eric and jordon lafaucia!
jordon submitted the following about her husband and received 155 votes, making her this fall's winner for leslie star photography's free photo session!

"I would like to enter my amazing husband into the photo contest! He served in the United States Navy from 2002-2007 active duty. He has traveled to many countries providing security for the American people. He was selfless and loved what he did! He had many sleepless nights and put himself in harms way. He loves this country and loved fighting for it! He is the bravest man I know and I would love to honor him for his wonderful bravery and putting himself in harms way to keep us Americans free! God Bless the USA!"

jordon, thank you so much for being so supportive of your soldier. eric, thank you for putting your country ahead of yourself and serving. i know i speak for many when i say thank you for defending our freedom. i am honored to say you've won a session with me, and can't wait for it!

to the other contestants who entered, thank you as well! for your submissions i would like to extend a $25 credit towards any future session as my personal thank you.


we will be having another contest in the spring so be on the lookout!

seeing as i'm a star, i want to know who you thank YOUR lucky stars for. over the past year i've had the privilege and honor of capturing moments between a leukemia fighter and his family and a marine and his wife. i thank my lucky stars that i was able to do this for these families; it's shoots like this that warm my soul and make me love what i do.

so, who do YOU say thank you for when you lay down to sleep at night? is it a soldier? a parent? perhaps a teacher or pastor? to enter, please complete the following.

1. "like" the Leslie Star Photography page.
2. email in your submission of who you're thankful for and why. please include a photo attachment with your email; i'll use this to collect your votes!
3. rack up those votes! when i receive your entry i'll add it to the contest album. share this page on your facebook page and invite friends and family members to read your story and "like" their favorite entry. they must also "like" the Leslie Star Photography page as well for the vote to count!
4. entries must be submitted by 8/31/12. a winner will be chosen the following day (9/1/12) and winner will be contacted (most likely after notre dame wins in ireland; photographer's got her priorities here).
5. THANK the one you're thankful for!that's what this is all about, anyway :]

the winner will receive one (1) session of their choice, not to exceed one hour.

NOW GET THOSE ENTRIES IN! :]


***UPDATE***
votes will now be counted as follows (it helps you!):

• one vote for "liking" the entry
• one vote for sharing the entry

please still encourage your family and friends to like to official page, but i won't hold it against you if they happen to forget to. there has been such a high number of new fans for the page it's become difficult to keep tally of who's liked what. THANK YOU! :]

to know these two, is to love them.

you may remember my incredibly sappy, happy, and heartfelt announcement that mark and shawnetta had won this year's Valentine's contest (here). i stand by everything i said.

mark and netta redeemed their winning session during a beautiful may night, and it will go down in history as one of my favorite shoots to date. we shot a bit, decided we had a deep desire for a burger (and a beer to keep mark smiling), and then finished the shoot at saint mary's college, netta's alma mater.

as you may know, candid shots are my favorite. there's something about the honesty of a face in that unexpected moment that the shutter snaps shut, that captures a person perfectly. these shots of the thompsons are by far my favorites; mark has a grin that goes on for days when he looks at his wife.

speaking candidly, and honestly, while i was thrilled at the time that they won the contest in february, i was even more ecstatic to photograph them in may. they are both strong, loving, and selfless people of God. together, i know they can, and will , overcome any battle that comes their way. they are very dear to my heart, and i love that our friendship has grown throughout the years. 

netta and mark, it was my pleasure photographing you. i hope you both look back at these images many years from now with a smile. and mark, your girl? she's a stunner!