The wedding of Joel and Rachel (May 20 '09)

I can't believe it's been a year since I received an email from a lovely bride wanting to hold her wedding day on the sandy shores of Oahu. A perfect idea complicated by the small fact that she and her fiancee live in Missouri. She heard of us from a couple of friends at our church who moved here from Missouri, and she wanted us to provide officiating and photography. It is always a blessing to be able to work side-by-side with my husband, Scott. We do a fair number of weddings on our own individually so it's a real treat for us to be able to team up.

This sweet young couple (I'm starting to feel old at thirty years of age) were so excited about their Hawaiian wedding. Joel and Rachel are fun, carefree, and wanted to make their commitment solidly planted on their shared love for God.

Rachel and Joel didn't want a big fussy much-to-do wedding. Rachel had only three small requests.

1. To get married on Kailua Beach
2. To have an arch on the sand
3. To have a bouquet of her favorite flower, plumerias

That was it, all she asked for. Let see...

#1. To get married on Kailua Beach- Kailua beach, gorgeous. But for the past two years, Kailua beach has been suffering from drastic sand erosion, even unearthing old walls once hidden under the dunes of sand. She was a trouper and chose Lanikai beach, just a step farther down the same shore and one of the most beautiful beaches in Hawaii (some people might put it at #1 but we are a little biased).

#2. Arches are absurdly expensive to rent. Sigh...no arch.

#3. A plumeria bouqet. I admit it now. I was the fool who tried who even advised her against it. Plumerias are gorgeous but the most fragile flower ever. I've seen tons of weddings with plumerias as the accent flower but never as the primary bouquet, because they wilt so quickly and drastically. Rachel had an exquisite bouqet of plumerias nestled in baby's breath. It took some extra caution in preserving it the night before but it was breath-taking. It was handmade (well, I guess all bouquets are handmade huh) by Pauline of Weddings By Pauline. If you are interested, contact us for details on how to purchase.

I think you can learn so much from a couple by watching their emotions play across their faces. They were joined only by Rachel's parents, Richard and Ramonda, with the rest of their family and friends at home unable to make the long trip to Hawaii. And even though it was a Wednesday afternoon, the beach was shockingly busy, with tons of beachgoers planted on the sand, canoes (a fave local sport) sliding across the water in the background...yes, even a canoe with six young boys flipping in the water right behind the couple during the ceremony. Rachel and Joel were sharing their vows all while the boys could be seen in the distance bailing water out of their canoe. But Joel and Rachel only had eyes for each other and they couldn't even wipe the smiles off their face. It was heartwarming to watch, and their love and joy was so obvious. Their unintentional wedding guests, the fellow beachgoers, all watched intently and shouted out "Congratulations" to the newly married couple.

I would also like to say CONGRATULATIONS!!! As my husband likes to say "Marriage is wonderful, I highly recommend it to anyone." And come back to Hawaii soon!!!

The local canoe club unwittingly became wedding guests...

Not your typical church aisle...and the bride's procession was heralded by young beach-goers


Joel had this giddy smile he couldn't shake...even when I was trying to get him to take a serious pic. =)



Look for that smile again.

Plumeria bouquet from Weddings By Pauline.

I fell on my ass today

I've been told to blog more...so, Dina...this one is for you. And you best be leaving some sort of acknowledgement, sistah.

I'm deliriously stumbling in Unmotivated Land here, folks. I have emails to return, wedding pictures to process, baby slideshows to finish...a house to clean. and that job thing. Ugh, i want a free assistant.

Today I had to testify in court...quick and out of there. But i couldn't find my regular court shoes so I had to wear the only other nice pair (I had my black pair break on me), which was the white heels with fake bling bling that I wore on my wedding day. Since they are kind of low and my pants are kind of long, I had vague concerns about tripping and falling on my face in front of the jury. I kind of highstepped it to the stand which probably looked insane but kept me upright. Hah, you thought this was going to be a great story of utter humuliation before a honorable judge. Nope. How did my court appearance go? My verdict...um, I'm a perfectionist, I wasn't thrilled with my testimony. Talked too much, went into too much details. There has to be a nice balance.

