Here’s a little teaser of 2 images from Mary and Joe’s Pan Pacific Seattle wedding. More amazing photos from their special day to come!

We had so much fun with Victoria and Evan! His dog is super sweet. We were all over the park. They picnicked, blew wishes, climbed in the tall grass and all this just barely before the sprinkler system kicked on for the evening! Excellent timing just like how and when they met, excellent timing. 1f609 I’m so happy that you two found each other. You’re two peas in a pod and we are thrilled for your upcoming wedding. The hard part will be waiting for the big day to come…anticipation!

Here are the results of our Seattle Pikes Place Market super fun engagement session.
Enjoy.

These two ladies take my breath away. They’re so completely beautiful inside and out. They’re close friends. Hanah is moving away to go to law school and Zayba is staying here to pursue her medical degree. Zayba called us for a “going away photo shoot gift for her friend”. What a super fun way to spend the day with a friend and have beautiful photos to show for it!
We decided to go to Golden Gardens based on some photos the girls were inspired by. Yes, it was amazing weather but with little breeze and out in the blazing sun I’m pretty sure it was 200 degrees that day! There were people everywhere. Between Brandon and I one of us would lay down in the sand with the camera to get the best angle of the landscape while the other would lead the model around with a big Profoto light.

In the end it was all totally worth it! We all had a great time and the photos turned out amazing, thanks to these stunning beauties!

Nobody’s going to believe me when I say this is Seattle. I should do a photo shoot in the wintertime so you can see the difference. It’ll be so dramatic with the wind, clouds and greys. Ooh, who wants to model for me?!

Yes, it’s a bit awkward posting photos of myself but here goes. 1f642 My professional photographer friend, Frances Gaul, took this photo of me. She does such nice work! There are more of Brandon and I together from yesterday but those will be posted as soon as they are ready. (I know, you are on pins and needles with anticipation now, right? 1f609

book
I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw this book at the library! Worth Every Penny, Build a business that thrills your customers and Still Charge what you’re worth by Sarah Petty & Erin Verbeck. I wanted to read this even before I knew that it was a New York Times Best Seller.
Sarah Petty is amazing. She’s intelligent, vibrant, driven and patient. I don’t know her well enough to call her patient but I know she is otherwise she’d never be able to get all of those amazing photos of happy kids. If you’re not familiar with her work check her out at www.sarahpetty.com If you are like me you will be inspired to quit everything else and become a rockin children’s photographer. Then you’ll do one shoot and realize how hard it is to get little ones to hold still and you’ll be even more impressed with her artwork than ever before!

I can’t wait to read Worth Every Penny. I’ll give a full review here on my blog. I know I’ll love it. I know I’m going to try to renew it and the library won’t let me because other people have it on hold anxiously awaiting it and that’s when I’ll be ordering a copy for myself.

Brandon and I photographed a couple who had so many diverse looks we just couldn’t stop clicking. They went from romantic to sweet to downright jubilant and back again for us. I can still picture her big smiles and him beaming at her with pride.
I saw Seattle in a whole new light tonight. The warm air brought people of all types out as brandon and I strolled through the city like it was our own neighborhood. Everyone is so polite I often have to remind myself to stay alert, that yes, this is still a city full of strangers.
Ending our photo shoot was difficult. Everything was full of texture, dimension and colors to suit our clients perfectly. I had to practically blindfold Brandon to make him stop.
And now it’s me who can’t stop. Even though I’m lying here in the dark I’m still seeing crumbling brick walls, silhouettes of trees against the royal blue night sky and twinkly lights strung across pub patios inspiring me to capture it all. If only a blindfold would work for me now.

Colette and Ravi Engagement Session Photos Seattle
How they met:
Throughout the 2000s, Colette and Ravi’s paths crossed several times without them ever actually meeting.

To begin with, Colette very-nearly attended Boston College…which is where Ravi studied. They would have been in the same graduating class.

