Cathy and Jon’s wedding brought us to Baltimore, Maryland although it didn’t seem so much like Baltimore at times.   When the couple met each other for the first time that day it felt more like an exotic place, somewhere Europe-y, somewhere like Rome…

Their ceremony and reception was held in the George Peabody Library in the Peabody Conservatory, a.k.a. the Cathedral of Books.  Breath taking, I couldn’t figure out why it seemed so familiar until a rerun of Ghostbusters on cable later that week.  Given that we reference the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man on the daily in this household now that our 3 year old is walking out the door in a size 5 winter jacket, I’m surprised I didn’t remember the scene sooner.  Unfortunately a Google search just informed me that I am dead wrong about the movie location but I just can’t bring myself to take back the reference.

There were so many things that made this wedding stand out.  Gorgeous couple, location and flowers, of course, but we were especially touched by the way that Cathy and Jon wove threads of their Chinese and Jewish heritage into a truly unique wedding ceremony.

Then there was Rocky.  We never got the back story but this squirrel can party like its 1999:

Is “amazeballs” an appropriate word to use to describe a wedding?  Check out the slideshow and decide for yourself.  And if you would like to receive an email when the full gallery is available for viewing, click here.  Until then, amazeballs has my vote.

Posted by Mel @ 9:09 pm, in Weddings | No comments | Permalink

There is so much to take in.

So much has happened in this past week or so in our lives.  There have been hurricanes, loss, surgeries, elections, recoveries, and new hope.  Life changing technology sits unopened in a box on my kitchen counter.  Early this morning I sat at the edge of my son’s bed with a cup of coffee in my hand and the fog of this week in my head.  I just sat there and soaked up the peace on his sleeping face.  It took a few moments to get my fill before clearing my throat and crowing “COCK-a-doodle-DOO!!!!”  Instead of thrashing and screaming “nooooooo!”, a form of protest he inherited from two parents who don’t care for roosters either, he just looked at me with wide eyes.  He was completely still and he said, “I wondered when you would come.”

My mother clicks her tongue and begs me to get off the computer and lay down, fearing I will get too sore if I sit up for too long but she knows I am pig headed.  I need to continue editing so that I can peek at the small miracles revealed in photos.  Its a healing exercise.  I see the complexities and joys of our life mirrored in the relationships within the families I shoot.  The pile of posts continues to grow with each passing day but I know that I will be able to share these stories in a more profound way if I take the time to sort through all these happenings and find the connections.

Please pardon my pause until then.  Keep emailing me, keep calling me, I am still here, I get better every day and continue to fall deeply in love with all things light and lens.

Posted by Mel @ 3:18 pm, in Uncategorized | No comments | Permalink

You know what they say… life is what happens when you are busy making other plans.  Apparently, the same can be said about photography as well since this is the shot I was trying to take:

And this is the shot that happened instead, right behind me:

Which only prompted the shots that followed:

That’s where the serendipity that I have loved to glean from weddings has followed me into the realm of family lifestyle photography.  Well, for lack of a better categorical name, I’m still trying to give a good name to whatever it is that I think I’m doing these days.

Because family portraiture generally isn’t inclusive of the spontaneous entrance of a Trader Joe’s armor clad warrior:

This was my first shoot with James and William’s family but Jennifer and Wynn trusted me completely.  No mother plans on having pictures taken in her five year old, Lego maniac of a little boy’s room.  Let’s be honest, a tidy boy’s room would be worrisome but we don’t have to draw attention to the reality, do we?  Um, can we?  And that’s where Jennifer rocks, she let me take pictures in the kingdom of James.  I could see her cringing as I drew open the curtains to let in the light and the result was a powerful ruler reminiscent of Max from Where the Wild Things Are…  He was James, king of the Lego Things.

Of course I had to dig on brotherly love and bubbly toes…

In short, I was loving on the family love.  Here’s a slideshow from our day and click here to see their gallery.   I am actually so behind on the blog that I have already had another wonderful shoot with this family that I can’t wait to edit and share, hang in there for some fall goodness with this crew coming soon!

