You can’t plan the perfect photo session, but sometimes you get lucky!

My coworker and friend, Kim, asked me to take her maternity photos. She told me she was hoping for snow, but admitted that you cannot plan for that. Our session was set for 11 am and when the day came, I knew a giant snow storm was set to hit that afternoon. I cleared my schedule, dropped my son off at daycare, and we moved back the session. We got to Chautauqua Park in Boulder right when it started snowing. The results were magical! We did not shoot for long, because it was freezing and she was in sandals (on accident), but we didn’t need to because we got amazing shots quickly. Her green dress was perfect to show off the snow and she looked gorgeous. It was so beautiful–we just had to dance a little in the snow.

Kim just had her baby girl, Pearl, and I cannot wait to meet her and do some newborn photos. Congrats Kim!

I am starting to get inquiries about senior portraits. Thus, I have realized that I never posted an awesome session I did last year of my co-workers twins. I had so much fun doing this urban session with this family. I look forward to some more fun senior sessions this year! It is such a special time for a family. Today I am posting the bookends of sorts of children and their families–newborn sessions and senior portraits!

Life has gotten busy. Really busy. Ever since having our son, I have been bad about keeping up with this blog. However, I have had some amazing photo sessions and experiences, so I am going to try to make an effort to get back to it.

One of my favorite photo sessions to do, especially since becoming a mom, is newborn photo sessions. I love that brand new parent love. The raw, tender moments in those first couple exhausting weeks are so beautiful and I always feel privileged to be able to capture them. These three sessions each deserve their own post, but I know I will just not be able to catch up if I do them separately, so I am just going to lay them all out here.

Introducing Wren and Rory and their mama Sarah:

Introducing Violet and her parents Erin and Jason:

Introducing Charlie Beau and his parents Sarah Jane and Chris:

Congrats to these new, first time parents (a quite belated congrats). I cannot wait to watch these cuties continue to grow.

The final leg of our trip was Reykjavík, the capital and largest city in Iceland. As the largest city, it is still relatively small by our standards, with a population only around 123,300. For many travelers, this is the only part of Iceland they see. As the cultural center of the country, it is a very colorful and interesting city, but I do urge people to venture beyond.

Reykjavík is known for fabulous street art.

We spent one night here before heading out around Ring Road and then another two nights at the end of the trip. Starting with the Vikings, Reykjavík has a long history as a shipping town. When we first arrived, we explored the docks before walking to the main tourist strip for dinner. What was once a trade town, is now a bustling cultural center with a happening nightlife.

On the morning before we left to get our rental car, we ate breakfast at this delightful little cafe.

Here is a final shot from our rental care before we returned it and enjoyed our last two nights in Reykjavík.

Upon our return, we took advantage of the time we had left to more thoroughly explore the city.

We visited the famous church Hallgrímskirkja, which has architecture designed to reflect the octagonal basalt columns so prevalent around the country.

A statue of the explorer Leif Erikson is in the front of the church and a beautiful organ is the centerpiece inside.

We had an amazing dinner at one of the fancier restaurants. We opted for their chef’s choice seven course meal. As we did not choose the menu contents, one of the courses centered around a serving of whale, which we admittedly have some moral issues with. That aside, it was a fantastic meal.

On the other end of the food spectrum, we also tried a street hot dog. The Icelandic people love their hot dogs.

As a special treat at the end of our camping adventures, we visited the Blue Lagoon. It is a huge hot springs. Many visitors go here at the beginning of their trip, but I recommend it at the end.

We ate at the restaurant at the springs after our soak. It was good, but mostly it was worth it for the view.

We watched the sunset and had an Icelandic beer at a little pub on our last night as we said goodbye to this magical country. We hope to be back someday to share it with our son.

On a personal note real quick, I want to introduce our adorable son to my readers. He is a month old tomorrow and has already brought so much joy to us. We are so in love. We cannot wait for him to join us on our adventures in the future. I have to share a few of the photos we have taken because he really is our whole world right now and our greatest adventure yet.

It has taken me a little while to get back to these blogs as we adjust to taking care of a newborn, but I wanted to get one out today in honor of National Photography Day.

To continue the Iceland story, it was time to push north on our journey. Our first stop was Dettifoss, the most powerful waterfall of Europe.

With it’s power, it churns up the dirt, making it brown. It was not the prettiest waterfall, but it was impressive to stand next to.

Right next to Dettifoss were some waterfalls that we found more beautiful. They were not as massive, but they were stunning. The rocks surrounding them were equally exquisite.

