Madison's own talented Anna Vogelzang has moved with her husband to L.A and continues making music on the Sunny side. When I was in L.A a few weeks back we did a little update photoshoot to represent her new creative space, we spent the day in their home studio as well as walking around their Highland Park neighborhood.  

  I feel strongly about the the importance of human connection and my photography - I feel if you have a difficult time connecting with the person holding the camera, you will see it in the image, in the face and the body language. I want the people in front of my lens to forget about the camera and just hang out with me. With Mathias and Kiley this came easy, for we have a friendship to fall on, so when we decided to make this session about hanging out, building a fire, drinking some beer and in-between and during all that documenting the process, allowing moments to happen naturally instead of forced. I am so excited for these two, their love is ridiculous -- the first few times I hung out with these two together, I felt like they were never not be each others side, and to me, that is the best way to be with your partner.

You two have already started your life together, you have started this great adventure years ago and now you two are going to celebrate such a wonderful love.

A couple weekends ago I flew out to Massachusetts where I then hopped in a car full of instruments and musicians and drove to a coastal town called Westport. We showed up at sunset to this beautiful home, I could have just stayed there - beautiful woodwork, wonderful lighting, 3 fireplaces and a mile walk from the ocean -- a photographers heaven. I spent the whole weekend at this house with Hillary Reynolds and her talented band (along with the ever amazing Violet from LA who did hair and make up and haircuts for all!) we cooked meals together, built fires, played music and drank wine and I documented the whole weekend. The Hillary Reynolds Band is currently working on their second full length and wanted photographs of them in a place where they often come to write, rehearse and just get out to the city and relax, here is a collection of the images that I captured during my weekend with them.

While I was in San Francisco last month, I met up with Kat who makes lovely jewelry (she is wearing her own necklaces in these images) and works for Rue Magazine  and did some new head shots since she cut off all of her hair - and looks fabulous.

I did a shoot with the lovely Sandra the other week - the lighting was perfect and we had a lovely time. Styled by Chloe Helland.

Enjoy.

This week on Ethiopia Monday I have a collection of images of the staff at the Take Root center. They all were incredibly dedicated, treated us like family and made us feel very welcome.  We worked with them at the center and had lunch every day over at Genet's house - always amazing and always made me eat way more than I needed to.

I met the Hillary Reynolds Band before their show for Mile of Music Festival in Appleton, Wi this last weekend for a photo shoot in a cornfield. I have done several shoots with Hillary but this was the first time I was able to meet the band,  they are quite lovely. Check out their music and see their tour dates to see if they are playing near you!

Last Monday I got together with Mike and Kate who live in Philadelphia but were in Wisconsin just for a few days to get some wedding planning done. We met in Milwaukee in the Third Ward and finished our shoot in the fog by the lake, it was quite magical. These two are lovely and were so much fun to work with, they truly are best friends and I can't wait for their wedding next May.

Madison, Wi is where I decided to live, and I couldn't be more happy with my city, my job and my community. I sit drinking my Monday morning coffee and reflect on my weekend of photo shoots and the community I surround myself with and I feel truly blessed. One of the biggest reasons why I love what I do is the variety of work that I can do with my collection of cameras- one day I do a fashion shoot, the next day I am documenting two of my best friends getting married  to a Sunday with a family at the park, catching up and documenting their ridiculously cute child. Here are a few photographs from those three shoots: black & white look book - Styled by the lovely Char

Katie and Maia got married this weekend, a small backyard wedding with a guest list of 17 - service was done by my wonderful boyfriend followed by an amazing dinner and bonfire:

Jessica and Joseph were my neighbors back in my college days- we would spend many late nights on the porch listening to records that would end in a dance party, I remember when joey proposed, i remember their lovely wedding day and now, years later they have a little girl that I get spend time with and document her life .

Monday marked 35 years of marriage for my wonderful Parents and I happened to be in my hometown that day and they agreed to do a little shoot with me. My Parents and I just walked down to the park near their home called Alicia Park which was a gift to the city of Appleton from Alexander Reid in memory of his wife, Alice Conkey Reid back in 1910. A beautiful park and a perfect place to document two people as so in love.

While I was in San Francisco I was asked to take photographs of the talented and wonderful Maia, who is the Art Director of Rue Magazine, a talented graphic designer and she runs a blog. I've known Maia for years and it was such a great time getting together to create images.

I recently went to San Francisco for some photo shoots and to visit some dear friends. This is Meg, she is lovely and you will be seeing her many times on my blog - the first thing we did when I landed was sit on her rooftop - a place I wish I could be now.

A sneak peek from a shoot I did in San Francisco.

I find I get emailed for weddings and engagements almost daily, but there is something about getting to photograph one person, as they are. I enjoy spending the afternoon with them, getting to know them and trying to get their true selves out in front of my camera. Now with Hallah, we know each other - so getting her to be her with me was easy, since the friendship was built before we began our shoot. Hallah is a beautiful girl with an amazing laugh and an even amazing smile - she was a joy to work with and just an all around beauty.