No the real fun happened when i returned home to find Scott chilling with his best bud, Mike, and my best bud, Haley. I think I might have made some offhand comment that I wished my hammock chair (lying in a crumpled heap on the living room floor) was up and twisting in the wind outside so I could rock away. Two men to the rescue. They spent quite a bit of time, grappling with problems like an inadequate rope, a place to hang it, it being too high and too low. They finally called me out and unveiled the hammock chair hanging from the mango tree...the seat probablly a good 4-5 ft off the ground. I tried to jump up into it and managed to get one knee on top but then I was swinging on my knees facing backwards. I want to twist around but I'm also swinging erratically at some insane height off the ground. I think I'll try to do a quick, jump, twist. So I grasped the ropes and tried to jump off my knee and twist...and...

...bammm, i'm suddenly transported to the a heap on the ground with the broken swing now on top of me. One of the ropes gave out under my monstrous weight (sheesh, boot camp, kick in soon) and the chair literally disappeared under me. At least, Mikey pulled the swing off of me...Scott was too busy doubled over in laughter mumbling something about "oh, if I only had a camera...if I only had a camera." I asked him how come he didn't rush to my side and he gave some excuse about holding Haley or something like that. So I stood up and looked at my ex-chair swing-now a cushion dangling by one cord from the tree branch and i see the culprit...they used zip ties to bind the chair hook to the metal chain. That's what you get when two grown men decide all of the sudden they are MacGyvers.

But I can't complain, because after much time and effort, my green hammock chair now swings softly from the porch beam and I spent 20 minutes swaying in the wind...nursing my bruised ego. All is well with the world.

New to the World: 2nd portfolio building newborn session baby Gabriel

Hello folks. I'm back. I can't believe it but tonight is the last night on my midnight shift. I'm actually switching next week to regular business hours at work and thus the concept of ....SLEEPING AT NIGHT. Whoa...shocking. I'm super excited and super nervous because I have a big wedding in less than two days. So I took some time to finish up the session for baby Gabriel's newborn session.

Who: John Victor Gabriel
Proud parents: John and Whitni
Birth Stats: 6.13 oz and 18 inches long on a blistery Hawaiian Thursday (maybe not blistery) in April
Lifetime Achievements: MORE hair than most grown men
Session Age: (7 days old)

I recruited friend, Abby, to take me to photograph Gabriel's newborn session on-location at his home on Kaneohe Marine Corps Base. We were greeted by sweet smiling, but slightly tired mommy "Whitni." It seems that little Gabriel loves eating and did so for hours and hours the night before. She said he just fell asleep an hour or so earlier. She fed him a little more and than brought him down. I hadn't had a chance to see him (only through cell phone pictures) because of my persistent cold, but he was even cuter than the pictures. Thick silky dark hair and his mom's nose. He seemed to be awake but didn't want to open his eyes, instead he just yawned and smiled as if he was telling himself non-stop knock-knock jokes.

We were joined by our other friend (man this house is social and busy for 8 in the morning), Stacy, who lived nearby and just walked over. She's majoring in photography so she brought her film SLR. We only managed to get through half the poses because when we started to reposition him, little Gabriel decided he was ready for meal number 7 of the day. He started knawing on the blanket and chewing away with his little adorable gums. "Um...Whitni...I think he might be hungry again."

Behind the scenes: Now this is the second newborn session I've tried to practice with. And they are tough!!! I so need more practice. Hmmm, who else is giving birth soon that would trust their 8 day old baby with me. Kacie is the next on but her baby girl isn't coming until the end of summer. There is a variety of poses that are like this one

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kelleyryden/3488001710/

So unreal. Newborn photographers do it all the time. Apparently you have to have a newborn under the age of 10 days because they sleep really deeply and can fall asleep in these poses. I read to use a beanbag and I bought one (hard to find)...but the first newborn kept sinking. I found a tip to use a rubber band to make the beanbag more firm. All set to try it again. Except, Gabriel was hungry so as soon as I tried to flip on his stomach, he started chewing the blanket. Session over. I don't know if I'll ever be able to master this area of photography. Kelley Ryden is amazing though.

Here's my faves from the day. I hope they captured how sweet and easy-going he is. He already shows such a sunny disposition and smiles away the day. (BTW, check out the new logo)












*(the second is one of my favorites. Look at him chomping on his fingers!!!)

