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Happy 1st Birthday, Bennie! I was contacted by his lovely grandmother, Pam, an Air Force friend of Mom’s from England, to take her grandson’s one-year old portraits. Her son and his wife, Andrew and Natalie, just moved back to Chapel Hill for graduate school and have an adorable and goofy little one, Bennie. We met out at Duke Park the other week for our portrait and play session. Let me just tell you, this kid can play hard. Laughing in the swings, climbing the playground, and sliding down the big slide were his absolute favorites besides cuddling with his mom and playing the drums on his dad’s head. Towards the end of the session, Bennie took off walking more than he ever had before! Although, by this point, I’m sure Bennie is flying around faster than Dash from The Incredible’s!  Natalie + Andrew, I was so honored to photograph your young family + sweet Bennie! Best of luck in Chapel Hill!

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Go Bennie go!

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These girls are so. much. fun! That is easily an understatement! Both are outrageously smart, beautiful and have an exciting life ahead of them. Alex + I have known each other for years when we used to tumble our little hearts out on the cheerleading mat so I was honored when she asked me to take her cap and gown portraits with her friend Emily! We met at the Old Well to take some classic graduation photos, then made our way through campus until we came upon their second home: the Stallings-Evans Sports Medicine Center. Both Alex + Emily are graduating from the athletic training program at UNC and have worked with the best team in collegiate sports. This session was full of laughter, play, and adventure. Thank you so much for letting me capture your final days at UNC, ladies! Cherish all your memories + your friendship as you travel through life!


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Best of luck to you two fabulous ladies!

caitlyn_unc_grad_2014-10Meet Caitlyn, an amazing + stylish soon-to-be Carolina graduate, who has a bright future ahead of her! She studied medical anthropology, studied abroad in Paris (super jealous!) and hopes to land a gig helping low-income communities gain healthcare here in N.C. Needless to say, she has a full heart and the Carolina Way in her blood. She loves the lights and beauty of McCorkle Place and said she would miss just about everything at UNC. But have no fear, Caitlyn is a gorgeous, strong, and independent young woman who can rock some hot azalea pink lipstick while taking over the world!

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Best of luck to you, Caitlyn!

This past thursday I was honored to hold the RDU Baton again! On my birthday in May, I held the baton for the first time and after meeting the lovely, Susannah Brinkley, at UNC’s journalism camp this summer, she asked me to hold it again! I had such a blast with it on my first go-round, I took her up on the challenge! For those new to this, the RDU Baton is a collaborative Instagram project started by Susannah Brinkley & Brittany Iery that showcases the people, lives, and unique spots around North Carolina’s Triangle! This day was a very busy one but came out awesome!

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Sorry for the late morning post! I’m so honored to hold the baton for a 2nd time! Today is freshman orientation at Northern High School in The Bull City, where I teach photography & it’s been a crazy morning! Although I have lived in Chapel Hill for almost 6 years & am a proud Tar Heel myself, Durham is quickly finding a place in my heart! This is a picture of our school giraffe, Geoffrey! Stolen from an old putt-putt place as a senior prank, NHS bought Geoffrey and made his home the school courtyard. Art club paints him different every year so they went surreal with a Salvador Dalí mustache & zebra stripes. Photo by @viedfinder #durham #school

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I stopped today to pick up film from my recent trip to London & Ireland at my favorite camera shop, Southeastern. Tucked away by the farmer’s market in Carrboro, Southeastern is a “dinosaur” store that still offers a large variety of film, photo paper, vintage (and digital!) cameras, and they do specialty developing. The manager, Chris, runs a fantastic shop where photographers, beginning and professional, from all over the Triangle flock to for supplies. I started coming here in undergrad and still go today because of the friendly service, quick turnaround, and for the sake of supporting local businesses! #buylocal #carrboro #camera @SEC_Carrboro photo by @viedfinder

