One Love Photo

Happy Birthday!

 
this week is my parent's birthday week. with our busy schedule and travel plans we are not able to celebrate with them on the actual day. instead, we decided to have a memorial day birthday picnic last weekend. am so happy that i tossed my plastic cameras in my purse as we headed out the door. in addition to my parents birthdays we also had jon's mom and brother turn a year wiser this past week. we always enjoy gathering our spring birthdays for a big celebration. jon's dad strummed his uke while we all sang off key in the sunshine. then we enjoyed mini cupcakes and watermelon. we feel very blessed that our parents mesh so well and that we have become one big happy family.

my mom is my most loyal blog reader. she will call me after she reads a new post to tell me her observations and to ask more questions. i don't think she knows how much i love this. she is also the first to call me out when i haven't posted regularly and tell me to stop being lazy. she didn't have a computer for the first year and half that i was writing the blog, so she has had plenty of catching up to do! sometimes she will call to compliment or question a post i wrote over a year ago. this makes me feel so loved. it shows me how invested she is in my happiness and creative journey. i love her very much!  happy birthday mom! 

and then there is my dad who is also a huge fan of our work and a man who keeps us guessing. he is very wise and full of knowledge from laying tile, gardening, brewing beer and fishing. in the last couple years he decided to learn to play guitar. he has a deep appreciation for jon's guitar skills and always wants a lesson when he comes to visit. i hope i never stop learning new things just like him. my parent's surprised us when they decided to get a dog after they retired a few years ago. our family had never actually decided to get a pet. animals would just wander into our lives, stray and pregnant. so to choose a breed and search for the perfect dog was something i had never experienced. they decided on a corgi and found abigail through the want ads. it was love at first sight.

 

have a great birthday on thursday dad! we will be thinking of you and abby out on your birthday walk.  play the guitar and make abby sing to you! i love you!

engaged

pledged
promised
affianced
of awakened zeal
earnest
love.

 alia and mike - october 9

lena and sean - july 11

vennessa and john - july 18

Puyallup Wedding - Sarah & Erich

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

am wishing all weddings could have an unexpected clown and a concealed bubble machine. we've known erich since high school and it was so cool to capture his wedding and to see so many old familiar faces. lots of new little cute friends to meet as well (and photograph). Our friends seem to be in a baby and beard stage. funny that before you know it, you have a wonderful collection of "old" friends. Congrats sarah and erich! we are all so happy for you!

Twinkle

congratulations sarah and tim!

check out our flickr strream for more pretty photographs......

mi corazon

recently read about how one of my favorite photographers, keith carter never thinks of his images as singular. each image will one day be apart of a family of photographs with a theme and title. it all starts with a simple or complex idea. then he labels an empty print box with a title that describes that idea. as he prints in the darkroom he places his photographs in their appropriate box. he may have ten or twenty different boxes that he is working on at one time. some boxes contain his next gallery show or a unique art book. others will never leave his shelf, yet continue to inspire. am thinking of starting my own box.     am now on the hunt for hearts. love that jon is my muse for this (mi corazon).
numero uno

numero dos

numero tres

(am wishing that swine flu would give it a rest. so i can return to mexico and find more hearts).

Ravi

 

more little people portraits over here.

Hi

been a busy week with lots of fun..... a talent show, a new haircut, a morning visit with laurie and her sleepy itty bitty kitties (check out this pink tongue), connecting with fellow t-town photographer friends, an inspirational family portrait session, a beachy birthday party and lots of baby bellies, celebrating our moms and an intense game of hide and seek! and there were a few not so fun things like cars and refrigerators not working quite right anymore. our jeep suddenly decided to stop going backwards a few days ago. finally decided it was time for us to move forward. oh the joys of car shopping. took care of that one tonight-check! another volkswagon joins the family. next on the list a trip to sears. in between it all, i've been editing this little cutie patootie!

what felt like the first day of summer

sometimes in spring there are these shockingly suddenly warm days that make me believe that summer has decided to surprise us and arrive a little early. they are usually fleeting and i always get fooled by spring and her manic behavior. i love these first false days of summer. everyone runs outside towards the water, daydreaming of picnics and camping trips to come.

on one of these days, with freshly painted electric blue toes and one roll of film loaded in my camera i headed to erika's beach house with ember, leo and finn. it was evening before we arrived and the weather shifted back to spring while we drove. it was still so nice to get away. we just layered on vests and sweatshirts and continued with our plan. i casually shot a few photos while i ran my fingers through tiny rocks and hoped for many more summer days just like that.

