sunburns + warm hearts

My heart has been filled to the brim with love and joy and happiness, tired knees, cameras in both hands, and iced coffees. I flew down to Oregon to photograph a wedding, and returned home with so many photos of love--not just from the wedding itself, but from dear friends, assistants, couples, family ... it was truly an amazing experience and I still am trying to process it all.

I arrived in Oregon on the morning of the 18th, Wednesday, and after settling into my friend Megan's home, which she and her housemates graciously opened to me, I roamed around town, found food to eat and coffee to drink (what else in Oregon?), and ended the evening with doing a beautiful friend photoshoot with my bride and two of her bridesmaids who flew in from out of town. I fell in love with them and their friendship, not to mention the photos we created! I'm so excited to post the final products.

Then the 19th was a relaxing day, filled with barbecues and catching up with friends and eating way too many hot dogs and cupcakes. We discussed the future school year, with its events and projects and memories, and I am so excited to be able to be a part of it all. It reminds me of how lucky I am to go to such an amazing college and be a small part of the leadership there.

The 20th held the wedding rehearsal. I fell in love with the venue and Oregon (as usual), ate pizza, met the bridal party, and went home with tired eyes and a full heart. Of course I hardly slept that night, for my thoughts were filled with the wedding in just a few hours--what could go wrong, what could go right, etc. I can only imagine what the bride and groom were feeling.

Then the big day came. My second shooters and I went to grab coffee, then drove to the venue. Thankfully we were the first ones there, so I showed them around, led them through the day's events, and we set up laptops and a workflow to get all the photos backed up (which ended up not working out--we ended up being a bit more disorganized than I intended, but lesson learned for next time!). Then people began arriving and it was time to get down to business. The previous (and first) wedding I shot was in 2012 (almost to the exact day), so I forgot how exhausting shooting one was. We arrived at 9:30 am and didn't leave until 6:30 pm, and all that time was spent on our toes (I was sore for a couple days afterwards--which shows you how athletic I really am, haha!), but every step was absolutely worth it.

I am definitely a hopeless romantic at heart, and the day was so full of love and friendship I nearly burst. I fell in love with Carrie and Brandon just by seeing the love that their friends and family had for them, and more so by seeing how in love with each other they were. It was a huge, huge honor to be able to capture that love, and I only hope I did an adequate job of doing so. I left with a sunburn and a heart that was overflowing.

Then the 22nd I headed into Portland. Went to church, ate yummy food from the natural pantry, and sat in the park amongst beautiful people. There aren't any words to describe the feeling that Portland gives me, but I love it with all my heart. It was sad to leave that evening, but I was also happy to return home for even more adventure.

If my future holds more days like these that I experienced, and the people that I shared them with, then I think I will have done okay in life.

May Photos

Read the full blog post here ...



Read the full blog post here ...



Read the full blog post here ...

origami series

If you follow me on social media, then this is the last post about this series, I promise! I just wanted to also share the images here because I love them so much. It was an amazing experience to be able to create them, and I hope for many more fun projects like this in the future.

If you want to read more about this series, you can get all the details on my photography blog here.

the pacific ocean

listen.

I resonate most with the ocean. Nature is forever calling us to her, for we were created from the dust of the earth and we are meant to walk upon it. Me? I was born near the ocean, and if anyone were to ask the one object I would describe myself as, it would be the ocean.

It is beautiful on the surface. With ebbs and flows and holdings for many people, it carries many weights and lets the sun shine down on it. Sometimes it tosses those things around for it needs to be alone. Sometimes it gets angry and hurt when people hurt the things inside it, and if a person is lucky, it will open itself up to them and allow them to explore the depths.

And oh, it is terrifying. It is a mystery. With so many thoughts swirling about, there are secrets it won't tell anyone, universes glistening from the light refracting upon it, and scary caves that it hides in darkness.

But it is so vast and expansive that it would take a thousand lifetimes to discover its potential, and if one can only scratch the surface, he will be rewarded for life.

And perhaps all humans are like the ocean, with our secrets and depths and desires to be known. Why do we build up dams against people, or allow them to block our streams? If we can only remember how deep and vast and beautiful each of us are, not only will we pay no heed to those who try to harm us, but we will cease harming others.

The day began in a sleepy haze. It had been months since I viewed that long stretch of road between my home and our destination, and I would sleep for half an hour, then in a half-sleep daze photograph the scenery outside the car window, only to fall back asleep on my brothers' shoulders. This cycle repeated four times.

It seems that every time I go whale watching, the weather is perfect and all the animals are alive. Our guide repeatedly would say, "The weather is not usually like this," or "This usually doesn't happen," or "We usually don't see this many whales" and it just made me smile because we saw an abundance of life and I knew it would happen. I always have an intuition when something will happen but it always catches me slightly off guard when something happens right when I say it will. Right when I step out onto the deck, a whale pokes its back right in front of me (it actually scared me for a moment because it suddenly appeared). Or, "Oh yeah, once I put my camera down, that whale will come up again," and then five whales suddenly appear. Then five more. Then three different groups of porpoises. Then three bald eagles. Then clear skies and a glass-silent ocean. Call it coincidence if you will, but I have yet to experience an uneventful day on the ocean.

With rising and falling of waves and with wind-tousled hair in my face, the only stretch of land blocking the Pacific Ocean is Hawaii, an unknown land to me hundreds of miles away. And between it and I? Nothing but water with leagues of teeming life and salt and that is just a terrifying and beautiful thought to me, how there can be so much and I'll only see a tiny bit of the surface. Who knows what lurks right underneath my swaying feet? The darkness scares me, but there is a certain beauty in it, for without the shadows there is no light.

And oh man, I just love the ocean. I love how unpredictable it is and how the mountains fall into it and how the light shimmers on it and how the cute little animals poke their heads through it and play hide-and-seek in it and how it feels on my skin and how it smells in my nose and how when I lay down at night in my own bed I can close my eyes and feel myself rocking with the rise and fall of the waves. And I pretend that in that moment I am actually connected to the ocean, feeling what it does in real time, responding to it, allowing it to lull me to sleep. And maybe that's not so far from the truth? At least I like to think that way.