As a documentarian of love, I travel all over the country to take pictures of weddings. This weekend love brought me to Ventura County, where I photographed the marriage of Anthony and Kris Ann. 

These two are opposites and yet, seem perfectly paired. Anthony is boisterous and energetic while Kris Ann is more quiet and reserved. They first met in church, and Kris Ann caught Anthony's eye pretty quickly. "You should ask me for my number" he boldly told her. Not wanting to give him the satisfaction, Kris Ann held off and bided her time. Later on, after flirting at a party they both attended, Kris Ann did a little reconnaissance and found Anthony's phone number in the church directory. The rest is history.

A hotel snafu prevented Kris Ann from getting ready at the hotel like she planned, so she and her bridesmaids got ready in the bathroom of the church instead! Unexpected snags in the plan can feel so stressful, but I truly believe that things going wrong at a wedding is the perfect metaphor for marriage! Sometimes things go right and sometimes they don't but you lean into each other, adjust the plan, and move forward as a team. 

An adorably sassy flower girl made the bathroom quite entertaining!

Anthony got ready at the home of his brother, in the company of men he has known his entire life and his brother's children.

Both Anthony and Kris Ann are huge lovers of the outdoors and they wanted to do their first look surrounded by nature. We chose the Ojai Meadow Preserve, which had beautiful trees and rolling meadows- the perfect combination of the nature they both grew up with.

Anthony got a little choked up with emotion before he even saw his bride... the anticipation was enough to do him in. When he turned around he stared at her with the most tender expression. "You're so beautiful, baby. I love you so much" he kept saying over and over. 

Kris Ann surprised Anthony with the knowledge that she made her own wedding dress! She found the act of stitching her wedding gown to be a grounding and calming thing amidst the chaos of wedding planning.

I can't get over the way he looks at her. SWOOOOOON!

"Riches take wings, comforts vanish, hope withers away, but love stays with us. Love is God." -Lew Wallace

After a few shots with their fabulous wedding party, we had to hit the road so we could get these two to the church on time!

They opted for a simple ceremony and a small guest list. Their families and a few close friends were all they needed to celebrate this joyous union. 

Their reception was relaxed and happy. They opted for a few first dances and then Anthony entertained the guests with the story of a failed bear hunt on the day he proposed. He had a bear in his sights but then hesitated, the bear disappeared and he missed his chance to pull the trigger. He realized he didn't want the same thing to happen with Kris Ann. That night after they got home, he dropped to one knee in the kitchen and proposed. 

Their future is as big as the sky and I wish these two a lifetime of happiness, love and shared dreams. 

The first Saturday of May is one of my favorite days of the year... World Naked Gardening Day! I'm sure it comes as no surprise that I took the time to properly celebrate. I have helped spark the confidence of so many incredible women while photographing them in my boudoir studio and I gotta say... that confidence is catching. After spending so much time praising and showing women how deeply beautiful they are, you really begin to internalize that body-positivity! Not to mention that digging in the dirt while wearing nothing but a big ole hat is actually really fun. I know exactly why toddlers love it so much.

But as much fun as it is, nude-gardening is a rare occurrence. Before you know it, it's too damn hot and sticky for such things. Mid-Spring weather is my absolute favorite for working outside. We're in that perfect sweet spot right now... no need to turn on the heat or the AC. We keep our back door open and enjoy the fresh air flowing thru our home.  Everything is so vibrant and alive and blossoming like crazy. I'm spending my early evenings marveling over every inch of it and happily photographing all the beauty. 

My lovely little yard.

I've been taking macro shots of flowers and insects for years. Having a garden pretty much provides me with an endless supply of subjects. Taking these closeup shots requires a ton of patience but it so exciting to capture such tiny details. 

A honey bee drinking water and Osteospermum

Taking macro photographs of the natural world isn't all that different than the closeups I take of wedding rings. They are both incredibly technical and you have to get creative to get the perfect angle!

A pincushion flower blossom and wedding ring set on a protea (one of the best bouquet statement flowers, in my opinion).

While we grow a bunch vegetables too, flowers are so much more fun to photograph. I absolutely adore shooting wedding florals too. Usually my focus when photographing bouquets is capturing the entire arrangement, but I also love zeroing in on a statement flower in a bouquet and giving it a few frames to shine.

I've also had the chance to witness the lives of all the tiny little creatures in my yard. We grow a ton of milkweed for the monarch butterflies and watching their life-cycle is immensely enjoyable.

Milkweed- the sole source of food for the monarch caterpillar.

A monarch egg (about the size of a pencil tip) and a monarch caterpillar covered in raindrops.

A monarch chrysalis and freshly hatched monarch butterfly.

I keep my camera strapped to my body as I water and tend.... It puts me at such a great vantage point for being able to capture these little wonders. And I love that my hobby has given me so much time practice shooting extreme details. Every time I shoot a ring or bouquet I find a moment to be grateful for my garden.

Thank you, garden.

As an artist, I have always been drawn to feminine energy. I'm deeply inspired by it and as I've gotten older, I've realized that having the presence of strong feminine energy in my life is one of the primary contributions to my level of happiness. I can't help but roll my eyes at hearing the tired trope of "women are bitches to each other" because in my experience, it couldn't be further from the truth. My creative partnerships have always been with other women, in times of both joy and grief I seek out the company of my sisters, and even just by looking through this website it is apparent that women are often the focus of my art. Women carry a special flame that my lens is drawn to and I've learned to trust my creative inspiration. 

Likewise, flowers are another massive source of inspiration for me. It's no secret that I'm a bit of a CPL (crazy plant lady) and surround my life and home with as much greenery as I can. Southern California was gifted with plentiful rains this winter and the wildflowers are responding with great kindness. Our rolling hills and valleys and even our alleyways are lush with more botanicals than I ever thought possible. 

I've had a couple of shoots over the last couple weeks with women and wildflowers... how could I pass up such a combination, I just love that witchy-shit. Here are a few of my favorite images from those sets.

Head in the clouds and feet in the flowers.

Kate, my bestie and long-time muse.

I suppose Bougainvillea isn't technically a wildflower, but it certainly grows like one! There is a 200+ stretch of it growing under the train tracks in my neighborhood and I'm obsesssssssed with it. Beautiful Brooklyn helped bring these images to life.

Be wild, women. 

BE.

WILD.

xoxo

-j