Amy+Ben+Nathan // A Newborn Session

It’s our pleasure to officially induct Amy+Ben into the CSP 5 Timer’s Club (yep – it’s like hosting SNL, but being on our blog instead… which is just as good, right?)! Their most recent shoot was their maternity session with us in January, and on that blog post, I also link to all the other sessions in their past if you’re interested, which you should be, because Amy+Ben are GREAT! And (to no one’s surprise), so is their new addition Nathan. Nathan is a champion sleeper. Like, a CHAMPION SLEEPER ALL CAPS. He slept through, quite literally, 98% of the session. Sounds and light did not disturb him, but he’s not a huge fan of outfit changes (who is?).

And it’s a good thing Nathan’s a stellar sleeper too, because I locked Amy, Ben, and their two-week-old infant out of their house on accident. We walked onto the porch for a couple pictures, and I closed the door behind me (in my defense, they have cats, and I did not want said cats to escape… also in my defense, I did not know the door would lock). We then realized we were locked out, and locked out with a newborn. But because Nathan is a CHAMPION SLEEPER ALL CAPS, he literally did not notice. We were outside for about 30 minutes and he didn’t wake up because he’s a boss. Thankfully, it was nice out, and more thankfully, Amy and Ben know us very well so they weren’t mad and it wasn’t awkward to wait on their porch for 30 minutes while a locksmith came (I am so sorry you guys). Whooooops. Now I know. And let this be a warning to you all not to let me near your doors.

Kelly+Steven // Joshua Tree National Park

You guyyyys! It has always been a dream of mine to visit Joshua Tree National Park because I’m the world’s biggest U2 dork. And yes, I’m aware that the actual Joshua Tree where Anton Corbijn (one of my favorite photographers) took the famous photos of Bono and Co. near is no longer living, and yes, I’m also aware that this was in the Mojave Desert as opposed to the national park, but I don’t care… it’s still been at the top of my travel list for a long time. So the day after our Santa Paula wedding, we drove all the way over to Joshua Tree. Unfortunately, we picked the one day that it rains nonstop in the desert. On the way the park, we texted back and forth with our beloved clients Kelly and Steven (whom you may remember from their Sutherland wedding back in NC!) and tried to decide what to do. It wasn’t just kinda sprinkling, it was pouring. We could take pictures there, but chances are that we probably wouldn’t be able to. But, we decided to meet anyway. At the very least, we could drive around and discuss The Walking Dead together.

Kelly and Steven live near Los Angeles now, but we hope to get them back in NC someday because they’re awesome. And we are so, so thankful that they came out to Joshua Tree to take photos with us, and we were glad to see them and catch up! And while we were all hoping for that beloved desert sunshine, we were left with a thick blanket of clouds… but! At least the rain did miraculously clear up (hooray!!) and we were able to photograph them chilling around the desert! And when I say chilling, I mean chilling, because it was also quite cold (this was not the desert weather I was anticipating). But despite the clouds and the cold, we had a brilliant time, and the park is every bit as beautiful as I expected it to be. We also saw a few desert bunnies (awww) and I listened to U2’s The Joshua Tree the whole time like a giant nerd and it felt wonderful. Couldn’t be more thankful or happy to have photography be my job and to have wonderful clients who live all over the world who treat us like old friends. Thank you, Kelly and Steven! So glad I got to see this place.

Caitlyn+Jasmine // Santa Paula, CA Wedding // Limoneira Ranch

LEMONS AND LEMONS AND LEMONS and oh so many wonderful people exist in California, but none quite so great as Caitlyn+Jasmine. We happily and excitedly present to you our very first (of what we can only hope will be many more) California wedding. And our sneaking suspicions of how easy it is to be a photographer on the west coast have 100% been confirmed as literally every place we saw in Southern California was beautiful. But our job was especially easy because not only was our scenery gorgeous (lemons! mountains!) but our subjects were as well (Caitlyn! Jasmine!). You may remember them from their engagement session in Chapel Hill, NC where they gained many fans of their tattoos (we still get people who ask us about them). So how’d we get from North Carolina to California? Caitlyn was stationed at Fort Bragg at the time, and Jasmine was in NC after just finishing a master’s in Iceland when we did their session in Chapel Hill. But they both originally grew up in Southern California, and wanted to get married there before jet-setting off again to new and exciting places.

We are so lucky to have had a wedding out in CA, and also so lucky that the weather cooperated! After many fires in the area this past fall, Mother Nature decided to douse this particular area with rain surrounding the wedding. But luckily it cleared up for the wedding (yay!) and we were left with some beautiful haze. Limoneria Ranch is a wedding venue situated between acres and acres of citrus ranch land in California. It has mountains in the background and more lemons than you’ve ever seen. Also, lemons apparently come with a lot of thorns, which is something we quickly discovered when they kept piercing the soles of my shoes and going into my feet. Who knew? Probably every Californian reading this. I’ll wear more appropriate footwear next time. Besides beautiful mountains and all of the lemons, almost everyone at the wedding had a fun accent but us (they flew in from all over the world!). They were honored with adorable signs on all of the tables and the cutest bird-themed place cards we ever did see. Everyone danced the night away under the open sky and ate s’mores by a fire, and it was everything we thought a California wedding should be. We love you, Caitlyn and Jasmine! Thank you for introducing us to a bit of California life.

– Date: March 9, 2018
– Ceremony + Reception Venue: Limoneira Ranch // Santa Paula, CA
– First Dance Song: “I Love You Always Forever” – Betty Who
– Caitlyn’s Occupation: Public affairs sergeant/photojournalist for the US Army
– Jasmine’s Occupation: Fancy map stuff/researcher and PhD candidate at the University of Southeast Norway.
– How You Met: We were friends in high school, lived down the street from each other and got together our third year of college (despite going to colleges across the country from each other)
– Interesting Fact: We have explored 10 different countries together! Jasmine just finished studying volcanoes in Iceland for graduate school. She loves cheese, rabbits, and geography. Caitlyn can do 42 pushups in 2 minutes, and loves birds and craft beer.
– Honeymoon: New Zealand

Officiant: Denise Hayes (Jasmine’s step-mum)
DJ: DJ Keelez
Florist: Unique Floral Designs
Cake: The Butter End Cakery
Caterer: Plated Events by Chef Jason
Wedding Planner: Golden Poppy Events (Sara Beveridge)