It's the Little Things...

Choosing where to travel first involves things like budget & timing. I love love love to travel. Somewhere in me is an explorer that gets to get a breath of fresh air from time to time. There are so many places I want to go, but each summer I end up in the same place. Why? Family. How does one choose between the love of family & the desire to explore? I face that choice each year as I plan the summer for my son & me (my husband does not like to travel).

This year the decision was a no brainer. My mom is turning 80 in September. We never give her a party because it's not in the summer when the family can get together. My twin had the bright idea this year to give mom an "Almost 80" party. We celebrated last month, when the family could all get together.

The trick each year as I repeat the same travel destination (thank God I love the place!) is to find ways to work in the explorer's desires with the same family trip. This year I chose to take my son whale watching (see previous post).

Some time after I lost my oldest daughter, our family gathered, everyone's children in tow, etc... & one of my brothers joyfully announced "WOW! What a rare thing to have everyone together at one time!" My heart sank. No, it plummeted to the depths of hell. I quickly said "Not everyone is here." then I had to leave the room for a moment. I did not want to ruin his joy, but the fact was that NOT everyone was there. My daughter was gone & would never be in another family photo, or our arms again. We would NEVER have the whole family together again, & I seemed to be the only one who realized that. In a family of 7, each with their own, one tiny person can be forgotten easily enough. It's the little things.

Time spent with many of my family members, cousins included, is ALWAYS fun & exciting, even in the down times. It's in the little things that we find our joys. This post is to remind us all how to find those little things & celebrate them, because nothing is perfect, nothing is pure, except the love God has for us. That love is shown in the little things & if you look you can see them everywhere.

Here is just some of what I found on this trip....

My new blouse from Cory, he only paid a $1!!!!

My mom's decor, & Wren, my nephew, feeling comfortable enough to grab my camera & shoot pictures. I love his eye. Did I mention he's an FX film & video creator in LA?

He got this shot too: my brother David (D1) with my son David (D2).

New additions to the family. Meet Jenna, Wren's fiancé!

Do I need to explain?

That moment when texture hits lighting over a great model, my twin, Marie.

Wren with my camera again. ...and hammocks with quilts on them. Gotta love it!

Getting to see my nieces & nephews all grown up. For a twice bereaved parent like me, that is really something to celebrate!

Pictures in pictures.

My oldest brother, Steve, bonding with my son.

Color, Contrast, & Perspective!

Cory, former student of mine & now best friend, becoming part of my family. OK, as a teacher this is more than a little thing, but it's the little things that got us where we are.

Flowers. Cheap flowers.

Again with the color, contrast, & perspective. You never know as you walk along a street, thinking you are done with the errand, what little thing will catch your eye!

'nuf said.

Humor, truth, & beauty where you least expect it. Two previous shots of this guy w/out my twin, and she jumped in & he lit up like the sun!

Too many little things to mention. I love this shot! What little things do you see in it that bring you joy?

Fresh salmon, not that stinky stuff shipped to Texas that we say is fresh.

Story time.

More story time.

Lone Star beer, not sold in Washington, but yet there it is ;)

The fact that the only person smiling for me has pink hair. Love it!

Dinner in the orchard. ...and more story time.

Pretty little things.

Comparing notes on their twin spouses?

In the words of Marie, this shot is proof that my husband, Nick, actually made this trip! Little things can represent big things.

Fun labels

Spontaneous moments that grow.

The little things.

The definition of Family...

OK, so I keep doing this, letting life pass me by too fast! Now all of the sudden I have nearly 4 months of blogging to do! I've been so busy shooting sessions, closing out the school year, and going on my annual trek to the great pacific northwest.

So, where do I begin to catch up??? I'll just do it randomly. Here are some highlights of a recent shoot with a family. FAMILY can be defined many different ways. While the core, traditional family has its place, the extended family, in this case Elizabeth's brother, can add great depth & value to the core group. Elizabeth's husband has this adorable pre-teen daughter he brought into their family as well. Cory was an amazing help as my assistant of course!

What do you do with your time?

Really? It's been over two months since I blogged? Where did the time go? In all honesty I have had enough down time to maintain my blog, but have had no inspiration. The house smells like a zoo & looks worse, the computers at work didn't want to work all the time, ...and other issues that brought me down. Two sinus infections later, & a bout with food poisoning, I am realizing that if Hellen Keller, could do it so can I. People survived the nazis because they fought every minute to hang on. I don't have any problems when I look at it that way. Since March I've had shows at work, shoots with clients, drama club car washes, family & friends in town, celebrated the successes of friends, and so much more. But celebrating the success of my son was the best!

