what's to come...

Just a quick peek of tonight's session. How cute are they?!? There will be more of these coming very soon.

Damion & Dione Wedding Preview

Just a quick preview from Friday's wedding. We got so lucky with the weather! It was a gorgeous day, and with all the rain we have been having it was a miracle that there was not even a sign of a sprinkle! I always intend to pick just one for a preview, but I quickly get carried away. Trust me though, you'll be seeing more of this beautiful couple on their happy day!

on a personal note...

Look what my grandpa gave me last weekend when we were out visiting!

























It's a VERY old camera from the 1940's. It's affectionately called a "Brownie." The shutter still clicks! The coolest part is that it still has film in it. I can't wait to find someone to take it out and develop it and see what's on there. Who knows how long it's been in the camera. It's like a little time capsule. Problem is: the film is kind of stuck and I can't turn the little handle thing to advance the film, so I need to find someone skilled to properly remove the film for me.

I love this little treasure on many levels, and for many reasons. My grandpa was a photography enthusiast, himself. When I was little I thought his camera was so cool. He would take really beautiful landscape and wildlife pictures, elk, deer, etc. And watching him I always wanted to learn how to use a SLR camera. I guess you could say he inspired me to go out and learn. When I was first learning he would give me such great feedback and he really made me feel like I was improving. This was his first personal camera. I'm going to display it in my house so I can see it every day, rather than box it up and store it away.

Secondly, and most importantly, he's getting older. He's been sick. His old body is tired. He once told me that sometimes he feels like a 20 year old man in this 80 year old body. He wants to go out and be active and almost forgets that the body isn't able to do it anymore. I took a picture of him out in his wood shop while we were visiting:































My Grandpa has always been someone who creates things. He builds things out of anything he can find. He makes arrowheads and other treasures for his kids. This past winter, I mentioned to him that I was looking for an old antique window pane to use as a picture frame. He immediately got to work building one for me. And it's beautiful. Better than anything I could have bought.













I don't think he knew it when he passed this old camera down to me, but he gave me a true treasure. Mostly just because it reminds me of him.

I truly have the best grandparents in the whole world!




































I feel the urge to start a collection of old cameras now!
I'll let you all know what is on this mystery film once I get it developed!

Rebecca's Bridals

I've got a lot on my plate right now. I meant to post these Bridals weeks ago. We took them back in April, but Rebecca was a traditional sort of bride and adamantly against her groom, my brother in-law, Michael, seeing her in her dress before the wedding, so we were pretty sneaky and he didn't see any of these bridals until the wedding day. Well, they were married weeks ago, and I'm still playing catch up from recent weddings and sessions, so I'm behind posting, but here they are! Better late than never, right?? I took some risks with light this time. I didn't really have a choice(blasted SLC marathon!) but I'm finding I'm getting more comfortable with shooting in full on sun and back lighting, and it was actually kind of fun to play with the sunshine coming through the veil. So, you may look at I actually hoisted her up onto that ledge in one of the following images... yes... HOISTED. I was laughing so hard I thought I was going to drop her. It was a bonding experience, I suppose. I can say I've never gone the extra mile like that for any other bride... that's probably a good thing. I wouldn't want to be liable for grass stains or broken bones!

(handsome}

They are now officially 11 months old and 2&1/2 years old. We did a little photo shoot last night. I felt pretty lucky to get anything of my big boy, mostly I just get the back of his head and motion blurs as he runs away from me.(Ever heard of something called Photographer's Kid Sydrome? Apparently it's a real thing!) Maybe his older age contributed to his increased cooperation this time... or maybe it was his daddy making great noises and acting silly to make him smile. My little one was, as always, an easy and perfect subject. They are growing up too fast on me. These are the most important reasons why I only take a handful of jobs each month. I'll have the rest of my life to be a photographer, but only this very short time to be their mommy, while they are little and still need me. I love these boys!
(Oh, and p.s.- I realized that something funky happened when I resized the last post for the web... yikes, they looked a little fuzzy, when what I was seeing on my screen was crisp and nice, so if you saw those and thought "hmm, those don't look so good" take another look, they are all fixed now!)

The Beal's

This was one of the quickest and easiest family sessions I've done yet! It helped a a lot that Hannah is one of the most photogenic little girls ever! I hope you like them, Chelsey! Thanks for the opportunity to photograph your gorgeous family!!