Wednesday, July 22, 2009

First comes love, then comes marriage... and a baby carriage?

One of my favorite things about my jobs- both on staff at the newspaper and running Milestone- is getting to see people grow and change throughout their lives. I watch the "secret weapon" freshman softball pitcher grow into a team leader with a full athletic scholarship to UCLA her senior year. I see the chorus girl become the soprano ingenue; I love when I get an assignment about an Eagle Scout or Gold Award project and it turns out to be a "little kid" I photographed at camp five summers ago for a story about homesickness.

Last week I was photographing a grandmother who does triathlons. She was telling me that her grandsons were visiting, that they are her inspiration, and I saw a mop of red hair peeking around the sliding glass door. I know that carrot top from a story we did a few years ago about funding special education! My goodness, that child is TALL now. Love that.

Up until recently when a Q&A on Offbeat Bride completely changed my business for the better and connected me with a calendar full of amazing couples, the majority of my "advertising" was word of mouth. There's no greater compliment than having a client bride confidently send you her best friend, her little sister, her older brother, and in one case, her mom. :) What I love about this is that I get to see the same couples a few months or years after their weddings, still in love, with happy memories and all new goals and dreams.

Angela was Michelle's maid of honor in 2006. Now, almost three years later, Michelle was Angela's matron of honor. And she's preggers! Now only did I get to see some of the same awesome people who were guests at both weddings, I get to see one of my couples three years down the road, as they prepare for Travis' doctoral dissertation defense and impending parenthood.









We also managed to squeeze in a maternity session for Michelle between the bachelorette party and the rehearsal, and then she was kind enough to let me use her as a model during a teaching session with Karla after the rehearsal dinner. So many kickass women, so many photographs, so little time!

And now, the much anticipated preview!







The baby is a girl, by the way. They plan to name her Arianna and call her "Ari" for short.






These next few shots are from the teaching session, which could have been called "all the different ways to shoot a pregnant belly," so there's a bit of repetition here....





Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Sneak Preview: Emily and Jeremy

On Sunday, I shot Emily and Jeremy's beautiful wedding in upstate New York. For those of you keeping score, yes, that's THREE weddings in one week. Also, this morning Joel and I signed contracts and put the down payment down on a house! On Saturday we leave for Hawaii! I am very, very tired!

Back to Emily and Jeremy...

Emily and Jeremy kind of remind me of me and Joel. Jeremy is also a high school science teacher. Emily's attendants were her sister and her very best friends from her childhood and high school, along with one friend from S.U. (also my alma mater).



They had an amazing summer day with an outdoor wedding and clear blue skies.

I love this photo of Jeremy hugging his mom. 


"Laughter through tears is my favorite emotion." Quick! Somebody name that movie!





They surprised Jeremy's grandmother by having her flip a coin to see who went first to say their vows. (Michelle, you have totally started a trend. Also, your sneak preview is next on the list! Promise!)





The groom's brother Kyle gave an awesome best man speech. He gave them a gift and had them open it right then there. The present? Two loaded water guns with a note that said, "Defend yourselves."

It turned into a full-on, water gun ambush.





The bride's mother provided bubbles for the children to play with, but she got the amazing, humungous kind.

I can't decide which of these I like best.


I got a little carried away with the bubble shots.




Conga line!
While I was down on the floor shooting these two, I got an idea...

And the bride and groom humored me for yet another unusual shot.


The bride danced for hours, then just gave up on her shoes altogether.


Congratulations, you guys! Thanks so much for having me shoot your wedding!