There is something so lovely, so intimate, so holy about a wedding day. Certain days I am sweetly reminded of the gravity and depth of the marriage commitment. Johnny and Erika’s wedding was one of those days. Johnny and Erika are so wholly committed to each other. They value that love is a choice. With such gratitude in front of hundreds of family and friends they proclaimed to choose one another. Not just on their wedding day, but over and over again each day for the rest of their lives.
Johnny and Erika you wedding was just that: lovely, intimate, holy. Thank you for giving me the honor to capture such a beautiful day!
Location: Pasadena, CA.
“Resolved: To live with all my might while I do live…and as I shall wish I had done when I come to die”.
~Jonathan Edwards
Almost 10 years ago I began to partake in a journey that has at times slowly, and at other times rapidly and durastically molded, changed, and shaken my life. This is my journey with Invisible Children.
Over the last near 10 years I have written hundreds of letters and emails to my local government, slept on the streets of cities such as: Dallas, Tuscon, Orange County, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Chicago, Salt Lake City, and many cities in between to raise awareness about one of the longest and most deadly of Africa’s wars: that of Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army.
I have lived in a room with upwards of 10 girls, in a house with 50 people working for free and dedicating our lives to seeing this war end. We traveled all over the United States, and some of us the world sleeping in our cars, dorm room floors, strangers houses to share the story of: Joseph Kony, the LRA, and the thousands of children he has abducted and forced to kill in his name.
One of my first days at Invisible Children, founder Jason Russell told a group of us to get ready…your life is going to be ruined after this. (Ya…right…I thought). BUT he was right, my life was ruined but in the best of ways.
Invisible Children taught me that my voice in this world matters.
Invisible Children taught me that with knowledge comes responsibility.
Invisible Children taught me that ordinary people can do extraordinary things.
I am so proud to be apart of the Invisible Children family, and the 2012 initiative to STOP KONY (the LRA rebel leader) once and for all.
Please take a few minutes to watch Invisible Children’s #STOPKONY2012 film HERE.
One of the greatest things I learned from my family at Invisible Children is that where you live should not determine whether or not you actually live.
Please join me in this movement…
Last week I was on my way into the office, and as I usually do when on my way to work my mom and I were on the phone. Lately I don’t know what it’s been, but I’ve just been homesick. I was on the phone convincing my mother that although she has 2 small children still at home that she needed to take a vacation from car pooling and come and visit me. I would have stamped my feet on the ground, and thrown my hands up in the air in persistence, but I was driving so all I could do was shake one fist at a time. Hey…you do what you gotta do.
To my disappointment, mom said now wasn’t a good time. (But you better believe I will keep trying to get her out here). Mom and I were talking about how my 18 year old sister is coming to visit me for her Spring Break next month. We were going through all the fun things I wanted to do with her, and it dawned on me. I realized that even if my siblings weren’t my siblings, and my parents weren’t my parents I would still want them in my life. My brother and sisters are so unique. We are all different and sort of ecclectic, and I enjoy that so much about them.
Paul and Laura always introduce me to new bands and cool indie movies. Caroline and I talk about our shared love of Justin Bieber and social justice. (Two very important things). Lilly and I talk about sports, and Grace and I could talk for hours about anything. If my mom wasn’t my mom I’d still want to call her in the mornings and talk about our days.
For that, I feel so thankful and blessed. Family, I love you dearly and you should all come and visit me right now:)
PS…sometimes my family gets annoyed that I take so many pictures, but I keep telling them they’ll thank me in about 20 years:)
Today is a day that I have been looking forward to for weeks. It is my first real day off in quite some time, and I am in one of my most absolute favorite places: Manhattan.
If I am in one of my most favorite places, why then am I writing a midday blog? Great question. Dramatic Explanation: The last two years after WPPI I’ve gotten the flu. Last year; it was the stomach flu. (You know it’s bad when you are laying on the floor in the fetal position on the cold tile of your bathroom for the majority of the day). THANKFULLY, this year I do not have the stomach flu. However, I woke up this morning coughing, swollen glands, and feeling like I was run over by a truck. That darn WPPI Las Vegas 18-Wheeler truck.
Sometimes I think your body knows when it can get sick. In college I always got sick right after finals ended. Any day sooner than today would have been highly inconvenient to not feel well.
To me rest in NYC means waking up early meeting friends for coffee, lunch, and dinner, running around Central Park, playing in SoHo…in other words my version of rest is running around 100 miles per hour. Well, today much to my dismay, my body is winning. I’m sitting on a couch in my friends perrrrfectly cute Manhattan apartment watching way too much bravo, drinking tea, and reading.
New York, we still have tomorrow to paint the town red before I have to go back to Cali.
Happy Monday Friends, enjoy your day! Here’s a little peak of John and Kathryn’s wedding I just shot on Saturday:) I hope y’all are having fun in St. Bart’s! Can’t wait to show more soon…
Dear Elijah,
You are one lucky boy. Your mom and dad are a rare gift to this world and specifically our community. They are loyal and faithful friends, and already committed parents. You’re not even here yet, but you’ve been loved so well. You have been prayed for, taken care of, and thought of long before we even knew you were coming. I can’t wait to meet you and see your little personality… and teach you some awesome dance moves!