Things were so busy the last week of school with my students that is was a week before I realized I had not opened my son's backpack. Among the projects & gifts from his teacher I found his report card! Oh yeah, I totally forgot to look for that when school ended. It was a great one too! He made me proud... his lowest grade was on "Completes Homework"... it's my job to help him with that but I was gone so much after school, working late at my own job, that I can't blame him. Despite my lack of support, he managed to keep above average in it though!

In April we celebrated Easter, hosted Joseph Kahn, a former JVHS theatre student (from before I began teaching there) as he came to speak to us about living the life of a big time film director, & our annual Broadway Revue, with guest Andrea Rivette & Chuck Wagner. They are such generous people, sharing so much wisdom, support, & even friendship with my students.

But first, the Easter celebration at home...

This is me. Working at my desk at school when Joseph was in town. My nephew, Wren, is also a filmer in LA. He came in town too. He shot this & others you see me in so I could actually get IN a shot or two! Check out his You Tube channel & tutorials on video editing. Thanks Wren!

Yep, that's a DETENTION movie t-shirt I'm wearing, & Joseph is wearing one too, only his has Josh Hutcherson on it. This is Joseph's latest film.

We had a great dinner full of stories & laughter with Joseph's former teachers & friends. You might recognize the two guys in the back. They were the opposing coaches in Joseph's U2 video "Stuck in a Moment".

The Broadway revue started with a week of rehearsal... we always need more than we get!

 

Look at these cookies! The booster club parents had them made for the reception after the show! AMAZING! It's a shot of Chuck & Andrea in their Jekyll & Hyde characters from the Broadway tour they did together!We also had our annual sword fight training with the guys from ARMA. These guys are the BEST when it comes to historically accurate medieval & renaissance martial arts!

Check out this guy. I got a sweet afternoon shooting nature after a much needed rain shower.

 In the end of May we had sr. directed one-act plays and the annual Drama Banquet. The Parent Booster Club, the Backstage Players, transformed our little black box theater into a great banquet hall! We inducted former JV Players, Desmin Borges, into the JVHS Theatre Wall of Fame & heard some seriously funny stories from his years at JV - going commando in MacBeth, only to get kissed by a girl he liked right before his entrance for his death scene, was a great laugh!

One senior directed Rosencrantz & Gildenstern are dead...

Another senior directed The Frogs. You can't imagine how thrilled I was when this "Skater dude" walked into my office and asked if a Greek comedy would be ok to do for his show!

 The JV Players awards banquet... Desmin's induction

Have you ever taken your car to a drama club car wash? You will get serenaded with Broadway musical numbers while your car is getting washed!

I tried my hand at editing a shot into something fun... with the help of Wren who held D2 up there.

I also enjoyed shooting client sessions for families, parties, & graduating seniors this spring. Meet Sarah. She can ride a longboard in high heals!

Meet Ally, she loves all things Disney!

You might recognize these adorable girls, regular clients of mine.

I grew up with the Ellis family, though it's been years since I've seen some of them, I've photographed a couple in this group before. The sexy red head on the left has been a dear friend of mine for over 35 years!

Remember this great couple? I did their wedding 2 years ago & we finally got time to do a trash the dress shoot! They are a RIOT!

We bought furniture From Nana at Star Furniture & a year later she called me to shoot her baby shower! It's great to pick up clients where you don't expect it! Nana is an immigrant from eastern Europe, so these shots were the only way she was able to share her first pregnancy with her family over there. Talk about validation for lifestyle photographers!

Meet Joshua. Such a handsome graduate!

  

WELL, THIS IS RANDOM. My nephew, Wren made this for me. Origami! Speaking of Origami, I went to my first Comic Palooza. I saw lots of celebrities, & saw some amazing costumes! Check it out... oh, the origami too.

I shot new head shots for both Andrea & Desmin while they were in town, and also for Tyce Green, a former student, now successful actor & voice coach. He is an amazing person and such a loyal friend to those blessed to know him!

Meet Desmin! You might remember him from Mr. Popper's Penguins, or many other film/tv moments!

Meet Tyce... Tyce was a student as well, & he is acting and doing vocal coaching. Check the link here to see more on Tyce Green.

 And you know Andrea Rivette!

And through it all we enjoyed awesome food!

Now it's summer. We took D2 to his first ever big screen movie. He didn't even know movie theaters existed. We saw The Avengers in 3-D & he fell asleep 1/3 the way through, but he loved it anyway.

I got my first set of the new LOTR legos, which my son quickly put together. I have a great mother-in-law who spoils me!

It's time to arrange my son't birthday, enjoy the pool, work on the house, and at some point before school begins again visit my family in the Pacific N.W. I can't wait to eat fresh blueberries off the bush & camp in whatever mountain range my dad selects for us to get of the grid a few days!