A D V E N T U R E | Loose Park Rose Garden

I can think of a handful of people I've met throughout my life with whom I've had an immediate camaraderie - a closeness that feels strange and like it has been there forever even though we've known each other for only a few hours. 

I felt that way when I met Leora. She's got an incredibly beautiful spirit, but there is this authenticity about her that made me feel safe. When I photographed her headshots this past winter, we conducted Mozart together in my studio and both sang along to Le Nozze di Figaro. It was a blast and it was one of those sessions that had me inspired for days afterward.

I've thought of Leora often since our session, and I was beyond delighted when she asked if I'd like to go to a rose garden with her. I am a huge lover of gardens and flowers, and so I jumped at the chance to check out this free public garden in the heart of Kansas City.

It did not disappoint!

The Loose Park Rose garden is a wonderful place to visit. With pathways and benches, it is a lovely place to explore leisurely and to get to walk and talk with a friend. The roses smell amazing, and there are some incredible hybrid varieties! I was pausing to take photos but not to write down the hybrids. Luckily for me, I can go back! 



We chatted with several of the staff while there, talking everything from canning to deadheading to aphids. It was a blast getting to connect with people! That is one fantastic thing about having Leora with me. I am not as outgoing as she is. I might have missed out on these conversations if not for her friendly and awesome personality.

After we smelled the roses, we enjoyed an awesome Indian food lunch. And we ended up talking, and talking, and talking some more. I didn't want the day to end! It's amazing when a thread beyond shared interests pulls two people into conversation. We get to share something deeper than watching the same television shows or having shared political views. There is a basic understanding of the beauty of the world and the spirituality of art and nature and existence that kept Leora and I talking, and more than two weeks after our fun morning at the rose garden, I'm still thinking about our conversation and how grateful I am that God brings people into our lives in these ways.

I'm lucky that what I do puts me in touch with amazing people like Leora. I've made some really wonderful friends in Kansas City as a result of collaboration through photographs - and then through life!

And I'm sure I'll be back to the rose garden. You should go to Loose Park if you live in the KC area. The people there are passionate about what they do, and it is quite a luxury to appreciate the beauty of these delicate and short-lived miracles in such a volume as they have them there.

Happy Monday, everyone!

moments: strawberry jam

As I've said before on this blog, I got into photography originally to document the simple, beautiful moments in life that I was afraid would pass me by. A lot of these moments in my life involve cooking. I absolutely love cooking and baking just about anything! Last fall on the same day I canned tomatoes, I made strawberry freezer jam, but I didn't get it photographed! 

We dug into our last jar of jam last weekend, so I made some more this week, with the help of my friend Ashley. While these aren't the most gorgeous strawberries ever, they sure are tasty! (Especially when you add a bunch of sugar to them! (Recipe below.)

I'm not sure what I would do without a food processor. Cry, maybe? I did mash them by hand last time, but it took quite a bit longer...this time? About 4 seconds.

 

Sugar is my greatest vice.

The finished product sure was pretty (and tasty!).

Strawberry Freezer Jam

2 pints strawberries (2 heaping cups crushed)
4 cups of sugar
1 tsp grated nutmeg
1 tbsp orange zest, plus the juice of one orange

Hull and halve the strawberries, and crush them, either by hand with a fork or potato masher, or in a food processor. Mix in 4-cups sugar, zest, and nutmeg and let sit for 10 minutes. On the stove, combine one box fruit pectin (I used Sure Jell) with 3/4 cup water. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, and boil one minute. Stir pectin into fruit mixture, and continue to stir until sugar is completely dissolved (approximately 3 minutes). Spoon into freezer safe containers (leave 1/2 inch of space at the top for expansion) and freeze for up to 1 year. (YUM!)

Happy Friday!!

holding on to summer

The past few days have been warm, bringing back summer for one last hurrah! For me, the late part summer is characterized not just by pumpkin spice lattes, scarves, and the crispness in the air. There are a lot of other layers to the end of the summer. Harvest is one of them, both from the fields and also from the garden. As the threat of frost encroaches and with the blessing of lots of tomatoes, we always canned a lot of stewed tomatoes and salsa during this time of year when I was growing up. I've missed out on parts of the process for the past few years, being away from home, but this year, I have had a garden, and it has helped so much with the pangs of homesickness. 

Even though I didn't really have enough tomatoes to can, my parents came to visit a couple of weeks ago and we went to the farmer's market and got some lovely tomatoes. My parents and I proceeded to can them (let's be honest, Dad did most of the work!) and it felt like old times. I always feel so much more settled into a new place or a new home (Ayron and I moved in July) when my parents come to visit. 