(this one was all John and Whitni's idea...pretty creative on such little sleep)

New To the World: Welcome Baby Gabriel

If you see me wearing my glasses instead of contacts to work, you know I'm tired. Last night was worship practice, tonight was dinner for the in-law's 22nd anniversary, tomorrow morning is boot camp (exercise class that makes it hard for me to get up from a prone position for days), and then a photo session in the afternoon. And before all this, I stopped by to finally visit my friends, Whitni and John, and their baby boy, Gabriel. Gabriel just hit his 1 week mark when I finally got to see him, I was sidelined due to a persistent cold and hacking cough that lingered.

Speaking of which, Scott and I believed that we got sick from watching our favorite little girl, Miss HB, who was dreadfully sick. She had recovered fully when I babysat her this past week and she was soooo adorable, as usual. I gave her plenty of hugs and kisses. A few days later, Scott told me that her parents wouldn't be joining us for a bbq because little Miss HB had developed some sort of "hacking cough." To which, Scott pointedly looked at me and said "Hmmm, I wonder who else I know with a hacking cough." I don't know. I was just as confused as him.

Anyways, here's a sneak peek...this is my favorite and probably the best image from Baby Gabriel's debut session.

In case you forgot, here's where he was a month ago...

From two people blissfully in love....

comes one blessing content to be loved.

The rest of his session to come....stay tuned.

John and Whitni-A Maternity Session

John and Whitni, a couple waaaaaayyyyy younger than Scott and me (well way more younger than Scott at least) but married twice as long. They are high school sweethearts from Alaska. Interesting, huh? I think anyone from Alaska automatically earns 50 cool points. They joined our minichurch. One Wednesday night, we were sharing prayer requests and they shared that they really wanted a baby. Seriously, the next week they came back and said "guess what, we're pregnant!!!" They made it look so easy.

I have so much respect for military couples. What a lifestyle, one that I can't even begin to comprehend. They uproot their lives, move to a completely different state and start fresh. Finding churches. Finding jobs. Making friends. Three years later and it's back to square one. And then Whitni was in her third trimester when they learned that John would be deployed and it looked like he would leave right before the birth of their first child. Whitni was simply amazing. Just took it in stride and was never anything but her positive, sweet self.

So I met them on base at their home. We aimed for early morning but I think I'm going to aim for late afternoons now. We didn't get going until nine and then the sun was up and beating down on us. We finally headed inside, hot and sweaty, and finished the session crammed in the corner of what would become baby Gabriel's room.

Can you tell I'm busy, because I took these pictures when she still had a month to go. And they are now parents...of a little bouncing and beautiful baby boy, Gabriel. And a praise report, John's orders were changed and he was and is NOT being deployed. Yah Yah!!!

Troy and Bow have a baby girl

My dad used to tell me that beautiful people have ugly kids...then joking-ly say "too bad for you kids that me and mom are so good-looking." At least, I hope he was joking. But, alas, I don't believe him for a second because, time after time, I see beautiful people with even more beautiful babies. Troy and Bow who rocked their maternity session a month ago are now the official beautiful parents of an even more beautiful baby girl, Mikaela.

Mikaela has tons of soft, silky black hair and I caught her sneaking some smiles in her sleep. These pics were taken in the family living room and accented by the tantalizing smell of what appeared to be home-made meat jun cooked by proud grandma, visiting all the way from Thailand. Mom was on hand to help me pose little Mikaela. Scott and I don't have kids yet so I'm still nervous handling such small little newborns. They look so delicate. Everytime we got her where we wanted, I could finally breathe again. Seriously, this session was just practice for me...and it was way harder than I thought it would be. I was sweating bullets. And the pink box pose, at one point, she started to wake up and roll off...whoa nelly. Bow didn't freak out which I was thankful for, I think I was more nervous.

And the first two are shots that I really like from other photographer's streams and was real excited to try. I spent forever trying to find a beanbag which I read is the key. But, then I got lost. After putting the baby on top of the beanbag, she would immediately start sinking into it. What to do? I had to cheat and put books under the beanbag to try to make it more firm and then I ended up adding a little pillow. Hmm, I may have to ask people. Seriously Bow was so helpful. I would show her what I was trying to go for and she would try her best to pose Mikaela. And even though they just fed her before i got there, she was fidgety and hungry until they fed her again and then she fell deeply asleep. So much easier once she was full and asleep.

