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Plantation Evening

It’s amazing what I can get done with this blog when I don’t have a full-time job during the day this week! Here are photos from a couple Sundays ago when I went with my brother’s family to a local plantation in Sheldon, SC. Needless to say, it was a magical evening. Enjoy!

That dog really wanted to be in my photos.

Can you spot the white horse?

My new favorite.

This photo feels a big magical to me.

My nephew with some of the local animals. 🙂

My lovely niece who accompanied me all over the plantation chasing the good light. 🙂

Posted by jennimansellphotography | July 3, 2014 | Categories: Personal, Travel | Tags: SC, Sheldon | 1 Comment

Have you ever tried goat milk soap? If not, you should!

My brother, sister-in-law, and eight of their ten kids live on Sheldon Family Farm & Dairy where they manage their many goats, cows, ponies, pigs, bees, chickens, cats, dogs, as well as a goose (or maybe it’s a duck?) and a rabbit. I think I’m still forgetting something. Anyway, using the milk from their goats, they’ve created a fantastic line of goat milk soap available here and various stores in the low country of South Carolina. As I alluded to in a previous post, I had some run-ins with the goats when I tried to capture some photos of their products last week, which is documented in some photos below. You can check out some of the beauty of the farm in my post about the farm after a rainstorm. Here are some photos to entice you to check out their great smelling, high-quality (i.e. leave your hands feeling amazingly soft) soaps. 🙂

I thought photos of the goats by the soap would be cute, like this one. 🙂

… then this happened. Goats really will eat anything!

This was the best I could do to get the babies to pose for me. 🙂

So many options and scents available!

Available in downtown Beaufort at Greenfish.

At the local feed store.

Also available at the local cider store.

Special gift wrap also available.

Some new residents on the front porch.

The bees whose wax/honey is used is some of their products.

If those photos aren't enough to make you want to check out their great soap products, check out the adorable kids who help make them! :)

If those photos aren’t enough to make you want to check out their great soap products, maybe these adorable kids who help make them will help! 🙂

Posted by jennimansellphotography | July 2, 2014 | Categories: Personal, Travel | Tags: Sheldon Family Farm & Dairy | 2 Comments

Sheldon Family Farm & Dairy after a rainstorm

As I mentioned in my trip preview post, I was able to visit my brother’s farm last week in South Carolina. It was so fun to have family time and to get a glimpse of the farm in action. I got some photos after a rainstorm and also tried to capture some of the great things they have going on with their Sheldon Family Farm & Dairy projects, like the bees and goat milk soap. I absolutely love the soap and can attest to how great the scents are and the great feeling on your skin after using it. If you’d like to order some for yourself, check out their website. I’ll post more photos of the soap business in another blog post soon.

Such a great description of my brother’s family.

Here’s my brother, sister-in-law, and their eight youngest children (two others aren’t at home anymore). I’ll post more of this photo shoot soon.

Here are the photos I got after a rainstorm one evening:

After a rainstorm

It started raining when I was out there. Love the glistening raindrops!

Love the chickens through the window.

How I love evening shadows.

Evening light is one of my favorite things.

Rainbow!

Posted by jennimansellphotography | July 2, 2014 | Categories: Personal, Travel | Tags: Sheldon Family Farm & Dairy | 1 Comment

Sneak Peek: My Trip Down South

Hey ya’ll! (I know, it just doesn’t work coming from me, but I like to try to fit in with local vernacular when I can.) 🙂 I’ve been hanging out with my brother’s family in South Carolina this week. It’s a beautiful area here in the low country. Here are a few sneak peeks of a post or two I’ll try to share soon of the great things I’ve seen and photographed. Enjoy!

Some of my favorite kids with whom I’ve gotten to spend the week. They also happen to be my nieces and nephews. 🙂

A rainbow AND ponies! Childhood dreams coming true!

Fun on the farm with Charlotte the goat.

One of my favorite things ever- a tree-lined path. :) This was taken at a local plantation near my brother's.

One of my favorite things ever- a tree-lined path. 🙂 I took this at a local plantation near my brother’s.

Took a quick trip to Charleston to visit my nephew and his wife.

