Living What I Love

Fall shoots

A few favorites from recent family + engagement shoots this fall!

 I think I really captured Astrid's sweet essence here. =)

Such great brothers!

Katy + Sam + Murray the dapper dog <3

Marie, Bryce + Finn

Shot some fall photos for friends to use in their Holiday 2016 cards and we had the perfect fall evening with beautiful light. We took these downtown Ballard, one of my favorite places in the city. Marie's parents were visiting from Indiana so we got some with the grandparents, too! <3

A new addition

This was my third shoot with this family, and they've added one on since our last meetup! So fun to see families grow.

Favorite five-year-old toys: Cars buds

Families who read together = <3

Learning to ride a bike!

"Mom, a plane!"

Christmas card material, imo. ;)

 

Beach morning

This was my third (fourth?) time working with this sweet, adventurous family and we had a blast playing at Golden Gardens one Saturday morning this spring. It's so fun to watch the two brothers interact - they are full of energy and made me crack up more than a few times. I particularly loved how they chose their own outfits like they did last time, and chose their 'volcano shirts' again, too, fresh off a trip to Hawaii. The heart wants what it wants! ;)

This is a tradition with our shoots now - photos of dad throwing the boys into the air (SO HIGH.) Seriously impressive.

Spring shoots

Hello again! Been awhile, so here's a few fun shoots from the spring, starting with a 5K with a local chapter of great org Girls on the Run, which encourages girls to run and promotes a healthy self-image. It was a freezing, rainy day and I was so impressed with these girls' positive attitudes and with how much fun they had, despite the weather.

Next: some maternity photos for Beth and John, who two months later welcomed a healthy baby boy!

And finally, a portrait session with the lovely Inger, who gets told she looks like Jodie Foster a lot - I have to agree! I love doing portraits, and we lucked out with a gorgeous Seattle sunset.

Edmonds family shoot

This was my second time working with Lindsay and Bob and their sweet kiddos! We hung out and played along the waterfront in downtown Edmonds (and hello, such a cute town!) on a crisp fall morning. Families this fun make my job easy.

Family shoot at the beach!

Sometimes work doesn't seem like work. Spending time with this sweet family at Discovey Park was just plain fun, and their three-year-old son was one of the chattiest little guys I've ever had the pleasure to hang out with. He was curious about everything we found on the beach, totally obliging to pose for the camera and had lots of interesting things to say. =) Such a fun day!

Recent favorites

A few of my favorites from recent shoots this winter:

Love this one. =)

Beautiful child! Beautiful family.

The latest and greatest

Some favorites from a super-fun family shoot on Saturday in Redmond. This little guy is just too cute. Love it when the grandparents can get in some shots, too!

The golden hour

This shoot was at the Bellevue Botanical Gardens, late in the afternoon when the sun was perfectly filtering through the trees and made for some beautiful photos. The little guy is only 3 months old, and I could definitely tell how much love his family has for him! We had his parents, aunt, cousin and grandparents all together, and no matter how many times he got passed around, he was a pretty content (and sleepy!) little guy.

I love the grandmother's sari and the bright colors she and her daughter both wore. Take note: bright colors make for gorgeous pictures!

Laughter also makes for great photos. =)

Granddaughter + grandfather

Father + son

Mother + son

Grandparents + grandchildren

Toddlers: keeping me on my toes

I thought this little guy was quick the first time I took his photo; I was wrong. Good thing I wore shoes that were easy to move in! A few of my favorites:

Rose, Travis + Adrienne

Favorites from a family/holiday card shoot for close friends of ours last weekend in West Seattle:

Fall + families

Work from a family session I shot this past weekend in South Lake Union. Check out these kids' gorgeous, curly hair!

Late September family shoot

Another lovely family who I worked with a few weeks ago with a beautiful four-month-old baby girl, and grandparents visiting from China. There's just something about those grandparent visits - crossing oceans to see their newest family members ... it just really pulls at my heartstrings. =) Maybe I just miss my own grandparents who also live far away; not as far as China, but far enough that I don't see them often enough. I hope this sweet little girl gets to see her family a lot over the years as she's growing up. They certainly adore her already (as do her parents!)

mini explorer

I had a few family sessions this weekend and had so much fun meeting more tiny people! Filtered sunlight, crisp air and an empty park made for a perfect shoot. This is Luna, who's 18 months and very, very busy, and very interested in the natural world (rocks and sticks and leaves) but not so much the dirt - her dad had to brush it off for her. =)

Family.

