When Michele and I were sixteen, we decided to become vegetarians. After a few months of eating nothing but MorningStar Buffalo Wings (do they still even make those anymore?) and Lipton noodles-in-a-bag, I decided to pick up a cookbook and see how hard that whole “cooking” thing was. I dabbled a little bit, making something new every once in a while. But it wasn’t until we became vegan a few years later that I really began to cook. Now, a decade later, I LOVE it. Cooking is definitely one of my “things”. Michele is a WIZARD when it comes to vegan baking (more on this another day. Oh yes, there will be a lot more on this…), but I handle most of our dinners. Want to relax me after a stressful day? Put me in front of the stove with some Ke$ha playing and I am in my zone. I am gooood.

One of the greatest things about moving to where we did is the stretch of woods that runs along the backside of our neighborhood. We didn’t even know it was there until one day when we took a drive and found that the end of our street intersects with another street that leads right to a small reservoir. This reservoir is surrounded by protected woods that run all of the way behind us to the other end of our street. What an amazing find, especially for the parents of a 3-year old cub. Unfortunately, the weather has kept us from exploring it.

Michele and I were sitting at the kitchen table the other night talking over lattes about our goals. More specifically, we were discussing how we can better connect with the rest of the world out there; our brides, vendors, other photographers, aspiring photographers, internet wanderers, couples in love, YOU.

But… how?

Our blog is the perfect platform for us to express ourselves, not only through our photographs, but also through our writing and our interaction with you. And we’ve been neglecting this opportunity. Sure, we update it as often as possible with photos from our recent shoots, but we haven’t really given you the chance to get to know US. And isn’t that more important that just seeing our images? We think so! We’ve always wanted to maintain an air of professionalism by not speaking too much about ourselves, not crossing that line between personal and business. The problem is that our business is personal. You should get to know your photographer, whoever that may be. And Normand-Ashley Photography- it’s not just a business to us. It’s not something we do. It’s who we are. There is no separation between our personal and professional lives in real life, so why should it appear that way online?

And so, we have made a RESOLUTION!

Yes! We are resolving to share more of ourselves with you, to boldly cross that line between business and personal.

I hope you enjoy getting to know us. And, please, don’t be afraid to leave a comment, we’d love to get to know you too :)

-Andy