Oh my darling Nora, my dear little friend has turned 5! I have known this sweet girl since she was a baby, I would spend every Thursday afternoon with her and she became a subject in many of my photographs through the years and will continue to be so through her childhood. Nora is a big reason why photographing children is my favorite - no insecurities, no 'good side' just pure joy and true candids. When I get to spend an afternoon with her with my camera at my side, I feel like I can really document her - she doesn't have a pintrest board, she doesn't say 'can you photoshop out my (insert an insecurity), she just is, and I get to document her - and it makes me remember why I am and continue to work on being the best photographer I can be. I wish we could go back to the mindset of a 5 year old, get the pintrest mindset out, get rid of the insecurities and just be - so I hope this set of images from Nora's 5th princess themed birthday party helps awaken your 5 year old self.

A few weeks back  I stopped over in Fond Du Lac to spend an afternoon with the Trepanier crew to celebrate their lovely family and their parents, John and Lisa and their 40 years of marriage. A stylish and fun crew to capture the 3 generations and their life together as one beautiful family.

I met Mike & Kate on Skype over a year ago to get to know them as well as talk about their wedding, at the time they were both living and working in Philadelphia – Kate was working in Finance and Mike was in Fashion. After talking with these two, I felt so excited for their wedding, not only are these two sweet, beautiful and best friends but they have amazing taste. A few months after we Skyped, I met Kate & Mike in Milwaukee for their engagement session, I had so much fun wandering the city with them to capture their humor and love. Between that and their wedding, I received a letter letting me know that they had moved to New York because Mike accepted a job at Rag & Bone, a brand that I love and a very exciting job to get. After a year of change and adventure, these lovely Wisconsinites turned New Yorkers and came back on May 24^th to have a very Wisconsin wedding at Mulberry Lane Farms in Sherwood with perfect weather and a wonderful group of friends and family to help celebrate their love.

An April day that called for rain, gave us sun until we were all safe inside for the dinner. On April 12th Laura and Aaron had a lovely wedding at The Overture Center to celebrate their love with their friends and family and I was so happy to be apart of that day.  

I booked the space 2 months ago, then I caught a plane to Sweden & Germany where I then let 'In Ethiopia With Seeds' slip my mind for two weeks. After my trip I spent the weeks leading up sending out press releases, facebook messages, hanging hundreds of flyers all over Madison and managed to neglect my email a little too much (sorry to my clients, I'm back on the grid I swear!). It takes a lot to set up a show, and the opening is the moment where you find out if you did a good job getting the word out -- Saturday was that moment - will I sit with only my close friends and family with enough coffee & cookies for 100 people or will the room be full? Happy to say about 150 people came out to the opening and Sharon from SV Heart Photography came with her camera to document a little bit of the event. Thank you to all who came out, purchased prints and with that, donated to Seeds Of Africa . There will be another event just like Saturday's this Friday from 5-9pm so if you missed this party, be sure to get here on Friday for some Ethiopian music, coffee and photographs! \\\The gallery will also be open during the week if you want a little quieter viewing, I'll be here, editing photographs and looking for conversation so stop by ---- 100 South Baldwin St. Madison, Wi.///

Please enjoy these images taken by the lovely SV Heart Photography

As many of you may know, last summer my darling Luke and I traveled to Ethiopia to teach for and work with an education and community development nonprofit called Seeds Of Africa. During my time there I took many photographs of the children and the community as well as taught the students photography . When I returned home I thought about the many photographs that now sit on a hard drive and decided to put together a gallery show to share what Seeds Of Africa is doing to my community here in Madison, Wi. Adama, the city where we were is about the same size as Madison and in many ways they are similar, so it is only fitting to share with you all my experience, my photographs and together raise some money to help Seeds Of Africa continue with all of the things they are doing. The opening is this Saturday, April 26th at the Common Wealth Gallery located at 100 S. Baldwin St. Madison, WI. We will be there from 6-10pm with Yes Coffee Roasters sampling Ethiopian pour overs, as well as some lovely coffee donated by Johnson Public House - Brown Rice and Honey is baking some delicious goodies, there will be a raffle  and DJ ASUMAYA (aka Luke) will be spinning some Ethiopian cassette tapes that we found on our days off.

The gallery will be open until May 2nd, which there will be a closing reception from 5-9pm for Madison's Gallery Night.

I love when I get to be introduced to friends when I book weddings, these two I like and I am so excited to photograph their wedding in June!  Chris plays in a few bands in town and Adria works for Planet Propaganda and together they run a screen printing and letterpress company in their basement called Radish & Clover Press. A few weekends back I met them at their home to take some photographs of them making their wedding invites as well as play me some tunes. We then ventured to BB Clark to a certain bench where in the beginning of their story when they lived in different cities these two spent an afternoon talking, neither one wanted to get up because it would mean that Adria would have to leave to go home - a sweet beginning to a lovely story. And a big thanks to Adria who designed my poster for my upcoming Gallery show that you should all come to!

