One Love Photo

i carry your heart with me

alia and mike

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
 
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you
 
 here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

 carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

 
ee cummings

Lena & Sean (and bella)

 

  july 11, 2009

Vennessa & John

 july 18th, 2009

engaged

pledged
promised
affianced
of awakened zeal
earnest
love.

 alia and mike - october 9

lena and sean - july 11

vennessa and john - july 18

Bienvenido - noellen & jackson

when this welcome package arrived at our house from noellen and jackson i knew we were in for a pretty special trip! the first thing i did was set everything up and photograph it because it was just too sweet to explain in words. the package included custom luggage v.i.p tags, translation bookmarks, an adorable map of isla mujers by laura hooper, a packing list and a little guide to the island that i used the whole time we were there. they also made custom doorknob signs for all their guests at the villa and welcome bags full of necessities for a healthy and happy stay!
 
noellen and jackson had 42 guests join them in mexico to celebrate their marriage. to welcome all their friends and family they planned a bienvenido dinner at a private restaurant reserved just for them in downtown isla on the eve of their wedding day.

 

 

 

had to include these, since we were forwarned that like father like son, jackson rarely smiles for the camera. but we are always up for a challenge. we were just that much more focused on jackson. determined to capture plenty of his genuine, true and real smiles. those are always the best anyways.

the basketball court is the center hub of this small island. the first night we were there, we watched a heated match between two local teams. one of jackson's favorite past times is playing hoops with his brother and friends. he was bent on spending his wedding eve on the island court with them. after the party was over they headed off to see if it was open. they lucked out and the court was all theirs, well, at least half of it. we followed behind with noellen and her sign (and straw), eager to cheer and to talk a little bit of smack.

my personal favorites of the night.

 

 

 

am pretty sure jackson was in heaven. he brought his basketball from chicago, which balanced out noellen's 10 pairs of flip flops. hey, we are all allowed impractical packing splurges from time to time.         (especially for your wedding)

 

 

 

score! more to come from the wedding this week....

just one more

"she's spoken for"

a little tidbit on punctuating titles pulled from an online resource........" for individual works of art like paintings and sculptures you underlined or italicized because creating a work of art is an enormous task and a big accomplishment."

"note: a photograph, which is much smaller than a work of art, is placed in quotation marks."

just to be defiant i decided to underline, italicize and use quotation marks for the title of this photo!

before getting on the plane back home from new york i bought myself a copy of PDN (photo district news magazine). i don't often read photo magazines, because i get sidetracked by my beloved domino magazine. but since domino is no more, i decided to revisit the world of photo magazines. not being a gear girl, i often find very little in these magazines for me. there just doesn't seem to be much, besides reviews of the newest and fastest cameras. not that i don't think these cameras are great, i just don't want to read about them necessarily. but i had over six hours to kill and had already read the last copy of domino on the way there. i was pleasantly surprised to find an interesting feature on serbian photographer boogie sandwiched between articles on the latest DSLR's and the hottest new ad campaign for levi jeans. but this little story in between all the commercial crap caught my attention.

it's always exciting when someone puts into words what you have been trying to figure out for years. in a few sentences boogie explained why i have more success with my slow manual film camera than my much faster and intuitive digital one. boogie shoots mainly b&w film and had this explanation as to why he chooses film as his medium to express himself....

"when you shoot digital you have instant gratification. you have your little screen in the back of the camera and you look and you are like "oh, i got it". but it could've been better", he says. "when you shoot film you keep going, you keep trying, you never know what you have. i like that."

immediately i elbowed jon (since he had headphones on) and over exaggerated as i mouthed " you got to read this, this is what i've been trying to explain all along!" i think i even gave a thumbs up and then started reading the next article on photographer's studios (which wasn't half bad, but no domino).

Love is Brown

"it's easy to say you love someone when skies are blue or grass is greener,
the dawn is gold, cheeks rosy and snow makes a fairyland of things
you see, love is more than beauty; and if you want to wear it's crown,
then you must be willing to wade the mire of life as one
because you see....there could only be one color for love."

