A couple days before our session Laurel and I talked on the phone and she asked me what we did in case of rain and I simply said “well! Mostly we just embrace it!” On the day of our session nature decided to test us and threw us CRAZY rain and INSANE wind. I was so impressed and thankful for how much Laurel and Paul did, indeed, totally embrace it and how they insisted that we grab the umbrellas and go down by the water.

Natalie was the sweetest little lady, with the most gorgeous blue eyes. She also thought Scott was HILARIOUS (she’s right).

You can see the full session over on our proofing site.

It’s always interesting to do sessions for different families and catch a little glimpse of their lives and their connections together. Little Owen was so curious and you could see him processing everything as he was looking around the massive library and playing in the kid’s area. Nothing was more fascinating to him, though, than watching the elevators through the glass enclosure and it was kind of magical to be able to watch him see that for the first time.

The other thing that I took away from this session is the love and connection between Lisa and Daniel. A lot of times I think it’s easy to get caught up in what your child is doing, and in their life, that the relationship between couples can slide to the back burner. It was inspiring to watch Lisa and Daniel show so much love to Owen while maintaining a strong connection between each other.

Rachelle and James are adorable and have so much fun together, which made for a perfect session for Scott and I because everyone knows we’re totally ridiculous. They scouted out some perfect locations for us and were willing to climb trees and roll around on the ground; dream clients!

To view James + Rachelle’s entire Seattle engagement session, view the slideshow here!

Proofs and ordering available here.

Not so much. Album Leaf set up and I saw all of these LED light strips attached to their microphone stands. I figured this could either be really good for shooting or REALLY BAD. Turns out it was the latter. Kind of. The entire set, except for the last song, was lit solely with those LED strips and a projector pointed towards the band. SUPER dark. SUPER inconsistent. SUPER tricky.

This is where I think you have one of two options. You can either freak out and tell your editor that it was almost impossible to shoot because there was no light, which was actually pretty valid, or you can expand your default and jump out of your comfort zone. I got nervous for about 4 seconds, and then I got SO EXCITED.

Life is a lesson.

Photographers note . the venue was pretty dark for this show and most of the lights were red (our favorite, right?). I shot mostly in black+white straight out of the camera and stayed between 2500-3200 ISO all night. Minneapolis photographers: think old Turf Club red with Entry dark.

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The Classic Crime spent some time in Haiti a few months before the earthquake and it’s apparent how much that trip affected them. They played a great video at the benefit highlighting their time in Haiti, which you can see on their facebook page. They’re also releasing an album in April, but they’re taking preorders right now, and all of the profits from the preorders are going directly to Haiti. You can preorder at Tooth ‘N’ Nail.