breathe

"I took a deep breath and listened to the old bray of my heart: I am. I am. I am. ~ Slyvia Plath

Photos from a time I wasn't able to breathe much at all, bronchitis lungs, baby occupying my center, and a winter of dirty air and little sunshine. On this day I found my lungs clear with the clean, heavy air of green space. I felt sunshine. I felt lightness. I felt alive. Every breath this day was a gift.

A huge thank you to one of my very best friends, Cynthia, for being my muse this cold, winter day.

 

Contax 645 ~ Fuji 400H ~ Photovision Film Lab ~ Shop Gossamer Gown

Ballerina on Film

Just a glimpse of something beautiful.

Florals: La Fete ~ Gown: Leanne Marshall ~ Model: Sophie Baddley

Cynthia ~ A peak

Floral Sneak Peak

One pretty shot from a recent shoot with Wedding Paper Divas and La Fete Floral.

Kokedama Garden ~ Utah Bride & Groom Magazine Editorial

It was a dream creating this secret kokedama garden on a snowy day with Allison of La Fete Floral. We are incredibly honored to have it featured in Utah Bride and Groom Magazine's current publication. A huge thank you to all the amazing vendors, listed below, who inspired and created with us.

Photography/Creator/Stylist: Green Apple Photography ~ Florals/Creator/Stylist: Allison Baddley/La Fete Floral and Design ~ Cake: Cakes de Fleur ~ Gown: Avenia Bridal ~ Suit: Beckett Robb ~ MUA: April Benincosa ~ Paper Goods: October Ink ~ Lighting: Moonlighting Utah ~ Rentals: Diamond Rental ~ Jewelery: Katie Waltman ~ Venue: Trolley Square ~ Decor: Anthropologie/West Elm ~ Models: Jacee Horne & Stafford Thomas

Marie Antoinette | Melissa Blackburn | Utah Valley Bride

I feel incredibly lucky to have been asked to contribute to such an incredible, intricate and beautiful Marie Antoinette themed shoot last year. Melissa Blackburn designed and created each of these exquisite dresses, and the shoot was a testament to her immense talent. I'm so excited to share these photos with you and I will link the other photographers who participated down below. It's fun to see how everyone interpreted the scenes differently and in their own unique way. An amazing shout-out to Tinge Floral and Sweet Tooth Fairy for their hard work and beautiful florals and sweets, as well as all the other vendors listed below. And if you want to see more, Mikki Platt's images of the editorial are currently in Utah Valley Bride! Now let's all eat some cake.

Thank you to, Dresses ~ Melissa Blackburn | Creative Directors ~ Melissa Blackburn, Jefra Starr Linn & Mikki Platt | Florals ~ Tinge Floral | Sweets ~ Sweet Tooth Fairy | Make-Up ~ Kissable Complexions | Hair ~ Bethany Loveless, Jessie Ward, Kali Wengreen | Table Styling ~ Karli Elaine Events | Cake ~ Cake-a-licious | Backdrop ~ Penny Jones | Prop Styling ~ Rosie Jarman/My Dear Lizzy | Props ~ Hale Center Theater | Floral Head Piece ~ Brittnay Jepsen/House that Lars Built

Contributing Photographers: Heather Nan, Mikki Platt, Kiera Eve, Crystalyn Nilson, Jefra Star Linn, & Nichole V Models: Katie McDermott, Jacee Murray, Michelle White, Kelsey Lund Murphy, Amanda Larsen, Shaquel Farr, Rosalie Badger Long, Ashlyn Anderson, Chloe Thompson, Sarah Miskin, Suzy Clawson, Camille Romriell, Dani Braun, Chris Clark, Hank and Slade Blackburn