 

-s. graham

Golden

headed south bound this weekend to enjoy a golden autumn adventure. day one was the wedding of marcie and christian in longview, washignton. this is marcie's hometown and they were blessed with a perfect warm fall day. surrounded by hundreds of loving family members and dear friends, it was a perfect celebration of family, friendship and love! these two are most likely in thailand by this point. enjoying a relaxing three week honeymoon. now that's the way to do it! hoping at some point they can take a break from the beach and pad thai and have a little peek at a few of my favorites.

 

 

 

after the wedding we continued south to portland. spent the night in the city and were much too tired to even leave the hotel. day two we headed out into the sunshine to shoot an engagement session and enjoy some spectacular views of downtown. shelly and heath will be tying the knot next month. the two live in portland but will be getting married over thanksgiving weekend up in port townsend, washington. i can't wait to see all the thoughtful details and touches they have planned put into action. it's going to be something special!

 

 

  

moved out of town to the edgefield manor which is a hotel owned by the mcmenamins brothers. they have at least eight clever hotels that reuse old spaces like schools and retirement homes. the edgefield has a bit of everything, a pool hall, movie theater, glass studio, brewery, golf course, winery, gardens and my favorite a spa and soaking pool. day three was a day of rest and relaxation. we celebrated our three year anniversary by getting massages and floating together in the lovely pool surrounded by beautiful plants. felt really lucky to have had such a perfect golden weekend!

Lyndsay&Jason

what can i say about these two that the photos above didn't?  they are just as happy, natural, fun and in love as they look in these photos. it's true. that's why i am so excited to capture their lovely wedding this september. if they are this cute for their engagement session imagine the cuteness to come.......

Martha flunked New York

and that's why she and her man are giving seattle a whirl....

and a whirl it has been. moving cross country to a new city and starting a business. martha larson takes beautiful pictures. this was my first time photographing another photographer. i felt privileged and a wee bit nervous. but mostly very excited to meet her in person. we roamed around their queen anne neighborhood and in between shooting we talked a lot of shop. love learning how other people approach what i do. i always walk away smarter. love martha's vintage collections. she shoots with her digital camera through the lens of an old camera. this technique is called "through the viewfinder" (ttv) photography. am interested in experimenting with it myself one day. i just found a great ttv blog. it's full of information. oh my, it looks like fun! i think this technique works perfectly with her baby belly photos. she specializes in children and bellies and has a lovely body of work, you must visit her website.

in case you are wondering, they are both passing seattle with flying colors. it's hard to flunk here.

 

Wedding Weekend - nanci & dustin

everybody please do a little sunshine dance for nanci and dustin. or at least an anti-rain/snow dance. can't believe we are worried about snow in late april! these two are tying the knot on saturday at the monte villa farmhouse in bothell, washington. am so excited to see them again and to capture their wedding (rain or shine)! we did an engagement session in late october and enjoyed the dahlias and orange leaves at volunteer park. their wedding is going to be sweet, artistic and full of precious and thoughtful details. these two have great style, can't wait to see what they have put together. am starting to get my pre-wedding butterflies, this always happens. i start praying to the photo gods to smile down on us. to be with us and help us capture magic. it always seems to work.

on another note, please go visit notes to self. kathleen wrote a sweet, heart warming post inspired by my recent engagement sessions. it is titled "insert cheesy 80's lyrics here", you must read it!  I met kathleen this summer at her good friend shawn's wedding. i was the photographer and she was the art director of the cool guest book paint project. her writing delights me and always, always makes me giggle! i like to end my days with a quick read on notes to self. we all should giggle a little before we say goodnight. 

Aloha - amanda & anthony

these two are so sweet! jon and i are so excited for their hawaii wedding this fall! can't wait to shoot this local island girl with all her family back home. love anthony's dad, am excited to capture his excitement on their wedding day. we completely lost track of time while shooting these photos a couple weekends ago. i love that, losing track of time, always a sign of creative inspiration. had much fun under the pink canopy of blossoms and in the funky bookstore. while editing tonight i've lost track of time once again. enjoy!

More cute engagement photos HERE.