On our way to our destination in the North, we happened upon another impressive waterfall.

These two women had the right idea to eat their dinner with an impressive view.

The North had a lot of geothermal activity. They even harvest it for energy.

We stayed at a campsite on a volcanic lake called Lake Mývatn that night.

Before bed, we went to the Mývatn Nature Baths, our first real experience with an Icelandic hot spring. It is the second biggest hot spring in Iceland, next to the famous Blue Lagoon. It was so relaxing to soak in the hot water. It also had the added benefit of showers, which meant we didn’t have to pay to have a quick shower at the campsite. I highly recommend this to travelers. The Icelandic folk take keeping the hot springs clean seriously, and you are required to shower before entering.

The next day we explored the area further and visited some more geologic sites.

I love the old horse fences in the area.

We had lunch at an adorable dairy farm cafe.

Then we chose a fun day hike around Dimmuborgir, where we saw some bizarre geothermal rock structures.

After our hike, it was time to head to the biggest city in the north. We said our goodbyes to the Lake Mývatn area.

Akureyri is the second largest city in Iceland. It lies at the base of Eyjafjörður Fjord. It has a population of 18,800.

We enjoyed an evening in the city by treating ourselves to a nice meal and a cocktail at a fun local bar. Notice the stoplight in the bottom photo.

We camped at a very crowded site that a Russian traveler had recommended to us. It was filled with Icelandic people celebrating a very warm weekend for the area. It was fun to watch them dawn their shorts and swimsuits for the occasion and to see the children playing until the wee hours of the night since the sun never set.

We set out again the next day for the West. We found a nice rest stop for lunch right along the road that overlooked a river.

In the late afternoon, we reached our destination. An adorable campsite near a trickling waterfall, a little hot spring, and what looked like a little elf hut.

Evan refused to go in because of the algae, but I braved the water and he sat next to me on the side while we enjoyed some wine. We were soon joined by some other travelers, including a French family, and we enjoyed some wonderful conversation.

Dinner was simple that night. We settled in for our last night of camping on this amazing trip.

Our last stop in the West on our way back to Reykjavik was Hraunfossar, a stunning series of waterfalls formed by water traveling 900 meters over a lava field.

There were more things to see in the West and we had to completely skip the Western Fjords region, as we just didn’t have time. We caught a glimpse of the few things as we rushed back to Reykjavik. We will have to come back someday.

Our camping adventure had come to an end. Maybe someday we will bring our son to Iceland. It was one of best trips I have ever been on hands down. It was so fun to be spontaneous and camp our way through a country without worrying about reservations. I have one more blog to write on Iceland- Reykjavik. Until then, always remember to fit time into your life for Adventure Time. Whatever that means to you.

Our first stop driving east was Jökulsárlón, a glacial lagoon bordering Vatnajökull National Park. The diversity in terrain and habitat on this relatively small island was amazing.

I didn’t get a very good photo, but there were seals swimming around in the lagoon.

That night, we camped in a town called Höfn. It is a fishing town known for their langoustine, Icelandic lobster. We treated ourselves to a lovely lobster dinner.

That night was super windy and cold. We couldn’t set up our tent, so we slept in our car. The next morning, we woke to this comical sight of two girls trying to sled down a hill in the campsite.

As there was not much else to do in Höfn and we had really only come for the lobster, we  got back on the road. The day continued to be overcast, but the views were amazing as usual and the fog created a fun effect on the mountainous region.

We drove by some beautiful cliffs as we headed further east and we pulled off at a few spots to look over the cliffs into the sea.

We came to more waterfalls, the first one surrounded by some interesting layered mountains.

After the waterfall stop, we were back on the road again.

Our next stop turned out to be one of our favorites of the trip. We chose it so we could see puffins, and we saw a ton of them, but the town had a lot of charm to offer beyond the puffins. This is the view as we drove in.

The town is called Borgarfjörður Eystri and has a population of about 100. It is a colorful, adorable fjord town.

We set up camp as the sun was setting. It felt very serene. We put our tent at the base of a hill that is fabled to be home to the elf queen.

After we set up camp, we took a short walk to the harbor and the viewing spot for puffins.

There were a ton of puffins and many other species of birds on some cliffs near the harbor and the lighting was perfect. We timed it perfectly with the setting sun and captured the scene during magic hour.

To top off the evening, we treated ourselves to a seaside hot tub and relaxed with a glass of wine. It was magical.

