grandma

grandma

i’ve been super quiet lately.

i feel like this post is rather dramatic, but we’ve so been used to living a lifestyle of scrolling, liking, and hearting… that nobody takes the time to read anymore, and nobody really sees true emotion any longer.

with that being said…

my grandma isn’t doing fabulous.

she is 93 years old.

so my grandmother, has always been my ONLY grandmother. my mother’s parents died before she was even married, so we’ve only had my dads parents. my grandfather died about 20 years ago, and left a giant gaping wound in our family.

i remember as a child hearing the emergency sirens at night, and praying to the Lord… please don’t let it be my grandmother, please save her. even though she lives a solid 2.5 hours away from my house. 😉

grandma still lives in the same house she has lived in forever and ever. but now she has a wonderful 24/7 caretaker…. even so she still has the attitude of a 2 year old…. i do it myself.

when i found out that grandma was in the hospital with a pretty bad infection, i offered to drive my dad up to south bend to see what was happening. i’ve never seen my grandmother look so fragile. she isn’t able to speak a lot, and that frustrates her to no end. she is as sharp as a tack, and still gets around with the help of a walker. seeing her in a hospital bed, completely crushed me.

she was so scared too. she would cry every time my dad left the room. it was awful.

we went back up on thursday to transfer her from the hospital and to a rehab facility, where she will do physical therapy to regain her strength enough to go home.

i love my grandmother. i cannot even express to you the depth of my love for her. even typing this out, i have tears.

this is the newest professional image i have of myself and grandma. my husband actually took this one. i took images of the rest of the family unit, and all the other girls got pictures of themselves and grandma.

except me. 

my grandmother HATES being in pictures. she used to tell me….. you’ll break your camera if you take a photo of me!

she is beautiful. 

soon i know the Lord will take her. she’s had a wonderfully full, and long life.

and all i will have are the images to remember her by. much like she only has images of her husband, her sister, her parents, and her best friends. she has an album that she looks at every single day. the two days we went up, i spent time going through each image, and she would point out each person she could.

gone are the christmas eves at grandmas house with all the cousins. gone are the yearly beach trips with grandma. gone are the christmas cookies she would make each year, and give each child a little bit extra of their favorites in each bucket. gone are all the stray animals she used to feed on her back porch… at one time she had 7 stray cats and a one eyed raccoon mama. 

but i have a million images that my dad made sure to take when we were little. and i have many images of grandma holding the babies, playing with the kids, and walking on the beach.

but i wish i had one of just her and me. 

 

 

 

 

** back row: my sister, me                             2015

**front row: marcie, grandma, britney (marcie and britney are sisters, we are missing the sisters sarah and brooke. i am the youngest of the 6 granddaughters)

family outdoors personal  Photography

photographing babies in teals

photographing babies in teals

happy thursday everyone!

today let’s visit photographing babies in teals!

i love the teal color! it’s so universal, and i am thrilled that this color is acceptable for both boys AND girls!

today i have isaac in teal, and as you can see there are many different shades of teal which all work together beautifully.

as you know, i really don’t like to have a lot of distraction in my newborn images. i feel as though the baby should be the center point, and the props are just accessories.

teals are fun to work with, because it’s both blue AND green. this gives you some wiggle room in your set ups in case you don’t have the EXACT teal shades all around. and i think if you did the image may lack depth. also, teals enable you to get more “different” looks out of just one set up. adding a more blueish teal bonnet in one set up, and a more greenish wrap in another will give you some variety for the parents. this is a lovely technique if you have a particularly fussy tiny human or are on a limited time frame.  🙂

again, my bonnet here is from mama knits. i adore the dark and light variant hues in this bonnet she has made. this enables me to use it in multiple types of set ups.

the curls, of course, are again mama knits. her curls are truly a work of art. SO much care goes into her craft, and watching her husband work his magic as well is phenomenal. they are truly and amazing team who pride themselves on excellence in their work. ashlee hand dyes each item she creates. it’s amazing. her curls are the perfect addition to any shot, especially if you love the more natural feel in your images. i love how her curl fibers soak up the colors differently, so there isn’t a flat look to them. they each have so much depth! the curls are so universal as well! i have ashlee’s curls layered on top of a flokati in one image, and then place directly on the wood backdrop in another.

