As some of you may know, my brother and sister-in-law have recently adopted a beautiful baby boy from Ethiopia. His name is Levi… and he is the cutest baby I have ever seen. They are there with him now in Ethiopia awaiting the final paperwork from the US Embassy so they can come home. Unfortunately, there have been a few delays that are beyond their control…. but if all goes well, I will be on a plane to Indiana on Thursday morning of this week. They are a gorgeous family, and I just can’t wait to meet him… join me in praying that everything would go through that they wouldn’t have to be there another month but could come home and get started on the rest of their lives.
If you want to follow their journey, you can head over to their blog. You will be seeing more of this family on my site in the near future…
So…. Last Saturday, I was asked to photograph a very special event for my friend Michelle. Now, I have never witnessed, let alone photograph, a Hapkido event…so this was quite the learning experience for me.
Michelle has been working very hard over the past few years in the martial art known as Hapkido. She has been studying under Master Kim here in LA. Not only has she dedicated herself to this martial art for her own growth, but she has also volunteered her time in teaching young kids who are just starting out in Hapkido. On a scale of 1-10, Michelle is hardcore when it comes to her Hapkido and I have been amazed at watching her commitment and passion for this Hapkido grow in the two years I’ve known her. She was inspired by a friend to pursue Hapkido and this friend was there to cheer her on on Saturday!
I wasn’t sure what exactly to expect since I have not been exposed to martial arts outside of karate kid and other childhood movies! Now, Hapkido is very different than Tae-kwon-do. The only reason I know that is because my husband studied Tae-kwon-do during his childhood. I was floored by the whole testing process on Saturday. They had all 20-30 students there who were testing for their black belts and they were placed into smaller groups to rotate through each aspect of the test in front of the 10 (?) judges. (Talk about intimidating!!) Not to mention, the studio was packed to the maximum capacity with everyone’s family and friends. There were students of all ages…. including kids who couldn’t have been older than 10 or 11!! CRAZY! Can you imagine being told you were at Master of something at the age of 10?? Wow!
Congratulations Michelle on a phenomenal accomplishment!! Here are a few highlight images from the day:
The above picture was the calm before the storm….
Michelle, that black belt didn’t even know what hit him. Congratulations!!! And thank you for inviting me to be a part of this amazing moment in your journey!!
A few weeks ago, Tony and I had the chance to drive an hour and a half south to spend the weekend with his parents in Carlsbad, California. Although they live in Michigan, they were visiting good family friends in Carlsbad and we were able to hang out with all of them… and also, get away from this concrete jungle otherwise known as Pasadena.
I forgot how therapeutic it is to be able to see the stars… roll down your windows without inhaling smog…and hear birds instead of trucks outside your window. Also, it was incredibly fun to hang out with Tony’s family and family friends in such a peaceful environment. We were spoiled with amazing food and great company!
It was an absolute gorgeous day on Sunday as we walked along the beach…
Our amazing host Carol (left) with our awesome family:
In trying to break out of the honeymoon habit, aka, only have individual pictures of each of us on a trip - I handed the camera to my father-in-law to snap a quick picture or two.
I laugh at this picture because this is what we did when we were told to kiss… (and its NOT that we don’t LOVE kissing…cause we do!) Hey us, Zoolander called…. he wants his 2001 look back!!
I am so incredibly blessed to be in love and married to the most amazing man I know… I quick grabbed this shot and to me, it just captures the ‘depth’ to my husband.
Okay, if you know me - you will laugh… if you don’t, you will scratch your head… because you see, I grew up in a family who ONLY had Boston Terrier dogs… in fact, it is somewhat of a legacy… my Dad had two growing up… my Grandpa had Boston Terriers throughout his life…and my Great Grandpa Conner actually showed his Boston Terriers in a traveling circus… isn’t that fun? Now, Boston Terriers are in the homes of my cousins, my brother and sister-in-law, my aunt and uncle, my parents, and maybe… someday us since I have now had 7 years to work on Tony’s attitude towards Boston Terriers. All that to say, you maybe understand why I started laughing and had to grab a picture when we were walking in downtown Carlsbad and I saw this generator.
All peaceful, relaxing weekends must come to a close… and as we made the trip back to LA, I was amazed at how all the rain had brought out the rich colors of the landscape. I know that technically this isn’t the best picture… but I love how it shows movement… and captures the mood of saying goodbye to family and a wonderful weekend away from school and work life.
It is waaaaay past my bedtime, but I just couldn’t resist posting a sneak peak of today’s newborn session with the Martins! What a BEAUTIFUL family…!!! I will be posting many more pictures after I catch up on a little sleep!
There is something about a Superbowl game that creates the perfect atmosphere for falling in love. seriously. Don’t believe me? Ask my newly married friend Amy where she met her husband last year….! Falling in love is what happens when you aren’t too focused in on the bad calls, sweet passes, and unexpected interceptions (I’m so sorry Manning!).
Yesterday, I found myself reflecting on the SuperBowl of 2003. I can’t tell you who was playing or who won… but I can tell you who I was sitting next to on the floor of Gilmore Hall @ Hope College. That’s right… Tony. We had shared several significant conversations up to that point and seemed to end up in the same place at the same time… but I was not interested. I remember exactly where we were sitting and I remember being nervously aware of who was sitting to my left. And when I asked the entire room of people, “Who wants to go see Two Towers with me since I haven’t seen it?!” It was the guy sitting next to me who said: “I will.” (He had already seen it once) I remember thinking how unexpected it all was… this cute guy (who I wasn’t interested in) volunteering to go see Two Towers with me. I think it was a week or two later when Tony picked me up with a stash of Swedish Fish and Laffy Taffy from The Peanut Store in downtown Holland. He was driving an old Buick and I remember being so grateful for the heated seats because it was February… therefore, snowy and freezing.
