the miller girls

I met these shorties for the first time last year when I was in New York photographing a wedding, and the littest one, Livvie, was just a newborn . . . and I think I expected her to be the same little newborn because I was shocked at how much she'd grown and how much she looked exactly like her sister, Sophie, did last year. They are sooo sweet! Last year we were limited to the bedroom because Livvie was so teeny tiny - and this year we were limited again because it was pouring rain outside! I'll be back in May to shoot the whole family and hopefully we'll have some good weather to run around :)

I've been enjoying doing some full black-and-white posts so here you are!

april + tim: 7.31.10 {malibu wedding photographer}

Ahhh, my dear, sweet friend April. She was my high school soccer buddy, Boston roommate the summer of 2001. She is beautiful, brilliant, and it turns out, an amazing wedding planner! April and Tim wed last year in a small, intimate ceremony and decided to make up for it by having the most gorgeous vow renewal in a private mansion in the Malibu. I was honored that she asked me to fly out and photograph and be a part of the celebration, so in late July I gathered basically a couple of dresses, a pair of flip flops, my camera gear and a bikini, and hit the air running.

After a lovely welcome dinner on the beach the night before, April prepped at the historical Sunset Tower Hotel.





She had her dress hanging high on the 11th floor when I arrived, and it was a simple, beautiful La Sposa by Pronovias gown that fit her like a glove . . .



. . . and went perfect with her Kate Spade shoes!





Va voom!



The nice thing about a vow renewal is that you get to kiss during the ceremony :)



A few portraits on this amazing property. We were literally above the clouds, and the light was amazing.











There is so much more to see in the slideshow . . . the details were incredible with a British Candy Bar, amazing gourmet foods to nibble on, a lounging area complete with flip-flops and pashminas for the chilly Pacific nights. April and Tim, thank you for having me and giving me this wonderful opportunity! Much love and happiness to you both :)

november portrait special!

Happy Saturday, everyone!

It's that time of year . . . holiday portraits! You know you want one to send out in a beautiful Christmas card, right?

What:
November Portrait Special! A mini-shoot of you and yours! The shoot is a 1/2 hour to an hour long (sometimes the littlest shorties need more time to find their big, cheesy grins :). You receive 25 edited images on disc within ten days of the shoot.

Where:
A location of your choice. Lots of room to roam around and let the little ones run around is perfect, and the sunny evening light is even better :)

What's it gonna cost me?:
$125 bucks.

It's that simple :) Please email me at morganlamare@gmail.com to set up an appointment! Albums and gift certificates are also available.

Here is a darling mom-and-daughter duo who I photographed in New York earlier this month. Stay tuned for full posts on these wonderful families!

a few from our summer

Ava was excited . . .



Stella was thirsty.



Ava splashed at the Splash Park, and Stella ate a graham cracker.



Joe's head was a lovely resting place.



Ennis was also a lovely resting place.



And this was at the start of the girls' first float down the Madison. They look excited, don't they? This trip ended in a major storm, the girls and I getting dumped into the river, whiplash (me), a sliced open leg (Joe), the loss of Party Island ($80 plus shipping), the loss of my D300 and 28 mm f/2.8 lens ($2100 plus shipping), a horrible, core-deep fear of the wind (Stella), a fairly-deep fear of rain and storms (Ava), and the gain of a few Winnie the Pooh books about storms and the weather and how The Wind! Is our friend!





The End :)

engaged: michelle + cole

I get asked quite often if I require that all of my clients be beautiful, and while it isn't a requirement, for some terribly lucky reason, I am attracting them regularly ;). Michelle and Cole are no exception . . . they. are. gorgeous.

They drove up from Billings for the weekend to scout out some wedding venues, meet with family and have our engagement shoot. We were hoping for a sunny evening, but trust me, this is the next best thing. There is nothing an overcast sky doesn't do for natural lighting in a photograph. It brings out beautiful skin tones and seems to expose everything just perfectly. If I can't have my flare, I want gray skies!

I can't wait to see them in wedding attire :)





















Thank you, Michelle and Cole, for being so wonderful! Cheers!

food + photography = love

Unless you have been living under a rock since you began reading this blog, you probably are well aware that I absolutely love, love, love food. I love to cook it, and then I love to eat it, and I love to do it with good friends. Well, today I get to embark on the most magical culinary experience as I head to the Double T Ranch in Clyde Park with ALL of the Assets to taste the amazing food of Sarah Knecht, sip wine, and network . . . and I get to photograph it all.