i am also using mama knits wild lamb layer blanket in the bowl shots. it’s a much brighter teal, but still ties in with the original more muted teal theme. her wild lamb blanket layers are perfect for these types of bowl shots, giving some texture and depth to the overall image while protecting the baby from the hard wooden surface. baby’s safety and comfort ALWAYS come first.

in the bonnet shots i am using the luneberry flokati in calabash, and i am SO incredibly pleased at how well this flokati color ties in with all my mama knits layers! how perfect is this?

the wrap is also from luneberry, in the calabash color. it’s a little darker teal color, but still coordinates well and gives a lovely finish to the image.

since i am certain someone at some point will ask me about the wooden bowl…. it’s not from a vendor.

living in the pacific northwest, we have a plethora of antique stores. this particular one i purchased at an antique store in hood river, oregon. i have about six different wooden bowls, all varying in sizes. it’s hard for me to pass up a wooden bowl, since the are so few and far between here! i am so picky about my wooden props…. i won’t purchase them from vendors UNLESS it’s willow and elm, who is mama knits beautiful mother…. and she’s also local. 😉 my husband, the wizard, also makes me wooden props <3

if you ever decide to come take a mentoring class with me, we will definitely be visiting mama knits, willow and elm, and of course the hood river antique stores. <3

 

xoxo,

olive

 

children mama knits newborn personal studio willow and elm  Photography children mama knits newborn personal studio willow and elm  Photography children mama knits newborn personal studio willow and elm  Photography children mama knits newborn personal studio willow and elm  Photography children mama knits newborn personal studio willow and elm  Photography

joshua 1:9

joshua 1:9

Your love, in wave after wave
crashes over me, crashes over me
for You are for us
You are not against us
Champion of Heaven
You made a way for all to enter in

cause You make me brave
You make me brave
You call me out beyond the shore into the waves
You make me brave
You make me brave
no fear can hinder now the love that made a way

 

i am so proud of you, brave mama <3

 

family maternity outdoors personal traveling  Photography family maternity outdoors personal traveling  Photography family maternity outdoors personal traveling  Photography family maternity outdoors personal traveling  Photography family maternity outdoors personal traveling  Photography family maternity outdoors personal traveling  Photography family maternity outdoors personal traveling  Photography family maternity outdoors personal traveling  Photography

new orleans

new orleans

hello friends!!

i just got back from louisiana this week, and what fun it was! i’ve been to the south 7 times, and this was by far the most fun experience yet!

my friend tori, of tori courtney photography is expecting her baby girl in may! she asked me to come and take her maternity images at her favorite lake… and of course i couldn’t say no!

i headed out fairly early from pdx on thursday morning, with my beloved house of flynn bags. if you’re a photographer, or just even a bag lover… you should totally check out maureen’s bag collections. you can find them HERE. i love the evermore bags, the backpacks, the shoot cases, and of course the travlers wallet.

maternity personal traveling Uncategorized  Photography

 

my flights were great, and my seatmates were all amazing. i love how the Lord always has someone for me to sit by. He never fails, each time. <3

 

friday was our photo day, and we were super excited! however the weather was a little uncooperative! there were thunder showers all day long! but we got a quick break and headed out to fontainebleau state park, and did some quick shots before the rain came back! both mom and dad LOVE to fish, and really wanted to incorporate the water in their session. how gorgeous is this location? so in love! <3

maternity personal traveling Uncategorized  Photography

 

after our session, tori started talking about something called a snowball…. and low and behold it’s a SNOWCONE, but better! these have such a velvety texture!! they are so much better than the snowcones you get up here in the pnw! and the have a million flavors and add ice cream to them as well! i loved the little gummy bear on top too. needless to say, i was in heaven with the drive through snowball places…. and we sure went a few times!

maternity personal traveling Uncategorized  Photographymaternity personal traveling Uncategorized  Photography

