how do I love flare? let me count the ways.

It's true, and you know it. Learning how to use the evening sun wide open and behind my subjects was a work in major progress, but incorporating this element into my shoots has helped me evolve my style of photography. Flare tugs on my heart strings just a little bit :)

Danielle and Dane were married on June 24, 2010, and we ran around the property out at the Gallatin River Lodge for their engagement session . . .



Lindsey and Drew were married on June 25, 2010, and we hiked through a foot or two of snow on a ranch in Helena for their shoot . . .



Emily and Tyler were just married on September 5th and their shoot was at the ol' reliable photo shoot location of Bozeman, the Storymill District . . .



Holly and Jeremy are getting married on September 24th. We were on a property south of Bozeman where Holly keeps her horses and the light was magical. I put them on top of a hill for this photo and squatted down even lower to put them at the bottom of the image.



And Nicole and Alex will wed the very next day on September 25th!



Happy Hump Day everyone! I'm off to Ennis for a floral design class with the most fabulous Leslie Lukas. Designing flower arrangements, sipping wine with seven other ladies, and photographing it all is sounding dreamy to me, and I get to end the evening with homemade calzones and Joe! Life is good :)

i got myself a kindy-gart-ner!

What a little sleepyhead. Ava went to her first day of kindergarten a couple of weeks ago now and is loving it, although she may easily get mistaken for a preschool-sized pint. She is soooo tiny, and seeing her amongst the other little dirtlickers reminds me of how fragile she is, also. She's sensitive, loving, challenging, stubborn, eats like every meal is her last, and flat out hysterical. I think there are many good things in this little punkin's future :)

timeless

When I first started this business three years ago, I was obsessed. As a night owl, it was no problem for me to hunker over my computer until 2 or 3 o'clock every morning, waking a few hours later to tend to the newborn and keep Ava from massively abusing her new sister. I researched the best equipment, joined every photo forum I could find, downloaded software after software after software. I believed in starting with the best I could possibly charge to my American Express, and a few blog posts later, I was shooting with Nikon's newest D300, my still-to-this-day-madly-beloved 50 mm f/1.4 lens, ceremony-favorite 70-200 mm f/2.8, and kept Photoshop open at all times for those random I must process images now! moments. And although the processing was a fun, creative journey for me, I have discovered the value of less is more.

Every photographer finds their style at some point, and for me, I kinda sorta gag at what I did to my images in the early days. With the power of Totally Rad Actions, I was combining action after action, my goal being to make my images a little different from what everyone else was doing with theirs. Once again, I have come back to my roots. Back to what I know and trust. And I leave a photograph a photograph.

Here is an image straight out of the camera, taken last month at Katie and Casey's wedding in Helena, Montana. It is a little cool to me, and Katie's dress is lost in all the white. As I have said before, I shoot without flash as much as possible, so I'm exposing for skin tones.

Before . . .



After. This is processed first with Totally Rad Actions' Pool Party at 24%, and Kubota Production Tools 2 Clarify Lite.



It's a very slight adjustment, but one I'm happy with, and it remains a photograph that looks as it should in 50 years.

Happy Saturday!

stephanie + matt: 7.17.10

Stephanie and Matt. One of my most beloved couples so far in this wonderful career of mine. Our relationship began as most do in this industry . . . an email inquiry as to whether I had July 17, 2010, open to photograph their wedding at Chico Hot Springs. It was followed by a few telephone calls, and a booking. And on a very cold winter day, we met in Willow Creek, Montana, for a very beautiful engagement session in the gorgeous, cold light, and a friendship began that has changed my life.

I can say the easy stuff, such as they are so kind! Or, they are so in love! Of course, those things are true, but they are so very much more than that. They inspire me. They have learned the most important things to their relationship is to be attentive, to be present, and most importantly, to make one another laugh. And they do it beautifully.

For 11 years, Stephanie and Matt moved along in their relationship before this wedding was held. A lot of people ask how I waited for marriage with Matt for 11 years, Stephanie wrote to me recently in an email. And my answer is 'because I wasn't waiting'. I spent the last 11 years trying to be present (which isn't easy) and truly enjoying and being thankful for what we have. Sh*!, if I'd been focused on marriage, it wouldn't have lasted. I'd have become frustrated and I would have missed out on something so good. Do you see why I love her so much? She's perfect and she swears. ;)

Stephanie and Matt, you know how much I love you both. I couldn't possibly post more than one photo without being accompanied by the voice of Eva Cassidy and a song to bring you back even more so. Thank you for everything you have taught me about love. Enjoy your slideshow!

jennifer and eric: some things are worth the wait

A few months back, Jennifer called me. This sweet, wonderful voice spoke through the phone, asking me about my availability for her wedding next summer. They were anxious to have their engagement photographs taken by the end of the summer, in good weather. So we waited for a bit. We waited for my car to be fixed. They waited for a storm to pass. She waited for Eric to travel home from work on the weekends. And when we looked at the forecast last week, we decided to wait for Friday night's light.