Visiting my nephew and his wife’s alma mater- The College of Charleston

My brother’s family makes goat milk soap. I was taking photos to go on their website and thought it would be cute to try to get some goats in the photos. Big mistake. Big. Huge. Stay tuned for another blog post detailing that experience. 🙂

Posted by jennimansellphotography | June 26, 2014 | Categories: Personal, Travel | Tags: South Carolina photography | 3 Comments

Hawaii Revisited- Last Days in Maui

My last post about the Road to Hana wasn’t my final experience in Hawaii and even though it’s taken a long time, I wouldn’t feel ok until I closed up the Hawaii posts with this wrap-up. 🙂 Here are photos from the various places we explored on the last two days Samantha and I spent visiting with Shara and Mike before we returned to the mainland.

Ka’anapali Beach

A view of the island of Lana’i. Shara told me there’s a ferry that you can take over to it. It has one little town and a couple of really nice resorts. It’s owned by Larry Ellison, who owns 98% of the island.

A very scenic walk to Honolua Bay

A very scenic walk to Honolua Bay

Honolua Bay

A very scenic walk at Honolua Bay

A banyan tree in Lahaina

This was some good stuff! Shara and I enjoying Ululani’s Shave Ice, Front Street, Lahaina

The waterfront in Lahaina. This photo just screams America to me. 🙂

Lahaina

Sunset from Lahaina

Lahaina

Maipoina ‘Oe la’u Beach Park (aka Veterans Park in Kihei)- Hanging out with Bandit and cooking out. A great way to spend our last night on Maui!

The West Maui Mountains view from Maui Lani Pkwy in Wailuku

Iao Valley

Iao Valley

Shara, Samantha, and I enjoying our last day together in Maui, hiking in Iao Valley before flying out that evening.

Iao Valley

Posted by jennimansellphotography | June 23, 2014 | Categories: Personal, Travel | Tags: Hawaii, Maui | 2 Comments

The Smith Family

Isn’t this little girl adorable? I had a great time taking photos of this lovely family a couple weeks ago. Tatiana is a very gifted, hard-working ESL teacher who works with me at our school on the west side of Indianapolis. I was so honored that she wanted me to help document their family in photos. Seeing little Sofia with her older brother made me think of what it must have been like for my teenage brothers when I was a baby… such a sweet bond they have! Here are some highlights from our time together. Enjoy!

Sofia and her big brother

with her dad

Posted by jennimansellphotography | June 21, 2014 | Categories: Babies, Families | Tags: Indianapolis Baby Photography, Indianapolis Family Photography | 1 Comment

Kendra and David’s Engagement Session- Ft. Wayne, Indiana

Many of you saw the sneak peek of Kendra and David’s engagement session. Well, the wait is over and here are some more highlights from our time together. As I said before, Kendra is one of my best buds from our wing in college (3WO!) and I’ve had the privilege of traveling many parts of the world with her (we’ve jumped off a bridge in New Zealand, picnicked at the Sydney Opera House and the Great Wall of China, and hiked the hills of Honduras together). She is one of my favorite people in the world and I couldn’t have been more thrilled to see this great guy David enter her life in the last year. He’s a kind, thoughtful, hard-working, and loyal guy who brings out the best in Kendra. They are getting married next month and we’re going to have a fabulous celebration as God joins them together in marriage. Can’t wait to see what He has in store for them in the future!

They have so much fun together.

There have been a few instances where Kendra has posted somewhat unflattering photos of me on facebook. I told her I’d get back at her someday. Today is that day. 🙂

I’m so happy for you, David and Kendra! It was great to see God bring you together and I can’t wait to celebrate with you at your wedding next month!

Posted by jennimansellphotography | June 9, 2014 | Categories: Couples | Tags: Ft. wayne engagement photo, Indiana engagement photography | 1 Comment

The Road to Hana, Maui

If you’re just tuning in, I’m finishing up posts of the beauty I experienced on my spring break trip to Maui with my high school friends Samantha and Shara. Near the end of our trip, Samantha and I took a day to explore the Road to Hana on Maui (Shara and Mike have done that trip quite a few times, so they sat this one out). Sadly, the weather didn’t cooperate with us for spectacular blue sky photos, but it was still a memorable day exploring such a gorgeous area.

The Road to Hana is a remarkable road full of twists and turns and over 45 one-lane bridges (which usually coincided with a beautiful waterfall right next to it) that leads to the town of Hana on the east side of Maui. It took a few hours to get to our destination, Kipahulu in Haleakala National Park, with many stops along the way to enjoy the gorgeous beaches, waterfalls, and other unique sights.

