Photography

11.20.14

The Pagel Family | Auburn Family Photographer

You know the friends you have, the ones that make your community? The cherished, will drop everything to come to your side if needed? YOUR village? Susan is one of those friends, and her family is awesome too! We have been friends for over 10 years and each year gets sweeter:-) SO when she asked me to capture her family I was honored, they mean the world to me, so I was excited to give them images they would cherish for years to come:-) When we discussed locations, she mentioned a location she had seen in some pictures at her friend’s house. The Bernhard Museum is a local gem. It is a living history museum, where you can travel back in time to the 1890’s, in fact I just participated in a third grade field trip where we dressed the part as well as worked as the people who lived so long ago worked. I worked the laundry station:-). The grounds include a winery, with vineyard, stone buildings, brick, a White Inn, and a White barn, as well as trees and landscaping. Really there is something for everyone! We ventured out on a rather cold and overcast day, and had some fun!

Susan + Darrin have 3 AWESOME kids, and even though they were cold, they were GREAT! And the whole family LOVES to have fun. Darrin is a closet entertainer, and ALWAYS makes us laugh!

I brought a long my favorite chair:-) This chair was found for me by a friend, he was at Habitat’s ReStore took a picture and texted me asking if we wanted it for photos! The price was right and I said, “YES!” I have plans for a fun recover but for now I am loving the look in this vineyard!

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My assistant, AKA sister in law:-) brought this frame out to try:-) The kids had fun using it as a prop! I love the way it pops in the fall colors.

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I seriously can’t remember whose idea this was, “I might have said something like do something silly…” BUT this takes it to a new level and I LOVE IT!

Darrin plays worship with my husband, AND he is in a cover band;-) SO this is their ALBUM cover shot:-)

Again, I have no idea whose idea this was, but I love a good jumping shot:-) THIS was their Christmas card! FUN!

THIS image hangs above their fireplace as a big canvas, LOVE. I see it everytime I come in their house and it makes me smile. You can see how much Darrin +Susan love each other and what a beautiful family they have together. These two are still in love and it shows! And their kids, well, they tolerate it for now, but someday they will remember and know it was special. The door and the building make SUCH a great backdrop!

SUSAN, I love you, thank you for who your are, and THANK YOU for inviting me in to share your story, your family, right now! You are beautiful my friend!

What’s YOUR story? Do you need new family images to tell that story on your walls, or in a book on your coffee table? Are you looking at your kids and wondering, where the time goes, and how they got so big? Do you want to celebrate who THEY are RIGHT now? I would love to tell YOUR FAMILY’S story, and CAPTURE YOUR LIFE! Send me an EMAIL, and we will grab a coffee and get to know each other!

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11.13.14

Baby B is 3 Months! | Lincoln Family Photographer

Remember this guy? Obviously he isn’t 3 months old right now:-) But as you may have noticed, I am regularly blogging FINALLY. In fact blogging is just ONE of the new exciting things happening with life|stop photography! I have been doing a lot of business related education and collaboration with some awesome mentors and colleagues and I am proud of what is coming for YOU my clients and followers in 2015! So keep your eyes peeled and please let me know what you think of the changes, and improvements! Some of that is more interaction with YOU, and a complete customer service package! I am SUPER excited! For sneak peeks and specials follow life|stop photography on Facebook.

Ok back to this babe, When Stacey contacted me she was looking for a Baby Package, one that would follow her little guy from birth through the first year! I was SO glad to sit down with her and plan out what that looked like for her! She was waiting for this boy’s arrival and wanted to make sure she had a plan for capturing his FIRST year of life! When we set up this 3 month session she asked if I could capture him at his grandparents house, the grandparents have a beautiful backyard and let me roam wherever I wanted to capture this sweet sweet boy:-)

Faces like these are why I LOVE what I do, babies only look like this for a millisecond it seems and you want to have beautiful images printed to look back on when they are teenagers;-)

Apparently EVEN babies think I am pretty funny! The smiles always feel like a gift to the mama, when you are up all night, or had an especially challenging day, these smiles can erase all that away!

