Why, hello there.  For those of you that don’t know me (or tried hard to forget), I’m Candace and I’ve been trespassing here before, blathering on about this and that.  Emily recently skipped over to mountain country for some business, which left her no option but to be reunited yours truly, now that I live here with all of my nonsense.  We shall detail our adventures soon but, *dramatic pause*, there is a more important issue at hand.

Not to get all mushy and stuff (I fear I may be PMSing and overemotional) but Emily has taken so many seriously beautiful pictures over the years…

of my engagement:

of my wedding:

and for my Christmas cards:

that I desperately wanted to somehow return the favor while she was here.  Because plain and simple, this is every photographer’s dilemma: they are too busy running around documenting other people’s lives with their clever eye, leaving no one left to capture their *own* memories.

I set out to remedy this and now that I have my own DLSR, I’m practically a photographer myself.  Obviously Emily has a nicer camera than I do, but how hard could snapping a few photos really be???  http://youtu.be/tO6yAWOprL4

Once I switched from video mode to camera mode, turns out this picture taking business was way easier.

Besides that one, which was obviously an accident and completely out of character for me.

As you can’t see yet, we did a lot of adventuring.  These pictures are of us snowshoeing in Rocky National Park.  Emily fell in love with Colorado after I took her here, with the weather being so nice and all.

Only really good photographers can master a perfect composition self-timer picture from the hood of a car and I’m one of them:

Another self timer.  It’s my artistic eye working here, I like to call this effect “Bokeh Totality”.

(In truth, I had accidentally set my camera in “Q” mode, which I have yet to figure out what that means exactly).

The very next day, before the trauma of snowshoeing in a blizzard could set in too much, we took her skiing in the foothills.  It was her lucky day, moving shots are my forte!

This is my Where’s Waldo technique.  Go ahead, just try and find her.

And lastly, after a particularly rough go through a double black diamond tree run (which we may have been slightly under-qualified for):

Emily, my sweet, don’t say it.  I already know.  You’re so absolutely welcome.  Take these memories and cherish them.  And to the rest of y’all, before you lock it and put it in your pocket, let’s end with a few pics from Emily, being this her photography blog and all.

Whoa.  She really does have a nice camera.

I did another awesome family shoot while I was in Colorado, this time no skis were involved.  Relief.  There’s something I love about these photos besides the fact that they are all so adorable together…no coats in February!  I could definitely get used to that!

Hello Dad.  It’s your birthday today.  I know you’re not much for blogs but I couldn’t let the day go by without doing something special.  So lucky you, you get your very own blog post AND you get your birthday announced to the internet AND you get to look at these  fabulous photos of you!  If that doesn’t scream “Happy Birthday”, I don’t know what will.  Hope your day is great.  Love you.

p.s.  Thanks for helping me with my studio sign way back last summer!

Wait.  What?  February is over?  I forgot to take a photo three days this month but added a few extras to make up for the ones i missed.  If you’re wondering what this is all about, visit January‘s post.  Happy weekend!  

1. Ike.

2. My dear friend Molly made this.  She is awesome.

3. Decided to try out the spare today.  🙁

4. S’mores in a jar.  Yes please.

5. Yes it’s true, I prefer crafts over the Superbowl.

6. Quick visit with Erica in Sioux Falls.

7. Hanging out with Kai.

8. I admit it, I’m a crazy dog lady.

9. Fun socks are better than boring socks.

10. Had a shoot in St. Cloud today and met Julia for dinner at Toast.  I think I found my new favorite restaurant.

11. Three dogs.

12. Grandpa’s cookies.  54 dozen for the year already.

12-2. Moxy is our only dog for a few days.  Ike stayed in Watertown since we’ll be gone for awhile.  Glad she is here while Ike is away!

13. Who needs flowers when there’s Apple products?

14. Backstage shooting Americana Showcase.  Bob Wooten, the Dovetailers, and the Sudden Lovelys.

15. OMG.  I never say OMG but OMG.  It’s beautiful here.

15.-2.  Loveland Pass.  p.s. I’m glad I have 4 wheel drive.

16.  A first: shoot on skis!

17.  Oops no photo, shooting a wedding today.

18. Boulder Comfort Coffee.  Y.U.M.

18-2.  Cute art in Boulder.

19.  Exploring Pearl Street.

20. At Dushanbe Tea House with a bloom tea.

20-2. At Chautauqua!

