River Retreat

There are some experiences that are impossible to find the right words.  For me, the River Retreat was a moment of clarity knowing so many seemingly insignificant steps led me right here, to this place and it feels exactly where each of us was meant to be.  Gathered together in that space. 

And there is something so inherently right about women gathering.  I think of "The Red Tent" by Anita Diamant and imagine a long history of women gathering together; from tents and fields, sewing circles, and book clubs, to happy hours and group text messages.  Using each other as support as we chase careers and dreams, fall in and out of love, raise our babies or heal broken hearts.  

There is a specific kind of magic just for this.

2015 Reflection

Spent a few hours gathering some of my favorite images from this last year.  From engagement sessions and crowns of flowers to 17 beautiful couples who brought me along to capture their wedding day.  

I actually can not believe that this was my year!  From photographing two weddings the year before and falling in love with it.  Then telling myself YES lets try this for real.  I could never have imagined how it all would play out.  Mostly I am sincerely grateful for these beautiful people who put their trust in me to tell their stories.  Who opened up their arms and invited me in.  To the continued friendships of some awesome brides and grooms, girlfriends who fearlessly played along for photo dates, and weddings that brought me to cities I have never been.  Each of you hold a special place in my heart.  

THANK YOU!!

Interested in booking a wedding for 2016 dates?  Please inquire on my Contact page.  Can't wait to see what next year will hold.  

California

I have this reoccurring daydream of our life of adventures and everyday stories being documented in print.  A dusty shelf filled with albums, actual artifacts saying we were here, and we loved.  

Think about the alternative.  When you are old, and sitting in your rocking chairs on the porch swing, what do you imagine?  Pulling out your iPhone to flip through the "see friendship" section of your facebook accounts?  What will you pass along?  An instagram account full of the plates of food and fancy lattes you drank?  Of course we may all have the big moments saved (and if you are lucky, printed); graduations and wedding days, new babies and maybe some posed family portraits in the form of Christmas cards.  But where is the real stuff of the heart?

I wanted to capture our first vacation together by getting both of us in the frame.  I have for a long time admired the work of  Ashley Jennett  and the way she so seemly effortlessly captures moments with so much real life inside of them.  With little to no directing, she invites you to own the space within her frames, which translates into images that feel so completely natural.  I love that I have images of my uncombed hair (mostly because I forgot to pack a brush), my makeup free face, bra-less everyday self being loved right up close by (my much more modest and more put together) husband.  Then I danced around in a flowy wind-blown dress with a crown of flowers, and we smushed our faces close and laughed and whispered cute things in each others ears, then snuggled close while watching the sunset from a mountain top, and we felt completely filled up by the beauty of it all. 

More so, I love the secrets this album will teach us later.  When we brush the dust of the cover, read California  and run our hands over the pages and remember details we didn't know would matter.   There are a lot of images that I am not sharing here, mostly because they hold such a big, honest peice of my heart that I only want held within intimate book pages and by the ones I love.  But I share these because I would love to invite you to find ways to create artifacts of your life, to think about what you will have to hold onto to remember, what is worth preserving so that you won't forget. 

All images by photographer Ashley Jennett,  The Stork and the Beanstock