This will be blogged about in much further detail next week, but the details are that Sarah will be preparing amazing meals for us throughout the day while Lauren Brown and I photograph the food, Sarah in action, and of course the rest of the Assets being fabulous. Elsa, Angela and Leslie are styling the shoot with their amazing linens and fresh flowers, so it will of course be nothing short of beautiful. Stay tuned for a complete, photo-filled post. :)

the first look

Oooooh, tradition schmadition! ;) If you follow my blog, you know I love it when couples do what we call a first look. I don't know where I got that phrase . . . probably another photographer's blog and it just stuck, but it is when the couple getting married chooses to see one another before the ceremony for the purpose of getting all the traditional photos out of the way. And oh my, do I love a first look! Let me tell you why . . .

1. As much respect as I have for a traditional wedding, I also love to educate people on what these traditions mean, and if they should be a part of your wedding or not considering these meanings. The standard traditions are: don't see each other before the ceremony, toasts, cutting a cake, first dances, and a bouquet and garter toss. While some have no room for changing (who wants to give up being toasted on their wedding day?), I think there is room for a little bit of change these days, and doing so adds a unique element to your wedding and makes it just a bit more special.

2. Not seeing each other before the ceremony comes from the day when you didn't meet your husband or wife-to-be until the day of the wedding. Hence the lifting of the veil to display the bride! I do believe in to each to their own . . . but I sure do hope that you have spent a good chunk of meaningful time together to truly believe that who you are pledging to be with for better or for worse is someone you know fairly well. ;)

3. The biggest reason I love a first look is for the raw emotion I get to photograph for you that you can't experience the same way as you do when presented to each other at the start of your wedding ceremony. Of course there is wonderful emotion there, and I love just as much capturing a teary-eyed bride walking down the aisle, or a groom overcome with emotion seeing his almost-wife coming to him to speak her vows. The first look is simply a way to allow a whole new set of emotions and reactions to be photographed and incorporated into your wedding story. And doing so means you go from your wedding ceremony to your reception with ease and no interruptions.

This is simply a personal thought towards this idea . . . I am actually quite a traditional girl at heart. The way the day unfolds when the posed photos are out of the way, though, has never gone unnoticed as a wonderful element to such an important day. Happy planning to all of you!

what's to come

ahhhhh, fall in Montana. This past week I have experienced fall in upstate New York, and today the weather is sunshine, sunshine, sunshine! But in the inside world, the computer is hot and working hard to produce some beautiful weddings I was so honored to photograph this past year, as well as my New York portrait shoots. I have said it before, but this time I mean it. I do. I am going to blog every. single. day. I promise. Well, I may not be able to blog when I am in Mexico in a couple weeks because I'm not sure of the internet situation at my hotel (I refuse to pay for it unless I absolutely need to). But maybe I'll get some posts ready and let Joe into my secret blogging world to publish them for me ;)

Here is a little taste of what you'll be seeing. In between blogging these weddings, I am going to continue my endless rants about food, wine, my shorties and Joe, and my travels . . . I am going to continue showing off my Assets and writing about our gatherings because I walk away from everyone with something deep and thoughtful that I want to write about. I am going to take more food photos (yay!) and maybe even share some of my cooking experiences and recipes (just the good ones . . . I tried to make michigan sauce and poutine the other night and both were a disaster). But this blog deserves more love and so my goal is every morning, coffee pot filled and mug to the brim, after a good workout, comes a better blog post. I hope you enjoy!

Here are April and Tim in Malibu . . .



Chandra and Jesse at The Baxter Hotel in Bozeman . . .



Danelle and Brandon at The Woodlands . . .



Katie and Casey at Carroll College in Helena . . .



Laura and Bryce at the Gallatin River Hideaway . . .



Thea and Nate at The Woodlands . . .



Emily and Tyler at The Calvert Hotel in Lewistown . . .



Kenzie and Joey at the Springhill Pavilion . . .



Holly and Jeremy at The Woodlands . . .



And Nicole and Alex at Chico Hot Springs . . .



I also have my upstate New York wedding to share and will have Mexico as of October 20th to share. Whew! And yes, I love ellipses :)

Happy Hump Day!