The concept behind Dreaming in Blue began nearly a year ago as I stood on the board walk at Cannon Beach watching a bride and groom share the first moments of their wedding at a first look. He was brought to tears as he saw his soon-to-be bride and I knew, watching them, that their life was full of possibility. And yet I couldn’t help but flash back to a hospital room I had visited earlier that week as I captured a family’s last moments together before they said goodbye to their precious but very ill child.
The juxtaposition of the two situations was so stark: one with their lives and dreams just beginning, one with every dream coming to an end. And at that moment, a dream of my own was born. I have long believed in using one’s creative and professional capacity to bless the lives of others and in bringing together the community to do good. A dream wedding giveaway was something that I had planned for our studio. But in that moment, I realized that it could be more than just a wish come true for two very lucky people. Through that giveaway we could also touch countless other lives by tying the event to the Children’s Cancer Association.
What began as a dream for me will soon become an event of a lifetime involving over 20 of Portland’s finest wedding professionals. But before that can happen, we need to find our bride and groom! Over the next month, Dreaming in Blue will be taking submissions. To be considered, couples must have some compelling aspect to their courtship and be deserving on some level. So send us your stories and get ready to vote!
I recently took a trip down to Utah to visit family and while I was there, I had a chance to do a portrait session with Lily and Beck. Their mom has been following our work for quite some time and we were so excited to be in the same place at the same time! Lily and Beck are twins, and if you’ve been reading our blog for a while, you know that I adore twins. There’s just something about that kinship that I can’t quite put my finger on but love to capture. Like most twins, Lily and Beck are supremely different people. She has quite the mind of her own and he’s pretty willing to go with the flow. In fact, he took a face plant in the mud part-way through the session, but with a little encouragement from his mom, he was back on his feet and running! I had such a great time with them and can’t wait until we get to meet again.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
We all think our families are adorable… beautiful… gorgeous even. But have you ever been walking through a grocery store and had someone stop you and say, “Wow, your baby is so cute!” It’s an amazing thing to have someone tell you just how beautiful you are.
Now, imagine the chance to be known as “the cutest family in Portland, Oregon”? Or even better, “the cutest family in North America”?
RLPStudios is participating with photographers throughout the country in the 2nd annual International Charity Model Search to find the cutest family– and we would love to have it be YOURS. From now through the end of March, we’ll be featuring special Mini Spot™ sessions, which will include an hour of location or studio time with one of our photographers, a $25 credit for an art print from your session, and of course, entrance into the contest. Once your photo has been posted you’ll want to tell everyone you know to vote for your family. And each vote is just $1, with all proceeds benefitting Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep, a charity close to our hearts.
Contact the studio today to book your spot… and tell your friends and family to get ready to vote!
Thursday, February 18, 2010
I am in love with George. There, I said it. He is just so adorable that I seriously just want to kiss him. He’s such an adorable baby, and so content and happy with every moment, that photographing him is a dream. We played in our studio this time and had such a great session. We’ve recently introduced a new line of wooden toys into our baby sessions and he loved playing with the blocky stacking toys that I brought out for him. We played patty-cake and peek-a-boo. And then I got out a super soft rug that we had and I thought he was going to die of happiness patting it. He’s just such a love. I can’t wait to capture him again and again as he grows in our Beginnings™ series!
Sunday, February 14, 2010
You know that old adage about cobblers and their shoes? We take a lot of photos of our daughter. A lot. Maybe too many. But most of them are taken on the fly whilst living our life. They end up on our hard drives and never see the light of day. The other day we were out running errands and we stopped at one of our favorite pubs for lunch. She was being particularly adorable, and looking particularly adorable, and so I decided to give a photo shoot with my own child a go. She’s been raised around the camera; she is often impervious to it and any direction by me. But that day she was a doll. And so here she is, at last, for all the world to see– or at least the little corner that follows our life and love.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
I’ve been a fan of Stacey Lynn for, well, at least as long as she’s been on the 105.1 Morning Buzz with Nelson and Terry. She always seemed like a doll and when I met her last year, I was thrilled to discover that she really IS that sweet. She’s the genuine article. And a week ago, I got the chance to see that up close and personal as we followed her family around during one of our One Fine Day™ sessions. She and her husband, Tim, have three insanely wonderful and crazy boys, and we got to be with them at their most real moments, which is our specialty. The RLP style is all about capturing emotion and connection and our One Fine Day™ sessions are the perfect medium for showing life and love through the perfect lens of that realness. The moments are simple: lunch around the table together; reading a favorite story; playing Rock Band; the boys doing their favorite things, all displaying their little quirks and personalities. But we know that all of those moments, in their entirety, are what make up the fabric of their family story.
