Noelle Maternity | Washington

June 03, 2015

my friend noelle is beautiful. my mother calls her, "she of the big brown eyes." i appreciate how lovely she is not pregnant. but her loveliness shot over the top when she started showing a baby bump and as we talked about her maternity photos and what we wanted to do, she said she wanted her little boy to see where he came from. (the west) and so we photographed in two incredible west coast spots. Mt Rainier and Cannon beach.

this project was honestly my dream come true. i was freaking out the entire time we were working with that mountain right next to us. and every shot i kept squealing. it was such an amazing experience and i am so so proud of the way these photos turned out. praise God from whom all blessing flow man.

here are a few of my favorites from washington.

Travel Well | Oregon

March 25, 2015

you know so many people have told me that i should visit Oregon...i really had no idea how much i should. its beautiful. all the parts. so many adventures, i could spend a whole summer exploring the there.

i'm both ashamed and proud to tell you that when we visited the buzzfeed donut place in portland, it was so good that we drove the two hours back to get it again before i left. i'm so serious you guys...its worst it. its so worth is that i smashed three of them deep in my carry on to take them home to my sister. right now my mouth is watering thinking about it. gah. okay. Blue star donuts i love you forever and i need you in my life. okay i'm done.

for our day out in portland we grabbed lunch at a place called zeus cafe. i was so incredibly excited because they had a no hormones in their beef and that never happens and so i got to eat a hamburger in a public place. it really doesn't take much to make my day...

we walked around portland, toured a book store and ended up with Oprahs favorite chocolate. (which i brought home and i am still snacking on whoops.) we even found the sign to keep it weird. i liked portland! its a nice city, if for nothing else their coffee and their donuts...

my gosh why is Oregon so green?! washington always looks blue-ish to me but everywhere we went in this state i was amazed by how green everything is. you know i'm a big fan of nature so getting to see all these awesome places was a dream.

monmouth falls is probably one of the most instagramed things from Oregon and when we pulled up to it i had a little moment. its huge. its way taller than i thought it would be and really, you could just stand there forever and stare up at it.

right down the road from the waterfall is oneonta gorge and during the summer (when its not freezing...) you can walk all the way down through the gorge and there's a waterfall at the back. we climbed over a bunch of dead wood (and deer!) and sat at the mouth of it. Noelle was crazy and actually got in the water. (baby boy your mother is a champ and also nuts! be proud of her!) that was such a neat experience and you know how i love to climb things! i also got in a great hair whip...

i just want to lay in that grass all day and smell that fresh air.

on our last day ( and last day of shooting ahh!!) we ventured to cannon beach. i can't tell you how long i've been dreaming of going there and to see it in person was just too much. its just the most epic meeting of land and sea (to borrow uncle tom's words!) we even met some new friends (strangers) at the beach and i snapped their pictures. shout out to Laurens hair because its the real mvp. they were so nice and they are from austin which i love so now i love them!

Noelle figured out how many hours we had spent in the car while i was out there and i don't remember what it was but i know it was a lot. it didn't matter though because great conversation mixed with the greatest view out your window makes for the greatest road trips.

oh oregon, you are just the neatest and i can't wait to visit you again. for now i'll be dreaming of your donuts.

Travel Well | Washington State

March 11, 2015

hello yes, i would like to speak to someone who will take me back to Washington please and thank you.

if that were a real conversation i could have i wouldn't be blogging right now. also i feel i should give you all a heads up that there will be many, many pictures of mountains in this post. like much too much many. i just stopped writting for a while fifteen minutes so i could find my beer berries. no one panic, there is no beer in them. its just chocolate covered wheat. which doesn't sound pleasant at all but i promise it is. so now that thats done, let me tell you about washington.

i have a friend who is pregnant. shocking right? (kidding) and we had been trying super hard to find a time i could get out there to photograph her. i had a concelation last month and i knew right away that this weekend was going to be now or never. so after an impending ice storm forced me to fly to California the night before, i finally made it to seattle on thursday. i love the west, i love the mountains and the trees and all the coffee (praise hands.) and food and yes everything. but i keep trying to pick a favorite part and i just can't. one of the best things about this trip was meeting one of my pen pals! she was the sweetest and oh man oh man i was just really geeking out. plus her mom was so so nice and after we left them i talked about it all day. ah. but i'm going to tell you all about that later this week.

part one of the most epic maternity shoot in the history on mankind (okay maybe just my life...) happened on mount rainier. i can't tell you all the emotions raging inside me while we were up there. i wanted to laugh and sob all at once. i will never get over the beauty of that place. God is just amazing to me and to look at how hug rainier is and know that he can hold that mountain on the very tip of his finger...what an amazing perspective.

let me pause this post to just say that the sandwich i had from pike place was one of the best i've ever eaten. and thats saying something because i consume a lot of sandwiches a lot of the time. continue...