katie and peter, always.

Katie and I were accountability partners when we started our volunteer program, so we talked each other through some really tough times both of us had with our placements and with the program. Of course I said yes when she asked me to photograph her and Peter’s wedding! Here are photos from the wedding day – more details from the wedding weekend to come soon. Enjoy! (PS – this is my first wedding with my new 50mm 1.4f lens… LOVED IT SO MUCH.)

At the reception, Katie and Peter had us decorate Jenga blocks for them to have – what a cool idea!

above: Katie’s mom made her AMAZING dress. K&P’s books made a perfect nerdy frame for her shoes. The flowers were all dried, and all GORGEOUS.

below: Katie getting ready, and a super-sweet first look.

What a fun portrait!

above: Kissy face! Taking advantage of the beautiful garden. And some pretty swell foot action – check out that kilt!

below: K-k-k-Katie, beautiful Katie! K&P served communion at their wedding – here’s P with K’s mom. Our dear friend Dave played guitar.

I was trying to get sweet photos of them walking down the aisle, and THIS is what Katie gave me to work with – LOVIN’ IT!!!

above: Men in kilts + some super sassy ladies = one amazingly fantastic wedding party!

below: This was Katie’s idea – loves it!

Congratulations, Katie and Peter! Blessings to you!

Back From Hiatus! I Heart Faces week 30 – Summer Fun!

Well, I’ve been gone for some time… and I want to share all the great things I’ve been doing the past month! So it’s convenient that this week is a just-for-fun week at I ♥ Faces. Enjoy!

This is a rockin’ slam poet I heard at the Utah Arts Festival named Flora. I’m a little in love with her.

Here’s my friend Sarah who was visiting from NC. This photo was taken up at Silver Lake. She’s so pretty!

Sarah was in town to see the Indigo Girls concert with me, and this photo came from the concert.

I visited North Carolina with my family, and we went rocksliding at the Potholes. This is my brother Sam.

And this is his buddy Liam enjoying the… umm… cool? water of the mountains!

I photographed Katie’s wedding in Madison, Wisconsin – this is just a preview!

Back in NC, Kody, Jay, Aaron, Sara and I went out on the boat in Lake Toxaway. Here’s a gorgeous one of Sara. Aaron and Sara got engaged later that week! Woo hoo!

Then it was time for Solange’s wedding. This is one of my favorites of her and her stepson Marcus.

My BFF Karen on Solange’s wedding day – we stopped to pick some wildflowers that matched Solange’s wedding colors.

And just this weeken, Sarah M. and I went on a hike with the Mount Olympus Hiking Group up to Broad Forks. Utah is so gorgeous. I may actually miss it!

So that’s my summer in photos. Next… on to Berkeley!

Good Weather, No Whammies…

I may be absent from posting for awhile. The next two weeks are SUPER busy! Two weddings, two different family visits, and a gathering of friends to end my term as a missionary. Oh, and a visit from a North Carolina friend and an awesome concert! Since most of my plans include there NOT being torrential downpour, here’s hoping for some sun!

10-day forecast has Madison rainy on Saturday… but full sun on Sunday! Verdict is still out on Brevard the next weekend.

In the meantime, behold my new beauty:

So excited to break her in at Katie K’s wedding!

Updates in the next two weeks as I can…

I heart faces – Wedding Week!

SO STOKED for wedding week on I heart faces! This week’s guest judge is Jasmine Star. I read her blog and LOVE her work. This is from Amanda and Matt’s wedding – it’s the first wedding I shot on my own. It was a tough decision, but the recommendations of several folks put this photo over the top.

Be sure to head on over to I ♥ Faces and check out all the rest of the great entries.

Friday Focus

I’d like to take Fridays to Focus on one aspect of photography to blog on. I’ve been working on editing some family photos from (yikes!) last Thanksgiving for my parents, and I’d like to touch on retouching today. Most specifically: dealing with acne. It happens to all of us, and it especially happens to teens. My sister Emily is 13, and she is no exception. You couldn’t pay me to go back to my teen years… for so many reasons, blemishes just one among hundreds. Emily works really hard to keep her acne under control, but she had a big breakout the week I was home for family photos. Here’s one of the original portraits of Em:

She’s got GORGEOUS blue eyes, a beautiful smile (which she’s hiding because of her braces), and that pesky acne. So here’s the photo post-retouch.

So much better! No one wants to deny that Emily is a teenager. We’re not looking to airbrush her skin smooth. But it’s nice to take out some of those big blemishes. Also, if acne scarring has left the skin red and blotchy, we can counteract that with a (believe it or not) green tint. I cleared up Emily’s forehead and nose, evened out the tone a little on her chin, and removed a little dandruff from her hair. Then I fixed the lighting and bumped up the saturation a little bit and was done! I think this photo is one Emily will be very happy with.

Things I’m Loving Thursday

I missed last Thursday because I was at Rocky Mountain Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church in Grand Junction, CO. Colorado was GORGEOUS, but I took zero photos while I was there. It was good just to enjoy time with friends and not be behind my camera the whole time! Anyway, it’s time for another edition of Things I’m Loving Thursday.

The first is wedding related: Tea Length Wedding Dresses.

I love it. Summery, classic, casual. And the pockets… oh the pockets! Here are three of my favorites from the Jenny Yoo Alternative collection.

http://www.jennyyoo.com/wedding_alternatives.html

I especially love the neckline on that third dress. GORGEOUS. And who doesn’t want some pockets on her wedding day? Vows? Tissues? A little something to calm the nerves?