Posted by Mel @ 3:28 pm, in Portraits, Wee Ones | No comments | Permalink

The grocery store is on the way home from preschool and since we carpool, I took both Fiver and my niece Jordan with me to pick up a few things.  They managed to cram both their little butts into the front seat of a Kroger grocery cart car and proceeded to shout out driving directions at one another like an old married couple.  ”Let’s take 95!”, yelled Jordan.  ”There’s too much traffic”, my son rebutted.  I asked if they could take a left on Broad (the condiment aisle) so that I could pick up some mayo.  (Dukes, of course.)  We were having a blast with it and a shopper walking towards us smiled as I threw my weight into the careening cart of giggles, pushing it out of her general trajectory .  ”You have a beautiful family”, she told me.  I thanked her and agreed that indeed I was blessed.  I didn’t bother to correct her, what she saw was true.

I sometimes wonder if I would see my two nieces differently if I didn’t have one child and secondary infertility.  We’re just not sure that a sibling is in the cards so each time that I look at Jordan and Reyna I see not only two beautiful little girls but the foundations of the women who will be there for my son when Sam and I are gone.  They are his family now and, maybe more importantly, going forward.  Something about that knowledge makes me hold them both a little tighter in my arms.  They are not mine per se, they are blessed with wonderful mothers of their own and don’t need another.  But I have come to see them as a special gift not only to their own parents but to myself, specifically.  I was there the day both these girls were born, I was actually in the room at the moment Jordan came into the world and it transformed me forever.  I know that there’s something special about being an aunt, that there are things they will confide in me in years to come that they won’t tell their own mothers.  I look forward to holding that place in their hearts.

But for now, I am thoroughly enjoying the simplicity of our relationships.  We share a love of cuddles, laughing, and all things sparkly.  Thankfully boys don’t have cooties yet.  Its pretty awesome.  On Saturday I got to spend time with both my nieces in very different ways.  We started the day at the National Zoo where the older cousins whipped up a couple of manes out of construction paper and plates.  Painted faces completed their transformation into lion and lioness.  Fierce!

They tried scaring the lions with their roars but much to their shared disappointment, it didn’t generate much response from the den.

There was too much to see at the zoo.  The Reptile House was more popular than anyone expected at this age and Fiver had to be coaxed into the Ape House because he thought it was too stinky.  We barely made it to the sea lions before two very sleepy cubs had to be carried out of the park.

After lunch I left the Worthington clan to head over to Reyna’s house, I can’t believe we’re closing in on a year.  As she posed for me on the bed in her ruffled bloomers and fashionable beret I couldn’t help but sing my own special Reyna version of Don’t Cha, changing the lyrics to, “Don’t cha wish your baby was cute like me?  Don’t cha wish your baby had chub like me?”  Reyna looked at me like I had lost my mind and my sister laughed at the both of us.

Oh, how I cherish the chub…

I loved watching Reyna and her parents play.  Katy pleaded and pleaded for a kiss… boose?….boose?   Denied like an insurance claim.

Truth be told, the last thing I want to do on my days “off” is hold a camera up to my eyeballs.  I hate the way it hangs heavily on my neck like an anvil on a strap, getting in the way of joys like holding Reyna, chasing my son, tickling Jordan into a fit.  I think it was worth it on Saturday, though.  I’m trying to let go of the pressure to take perfect pictures because we’re not perfect people living in perfect circumstances.  Simply, I need to see the beauty amidst the chaos, the gods and goddesses that live in details like curly baby hair, and the love we have for the people we live our lives for now.  Pictures can be about gratitude and I figure I could use a healthy dose of that myself.  So here it is, my Saturday, my gratitude, my cubs.

Posted by Mel @ 12:49 pm, in Portraits, Wee Ones | No comments | Permalink