I met up with this lovely family the other day for a session so fun, I’m not sure we stopped laughing! A warm drizzle came down, but this didn’t stop anyone from smiling as we trekked about, played hide and seek, even threw a few snowballs.
Thank you so much, all of you! You are a beautiful, loving, happy family and I couldn’t stop grinning from ear to ear! Thank you for being so fun to photograph – you really made my day!
On the docket: engagement sessions! P.S. Don’t forget, I’m going to be at the Southgate Mall’s 2011 Bridal Fair on Saturday, February 5th. Feel free to swing by – I’d love to see you!
Leanna and Skyler are wonderfully sweet people. And very much sweet on one another as well. In fact, speaking of sweet, they’re high school sweethearts! These two are such a great pair and we had such an enjoyable time crunching through the snow to make some fun images for their engagement session. We even managed to dodge some impending raindrops!
Thank you so much Leanna and Skyler – I am so looking forward to photographing your wedding this summer!
As some of you know, I zipped across the country for a few days to my parents’ home for Christmas. We were lucky enough to all be together again for the holiday and had ourselves a lovely Christmas together.
My brother and I stayed up late Christmas day, talking about anything and everything into the wee hours, munching on cookies in my parents’ kitchen. We were startled when we heard pounding on our front door. Who could that be at midnight on Christmas Day? So odd… my brother answered and it was a policeman come to tell us that our neighbor’s house was on fire.
My brother and I asked the police man if everyone was ok, if they’d gotten out safely, and ran outside to see the house engulfed in unbelievably tall flames. My brother ran inside to wake my parents, and we ran outside again to stare disbelieving as the house smoked, windows shattered and as the roof spewed flames while firefighters worked tirelessly to put out the blaze.
Luckily, as I mentioned, everyone in the house escaped safely, except for their little puppy who perished in the fire.
The thing that rocked all of us was that this fire, this ruthless, oxygen-hungry, sky-scraping fire, could have happened to anybody. And does. Frequently. I’m not sure if the fire chief has determined the cause of the fire. I’ve heard everything from it being labeled as a chimney fire, to a Christmas tree fire (of the plastic sort) to faulty electrical wiring.
I’m sharing these photos today because it’s the one month anniversary of this night. The house has since been torn down. The family is doing ok…it’s incredibly tough on them of course, but they plan to rebuild on the old foundation. I didn’t want to post these photos immediately, because I wanted to give the family some privacy in the face of their tragedy. Their town is a small one, and word (and photos) travel quickly.
I’m also sharing these photos because seeing something like this…and feeling the fear that our own house would catch fire….really makes a person reevaluate what’s important in their lives. I’m so grateful to have family and friends who love me, a roof over my head, and food in my belly. Please, if these photos move you, tell your loved ones that you LOVE them. Today. Do it right now. And also please do you and your family a favor and check to make sure your smoke detector batteries are fresh and functioning.
Life is fragile. Don’t forget to soak it in and appreciate every day you’ve got.
I had a fun mini “just because” session with John the other day. He’s been growing his hair out for a while now, and wanted to document its last days before cutting it all off. As he put it, he doesn’t know if he’ll have the chance again to grow it out like this. So, we made some quick, fun images for posterity purposes. It’s a good thing, because just a few hours later John cut his hair off and donated it to locks of love.
Now let’s do an “after” session and document the transformation!
Such a fantastic day for Shea’s senior session – we had beautiful blue skies and warm sun for our outdoor shoot. Shea is a senior at Florence-Carlton High School, and has great aspirations for his life after graduation. He’s going to college to study perhaps neurobiology, perhaps physics – the world is his oyster. And this young man is going to go places – I can just feel it!
Thank you so much, Shea, for such a great session! I truly mean it when I say you’re going places – you’ve got a great attitude and I know you’ll excel in your college pursuits. All the best to you in your final few months as a senior!
I was lucky enough to be able to make the sojourn to Wisconsin for a brief visit over Christmas to spend time with my parents, my brother and some wonderful friends. It’s nice to make the trip since I grew up in Wisconsin, but my true home is Montana, which is where I was born. It’s why I’ve spent my entire adult life pursuing these roots, which I’m so glad to say have happily landed here for a good while now. But it’s always bittersweet to go back to Wisconsin, because, though I love it there, my parents dearly wish they were out west as well, closer to my brother and me.
However, my family always has a blast when we’re together – our actual location doesn’t really matter at that point.
One of our favorite things to do together is zip on out to a lovely cross-country ski trail located in the Blue Hills. I just happened to have my camera with me on one of our outings (sadly my brother had stayed behind to write essays for his grad school application – such diligence), and I figured I’d do an impromptu photo session of my parents since: 1. Skiing is their absolute favorite thing. 2. I love them. 3. We’re always sure to get some hilarious images when the camera comes out.
And hilarious they were! I’ll stop yapping so you can check out the images. But just a few more things: I’m so very thankful to have these two wonderful people as my parents. They live so fully and laugh so easily, and I’d like to think I’ve grabbed up those traits, too.
We were all shaken by my parents’ neighbor’s house fire on Christmas day – it burned to the ground and their lives were changed instantly. (They all escaped safely except for their puppy. :( ) More than ever it reminded all of us how fragile life is, and how important family and friends are. (I will probably post photos of the fire at some point, but right now it’s just a bit too fresh.)
I love you Mom and Dad. Thank you for being your awesome selves as always.
Thanks all for sticking through this long post. If you’ve made it to these words, take a moment and tell someone you care about that you love them.
Megan came by today for a quick head shot session and also to make some images promoting her platform for the Miss Montana pageant, which is April 30th. She has chosen to speak about the Aveda company and its mission to be environmentally conscious in its business practices.
Megan’s a wonderful young woman with a beautiful smile, and we had a delightful time making some images. She’s got such pretty eyes I couldn’t help but add in a fun photo highlighting them, too. :)
It was so nice to meet you, Megan! Good luck in the pageant!
On the docket: senior sessions and engagement sessions!
P.S. Brides, I won’t be at the wedding fair this weekend (January 9th at the Holiday Inn), but you’re always welcome to schedule a free consultation to meet with me outside of the wedding fair. I will be at Southgate Mall’s bridal show in early February, so you can always meet me there, too.)
I had the pleasure of meeting up with Travis and Siobhan for their beautiful, wintery engagement session, my first of 2011! It couldn’t have been a prettier day – fluffy snowflakes falling, all the trees draped in white, creeks gurgling. Simply gorgeous. And these two outshone this beauty with their own radiant smiles and laughter.
Thanks so much for braving the chilly weather, Siobhan and Travis! I am so excited to photograph your wedding this summer!