A sunny, warm day in Seattle, a happy, smiling baby and a light breeze mixed well for a great family shoot this past weekend at the Olympic Sculpture Park. I loved little Lily's expressions! Babies at this age are so fun to work with.

Saturday morning

This past Saturday I drove out to a cool little tucked-away park to meet up with a super fun family of three to shoot some photos. Their son was 14 months and man could he move fast! Probably half the shots I snapped of him were blurry; luckily I always keep that shutter clickin' and am left with plenty of great ones. =) When my photos of him were in focus, they turned out great - he just had this little glint in his eye all morning that was too cute.

Baby M's First Birthday

I had the pleasure of shooting the first birthday party of Baby M last weekend. She had the biggest, prettiest eyes and had everyone at her party wrapped around her finger. =) Can you blame them?

And what a party it was! There were gift baskets and bubbles and squirt guns for the kids to play with, a bouncy castle, a mini swimming pool and SO much food. It's so great to see families and friends brought together to celebrate, and I had a fabulous time getting to know Baby M and her parents and grandparents.

Baby Adrienne

We went out of town with friends last weekend and my camera couldn't stop snappin' photos of their beautiful 7-month-old daughter. Those eyelashes!

(Forgive the avocado, she was just saving some for later.)

 

family portraits

You guys, it's been forever, I know. It's bad. But I've had some awesome shoots recently and would love to share them with you! First up: a lovely family from the East side who wanted to capture their newest addition on a rather sunny Seattle morning.

We met up in Fremont and strolled around the waterfront, the Sunday Market and then headed up to Queen Anne for some views.

Do you know any families, couples, high school seniors or pet owners who'd love to spend an hour or so with me and have some really great photos taken? Send them my way!

Pumpkin patch!

A few weekends ago Chad and I went out to a pumpkin patch in Renton with his sister, brother-in-law and their twin girls. It was a sweet little farm, complete with geese, chickens, a calf, pigs, old tractors and trucks to climb on and plenty of pumpkins. The girls picked out one each and Uncle Chad surprised them both with a mini pumpkin, too. =) One of my favorite fall things, for sure. Hope you're getting out and enjoying the season!

Christina + Adam are having a baby!

This was my first maternity shoot ever, and my subjects were my good friends Christina and Adam, who are expecting their first baby (after their fur-baby Cali, that is) in about a month. We shot these in a friend's yard, complete with wine grapes, in Alamo, California over Labor Day weekend. I'm so incredibly excited for these two to become parents - they're going to be excellent at it!

Sneak peek: Christina's maternity shoot

Last weekend while barbequeing and soaking up the sun with friends for Labor Day in the Bay Area, I was lucky enough to squeeze in a maternity photoshoot for my good friend Christina. Since I shot her and her husband Adam's engagment photos over three years ago, I was thrilled to be able to capture this next super-exciting stage in their lives: impending parenthood! I haven't finished editing all of the photos yet, but here's a sneak peek. Isn't she the prettiest momma-to-be you've ever seen? I can't wait to meet their little one!

planes, trains, and automobiles.

i meant that quite literally.

chad, my dad and stepmom and i visited the henry ford on a rainy saturday afternoon when they were in town a few weeks ago.

that h. ford collected some very random things. the highlights: the bus rosa parks first protested in. the last car jfk ever rode in. the most giant train i've ever seen. and, on a lighter note, the oscar meyer weinermobile. hot dogs for lunch were thoroughly enjoyed post museum tour. america!

who knew henry appreciated great mid-century modern design? the eames chair: mmmm.

giant dot candy! 

*the* bus rosa parks sat in. pretty cool.

jfk's last ride: sad.

narrowly escaping becoming a train sandwich.

Old photo love v.1

Sorting through my boxes of photos today (remember when people printed their photos?), I came across a stack of photos I've been meaning to share for awhile. I don't know how or where these photos came to be in my possession, but I treasure them and have grand plans for a family history wall someday when we have more wall space and I have the full collection of both sides of Chad's and my families.

