True Love: Wife, Mom, Dad, and Ukulele

I think having a past client call you up and ask if you are available for another photo shoot is the best compliment a photographer can get. I had the opportunity to photograph not only a past client (David) again, but also his extended family. David’s wife’s parents were in town unexpectedly, so he thought this was the perfect opportunity to get some family portraits, as well as a few more shots for his upcoming album release.

Here’s the coolest part: The parents hadn’t had their photo taken together in over two decades! Now that is a special event to be remembered!

We started off with a few family portraits, but soon I had “Mom and Dad” sitting side by side laughing while watching me snap away. They were so stinking cute! I could have stayed and photographed them all day long without a care in the world.

David’s wife was not home for our first photo shoot, so I had the pleasure of meeting her during this one. And by pleasure, I mean complete joy! She and David were so great together… their love for each other just shined through and through. She was so excited to have photos taken, and had many ideas for us to work with. I love it when clients have ideas and suggestions for a photograph! And I love it even more when they get to see those ideas come to life.

Next we took some fun shots for David’s upcoming Ukulele CD release. I think I’m as excited about getting a copy of the CD as he was about getting the copies of his images! I certainly hope that David keeps pumping out the albums, because I can’t wait to work with him again!

Destination: Ocean Shores

I had the honor of being asked spur-of-the-moment to photograph Jenna and Derryck’s wedding at Ocean Shores, WA. I’m not sure if that qualifies me as a destination wedding photographer now, but either way it was lots of fun and a beautiful 2 hour drive to the coast.

The ceremony was held at the Ramada, and our formal portraits were taken about 10 minutes down the road on the beach. It was 4:30pm and the light was so harsh, glaring right off the ocean water and making it very difficult to have everyone lighted properly without squinting from the bright light. There also was the wind factor, which made things a little difficult for the ladies. I decided that instead of having the ocean behind everyone, we would use the huge wall of boulders that lined one side of the shore.

Lucky for me, I had some very willing and able ladies that hiked up on the boulders in their heels so I could capture some amazing images of them! I’m in heaven when I have people to photograph that are open-minded and love to try fun things for a great photo!

I am glad that the lighting posed to be a challenge, because I don’t think that I would have tried these shots without it! It was a beautiful wedding with fun people to photograph. That in itself made it an amazing day for me!

True Love

Since the summer of 1989 there hasn’t been one day of my life that I haven’t owned a horse. I had no outside influence to inspire my love for these magnificent creatures, and neither of my parents had ever owned one, or even knew anything about them. My parents saw a young girl’s passion and surprised me with my first pony, after the previous owners had trained me to ride and tought me everything they knew about horses.

At 12 years old I told my mom I wanted a horse to train all by myself. Once again, my parents supported my passion. With virtually no budget and me teaching myself everything horses thru library books I took a wild, 2 1/2 year old Arabian filly and turned her into my best friend.

Growing up and gaining more responsibilities took my attention away from my horses, and I was only able to spend limited time with them. But even with that time restraint, I always owned them and they were always available to me on those days where nothing else but their spirit could calm my soul.

Now I am going thru another transition in my life, and I have had to make the decision to find new homes for the two horses I own now. It’s heartbreaking, but I know it is just a phase in my life, and I must be fair to not only myself, but my equine friends. I know they will be in my life again when we can benefit each other in life, and not be a financial burden and be ignored.

Horses have always been my best friends, my faithful companions, and my one true love.

A horse is the projection of peoples’ dreams about themselves – strong, powerful, beautiful – and it has the capability of giving us escape from our mundane existence.  ~Pam Brown

Memories…

I had the honor of being asked to shoot an engagement session with a beautiful young couple up at Point Defiance Park. This was a very special shoot to me because not only is this beautiful young woman the daughter of a dear friend, but I also had the honor of taking her senior pictures just a few years ago. This is why I love photography. You can see people grow, mature, and become more beautiful with each year that goes by. Soon we will see a beautiful woman getting married… all of these amazing memories frozen in time in the form of a photograph…