing like crazy and trying to get Zack to sing Taylor Swift with us...he's a good sport. :) Have a terrific Senior year Chuck and we cant wait to see what awesome and amazing things you do after this year!

Here are a few of our favs from the shoot!






Ask Charlie where she's going...




And can we talk about the air she gets on her jumps??? Shesh!!!!



Missy spun her until she almost threw up on this little park chair swingy thing...it was hilarious!!!



Have a great year Charlie!!! WE are SOOOO proud of you!