a year in the life | 2013

Two years ago, if you asked me what I thought of instagram, I would have scoffed, stuck my nose in the air, and dove head first into a rant about the sacred art of photography being blasphemed by whatever miscreant invented this most recent social media craze.

Now? I love, love, love instagram.

Allow me to explain.

I'm still just as passionate about the sacred art of photography, particularly when it comes to capturing life's incredible moments, oh, like the day you marry your best friend. Please, please, put down the iPhone. That's why we're there. We capture those memories for you, so you can remain immersed in your day, experiencing all the beauty it has to offer.

But for all those in between times? The times that are just as perfect, but maybe not quite as throw-a-party, have-some-cake monumental? Pull out that smartphone and snap away.

Drew and I really took advantage of instagram this past year. As a couple whose livelihoods depend on wielding a 500 pound camera, sometimes is wonderful to be able to keep that Canon in the bag. This allows us to simply capture our experiences, put the phone down, and continue to experience our experiences.

Don't get me wrong, we still pull out the big guns on important occasions. Some of the photos we took on our trip to Leavenworth are already displayed proudly on the wall. But I suppose that's the point. Just like anything in life, it's all about priorities. And timing. And chocolate.

During our glorious downtime over Christmas break, we decided to put together a little "year in review" book. We printed the book through artifact uprising, whose mantra is to celebrate the "disappearing beauty of the tangible". How funny that they boldly offer instagram books. Funny, but sort of perfect.

Happy weekending. I hope, whatever you do, you get some killer instagram pix.

physical goodness | bainbridge island wedding photographer

If you a) know me personally  b) have ever heard me talk about photography  c) have ever read this blog or  d) all of the above, you know that I'm constantly touting the goodness of that which is physical. No, I'm not talking about hugs and kisses, though those are nice, too. Before I start prattling on like an unbearable old gasbag, let me get straight to the point.

In 50 years, when you're showing your wedding photos to the grandkids, you're not going to plug in a USB drive/DVD/floppydisk/hypermagicstoragedrive into your computer and pull the images up. First off, computers probably won't exist as they do today. Second off, what fun is that?!

Oh yes, my point. Digital files are wonderful, but this has nothing to do with that. I unconditionally guarantee that at some point in your life, you will want to hold those beautiful wedding images in your hands. Not on an iPad, not on a laptop, not on a desktop dinosaur. The moment you see your photos "in real life", without the glow of a screen behind them, your experience, your perception of them will change. I promise. It did when I held our wedding photos in my hands. It does every time I hold a client's new album in my hands. It's sort of a chilly, giddy, teary, magical rainbow coloured unicorn sort of thing. Sounds crazy, but it's true.

This Friday, we're proud to be the featured artist at the local Bainbridge Island First Friday Artwalk. We'll be showing a little gallery of carefully curated wedding images, all in print form. Of course, I used this as an excuse to drop a dollar or two on a ton of new products, which I'm very excited to show a sneak peek of here.

If you're around the island this Friday from 6-8pm, stop by Prettystick Beauty and say hello!

tangible

Last week, Drew and I received our long-anticipated wedding album. All hand designed, fabric and photo covered, archival papered, gorgeous colored, 12-by-12 inches of it. The moment I got my hands on it, I flew into a brief, yet spastic, beyond-happy dance with intermittent squeals before eagerly ripping through the three layers of expertly wrapped packaging. There it was. It was gorgeous. And real. And ours.

We grabbed our teacups, snuggled together on a couch bathed in morning light and relived our wedding day. As we sat together, flipping transfixed through the pages, the emotions we felt were almost as raw as on they were on the wedding day, the colours just as bright, the memories reawakened in our minds...

I cannot begin to describe the difference between viewing images on a screen and experiencing them through print media. It is something akin to the difference between a 16 year-old's profile "pic" in which she poses in the bathroom, flaunting her best impression of a sexy fish and a fine art portrait, elegant, refined, poignant, carefully thought through. The tangibility of an album of images makes the viewer's experience infinitely more real than any collection of pixels on a headache-inducing screen could ever achieve.

While I appreciate the desire to share images and to have them easily accessible on numerous laptop and hand held devices, the beauty and enjoyment of photography should not stop there. Print media is not dead. It will never die, so long as we continue to hold dear all that it has to offer.

A special thanks to the beyond wonderful Johnson & Thomas Photographers who's love and support on our wedding day (and the days before) created both an experience and photos that we will never forget.

Speaking of wedding memories... I think it's important to go back from time to time, to relish the beauty of the day, the promises made, how far we've already come.