we'll live on coffee and flowers

In October, some friends and I had a little unofficial photographer's retreat. As in, we left our husbands behind and took our kids along and all ended up in a rambling old Airbnb home overlooking Shawnigan Lake in Victoria. It was full of furniture that looked like it belonged elsewhere but had somehow ended up here, and creaky hardwood floors, and little handwritten notes from the owner on everything, nicely requesting that we touch nothing at all. (We're still not quite sure why we couldn't hang our coats on what was clearly a coat-rack.) But huge windows overlooked the lake and the fog, and occasional pieces of sunshine found their way inside, and we had fun. For a few days, we barely slept (because the kids were up most of the night), drank copious amounts of coffee, and took SO MANY PHOTOS.

P.S. You can find Jamie's work here, and Katrina's work here. Such lovely talented photographers :)

{vancouver family photography} hello, autumn

I don't usually post personal photos here. But we went for a walk this afternoon, and suddenly autumn is here. Golden light and leaves and wind; the rich scent of blackberries.  It gave me so much joy to see Matthias enjoying it too :)

Also, his sweater is from Joe Fresh, and I'm in love with it.

{vancouver photographer} euphoria

I can't quite help it, the euphoria that springtime brings.  It sprinkles my street with magnolia petals, stacks my bookshelf with poetry, and fills the vases up with flowers, until there are no vases left and instead I use leftover baby food jars.  

And here is one of my favourite poems, and here are some pretty pictures that I took this morning.  (Don't worry, darling - I didn't leave the flowers perched precariously on top of your guitar.)

   "It is not the tilted buildings or the blind alleys 

that I mind,

nor the winding staircases leading nowhere

or the ones that are simply missing.

Nor is walking through a foreign city

with a ring of a thousand keys

looking for the one door the worst of it,

nor the blank maps I am offered by strangers.

I can even tolerate your constant running

away from me, slipping around corners,

rising in the cage of an elevator,

squinting out the rear window of a taxi,

and always on the arm of a tall man

in a beautiful suit

and a perfectly furled hat

whom I know is carrying a gun.

What kills me is the way you lie there

in the morning, eyes closed,

curled into a sweet ball of sleep

and that innocent look on your face

when you tell me over coffee and oranges

that really you were right there all night

next to me in bed

and then expect me to believe you

were lost in your own dreamworld,

some ridiculous alibi

involving swimming through clouds

to the pealing of bells,

a transparent white lie about leaping

from a high window ledge

then burying your face

in the plumage of an angel."

-Billy Collins, "Jealousy" (Sailing Alone Around the Room)

& this was 2014

What happened last year?

Everything blurs together and then suddenly focuses.  Our son was born, and that was the end of life as we knew it and the beginning of something full of blessing.  This is our Matthias, our gift of God, a few hours after he was born.  Every time I look at this picture, I remember the pain and exhaustion of standing up, of holding my camera steady in the low hospital light, but the knowing that I would want to have taken this photo.  And every time I look at this picture, I am so glad that I did.  He's not wrinkly anymore, or red, and his hair is much lighter and he's twice as big, and sometimes this photo makes me want to cry.  So maybe this is my favourite photo of 2014.

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But that's not it.  In 2014, I met so many amazing people, so many happy families that laughed together.  I captured so much joy, and that is what I want to share with you below.  

(Disclaimer: I tried to choose just a few favourite photos of 2014.  Truly.)

jericho beach love story / Lorel & Sean's Wedding

I don't often photograph weddings, but this one was special.  

Lorelei and I met a few years ago; we were both working at Earls.  I was living with my sister in an attic and missing my boyfriend who was working in Los Angeles.  She was studying acting, she lived just a few blocks away from us & we became friends over slices of pizza.  Throughout the course of our friendship, we have eaten lots of 5-cent sour candies and avocado tempura and Denny's Tsing Tsing Chicken (which they don't make anymore - WHAAAAT?!) & God has given us many crazy adventures together.  

A few years later, I got married and started my photography business; Lorel graduated and became a full-time nanny before going back to school for nursing.  And somewhere in there, she realized that a tall guy who had been her best friend in school (and who, incidentally, loves 5-cent candies almost as much as she does) was the love of her life.  This is the story of the day they got married.

Because they were planning a wedding in Mexico, this was their legal ceremony.  I was pregnant and due just before their Mexico wedding date, so I knew I wouldn't be able to make it for the real ceremony, but this gathering of their Vancouver loved ones was perfect for them: impromptu, delightful, and filled with laughter and hugs and red converse shoes.

It was a little miracle that I was able to photograph this day, because the very next morning, I was at the hospital, giving birth to our son!