A few weeks ago I took a trip up to Neenah to hang out with Brady and Virginia and meet their 2 cute (and big) dogs. We spent the afternoon enjoying the 50 degree day. These two will be getting married this coming July!  

The last part of my trip was in Leipzig, a beautiful city only 120 mile and only a 1 hour train ride from Berlin. My dear friend Katie Krol studies there and she took the a few days off to show me around the city and I was finally able to meet her boyfriend, Lukas. My time spent in Leipzig with these two was wonderful and although I got sick, I have Katie and Lukas to thank who made me tea, soup and watched Harry Potter movies with me all day. When I wasn't sick we spent our time wandering the city,  eating amazing food and meeting up with Katie's friends. If you ever find yourself in Germany, try to make a trip to Leipzig, I only wish I would have had more time to explore.

After my time in Sweden I hopped on a plane to head to Germany for a week. My plan was to spend 3 days in Berlin alone and catch a train for 4 days to Leipzig to visit my dear friend Katie. I arrived to Berlin on Monday afternoon, me with a big ol' backpack and 2 camera bags -- grabbed a cab to head to Berlin Mitte where I had a room booked through AirBnB with a lovely family. I spent my first evening finishing my first book I brought on the trip ('Where'd You Go, Bernadette?' read it, you will not regret it) and mapping out my first full day in the city - feeling overwhelmed with how much I wanted to do and see and realizing 3 days just wasn't enough. I made it work -- waking up on Tuesday at 7am and made sure I was out the door by 8:30, Day 1 ---amazing breakfast buffet, art museums, and wandering on foot. This was my first time traveling solo in another country, apart of it was refreshing, not having to work out a plan with another person (or persons) but just going with the flow, if I got tired of a museum, I would leave and go sit in the park with a coffee and read or just watch all the tourist look at their maps or search for reception on their phones. The other part of traveling alone; the photographer - I had this pressure to make sure I documented everything I saw, the texture in the roads, the people on their bikes or the ladies sitting outdoors with their latte in hand and their dog resting by their feet, the street musicians collecting euros in exchange for a song, the architecture that literally brought tears to my eyes -- the list could go on. I had to take a moment to remember to be there,on the first day in the park I remember writing in my journal 'it is so beautiful here, I have to come back' instantly scolding myself, you are here, so be here. I often don't live in the moment but instead relive it from my photographs, a problem I am sure many photographers experience. So my week in Germany was less photographs more just being there- enjoying meals alone, taking small bites and ordering a second coffee, honestly a hard thing for me to accomplish, but I did my best. So with that I will share with you the only photographs I took in Berlin. Enjoy.

On March 1st in Horred, Sweden I documented Isak & Clara's wedding celebration. A car full of girls picked me up in the morning and drove to the next city over to go to the salon where Clara got her hair done and her girls got ready in the waiting area. When we returned to Horred we went to the apartment for Clara to put on her wedding dress that her now sister-in-law made for her and we left the place for Isak and Clara to share their first look alone, as much as I love documenting that moment, sometimes moments are meant to be shared alone and I love that I wasn't invited. It called for rain but it never came, we drove to a few locations for images before the ceremony and made it to the church with 1 minute to spare --- The ceremony was beautiful, although I didn't know what was going on since it was all in Swedish, but there were still moment where my eyes filled with tears and I found myself laughing with everyone (luckily they translated the program for me so I didn't miss the kiss). After the ceremony, Isak, Clara and myself went to a few more places for photographs but made it quickly to the reception where guest were waiting to greet them. There was an amazing dinner was made by Clara, Isak and their families and served by friends. The rest of the evening was spent listening to stories of the couple, songs their family and friends wrote and a little dance between the new married couple -- a beautiful day filled with so much laughter and quite a few tears as well -- this couple has such a beautiful community surrounding them and it was a beautiful day to be apart of.

On the day before the wedding I went over to Isak and Clara's place to help bake 150+ buns for their wedding dinner. In Sweden it seems to be a popular tradition for the couple and family to make the dinner for their wedding guests, something I find amazing and such a personal touch to a wedding, a community coming together to create a meal is one of my favorite things ever and I was so happy to be apart of it.  when my hands weren't filled with flour and dough, I grabbed some photographs of Isak and Clara's teamwork to get the meal prepared -- and I never did get an image of the end result due to my dedication, I turned baker instead of photographer and forgot about my camera, a very rare occasion.

  On my first full day in Sweden, Isak and Clara wanted to take me on a little adventure and we turned our adventure into a little engagement session - Enjoy.