was quite excited when rex decided to stare me down as i focused on him with erika. love the curious, slightly intense, very intriguing, no messing around stare of a five year old. last week leo asked ember in a very seious tone "why does rex get to be five first?"                                                                                      

The B-List and our little plastic cameras

last weekend a group of talented and stylish wedding bloggers met up in brooklyn for an event called the B-List. the event was a way for all the women to meet in person, face to face and introduce themselves to each other. a chance to talk about blogging and weddings, and to share tips and ideas with each other. it was a huge success and plans are being made for more B-List events in the future! we really wanted to jump on a plane and meet all these wonderful women when we first heard about it. but we had two weddings the same weekend so decided to sponsor the event if we couldn't attend. part of the sponsorship was providing info or samples for a goody bag for each one of the attendees. we started brainstorming immediately over dinner. from one idea to the next we jumped around until we both fell in love with the idea of a small toy camera or a viewmaster with our photos on a reel. it took a lot of time, research, trial and error but we managed to figure out a way to bring both ideas together into one.    

one.) find little plastic viewfinder toy cameras online and order a ton. luckily we did because out of the five colors per pack we only like the pink and yellow.

two.) tear apart the camera and see how it works and see how teeny tiny the slide/wheel is inside.

three.) design our own wheel using our favorite wedding photographs.

four.) print our tiny wheel on transparency and realize the dot per inch thing is ruining our brilliant idea.

five.) think.

six.) figure out that we need to shoot the wheel on slide film to get the image quality that we need.

seven.) print the wheel out large, hang it on a wall and photographed it with slide film.

eight.) test a roll, check size, scale and exposure. fire off several rolls once we've got it right.

nine.) cut the film in a perfect circle, punch necessary holes

ten.) take cameras apart, replace image wheel and put it all back together again.

eleven.) smile and pat ourselves on the back!

The The B-LIST bloggers: if you are planning a wedding or just like pretty things you must visit these blogs!

100 layer cake, blue orchid designs, brooklyn bride, elizabeth anne designs, from "i will" to "i do",  green wedding shoes, iDiY,  oh so beautiful paper, once wed, perfect bound, santa barbara wedding chic, the bridal wishlist, the bride's cafe, little white book, vintage glam weddings, wedding bee, junebug weddings,  with this ring, the ritzy bee blog

 

Mexico Squared

 

illuminated

some define photography as "to paint with light". we love that definition. understanding the magic, the wonder and power of light is what keeps us so intrigued in this medium. we are often surprised and delighted by how our cameras translate light. both photos below have a very special feel, the light is so lovely that it actually becomes one of our subjects.

 
 

12x16 beeswax collage panel
paper, paint, vintage lace, gold leaf and lots of little jewels.

14x14 beeswax collage panel
paper flowers, natural wood background, textured wax and jewels.

am always looking for a spark when starting a new mixed media piece. couldn't resist these two dream like images. the first one is from petra and evan's stunning ocras island wedding. one can never have too many glowing paper lanterns in their wedding tent. and the next from the enchanted forest wedding of elly and stephan at a washington state park. to see more on my mixed media pieces please visit my website or these posts on the blog.

Isla Mujers, Mexico Wedding - noellen & jackson

and here is the final and most important chapter of this wedding story. it really doesn't get much better than this. a hilarious and genuine couple. so funny that they made our cheeks hurt. a sunset ceremony. some unexpected tears. gusts of wind blowing in love from up north. a very cute beach dog as the wedding mascot. a coconut man. a colorful golf cart and a quick getaway. the sweetest set of toasts anyone could imagine. dj dave scratching the vinyl. friends with sun kissed faces grooving in sundresses. a surprise fire dance. delicious miniature cakes for all. and of course lots of love and laughter!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

back home and wondering if we can just rewind. i wouldn't change a thing. well, maybe just one little thing. i would stay later and jump in the pool with noellen and do a little synchronized water routine as the grand finale. at least noellen got her secret wedding wish, all her late night guests soaking wet and giggling. had i only known that was where the night was headed.

noellen and jackson, thank you for saving us from our winter blahs and for being so funny, sweet, warm and appreciative. your wedding was so real and refreshing. thank you. so much!

the wedding was at zama beach club on isla mujers, mexico. it was coordinated by the wonderful tiffany lanier from sunhorse weddings. tiffany did such a great job (as you can see)! she is from the states but now lives on isla mujers and is a pro at planning unique and unforgettable weddings on the island. see more portraits from their wedding below and some beautiful shots of the island over here.