Baby Winters Photoshoot

A few weeks ago I was able to take some pictures with the Winters family. Little Ara Winters was a firecracker baby. She was born on the fourth of July, and I was able to photograph her when she was only one month old. Oh goodness, she was just about the sweetest little pile of goodness I have ever seen. Below are a few of the pictures. Thanks so much Winters family for letting me capture your beautiful baby girl!

What a little model.

Until next time...

Alice and Andrew Crane Wedding

A few weeks ago I was able to help out photographing a wedding for a friend here in Portland. I have to say, I have never been to a wedding where everyone attending just wanted to party and have a good time before this. It was so much fun to be there and to be a part of the day.

It was a great day and I am so excited for the happy couple. Congratulations Andrew and Alice!!

What a beautiful couple!

Groom's men and the officiant

And who wouldn't love some amazing wedding buttons?!?

Turns out the bride is a treky! She was only allowed one Star Trek trinket for the wedding. Good choice Alice.

Awaiting his bride:

If you see water drops, it is because I had to wipe the tears away from my eyes. The vows were so great I couldn't help it.

Little Alice made these for the rehearsal dinner. She is so cute.

And the dancing begins:

Man, can that groom cut a rug :)

Thanks so much Alice and Andrew! It was a great day, a great wedding, and an amazing party. A great start to great marriage.

Baby Carter photoshoot

I have been busy traveling all over Europe the past couple weeks, so I haven't had time to write or post anything in a while. Don't worry, there will be lots and lots of photos from our trip, but these photos date back to a week before we left.

I drove down to Salem in early July to take some photos for the Carter family. Abby and George just had a little baby girl, Ava. What a sweet and amazing family! Not to mention, little Ava is just about the cutest little girl I have ever laid eyes on. I had such a great time hanging out with the family at their place and loved having the chance to capture little Ava within the first few weeks of her life. Below are a few of the photos from the day. Keep checking back on my photography website to see all the future updates.

Cute little baby noses are the best! 

"Who is that lady and why is she ruining my snack time?!" 

This may be one of my all time favorite pictures I have taken. I love that face!

Moma and baby

Daddy and baby girl

The whole Carter family ...-1

...Now, the whole Carter family

 What a great day! Thanks again Carter family for letting me be a part of such an amazing time in your life. :)

...Until next time.

Can I please get some curb appeal?

We have been in the new house for a couple of weeks about a month now. In that much time, we have come to the conclusion that it always seems like there will be enough time to get everything checked off that pesky to-do list, but there never is. We still don't have everything out of boxes or up on the wall yet, but I decided that we needed to get some major curb appeal before people came over for our house warming party. Anyone walking by would assume that noone has lived here for the last year and a half. It is an accurate assumption, but not anymore. Time to spruce things up!

Before:

Progress:

One of the great things about moving into a new house of your very own, is that other people who have been there before know how overwhelming and expensive it can be. Ergo, we have gotten a lot of gift cards to Home Depot, Lowe's, etc. from friends. It has been so incredibly helpful, and we REALLY appreciate all the help that we have gotten. We are very lucky to have great firends and neighbors. Last weekend we used one of our gift cards on our weekly trip to Home Depot. Among other tools and supplies, we cam home with some plants to spruce up the front of the house a bit.

Like most first-time home owners everything that we do is on small budget. After doing some research and keeping track of the direct light/sun schedule in the area for the past couple weeks, I found some relatively inexpensive plants that will really help to make things more inviting.

Sedge Evergold - 4-6 hours of sun - $6 each

I love me a good hasta, and like hastas these plants are low maintainence and require little direct sunlight.  ...I think that these are evergreens too. I could be wrong though. I guess we'll find out in 6 months.

Rex Begonia - 4-6 hours of sun - $6 each

same as above. I just found out however that these are annuals. I usually only buy perennials, because who wants to plant again every day?

Buxus Sepervirens Argenteo-Variegata  - 4+ hours of sun - $5 on sale at Bovees Nursery (awesome local Portland family, owned business)

Nabil and I randomly found this nursery when driving around the new neighborhood. I wanted an evergreen shrub that would be low-maintainence, didn't need a lot of direct sunlight, and was easy to trim/prune.

Osmanthus x Burkwood II - 4+ hours of sun - $5, also on sale at Bovees Nursery (picture to come)
I wanted to put something next to our huge ugly cement planter. Our house water valve in under the planter, so we have to leave it here so we can access the valve, but I wanted a little shrub that would help to hide the ugliness a bit. ...maybe to even wrap around the planter. This little evergreen shrub is supposedly low mainatinence, and in the spring it blooms little fragrant white flowers.

Pretty Pink Peonies - 6+ hours of sun - $15

These were the most expensive plant that I bought, but they are one of my favorite flowers, and I make Nabil spend more than $15 every summer "surprising" me with a peony boquet, so I figured I could do it if I only buy one. ...maybe I'll buy a few more next spring. :)

All together now:

So much better! That's all for now. Many more outdoor projects to come.

Emily Otteson in the House!

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to take some pictures of Emily Otteson at her going away concert. I came into this show a little blind. I had no idea what to expect. For a little back story, I met Emily's mom Elizabeth randomly at Sniff, the indoor dog park in NW Portland. We are like two pees in a pod because we both like to talk to random people in the cafe. We talked for quite a while about her awesome store and my photography business. We have been in touch off and on since then. Fast forward a few months, and she needed a photographer to come shoot her daughters last concert before she moved clear across the country to Miami, FL. Enter... me!

Like I said, I had no idea what to expect. No idea what kind of music she was going to be playing. No idea if she was even any good.

I can't even explain to you how amazing this girl's voice is. She's crazy good! Not only that, she was incredibly entertaining. There is nothing worse than going to a show and the singer has no stage presence. Can I get my money back please? In this case, Emily was a true artist. Check her out if you haven't already! Alright, enough babbling, here are more photos.

There were also a few of her friends that played and sung. Needless to say it was a great show.

That fiddle never sounded so sweet!

Below is Alana Kansaku-Sarmiento. You can hear her bangin' voice here when she sang the National Anthem before the WinterHawks final game of this year.

It was such a fun night, and I'm glad I got to share in the bittersweet moment. Bon Voyage Emily. We look forward to future tours here in PDX! :)


Until next time...