I’m cheating a little and skipping ahead of a few things to blog one of my first Beloved sessions. We went to a quaint little natural area near my home just outside of Madison, WI and it’s a place my husband and I frequent a lot.

Ben and Rachelann have been married for a little over three years.  :) Can I just say that married couples are my FAVORITE to photograph.  They were anxious for a way to connect after many months of busy and long days working hard at their jobs. They also moved out of town and were temporarily living in a very tight living space with their teenage son. I love these two, they are like family to me. They both love being around people (something I very much relate to) and have no hesitation to get into peoples lives, go deep, and make lasting relationships. Um, I love this about them!

Rachelann texted me the day of our session worried about what to wear. Usually I am not one of those photographers that place extreme high importance on what is worn. I usually tell clients to not be matchy-matchy but coordinate their clothing to compliment one another. And as much as I love a client who comes with an amazing fashion sense, I more so love a client that comes as who they are and loves the way they look in what they are wearing. She was worried because Ben very much likes to dress up in slacks, and a button up shirt looking like he could attend a wedding in ten minutes if he had to. Rachelann, on the other hand, is bright and colorful. She loves contrasting colors, patterns, and to be very eclectic. In the end I encouraged her to dress the way she loved the way she looked and he to do the same. I have to say – I actually LOVE how it turned out.

On to pictures. But don’t forget to go through all of them, at the end are a few photos of the album they got for booking a Beloved session with me. It comes standard with all Beloved sessions and I’m highly considering having it come standard with any session with me (minus weddings).

The album is simple and gorgeous and can come in other colors. Let me just say, lastly, that the way I feel holding a professionally printed album or even professionally printed images I’ve taken makes my heart skip a beat a little… Digital DOES NOT do these photos justice. So if I feel that way, imagine how you would feel if you were holding a book filled with beautiful photos of you and your loved ones! Just sayin. Contact me if you’d like to find out more.

Ben and Rachelann – It was so great working with you.  Thank you for trusting me (even Ben a little too much!) and being yourself in front of my camera.  It really made all the difference.  I hope we can make this “best date of your marriage” Beloved session happen again every year or so!

Patricia

Is it just me or do others have this sort of to do list that you ALWAYS intend to keep up on but forget about and put off day by day until it’s a year later and you’re still thinking “I need to get to that”? I guess for me I have two to do lists, one that I for sure do every week because frankly, I wouldn’t survive without doing it (or I would seriously smell from never washing my clothes) but then there is this other to do list that always gets put on the back burner. Yup, blogging is on that back burner to do list. The sad thing is that I really love blogging, I like that I have to filter myself a bit, because I enjoy reading honest, but filtered, words from my past. I HATE reading old journals where I just threw up every thought I’ve ever had on a page.

I don’t quite remember when blogging got popular but I started in April of 2005. I was a dedicated xanga blogger (ya, anyone else have a xanga page??) laphotographique was my name and I remember sitting in Pikes Perk with Jordan (who is now my husband but was only a good friend then) and declared I was going to start blogging. My first post was in French (thanks to Jordan) and I believe you could also put what you were listening to (Vashti Bunyan, Rosie Thomas, Denison Witmer, and Sufjan Stevens were frequents in that section). Anyway – all this to say that I LOVED to blog. What happened to that, I don’t know, but I feel a revival coming on. I want to start blogging more frequently. So here we go. I have tons of lovely photographs to blog and I will probably blog personal or for fun posts often as well. I guess I oughta update my 101 in 1001 post as well too since so much has changed. If you’re out there and listening – chime in and let me know you’ll be keeping me accountable. Happy blogging everybody.

p.s. I’m currently listening to the La Blogotheque – Take Away Shows channel on youtube (love.love.LOVE!) and this favorite by Arcade Fire:

This one little girl is the light of my life.  She was born on March 20th at 11:20pm.  7 lbs and 7 oz and 20 inches long.  Now almost 8 weeks later she is over 9 lbs and 20 1/2 inches long.  She braved her first flight this past week – or I should say, I braved my first flight alone with a newborn (on Mother’s Day no less) and came out alright.

I’ve been so behind on my blogging and haven’t even blogged some of my favorite sessions from last year (shame on me!) but do intend to get caught up soon.

In the meantime, I’m here in my hometown of Colorado Springs, CO preparing to photograph two weddings in one weekend.  This will mark the end of my maternity leave that I declared to take and the longest I will have been away from Jolene.  While you wait for wedding photos and for me to get caught up on this blog check out my sweet daughter.