St. Andrews by-the-Sea wedding
December 15, 2011 | Filed Under Photoshoots, people, weddings | 3 Comments
It was beautiful. The place, the people, the pictures- all perfect.
the end.
Chris and Miranda’s engagement session
October 15, 2011 | Filed Under Photoshoots, people, weddings | Leave a Comment
I love Chris and Miranda.
Love them.
Could be because Miranda’s got some Valley blood in her veins (which automatically makes her awesome). Could also be because Chris’s sense of humour makes me want to keep listening to his stories despite the fact that we’re usually supposed to be talking ‘business.’ Or, it could be because they compliment each other like peas and carrots.
I see lots of people in love. It’s my job to look at, watch, and study people in love. There are some people who don’t just love each other. They’re not just madly infatuated with that other person that they’ve chosen to spend the rest of their life with. Instead, you can see that they love themselves more when they’re with that person. They become more confident, more assured, more at ease. They smile more, they sigh more. Their guard drops quicker. I become their friend faster. Everything in the world is good because their love, their confidence, their trust, their happiness- it all reflects and bounces off of them, onto the other person, then right back at them again. Like a giant hall of mirrors. It doesn’t matter how old you get, you always try to catch a glimpse of that ‘last’ reflection, the one that’s furthest away. But you know that you’ll never lay eyes on the end of that reflection- even when you can’t see it, it’s still going, still bouncing around, still reflecting.
These guys bounce love around like crazy. It wears off on anyone who’s around them. Wait til you see their wedding pictures- trust me.
appreciation
August 23, 2011 | Filed Under people, personal, weddings | 8 Comments
“Just appreciate how frustrated I was when I saw the shot, ok?” I typed to Jill on facebook chat this morning as I clicked ’send’ on the email and attachment I was sending her way. “It was the perfect shot. It was the defining shot of the wedding even, and of course, it was out of focus. UGH!!!”
I’m pretty sure my jaw clenched harder the more I looked at the picture. How could I have done that!? I toggled between the shot before, THE shot, and the shot after. I take a lot of pictures (taking pictures of horses with ears that flick constantly has gotten me in the habit of taking 4 or 5 frames of the exact same pose) and was hoping, praying, fingers crossed wishing that maybe I gotten one similar (IN FOCUS!) of the same pose. No dice.
I made some excuses in my head. Maybe my focusing drive wasn’t where it was supposed to be. Maybe it was because I was rushed because I had stopped traffic on a main street in a small tourist town on a gorgeous weekend day at dinner time. Maybe I just wasn’t paying attention. So I conceded. I missed the shot. I had to live with it. And appreciate it. And appreciate that I had the chance to take the shot in the first place. And appreciate the reality that I’d have the chance to shoot like that again. And, that if this was the shot I was most upset with from the whole set, I should really appreciate how far I’ve come.
♥ Jack and Leah
August 4, 2011 | Filed Under Photoshoots, people, weddings | 5 Comments
“It’s just past North River,” Leah said to me, as I loaded chairs into my car. “Just follow us.” And so I did. And the road kept going and I thought to myself that maybe there was another North River, because I was pretty sure I passed the sign for North River about 15 minutes ago. Jack’s signal went on and we turned left. And we turned left again. And then, right in front of me, was a photographer’s paradise. “What do you think? Is this a good place for pictures?” Leah asked me, hesitantly, as I’m sure the awestruck look on my face wasn’t conveying the look of pure excitement (and photo nerdiness!) that I was feeling. “Yah,” I smiled, “I think this will do.” An old farm house, now vacant, sat directly in front of me. To my left was the front yard, covered in dandelions. Jack apologized, “I didn’t get a chance to mow before you came, I’m really sorry.” I told him it was perfect. To my right was a weathered red barn and just behind that, a path that lead to fields that hadn’t been grazed on in years. This was Jack’s family’s old farm. It hadn’t been worked or lived on in a long time, but it was a perfect spot to photograph new love. I grabbed my bag and we started down the path. They laughed and smiled and kissed and snuggled. They held hands and held each other close. I got to see it first hand, exactly what everyone had said- they were perfect for each other.
Despite knowing Leah longer, I always say Jack’s name first when referring to the two of them. It flows perfectly. It just fits. Just like everything about them. They’re getting married in the town that brought them together and the town that they’ll stay together in. A community that took great care and great pride in raising two fabulous people will get to share in their love next July. And then the year after that, at the very end of June when everyone in Brookfield flips the page on their calendar, “♥ Jack and Leah Roop” will be nestled in there, exactly one week into July, exactly where and how and when they were always meant to be.
opposites. and some attraction.
June 21, 2011 | Filed Under Photoshoots, people, personal, weddings | 3 Comments
The Secret.
I’ve talked about it a lot, and I’ve lived it even more. Like attracts like. Think good things and good things will happen. Do good things and more good things will materialize. Without knowing it, this applies itself to almost every facet of our lives- from what we eat to how we think, from how we dress to who we’re friends with. My friends, though all different in wonderful ways, are all a bit the same. That’s probably why we’re friends- because we seek out the similarities in each other that we can relate to, and our friendships grow from there.
Rarely is it that we seek out those who are complete opposites to ourselves. Sometimes though, those opposites come into our lives. And when they do we’re given the chance to embrace something completely different from what we know, what we have known, and what we were expecting to know. We’re given the chance to learn and become more tolerant, to love and become more understanding. Those opposites enforce the notion that our first impressions are not always correct and that what we know is not always the right, easiest, or best way to do things. They give us the chance to become better thinkers, better people, and better friends to those who are not so opposite. More importantly (and in my case) they make you take a good look at and into yourself- and if you’re lucky you get to come out a better person. And if you’re REALLY lucky, you come out that better person along with a really different, hip, nothing-like-you’ve-ever-had-before friend.
So maybe The Secret hasn’t got it all figured out. Maybe a bit of opposite in your life isn’t such a bad thing. And even if like attracts like, sometimes being mashed together with ‘totally unlike’ isn’t so bad after all.
Jenna is Dane’s best friend, and Dane is Jenna’s best friend. It’s been that way for awhile. I got to know her a few years ago. First through stories Dane would tell me, and then over meals and drinks. And I’m still getting to know her. She’s my really different, hip friend. We couldn’t be more opposites: where I’m outgoing, she is reserved. I have short hair and her’s is long. She is athletic and artistic and I am…not. She listens and pauses, I talk and continue on.
I used to think that we were total opposites with only Dane in common. Not now though. Now we’ve got her wedding in common. We’re both planning on being there (her as the bride, me as the photographer)- it’ll be in the Dominican, so you can bet I’m not going to miss that :) In great anticipation for what’s coming, we took a day and shot some engagement pictures. Jenna’s fiancé, James was perfect. He smiled when he was supposed to and kissed her whenever he wanted to. Jenna was flawless- she was herself in every shot and she was in love. In typical fashion, our location choices were complete opposites, but what a dynamic, interesting, and FUN shoot we had!
Congrats Jenna and James, here’s to you guys ♥.