Elyse and David Sundance Wedding ~ Published Utah Bride and Groom

I've been waiting to share this wedding for over a year, and the day is finally here! Elyse and David's incredibly thoughtful and beautiful wedding is published in Utah Bride and Groom! I couldn't think of a prettier home for a wedding that was completely heartfelt. This wedding means a lot to me for many reasons. I watched Elyse grow up. I moved into her neighborhood when I was a newlywed myself and ended up being her Church teacher. And I always loved Elyse. She was someone who had a vision for her life, knew what she wanted, had a wicked sense of humor and the warmest heart. We kept in touch over the years, and she met the perfect man in David. They are artists and teachers, living in New York City. Their love story is a special one, one of friendship, support and love in good times and the not so good times. They are both articulate, kind, generous, creative, and adventurous. Elyse and David's vision was to combine Elyse's love of the Utah mountains, with their home in New York City, so rustic big city? The wedding was a family affair of contributing talents, from the Chuppa,  invitations by Elyse's sister, Hannah, and beautiful acoustic music from a close friend.  David drew scenes of New York on the table cards and serenaded Elyse. Their vows brought me to tears, their speeches made me laugh (and mad libs!) and I truly felt that I was witnessing two soul mates starting their journey together.

Congratulations Elyse and David! And Thank you Val at Utah Bride and Groom for the lovely feature in the new magazine!

Flowers: Tinge Floral Gown: Michelle Roth, Kleinfield Bridal Cake: Granite Bakery Rings: Fitzgerald Jewelry Invitations: Hannah Arrington Designs @hannah@hico-op.com, Ink Run Press Entertainment: Don Woodbury DJ, Julia Meecham

Abandoned Mansion | Film Editorial

“Love her, love her, love her! If she favours you, love her. If she wounds you, love her. If she tears your heart to pieces – and as it gets older and stronger, it will tear deeper – love her, love her, love her!” -Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

I've always loved the darker side of things. Wuthering Heights was the first book that I really remember inhaling (anyone else read like that?) I like stormy days, and songs in minor, wandering souls, and I've been a lover of fairy tales as long as I can remember. Early spring tends to bring this side out of me, and Allison, of La Feté, and I were inspired by the darker side of fairy tales, with a little Great Expectation mixed in. We wanted a shoot that was haunting, emotive, and follows the journey of a girl, neglected in her wedding finery, waiting for her lost love.

There are so many stories I want to tell about this shoot, which we secretly dubbed, haunted mansion. From my assistant falling into a rotting pool of water, flowers three days late, some blood and near fainting, there was definite a bit of misadventure going on as well. But that is what makes what we do such a great adventure. Read below for all the amazing contributors, who lent their talents and gifts to our labor of love!

If you'd like to see, Abandoned Mansion was featured on Magnolia Rouge! Eek! Also, I wanted to send a lot of love to Allison, La Feté. She has been an amazing collaborator, friend, artist and soul sister. There was a lot going on during this shoot, and she still created the most beautiful world. Thank you Allison!

Many thanks to,

Model: Amanda Larsen, for being embodying our concept, being a beautiful soul inside and out, and putting up with a whole lot of crazy, all while maintaining happy spirits. You are amazing! Florals/Stylist: Allison Baddley from La Feté MUA: Flavia from Versa Artistry Invitation Suite: Pink Piggy Design Cake: Tauri with Pippa Cakery: tauri@pippacakery.com Cake Stand and Tablescape chairs: Maison Boutique Chaise and broken chair: Lynette with Refined Vintage Assistants: Kate Lovell, and Jenny Bradley

La Bicylette Editorial

A summer day inspired by La Bicylette, picnics, and flowers found on the way. La bonne vie!

As always, beautiful flowers by Allison of La Fete, (my favorite co-conspirator) and we were so lucky to work with the incredibly lovely Hayley as model. Thank you Eva's for generously sharing your space and Jade Marie and Ash Sylvester for Make-Up and Hair!

 

Florals/Co-Conspirator: Allison Baddley, La Fete Model: Hayley Bradley Make-up: Jade Marie, Kissable Complexions Hair: Ash Sylvester

Evergreen | Utah Christmas Photography

Love Elements Evergreen ~ Snow ~ Winter Crowns

I'm going to be 100% honest here, this shoot was intense! Sometimes, somethings, throw you for a loop, and this happened to be one of them. It was cold, it was snowy, it was dangerous driving, there were equipment malfunctions and dead car batteries. And despite all the crazy, there were four beautiful girls, and four beautiful hair wreaths, three cold mama's, who were worried about the cold babies, and a whole bunch of Christmas Tree Lot Dude's, who thought we were absolutely nutsos.