21.  Snowshoeing at Sprague Lake in Rocky Mountain National Forest.  Estes Park.

22.  Skiing with Candace and Zack at Eldora.

23. Flew into the cities today, met Dad for dinner at Snuffy’s and skyped with Erica.

24. Missing Ike.  Renting Sebastian.

25. Chair Affair.

26.  Oops, no picture.

27.  Oops, no picture.

28. Didn’t actually go to Crossfit.  Went next door to kickboxing.

29.  COFFEE.

The Van Straaten’s live in Rochester but have a special place in their hearts for Colorado.  They also have a special place in their hearts for skiing.  For years we have talked about getting skiing photos of them so when we got the opportunity, we went for it.  The only problem was, skiing pictures involve me wearing skis while holding a camera.  As you can tell by this photo, it was….interesting.  (Take note of the random comment from the PSIA ski instructor dude…)  I’m not joking when I say Johan and Alexa (6 and 3) are 100 times better on skis than I am.  Seriously.  However, after I got over the sheer terror of being on a mountain with all my camera stuff and gained control of my feet took my skis off, all was well.  Here’s what we got.  P.S.  Colorado is B-E-A-utiful.  P.P.S.  We were at Arapahoe Basin in Dillon, CO.

I’ve been in Colorado since last week and I’ve been shooting, shooting, shooting!  I’m loving my time here and have come to the conclusion that Colorado is BEAUTIFUL and clearly, so is my skiing form.  I’ve got lots of mountainous family and wedding photos to come so stay tuned.  

Us.  On the iPhone.  During some down time in the Dominican Republic for Brittany + Kasey’s wedding.  Can we go back now?

“Pictures help me remember when I forget and I want to remember everything…”  This is part of my philosophy about why I am a photographer.  I want to remember the good and sometimes the bad too.  I always say I want to shoot more for myself, now is the time to actually do it!  iPhone style!  I’ve posted several iPhone photo shoots here before (remember Brianne + Aaron’s wedding?) but I decided I could step it up and commit to taking one iPhone photo a day in 2012.  It’s quick, easy and always with me.  There’s a couple oops-I-forgot-quick-take-a-pic-of-Ike-before-bed photos but for the most part, I’ve been doing pretty well!  The Photo365 app is helping me stay organized!  Here they are in chronological order, starting 12:01am New Year’s Day!

1.  New Year’s Eve marble game!

2.  Had mom’s vegetable beef soup today .  With dumplings.  Yum.

3.  Enjoying the Christmas tree.  Just a little late.

4.  Feeling bummed out today.  Junk food therapy.  Bad idea.

5.  It’s January 5 and it’s 50 degrees out.   Weird.  But I’m not complaining.

6.  Ike and two of his girlfriends, Lola and Milly on Lola’s birthday.

7.  Nibbles.

8.  At Welch Village.

9.  Barefoot training started in the studio.

10.  Seriously.  It was 56 degrees out today. And yes, I am wearing that outfit.

11.  My boys.

12.  Breakfast in bed.  The best.

13.  More nibbles.  Either I get a lot of nibbles or I forgot to take a pic today.  Or both.

14.  Six Mile Grove and Bob Wooten at the Pine Island Theatre.

15.  Oh “BADWORD”.  Flight mixup today.  Cannot miss our flight tomorrow morning.

16.  Happy to finally be in the DR!

17.  I still feel small when I stand beside the ocean.

18.  I miss my dog when I travel.  I end up taking 3892 pics of animals to compensate.  This guy was especially friendly.

19.  My view for most of the day.

20.  ‘Cause why not?

21.  Missed this face while we were gone.

22.  He’s leaving for a week tomorrow.  Now I’m gonna miss this face.

23.  Sorting, organizing and archiving old shoots on DVD.  Transferring them to hard drives makes me realize I’ve taken A LOT of photos.

24.  Good Dog Camp!

25.  Wine and cheese at Sontes.

26.  Artwalk

27.  Supervisin’  And no, he normally does not lay on the desk…

28.  Was a lazy Saturday at home.

29.  Card from Julia.

30.  A find from my antique trip!

There’s something extra romantic about saying your vows barefoot in the sand, the saltwater wind blowing through your hair, the waves crashing nearby. And there is something extremely magical and intimate to share this with a handful of your closest family and friends.  That’s the short story of Brittany and Kasey’s wedding day in the Dominican Republic.

Brittany is the face behind BC Designs Photography Studio and I read that one of her goals in life was to get married on an island…check!  It’s always a little nerve wracking photographing another photographer but these guys were so adorable, laid back, adorable, sweet, and did I mention adorable?  One of my favorite parts of their ceremony was their “unity candle”.  It was a liiiiittle too windy to light a candle so they had each person there scoop a handful of sand, say a prayer over the sand and pour it into a glass vase to keep.  Sooo cool.  That, and Brittany’s Grandpa married them.  Also sooo cool.  Congratulations, you two!  We loved being a part of your day!

Just a little inspiration to pair with your Monday morning coffee.  Thanks to my friend Julia for sending me this card last week.  Real mail + fun cards make my day!  I took an Instagram photo of this card for my “One Photo A Day” challenge.  I’m TRYING to take one photo a day (I’m taking the easy way and using only my phone) for a whole year.  I’m doing it primarily for 2 reasons:  1. To shoot more for myself (even if it is on my iPhone!) and 2. I think it will be fun to look back at a whole year in pictures, remembering that even a “regular” day can be special, can be artistic, can be exciting, can be memorable.  So far, so good!