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My favorite coffee shop in the triangle is Cocoa Cinnamon in downtown Durham. Their coffee is delectable, their hot chocolate decadent, & their menu offers a huge array of hot and cold coffees! They also partner up with local bakeries to get the best sweet treats, like this chocolate lavender cheesecake! My brand new food & art blog, @treatswelovenc, was born here with the lovely @katiehatfield. Be on the lookout for some new upcoming posts, which have been postponed because of travel! @cocoacinnamon #coffee #durham photo by @viedfinder

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I recently took up the JV and assistant competition cheerleading coaching job & I love it! Our team is full of strong, beautiful, and intelligent young ladies & we are pumped for the 2013 football season. Catch us at our next home game next Friday at the Durham County Stadium! #goknights #northerncheer #durham photo by @viedfinder

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A student of mine introduced me to Pelican’s Sno-Cones last week on Roxboro Road, and so naturally, today’s hot weather just *forced* me to go grab a kiddie cone. My favorite flavor is the sugar-free sweet cherry (I know, I know, I’m one on those no-sugar-when-I-can-help-it people) but they have a huge menu of flavors! Some of which they claim to be “as dreamy as Zach Efron!” Haha, oh, Durham, you’re great! #durham photo by @viedfinder

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I figured I’d give y’all a preview of my scanned film. Its the first time in a while I’ve shot color film & the magic is still there. I chose a shameless selfie for this one but at least it has a shallow depth-of-field and pretty bokeh right?! If y’all want to see the rest you’ll have to check out my blog, viedfinder.com, to see the rest of this photographic adventure in England & Ireland! #shameless #selfie #chapelhill. Photo by @viedfinder

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Usually my evenings & weekends are the only time I have to work on my photography business. I recently finished a personal project, which was a short documentary about a dance camp for underprivileged Hispanic girls. Currently, I’m working on scanning film and editing digital photos from my recent trip to Ireland. And then at a certain point, my dog, Eloise, whines enough for me to go cuddle her to sleep. Stay tuned for tomorrow’s adventures of @jtmoore3! Peace, y’all! #adventuresofeloise #chapelhill photo by @viedfinder

I hope you enjoyed my day! If you want, RDU Baton is always looking for people to hold the account! Go sign up here!

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Meet Allie Russell. I’m so glad you are getting to meet her because she is truly a beautiful person. I remember meeting her on our first assignment for Blue & White magazine back in the day, then we worked countless hours working at the world’s best college newspaper, The Daily Tar Heel, where she just finished up her last paper as Director of Visuals. She’s got a great eye for photography & a killer eye for what looks good…her pinterest boards speak wonders, people. While Allie & I go way back, I couldn’t have been happier to be asked to take her senior portraits! She is so fun to be around and had some awesome photo ideas, and while we couldn’t find a field of flowers, she was game for laying in a flower bed in UNC’s arboretum and then going to shoot in our favorite Franklin Street bar, Linda’s. Good luck to you after graduation and at your internship at the Student Law Press Center! Can’t wait for our delicious basket of cheese fries later!

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This year, my birthday was pretty awesome. Mainly because y’all made it fabulous & because I got to do what I love all day (make pretty photographs…duh)! I held the RDU Baton instagram account, a collaborative photo project held by the wonderful people of the Triangle to let the world see how AWESOME the Triangle-area of N.C. is! I didn’t have an unusually eventful day, but worked to make all my shots count! It’s definitely nice to have a challenge when shooting since I haven’t had that since the good ol’ days of Pat the photo professor! I included the original captions beneath each photo for y’all. You can sign up to hold the baton here.

Also, if interested, all shots are iPhone and I use a diverse group of photo apps and textures: Mextures, pictwo, pictapgo, vscocam, snapspeed, and squaready (although this is just a handful of what populates my 2 “photo folders” on my phone).

