Welcome

WELCOME TO MY BLOG! What you'll see here is the most recent collection of my wedding & portrait work and a lot of my random musings on life. You'll really get a good idea on what makes me tick and soon discover I really love great handbags and shoes.

But more importantly, you'll discover I'm extremely passionate about what I do. I love my clients...I'm incredibly fortunate to be able to be involved in people's lives on some of the most important days of their lives and celebrate that with them. I feel so incredibly lucky to be a part of that.

So sit back, grab something good to drink, maybe a snack and enjoy! Definitely sign up for the RSS feed at the bottom of the page so you are always in touch with the latest happenings at Robin Lin Photography!

Playa del Carmen

No, I’m not going there or doing anything nearly that fun….but I have to share this Orbitz blog post…

http://blog.orbitz.com/orbitz_blog/2008/07/playa-del-carme.html

Written by my amazing sister, Renee and all the photos are by her as well.

Enjoy & happy 4th everyone!

Kristina & Patrick’s Engagement

Tonight I met Kristina & Patrick at the Old Gilliam Mill in Sanford for their engagement session.  Their wedding is only 26 days away (as Patrick reminded us!) and I’m really looking forward to it as it promises to be a really beautiful, yet itimate affair.  I gave them my “standard” engagement talk at the beginning and they both looked at me and said “that’s it” - they expected me to say much more (and presumably much worse).  They were both really comfortable in front of the camera and with each other and it came across beautifully.  I can’t wait for their wedding in just a few short weeks!

Published in CURE…

A few months ago, I photographed an amazing woman who truly inspired me.  She’s an accomplished professional and has an amazing family.  She also is a breast cancer survivor.  I was photographing her as part of an article for CURE magazine for their Moving On article - (click HERE for the full article) - I found out today I’m hopefully going to be working with the CURE group again on something even bigger in the near future once funding comes through, and I feel very honored to be a part of this project as well as this future project.  Anne, if you see this - keep healing and get stronger every day!  Thank you!

 

 

How do you choose?

So my studio preparations are finally starting to happen.  I’m sure for those of you who know me reasonably well, you know this means I’m not sleeping.  Because as I try to sleep at night, I lie in my bed, stare at the ceiling and just envision my space, try to envision the walls, what should go on them, proper furniture placement, etc.  I have a really crazy 8 weeks coming up.  I believe I have about 6 weddings, 3 engagements, 1 bridal, 1 boudoir, the August bridal show and of course my girls are having their massive birthday party as well all before the end of August…….AND…….the studio will finally be opening as well!!!! 

Almost everything has been finally purchased but now I’m making the most difficult choices yet - what goes on the walls.  I have tens of thousands of gorgeous images as you can all probably imagine, how do you choose what people see?  It is not an easy decision for me…let me tell you.

 

New Website!

Just wanted to let you know our new Wedding site is LIVE!  I hope you love it as much as I do…if you are viewing it on a laptop, view it full screen - it’s meant to be viewed BIG, BIG, BIG!  The portrait site (while live) - still isn’t quite ready (but isn’t the music fun)?!

Definitely let me know your thoughts!

Stacey & Nate’s Wedding

On Satruday, I had the great pleasure to photograph Stacey & Nate’s wedding.  While the weather tried to put a damper on the day, the day was absolutely beautiful.  Stacey & Nate are a really wonderful couple and I really feel lucky to have been a part of their day.  Their wedding started off at the Christ United Methodist Church in Southern Village and the reception was at The Barn at Valhalla in Chapel Hill.  Both absolutely beautiful places….

Stacey & her beautiful bridesmaids were just glowing.  Stacey’s gown was gorgeous, completely lace - just beautiful and her veil was as long as her gown.  I loved everything about it.  And her shoes - her shoes were her something blue!  I knew about this a few weeks ago so I was really looking forward to seeing them, they definitely didn’t disappoint (and they were a surprise for Nate)!

 

It had stopped raining for us to get some gorgeous outside photos for them…

I love this moment between the two of them….

The details were fantastic for this wedding…the shoes, the flowers, but the cake was something like I’ve never seen.  It was just so beautiful.

Stacey & Nate, thank you again so much for allowing me to be a part of your incredible day….I wish you every happiness as you start the next chapter of your lives!

Chicago (Intro to Fine Art Series)

Hi all,

So I guess this is a good segway to my Fine Art announcement.  I actually had planned to correlate it with the studio opening but that’s still a bit off.  But anyway, I do have a small Fine Art collection coming.  The first is simply called “Chicago”.  This is for sale and there will only be 15 available for purchase.  2 have already been sold.  It can be purchased as a canvas or as a print.  All will be hand signed, numbered and dated.  Once they have been sold, they will never be sold again.  This “Chicago” print is available in the brown-tint seen below or a true Black & White as well.  Email me if interested.  Thanks!