 

the next day we had tori’s best girlfriend come over with her new little baby boy. tori and i had a mini newborn session in her house! we worked on lighting and posing, and wrapping. i am SO proud of my little grasshopper! (thanks sabrina! 😉 )

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

maternity personal traveling Uncategorized  Photography

 

that night, nate went out and got crawfish. for the life of me i couldn’t figure out what crawfish was, until tori showed me a picture.

crawdad. it’s a crawdad. we used to catch these in the river up here and bring them to my mother, and she would eat them.

needless to say, this was an EXPERIENCE for me.

like a teeny tiny lobster…. but not.

maternity personal traveling Uncategorized  Photography

maternity personal traveling Uncategorized  Photography

mister nate showing me how to uh, “shell” them. tori took a video of me as well, but we shall leave that one out. 😉

**omgosh tori the toothbrush! her little man would carry around two toothbrushes all day long! he loved the way the suction cups would make a sound on everything!

maternity personal traveling Uncategorized  Photography

 

so let’s talk southern bugs…

i’ve been to tennessee a couple times and oklahoma once, and south carolina once. and never ever ever in my life have i seen such giant bugs like there are in louisiana. i’m hunting a carpenter bee in these images, because i’ve never seen such a large bee!! we have bugs up here, but we also have a million types of spiders… so it’s kinda like natural pest control. 🙂

tori also took video, but we will leave that out as well.

i’m not scared of bugs, but DANG.

 

maternity personal traveling Uncategorized  Photography maternity personal traveling Uncategorized  Photography

 

the day i flew out, tori and i took a trip to noew orleans.

now, i’ve been before. and i swore i would never ever go back. i do not like bourbon street. at all. you couldn’t pay me enough money to go back to that hell. and i REALLY didn’t like all the voodoo places. it’s not funny, and it’s not cute. it’s not something to play with. just walking by those places gets your spirit on guard.

however going to new orleans with a native was completely different. we hit the french market, which i had been to before… but it was different this time. she showed me all the fun things that i NEEDED to try while i was here. this market reminded me of pike place market in seattle, one of my favorite places. 🙂

maternity personal traveling Uncategorized  Photography

she took me for a muffuletta sandwich! i’ve never heard of this before and it was amazing! they even had gluten free bread for me! i took the cheese off though… no cheese for me.

and now i’m addicted and desperately trying to find the olive salad and i can’t find it!

maternity personal traveling Uncategorized  Photography

we hit aunt sally’s for praline’s which i had never had either! i will be ordering these for delivery…

maternity personal traveling Uncategorized  Photography

 

i couldn’t pass this gem up.

and NO i didn’t try any.

maternity personal traveling Uncategorized  Photography

 

our trip couldn’t be complete without a picture of us together.

i just love this woman. she has a special place in my heart.

she is such a beautiful woman of Christ, and she definitely has a divine anointing on her life. i cannot wait to see what the Lord has in store for our friendship!

 

maternity personal traveling Uncategorized  Photography

 

so my flight home… sucked.

i’ve never had such an awful experience with southwest airlines.

my flight out of nola was so delayed, i would miss my connection in LA. so they gave me a different flight with a connection in oakland airport.

that flight was delayed two hours.

we get to oakland airport, and all of us pdx travelers have a 3.5 hour delay…. because the last pdx flight had left 5 minutes prior to our arrival. couldn’t hold it?

needless to say, i was pretty ticked and tired. i toured all over the oakland airport wing i was in, got decaf and oatmeal because starbucks was the only thing open.

finally it was time to go, and we all landed at pdx at 1am, which was 3am my adjusted time.

our luggage had been sitting out in the rain, so everyone’s items were soaked, and my case was broken.

it was like living in the twilight zone. way to go southwest, you’re winning it.

maternity personal traveling Uncategorized  Photography

 

overall i had a wonderful trip, and i am really looking forward to returning when baby lakeleigh arrives in may! i’ve not had super wonderful experiences in the south, but i have to say i do love louisiana.

i’ll be posting images from tori’s outdoor AND indoor images this week!

xoxo, olive

 

 

 

Home