You can’t forget to capture the teeny tiny details, I mean these feet already seem HUGE compared to a few months ago!

While I was there Stacey asked me if I could bless the family with some pictures of their sweet, sweet dog that was probably not going to be with them much longer. I am a dog lover, and there was NO way I was going to say “no.” I remember all to well losing my sweet first baby, MOCHA, and how when she was gone, I scoured through all my pictures of her and wished I had known, so I could have had a few last images of her sweet face. I hope these images blessed the family and help them remember their sweet family member.

Thank you Stacey for allowing to share in part of your story, to capture these sweet moments of your littlest guy.

I love to tell stories:-) And use images to help tell those stories…I would LOVE to capture your family and tell YOUR story, CONTACT ME today so we can grab a cup of coffee and start planning your session!

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11.06.14

Modern School Portraits | Practice

As I said before, I have ventured into the world of Modern School Portraits. I am so excited to offer parents an alternative to the standard school portrait experience! My goal is to give parents images and products that not only capture WHO their child is right now, but that they love and want to display proudly in their home as art. So as I prepared for my first school session, I learned all I could and of course practiced on as many kids as I could.

I FINALLY got my backdrop and stand all set up so I coerced my kids, and husband to get in front of my camera and help me try it out! I was SUPER pleased with the results! I am ready for those preschoolers today! I cannot wait to see how they shine, and to hear ALL of the funny things they are going to say to me! Preschoolers are really fun, they say what’s on their mind, and their personalities are just starting to really come out:-) I LOVE it!

This guy, he HATES being in front of the camera, can’t you tell? I LOVE his little personality! It’s funny because when I got the proof for their school portraits this year, I thought, oh man they are cute! And I wondered if I should have bought some, but now that I see these I know I did the right thing! I can’t wait for the parents to see their little LOVES captured this way! Can you tell I am excited?!?!

THIS is my 8 year old, I cannot believe I even have an 8 year old. He is my brainiac, my serious one, but he is also my zany, crazy entertainer. There have been times I have asked Tom, how we got TWO entertainers in the family? Holden will raise his hand to go onstage ANYTIME it is offered. I was NOT like that as a kid. I love this kid. Older kids are sometimes harder to get emotions and something other than the “cheese” smile out of, but I love bringing out their fun side!

My husband, he is amazing, always supportive, always encouraging me to dream, always inspiring and solid. I didn’t realize HOW much I would LOVE these pictures until I loaded them on my computer. I LOVE this man, and he loves me. I love that I captured this look, this is how he looks at me all the time, he really is my favorite:-)! I love that you can see a little spark of mischief in his eyes, this is him, to a T.

I LOVE these images, THESE are images I would hang on my wall. I am SO excited to be able to offer this option to parents!

Modern School Portraits are an alternative to the Traditional School portrait, giving parents a timeless piece of art to hang on their wall, and give as gifts. The images are captured outdoors in natural light with a black background and I take the time to capture your child as they are, capturing a little or a lot of their personality at this time, this year, this age. This kind of portrait is near and dear to my heart, just as I use images to tell the story of YOUR FAMILY, YOUR DAY, I aim to capture YOUR child in the same way. Each child has a story, which is part of your family’s story, and I can’t wait to capture just a small chapter in theirs. Check out my Modern School Portrait Gallery here, and contact me for more information!

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Wendy Burgan - I am BEYOND excited and happy that your first venture in this is with ME and my sweet kids!! I can’t wait to see what you will do with them! You are truly an amazing photographer!!!ReplyCancel
Erin Cullivan Cantwell - I am super excited to see what you capture! I absolutely LOVE the picture you got of Audrey and I’m thrilled you are photographing Charlotte too!!ReplyCancel
Diane Watts - Wendy, I loved your class picture with the kids holding chalk boards❤️❤️ReplyCancel

10.09.14

Our House | Everyday Photographer

This post is personal, it has nothing to do with photography, unless you count the fact that I use photography to capture MY own family’s story. It may be different in how I capture yours, but with Instagram, Facebook, and your phone, you can capture your everyday, and tell the story of your family, in between the moments I or somebody else captures;-)

My father is an architect, I grew up by his side at his drafting table, visiting homes he designed, visiting his office as they built it and then later on as he worked in it. I don’t think I always knew I was going to pursue architecture, but maybe I did, who knows. Eventually I went to school for an architecture degree, and pursued and obtained my license to practice in California. I worked in offices during this time, on office buildings, hospitals, and eventually went to work for my dad working on homes like the ones I watched him design when I was little.

