Brotherly Love: a sibling photo shoot

A few weeks back, despite the windy cool weather, I managed to capture some sweet pictures of two brothers!  The baby was a trooper and the big brother was a mover with the most gorgeous blue eyes!! Mom and Grandma were so helpful and kind during this shoot and I am so happy with the results!

Red Hair, Blue Eyes & Perfect Lighting!

I had the utmost pleasure of photographing a lovely family recently. I know them through Boy Scouts and school and the boys are memorable for their amazing ginger locks and big blue eyes.  Jennifer, the matriarch of this boy-heavy family wanted images while their trees were in bloom, and the colors didn't disappoint.

From my photographer standpoint, lighting can be my best friend or my worst enemy.  In their yard, the lighting and I were in love!!! The trees combined with the golden late day sun created a canvas that held no boundaries. I am so excited to share some of these!

This family was a treat to work with. The boys personalities really came through and I am honored to have captured their moments!

Love Wins

Last week I was asked to be a little sneaky and covert.  Since the alternative to the offer would consist of losing battle to 52 loads of laundry I totally agreed to a little scheming and deception for a good cause.

I have known Bryan since my freshman year of high school.  Alphabetically, he sat behind me in several classes. And if I dig deep in the recesses of my brain, I may have had a crush on him for 36 seconds in high school.  Imagine my shock when a few years ago I wandered into the post office of my Mayberry town and saw him behind the counter!

"BRYAN?" 

It took him a second to recognize me (probably because of the hair) but then he realized who I was.  I hadn't been in town long and it was nice to see an old familiar face.

I met Penny my freshman year when I became a Hockey Cheerleader. She was a year older and so very friendly and sweet to a terrified, insecure freshman.   Her family owned the Dairy Queen in the mall of my hometown and in the hierarchy of high school, she didn't have to even acknowledge me as I wandered the food court, but she always did.  She was genuinely kind.  

As life sometimes happens, chapters closed for them both, and then new chapters began.  They are resolute in their belief that God brought them through their individual struggles and then eventually together. And the time had arrived for Bryan to propose.

Here is where I come in.

There was a place in Fargo that was special to them, and some assistance was needed to facilitate the question-popping.  And, there were photos that needed to be taken.  With the wind whipping and a few raindrops spitting, I bundled into my long coat, beanie and hood and blended into the indigent population that unfortunately can be seen in downtown Fargo.  As they arrived at their place, I exited a building and started snapping photos.  The affection and emotion they felt for each other was clearly visible and it made my heart smile. 

He asked.

She said yes. 

And love wins again.

Congratulations you two, and I am SO incredibly blessed to be asked to help this happen! I wish you all the love and happiness in your future together!

                        For HE knows the plans he has for you.

Lessons from the Pasture

I realize my writings are not consistent, not due to the chaotic nature of my life, but rather because I can not force them. For me, a piece will just come to me, usually as I am busy doing something else, and it just starts forming; sentences, thoughts, maybe images start to bubble in my mind. It will just continue to roll around up there, rewording, rephrasing ideas until I finally carve out some time to put my fingers to the keyboard and let it out... like releasing a valve under pressure.  Usually this occurs in the stillness of late night, when I am surrounded by the quiet sounds of purring or snoring.

Late one afternoon recently I was outside, camera in hand, and I started to wander.  I was hoping that if I found crocuses, I could actually let myself believe that maybe spring had actually arrived.  I seem to experience Stockholm Syndrome with winter where I live and am slow to believe.   The chirping birds in the morning have been trying to convince me, but I am hesitant to believe, having been deceived almost every March/April of my life.

I meandered up into the pasture and was hopeful to see tiny blades of grass starting to turn green.  In the vastness of beige the undertones of emerald made my heart happy.  By last fall, the horses which were contained in the fences had done a great job of trampling and grazing a pasture that was long, long overdue for those tasks.  As I wandered through the piles of horse manure and dead plants this composition began to take form in my brain. 

For the twenty-some years prior to this past summer, this pasture had just grown.  It was overgrown, under-grazed, thick and unruly.  We knew it needed help and had gotten our first grazer, Bill the Goat. He did well, but it was too much for one lowly goat to handle. 

I can only do so much. I am only a goat... who likes bananas and Cornnuts.

Last spring, we were contacted by neighbors to rent the pasture and gladly welcomed their two horses to do what they do: run and eat.

Fast forward to this spring and the field is trampled, grazed and so different.  But the amazing thing I realized is what actually become visible thanks to this transformation.  We had long suspected there was a spring, and thus the cause of the basement seepage, in the pasture hillside.  Thanks to the horses, the drain-field of the spring is clearly visible. 

Even in the dry months of August, their hoof marks could be seen in wet mushy soil. 

The grazing has clearly outlined which shrubs and weeds are inedible and will need to be removed by other means. 

It has allowed for the visibility of the emerald green sprouts that are beginning to shoot up that would previously had been invisible until much taller.  And, the trodden earth exposed what I was searching for, the crocuses.  On the hillside, with their faces to the dusky sun, they sat.  Some still waiting to unfurl.  And they have always been here, but there was too much clutter, too much overgrowth to have been noticed.

I realized the pasture is a lot like us.  We become too cluttered, overgrown, busy and chaotic.  At times life will crush and trample us.  We will feel squashed and exposed and what remains are the weeds.  But then the beauty is revealed.  Literally new growth comes from a pile of crap. 

We see what we overlooked and passed over.  We see what needs to be removed and pruned because it is not of use to us, and in fact may be harmful.  We realize how much love is around us.

And in the end we are left with rebirth of something beautiful and regrowth of something sustainable.