ross family

we did it again! what can i say? two years ago I met up with cynthia and brandon in maine to do a family session. it was a very emotional time for them as their family had just been reunited after two years of medical kidnapping, which also stole cynthia’s grandfather away from them. i can’t even imagine what it must be like to go through something like having your months-old baby taken away from you, husband thrown in prison, and all of the consequence of this… all because of some false accusations against brandon. as it turns out, medical testing proved he was innocent (as he had always said he was) and the children were returned to them. i was visiting my grandma’s hometown and had a little much-needed downtime, as Maine is amazing for, and as they are extended family was aware of their journey towards reunification. i just kept feeling that they had had so much time taken away from them, and that the memories of their little ones being… well… little, were tainted by this horrible experience. I wanted to give them something better to hold on to… so i got in touch with cynthia and offered her a free photo session for this very reason. they were ecstatic. they were also expecting….

fast forward two years and, who knew? i was back in town. this time to photograph cynthia’s little sister’s wedding. i was excited to meet their youngest, and we decided make a proper booking this time. i was also traveling with my fiancé Javi, so everyone got to meet and the kids absolutely adored playing with him.

So… when can we do this again?

nicole + phillip: engaged!

Picture this: I fly from Bilbao to Istanbul (5 hours) with another 5 hours delay in the airport due to the whole thing being closed down due to a crazy hailstorm. I get to my room, room service for dinner, sleep three hours, wake up before the sun to see the golden sea lit up over the entire city from my 16th floor of the Hilton. not too shabby. I wish I could be a high roller like that, but the truth is that’s where the airline put me up for the night. I explore the city for about 5 hours and then take a metro back to the airport. 5 security checkpoints. 13 hour flight. get to Washington DC, get picked up my the amazing nicole and Phillip, 4 hour drive to ocean city, New Jersey, where Nicole has vacationed since she was a kid. Get gear ready. Sleep three hours. Wake up for their sunrise engagement shoot.

worth it. 

 

angela + mehdi

they’re gorgeous and they know it. mehdy and angela popped in, pretty last minute, when our friend in common Jasone mentioned that our Saturday editorial session fell through. I have been helping my friend Jasone make the transition from hobbyist to pro, and what better than to have some live training? these guys came looking picture perfect and ready to go. Admittedly they thought I looked a little too serious at first, but after a few minutes of interaction they had changed their mind completely. Think bamboo forest photo bomb jumps. Anyway, it was a really good time and they were totally on board with any idea that came across our silly little heads. Angela was a champ and even sat on a bridge rail, even though she was having a bit of vertigo at the time. My favourite moment was when they were perfectly posed, and a bumblebee flew into her face and she came out with the biggest “somebody is murdering me” squeal, and the subsequent embarrassment and laughs. Thanks for tagging along and making us look good. Until next time!

karis + micah

did i tell you about the time i went to the pentagon? it was silly, really. i met up with my friend and amazing photographer karis marie, and we decided that we needed to do a bit of an impromptu photo session. this was just before i was flying out of the country, a bit off beat and on the run, just like me. so we headed over to the pentagon to run a super confidential errand, as normal people do, and then we hit downtown 

 washington dc, just before sunset, for some fun photos. funny thing is, i thought we were going to the capitol building, and i am infamous for having no sense of direction. after parking downtown, no small feat there, and walking a few blocks i find out that karis’ husband, micah, actually thought that i wanted to photograph the white house, during the trump administration, no less… of course not really having enough time to relocate we decided to just do our thing and take a few fun shots just before bidding farewell.

lydia + jesse

She was five. He was seven. Cute as a button. I was probably about 13 years old, and hence less button-like. I’ve always appreciated the Mullins siblings for being a very creative and authentic. You know those people who don’t care what you think? That’s them. They’re nice, kind, compassionate, just don’t have the time of day for being anything else other than what they feel is true to themselves. So you know how us creatives have a tendency to gravitate towards each other… I was in town, bought a giant reflector, and had a day off to explore and experiment. It was definitely a good day. Not only are they ridiculously photogenic, but they’re also perfectly good and cool sports about everything. I will never forget laying down on the Capitol Hill mall and noticing a couple stopping strangers to have their photo taken. They were standing in front of the Washington memorial, which was backlit. They would politely stop one stranger, pose, look at the photo… thank them… then ask the next stranger. They didn’t seem conceited or high-maintenance. Lydia and I took a look and said “Their photo is backlit, just silhouettes…” we were this close to running over there with out 40 inch umbrella to reflect them and give them a run for their money… but shyness got in the way. I have since vowed to be brave and give random strangers photos of them that I’ve taken and like, and they always appreciate it! Here’s us geeky kids doing our thing.

estitxu +1

.

we’re all grown up now. when did that happen? esti and i go way back to those carefree teenage summers. back when your biggest worry was getting bored or not knowing what to wear. fast forward a decade or two and she books a maternity session with me. of course, i have a million little stories of way back when, so doing this session was definitely a fun time full of ridiculous memories (like when she made me sleep in a room full of china dolls and marilyn manson posters staring at me) and it was obviously a thrill to spend some time together after all these years. we got lost in the tall grass, abandoned castle, and ended up hanging out until way past sunset, joking at each other’s flaws, and catching up on life. so it seems that maybe we haven’t grown up so much after all. 

anna

she’s insane. this has got to be one of my favorite things about my little sister anna, she is up to anything. she will be ridiculous in the middle of the street, blast opera singing, dance, or do whatever i want or comes to mind. i wanted to go out and try some lighting techniques and of course we ended up doing a bit of an impromptu photo session, with our friend jasone, and just have fun and hang out and see what we could come up with. i have to say i am really happy with the results. we have to do this again!

hello markel!

he wouldn’t stop. i met two-year-old markel right before our session. he is the son of koldo, a long time friend who i’ve known since i was 12 years old and he was my soccer coach. through the years we have gone from playing soccer and music together to planning a business trip to finland together for this summer. he lives in finland now and was home for the holidays and we thought it would be a great time for me to meet his son markel and also do some family photos to remember this season of their lives by. this kid, of my gosh, he started walking in one direction and wouldn’t stop. distracted by nothing. i think he’s going to be a long distance runner or something because i’ve never seen anything like it. we had a great time just chasing this little guy around and catching up. it’s funny to think next time the 4 of us will be together will be for the daylight-all-day summer in finland days. i can’t wait!

esti +1

.

we’re all grown up now. when did that happen? esti and i go way back to those carefree teenage summers. back when your biggest worry was getting bored or not knowing what to wear. fast forward a decade or two and she books a maternity session with me. of course, i have a million little stories of way back when, so doing this session was definitely a fun time full of ridiculous memories (like when she made me sleep in a room full of china dolls and marilyn manson posters staring at me) and it was obviously a thrill to spend some time together after all these years. we got lost in the tall grass, abandoned castle, and ended up hanging out until way past sunset, joking at each other’s flaws, and catching up on life. so it seems that maybe we haven’t grown up so much after all.