Recent Adventures at alyson levy PHOTOGRAPHY
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Portland Oregon
Anne and Adam were married at her family’s Oregon Vineyard late last summer. When we met up the weekend before, it was pouring down rain and Anne was a little nervous about their lack of weather contingency plans. Adam had complete faith, though, and turned out to be right — their wedding day was clear, sunny, and VERY bright.
I’m going to lay these cards on the table right here — the photograph above was accomplished with equal parts luck and doggy bribery. Sure, a glowing, photogenic expectant mother and an adorable dog sound like a recipe for automatic success, but if you’ve ever tried to get pictures with your pet, you know that this is not always the case. Certain stars have to align, and I’m sure glad they did.
As for the rest of the shoot, it was hard to go wrong with this amount of cute all in the same room (or yard, as it were). Full disclosure: Brigitte found the idea for the basketball photos on Pinterest and loved them, so we made them happen, with the clever addition of Eric’s old-school Celtics jacket from when he was a kid. Stay tuned for newborn photos (I’m sure there’ll be even more cute to come!)
For Jenny and Alden, this session was about capturing a moment in time just before their lives changed in a big way. I love how these images manage to convey their love and affection for each other, as well as a feeling of excitement and anticipation for baby’s arrival. (I’m especially fond of the last image — standing amidst the clutter of an unfinished nursery, two people solidly together and so clearly in love.) My hope is that over the years, my clients will look back at photos I’ve taken for them and will find clear memories of important parts of their family’s story, and be glad that they took the time to stop and capture those moments.
As promised, Rob and Anna’s beautiful Mt. Tabor wedding ceremony! I’m not sure dear friends Rob and Anna could’ve made this any easier on me — in addition to being one of the most photogenic couples around (I can’t look at these pictures of Anna without thinking of old Hollywood Glamour), they chose to have their ceremony atop Mt Tabor. For those of you who aren’t familiar, Mt. Tabor is a volcano in Southeast Portland with views of the city and beautiful, mottled light. Add in a host of beautiful, thoughtful details, like a simple, classic fabric banner to mark their ceremony site, a hand fasting ceremony using her grandmother’s lace and his family’s tartan, and lovely coils of paper containing their vows, and you have a photographer’s dream wedding. . .
Melissa was my very first maternity photography client, and I couldn’t have asked for a better one. Not only is she gorgeous and glowing and amazingly strong, but she was extra patient with me while I figured out how to get the best poses and angles for those great belly pictures. Maternity photography draws on skills I’ve honed in other kinds of people photography: it’s like wedding and engagement photography in that it’s about capturing a relationship and a moment in time, it’s like boudoir photography in that it’s very much about the human form, and in that your subject probably hasn’t done it before and needs a lot of guidance to feel comfortable in front of the camera, and it’s like fashion photography in that the mom-to-be conveys confidence and, ideally, a kind of glamour. It’s a fantastic and rewarding to combine these challenges in to one photo session. And then it’s extra fun, of course, when you get to come back and take photos with the new baby (more on that later…)!