After this, we struck up a conversation with a young Russian traveler who had left his country for the first time at our campsite over dinner, and watched as some Japanese men made a very fancy dinner that they served on rocks from the area. Rocks are valued in this area and used to make all sorts of items. We bought a couple candle holders from here.

Here are a few more photos from around this beautiful town, including the famous grass-covered house.

We left the next day, wishing we had time to stay longer, and made our way to Húsey. This was Evan’s least favorite stop, and he still makes fun of me for dragging us an hour out of our way. It is a stable where they breed Icelandic horses and offer visitors rides, but it needs to be booked in advance. We did not book in advance, so we drove all the way out there to look at these horses. They were beautiful, but we got a bit of a weird vibe when we showed up without reservations and just asked to photograph the horses.

Back on the road again, we took a nice walk at a scenic spot and then we moved on to the north.

I am now 40 weeks and 5 days pregnant and still awaiting our baby’s arrival. Depending on how tomorrow goes, I will be posting the north soon. Thanks for reading!

As I write this, I am 40 weeks and 2 days pregnant. I am 2 days past my due date and frankly looking for any distraction I can. Though I finished editing our trips to Iceland and Japan last summer a long time ago, I am admittedly very behind in posting the blogs, so I figured I would try to do just that before our sweet baby arrives and takes over our lives.

I cannot believe it has been close to a year since we were in Iceland. It was hands down one of the best trips we have ever taken. It is such a unique place with such abundant natural beauty. We drove the circumference of the main part of the island and camped along the way. I will break these blogs into regions.

Packing for this trip was complicated. We had to bring warm clothes, outdoors clothes, some nice city clothes, a bunch of camping gear and camera equipment. This is what our bag situation looked like headed to the airport. We also planned to backpack, so our backpacking backpacks are inside the large north face duffle bags.

After arriving in Reykjavik and lugging our heavy bags to our Airbnb, we rested, showered and grabbed a quick bite to eat. It was, unfortunately not our best meal, but we did have better food later on. The air and water smelled of sulfur and the city felt like a fishing town meets a party town. I will devote a post to Reykjavik at the end since we spent more time there at the end of the trip. We slept well that night, and then the next day we grabbed a cab and headed to our car rental place. We rented a Subaru with a mattress in the back for sleeping on. It was not luxurious, but it did the job. On our way out of the largest city in Iceland, we stocked up on supplies at the grocery store. Food is expensive in Iceland, very expensive. I recommend cooking your own food as much as possible. We had stocked up on booze, wine and beer at the duty free in the airport, which was a recommendation from a travel blog. It is hard and expensive to find booze in Iceland (other than at bars) and the beer you can buy at the grocery store is something akin to 3.2 beer here.

We drove the circumference of the Ring Road. Our first stop was Þingvellir National Park (pronounced Thingvallir). It was a gorgeous, bizarre landscape featured often in Game of Thrones.

Our first night on the road, we made an easy meal and slept in the car.

We hiked out further the next day and explored the park. Þingvellir lies in a rift valley, in the boundary between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates. The park has a rich history: it’s name literally translates to “assembly fields” and served as the home of the Icelandic Parliament (established in 930 AD); it still features the Prime Minister’s Summer Residence (white buildings pictured below); and was host to some rather unsettling executions, with sites like the “drowning pool” (pictured above with the young girls) and Gallow’s Rock.

One of the highlights of the park for us was when we went snorkeling in glacial water between the tectonic plates. It was a very memorable experience. We wore dry suits because the water is bitterly cold- just a couple of degrees above freezing. We were told to just drink the water if it got in our snorkel or if we got thirsty; it tasted incredibly pure and delicious. The water was crystal clear, even at its deepest points.

Our next stop was Geysir. A geothermal area near Þingvellir. On the way I made friends with a cat that looked like Kote and we saw some of the famous Icelandic horses from the road.

Geysir has a very impressive geyser as the centerpiece and it erupts about every 10 or 15 minutes.

After this, we continued on to see our first of many large waterfalls, Gullfoss. This remains Evan’s favorite waterfall from the trip. It was as beautiful as it was impressive and I enjoyed photographing every angle and the small details of dew on the side.

The trip involved a lot of driving, but with the views we got, the drive itself was very enjoyable as well. If I ever get around to completing my project on photos taken from windows, a lot from Iceland will be making the cut. I do like the effect of impermanence it can have–a fleeting moment.

When we saw the insane beauty in our mirrors of the above photo, Evan pulled over so I could take some photos from outside the car.