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Hello RDU! I’m Lauren V. Allen, a local photographer based out of chapel hill! I’m also a high school photography teacher at Northern High in Durham. I always start my mornings off really early, around 6:45, at work with a cup of coffee in my “great mustaches” mug! #chapelhill #durham #latergram by @viedfinder / on Instagram http://instagram.com/p/YxR9cGjh-z/

 

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My intermediate photography class at #Northern decided it was best to do a crazy class picture! These kids are the next movers and shakers of the photography world and have quite the eye for it! They are my #durham #babyphotoninjaz! check out my blog, viedfinder.com for some upcoming class galleries! Photo by @viedfinder / on Instagram http://instagram.com/p/Yxei5ejh8l/

 

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I’d like to thank @google for making this girl happy with a #google #doodle! By @viedfinder #techgeek / on Instagram http://instagram.com/p/YyKKEMDh55/

 

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I’m always lovingly greeted home by my sweet yorkie, Eloise. Today she fought over a new hair bow while barking at our neighbors at the bus stop. She thinks she’s the biggest dog in all of #chapelhill. Photo by @viedfinder #adventuresofeloise / on Instagram http://instagram.com/p/YyOUsSDhwP/

 

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So freaking excited for my birthday present & good company! I sure do love my husband & his memory of my favorite color :)! #chapelhill photo by @viedfinder / on Instagram http://instagram.com/p/YySIowjh11/

 

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Fresh cut lines for my favorite #chapelhill @thetopofthehill knock-off: Kansas City Ice Water! Love dinner parties! Photo by @viedfinder / on Instagram http://instagram.com/p/YyXa2DDh9O/

 

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Confetti cupcakes with great friends are better than confetti cupcakes alone #ftw. It’s been a great day with you lovely North Carolinians! Couldn’t have had a better social media birthday:) now to spend my time with friends and the hubs! Be on the lookout for Emily @mlelynn and her day with the baton! #chapelhill by @viedfinder / on Instagram http://instagram.com/p/YyjBqBjh9K/

 

Thanks for all the well wishes! Such a great way to start off a new year!

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It’s spring time on the Hill and graduation is just around the corner! I was so excited when Leslie asked me to do her senior portraits because she is such a fun & beautiful lady to be around! I had an awesome opportunity to work with Leslie on my capstone documentary, roots, in the Fall of 2011. I learned about her heritage and how it much it shapes her as a person which is something I will always admire. She dons a beautiful pair of feathers on her graduation cap, a tradition that is gifted to graduating seniors in her sorority by her  sisters and elders in her community. Leslie is graduating from the UNC School of Education & will  be returning in the Summer to start her graduate program for school counseling. This session was full of laughter & smiles and a LOT of goofing around across UNC’s campus and the beloved Franklin Street! Leslie–I wish you all the luck in the world with your future; nothing can stop a strong, loving, and sassy woman like you!

 

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Well, let’s just say I couldn’t be more proud of my husband! Many hours of studying, stress, and prayers have gone into this jacket and he completely deserves it! The White Coat symbolizes the transition of pre-clinical studies to clinical studies (Yes, he will have patients in a month! Eek! ) and to serve as a humbling reminder that he & his classmates are responsible for the oral health of North Carolina & beyond. This milestone means he can start earning the trust of patients as he takes care of their pearly whites! I couldn’t be more thankful to have such a determined, smart, and ambitious partner in crime! Here’s to 3 more years of friends, family, hours of studying, & teeth!

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So many pictures were taken of these UNC Dental kids!

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That’s one proud Momma…

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…and Dad!

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Instagramming that white coat!

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Great friends help the world go ’round!

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I love you & I’m so proud of you! 🙂

This is a self-portrait…that wasn’t shot by me, but rather some awesome photographers. Or as we’d call each other #badass #fotoninjaz. This project was for my black & white film photography class. I’m quite certain thousands of hours went into that darkroom for this one, but it was well worth it to just stare in awe at the fotoninjaz’ work. I love each and every one of you guys and am so blessed to be surrounded by so much creativity!

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Photo by Julia Wall

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Photo by Stephen Mitchell

Photo by Spencer Bakalar

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Photo by Stephen Mitchell

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Thank you all so much! It was one of the best projects I’ve done because it allowed me to experience the scrutiny of the lens, learn to relax, and learn to trust others more!