We’re headed to Glacier National Park tomorrow morning for our annual trip. This year there’s two big differences from the normal GNP vacation: 1) We’re shooting a wedding! and 2) We’re celebrating our two-year wedding anniversary in Polebridge, where we were married! We’ll be out tomorrow through Labor Day, but as someone saw fit to install satellite internet at our cabin (sacrilege!), it won’t be a complete dry spell here. Ciao!

I really can’t say just how much working with this family makes me happy to be a photographer. I wouldn’t know them if it weren’t for Jess’s sister’s nomination of them during the contest. She’s a burgeoning photographer in Texas, who knows me through another photographer, Jenna Cole, who knows me because we both blogged about our weddings for Wedding Bee during 2008. How’s that for a small world!

We’ve become good friends with Jessie and Jeremy (though I’m still not sure what Connor thinks of me… but he didn’t sign “Don’t Like” or “Go Away” this time!). They’re a very sweet couple who have come graciously through some very hard times with a great sense of humor. You can read Jess’s daily documentation of their lives with Connor on her clever, well-written blog.

Thanks for another awesome photo session, you two! See you soon.

These two were just impossibly cute and had incomparable positive energy. We had a blast roaming around with them looking for unique places to take a few shots… we started the evening at Matador for margarita’s and ended windblown and freezing on the beach after the sun went down, thoroughly exhausted and feeling it was well worth it.

Thanks for a great time, guys! I wish you all the best and I hope to have the chance to be your photographer again soon. Ahem. If you know what I mean.

Meanwhile, I’m editing and preparing images from four weddings, two senior portrait sessions, three sweetheart sessions, and at least one family session. AND I’m painting, organizing, and shopping for our new boudoir studio.  Yikes!

On that front, my work was just featured on the Seattle Metropolitan Magazine’s What Wear When blog in a post about boudoir photography!

I’ve also been dedicating a lot of donated time to Get Hitched, Give Hope, a fabulous Seattle wedding charity that fundraises for the Making Memories breast cancer foundation. I’m the Press Coordinator on the PR team, which is almost like another full-time job!

Tickets for GHGH will go on sale any minute now, and then I’ll have a post here filled with all the fabulous details. But I don’t want to scoop, uh, myself, so I’ll wait until we’re ready.

The Get Hitched, Give Hope blog also recently featured a post about me as a team member. There’s a little mini interview, so go check it out!

I have lots of photos to share, and I’ll be back on the blogging bandwagon shortly. In fact, I’m also starting to design a portfolio site that one of my clients is coding in trade. So I’ll finally have a nice, big screen full of gorgeous images for you all to peruse when you want to see what sort of work I’m doing.

This summer is one of my busiest yet and I suppose I couldn’t ask for more given that it’s also my first summer as a self-employed businessperson. How about you all, are you keeping busy too?

We staged our photo session in two parts. The plan was to photograph him at Discovery Park in one morning, but the weather didn’t cooperate and we nearly froze and blew over the bluff into the ocean. I had to pry my hands open after that session. We did get some great shots at Discovery Park, but still had more to do, so we met the next morning at the University of Washington main campus and had a second session photographing on the grounds. I can’t complain, because I always enjoy Anthony’s company, and I got two free breakfasts at the fabulous Portage Bay Cafe. Mmm~!

I’m still new to sports photography, and it’s something I never imagined I would have an affinity for. But, as an athlete myself, I seem to be drawn to it and now that I’ve sampled a little, I’d like to do more! Particularly, I’m thinking it would be fun to do before-and-after portrait sessions with men and women who have partnered with a personal trainer. It would be promotion for their business as well as mine… and fabulous photos for our clients!

What do you think of that idea?

For your entertainment, here are the two morning show clips of us preening for charity. I’m the short-haired tall girl, in case there was any doubt. Yes, I am aware I am stupidly fidgety.

I volunteered to assist at the Brides Against Breast Cancer gown sale today and just finished my shift. I spent the day helping brides with their dresses and giving out information about Get Hitched, Give Hope. GHGH is the local charity group that I work with which raises money for the Making Memories Foundation, the same organization for which BABC fundraises. Making Memories grants wishes for Stage IV metastatic breast-cancer patients for whom the cure won’t come soon enough. A REALLY good cause.

And speaking of which, I have LOTS more news about Get Hitched, Give Hope soon to come. Tickets go on sale on August 1 and I hope you’ll join us for a fabulous party and amazing wedding details. Hell, it’s fun even if you’re already married or even single… it’s at the frikkin Four Seasons and what better excuse for a posh party do you need!

All right, I’m out for now, off to second-shoot a wedding at a location with a significant in-joke that I can’t tell anyone. Then, tomorrow we’re heading up north to visit Evergreen Gardens in Fairmont, where one of my lovely August brides will be married… and take a nice long bike ride to train for the RSVP bike race (from Seattle to Vancouver BC, 204 miles). Peace!

Kendall had just recovered from a six-month stint in a body cast to combat her hip dysplasia, but you wouldn’t have known for all the smiles and laughter she brought with her. She’s even learning to stand and walk, which is a big, big accomplishment for her!

Kendall’s favorite thing right now is doggies, and there were so many dogs at Marine Park while we were photographing that it was almost impossible to keep her attention. But she was so cute shrieking at each puppy for attention that we found it hard not to immediately forgive her.

Her mom, who also goes by Kat (like me!) was simply radiant and beautiful. Aren’t they just a lovely pair? We’re so happy to have photographed them!

Watch their gorgeous photo slideshow to see more images!