As the sun was setting, it was time to get to our next campsite and set up. Most nights we slept in our tent as Evan was really too tall for the car. We didn’t need reservations for camping, so it allowed us to have flexibility in our travel, which added extra spontaneity to the trip that we usually don’t have. We loved this next campsite so much, that we ended up staying longer then planned. It is called Þakgil (again, pronounced like “thak-gill”) and we had read about it on a blog. It is a local secret of sorts and a bit off the beaten path, being about an hour’s drive up a dirt road from Ring Road. Here are the images from driving in, including some of the Icelandic sheep that roam all over the island without fences. Wool is a large staple of the Iceland economy.

The campsite itself is in a valley surrounded by bizarre mountains.

We set up camp and ate our dinner in a cave. It was a very cool feature of the campsite, because it protected us from the wind and it brought people together from all over the world. We were making hot chocolate and were approached by some Icelandic and Austrian people who offered their rum in exchange for hot chocolate and soon we were all drinking hot cocoa with rum to keep warm and swapping stories. We met another group of Americans, people from India and people from Japan also and everyone just spent the night in the cave sharing food and drinks from different cultures. English was the common language among everyone. It was a magical night that cannot be planned or duplicated and I think Evan and I will always remember it fondly.

The next day we took a 13 mile hike and got to see more of this unique area.

This is the view looking down on our campsite.

We hiked to a glacier.

That night, we dined in the cave again and had a romantic evening with candles and champagne. I played around with my tripod and long exposures to capture the cave without flash.

Alas, as much as we loved this place, it was time to move on the next day. We said goodbye to the campsite and drove out to Vik, a black sand beach just south of the campsite.

It was a cloudy, wet day, but the sand and rocks were very beautiful.

There was an adorable wool store there, where we bought a cat toy for Kysa and Kote, which they love and keep losing, and some slippers (not pictured) which we will give to little baby Momo!

The next stop was a bit underwhelming, but luckily not out of the way. It is an interesting geological feature, but not super exciting to witness–basalt columns on the ground. We did get to see some more sheep up close though, and I really like the colors in the photo where they are walking in the line.

After this, it was on to our final stop of what I will call the Southern region. We hit a sandstorm on our drive, and then drove across our first one lane bridge.

Next we went on a hike to see two waterfalls. I am so glad I brought my tripod on this trip, because I was able to photograph all these magnificent waterfalls with a slow shutter speed. The difference in a slow and fast shutter speed can be seen in the first two photos and generally, the slower speed of the second one is a prettier effect.

The second one, surrounded by basalt columns is called Svartifoss and is really a site to behold.

And with that, I will conclude this post. Next I will continue on to the East, an equally beautiful region. I am still not in labor, but hopefully anytime now…

I recently had the pleasure of photographing my friend and coworker and her fiancé on a  beautiful, snowy day in Castlewood Canyon State Park near Castle Rock, Colorado. It was so fun to work with this easy-going, sweet couple and I am so happy with the results.

The snow mixed with the evergreens and fall colors painted a lovely backdrop for the photos. It can be hard to find a good location in the winter in Colorado when a lot of the vegetation is dead. This area worked out really well.

We continued our walk up the path and found a giant rock with some icicles clinging to it. The hike really provided a wonderful variety of backdrops and is the perfect location for portraits.

Walking back up the path from the rock were some of my favorite images. I really love the mix of colors in the background and the effect my depth of field had on the colors and framing of the couple.

As we continued the hike, we had fun with some playful images. The holes in the ice over the river also made for an interesting background.

I had them throw snow in the air and I love the playful results of this set.

We came across a hole in the ice that was shaped like a heart, and it was too perfect to not take advantage of.

As we hiked back out, I took advantage of the magic hour and got a few more shots as the sun set.

I wish Brittany and Adam all the best!

I am so happy to be back in Colorado, in a state with seasons and beautiful fall colors. The golden colors and fallen leaves make wonderful backdrops. I had the pleasure of recently photographing a couple fall portrait sessions.

The first was a family photo session with an old coworker from the Times-Call, her husband and their beautiful little girl, Perry. It had all the normal challenges of working with a child her age and all the fun little unexpected moments.

It was so fun to catch up with Rachel and her family.

The second was senior photos for my friend’s son. It is a very different type of photo session when the subject takes direction! These were done a couple weeks later in Longmont. I had Taylor choose a location that meant something to him, so we went to a state park that he often fishes in. I was honored to document such a landmark event in this young man’s life.