Sometimes that's just how life goes, and I'd like to say I always weather that storm with clear eyes, and a peaceful heart, but truth be told, my mind goes a million miles per minute, my heart starts beating even harder, and I might get a little flustered from time to time. But despite it all, I think this is one of the most satisfying shoots. There's something to say for being proud, when your vision needs to change suddenly. Like that cute, vintage sled I had? Yeah, we scrapped that. Hot chocolate, soon became cold chocolate. Life happens, sometimes in the middle of a shoot. BUT, Allison, who as always, completely wins with beauty and awesomeness, made the most beautiful wreaths, was my rock, when I needed calm, and ran back and forth providing blankets and warmth and love. And her beautiful words (which you should read over here,) convey the truth of our intentions and the magic, I'm proud to say, I think we still accomplished.

A huge thanks to Sophie, Chloe, Zoee and Nora!

Merry Christmas Everyone! I hope that if this season has been a bit hectic, crazy, and not exactly as planned, that we can all enjoy with our families these precious days, and enjoy the magic that is the season!

Florals: La Fete, Allison Baddley

Gather Editorial

Sometimes you get lucky enough to meet a kindred soul, a la Anne of Green Gables style. I'm so lucky to have met Allison Baddley, owner of La Fete Floral and Events. Allison is an amazing talent, and we have been collaborating together on a little project called, Love Elements. The premise is simple. We want to create simple, beautiful inspiration, based off of three elements. For our first shoot, we wanted to focus on wheat, persimmon, and gold. Allison says it beautifully below. A huge thank you to Laura Miller, of You Doll Design for the calligraphy, and Beckie Winston, of Maison Confisserie and Boutique for the beautiful jewelry. Read below to read Allison's eloquent description.

For our first Love elements collaboration, we were inspired by the word “Gather” and wanted to showcase autumn’s natural bounty.  We liked the idea of gathering a big bouquet of golden wheat straight from nature, so obvious to us our first element was going to be  - WHEAT.

From there, we decided that we would like a natural looking model with wheat colored hair in a simple wheat colored dress. We liked the idea of using her natural beauty with a pop of orange red on her lips and darling orange booties. Our thoughts again went to the rich colorful fruits of the season and our 2^nd element came to mind - PERSIMMON.

Even though the model is a natural beauty, we still wanted to add some sparkle to our shoot and we looked to Beckie Winston, the owner of Maison Confisserie & Boutique for something delicate and pretty that represented the gold found in autumn.  She donated the simple, yet amazing earrings and bracelets for the shoot and we decided that they represented our last element perfectly – GOLD.

The love element story – Everything about our story was inspired by our 3 Love elements. We decided that the Utah Mountains were the perfect setting because the backdrop is breathtakingly stunning this time of year.  Also, we instantly thought of the sweet and beautiful Elizabeth Pynes to use as our model.  She has never modeled before and has such a sweet quality about her because, believe it or not, she has no idea how beautiful she is. The story follows the simple path of a young girl in love.  She is out for an autumn stroll with the intent of gathering nature’s harvest.  Along the way, she gathers a bountiful bushel of golden wheat and also makes an autumnal bouquet and adorns her hair with flowers.

Credits: Florist: Allison Baddley/La Fete, Calligrapher: Laura Miller/You Doll Design, Jewelry: Maison Confiserie et Boutique

mountain elopement, three | Utah Elopement Photographer

My heart explodes a little when I see these images. I love them so much. Life should be filled with adventure and love. I was reading, somewhere, that happiness comes from trying new things. Putting yourself in uncomfortable situations, where the outcome isn't a guarantee. The adventure is the spice, the challenge that broadens your horizon. That's how I feel about these. So many adventures here, with beautiful, wild souls. That wraps up our Mountain Elopement! See the other installments here and here. Thank you Kate Lovell, Valen Hunter, Kali Chris and Rachel and Blake. Muah! Muah! Muah! I think I owe Rachel and Blake a lifetime of hot chocolate. For reals.

