Smiles and Little Kisses

I made it back to one of my homes in the land of the Thais. I was remind how beautiful this little country is and how much I missed the heat (: I knew I couldn't leave here without having a little photo session with an amazing family. The growing family of the Sauders was glad to make that happen. We went out back behind our houses to my favorite place to be in Chiang Mai to shoot some family photos.  They are an amazing little family and William is seriously one of the cutest babies I have ever met. I now want to carbon copy him and keep him for myself.  :D He even had a fever, but still smiled for us. I was so happy to be able to spend the evening with these guys. Now look for yourself and see how beautiful this family is.

Enjoy, Smile, and Aww. xxx

Forever in Letters

This past weekend I was visiting my grandma and my great-grandma. I was snooping around the house one day finding all the old pretty things I could. I found a chest in my great grandma’s room and asked her if I could see what was inside. She opened it up and inside lived hundreds of old letters. I was so curious now.

She told me they were mostly letters that she and my great grandpa wrote back and forth to each other everyday while he was in the military right after they got married. He passed away 17 years ago but her love for him is just the same. The letters are just a little proof of that love. So we sat down and she read some of them to me and we even shed a few tears. The letters were stunning and their love for each other was so precious. But I couldn't just read them and be done with it. This was something that had to be documented and shared, so that’s just what I did. My great grandma does not even know this is what I was doing with all the photos I had been taking for her until this is posted (:

I recorded some of the letters she read out and then put it with the photos to help you really understand this story. The letters are a perfect example of what love should look like: Pure, honest, simple, unselfish, cherished, forever, and beautiful. I hope this little story inspires you to always love deeply, even in the smallest ways, and to always hold on to the memories of people who have become so close to you even if there are no longer there.

Press the play button and have a peak into these letters. xxx

Traces of My DNA

This was my final project for school. They are all self-portraits. They were presented on pieces of wood that I painted black. My artist statement was typed out on an old typewriter. It took way too many times to get it right but it was such a cool feeling typing on one of them of the first time. hehe. I felt so official. I think I might need my own typewriter and give it a name now (:  Each emotion in the artist statement goes with each photo. And so this is the end result of my final. It took a lot of time and work so I decided it deserved a blog post. Also so you guys can see what my final was all about :) Here’s my artiest statement and the photos  xxx

Fear.

Excitement.

Yearning.

Loneliness.

Suffocating.

Regret.

Wishing.

Peace.

   

Officially, Forest & Sarah

Honest. Joyful. These are the two words that I think best describe the love that Sarah and Forest share. They both overflow with love. A deep true love. It will always keep them smiling and laughing. I was beyond excited to be able to take their engagement photos and show you a glimpse of their love for each other.

Forest proposed to Sarah on July 29th. It was a complete surprise. Sarah had been in Alaska for a wedding over that weekend so he went to pick her up from the airport. He was all dressed up in a tie and everything, complete with flowers. She was so excited to see him and didn't really think anything was happening even though he was all dressed up - just that he looked nice. (: They came back to her house and Forest convinced her to go out on a walk in the park by our house. They went back to their favorite little place in the woods with a perfect little log. He told her they should take a photo together so he set up his tripod and got it all ready. They took a couple photos and then Forest pretended his battery had died, so he reached into his bag and pulled out what looked like the battery. Sarah was sitting on the log ready for the next photo, completely oblivious. Forest set the timer and ran over to her, but this time, he got down on one knee and asked the big question. Sarah was COMPLETELY shocked and surprised! She had absolutely no idea. Of course, she said yes and now they are happily engaged. It was perfect. 

Last week, Sarah asked me if I would take their engagement photos. I very happily agreed and then the rest of the late night was spent with us planning the big day. You can imagine all the ideas and planning and screaks and laughs that went in to two photographers brainstorming the shoot. (: So, so many ideas floated around. The main idea was to document them out on a day and show their relationship. We were all so excited and were counting the hours until the time came. 

All of these things came together to create their evening out....

Forest came over to our house and picked Sarah up. Then we drove to the most amazing cafe for dinner. Its their favorite date place and I understand why. I would live there if I could (: They had a three course meal complete with gelato ice-cream in olive oil and sea salt. Then off to the woods we went. We drove up to this remote valley. We found ourself isolated from the world, surrounded in trees. It's beautiful there, the way the trees wrap around the enormous meadow in the wilderness: the perfect place to photograph. 

We spent a good two hours photographing there, and spent 28 gigabytes of memory cards total. It was stunning, they were too cute, and we had way too much fun, even though Forest got hungry and crashed about an hour after dinner. I was to thankful to be able to share this special time with two very amazing people. Here's the result (:

Happily getting ready.

The first look.

How to tie a bow tie photo (:

Cute dates.

"Check out the ring!"

Normal life for them.

The surprise of a sock bouquet.

So in love they are.

Forest completed a push up with Sarah on his back. 

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