I am fascinated by old photos. My answer to that question, "If you could have a superpower, what would it be?" has always been time travel, hands-down. There is nothing more intriguing to me than learning about my ancestors and hearing bits and pieces of my personal family history. I would give anything to go back in time and ask my great-grandparents why they were deciding to leave Sweden and Germany and the Netherlands. Were they the first to leave? Did they like it here? Did they miss home? As time travel isn't exactly on the horizon just yet, I'll have to settle for looking through these great old photographs and making up stories of my own. I love the formality of them, too - no such thing as digital photography or snapshots, a photograph had to be planned for, often paid for, and the result is so lovely. Bowties and dresses, Sunday best. I love it.

I do know enough to narrate these a bit. My dad's side of the family all came from Sweden in the early 1900s. My great grandfather, Oscar Kullberg, came from central Sweden and landed in Rockford, Illinois, with his brother Henning. I know that Henning eventually moved back to Sweden from a letter I was lucky enough to have translated to me from Swedish to English last summer while visiting relatives in Sweden. My grandfather was then born in Wisconsin and eventually became a watchmaker; a trade he passed on to my dad, who has owned and run Kullberg Jewelers since my grandfather became unable to do so in the early 1980s. Without further ado, the Kullberg Family:

I'm not 100% certain who this lovely lady and little boy are; I know they're somehow related to me, though! And I adore the moon; I think it's genius.

My great-grandparents, Selma Svensson and Oscar Kullberg, with their three children. My grandfather Walter is in the middle.

My grandfather Walter, so handsome! The back of this photo is labeled, "June 16th, 1929." It must be right around the time he and my grandmother Dorothy Tekla met, because the following photo of her has the same thing written on the back.

My grandmother Dorothy. What a cute smile she had!

Proof that photobooth photos are forever great. Hi grandpa! I think this was around his watchmaker school years.

This guy with the impish grin, looking like he's up to no good? My dad! No date, but I'm guessing this is around 1960, when he was about 6 or 7.

My dad on the left with his big brother John, around 1959. That's Williams Bay School in the background - their and my alma mater. =)

I love this photo. Check out those boots! And that hair! It's taken from such a cool vantage point, too. Props to the mystery photographer who shot this one. My dad could build, take apart, and rebuild a whole bunch of things from a young age, from dirtbikes to Volkswagon Beatles.

The early 1970s, man. My Uncle John, grandma, grandpa, Aunt Mary, and my dad on a pier over Lake Geneva. Groovy outfits + hairstyles, and the camera around my grandpa's neck makes me smile. Miss you, grandma, grandpa, and Uncle John!

That's all the family history I have for now. Stay tuned for a future post about my mom's side!

the weekend.

driving home to wisconsin, we caught this sunset. an upside to chicago traffic!

i got to spend time with my mom and my sister maddie, who has very stylish tom's and very beautiful red hair =) :

we stopped down at the george williams pier, where i whiled away many a day getting a tan (and getting paid for it) - lifeguarding summers in college. also known as one of my favorite places, ever. lake geneva is the prettiest around 6pm in the summer.

the night before we had to head back to michigan, we made last minute dinner plans with some good friends of our and then stopped by their house to see their daughter. she is SO cute. moves a bit fast even for my f/1.4, but i got a few snaps in:

Published, holla.

Last week, I got word from a random iPhone app company called Schmap, who wanted to ask permission to use a photo I took of the Stockholm Public Library in Stockholm, Sweden, for their app.  Obviously, I said, "For sure." Here's a link if you want to check it out! Kind of a cool app, too, for all you iPhone users out there.

http://www.schmap.com/stockholm/sights_vasastaden/#p=242290&i=242290_10.jpg

Also, speaking of getting published, a few months ago I was VERY, very excited to have one of my submissions to Pictory Magazine chosen for the "Life Before Your Eyes" showcase. Pictory is an online photo/writing magazine that was started recently by Laura Brunow Miner. Every month or so, there is a new showcase with photos and text from talented and creative people all over the world. Ms. Miner and usually an esteemed guest judge are the ones who pour through all the photos and stories and decide what makes the cut. Truly an honor to be chosen, and in case you haven't seen my submission, here it is:

http://www.pictorymag.com/showcases/life-before-your-eyes/#pictory-254

Here's the photo again, of my dad and the RV-6 plane that he built by hand:

Rock on, Dad. Another person livin' what he loves.