Hope to feel good about doing this again soon <3
Q#2
Blooming, Just the Same
Q#1
That Hopeful Feeling
when Eden was Lost
~Hozier
Family Portraits at Larrabee State Park
This, friends, is an enthusiastic gang of folks. The Wolvertons are world travelers, beekeepers, athletes, teachers, and cultural enthusiasts. They came with a plan, (I love me a good plan) smiles, and ideas. I could have spent so much time just talking with these people. (See above list of occupations and interests) :-)
We got down to business though, shot quite a few photos, and had a fun time working with the last of summer light.
Thank you Wolvertons, for letting me be your first ever family photographer. Truly, you guys were wonderful company, if only for an hour or so.
<3
Senior Session at Lake Padden
Grace
Class of 2020
Echoing the beauty and stillness around her, in a place she grew up in.
Grace’s session was a peaceful walk around a lake she’s grown up going to. The colors during this day were spectacular. Diffused, gorgeous pacific northwest light showed up for us in the best way.
I’ve learned recently that the schools around here let students turn in their own photos for yearbook publication. This is just awesome. The individuality allowed, and the lack of needing a uniform look makes senior sessions all the more fun for me, and hopefully you all as well. I’ve also learned we have about a month before photos need to be turned in. There’s still time to get something planned, shot, edited, and right back to you! Let’s talk :-)
256-682-0218
info@amandapowell.net
Bellingham Editorial Art Project
Who Fears Death?
What, when we breath our last?
What becomes of the processes, the structure, the feelings, the thoughts, in the end?
Did our actions matter? How we held ourselves? Who we loved? What we created?
Thoughts on the uncertainties of being human.
Senior Session at Fairhaven and Boulevard Park
This is Kierra.
Graceful, funny, kind, passionate.
A virtuous young woman, with a full heart.
She is patient and creative, and has the spark so many children find endearing. I first witnessed this when I met her at my daughter’s school, after she spent time playing with many of the kids. Kierra is studying special education, which has blossomed from a love of working with kids, and a deep care for her family and their specific experiences.
I AM thankful people like her exist, young folks with the desire to help others. A next generation of caring souls to keep us all moving forward. We need them, and her.
<3 <3 <3 <3
Three Sweet Kids
Strong personality exists in this space.
Unpredictable dancing.
Uncontrollable laughing.
Tears and conflict that ebb and flow.
But always
We look out for each other.
Siblings are something special.
A fun, quick, traditional portrait session in a field in Bellingham, with these three lovely kids again. <3
As they grow, this trio continues to be a joy. They are a lively bunch, still funny, still happy, and still willing to have me photograph them, with plenty of breaks for hugs and sweet conversation.
Spring Family Session at Memorial Park
Hold on to me
enjoy the ride
we spin and fall
and run and rise.
I’ll be here with you
but know.
I’m working on the art of letting go.
A nice day for a quick session at Memorial park with Felicia and family. Felicia is a fellow Bellingham photographer, and friend, find more of her here. https://feliciamarie.us
Woodstock Family Session
May we be this for our children:
A safe place to land
where our silliness is acceptable,
our turmoil relatable,
our selves never abandoned.
Thank you Bouchers, for letting me photograph you and your growing littles, once again. :-)
Gill Family at Whatcom Falls
Wild and wonderful and full.
Constant motion, and a never ending supply of feelings from moment to moment.
Photographing a family with young children is dynamic, and silly, and physical in the best way.
Thank you Gill Family, for letting me be a part of this sweet season of your lives.
365- The End
December
Your lively tones keep me from acknowledging the end of so many things.
They distract from the proximity of another year gone, and also people gone too soon.
Moments frozen, but still fleeting. Things I try to hold on to, but fully understand the inevitable leaving. The good, bad, everything is rooted in this temporary ground of being.
Temporary. It’s a word understood regretfully, bittersweet and hammered home at 11:59 every December 31st.
I spend the colors of December trying to keep it all close, this life and the frames I’ve seen throughout the year. I cling to the rituals our family has and avoid the rushing as much as possible. We ask ourselves were the time goes, and one complicated answer is, it gets lost in the ceaseless movement, the list of must, should, and want to. And things end, and things begin, and the cycle goes at a speed none of us can fully comprehend.
2018 was a contemplative year, one of figuring out the reality of things.
Thanks for sticking around to see the end.
365-Month Eleven
Our Month
A tour of the South, Alabama, Tennessee, and Kentucky.
Feildtrips, Outdoors, and Fall Color.
Nearing the end of so many things.
Hopeful that an end brings something new, and not just finality.
Uncertainty, but solidarity through it all with early morning conversations about things outside of us that matter. Conversations about how we matter.
Wading through this idea of life,
what it means,
what’s important,
and why we do the things we choose to do.
November, a month to move, to reflect, and brace for celebration, as the end of the year softly and swiftly approaches.
365- Month Ten
October
“It’s as if you see the world through dark glasses, so naturally everything seems dark. But if that is the case, instead of lamenting about the world’s darkness, you could just remove the glasses. Perhaps the world will appear terribly bright to you then and you will involuntarily shut your eyes. Maybe you’ll want the glasses back on, but can you even take them off in the first place? Can you look directly at the world? Do you have the courage?”
