A specific type of people

Loss is pretty universal. Every human is different, and each one handles loss differently. When asked to find a specific type of people for my documentary class, I decided I would chose something closer to home. We lost our grandfather three months ago, and it was quite sudden. He was still in his 60's. He left behind seven children and a wife. The first photograph is of my aunt Lori, my grandfathers youngest child; she is 29. I decided to hone in on people that have not only lost a parent, but lost a parent at a young age. all of my subjects lost their parents before the age of 40. 

Having to approach these humans was hard for me.. its such a sensitive tender topic, whether it has been four years or four months, they all seemed to share the same sacred aura. One fascinating thing that I did discover, is how few people had a picture of that parent on hand. 4 out of my six subjects had to dig to find a portrait of that parent, and most didnt have one of the parent alone. 

Moral of the story is, we all have more in common than you know.. and take more pictures of your loved ones. 

Liz lost her mother in high school to a stroke. Every year, on the day her mom died, she writes her mom a letter and sends it off with balloons. I was able to take this picture on that day, exactly seven years since she passed. 

This brother and sister lost their father quite recently. The best part about photographing them, was that I could not get sydney to give me a straight face. She was so giggly and smiley, It was comforting. Also, we could NOT find a picture of this man without his wife. :) a problem I am so willing to have.  

This is Jessi. Jessi lost her mom a little over a year ago to a drug overdose. Her brother who was only three years older found their mother on the bathroom floor. 

These two are sisters. One being my mom. Their mother, my grandmother, had parkinson's disease for ten years before she passed. Each one of her 8 children cared for her for those 10 years. They tell me I got my artistic eye from grandma Sharon, she was a painter.  

The horse lady, my newest dear friend.

On a lovely late afternoon, I drove up a tiny rural road in Lehi Utah looking for a story for my documentary class. My breath was taken away by the massive perfect trees out front of this home, so I gave it a knock.

A man answered. When I told him I had dropped a dime on a map, and the dime landed in this neighborhood, he told me I should do a story on the sister-wives across the street. "Them polygs would be far more interesting!" 

He let me in, introduced me to his wife, and the stories unfolded. Olympian daughter, his wife wrote a book about adoption and her animals, currently using all of her animals as therapy and has plans to extend that to military members, so on and so on. After showing me the mantel where plastered paw prints of four of her deceased dogs were displayed in honor, I knew I had chosen the right home. 

Leslie is a worker. She owns fifteen horses, with very little help she is the mother to more animals than I could count with my fingers and toes. goats, chickens, mules, ponies, her heart belongs to her animals.  Specifically with her horses, she has a very special "bond". you could say.

She did this "feeding" game with all of her horses.. She'd pull her face away and it would be covered in greenasty crap from the mouths of the horses. Didnt even phase her. The book she wrote correlates adoption with animals. She believes if you approach the topic of adoption with your adopted child, by using animals as an example, its the best way to explain to them that they matter. Just as we try to find the best home and care for our animals, the same is done with mothers who decide to give their babies a better home. 

Leslie also did a whoooole lot of competing with her babies. (horses)

She works day in and day out for these animals. The sacrifices that she makes... its incredible the love she has for these creatures. 

They spend THOUSANDS of dollars a month on hay.  

Moral of the story is, get out of your boring day-to-day stuck-in-a-box routine and meet the humans around you. 

Kenzie Girl

This my friends, is Mckenzie Lambright. We paint together, we eat food together, and I love her. A lot. 

So we decided to take a few outside, buuut it ended up being colder than either of us could have possibly imagined. We ended up at Justin Hackworth's studio, which ended up being a dream. Beautifully perfect natural light, for a beautiful natural bride. Also, we love film. 

s'bout time

I'm waaaaay bad at this blogging game. I feel like i've had some WAY rad photo opportunities, and I'm ashamed that I havent shared them. Especially with some of my close friends.. I've been able to see them in a whole new light. (see what I did there?)

SO I'm going to post a darling family shoot I did.. and then do a seperate post for this bridal session I did with the beautiful Mckenzie Lambright.

This lady is one a creator. She's one of those humans that I just knew i'd be instant friends with. This is her family.

Post script, 95% of this shoot was film.

Tay+Justin

It was all perfect. Everything kept going wrong, I made them hike through the sandy rocky mountains.. but it was perfect. As you might also notice, their love is beautiful. Easy. I cannot WAIT to be apart of their big day!