she's got a way about her

gillian asked me if i could take some portraits of her for her website while evan and i were visiting montana for a wedding. i was delighted that she asked me, as i have always admired her from afar, and was glad for the opportunity to spend some time one on one with her. i loved that she and i have the same taste in photography, and she loves the little moments in between the action. her scottish accent is wonderful, and makes me wish i had one. if you are looking into montana real estate, she is your lady. she is an amazing woman, and i had a wonderful time running around in the freezing wind with her. there are so many sides to her, and i have only captured a small portion of them here. i think the last portrait might be my favorite. gillian i don't know if you will be able to use it for your website, but i think it is beautiful! keep being you gillian, and keep being beautiful!
love,
m

things that make my heart skip: on love and passion

the past few weeks have been a crazy adventure that i have loved being on. i got to be a part of two amazing weddings and witness so much love, joy, and support at each. it is so beautiful to me how weddings have the same framework, but each is so unique and as different as each couple who shares them. i am so excited about where my life is headed these days, and the people i have gotten to share it with, and the new friends i will be making this year. i am starting an internship with a local okc photographer, aaron snow, and i couldn't be more stoked for all that i will learn and how i will grow as an artist. i know this may sound weird, but in a way i feel like photography saved me from my ordinary self. i feel like six months ago i was at this spot in my life where i had no direction, and was realizing that i had always been pursuing someone else's goals for me, or following what i thought would make others happy. i had always assumed that music would be my path because i grew up with it and was good at it, but i was learning that it did not fill the passionate creative side of me. i realized that while i thought i was trying so hard to figure out who i was, i was actually just sitting around doing nothing, being mundane. i realized that photos stirred my soul and i wanted to be the one taking them. it is not usually hard for me to find words to describe most things, but two i have a hard time with are how much i love my husband, and how much i love photography as an artform, as a passion, and as a lifestyle. both of these loves move me and consume me, and i am completely smitten. i have so much more to learn and grow and change into who i am becoming, but i am happy with where the journey is taking me. i want to love and live and be able to give people a chance to hold onto those moments and people that mean so much. that is really what matters. and now, a beautiful woman to close with, because she makes my heart smile. it is images like these that i have fallen in love with.

love,

m

lynn

the beautiful ladies of 2010

i know it is already the new year, but i wanted to do a post about the women i have photographed this past year since i started on this new journey that i absolutely LOVE!! these ladies have inspired me, helped me, and made me want to focus on women's and couple's portraiture. i don't think i have previously posted any of these pictures before, and all of them are straight out of camera. they are the shots that didn't make the final cut to editing, but i still love them. i am excited to share a preview of both of my 2010 brides, lynn and amanda, very soon. i have so many ideas and ideas for my photography and sprouting business, and i can't wait to see them come into fruition this year and beyond. here's to a great 2011.
love,
m

preview: justin+lynn

let me not to the marriage of true minds

admit impediments. love is not love

which alters when it alteration finds,

or bends with the remover to remove:

oh no! it is an ever-fixed mark

that looks on tempests and is never shaken;

it is the star to every wandering bark,

whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.

love's not time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks

within his bending sickle's compass come:

love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,

but bears it out even to the edge of doom.

if this be error and upon me proved,

i never writ, nor man ever loved.

-william shakespeare, sonnet 116

congratulations justin & lynn! here is a very small preview:) hope you two have the best time in europe!

love,

m

two posts in a day you say? why yes, yes i will

i just wanted to throw out a quick note to the thousands (haha- i kid) or readers who peruse my blog. i know it has been looking lately like i am almost exclusively doing children and family portraiture. this is actually not the area of photography i am interested in or would like to pursue, as much as i adore my nieces and the families i have been photographing. i am developing my portfolio, but my goal is to shoot couples and women's photography. so if you are interested in having me do a shoot for you, but were turned away because you older than 6, come back!! i will be looking for women and couples to model for my portfolio at very discounted rates in the beginning of the new year, and am very excited for the direction i am headed. thanks for your support and reads. i appreciate it immensely.

love,
m

cadence: if cuteness had a face

here are a few pictures of my niece, cadence taken on our trip to see my other newborn niece kyree. she is a new big sister, and fitting into her new role quite well. her parents got her a newborn baby doll a week or so before the baby came, and it was adorable to see her carry it around everywhere and want to feed it and take it out with us. she is beautiful and a total ham for my camera:) i love her.

love,

m