The end of our trip (before we took the road back in the evening) included a four mile hike through the National Park (and a breathtaking bamboo forest) in POURING rain (hence the lack of amazing bamboo and waterfall photos since I wanted my camera to survive) to Waimoku Falls. They were pretty spectacular, especially with all the recent rain to make them more powerful… totally worth the rainstorm hike. As Sam and I lamented the weather initially, we decided to embrace the day we were given and the chance to make so many memories. Check out the sights below!

Taro fields

The Three Bears falls

Three Bears Falls

Just a random waterfall seen on the side of the road during our drive. I almost got tired of them!

An entrance into some lava tubes that we explored. We were thankful to run into people with flashlights… it was dark in there!

Inside the lava tubes.

Wai’anapanapa Black Sand Beach

A different perspective of Wai’anapanapa Black Sand Beach

Wai’anapanapa Black Sand Beach

A blow hole in action at Wai’anapanapa Black Sand Beach

I sort of enjoyed taking photos here. 🙂

Near Hana- this was the non-treacherous part of the hike to the red sand beach.

Red Sand Beach on Kaihalulu Bay

Red Sand Beach on Kaihalulu Bay- I love the red and turquoise.

With one of many waterfalls along the road.

Pools of ‘Ohe’o (aka Seven Sacred Pools) inside the National Park

On the hike on Pipiwai Trail

The best pic I could get of the bamboo forest on Pipiwai Trail- if it wasn’t for the rain, I’d have some really gorgeous pics from there.

After a two mile hike in the pounding rain, this was our reward- Waimoku Falls.

Proof that we made it (taken with the camera I’m less attached to).

The actual trail on the way back. There was a lot of rain that day.

The “trail” on the way back. There was a lot of rain that day (taken with the camera I was ok with drenching) .

On the hike back

After our four mile hike in pouring rain, the sky finally decided to do this before the sunset. 🙂

Posted by jennimansellphotography | May 29, 2014 | Categories: Personal, Travel | Tags: black sand beach, Hawaii, Maui, red sand beach, road to hana | 2 Comments

Sneak Peek: Kendra and David

One of my very best buds from college (she’s the one who convinced me to jump off a bridge with her in New Zealand), Kendra, is getting married! Here is a sneak peek of the engagement session I had last Saturday evening with her and David in Ft. Wayne. More to come soon!

Posted by jennimansellphotography | May 24, 2014 | Categories: Couples | Tags: engagement photos, Ft. Wayne engagement | 1 Comment

Sunrise to Sunset in Maui

Welcome to another day from my trip in Maui. This one happened to be a very long and full day. We work up around 3:30 A.M. to head up to the Haleakala summit to watch the sunrise. My friends who live there have seen much more spectacular displays of the sun rising over the clouds, but I was content to see the sun break through a few times. I was amazed at how different the landscape is up by the Haleakala Crater… it eerily felt a bit like Mars up there! On the way down the mountain we saw a rainbow… there’s a reason Hawaii is known as the Rainbow State!

Since we were already on that side of the island, we decided to explore a couple of the early stops on the Road to Hana (I’ll be doing a separate post on our Road to Hana journey which happened the day after this one). We stopped to see the rainbow bark on some eucalyptus trees and then we explored a bamboo forest. Both sites were really beautiful.

That evening, Shara and I decided to go to a beach not too far from their place in hopes that there would be a pretty sunset. God didn’t disappoint us at Keawakapu Beach near Wailea. Check out His beautiful creation as seen on this great day in Maui back in March!

Shara, Mike and I waiting for the sun to rise on the Haleakala Summit. It was cold at 10,000 feet (hence the reason Sam was staying warm in the overlook shelter).

The sunlight starting to peek through over the Haleakala crater.

Good morning!

Standing on top of the world!

Here I am near near the summit with the rest of Maui below.

The Haleakala Observatory

A Haleakala Silversword plant

It’s a really unique plant- check out more info on Wikipedia.

On the way down from the summit.

Rainbow State!

The Rainbow Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus deglupta)

This was on the other side of the hill by the rainbow eucalyptus trees… the coast was everywhere. Got to love islands! (Thanks for this shot of me, Mike!)