Ariane, Ryan, and Alex are another great family I’ve had the pleasure of working with over the years. Whether it’s for their wedding or for Alex’s birthday, we always seem to end up at the Forks.  This time, however, we followed little Alex into the Children’s Museum where he celebrated his 3rd birthday in style with all his little buddies. It was a blast chasing the little ones around as they ate pizza, pig cupcakes, and tore around all the cool new exhibits (it must have been over 5 years since I’d last been there with my own kids).

For a little person his age, Alex always impresses me with his level of maturity.  And with his awesomely shaggy hair.  And how much he looks like a mini version of Ryan.  And this time with his awesome Bruce Lee sunglasses.  A few of my faves from the session:

–

It’s one of my favorite places to shoot, with its many different backdrops and spaces to use. Once again, however, as I pulled up to meet Anupa and Vishal and was greeted with throngs of people and booming live music, it occurred to me that I should check out what’s happening at the Forks before just plopping down for a shoot! That said, it was a beautiful sunny day (rather a treat given their rarity this spring) and we managed to slip between most of the crowds and events to get our shots in. And with their fun and effortless interaction with each other, Anupa and Vishal made it easy to catch some great shots.

–

I couldn’t have asked for a nicer day to kick off the spring wedding season – blue skies, green trees, and a lovely young couple that couldn’t wait to get married.  There were some excited nerves at first – Crystal waiting on the final touches of her hair and veil, while Nathan patiently paced in the dark at the back of the church.  But everything got off without a hitch and after a very pleasant ceremony, we spent the afternoon roaming about Whittier Park and the Forks, capping off the evening with a reception back at the church. I was impressed with the details at the wedding, particularly the flower arrangements which Crystal put together herself.  Congrats Crystal & Nathan!  It was a vibrant day and entirely fun to shoot!  Some faves from the day:

–

As I walked out to the car today, it was hard to believe that it was the middle of March and that full-on winter was only a few weeks ago.  With the fields poking their heads out from under the snow and the evenings suddenly one hour longer thanks to daylight savings, it’s as if someone fast-forwarded us into spring…

But before we leave the cold weather behind completely, here’s a wintry engagement session with Anjali and Arun.  We pretty much closed our eyes and picked the date of the shoot a month in advance, and much to our luck and delight, we managed to pick out the first weekend that kicked off our current warm spell.  There was still plenty of snow on the ground at the time and the Forks was packed with snowboarders, skaters, and people out and about enjoying the sunshine.

We started the session outside and Anjali and Arun were kind enough to appease my whimsy and muck through drifts of snow for me – there were some nice wintry blues to be had!  And though it was a nice enough day, 45 minutes of standing around in the snow is enough to chill anyone, so we wandered inside to warm up.  I don’t often get to sit down and chat with my subjects in the middle of a shoot, but we sat down in a patch of sun with our hot chocolates and got a chance to talk about the Olympics, traveling in Europe, and East Indian food.  Even though I’ve shot my fair share of Indian weddings, I definitely learned a thing or two with the inside scoop from Anjali and Arun.  An informative coffee break!

We finished up the shoot inside the building, playing with patches of light from the setting sun.  All in all, a great way to kick off the engagement sessions this year.  Here are a few of my faves:

–