Happy International Women’s Day!

In honor of the 100th anniversary of Women’s Day, I thought I would re-post an article I linked to a while back about Gender Disparities in the Design Field.

At WPPI, I got to attend the “Contemporary Women in Photography” panel.  It was amazing, so many wonderful and powerful and talented women: Lindsay Adler, Jules Bianchi, Joy Bianchi Brown, Jessica Claire, Kay Eskridge, Catherine Hall, Sarah Petty, Dawn Shields and Jasmine Star.

It’s important, as women, to surround ourselves with strong role-models and mentors.  To be strong in who we are as a person.  To believe in ourselves.  To love ourselves.  To know our limits.  Most important though, is to help each other.  If we are too busy back-stabbing and cat fighting each other, we can’t do what is needed.  I truly believe that if we were able to support instead of hurt, we would have had a female Supreme Court Justice before 1981, a CEO of a Fortune 500 company before 1972, admitted to the bar before 1869, the first mayor in 1887.  We can do almost everything that men can, we just have to work a little bit harder at some things.

I’m proud to be a woman.  To be the only daughter of an only daughter of an only daughter, with a daughter of my own.  I hope that when my daughter gets to be my age, the list of women’s firsts that are still to come will be much smaller.  In fact, I hope that we no longer will need to have an International Women’s Day, because it would mean that the gender differences are not needed to be remarked upon.

 

iHeart Faces – Best From January

 

Being able to capture a moment of reality.  A moment of truth is glorious.  It’s easy to see why some cultures thought of photography as taboo for fear of having their souls captured.  I think a piece of it is captured in a good photo.

View more images at iHeart Faces today!

Wuv, Twu Wuv :: Forest Grove, Oregon Engagement Photographer

This couple was so much fun to shoot.  It helps that they are my cousin and her fiance, but that only contributed to my knowing them, not the joy from this day.

We had SO much fun! I wish I could shoot them every day!

Her dad is a retired firefighter, which means we had to play at the fire department!  They were up for anything!

And one last one, my favorite from the whole day:

Thank you, Megan and Ethan for being such amazing models and being so much in love!  I cannot wait to meet with you on Sunday to show you the rest!

Wordless Wednesday – Family Love

My favorite picture from the a couple weekends ago.

4 Years Continued

Today marks the fourth anniversary of my marriage to my perfect match.  When I last left you, I had just left my boyfriend in Chicago to fly back to Disney.  I didn’t know what would happen next, but took solace in the fact that things would work out.  They had to.

The next month, in May, was his birthday.  Originally his mom was going to buy him tickets to see Dave Matthew’s Band in concert.  He asked her instead to pay for a plane ticket to come up and visit.  I was so excited.  Especially since the weekend that worked best ended up being the same one that my parents were visiting my dad’s Air Force buddies in Minnesota.  I could have them meet the man I loved!  It was perfect!

Our plan was this: I would fly into Chicago where we would then drive to Minnesota, visit with my parents and stay a full day, then drive back to Indiana the next morning to meet his mom, her boyfriend and his sister, before taking me back to Chicago to fly back to Florida.  It would be busy and crazy, but totally worth it.

I knew at some point during that weekend, he would propose.  He wouldn’t tell me when, but since we would be meeting my parents, he would get the chance to ask for my hand from my dad.

It didn’t quite work out that way.

My plane was late.  Mr. Soup came driving into Chicago and ended up having to wait for almost 6 hours before I arrived.

If you’ve ever been in the Chicago Midway airport, you’ll know that there is a long lane before you get to where you can meet visitors.  Walking down that was the longest trip I had ever had.  I could see him.  It had only been a couple weeks, but all I wanted was to be in his arms.  I wanted to run, but was too tired.  Finally though, I made it.  Wrapped in his arms, I was home.

After that great hug, he pulled me to the side and said he had something to give me.  He handed me a card.  While I was reading it, I noticed a strange lady popping in and out from around the corner but just thought it was some crazy lady and got back to reading.  It was filled with amazing thoughts and words.  I went to hug him thanks, and he got down on his knee.  He proposed to me right there in the airport, on almost the exact spot where we had had our first kiss.

The crazy lady?

She was taking pictures.  She was someone he had just met who was waiting for her son and Mr. Soup asked her to take pictures while he proposed to his girlfriend.

Non-chalantly giving me a card.

Reaching for the ring as I try to hug him in thanks.

First Kiss as an Engaged Couple!

How many of you have photos of your proposal?