last week in seattle…

last week in seattle…

… these two became husband and wife.

everyone is kissing

…to be around a family like this absolutely filled my heart with joy. everyone is kissing.

i had taken photos for jeremy + natalie before when nate turned 2, and just last week when their second boy jonah was born.

but this day was entirely different, because their family was coming to town and they wanted to get photos of the boys with their grandmas, grandpa, and great grandma. what i wouldn’t give to have photos like this with my great grandmother. i knew this was going to be a special task. i left that day feeling so blessed to have been able to stop time and get some photos like this.

everyone is blessed by a family that isn’t afraid to kiss one another.

barnetts

i love this family.

showtunes

all it took was a few showtunes to get ella + audrey giggling. well, maybe it wasn’t just the showtunes, maybe it was their dad Mike, singing them at the top of his lungs in the crowded park :

“Do you want me to sing LOUDER so that EVERYONE laughs at me?”

audrey + ella loudly screamed: “YEAHHH!”

that right there, friends, is dedication to the image. because everytime they giggled and laughed at their dad, i was snapping away. and when the showtunes stopped working, we busted out the mini guitar, we danced, and i taught audrey how to click the camera shutter.

my goal is always to get candid, natural portraits for families. it sounds a lot easier than it is. but i wouldn’t be doing it if I didn’t love spending time with people, interacting with sweet girls like ella and audrey, and a challenge.

but you know what, and i know i say this every post, i really love what i do.

thanks for a fun morning in the park, you guys.

Jason, Nina & the girls

I don’t know where I would be if my friends and family didn’t believe in me. There were times these past 2 years while in the midst of starting this business, that my belief in myself would waver, and I would wonder, sometimes dramatically –  laying on our floor to Aaron, if I have what it takes to do this thing.

It’s for this exact reason that I am incredibly grateful to Nina and Jason- they have continued to believe in me,  trust me, and give me opportunities to document their family as it grows. and grow it has!!

We spent last Saturday in Half Moon Bay taking some family photos, and it was a gorgeous day.

half moon bay

…what a fun morning!

just got home from shooting some family photos and of course i can’t resist looking through a few.

here is a preview of the CUTENESS to come!

i will not be a workaholic and edit all of the photos right now, though it tempts me… instead i will spend some time with this guy:

the hero who holds my bags. and looks GOOD doing it.

happy saturday!

rebecca josh and keira

i get sentimental about certain things in life. well, about most things in life if we are being honest- i am just that way. not that i’m sappy, but i do think and feel deeply. and i am perhaps most sentimental about family.

for better or for worse our family fundamentally shapes the kind of person we are and the kind of person we become. without a doubt i am my father’s daughter: i love to tell stories and make people laugh, i am incurably late and forgetful. i am my mother’s daughter: spontaneous, creative, charismatic and caring.

when i get to photograph another family, i believe it is a great priviledge. it might sound like i’m being sappy but honestly i feel so thankful to learn your story and create photographs to tell that story. i get to see what makes you tick and what makes you laugh. i love seeing the dynamic of every family as i photograph them.

things were no different the day i met rebecca, her husband josh and their daughter keira. to go back in time to tell this story, rebecca had contacted me before the holidays about wanting to take some family photos before their new baby arrived and after. but the holidays came and went, family swept into town, illnesses came and went, and before we knew it rebecca had come close to her due date. so we scheduled some photos for the next week and then the rainstorms came and threatened to not go away. yet the day we met at the park it was miraculously clear! so much of life out of our control. so i am extra thankful that this session actually happened.

because i got to see what a special family they have. it is so evident in keira, just 9 years old- but so confident and full of quirky humor, you can tell that she is loved. you can tell that rebecca and josh care for one another well, and that they have created a home full of love for keira, because she is blossoming in it.

i did warn you i was sentimental.

i’ll finish with that and let the photos tell the rest of the story…

seriously? my only goal is to be this smoldering while pregnant

thanks, you guys, for letting me spend some time with your family. i can’t wait to meet the newest little one soon!!

if you want to see their whole session, you can find it here.