evening

Alec + Emily {Engagement}

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This post (along with many others) is extremely overdue. As 2016 started (and quickly rolled on), I had set up some goals for myself; blogging on a regular basis was originally one of those goals. And yet, as January passed and February has been speeding by, I have been going back and forth on whether or not that is actually something that I should, and want to be doing. I have more or less had this particular post written for over a month at this point, but have been indecisive in terms of the wording and layout, and if keeping a blog is worthwhile for me right now. I've decided to attempt to plug away at posting on a regular basis (mostly since I have such a huge backlog of images I want to share right now), though I'll likely keep things extremely simple and stick to the images for the most part.

With all that said, to start things off I am going to share images from one of my favorite shoots of last year. Back in November, while home in Minnesota for Thanksgiving, I had the pleasure of being asked to photograph one of my longest and best friends, Alec, and his beautiful fiancé, Emily.

Alec and I have been friends since junior high, and we have been part of the same group of friends since that time.  It is a tight knit group of people, and I have often joked (with a strong hint of seriousness) that the approval of this group in regards to my significant others is just as important as that of my immediate family members. 

Although I don't know if Alec thinks the same thing, I can definitely say that we approve of Emily. Emily is a ball of joy, and you cannot help but smile when you are around her.  It has been an absolute pleasure getting to know her on the few occasions that I get home to Minnesota, and I am proud to now be able to consider her a friend.

Alec went above and beyond on the engagement ring, and worked with a local jewelry designer to design a ring just for Emily. The main stone is a sapphire, with a precious diamond on either side. It looked absolutely stunning with the hint of snow around, the golden evening light, and Emily's vibrant green jacket. 

We spent most of the engagement session walking down the Browns Creek Trail, in my hometown of Stillwater. The trail used to be railroad tracks, for a very slow dinner train that followed Browns Creek around the Stillwater area. When we were kids we used to roam around on the tracks, even though we weren't necessarily supposed to. I have lots of great memories from along this trail, so it was fun to shoot an engagement session in those locations.

We also ventured onto the golf course for some images at the end of the shoot, which was another important place for a lot of us Stillwater friends while growing up. In fact, the other friends whose engagement session I photographed had their wedding reception in the clubhouse of this golf course. 

We ended the evening (appropriately) at a coffee shop in downtown Stillwater. Emily wanted to incorporate some string lights into that portion of the shoot, and I'm so glad she suggested it. The ring just looks stunning with that warm, golden light on it!

Thank you to Emily and Alec for inviting me in on this portion of your adventure together! I am so excited for the two of you, and cannot wait to see how your lives grow together from here. 

And with that, here we go on this next blogging journey of mine. I would love to hear from anyone that decides to stop by, so leave a comment below! Have a wonderful weekend!

Farm Light

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Yikes. Life has been a complete whirlwind lately, making it basically impossible to get things edited, let alone posted to this blog. In the past month I have made three separate trips to Denver, had my last day of work as a nanny, moved to Denver, started a new job, climbed a few times, camped in an epic location, and hiked the tallest mountain in Colorado. It's been madness I tell you. I am sort of starting to settle into something vaguely resembling a routine, which has given me a few minutes of down time and allowed me to spend some time editing and writing. That said, it's catch up time, folks. 

This first post will be short and sweet, with a focus on one of my obsessions: light and shadow. The images below were taken the night before Scott, his dad, and I drove out to Denver with the moving trailer. We stayed at Scott's parents' farm that night, and the light was mesmerizing. Dinner was ready, but I ran outside with my camera, snapping away furiously, hoping some would turn out. Luckily I was not disappointed. 

Bug Swarms and Fly Casting

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I suppose this post could almost go under the Flashback Friday category, as these images are from back in April. They were nearly lost as well, though luckily I checked what was on the SD card before going forward and reformatting it.

Back towards the end of April, Scott and I were fishing on a fairly regular basis (as I'm sure you noticed if you have been following my blog). Since things had started to warm up, the bugs were starting to get bad around this time, and I had swarms of them around my head most of the evening. I can't recall if we caught anything that evening, though I do remember it being a beautiful night, despite the swarms of bugs. 

This past weekend I drove up to Minnesota to surprise my mom for her birthday (which is why there were no posts on Friday or Monday), which means that soon I will be sharing some images from that trip. Be sure to check back on Monday to see those!  I hope everyone's week is off to a great start!

Untitled (Self-Portrait)

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Oops! I'm a day late on this one. My focus was on many other things the past few days. 

Self-portraits have been very significant to me since my undergraduate years. I will be going into more detail about that in Friday's (tomorrow!) post however, so I will be keeping this short. I worked on writing something up for a while, changing it many times, but in the end have decided to leave it simple. These images are in a way just for me, serving as a reminder of a particular place and time. 

It had been a long time since I last took a self-portrait, and it felt good to get back in front of the camera, even only for a few frames before the battery died. Also, you may recognize the location from my last blog post. 

As mentioned above, this week's Flashback Friday will go into detail about the importance of self-portraits to my photography as well as my personal life, and I will be showing one series in particular that has been significant. So, be sure to check back tomorrow! Don't forget to hit the "Subscribe" button to the left to be notified of any new posts and stay up to date on what is happening. 

Milford Lake

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One of my favorite aspects about the outdoor pursuits I participate in, things like fishing and climbing, is simply where those activities bring me. It isn't necessarily about the actual activity (even though I do enjoy those), but through each sport I am brought to absolutely beautiful locations.

This time was no different. At the beginning of May, Scott and I decided to try out a new fishing location, venturing out to Milford Lake. It was a beautiful day with wonderful, almost summer like temperatures. We spent the afternoon wading around in the water trying to catch some fish. As per the usual we didn't catch a thing. For me though, getting my feet wet in the cool water with the warm, spring sun coming down on me was enough to make it a perfect afternoon. 

