A Perfect Pair

Because it is pretty…

My Grandma drove a Cadillac.  It wasn’t blue.  But it was fast.  This Cadillac is blue.  It isn’t fast.  YET. Kind of wish it belonged to me.  Don’t tell my husband.

Session Images Are Online

All of Dan & Cris’ family session pictures are now online.  Check them out here or by clicking on the Online Ordering links above. Enjoy!

 

 

Gina – Equine Portrait

Horses have been a huge part of our family.  My Dad says us girls have a genetic defect known to all girls—that of being passionate about horses.  We could think of worse genetic defects, so we haven’t tried curing this one yet.  All of the horses we had growing up have come and gone, either to befriend little girls in heaven’s green pastures or to new loving homes, all except one. 

My sister got Gina when the horse was very young and green (not well trained).  But Jennifer and Gina have been soul mates since day one.  Perhaps they were more like sisters—they learned together and fought together but always loved each other. They have something that all horse owners seek—a deep understanding between horse and rider, so much so that if either of them even think a thought the other one knows exactly how to respond.  Jennifer and Gina hit the show ring with grace and beauty—Gina in tune to the excitement of the crowd, the highest and biggest stride of all like a queen parading around the pen.  Jennifer’s perfect confidence and pride for her young horse shimmered through every hoof beat.  Their perfection paid off in piles of ribbons, trophies and championships.  Jennifer, do you know why I never tried saddle seat?  Because I knew I would never look as beautiful as you and Gina—so why bother. 

After Gina’s show career she became a mommy twice (and not a very happy one!).  Since then she’s lived the good life—enjoying green grass, casually being ridden and being spoiled rotten by her favorite little nieces who constantly feel that she needs hay, hugs and treats.  Since Gina was looking quite regal this summer in all of her 20 year old beauty, Jennifer asked that I come capture her beauty.  I’m so glad I did—she looks amazing and though she nearly killed me several times (apparently a large camera and lens resembles a target) I’m so glad she’s still in the family!

Here a couple pictures from Gina’s past glory days—I couldn’t find any pictures of Jennifer showing her unfortunately, but here are a couple of me taking her to a horse show.  I’m not sure why I showed her but I’m guessing it was because my horse was on stall rest after breaking his back (no worries, he completely recovered!).  Please don’t mind the scanned images from who knows what camera!  And in case you didn’t know, grey horses get grey-er as they get older—so while her color may be totally different now I assure you it is the same horse!

Gina’s first foal that my sister gave to me.  His name was Fourd and he was a bit of a mean monster.  I don’t think he was loved by his mother as a child.

On to the good stuff—take a look at this blonde beauty!

 

This was a focusing mistake on my part as I was experiencing a near-death experience of being run over by a 1,000 pound horse but I love it anyway!

Dan & Cris – Family Session

Growing up I had small family.  Just my sister and I and my parents plus a few extended family members.  I never thought much about it and considered ourselves quite normal (as normal as you can think your family is!) until I married into a Lynden family.  I had no idea how big a family really could be.  I’ve grown to love big families, especially photographing them—watching all the siblings, children and parents come together, laughing, being loud and enjoying themselves is something I look forward to at each family session.

 

Dan and Cris’ beautiful family was no exception!  Full of gorgeous children, loving siblings and adoring parents—it was perfect!  Thanks so much to all of the family members for a great session!  Your home made for a stunning backdrop for the session—the tall grass and glowing backlight made for beautiful pictures!  The rest of the session images will be up this week! 

The two that started it all—still fantastically in love!

This sweet little thing was a perfect model all evening—isn’t she the cutest?

How blessed are they to have so many precious grandbabies!

  

The whole crew!

  I’m SO glad the car made into the shoot—the guys look great with it!

Thanks again everyone—I hope to work with you all again soon, your family is so beautiful!

Because I have a stalker…

I have a stalker—a blog stalker!  I must say those are the best kind of stalkers and I welcome them with open arms (as long as you aren’t creepy and don’t become a real-life stalker).  This stalker looks at my blog every day.  Many, many times a day.  She’s even asked me to email or call her if I post something.  I should introduce her to RSS feeds or Google Reader but I haven’t.  Know why?  Because I like hearing that she cares about what I post.  I guess I’m selfish.  It must be a little sister thing to do.  I’ve always looked up to my stalker as my big sister so it feels pretty awesome to know that she loves to see what I’m up to.  Even if it means I have a stalker.

And because she is stalking this blog around the clock since I did a session for her yesterday morning I figured I should post something so I don’t disappoint her.  Except—I am going to disappoint her.  I took pictures of her beautiful grey mare running through long grass yesterday morning while she was watching.  But when she wasn’t watching I took pictures of her beautiful blonde girl playing in the long grass yesterday morning.  And even though I’ve known her horse about 10 times longer than her daughter, I love her daughter more.  So she gets to be on the blog first.  Sorry to disappoint Jenn!

John & Stephanie – Wedding

ALL OF JOHN AND STEPHANIE’S WEDDING PICTURES ARE AVAILABLE HERE OR BY CLICKING ON THE ONLINE ORDERING LINKS ABOVE!  ENJOY!

 

This summer has been full of beautiful weddings on gorgeous days!  John and Stephanie had the perfect weather for their perfect wedding—not too terribly hot but beautifully sunny!  Not only that but their wedding was simply exquisite.  Everything from the dress to the food to the flowers to the location was absolutely amazing!  Evergreen Gardens always provides a gorgeous backdrop for weddings and this Saturday’s sunshine really showed off how beautiful the grounds are.  John and Stephanie—thank you so much for trusting me to document your fantastic wedding!  You two are so genuinely caring and warm it was an absolute pleasure to work with you!  I didn’t even try to narrow down to my favorite favorites so here is a bunch of pictures for you to check out!

Can’t you just see how much they adore each other?

My favorite portrait of the day!

The flowers from All About Flowers were absolutely amazing, Gwen and Nadia did a fantastic job!  I loved them because they were stunning and I also loved them because they matched my wedding colors and reminded me of our wedding four years ago!

This wedding party was fantastic—these girls could work it!

Every floral detail was attended to—graceful roses were even placed in each bird bath around the grounds.  Now I want a bird bath just so I can do this at home!

Stephanie—you are gorgeous, just look at you glow!

Someone caught the whole thing on video and I caught them!  Father Steve Kuder did a great job officiating the ceremony.

The after-ceremony kiss!

There were also many, many adorable little babies and children around—I wish I could have done a portrait session of each one then and there.  Check out this fellow’s big eyes!

The food was so delicious and top notch!  It was served by such sweet people and was presented absolutely perfectly.  Ciao Thyme did an amazing job providing John and Stephanie with a gourmet reception filled with their favorite foods!  I love how personalized the menu was!

Stephanie’s dad was was all smiles during the father-daughter dance!

Rosemary Lemonade?  Never had it before, must have again.  Fantastically refreshing!

I’ll give you one guess as to what classic wedding reception song these awesome people are dancing to.  I’ll give you a hint—it has to do with yelling!

Ciao Thyme also made all of the desserts for the evening—look how rustic and beautiful they all are!  As I was photographing them it was all I could do not to snatch up each and every one and try them myself.