Mom and Dad, thanks for being such amazing parents and for helping me hold onto summer just a little while longer. When it is below zero outside, I'll remember the garden and that weekend while I'm enjoying homemade tomato sauce or Italian potpie with those tasty tomatoes! 

chicago date

My hubby and I have had lots of adventures together since we've graduated. I can hardly think of a summer/fall that has been so busy! We have been out of town or had guests or photographed weddings every weekend since the end of July, and it has been completely crazy!

A little over a month ago, we had the pleasure of going to Chicago to photograph an engagement session for two amazing people (more on that later) and we even got some time to ourselves. We wandered around the Roscoe Village neighborhood and had lunch at this awesome little Italian place. The food was cheap and super tasty! I love spontaneous, impromptu little dates. We have been traveling and working so much and we are both so exhausted that little moments like this are what makes it all worth it.

Love you Ayron! I'm so blessed to have a wonderful husband like you. Thanks for second shooting for me and being so supportive and wonderful!

Bread + oil is one of my favorite combinations. I always eat way too much! YUM!

I'm not gonna lie, I was a little jealous of Ayron's spaghetti.

But my amazing sandwich was great too...

I try to make sure we take photographs of each other at moments like this. These are the little moments that are so easily forgotten and yet they are the sweetest.

And dessert didn't even make it to the photograph...it was too tasty... ;)

Happy Tuesday!

sunny afternoon reading

I have always liked to read, but the summer after sixth grade, I became obsessed with escaping reality into the pages of a book. It is infectious. I loved the kind of book that made me stay up through the night to finish, or that I took along with me to soak in a relaxing bath, only to end up turning into a prune in cold water because I was so riveted. I loved all genres, but I especially loved science fiction and fantasy. 

When I entered college, I read less. Maybe it was because I had so much reading to do for school, or maybe it was because suddenly a large, amazing group of people entered my life and I found it more and more rare that I had enough alone time to read. 

My first year of graduate school, I lived far from campus and took the bus to class, spending over an hour on the bus every day. I read so many books that year that it felt like I was a kid again. That is how reading makes me feel: young, vibrant, and filled with the possibility of expanding my worldview, my knowledge, and my experience through words on paper.

I've been trying to read more lately as an escape from stress. My friend Laura bought me Kathryn Stockett's The Help for my birthday this year, and I'm just now getting around to reading it. I avoided seeing the movie in theaters because I wanted to experience the characters for the first time in my mind, with my voice, and in the pages of this book.

This book is so wonderful. I'm sure most of you who are reading this have heard of it and don't need me to tell you it is good. I'm about three quarters of the way through it and I'm already feeling very sad that it has to end.

Last week, after I finished a photo session, I waited around for about 40 minutes for my husband to pick me up on his way home from work. I laid underneath a big maple tree on campus and I read, loving the feeling of the breeze and the warmth of the dappled sunlight coming through the branches. Sometimes I forget that I need to just stop and appreciate the simple moments in life. I get wrapped up in deadlines and obligations and I forget to just pause and live.

I'm going to try and press pause more often. :)

Thanks for the great book, Laura. I miss you and reading it just brings me a little closer to Arizona. :)

Happy Tuesday!

moments

Since I started being a photographer, I  have known deep down that one of the things I need to do to become a better artist is to view my camera as an extra appendage. I have known about the need to bring it with me many places I go, because I can't tell you how many moments have passed me by in life that I know I could record, but I haven't. I have spent years letting overwhelming beauty pass me by. As much as you try to let a moment soak in and tell yourself you'll remember it forever, you often simply don't.

This is the whole point of a photograph to me: to document a moment. It just a shutter click that takes a fraction of a second, and it is captured forever. I often try to imagine what it would have been like to live in the era when photography was invented. How eerie it must have been to see what one really looked like, completely frozen in that moment forever. I guess it is hard to imagine. My generation has had cameras in its face and at its fingertips forever - maybe even less than the current generation. No cell phone is without a camera now, and so many children have cell phones. It is strange to imagine how different it would have been to have been raised in a world like that.

Anyway, I am resolved to document more moments in my life. The below moments were documented on the day Ayron and I photographed a wonderful engagement session at the farmer's market. We strolled around the market after the session was over and enjoyed ourselves and the gorgeous June morning. 

These photographs inspired me to eat more fruit:

AND veggies:

Ayron's reward for a morning of hard work? Coffee. Mine? Flowers.

Here's to documenting many more beautiful moments.