Also as usual, I mostly just wandered around near Scott, snapping away. The water was extremely clear, and shallow for quite a ways out so I was able to just hover and follow as he moved around the shore. The water temperature was surprisingly warm, and wading around in the water reminded me of being home in Minnesota during the summer. 

I had a smile plastered on my face the entire afternoon. Even though neither of us had even a bite on our hooks, the weather, the water, and the company made things perfect, despite the lack of fish. 

I have reached the end of the fishing posts (for now at least). Scott is busy preparing for his PhD dissertation, and I am busy working, so fishing has taken a back seat for the time being. I haven't had a chance to get out and photograph much lately, but I'm hoping that changes soon. 

Have a happy start to your week everyone!

Projected Light

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*Diving right into work immediately following a longer trip prevented me from getting back on top of getting these blogs posted. But, I have (hopefully) settled into some sort of routine at this point, so things should get back to normal for me now. I think it is safe to expect regularly scheduled blog posts once again!*

It has been a cool, rainy spring here in Kansas (and it seems the Midwest in general). Most days have been cloudy, which means that I haven't been able to photograph nearly as many moments of light as usual. However, about a month ago, there was some beautiful light in Scott's basement. He has a projector screen down there, and the light danced across the screen like some sort of abstract movie scene. 

I love the evening light in his house (or any where for that matter) during early spring. The new leaves create such beautiful patterns and movement in the light, and I have found myself just sitting and watching as the light flutters around with the wind moving the leaves. One of these days I need to document it in video. 

Happy Monday everyone! I hope your week is off to a great start!

Next up: Some gorgeous scenes while fishing on a perfect spring evening. 

Farm Pond Fishing

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I mentioned it in one of the last posts, but prepare yourselves for lots of fishing images. This is the second post of the unofficial fishing series, with many more on the way.

This particular time we went to one of my favorite fishing spots in the Manhattan area. We haven't caught much here, other than some really tiny bass, so in terms of fishing it isn't the greatest (at least it hasn't been for us). But, it is beautiful. The pond is located outside of Manhattan on ranch land, and is stocked and made available to the public by the land owner. It is nestled into some rolling hills, away from the traffic noise, which is tough to escape in Manhattan it seems. We have yet to see another person fishing there as well, so it is sort of like our own private fishing hole.

This time of year is my favorite time of year in Kansas, since it is one of the brief windows where the landscape is extremely green here. We've had a wonderfully rainy, cool spring, so things are extra green, and it seems to be greener later than I remember it being the past few years. This area was filled with dandelions gone to seed and other wildflowers when we were there, so I gave up fishing and just wandered taking photographs. 

One of the great things about our fishing adventures is that we are generally out right when the light is at its best. That low, richly golden sunshine makes everything look spectacular. 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day! Check back on Wednesday for another round of images! 

learning to fly fish.

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Scott has been teaching himself how to fly fish lately. Basically any free time that he has, when the weather is decent, is spent at some body of water trying to improve his cast, and catch fish of course. I usually tag along as an excuse to be outside and spend time with him.

This particular night we were a bit limited on time, so we went to a park in Manhattan that has a little fishing pond. The light that evening was beautiful, so I sat down next to Scott as he re-tied a fly onto his line, and photographed the lovely golden light illuminating him. 

Watching a fly cast is really a beautiful thing. It is very rhythmic, and sort of mesmerizing as the line whips back and forth. Fly fishing is also a really aesthetic type of fishing in my opinion, and lately I have pretty much stopped fishing when I join him, and instead follow him around taking pictures. 

As mentioned above, we have been fishing a lot lately. So, expect to see many, many more images from our fishing adventures soon!

Also, don't forget, prints are now for sale! All money from prints will currently go to helping pay for a short trip to the United Kingdom this summer. You can also donate (and receive a small print) by clicking the link below. Thank you for the support everyone!

Travel Fund

Daffodils + Light

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Just a simple and quick post today. I know I just recently posted photographs of flowers and light, but I have some more to share. When the light is this good, and I have daffodils on hand, how do you expect me to resist? 

And finally, a single portrait from the evening as well; because my man is handsome and again the light was too perfect to resist. He was working on his fly fishing setup while I was running around chasing the light, and right when I thought I was done I turned around to notice the near perfect spotlight on his hat and face. 

There will likely be more flowers in the coming posts, so hopefully you all don't get sick of them. I've also been trying to decide on some themes to my posts for certain days, so if anyone has any suggestions or requests for particular content types please leave a comment below to let me know!

Fabric Landscape

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A few weeks ago I went out to a new (to me) location to take some self-portraits. You may have already seen one image from that shoot, since it is currently featured on my homepage. Beyond just a basic headshot, I had the goal of also shooting a more conceptual self-portrait, as it had been so long since the last time I did so. 

I went into the shoot with only a very vague idea of what I wanted, which has occasionally worked in the past. Unfortunately, that was not the case this time. The location and materials I had didn't quite work for what I was aiming to do, and in this situation, the lacking of a very specific visual idea left things a little flat and uninteresting. So, the self-portrait failed, but the setup that I had for that ended up being fairly interesting on its own, which is what I have to share with you all today.

I have always really enjoyed images of moving fabric in general, but especially ones that involve some sort of interaction with a landscape. The photographs and paintings by Laura E. Pritchett have served as sources of inspiration for some of my own photographs, largely because of her use of fabric in motion. Thomas Albdorf has also influenced my work, because of his manner of interacting with the landscape. Though I wasn't consciously thinking of these artists at the time, the photographs in this post have likely been shaped by both of them.

As always, thanks for stopping by, and feel free to share this post, as well as comment below to say hello! Happy Wednesday!