Analise

I had the pleasure of photographing little Analise before she was two weeks old. You can already tell that she is an Alaskan through and through. She loved being outside. Thanks Dan and Brie for a fantastic afternoon with your sweet bundle.

Here are some favorites of my new best friend. You can view her entire slideshow here.






What an amazing Alaskan model!

Camping in Ninilchik

The first camping trip of the year is should always be this good! Good friends, hot weather and loads of fun.

We camped with the DenBlykers at their fishing site on the Ninilchik beach. On Saturday, July 4th we headed to Halibut Cove to hang out with the Kellers. We headed back to Ninilchik for the second night. We sat around the campfire until 1:30am enjoying good conversation and lots of laughs. I love Alaska!

The sky as we set up our tent at 2am.

Morning coffee... the most important things first.


The view while we ate breakfast.

Halibut Cove from the crows nest.




The Keller's cabin from the boat as we left.


These shots were taken around 11:30pm. Mount Redoubt is in the distance still blowing steam. The bouys were set for the next day's catch.

The view at 1am from inside the cook house.

Long exposures at 2am. Sometimes it is just hard to go to bed when you are having so much fun.




The traffic as we drove home. It added 2 hours to our drive. I guess we weren't the only ones who enjoyed our weekend on the Kenai.

While travel is one of my all time favorite things, it keeps you from your routine and 'getting things done'. Maybe that is why we love it so much. But then one must return from travel and return to 'getting things done'. This includes hours of emails to return, mail to open, phone calls to make, blogs to write, and if you are fortunate... photos to share.

Here is a sneak peak at my sweet friend, Cora's wedding... with more to come!

Allison

Last week I photographed the beautiful, Allison. Allison is the daughter of some dear friends. I had the honor of standing up in their wedding a few years ago and now they have a precious little one that I can befriend. I do believe we are going to be good friends, Allison! Check out her slideshow here.

Emily and Mitchell

I have known Emily and Mitchell since they were in middle school and had no idea that each other existed. I can't help but love these two. Emily was also one of the beautiful bridesmaids in Luke and Mayerly's wedding a last month.

A few weeks ago they agreed to be models for me and my local second shooter, Marie. We had such a blast with them on the Palmer Flats. I tried out some new presets when processing their shoot and love how they turned out. What do yo think?

Congratulations Emily and Mitchell! I can't wait for your wedding next month.


Marie did a great job capturing the fun moments in between shots.


My favorite shot that Marie took that day. I still LOVE this one, Marie!


Such a great parting shot.

A New-to-me Car

I put off buying a car. I have only owned 4 cars in my life and I don't like car shopping at all. I would rather do any number of disgusting jobs than go to a car lot and have to fend off the car salesmen. And I have known car salesmen in the past who are very nice people... I just hate that pressure feeling.

So I have been dragging my feet on buying a car in hopes that one would magically appear in the driveway for me... a big red bow with a gift tag would have been great. But it was time... I had a house sitting job starting and couldn't just juggle cars with Mom and Dad any more. One morning I remembered to check craigslist and one popped up that sounded good. I ran it by Dad and we went to go look at it. Now with the knowledge of my aversion to car salesmen I also have to admit that I was nervous about sleezy people selling shoddy cars on craigslist as well. I wanted to be completely confident in the seller if I wasn't going to turn and run. As the woman came out of the house when we pulled up, she looked at me and said, "You look familiar." I admitted that she, too, looked familiar. I drove the car and liked it very much. When I got back to the house we figured out that we went to the same church and had mutual friends, although we hadn't actually met. So... nice car. Check. Great seller. Check. No Pressure. Check.

And I now have this cute little suv. I love it when God takes care of the little things for us. It is almost like he put a car in my driveway with a big red bow and gift tag on it.

Anita's Married!

Yes, my dear friend is married. What a fun week of wedding preparations and celebrations. I wasn't the photographer in this one. I got to wear the bridesmaid dress. What an honor to stand up with my friends and witness such a day.

Some quick photos of the week...


Wedding Planner Karla Delong directing the family on decorations. That gym looked amazing when she was finished.



The girl cousins... they are a crazy fun bunch of girls.

A flower girl enjoying the bridal luncheon with the women.

The Project - part 3

Since the deck is nearly completed I had to show you these photos from last week.

Alaska Bonfire

My buddy, Tov... he generally looks this grubby during a bonfire.

When I moved back to Alaska this spring I knew two things: I was coming 'home' to an amazing place... and that it was going to be very different than when I lived here before. I mentally prepared myself for the changes. Friends I once depended on have moved away, others are married, and there are more new babies than I can count. I knew that my 'place' in this community did not exist as it once had. That I would be re-making my place and it would look very different. I am happy to say that the transition hasn't been nearly as traumatic as I thought it might be. I have caught up with many old friends and adjusted to the number of little ones running around. And I have begun to find my new 'place' here.

This summer has brought about a weekly bonfire with good friends. We sit around a smokey fire, soaking in incredible Alaskan views all around, eating great food that is provided potluck style, and enjoying some fantastic fellowship. This time with friends has been so very good for my soul.

Thanks for hosting, Zach and Jane. I don't want to even think about how lonely it will be without you.

This is my summer solstice photo taken June 21. According to my exif data for this photo it was 11:24 pm (the sun set about 11:42 pm). Note the snow on top of the mountain... it is JUNE ... ah Alaska!