Mountain Elopement part two | Utah Elopement Photographer

Part two of our collaborative, mountain elopement. It doesn't get any sweeter or simpler than a girl, a boy...a dog.

Stylist: Kate Lovell Florist: Valen Hunter, Flower Afternoon MUA: Kali Chris Models: Rachel Howell and Blake Balkman

mountain elopement, one | Utah Elopement Photographer

Part one, of a lovely mountain elopement; starring Rachel and Blake, and Doug, the dog. A huge thank you to Valen Hunter from Flower Afternoon for the florals, Kate Lovell as the amazing stylist, and Kali Chris for hair and make-up. And of course, Rachel and Blake, and Doug!  I love this sweet and simple story.

Mallory | Editorial

Winter was long, long, long this year. Although it is already becoming a bit of a memory, I know I can't be the only one who feels that way. And while the sun was hiding behind a bitter, (BITTER!) inversion cloud, I decided I would get out and explore, once warmth made it's annual, blessed, reappearance. This was the result of a collaboration, on one beautiful March day. Specifically, I was interested in light and shade, and the emotion created by the imperfect use of both, but I may have gotten a little distracted by Mallory's hair. Just.A.Little.

So here are the results of one sunny day with two good friends! Thank you Mikki and Mallory for being such lovely people. Check out Mikki's version of our shoot here. I love seeing another creative's point of view. And for the record, I just love these girls.

Sweet Little Peanut Valentine's Day Party

Lucy and I were recently invited to the sweetest Valentine's Day Party. Megan, from Sweet Little Peanut, is just one super-talented, super-organized, super-creative momma. She put together such a darling party, and Lucy can't stop talking about it (especially, the entire bag of candy she snuck into her skirt.) The kids gave Valentine's, drank pink milk, frosted cookies, and stole kisses. Thank you so much Megan for such a great day! And check out Sharstin's cute littles. These kids were too much!

If you haven't checked out Sweet Little Peanut, you need to, stat! I have bookmarked every single Valentine's Day craft.

Sharstin and Megan, hard at work!

Sweet Little Peanut Valentines Day Party

A couple of weeks ago I was invited to photography the sweetest little Valentine's Day Party! Here's a little peak, but there is plenty more to see over at Sweet Little Peanut's Blog! If you are familiar with Utah Bride Blog and Pink Piggy Design, then you will recognize the fabulous Megan Bailey, who is the creator of Sweet Little Peanut.

Lucy and I had the best time! Also, check out Sharstin Miller's cute little kiddies! So fun!

Berry Editorial | published utah bride and groom

The inspiration for this shoot was born in the middle of last winter, when it was cold and grey, and I was yearning for sun and color. It was executed on a hot day last June, surrounded by forest fires, with ash falling on our heads. From start to finish, this was a project of love and I can honestly say this body of work, is some of my proudest. I wanted to challenge myself, and in the process had the amazing blessing of working with some of the most beautiful and talented women around. I can't say enough thank you's to Sarah Winward, Jayne Swallow, Melissa Blackburn and April Benincosa for their talent, friendship, and incredible collaboration! A huge thank you to Mari and Blake for being our beautiful models and to my husband, Scott, for making 6 dozen bundt cakes, being the heavy lifter, U-haul driver, and all-around, wonderful supporter that he is. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! And I'm so excited to share that this shoot is featured in the current edition of Utah Bride and Groom! Thank you Val for the beautiful feature! There are so many wonderful articles and beautiful weddings in this issue! I'm honored to be a part of such an amazing magazine and collection of work.

Surprise! They have a baby! How cute are they?

Sarah Winward: Honey of a Thousand Flowers Jayne Swallow: October Ink Melissa Blackburn, fine dressmaking and design April Benincosa: Vintage Rouge Location: Phelps Berry Farm