(gr)attitude

I hope you guys, whether you're celebrating the holiday or not, are cozied up with your loved one(s) today.  While Thanksgiving itself has a troublesome history, giving thanks and expressing gratitude is always a wonderful idea and that's what I'm spending this day doing.  There is so much to be thankful for.  I'm most thankful for my sweet love and our little floof.  They bring me so much joy and happiness on a daily, hourly basis, I can't imagine life without these two

Living in the Pacific Northwest and being a part of a creative community puts me into contact with so many incredible artists, entrepreneurs, and makers.  One of those people is Tiarra Sorte and last Saturday we met up here in Tacoma for an in-home photo session.  Dan and I hadn't had photos of us together (other than tripod photos that I took of us) since our wedding, and I wanted to have photos of just us together before we decide to make a tiny human.  We've also been talking about moving to Seattle sometime next year for a new adventure, and so I wanted to have photos in our very first (owned) home.  

The session was so fun and I'm totally in love with the images Tiarra created for us.  I didn't realize how special it would be to have photos in our home and around our little neighborhood for us to look back on and remember our time in this house forever.  It will be so fun to show our kids what our first house looked, and a peek at our neighborhood.  Whenever I'm in Sacramento with my parents we usually do a drive-by of their first homes.  One I don't remember because I was a baby, and one I just barely remember living in before we moved up to Anchorage.  I imagine driving through Tacoma with our kids showing them our first super tiny house, and then this house just a few blocks away.

I hope you are with people who love you today.  If you aren't, or if the holidays are stressful and your family situation isn't awesome, just know that you are loved and that you are so worth loving.  And I am thankful for those of you who come take the time to read my little blog and comment, or follow on instagram or facebook.  Blogging and social media can be weird, but it's so nice to have connections with other humans, even if it's just over the web.  So here's a big internet hug to you guys. 

What are you grateful for this season?

the molinaro family // university place family photographer

t's been funny living in the Tacoma area because there are quite a few friends from college who are from this area and have subsequently moved back after graduating.  Dan and I learned that Jeremy and Lauren had moved to Tacoma recently so it was a really fun session getting to catch up and learn what they were up to nowadays.  We weren't super good friends in college, Jeremy and I were in the same dorm freshman year, but it was a small school, so you were pretty familiar with everyone.  It was fun seeing these two as parents, and little Charlotte was a hoot!
When we had their Session Debut at their house, both Lauren and Jeremy's parents came over to see the images we made at their session and it was really fun!  I bring a tasty locally made dessert to all my Session Debuts, and Lauren's mom brought some champagne, so it really felt like a little Christmas celebration!  It's so fun to have parents at a family session debut, you can just see the pride in their eyes looking at their kids all grown up and becoming parents themselves.  Both parents ended up getting some prints too, which I loved!


 

falling for photography

ey blog friends!  You might've seen me mention on social media that my photography business is in the running over at King5's Best of Western Washington!  Today is the last day to vote and if you guys would mind heading over and giving Morrow Studios a vote for Best Wedding Photographer I'd be oh so thankful!  To vote all you have to do is login using facebook/twitter/google+, etc, and then click "vote now"!  I've been doing a lot more photography this year (non blog related, that is) an it's been super refreshing to be able to be behind the camera and get to create beautiful images for my clients. 
When I took on my first wedding client over a year ago, I was ever so tentatively dipping my toe in an ocean I wasn't sure I'd want to dive into.  It was the wedding of a good friend of mine (actually one of my bridesmaids in my wedding), and she was so chill that I knew the wedding would be as stress-free as possible.  She also had another photographer friend second-shoot the wedding so I knew that I couldn't fail too hard with a backup there.  After that first wedding I was still tentative, but open to the idea of doing weddings.  The more weddings I did, though, the more I realized that I actually really enjoyed them.  Not only did it combine a bunch of different styles of photography that I enjoyed, it was also so wonderful to get to play a part in people's special day.  In a way, the wedding photographer is a part of the wedding almost as much as the bridal party.  I'm there as they get ready, I'm with them as he gets his first look at his gorgeous bride, I'm beside the bride as she calms her nerves before walking down the aisle, I'm there in the ceremony as they get their first kiss as husband and wife, I get to capture them signing their marriage license, laughing along as their friends and family toast them.  
I've realized that I love it.  I love having the privilege of being the person they trust to document these special moments.  It's so fun to photograph a bride on a day she feels totally stunning and loved.  It's my favorite to capture that look on the groom's face as he sees his love, the most beautiful woman he's ever known, looking like a queen.


 

Now I can't wait to shoot more weddings.  It's definitely a lot of work and by the end of the day I'm ready to pass out, but before I crash I always have to look through the day's photos and edit a few of my favorites.  I think I'm just as exhausted after shooting a wedding as I was after my own wedding!  All that excitement, running around, meeting people, laughing, crying.  It's kind of like getting married all over again!  And in a way, every wedding I shoot reminds me of my own.  Hearing people's vows reminds me of standing next to Dan, making our vows to stand beside one another through the good and the bad, the easy and the hard.  Wedding days go by in the blink of an eye and by the end it's like you just ran a 100meter dash it was over so fast, but your body feels like you just ran a marathon.  I'm so glad I had Sarah there to capture those moments because everything happens so fast you barely have time to remember everything and everyone, but the photos last forever.  I love the photo I have of Dan's face as he saw me for the first time as I walked down the aisle.  I love the photo I have of me chatting with my grandparents during my reception, and the moment I surprised Dan by singing Carole King's I Feel the Earth Move.  Those photos are so special to me, and being able to capture those memories for other people is the best feeling ever.  Even though most weddings have similar schedules, each one is so unique and it's wonderful to see the bride and groom's unique personalities throughout the decor and festivities. 




I've never been a wedding person, per se.  I wasn't a girl that grew up dreaming of her wedding day but I remember flipping through my mom and dad's wedding album so many times growing up.  I remember loving those images and getting to see that day through the photos.  It's so special to me that now I'm the one who can create those images for someone else's big day.  More than any other photos, wedding photos are heirlooms that are treasured for generations.  It's amazing to be trusted with the honor of being the one to create those images.

I'm booking for 2015 and I'm already so excited for the weddings I have scheduled!  It's so funny to think about how blogging brought about my love for photography.  I liked taking pictures before blogging, but after taking photos nearly every day for five years for the blog I found a passion for photography beyond just blog photos.  It's been super fulfilling to take photography beyond the "walls" of this blog and I'm excited to take it even further in the years to come!

the keils // family portrait

When the Keil family asked me to do their family photos last year I was pretty excited.  I'd done their photos back in 2012, and it was super fun to see little Simon so grown up since then!  Lillian was about 8 months pregnant during this shoot so they're now a family of four!  Their new son is named Porter, so hopefully I'll have the chance to shoot their family again this year with the new addition!  Jason's family was in town so we got to do some with his whole family, as well as some couple shots of just Jason and Lillian, and some individual portraits of everyone!
Even though this shoot was in December I was excited that there were stills some fall leaves lingering in the park.  I love the color and texture of fall leaves, and it was a great distraction for Simon to play in the leaves when he was starting to get exasperated with the photo-taking experience, like most kids eventually do.
Lillian actually writes a blog and I was super inspired by one of her recent posts.  It's always wonderful to read articles by real women who are embracing their bodies and struggling through what that means.