Lisa’s Bridal Session

On Monday, Lisa, her amazing friend and I went out to Fearrington for her bridal session as her wedding is just a few short weeks away!  Lisa’s wedding is going to be fantastic out there and I just can’t wait!  Lisa’s a great bride with amazing personality….I’m super excited about their wedding!

It’s fun what you can create when you have time.  That’s what makes bridal portraits sometimes so amazing.  And great to do because you just don’t get the time on the wedding day to do all this.

I saw this red wall and I knew it would look amazing…

I love this one…it’s such a clean, fresh shot…

Happy 2nd Birthday Sydney!

My little Sydney turned 2 today!  So today was a very special day in our house as we celebrated Daddy’s day and her birthday.  We were actually in Chicago this weekend visiting my sister and brother-in-law (and enjoying a great break from the heat) so we didn’t do much as the girls are getting a combined birthday party next month.  I always get extremely reflective on their birthdays, I think about the day of their births and their little lives up to this point.  Sydney is such an incredible little person already, I can’t imagine what the next year will bring…

Happy birthday again sweetpea…and happy father’s day to my truly amazing husband!

A few from the day she was born and the first few weeks…

And today….

Ingrid & Daniel’s Engagement…

Tonight, Ingrid, Daniel and I went over to the beautiful Prestonwood Country Club for their engagement session as that’s where their wedding will be in just a few short weeks!!  While it’s still hot outside, it’s not nearly as bad as it has been so we were able to take advantage of the wonderful grounds at Prestonwood as well as their beautiful lobby.  I’m super excited about Ingrid & Daniel’s wedding next month, they’ve got some fantastic details planned - see you guys soon!

Always looking for cool light - I found this wall with this great light shining down on it …

I told Ingrid & Daniel I was not shooting their heads, and I hadn’t planned to…and then out of the corner of my eye, I saw them do this (I had planned to photograph Ingrid’s ring)……..

They have such incredible chemistry and such a great bond together…their wedding is going to be a great celebration….

 

Jessica & Jon’s Engagement

This afternoon I was at the Velvet Cloak Inn for Jessica & Jon’s engagement session.  And while we originally decided to shoot indoors because of the heat (ok, our original plan was to be at Duke Gardens), we quickly discovered it just wouldn’t work out and we decided to go outside.   They were wonderful about trekking around in the 100 degree heat, sweating away and they were AWESOME!!!  They are a blast, have incredible chemistry and I can’t wait to be a part of their wedding in October.

They both have such incredible eyes, all I told them to do was smile with their eyes….

They are, absolutely adorable!

By far my favorite of the day…

Amanda & Jason’s Engagement

Amanda & Jason’s engagement was about an untraditional for me as it gets!  But my most memorable and fun as well.  I drove out to Mt. Olive yesterday right after Jamie’s bridal session (see my other post right below this one) and the clouds were looking pretty dark.  I called a few people and everyone said, no problem - weather looks good.  Ok, I kept going.  I could see in my rearview mirror it was getting darker so I knew it was going to do something.  So I was thinking I wouldn’t have much time so I thought this might be a quick engagement session.  No problem, I’m a fast shooter anyway.  I get to Mt. Olive, meet Amanda & Jason and we drive out to Jason’s parents house.  We start shooting and it starts thundering.  No problem I keep going, just shoot a little faster.

I move on, do a few more shots a little more “traditional”, then we move on to the back of his parents property, where all the fun stuff is.  We start feeling “drip drops” (that’s what my daughter calls it).  Ok, now I know I don’t have much time left.  We decide to keep going but I anticipated this and I had my hurricane hood for my camera with me.  A few minutes later a bit more rain so I pull it out and cover up my camera (while the lens is weather sealed the body isn’t and I knew it wouldn’t last more than a few seconds in a heavy rain).

Since I hadn’t ever shot a “rain” session they decide to totally go for it.  We run out to where the horses are and keep shooting.  Then go to a few more places - all the while getting soaked.  By the end, the 3 of us are throughly drenched but all laughing.

Amanda & Jason - I can’t thank you enough.  Not only for letting me test out my rain hood (which worked!) but being such incredibly good sports through all of this.  You guys were awesome!  I’m so excited for your wedding in August!


Jamie’s Bridal Session

Yesterday I spent some time at the Matthews House with one of my amazing bride’s Jamie, her mom & sister photographing her bridal session.  Jamie’s wedding is in August and I’m really looking forward to it as Jamie has gorgeous gown and her mom and sister and just wonderful to be around and they were a tremendous help to me yesterday as well.  Thank you ladies!