Stacey in the studio, where her days begin earlier than I can imagine.
And then she’s back at home, where her day really begins.
With three boys the movement is constant– that day they headed to an indoor play park.
And just like any family, just getting out the door is half of the fun.
Grif gets a little bit of solo time while the twins take a nap.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
We’ve known and adored Tara for a long time. She is the catering and event coordinator at the beautiful Oregon Golf Club in West Linn and we’ve loved working with her. So when she and Todd became engaged, we were thrilled that they wanted us to capture their day. Their story has been wonderful to watch progress, especially with regard to their children (they have five between them), who were just as thrilled as Todd and Tara to be joining their lives together. In fact, one of my favorite parts of their day was listening to the toasts that the kids gave to them, welcoming them into their respective families, and then the first family dance that followed.
Probably the most amazing part of the day, though, was the weather! It was a beautiful, clear day, which is somewhat unique in Oregon, and so we were able to go out onto the course to really showcase the beautiful grounds. To be safe, their ceremony was in the foyer of the club which Tara had transformed (with the help of Elizabeth from West Coast Event Productions) into a gorgeous space resplendent with silver chairs and beautiful lights. After the ceremony, they moved into the club’s amazing tent, which is really more of a banquet hall. Guests mingled in a lounge area and enjoyed hors d’oeuvres and drinks from a barista until Tara and Todd’s entrance (which included, of course, their kids in grand NBA-style); then they moved into the main area of the tent to enjoy the rest of the party. It was such a fun, relaxed, convivial event, full of people who loved them, and it was so obvious how thrilled they were to finally be together. Congrats, Tara and Todd! We hope you enjoy your sneak peek!
Tara’s maid of honor was her daughter (the only girl in the gang) and her nieces made adorable flower girls.
Kay from Flowers for You did all of the beautiful floral components, including Tara’s gorgeous bouquet of white roses and crystals.
The cakes from Sweet Cakes were so simple and elegant– and tasty (or so I heard…)
I think that names say a lot about a person. If you have a super cute name, full of personality, how can one not be fun? Well, Olive certainly proves my point. She was fun all around within about thirty seconds of walking in the door! This time of year the weather doesn’t always cooperate with our schemes to go out into the neighborhoods of Portland. But that’s ok because our industrial chic studio is always at the ready! Our studio portrait sessions are still fun and whimsical and focused on the moments. We played around with lots of different backdrops and had Olive dancing, twirling, and generally being her adorable little self. We can’t wait to see you again, Olive!
Posted in Little Sprouts™, Portraits: Children and Babies | Tags: childrens portraiture, cute kids, family studio photography portland, lifestyle photographers, lifestyle photography, northwest industrial, portland oregon photographers, portland oregon portraits, Reversed Lens Photography, studio photography
Thursday, January 7, 2010
The last few months have been a pretty insane time at Reversed Lens Photography. We had an amazing time creating beautiful art and holiday greetings for our clients, and then took some much deserved time off. But we got back in the studio this week and are already ready to roll out some exciting new things for 2010. We can’t wait to share them with you! Coming in the next few weeks will be some of the sessions from the fall that haven’t made it into the mix yet, a recap of the wedding season, and something reallly, REALLY exciting. So keep reading. It’ll be worth it.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Sometimes I feel like meeting new clients is like playing that old game where you used Kevin Bacon’s name and tried to see if you could find a way in which you were connected to him. We meet clients through clients and then realize that there are connections in other ways too, and then we meet clients through them, and on and on it goes. So it is with the McClellans. We met Nicole at a wedding earlier this summer; she worked with the bride, who we’d met at a street fair two years ago but we also knew her fiancee become husband because he’s the customer service manager for our bank. It’s weird, I tell you. Nicole loved our work and had heard amazing things from Emily (her words, not mine) and we immediately set to finding a time to photograph her and her darling family. And they were darling in every way possible. Their girls are both adorable and cute and funny and playful and by the end of the session I just wanted to kiss them. I hope you have the same reaction!
Posted in Growing Series™, Portraits, Portraits: Family | Tags: childrens portraiture, fall photos, Growing Series™, holiday cards, holiday portraits, lifestyle photographers, lifestyle photography, Little Sprouts™, portland oregon child photographers, portland oregon family portraits, portland oregon family portraiture, portland oregon photographers, Reversed Lens Photography
by Emma
show hide 1 comment
add a comment link to this post email a friend