His parents came along and I took a few shots of them as well, much to his dismay because they were wearing Bronco’s shirts. Taylor is not a Bronco’s fan. He was a good spot about it though, It is too bad he didn’t have his team’s jersey with him to get a real rivalry photo.

This last one is the one Taylor chose for his yearbook photo. I am glad it was one that was taken in a memorable spot, right where he often fishes. I wish Taylor all the best in his senior year and future endeavors.

Happy Fall everyone! Hopefully soon I will get those Iceland and Japan photos up. They were both very photo-rich places and I can’t wait to have the time to finish my edits.

Little by little I am getting through editing the photos from the amazing trips we were lucky enough to take this past Spring and Summer. I will start with the one we took in April to Utah. This area is so striking. It looks other-worldly.

We began with a one night camping spot in Fruita, Colorado. It was a weekend night, so we felt we needed a reservation, and frankly this spot was the closest we could get to Moab with a reservation. It also broke up the drive nicely and allowed us to get an early start the next day. The site itself was nothing too special, but we did get some pretty skies as the sun was setting.

The next day we set out to find a first come first serve campsite heading into Moab. As you drive toward Moab, there are a ton of campsites that are all first come first serve along 128. If you are there on a weekday or get an early enough start on a weekend like we did, you can snag a good site. The only trick is that you need to make the choice of whether to grab a good one when you see it or try your luck at getting closer to Moab. We lucked out with a great one by the Colorado River about 20 minutes outside of Moab in a campsite called Hittle Bottom.

After setting up camp, we set out to Arches National Park. It has very impressive rock formations, but overall was not our favorite national park. We are certainly glad we went, but it was just very crowded. It felt a bit like the Disney World of national parks.

That night was a beautiful star gazing night and we enjoyed our campsite. I really didn’t have the proper equipment with me for star photography, but I placed my camera on the ground and took a few photos that way.

In the morning we drove over to Canyonlands National Park for a fabulous hike. I decided not to bring my big camera on this hike and just used my iPhone. I am sure I could have gotten creative with the big camera, but my iPhone did a pretty good job at capturing the scenery and it was nice to not have the extra weight for once.

It was a fun hike with a lot of technical aspects. I would definitely do this hike again. It was in The Needles section of Canyonlands.

While we were in Canyonlands, we stopped by the visitor’s center to obtain an overnight camping permit for the park. The Needles area was full, but we were able to get a permit for Island in the Sky, one of the other areas of Canyonlands. We stayed in the same campsite outside Moab again that night and then packed up our things to go backpacking the next day. It was like a reverse backpacking trip. We started in the late afternoon by hiking into a canyon and then the next day we had to hike back out of the canyon.

Here is day one, hiking into the canyon.

We set up our tent in the dried up river bed, as the ranger had suggested.

As the sun went down, we sat down to eat under the pictured rock-face. We almost put our chair on top of a beautiful flower we swore we had not seen earlier. We realized it was a night blooming flower, the Tufted Evening-Primrose.

It was super windy that night. We were basically in a giant sandstorm. Luckily we managed to fall asleep and woke up to this gorgeous sight.

Our Primrose remained open as long as a shadow was cast over it from the rock-face.

The sun was rising quickly, so we began our hike out. We spotted several huge lizards on our way out.

We made it out! The hike out was actually not as hard as anticipated. It was such a unique backpacking trip and such a cool memory.

Literally as soon as the car was in sight it began hailing! We could not have timed it better. It not only meant that we didn’t have to hike in the hail, but it also meant that I was able to take some awesome weather photos looking over another canyon in Island in the Sky. We usually want perfect weather for vacation, but many of the unique nature photos are not taken on a sunny afternoon. These photos truly look like another planet. It was breathtaking. I will just let them speak for themselves as words truly don’t do them justice. This was a luck of timing. I am so glad I had my equipment with me.

I love that my camera was able to pick up the streaks of hail falling into the canyon and the idyllic light cast on the rocks.

This giant crow was perched near our car, hail falling around him.

Speaking of weather, we continued to see a variety of weather as we headed home.

The next few are photos I plan to use in my “From the Window” series. I have photos from around the world for this and I really want to put it together. I hope to find the time soon. I really think they have a special feel to them. Perhaps it feels even more like a stollen or fleeting moment in time since they are all caught on the fly. The shot cannot be contemplated long when I compose it and the motion of it’s fleeting nature is often felt in the blurs.

Once we reached Colorado, it began snowing. The landscape and mood look totally different from Utah. It was a sight to see.

Next up…Iceland! I have been editing those photos for a while and I think I will break the blog up into regions.