Getting our hair & makeup ‘did at Salon:Re.  I remember being sooo tired because I was up all night catching up with Michelle & Adrienne, my friends since middle school!  Totally worth it though – as soon as the ceremony started I was too overwhelmed with activity and happiness to ever notice I was tired

I’m so glad that we booked my former co-worker Amanda to capture our memories:  I can’t tell you how much time I spend re-living our big day through these beautiful images.  We didn’t even think about how well our colors would go with GVSU’s orange buildings — not to mention how lucky we were to get blue skies in autumn!  I couldn’t have asked for more comfortable weather.

I could go on and on about our wedding trip home… it was so great that I’ve been in a bit of a mental funk since returning to WA.  So, to get myself motivated, I decided to start entering photography shows again.  I was fortunate enough to be juried into Glazers Camera’s Holga Competition for the second year in a row!  Last time they had four different categories – but this time it was narrowed down to just portraits.  So when I planned to visit Kelly on our drive between southern & northern MI, I knew I just had to get her to pose for a few frames!  I’m so pleased that I did, because this image got my very first honorable mention:

There was a closing event at Glazers, and I got to meet one of the jurors Michelle Bates, and get an autographed copy of her book!  It felt really good that a few of my newer Seattle friends came out to support me – and even a friend from GVSU who also lives out here!  City of transplants

I was just notified that another photography show I entered, Shadows & Reflections, has accepted three of my entries!  I think that’s a new personal record for me, beating Edmonds Art Fest in 2010, in which I had two entries selected  This show is curated by June Sekiguchi, and will take place in February-June at University House Wallingford.  That’s right – it’s at a senior living center.  I loved reading this article about how retirement community art exhibits are quickly growing in popularity!  I can’t wait to see how other artists interpreted the theme.  Here are the pieces I had accepted:

The first two should look familiar if you follow my blog (I seriously thought I took those a couple months ago, not over a year ago…), and the third one if you follow me on flickr (sorry I’ve been neglecting you).

So there you have it:  how I’ve been occupying my time for the last three months.  Don’t worry – I’ve got plenty of new projects in the works, including:

• Promo shots for Bleeding at Dawn while I’m home for Christmas
• Hanging photos up for sale at Lah Lah’s Pre-Loved Clothing (new store run by three of my favorite Petoskey women)
• Blazing through a refrigerator full of expired film that was so kindly donated!

Hope all of my readers had an excellent holiday.  I was fortunate enough to get to return to Michigan to see both my family and Joel’s family, and several friends for New Years in Grand Rapids.  We also got a lot of our own wedding planning done while we were there!  Joel’s brother Bret came back with us for a visit – I love having guests because it’s a good excuse to visit all of our favorite places in Seattle.  Incase you ever wonder, Ray’s is the greatest restaurant in town.  That’s right folks… after a year and a half of living here, I officially like seafood.

It’s back to the daily life now, working at the lab and playing with the Holga.  We also got a Kinect which is crazy fun.

So today I got a little package in the mail from Mr. Gendron:  Partly business (tax season… boo), mostly fun — the images I shot the last time I assisted for him.

This wedding was particularly memorable for me:  it was in my favorite neighborhood (Capitol Hill) at a beautiful, historic venue, and the bride went to the same college as me!  It was kind of shocking because we didn’t know this until I asked about someone’s Detroit Tigers shirt )

Kyle and Jackie were a lot of fun to spend the day with & photograph.  I had a very hard time narrowing down these images.  The thing about wedding photos is that they should tell a story, and the day was so eventful!  Enjoy:

The following pieces were created by Ashleigh Sedick from all recycled materials.  The iconic Calder statue in downtown Grand Rapids made for a colorful contrasting backdrop.  Thanks to our model Hilary Koster (whose own artwork I discuss next) for sticking it out through the cold evening!