“And I was sick with heartache. And she was sick like Audrey Hepburn when I met her. But we would both surrender. True love is not the kind of thing you should turn down. Don’t ever turn it down.” -Avett Brothers song lyrics to January Wedding.    

When Catherine from Fox in the Pine and I decided to collaborate on a Valentine’s Day inspired photo shoot, I knew it was going to be good!!! Catherine is pretty much the most creative person I know. She makes pretty things prettier and doesn’t hesitate when it comes to adding beautiful details to all occasions. Catherine’s talents and blog influenced both the location of the shoot and their clothing (aka she made her skirt!). As much as Valentine’s Day can feel commercial, what a great excuse to be extra romantic, extra sappy and extra nostalgic. I hope these images have the same affect on you as they do me…Love is grand. Now go run through the woods with your sweetie.

This family makes my heart happy! I had the opportunity to photograph little Bear when he was first born and I’ve decided he is one of the cutest kid ever. Even when he is not smiling…still aaadorable! I mean look at his little peacoat and shoes! It’s so nice when other family members come to support a photo session. We had Grandma helping to make Bear smile and also by giving us hand warmers. Good thing, since it was freezing! Not to mention she started singing LMAOF songs to get Bear to dance. Yes! Grandma for the win! Thanks Watson Family for being so stylish and sweet. Enjoy!

I love the snow. I really do! As a kid, our family vacations were usually ski trips and this began at the age of five. So basically since my first pair of Mickey Mouse skis, I’ve loved the white winter cover.

Hope you enjoy our morning walk as much as we did.

2012, here we come! I can hardly believe another year has gone by. I turned 27 this year, which feels oddly close to 30. I changed my photography business name to Poppi Photography from Goudey Photography. I took on twice as many photo jobs this year. I started a Facebook & a Twitter account for Poppi Photography. We moved out to Union, WA from Seattle, WA. I joined the Union Tourism Association. I started golfing again. Jared and I went on a real vacation, finally.

Really, the big news of 2011 is we bought a house! We move in the second week of January. I’m so grateful to all of the family, friends and clients who helped make this year a memorable one! Excited to see what’s next!

With that, I give you my last family session of 2011. The darling Hart family! A big thanks to Lizzie for scouting out this location. You’ll notice their cute dog, Sunny appearing in some of the photos. What gorgeous light we had!!

Poor Blog. I’ve been neglecting you! Time to play catch up!

Here are some of my favorite shots I took of the new dental office building for Peterson & Cammack Family Dentistry. Great physicians and staff!

When my friend Lizzie told me she wanted to take 6 month photos of Colton, I knew it was going to be a great shoot. Colton is such a wonderful baby!! And that dimple…sigh…I love me some dimples. Lizzie had lots of ideas and outfits for Colton and I was so impressed he kept that smile coming the whole time!

Photo tip from this shoot: Peek-A-Boo is a great way to get babies to smile! I was sitting on the floor and there was a curtain next to me and I used that to peek from behind. Obviously, I’m pretty funny looking.

Thanks again Lizzie!

I’m finally getting around to blogging this awesome family photo session from August. I met the Johnson family at church when Jared and I were first married. Their family has grown from two kiddies to three since we lived in Olympia. It was so fun to see how much the kids had changed since I last saw them.

I love adding elements to a photograph to tell the viewer a story. Such as, Sadie’s little buddy “Russell” and Connor’s rockstar drum sticks. Children’s interests change frequently and it’s fun to capture them as they are in that very moment. Sadie may not always keep “Russell” around but, she’ll always have a photo to remember how much she loved him then. And that my friends makes me happy. I have the best job. Thank you Johnson family!

Not all things in life go as planned, but sometimes you just have to go with it. When Brittany told me she wanted to take her family photos in Port Townsend at Fort Warden, it sounded like a perfect idea! Light house, beach, sunset…where could we go wrong? I was trying to think of a cute prop to take with us for their family photo shoot and I came up with the idea of a red kite. I watched three You Tube videos to figure out how to make one and thought it would be fun to photo document the process. Kite building 101…..

Here is the finished product!

I think it turned out pretty cute for having never made a kite before.

So, back to what I was talking about earlier…sometimes you just can’t plan for things….Such as SUPER winds and chilly weather. It was so warm and beautiful when we left and when we got to Fort Warden, that was not the case.

High winds and cool temperatures are not exactly the best conditions to photograph one-year-olds in. I felt so bad for their little twins because their teeth were chattering and their bodies were shaking. We did a super fast photo shoot and then let them warm up in the car. My poor little kite couldn’t handle the winds and the tail got tangled instantly, luckily I did snap a few of it in use before it died. The light couldn’t have been more beautiful though. There is always a silver lining in any situation and I absolutely love the sunset silhouette photos I took of Grant & Brittany. Even though we were all freezing and my kite didn’t work so well, it’s those photos that make it all worth it. Thanks Echols family for sticking it out! You now have your extreme weather photo shoot merit badge.

I’m SO excited about this post! Rendy Tucker, from Rendy Tucker Photography asked me to be her 2nd shooter for this wedding and OF COURSE, I said “YES!” It was so great getting to work with her and I can’t wait to photograph another wedding together. Alex and Trish are incredibly photogenic and I felt like we were photographing models, rather than an actual couple. Their love was so sweet and pure….just darling I tell you. The ring bearer however, stole my heart with matching brown bow tie, vest and shorts.

What I learned from this shoot is not to be afraid to try things and fail. We tried to hand her dress on a couple of different trees and it just didn’t look right. Never settle in your photography! Always try to make things as lovely as possible. With that being said, how cute is her hanger for her dress?!?!

Here are my favs…

Steve and Lauren were married in August at the Boise, Idaho LDS temple. On August 22nd, the groom’s family had an open house/reception for the newlyweds here in Olympia WA, at the Olympia Country & Golf Club. It was pouring down rain, but that didn’t stop us from taking some photos outside before the sun went down. Hallelujah for golf umbrellas! Steve & Lauren were so fun to photograph and I especially love the series of them with “cupcake googly eyes”. Thanks Steve & Lauren! You two are adorable!

Behind the Scenes: For this wedding the lighting was really dark in the banquet room. I had two flashes on two separate light stands with Pocket Wizard TT5 attached.  On top of my flashes I had Gary Fong Light Spheres. I also had the Mini TT1 Pocket Wizard attached to the hot shoe mount of my camera. I had an assistant (Tate Thomson) moving the light stands around the room as I shot. You can create various lighting effects as you move the lights either behind or in front of the subject. Play around with the positioning and have fun!