Seattle & Portland Family Photographer | In Home is Where the Heart Is

Thanks to the reminders pinging off of my phone every day, I’m more acutely aware than ever how frighteningly fast my son is growing up before my eyes. This week, he’s learned to take after me in yelling at the cat (“Ar-THUR!”) and comes in for snuggles with a vengeance and as gone as soon as he arrived.

I’m also reaching a place of creative growth in which I’m exhausted by the thought of giving anything other than exactly who I am to what I’m creating. It’s a beast, selling the thing you hold so closely to your heart. There are lots of people out there doing this, and doing it well. It doesn’t help that Instagram’s algorithm is increasingly punishing to creatives, and before I go on complaining let me say this. I love creating beautiful images. I love creating beautiful images that carry deep meaning for others. I love creating beautiful images that carry deep meaning for others and being seen for it. I won’t lie and say that last part isn’t important, because it is.

In this current state of creative growth and awareness, I’m honored by the people who choose me to carry their memories on into the permanent state of a photograph. Someone I was talking to recently said that the photos of the memories soon become the memories. The way they’re captured shapes the way they’re remembered. I was stunned at her ability to put into words what I wasn’t able to, and then enamored and in-love-all-over with photography. It’s important in the moments you’re wondering what the heck all of this work is for that you can come back to something like that and get completely punched in the gut with truth and meaning.

All of this to say, I’m feeling so, so, so soft and sweet about capturing families right now. In having my own, I see what a precious and challenging and completely worthy thing it is to bring a child into the world and shape its memories and experiences and really to just create a reality for a tiny vulnerable being. It’s a ton of pressure, and it’s more rewarding than anything I’ve ever done in my life.

Doing this in-home session with the Newells in Portland brought me to that place of gratitude. Doing photo sessions in a park is fine, but gosh, being in the space where you actually create your history is better than anything. It really doesn’t matter if your decorating is good or garbage. It doesn’t matter if it’s a rental or if you own it. It’s part of the story, another family member worth including. I loved every second of this family session and I hope you do too.

Washington Coast Elopement & Celebration | Lindsey & Jared

If you’re stuck between wanting an elopement, feeling like this huge moment is something you want to keep quiet and special, but also want the chance to be able to celebrate with everyone else in your life, well, there’s good news. Do both. In a stunning blush wedding dress. In Lindsey & Jared’s case, on the same day. We met at Washington Park in Anacortes, WA, where they had a stunning intimate wedding ceremony on the rocks overlooking the water. Lindsey, Jared and their pastor on one peak and the guests on another. Visually, it was striking. I scrambled up and down the rocks so many times to get different angles!

What I love about elopements is that we have plenty of time for amazing portraits. It really comes down to less of posing and taking photos and more of conversation, laughter, talking about how crazy and weird it feels to be on your own wedding day, and just being in the moment. Your photos shouldn’t feel like you’re hitting pause on the enjoyment of the day, it should be part of it.

Following a small (and amazing!) dinner prepared by family and friends, and carried down the steep cliffside to the rocks, we all headed back to Seattle to the larger celebration. Everyone was waiting there with cocktails and charcuterie, excited to greet the new couple. I loved seeing the way their community surrounded them with love and really created their wedding day from top to bottom. Capturing these weddings is such an honor, and it’s a gift to be in the room soaking in all those good vibes and beautiful feelings.

Lindsey and Jared are incredible people (see their engagement session here). Their love for each other is so old-soul. They channel a spirit of rock and roll, effortless in their ease with each other, bucking tradition to create a path all their own. I was so honored to capture their wedding day.

One of the peak moments was the birdseed exit. You’ll see.

Enjoy.

Great Hall at Green Lake Untraditional Wedding | Erinn & Raj

Let me begin by saying that I love weddings of all kinds. Even if everything has been done a million times, I still well up during several parts of the day, just floored with what I’m witnessing. Humans are so incredibly complex and deep-feeling, and weddings are a chance to let it all flow.

That said, I love when couples come to me with a unique vision for their day. Yeah, it’s fun to photograph something unique, but moreover, it means they’ve put something of themselves into it. They’ve crafted a day around their love, and to me, there’s nothing more exciting than capturing authentic joy.

So after finding me on Junebug Weddings, when Erinn told me the plans of their wedding, I was so on board. Getting ready together, a classic portrait session, a tiny private ceremony followed by a big celebration with all their family and friends. The best of ALL worlds. If you’re not one for committing your life to someone with a crowd hanging, this is such a great way of including everyone in the joy without making it a performance, if that’s how it tends to feel to you. They kept the day simple and focused on the most important things: their love story and the ones they share it with.

The Great Hall at Green Lake is a historic and beautiful space for a wedding. I love its great amounts of natural light (especially later in the afternoon when the sun comes streaming in through the big windows!). I also love that it has string lights set up, which make any — I say ANY — wedding more beautiful. Any kind of glowy light you can add to your wedding, man, do it.

Enjoy.

Seattle Family Photographer | Parr Family

I’ve loved following along with my clients as they grow their families. The ongoing relationships I get to build with people I come to care a lot about is one of the biggest perks of this job. Having a toddler myself, I understand the value of freezing time to capture his little dimple and chubby hands and sweet smiles so I can always look back and remember how it felt to love my son at this time. When I think about capturing it in photos, it’s so much more than just a couple shots to consider for a Christmas card. It’s nice to have a few photos where we’re all looking and smiling, but I want the LIFE stuff. The real stuff. The quirks and the looks and the interactions and the touches. I’ve always considered myself a lifestyle photographer, and value candid moments over posed ones, and since having my own baby that’s become even more certain.

Here’s a session from sunnier days with a family that I adore. Our boys are about the same age and growing with them has been a treasure. We shot these at Volunteer Park in Seattle, a great place for family photos because there’s so much to work with in such a small space. Note that even though the conservatory is really beautiful, a special photo permit is required to take pictures inside.