I am not sure I ever considered building my own home, of course I dreamt about it, but just never really thought it would happen. But then I married my husband, and he either by listening to my dreams or with dreams of his own, wanted to build our house together. So for many years we simply dreamt. We lived in 1 apartment and 2 houses together, always working on them in some way, and talking, always talking about what we would do differently in our own house:-) And while we lived in those houses, we looked off and on for the land to build a house, our house. Years would go buy, babies would be born, and then eventually it would come across our path in the most unlikely way, with a story all it’s own:-) With God as the master storyteller:-)

And then more than a year later the trucks would come, and start to transform the land into the house we have designed, and I would be in awe every time I stepped onto that land. And I am. I can’t believe that someday we will live on this land, in the house we designed, and welcome our guests and the people who He will bring into our lives, into our home. That I will cook the meals I use to LOVE my people, and His people, in that kitchen I thought through a year ago. Each day I watch my husband work, manage our project, and love our family, and I can’t help but love him more.

We don’t know if our life will take us on a different journey, if we will be called out of this home in a month, a year, or ever. We will go if we are called but for now I sit back and take in each moment, each step of this journey and I am so blessed a grateful that we are here this day to experience it.

I love to tell stories:-) And use images to help tell those stories…I would LOVE to capture your family and tell YOUR story, contact me today so we can grab a cup of coffee and start planning your session!

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Jo Little - Beautiful I’m some happy your dream is coming true ❤️ReplyCancel

10.02.14

Getting Away | French Meadows Photographer

This past year has been a busy year! My busiest with photography, I had engagements, seniors, families, and my first few weddings, not to mention buying land, designing a house and moving! We knew that summer was going to be a crazy time, so much so that we didn’t plan our typical 5 or so camping trips, and we opted out of other summer traditions. BUT, we needed to get away and refresh for a few days, to be in nature, to be together as a family, it’s SO essential, especially with two work at home parents. So we found a campground within a couple hours of Auburn, somewhere where it would be cooler, but still close enough to home that it was doable. We stayed at French Meadows campground, it’s “right outside” Foresthill, but that means you wind down into the valley, up again and the road is slow, so right outside means 1+ hours of winding roads:-) But it was SO worth it when we pulled up to our campsite and it looked like this…

It’s like you step out of the car, and instantly you breath in deep, and the air travels through you, and your body begins to relax. Oh and the kids, the moment the doors open they are off in their own world exploring, pretending, and in the case of our older kids, inventing:-) It’s truly like magic…so beautiful!

Our last morning there, I grabbed my bible, my tripod, and my camera and headed out before anyone else was awake. It was SO peaceful, definitely what I needed to recharge and get ready for my last wedding of the year, and gear up for fall and some new projects:-) Oh and breaking ground:-)

As I came back into the campsite, breakfast was being cooked, and coffee was already made:-) Perfect, and the light streaming through the trees was AMAZING!

Just this past month, the King Fire, burned SO many acres, destroyed homes and came really close to this campground, I am glad the rains finally came and the fire was stopped. If you are looking for a place to get away, for a night or two, someplace close to take your family and just be a family without any laundry, work, or electronics (cell phones don’t work here:)) this is a great place! Its pretty rustic, so bring ALL your food in, and plan on REALLY being unplugged! Just what the Dr. ordered! I am SO glad we did it!

When you are headed out be sure to stop in Foresthill at Worton’s Market for sandwiches with a fantastic view!

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