-Ichiro Kishmi & Fumitake Koga
Reading this book right now. I have a feeling it’s going to be a top one for me in 2019.
Enjoy this October recap!
Orcas Island
In October we took a trip to commemorate our 10 year anniversary, which was in April, which is finally being blogged in January. Confused yet? The jist is, after 3 years of regular life, we finally took a vacation.
Bryan and I have been married 10 years, together 12. It was and is a great reason to go somewhere different, which turned out to be only 30 miles away (if you were a bird)- Orcas Island. It’s a land mass we’ve seen across the bay for the last 3 years, but never ventured to. Tons of photos in this post; be ye warned :-)
We had a marvelous time, doing a whole lot of nothing. We cooked meals, played checkers, beach combed, watched movies, and read books. So, I suppose we didn’t do “nothing.” But given our schedule for the last three years, it felt that way. It was magnificent.
I’m thankful for my time with my husband. I’m fortunate to have married my (still) best friend, and while no relationship is without its strife, I wouldn’t change it. A life with someone who stays, helps the healing from life’s inevitable wounds, knows how to laugh, and isn’t afraid to talk politics, existentialism, or simulation theory before 7am (even when I am), is a treasure.
Coming Home
By Mary Oliver
When we are driving in the dark,
on the long road to Provincetown,
when we are weary,
when the buildings and the scrub pines lose their familiar look,
I imagine us rising from the speeding car.
I imagine us seeing everything from another place–
the top of one of the pale dunes, or the deep and nameless
fields of the sea.
And what we see is a world that cannot cherish us,
but which we cherish.
And what we see is our life moving like that
along the dark edges of everything,
headlights sweeping the blackness,
believing in a thousand fragile and unprovable things.
Looking out for sorrow,
slowing down for happiness,
making all the right turns
right down to the thumping barriers to the sea,
the swirling waves,
the narrow streets, the houses,
the past, the future,
the doorway that belongs
to you and me.
Gripping this little daredevil for dear life. >>>>>>>>>
365- Month Nine
Colorful September.
A myriad of tones in leaves and skies.
An end to Summer. The gateway to Fall.
One of my favorite months.
365- Month Eight
On Fire
August, the month of fires. A fire burned in us to capture everything left of summer, pull it towards us, and never let go. We were outside as much as possible, as much as the air quality would allow. We had a dog get super sick on us, we bought groceries, we stressed, we worked, we parented, we drank coffee of course. Life happened.
And fires, in our state, to the North in Canada, to neighboring states in the south and to the east. So much has burned this year. And it continues.
I worry that one of these years it’ll touch our city. Will it be a nudge, or a full on assault? They say so much land along the west coast just needs to burn. That the population here has left forests who once regulated themselves through burning, out of whack. Its understandable. And with the change in our climate, there are conditions where fire would be (and currently is) devastating. The human desire to exist and live in beautiful places isn’t wrong, but these consequences are hard to watch.
And ideas, spreading like fire. Good ones, and some really bad ones. Ignited, people are acting on these ideas, horrendous things are being said and done. A lack of empathy seems to have caught hold of so many, too. And I worry how long that particular fire is going to burn.
So everything around us feel like kindling. And what can be done? You douse things with as much watery love you can, donate your extra garden hose, manage your own fires so surrounding growth stays healthy. You hope, once the heat is over, things can calm down and you are able to breathe again. And in the interim, you learn to breathe smoke.
Fire is a powerful, destructive force. But it can also be a catalyst for change, and even more beautifully, regeneration. I hope we start to see more of the later.
Halloween 2018
We’ve created quite a nice tradition here in Bellingham for Halloween. Trick or treat in Fairhaven, take and bake pizzas for dinner, then a non-scary Halloween movie after dinner. I’d imagine as the girls get older we’ll carve pumpkins and adopt other activities which span further into the night, but for now it’s a simple, fun holiday. I’m loving the girls continued enthusiasm with it. This year Eliza was old enough to really enjoy the festivities, which makes things so much easier for everyone.
Some seriously awesome costumes this year! Eliza’s eyes were lit up for most of our walk around Fairhaven, like this:
You guys, this was just delightful :-D :-D
365- Month Seven
Some thoughts to go with the month of July:
No matter what, moving forward is about movement, not about the where. We have to learn to love the process of this one life, instead of searching for a final destination, or arriving.
Results are tantalizing. They are the evidence of our how. But they can’t be what we chase. We have to enjoy the running part.
A Summer Backyard Wedding
It was a small, intimate gathering, in the backyard of the bride’s childhood home.
Thrifted or handmade decor, planned by family and close friends, with an emphasis on it being a good time for all invited.
And really, when it all boils down, and the details fall away a wedding should be a celebration of beginnings. A celebration of two people dedicating their lives to each other, taking friendship to the level of commitment, which equals love.
Love can take many forms, and exists in many sorts of relationships. Friendship, is a powerful one, because unlike family, friendship is a conscious choice. A desire to include a person who otherwise has no obligation in one’s life. Choice is powerful, choice says, I truly want you, and I have no obligation to, other than this is my desire.
And all this to say,
You marry well if you marry your best friend.
Enjoy the show, folks :-)