A few weeks back I traveled to Sweden to photograph Clara and Isak's wedding. I came a few days early to adjust to the time difference and also to spend time getting to know Clara and Isak a little better before their wedding. I arrived on a Wednesday afternoon in Gothenburg, they picked me and and we drove an hour or so through the countryside to a lovely little town called Horred, where they live and where the wedding was going to be. We went straight to Clara's home for fika, which means taking a break in your day for coffee and usually with something sweet, something I have decided should happen here everyday as well. Then we were able to spend time with a barn full of puppies followed by an evening dinner & wedding prep at Isak's place --- A day of avoiding a nap so I can get on Sweden time was a success and here are a few images from that day.

Oh how I love  road trips, I make a playlist by laying out the cassettes on the passenger seat in the order that I would like to play them and next to those you will find my road trip snacks. A few weeks ago I had a road trip to Waterloo, Iowa to photograph Travis and Lindsay's wedding - a scenic drive - between Dodgeville & Dubuque it really is beautiful, I pulled over a few times to take a photograph but it never really captured how beautiful it really is. I met Lindsay a few years back while she was living in Madison, she then moved to Iowa, met Travis and now they farm together. I was thrilled when Lindsay sent me an email asking me if I'd come over to shoot their wedding, I love when I get to work with someone I know and get to know the person they have chosen to spend their life with. A wedding in Iowa in February had me wondering what the weather would turn out like, but lucky us we woke up to a light snow fall, followed by a sunny double digit day - which felt great compared to the average -10 we have been getting this winter.

Lindsay and Travis had an 11am ceremony time followed by a wonderful long brunch at Hickory Hills Park in Laporte City, IA - enjoy!!

 

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.

I was so glad to finally meet Amber and Matt for we have had to reschedule our shoot 3 times because we always managed to set a date to a rainy day. Even though we planned to do a fall session, having the snow on the ground and the chill in the air was quite beautiful - these two spend a lot of time outdoors, even in the winter so the 9 degree day we picked didn't bother them at all. I drove up and over to Shiocton, Wi to Matt's parents home where on June 7th, their ceremony will be held under a beautiful willow tree - we went into their woods to explore and do the session  -- here are just a few of my favorite images from that day.

A few weeks back I got together with Joleen and Brendan for a coffee to talk about their wedding coming up in July and get to know them a bit -- I learned that Brendan did the Peace Corps in El Salvador, they both attended Law School here in Madison and in just a few days they will be moving to D.C for work. Their wedding is going to be wonderful, a guest list of 70, outdoors at Olin park here in Madison followed by a fabulous meal and some dancing to end the night-- I can't wait. With the moving coming up so soon, we had to get together once again to do an engagement session - the day we picked was not the warmest winter day so our locations were limited to indoors (with maybe a 10 minutes session outdoors which I think we all hated). I met these two the day of our shoot at their cute apartment on Sherman Ave (available for sublease now until August if anyone is looking!) followed by a quick walked through Tenney and then to warm up at  Mickeys with a Hot Toddy -- here is the photo story of our adventure.

A few days days after Christmas I met up with Larissa and Jake for some coffee, story time and an engagement session. These two have been together for over 10 years, they  met in a small Wisconsin town, went to college in Madison and now live and work in Chicago. I had such a wonderful time getting to know these two and hearing about their recent adventure, where they drove an Auto Rickshaw 3000km across India - if you would like to see their adventure through Jake's video series, visit his youtube page here - pretty incredible. These two will be getting married this coming August and I am very much so looking forward to documenting it.

"The songs of the season, the music for that special time of year, when families gather and when friends...chatter. When one night's oil can light the lamps for eight and when a very large man laden with a sack of gifts for the whole world can sneak in through a chimney...even if you live in a place that has none." Oh Wintersong the second annual all-ages holiday event that is tomorrow, December 6th, at The Majestic at 7pm SHARP-  and proceeds benefit the Second Harvest Foodbank, which serves more than 140,000 hungry Wisconsinites each year -- for more information on Wintersong, read this article by Isthmus. 

So come spend some time with Anna Vogelzang (the brain behind this operation), Count This Penny, PHOX, Whitney Mann, Corey Hart, Dietrich Gosser, Crane Your Swan Neck and Paul Otteson & Faux Fawn (where you will find me playing the Autoharp) tomorrow night, DOORS AT 6:30pm, this event will be starting on time at 7:00pm and last year we sold out so if you would like a seat and to not miss anything please plan to get there early.

Last night all of the musicians got together at the Phox Den for a fire, mulled wine and some music making. Paul Otteson is a musical genius who has put together a few numbers for us to sing all together -- so we learned, played and all got really excited for Friday -- so please come out and celebrate the holiday season with us!

Click here for the facebook event with a link to purchase a ticket(s) in advance.