Monthly Archives: December 2007

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Merry Christmas … and happy new photoboothing!

I hope you are all enjoying the holiday season. I can’t believe that we even had some snow yesterday here in Seattle - what a treat! Christmas day started out very quiet for the McElwee household, just the three of us (Josh, Porter our black lab, and me) opening presents, phoning family and listening to Christmas music. In the afternoon we headed over to Ravenna to join our Seattle family (a.k.a. our closest friends) for Christmas dinner, games, drinks-a-plenty and much merriment. Wayne cooked up the most amazing ham I’ve ever had in my life (he bought it at A&J Meats on Queen Anne) and I spent most of the evening in a post-piggy food-coma. But I had a special task to do - trialling the photobooth I’ll be using at my next two weddings.

The photos below were all taken in Wayne & Stacey’s basement, with just a black backdrop and a couple of studio lights with umbrellas. It’s a set-up which is quick and easy for weddings and parties, and I’m really excited to be using it for the first time at Kathy Jo & Matt’s wedding this coming Saturday in Everett, and KerryAnn and Kevin’s New Year wedding! As you can see, a few merry people and a willing photographer (or photographer’s assistant) can result in some very fun pictures. I’ll be offering this to all of my 2008 wedding couples where time and space allow. Let me know if you’re interested!

Forrest holding his brother Rod’s baby girl Willow

Rod and baby Willow

Michelle and Jen giggling into their wine

Wayne and Stacey, our fantastic hosts

My husband Josh (about to be attacked by Wayne)

The boys - two Jehliks and a McElwee

Engagement Shoot in Ballard & Downtown: Sarah & Chris

About a month ago, I met up with Sarah and Chris for their engagement session at Ballard Locks. It was a pretty crummy day, but we wandered around the locks and gardens, through the salmon ladder and the strange curly silver sculptures, before getting hit by rain an hour into the session. We’d gotten some good shots, but I was keen to schedule a second session with them.

Well, it took us several weeks before we all found time to meet again, and in the meantime we switched plans and decided to try out Seattle Public Library, downtown. And so that’s where I met them this Saturday to finish the session. It was great! Neither of them had been to the library before, so I took great pleasure in giving them a whirlwind photo tour. We all agreed that the colors there are spectacular, especially the red corridor and the crazy yellow escalators. Our last stop was in the travel book section where Sarah found an awesome book called ‘Wonderful Wisconsin’ (Chris is from Wisconsin).

Anyway, I hope you enjoy Chris & Sarah’s engagement photos - and I’m super excited to be photographing their wedding in March!

Family Portrait Session in Rainy Tacoma

A couple of weekends ago, on that miserable, snowy, murky Sunday we had, I took a little trip down to Tacoma for a family portrait session with Lita Monaghan and her family. Despite our crossed fingers and best hopes, our plans for a fun session in the park were completely thwarted - so Lita spent the morning turning her family living room into a beautiful portrait studio for me.

Lita comes from a fabulously warm, friendly, fun and large family - Her parents Hollis and Gena, siblings Malcolm, Jesse and girlfriend Laury, Nick and girlfriend Amy, Patricia and husband Robb and daughters Jaden and Beautie, and of course Lita’s own family: her husband Eric and their son Greyson and daughter Kelsey. Wow! 15 people, my biggest non-wedding group yet, in the smallest space I’ve worked in so far!

We started with some group shots of all fifteen family members, then moved onto smaller groupings and individual portraits. It was really nice working with such an easy-going and relaxed family - as soon as we finished one group, I was able to just see who wanted to have photos next - and the rest of the time they hung out, ate and drank, and caught up on the family news.

It was hard narrowing down the selection, but these are some of my favorites of the day.