I love staircases - and love being able to do “different” things with them in post-production.

I have wanted to do this shot for SO long!  I’ve needed to be in the right place, with the right bride, with the right gown.  It finally all came together!

New Office Hours - Effective Immediately!

Hi All,

It’s summer and I need to tweak my hours a bit.  I’ll be open M-W-F from 9am-6pm and I’m on assignment almost every single weekend both Saturday & Sunday.  I’ll try to keep up with emails on Tuesdays & Thursdays but will otherwise be considered closed on these two days.

Thanks so much!

Kristen & Brian’s Wedding

Yesterday I was at the Carolina Inn for my last wedding of May and it was incredible.  Not only was the weather absolutely perfect but Kristen and Brian were gorgeous to say the least.  I had a great time at their wedding, every detail from the flowers from Fresh Affairs to the bridesmaids dresses from J Crew to Kristen’s gorgeous Nicole Miller gown were just impeccible.  Everyone just had an amazing time.  I can’t even begin to recap everything here.  They were so beautiful and so happy together…it was a very long time coming and I was so glad that I got to be a part of this celebration.

I love the simple elegance of this cake…

The very happy new couple…

And of course…the details!!!

Kristen & Brian…thank you so much again…I had such a great time…and I wish you both every happiness as you begin this new chapter of your lives together!

Laura & James’ Wedding

Laura & James…what can I say.  Their wedding was so beautiful.  The weather was wonderful, everything about the day was absolutely perfect.  Duke Gardens was gorgeous as always and we managed to finish just before the huge storm blew on through. 

This was for me, my most challenging, yet probably most relaxing wedding.  I cried more than I ever thought possible (except maybe at my sister’s wedding and really that was just embarrassing) and yet I had a great time as well.

I have to start with Laura’s dress…the dress that started my tears when she unwrapped it for me (fortunately it was just Laura & I in the room when my tears started).

Their ceremony was very moving & emotional for everyone.  I really don’t think there was a dry eye in the house.
 

The very happy, new couple (note the blinged out flip flops)…

Their first dance….I think it was my weekend for great first dances…

And this shot…what can I say but I love everything about it…

Details, details, details….my favorite things to photograph.

Laura & James…..thank you. 

~Brooks & Dave’s Wedding~

Last Saturday, I had the great opportunity to photography Brooks & Dave’s wedding at the Inn at Celebrity Dairy in Silery City.  What a fun, unique, beautiful venue!  It couldn’t have been a more beautiful day for a more beautiful couple.  Brooks & Dave are truly wonderful, both inside & out and I feel very lucky to have been able to be a part of their day.

I wish I could say I get credit for this idea…but this was all the flower girls…how cute are they?!

I love this…their first dance.

 

Of course, the details — and note, how many weddings do you get to photograph with a peacock walking around?!

Thank you so much guys!  The world is definitely a better place because you are both in it!

Another cutie!

As I mentioned in my post of yesterday I was super lucky to photograph back-to-back adorable little girls this week, who also happened to be about the same age as well.  Tons of fun for me.  This family is incredible, this little girl is surrounded by so much love & happiness - she’s incredibly lucky.  She came into the world with grandparents who flew halfway around the world to be with her.  Actually, the mom was in Allison & Ryan’s wedding just a few weeks ago, so seeing them again so soon was absolutely fantastic!

This was one of the few moments she sat still…this is one little girl who is on the go! 

Snuggle time with mom….doesn’t get better than this.

 

Talk about cute!

I had so much fun with this family early on Tuesday morning this week.  They are absolutely adorable, just check out all that red hair.  I loved laying on the grass and just photographing the baby girl.  Maybe it’s because I haven’t had a lot of babies in a while (but lucky me I got 2 baby girls back to back this week) but I just loved her.  She had this calm, seriousness about her, which was such a contrast to her brother who is a ball of energy.  It will be fun to see what she’s like in another year to two! 

I have, when needed - given children my camera (while I’m still holding it), put stuffed animals on my head, or had them make princess or monster faces.  For little boys (generally) - monster faces work :)  He was awesome though, by the end, he gave me a great big hug!

How cute is she?  She grabbed the dandelion herself and just started playing with it. 

I absolutely love when parents ask me to photograph just the two of them, and it happens almost every time.  It’s great to see there is still a spark, still a connection, after the kids, the diapers and all the craziness of every day life.

 

Jennifer & Brooks’ Engagement…

I got to spend a some time with Jennifer & Brooks on Monday evening on UNC’s campus and on Franklin St.  It was so great!  We checked out a bunch of different murals and alleyways as well as walking around campus.  They are a great couple and I’m really looking forward to their wedding this fall!

I LOVE flare…I struggle getting it right and love when I do!