For 9 1/2 years, Jennifer and Eric have been falling in love and will marry each other next July in their quaint little hometown of Townsend. We chased the sun down across Canyon Ferry Lake and between these beautiful people and the beautiful evening, a beautiful engagement session was held.

















By the way, they are as kind as they are beautiful ;)

the most lovely leslie

She's beautiful, confident and amazing. She is my go-to woman . . . it doesn't matter if it's a business question, or a parenting rant, or an I'm having a terrible day and I'm coming to see you day, she is there. She is Leslie Lukas, who is mom to Henry and Jackie, and wife of Joe. Every morning after she wakes up and brews her beloved Keurig, she strolls into Main Street Floral in Ennis, Montana, tying bouquets and arranging arrangements, effortlessly, with grace and humor.

Let me tell you about Leslie on a personal level. She is one of my very best friends. She provides me a perspective on things that is so refreshing and admirable, and she puts me in my place when I need to be put. She carries herself with an elegance that is truly admirable, and yet if I could burp, she would compete me. She is the first person who successfully got me to consistently wear green eye shadow, one evening in Jamaica while we were getting ready for dinner. Oh, and she flew all the way to Jamaica with me in March for a wedding I was photographing . . . I know for sure because she deserved a vacation, but also because I know she didn't want me traveling there alone. I can't think of a time I walked away from one of our gatherings without thinking, I freaking adore that woman.

Besides being full-time fabulous, Ms. Lukas represents Leslie Lukas Weddings & Events. She is also an Asset. That, to you, my friends means that she not only is an exceptional planner and floral designer, but she is part of a major network of women who are slowly and accurately trying to take over this small town and get on an Oprah show with our wisdom, humor and alliance among one another. Most importantly, we have all happily embraced the mentality that we have to shift our sails . . . that weddings have become much of a do-it-yourself project in the realm of a recession, and because of the desire to maintain control over such an important, monetary event. Leslie is not only offering Do-It-Yourself Floral Design classes, but she's super excited to show these beautiful brides of the Madison and Gallatin Valleys (and beyond!) that what you will eventually spend at Michael's while feeling pretty confident you're saving money, is most likely way more than you would spend when you ask the hands of an experienced woman to work within your budget. Oh, and by the way, Leslie has been featured in Bride's, Elegant Bride, Sunset Weddings, Martha Stewart Weddings, The Knot, and Town and Country Magazines, among others.

Beautiful. Confident. Amazing.

the art of parenting

You hear it all the time. There is no tougher job on this earth than that of a parent. You also hear there is no tougher job than that of a mother. Then you hear there is no tougher job than that of a stay-at-home mother. Then you hear there is no tougher job than that of a single mother. And I, my friends, am all of those. And let me tell you . . . it is tough. It is tough for a thousand different reasons that are unique to each parent.

I woke up this morning in a complete, totally random, weird, unpleasant, horrible funk. The kind of funk you know is not going to fly with anyone else living with you, and the kind of funk you know is going to get in the way of being a good, solid mother today. I pouted, my eyes filled with tears a few random times, my stomach ate at itself. I couldn't even think about dinner, and that is when you know something is seriously wrong. And when I'm feeling this way, which I can happily say is rare, I am spending much of the time just trying to identify my feelings so I can begin to address them. At some point in the day, I realized that parenting is actually just as much an art and a style and a process that hopefully creates well-behaved, well-mannered children who grow up and want to be good people. And it hit me that it was a reflection of me.

I am not, by nature, a patient person, and it is by far the biggest lesson I am learning. If I discipline the dirtlickers without patience, I walk away from the situation feeling completely depleted, and drained. And I think to myself, you handled that like a child. And the cycle begins. If I were more patient, my children would be better behaved. If I were more structured, they wouldn't need so much, because they would know what to expect and when. If I were more of this, they would be more of that. If I were more of that, they would be more like this. It is endless, and exhausting. But the realization is priceless, and I promise these two shorties that I will be a better woman, so that I can be a better mother.