Here is little Mikaela...

Irish and dylan at Kualoa Ranch

What: Senior Portrait Session with Dylan and his sis, Irish
When: Prince Kuhio Day, March 26th, 2009
8:00 am
Where: Kualoa Ranch

I have to give props to bow, Bow, whose maternity session . She worked it by sending out emails linking to her maternity session post and it really generated great word of mouth. She also gave birth to a beautiful little baby girl, Mikaela (not one of the two spellings we were working with in their session hee hee). Stay tuned for some pics for little Mikaela's newborn session.

Anyways, after Bow's maternity session, I received an email from Gina, a friend of Bow and a friend of mine. I've known Gina for a few years already, we both volunteer in the baby nursery at Hope Chapel Kaneohe Bay every other Sunday. She's also a good friend of Bow's and loved the pictures. She asked if I would consider taking senior pictures of her son, Dylan, and doing a portrait session with her daughter,Irish, on the same day. Um, Gina, of course. I knew Irish because she, like her mom, also volunteers in the nursery but I hadn't met Dylan before so mom had to email me his school picture. We set the day for Prince Kuhio Day, a State of Hawaii holiday, for which I'm not really sure why. Scott is going to mock my hawaiian education, considering I went to a school only for part-Native Hawaiians, but I don't know who or what Prince Kuhio did. I think Kuhio was from the Big Island too because we have a mall named after him in Hilo.

It was realy awesome for me because Gina chose the day and the location. When people leave it up to me, it's so much harder...you can go in so many different directions depending on the location. Beach casual? Urban sidewalks? Woods? I was super nervous and I studied up (flickr my favorite place) on poses and angles. Gina chose an awesome location, she knew someone at Kualoa Ranch and was able to get a permit. Good thing, because it's got so much variety, I went on overload. And they are pretty strict, someone drove up to kick us out but Gina shouted out the magic word "permit." I met her, Dylan and Irish there at 8 in the morning. Poor things, having to wake up so early when you don't have school. And I was a little nervous because Gina claimed that Dylan and Irish didn't like taking pictures. If that's the case, I don't know who she swapped in for them because these two teens were complete hams. Seriously, you can never call these two shy. The location was so awesome and just fun to explore. They climbed trees and walls so I had the easy job of just chasing after them. We were done in no time at all and I LOVED their pictures.

My biggest downfall, I used a really small fstop which means completely short depth of field. It makes for great blurry backgrounds. But, up close, their eyes would be in focus but not their mouth. I should have closed down my aperture a bit. Lesson learned.

Dylan is laid-back, his mom says always reading a book or playing a video game. Once the camera turned on him, he gave Zoolander a run for his money.

We don't have fields of wheat but I finally found a field that I could get this shot. I'm always tempted to let our yard get seriously overgrown so i can use my backyard, but I think my neighbors would glare at me.





I love this next one...I don't know why. He just looks like he's the king of the castle.

Irish, the slightly younger sister, is not shy at all. She's an avid volleyball player and you can see her every other Sunday in a room full of 2 year olds at church. She's also gorgeous, just look at the photos.

Irish was resisting the urge to play up her farmer side...she cracked me up.



I love this next shot, I wish I had taken a few more and had them pose. But Irish was just climbing up and I got nervous and had her come down. There was a significant drop on the other side.

This one...MY FAVORITE!!!


This was my first senior portrait session and my subjects are usually well over twenty or under the age of three, so I was a tad nervous. Can I just say, that was the most fun session ever!!! I had to call Scott on the way home and just gush about the entire experience. Thanks to Gina for raising beautiful kids, and Dylan and Irish for being totally cool with my crazy ideas and going with it. You guys rock!!!

PS. Scott and I both have sore throats. Pray for us.

Growing Up: Sneak Peek at Dylan and Irish Portraits

Here's my absolute top two faves from this session with Dylan and Irish. I promised their mom I would post my faves as soon as possible.





Okay, Gina. I'm getting right back to work. You have such cute kids and they were so much fun (just like their mom)!!!