In 2001, while Ravi was in college, he learned about a study abroad program in El Salvador. He was so excited to participate in it that he convinced his roommate Eric to go…but Ravi himself did not end up studying abroad. Guess who ended up living in the same house while studying abroad together in San Salvador? Eric and Colette! (This study abroad program changed the very trajectory of Colette’s life. After her life-changing experience in El Salvador, Colette moved to San Salvador and lived in Central America for 6 years! But pupusas aren’t the only “almost” in this story of destiny…)

Throughout college, both Ravi and Colette participated in a yearly non-violent protest at the gates of the School of the Americas in Columbus, Georgia…likely to have crossed each other on that same street numerous times throughout the years.

Later on in college (in the fall of 2004), Colette was visiting friends in Boston and by random chance attended a Halloween party in Ravi’s own dorm room. If it wasn’t for the Ronald Reagan mask he was wearing, she’d probably have fallen for him then and there.

Then in 2009, they finally had the occasion to meet [virtually] through their shared-roommate, Eric, when he was visiting Colette in El Salvador.

Finally, in the fall of 2011, their paths did cross in person. Colette had just moved home from Central America and was looking for friends (in all the wrong places) and remembered that Ravi was a relatively recent transplant to the beautiful Pacific Northwest. They met, laughed a lot, became close, and the rest is history.

(Oh…and it’s safe to say that neither of them would be the people they are today if not for their long-lasting love of the King of Pop, Michael Jackson [may he rest in peace].)

We met the first year of college in math class. I always dredded math and did not want to go but obviously I had to. We sat one seat away from each other and for the first couple of days of class, we, unknowingly to each other, would purposely meet up in the parking lot after class at the exact same time, hold the door for each other, etc. Then Whitney started getting help in math from this guy I wan to high school with. So, I contacted him one day and started to ask about her and he flipped out and told her I was interested. The next day after class, we met in the parking lot and they invited me to lunch and the rest is history and we have been together for over five and a half years. We knew from about the first month of dating that we wanted to be together forever and we exchanged rings, the ones we stil have today. It wasn’t until about two years ago right before we left Florida to move to Seattle that we were having a “going away” party with all of our closest friends when she proposed to me. The whole time it was never a going away party but a proposal party and I wouldn’t have had it any other way than to celebrate with our friends. So, once we got to Seattle, marriage became legal and that is when we decided to get married since we finally could and here we are today. 1f642

This photo session was not actually an engagement session. It was a few hours before their wedding ceremony on their wedding day! They had two outfits for the day. One for this part which was a Bonnie and Clyde themed shoot. We were lucky enough to get our hands on some pre-prohibition metal beer signs and a newspaper set in the prohibition era! Thank you Sherlynn and Batch 19 for hooking us up! Batch 19 is served at local pubs and sports bars. It’s getting so popular they can’t keep it in stock! Go check it out.
Anyway, Shadoe and Whitney played their “tough outlaw” roles Perfectly! They are both so beautiful and their photos came out so super cool. I’m glad they came up with this idea and followed through with it. I love their creativity!
ps. small part foul on Whitney’s red watch but Bonnie and Clyde were very fashionable so we think they’ll be ok with it. Let’s call it fashion forward…very far forward! 1f609 We shot this whole shoot in 20 minutes before we were chased off of the property (sorta but that’s another story ;).

Seattle Aquarium, Market Cynthia and Matt Engagement Session

How they met:
Matthew and I met in high school of freshman year where we had all of the same classes together. After getting to know each other and becoming good friends, we started dating sometime in December of sophomore year. We both went to college in Seattle but at different universities and It wasn’t till the end of college that we started to seriously think about our future together.

Matthew had proposed to me on December 29, 2012 at Disneyland. We had planned an out-of-the-blue trip to Disneyland (with a good amount of encouragement by him) for winter break. On the last day of our trip, we went to watch the Christmas fireworks near the Walt Disney and Mickey statue on Main Street. Right after the show, he proposed to me. It was a shock and he caught me completely off guard! I couldn’t say anything but “yes”!

Jen and Chris Wedding Highlight Video from brandon hildebrand on Vimeo.