The second has to do with food: The Community Food Co-Op of Utah.

The mission of the Co-Op is working towards equal accessability of nutritious, affordable, fresh food for all people. Our orders come in once a month, and produce is generally 50-75% cheaper than you can find in a grocery store. This month the harvest share has peaches, plums, oranges, avocados, broccoli, romaine lettuce, bell peppers, carrots, EGGPLANTS (!!), fresh wheat bread, and red beans. YUM! I can hardly wait to pick up my order on Saturday!

My third love this week is pretty simple: MUSIC. (specifically female folk music.)

Maybe it’s just that I’m looking forward to the Indigo Girls concert in (less than!) two weeks, but here are some artists I’m really into this week:

a. b. c.

Irish singer/songwriter/all-around-stylish lady Lisa Hannigan. Check out her album “Sea Sew”, and especially the song “I don’t know”.

New York’s upcoming mistress of acoustic guitar and song is Jaymay – and she’s cool not just because we share a name. Check out her album Autumn Fallin’ and the last song ‘you are the only one I love’, which features a great line about loving me

The ever fantastic Dar Williams. I’m on another kick. Especially the song ‘Iowa’.

That’s it for this week’s Things I’m Loving! Weddings, Food, and Music. Who can complain?

Patty and Adam – getting ready

As I said before, I wasn’t Patty and Adam’s wedding photographer. But I did get a chance to be in the room while Patty and the girls were getting ready – here are some of my favorites from the day.

Gorgeous

everyone was getting ready – not just Patty!

Thanks, Ruth, for this shot

girls all helping with the various dressing aspects – including shoes and tape.

Mom adjusting the dress

I couldn’t be any more in love with this last series. Patty was simply stunning.

Thanks again, Patty and Adam, for letting me be a part of your day!

A Utah post, at long last

It seems I’m making up for early June’s dirth of posts all at once. A few weeks ago UMCOR West had a grand opening! We had tons of folks show up, including our staffs from Louisiana and New York. Several of us went out to the mountains for a little hike after the grand opening, and here are some favorite shots from the day.

The Aspens in Utah are GORGEOUS. They remind me of the Birches in Carolina.

Can’t resist it.

Don’t litter! And I love the sign that says ‘Drinking water may be obtained at: no water available’

Lisa Jackson and a flower

These are the mountains of Utah. We’re standing in the Wasatch mountains. The first and third photos are looking down into the valley and out towards the Oquirrhs, the second is looking up towards Park City. I love watching the storm roll in – you can see the rain starting in the third photo.

A little self portrait

There were these two adorable little girls walking in front of us on the trail – I managed to catch one of them skipping.

Melissa Hinnen takes photos of the mountains. Maybe my favorite thing about this photo? Melissa’s Church of the Village t-shirt. “A Progressive United Methodist Community” in Greenwich Village, NYC. This is where we worshiped on the first Sunday of Missionary training. During the offering, Lindsey leaned over to me and said that she’d rather tithe to her church (later my church, too) in DC, Dumbarton UMC, because she wasn’t sure this church was a reconciling church. (It is, btw.)

And one last photo from the day: Skip Strickland, Kathy Kraiza, Brian Diggs, Lisa Jackson, and Melissa Hinnen, our staff from Rocky Mountain Annual Conference, UMCOR Sager Brown in Louisiana, UMCOR West here in Salt Lake, and UMCOR in New York City. They’re showing you their elbows because we were hiking the “Elbow Fork Trail”.

patty and adam – details

My friend Rachel was the officiant for Patty and Adam’s wedding this weekend in Santa Cruz, CA, and I was her date

The night before the wedding, we all went out for ice cream. I asked Patty what her favorite details about the wedding were, and she said all the crafty things she got to do. She and the wedding party spent lots of time putting together all the gorgeous orange and blue details for the wedding – and it shows! I know Patty from DC days, and it was fun to get to see her personality (and Adam’s!) in all the details of the day. Enjoy!

That is some last name, Adam!

There were flowers absolutely everywhere.

Patty’s dress was gorgeous. More of that in a later post.

bubbles for the guests, a card basket, and the official calendar for the park

AMAZING blue shoes!

Patty is super-coordinated. The tables, the flowers, the arch, everything had the blue and orange theme. Even the frisbees on the kids table!

The head table

Name cards, a candy table, and bubbles!

And lastly, the BEAUTIFUL cake made by Sherrie Hain. Love it!

some things I love

1. It doesn’t get much better than these eco-friendly rings from Turtle Love Committee. And with a name like Turtle Love Committee, who can resist?

I’m kind of on a tree kick lately. Does it show?

2. I’m also a little in love with Lauren’s latest creation. See why? She is super-amazing. I want to be her assistant when she goes on food network challenge.

3. All things DIY (do-it-yourself). Especially this homemade paper flower bouquet, courtesy Offbeat Bride.

4. So You’re enGAYged.com. You, O new site and co-creation of my friend and tutor Lara Swanson and some other fabulously talented women, are the new love of my life. Hooray for queer friends! And Allies!

5. Bright, bold colors. It’s summertime! I just bought a cute cardigan in bright yellow. It’s making me feel glad even though it’s a rainy day!

That’s it for today. Post coming soon on Patty’s wedding… yay!