Once upon a time…
In the old city of Orange, in the great state of California,
A charming wedding changed two into one,
And upon the news,
The sun couldn’t resist but to paint the city gold.
(A sweet summer wedding post is on its way)

This engagement session kind of… sort of.. really won my heart.
But I did made one big mistake:
I should have added in the photography contract that I need them to move to California.
In the fine print, our contract would read,
“Must move here by tomorrow, live on my street, and hang out as much as I ask. By reading this contract, you hereby agree to the document, and its extended terms.” Cool? Cool.
SO.MUCH.MORE.BEAUTY to share. Coming soon!

It goes without saying, I’ve been to many beautiful weddings in my day.
Like, lot and lots. and lots.
But, I must say… I’ve never been to a wedding as fun as this one:
Hey Rachele and Tyler— whatever you did, you did it right.
Even for someone “on the job”… this celebration was the sort that I truly didn’t want to end. Not just for my sake, but for the sake of the attendants. I don’t think any of them had that great of a time, if not all summer, all year.
I have this confident feeling, that as the guests piled home, they talked about how epic the Gardner dance session was, and [...]

The princess has arrived:
Prepare for pink things, plenty of sass, and  kissable cheeks brought to you by baby Aspen.

Kisses. Sand. Water. Family. Friends. Sunshine.
Yep, they did it right.
A summer wedding story coming soon…

One of the coolest perks of marriage is the immediate inheritance of family. One minute you’ve got two parents, the next four. Your two sisters become five, and your brotherless-ness is voided. Now your sharing bathrooms on holidays with people you didn’t know a few years ago, and even more than that, you’ve got the same last name. All of a sudden, Christmas time looks WAY more exciting, and electric, and… expensive, but whateva. Their family. They’ll understand the gift of regiving. Maybe.
For only-children, the ability to inherit siblings for the first time must be REALLY special. And for those who have lost a parent, or sadly sometimes both, to [...]

One of the reasons I appreciate photography the most, is because, in a sense, I’m enrolled in a continuous education.
I am perpetually cultured by the different families whose lives I capture. It is a crucial part of my trade to learn the said family’s dynamic, in order to creatively and honestly portray their relationship. It would be blatantly naive to assume that every relationship is more or less the same, so to photograph them based on a generalized assumption seems cheap. To me, this mistake cultivates cookie-cutter products– which I find not just cheap, but quite insulting.
Although any of my clients would quickly attest that I tend to be a [...]

Just two hours before Andrew asked me to marry him, I spent time exploring Casper’s Park with these two lovely birdies:
Two lovely birdies who are currently working towards building one treasured nest.
At the time, I wasn’t yet engaged, and could only imagine what they must feel–
These days spent preparing for the epic merging of hearts.
Walking amidst the growing greens turned golden, I breathed deeply, inhaling what was alive and natural around me:
For a stem, a flower,
For a boy, a girl.
In their company, the time passed unhurriedly. I noticed the turning of minutes not by a clock watched, but by the shadows cast by a sun now melted into hills beyond [...]

We’ve all heard it said many times before, “You’re going to learn so much more, once you’re married.”
For some of us, on the other side of it, we sort of expect cliche tidbits like that every now and then. Yeah, we sort of expect that people will try to help us out, but won’t know exactly what to say, because they tell us every relationship is just so different. They’ll tell us these things, I think, because they want the best for us, but without being in our relationship, aren’t quite sure exactly what it is we still haven’t learned.
There has to be something, I’ve thought to myself, that is [...]

Dear Little Dane,
This is your aunty Whitney, and I have some things to share with you, thoughts that came to me when you were still so tiny.
I love holding you, your precious little body, still so fragile and new. I love the softness of your scent, your unblemished olive skin, and placing my hand on the rhythm of your strong little heart. I love the way you look around, as if you’re trying to make sense of a world out of focus, and I love the way you rest in the arms of your mommy, and in the presence of your daddy. I love the peace you bring those who [...]