We got to the movies just in time… and I had told my friends “this is NOT a date. We are JUST friends.” But, there was that awkward moment where I wasn’t sure who was paying, I only knew that the only way I could save face with my friends when I returned home was if I paid my own way. (Which I did) As we slid into our seats into a fairly empty theater, I had to smile when I thought how unexpected this non-date was… We didn’t have much time for small talk before the movie started so our primary interactions revolved around me making comments under my breath and laughing about the talking trees (sorry, don’t know the LOTR lingo still!) and other outlandish things… But overall, I liked it. He drove me home safely through the snowy roads lit up by the street lamps… and as he pulled up to Gilmore Hall, there was an awkward moment when I didn’t know how to say goodbye to this guy who had taken me on a non-date. Because I am naturally a ‘hugger,’ I leaned across the arm rest and gave him a half hug (SO AWKWARD!) and quickly slipped out of the car with a smile and think I saw a twinkle in his eye just before he drove away. Before going to sleep that night, I received a message via Instant Message (so old school, huh?) that said: “I had a great time with you tonight. I just wish we had had more time to talk.”
A week later, I found two CD’s on my desk with a really sweet note that I still have to this day… and then we went out to coffee… (just as friends) and I would say somewhere between Special Ed Ministries every Thursday night and driving to Elkhart, Indiana while being so lost in conversation that I missed my exit… I started to fall for this guy. I could write a really long post about the progression of our relationship from strangers to acquaintances to awkward friends to good awkward friends… to friends who like each other but are still awkward… and finally, boyfriend and girlfriend… but then I am getting off the topic of the Superbowl. Oh, the Superbowl? Right… You never know when you are going to end up sitting next to your future spouse at a SuperBowl party… so even if you aren’t a big fan or don’t care who wins… give it a chance. You may end up winning after all. Just fyi, Tony and I re-enacted our 2003 interaction at yesterday’s SuperBowl party… I have to admit: he was way more forward and I was definitely more flirty!
Here is a couple pictures of Amy and Luke (who got married on December 19, 2009 met at our friend’s SuperBowl party in 2009) from their engagement session this past fall.
So… the picture below has been one of my favorite images for a long time. However, I think I took it at a time I wasn’t super comfortable with post-processing my images in the digital darkroom. Last night, I decided to play with a few of my favorite images… I probably spent a minute editing this image. I increased saturation and the vibrance of colors just a bit. I pulled out the blacks and I increased the ‘brightness’ of the overall image. I could have cropped it differently then the way I framed it in my lens… but I really like the open space of grace next to him. I just love this little guy. Don’t you?
Before (SOOC = Straight out of the camera)
After (1 minute of fun!)
So… my friend Stephanie and I were hanging out today and taking pictures… just for fun. I was explaining aperture, iso, and shutter speed… For those of you who don’t know about aperture, the lower the number - the MORE depth of field. (If you like blurry backgrounds with LOTS of light then you should invest in a lens that has a low aperture. One of the most affordable ’starter’ lens for this is the 50mm 1.8. There is NO zoom… except the zoom that occurs when you move your feet closer and farther from your subject. The 1.8 aperture allows you to enjoy the most available natural light but only one part of the picture will be in focus! If you are doing group shots, you need to crank up the aperture so that MORE is in focus… (5.6 or higher) The other fun thing to do (especially if you want to use only natural light) is to find a window and take pictures in front of that… window light is by far my favorite lighting to use when taking pictures. Stephanie is naturally artistic and has such a great eye for photography… so after just a few minutes of instruction, she snapped a few pics. of me in front of my window. I will share one of them with you so you can see what I am talking about. =) You can tell Stephanie has been doing photography for a while… =)
Didn’t Stephanie do a wonderful job? (I only did minor editing to the image, pulled out the blacks and colors just a bit, and increased the contrast) She will be starting her own blog here soon… I am excited to see her work!
The other positive aspect of being “on the other side of the lens” was the discipline of allowing myself to be photographed even though I didn’t have my hair done or anything. I am constantly telling my friends as I take their picture “Your natural, fresh appearance without being all done up is simply beautiful”… because its true. But, today I was reminded of how difficult that is to believe when you are on the other side of the lens. So today, I tried to ‘practice what I preach’ and allow someone to take a picture of me even though I didn’t feel ‘camera ready.’
At just a couple weeks old, Baby E is gracing the world with her beauty. Jeff and Allison welcomed this beautiful baby girl into their family and have that ‘natural’ knack of nurturing and parenting that people talk about. With the gentle ease with which they held her and interacted with her, you would think that they have always been parents… Not only were they gentle and sweet, but their great senses of humor have already grown this very playful little one who is paying attention to everything going on around her… even the soft click of my camera. Contrary to what Jeff’s parents told him growing up about the way babies were made, Baby E wasn’t exactly left by a stork on their front porch… but, we thought it would be good to take a few pictures so that someday Baby E could grow up thinking the same thing. =)
It was LOVE at first sight…
Jeff and Allison’s relationship is such an inspiration for me in my marriage. Jeff and Allison are just as flirty and patient with one another after 10 years of marriage as you might expect of a couple on their wedding day. Simply. Beautiful. Jeff absolutely adores his two beautiful girls… I definitely had tears in my eyes as I witnessed their love through my lens.
Allison is a professional musician… so when I spotted her guitar case in the corner of the room, I thought it only appropriate that we combine two of her passions: motherhood and music. Allison and Jeff, congratulations on your beautiful baby girl!! I hope your living room is bursting at the seams with laughter and music in the months ahead. Thank you for allowing me to witness your new family in these first few weeks… it was a JOY.
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