Love,
Kat
There are six children in my family. Yep, you read right: I am one of 6 kids, which basically makes my mom a saint. The older I get the more I realize what an amazingly strong woman she is.
Grace is my youngest sister. My mom had her when I was a senior in high school if you can believe it. When she was a new born I used to take her to the mall to go shopping with me, and everyone would comment on how good I looked with having such a small baby! Did I correct them, and let them know she was my sister, not my baby? No way; it was too much fun to pretend I was a teen mom!
Grace is 9 now, and although she lives in Texas we are super close. She’s my pen pal, and we write to each other about things like Justin Bieber, and her new genie trolls that she buys off e-bay. It’s also not uncommon to come back from a run and find that I have 15 text messages all from her; it cracks me up and makes me feel special.
Over Christmas we snuck away and took some pictures in our backyard and alleyway. These pictures are the essence of my precious little sister. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do:)
I love you Grace.
“Creative work is not a selfish act or a bid for attention on the part of the actor. It’s a gift to the world and every being in it. Don’t cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you got”.
Steven Pressfield, The War of Art
My blog has felt quiet lately. I don’t know if it has felt that way to you. The surface may have looked still the last month, but just below so much has been happening. In a sense I’ve been on this journey of discovery. By the time 2011 ended I felt as an artist (and to be honest as a person)…well I felt burnt out. I lost sight of the why, and began to go through the motions in my craft.
I felt dry, and uninspired…not sure what to do next or what I should/could/ought to do next. Then I began to read The War of Art by Steven Pressfield, and slowly I felt a change. Maybe change is the wrong word. I felt a resolve. A resolve to press into my craft not for the sake of status or fame, but a resolve to be a more true artist.
I think what people connect with is honesty. When I read a John Steinbeck book I know it’s him. There’s a certain rhythm, a distinct voice to his work. All I need is a few seconds to know that a particular song is by Jonsí. I can spot a Peggy Sirota image from a mile away. I connect with these artists because they are (or at least seem to be) exerting their own voice and not mimicking another’s success. They are trailblazing a new path. Maybe there are some fakes out there that are successful, but I’m starting to wonder if the most successful people are those that know themselves and vulnerably offer their craft from a very personal place.
The truth is that I’m in the beginning stages of my craft, and I’m still looking for my voice, my rhythm, what defines me as an artist. I come into 2012 with a resolve though. A resolve to push myself as an artist, do shoots that are completely out of my comfort zone, open my work to other artists for criticism, and to keep moving.
Even if it’s small, tiny, almost unnoticed steps I am committed to movement. There may not be overnight success, in fact I already have a few bumps and bruises, but there will be growth…a quiet growth.
Pssst…here’s a sneak of a recent shoot I did with LA based model Jessica Seeley.
This was not a typical day in Santa Monica. The marine layer rolled in early afternoon, and turned the ever busy and fast paced Santa Monica into a quiet, peaceful, and intimate setting. (Folks outside of Southern California…Santa Monica is everything but quiet!) But what was perfect about this is it’s just what Molly and Hunter wanted. A small intimate beach wedding with their favorite people.
Born and raised in the South, Hunter and Molly ventured to Santa Monica last year for work, and as their time here was coming to a close none of their family had come to visit them. So…why not plan their wedding in Santa Monica…that’ll get people out here right? Right! Molly and Hunter rented a GORGEOUS house in the Malibu Hills for the closest friends and family, and celebrated their marriage, their move back to the South, and New Year’s Eve! I couldn’t think of a more fun way to close out a year could you?
Thank you so much Aaron Young for letting me shoot this fabulous New Year’s Eve wedding with you; it was a wonderful way to cap of 2011! Check out Aaron’s images from the wedding HERE.
It never fails; each time I drive to San Diego my heart gets this anticipation…I’m not sure what heaven will look or be like, but I kind of hope it’s something like San Diego.
On Saturday I could not wait to spend time with Mariana and Craig. From our first meeting I knew they were a special couple.
Craig and Mariana are adventurous, caring, generous, and a live-life-to-the-fullest kind of couple. In fact Craig and his friends are climbing Machu Picchu for his Bachelor party…that’s not a big deal at all right?
They live minutes from the beach (which I’m super jealous of), and so we spent the afternoon traipsing all over Del Mar. These are some of my favorite shots from our time together. Guys I cannot wait for your wedding in September, thank you thank you for hanging and being adventurous with me last weekend:)
As we drove to Temcula for this outdoor wedding; it was pouring down rain. The windshield wipers clapped back and forth loudly as if to prove they were working extra hard. Since when does it monsoon in Southern California? As we pulled up to the winery; it was raining. As we were taking detail and getting ready shots; it rained. Then, right before their first look until right after the ceremony we experienced a little miracle.
The rain stopped, and the sun broke through; it was such a gift. These two could not have been more thrilled. Their intimate wedding of family and a few close friends had this sense of readiness and peace. It was filled with quiet moments, and also bursts of laughter and some sweet tears of excitement and happiness. Thank you so much for allowing me to capture such an intimate affair!
It was a gift to shoot this wedding with my fabulous friend and wonderful photographer Melissa Vossler!