THIS BLOG IS TOAST!!

Hey everyone!  We're sooo happy to tell you that you've come to the wrong place :)  This blog has served us well (and free of charge) for a while now, but we've got great news:  After a long, creative, and inspiring collaboration with Into the Darkroom, we just launched our new website/blog.  They did an amazing job, and we're certain you'll love it much more than this old rusty thing.  Please head over and check it out at www.ellabluestudio.com

Amanda & Justin: Preview

The full post is coming soon from this amazing Walla Walla wedding.  Amanda and Justin were so great to work with, and we can't wait to post the full shebang!  In the meantime, enjoy :)

Happy Birthday to my wife.

Below is a photo of Crystal with her birthday present.  It's about time, right?!  She finally feels connected to the rest of planet earth.  Today is her 27th birthday.  

We spent the weekend in Portland, in part to shoot a beautiful wedding, and also just to relax and take in the unique city that is Portland.  We had a great time discovering new coffee shops, breweries, and hotels.  We liked them so much, we're gonna blog about them in upcoming posts!

Thanks to all of you who called, e-mailed, texted, tweeted, or Facebooked to wish Crystal a happy birthday; I know it means a lot to her.  And I might just be a bit out of line by deciding I can turn Twitter and Facebook into verbs like that, but oh well :)  Happy birthday Crystal, I loved every minute of time spent with you this weekend, and over that past eleven years.  You are the most amazing woman I know, and I look forward to holding your arthritic hand when we're pushing eighty...

Melody & Adam: Engagement

While on a mission trip with an organization called YWAM (Youth With a Mission), Melody became close friends with a blonde-haired girl named Jordan.  At the time, Jordan let it be known that she had an older brother, and like many girls with siblings, she did her best to match-make.  It took a few years but Melody and Adam eventually fell in love.  Throughout their relationship, Melody and Adam shared a journal-the same one Adam used in his marriage proposal.

Melody lived in Fremont before moving to D.C., and wanted some hometown nostalgia incorporated into their engagement session.  We had a great time getting to know these two while hiking around Fremont in the mid-day sun.  We can't wait to shoot their wedding at St. Paul's Church in August...it's one of our favorite venues! 

Photo of the Day

Last weekend, Crystal and I shot an absolutely beautiful wedding in Walla Walla (post to come...we promise).  Crystal snapped this frame while we were on our way, with a Canon 1V and some Fuji Velvia 50 film.  It's straight out of camera with zero Photoshop...I love this image :)

The Culp Family and a Sunny Week!

This portrait session made me think of a perfect summer day with bright warm colors and a soft sunny sky. 

I took a peak at the forecast and I cannot be more excited to see sun for an entire week! Get outside and enjoy it....

10-Day Forecast High / Low (°F) Precip. % Wed  May 20 Partly Cloudy 65°/42° 20 % Thu  May 21 Sunny 72°/46° 0 % Fri  May 22 Mostly Sunny 76°/46° 0 % Sat  May 23 Sunny 77°/48° 0 % Sun  May 24 Sunny 77°/49° 0 % Mon  May 25 Sunny 82°/51° 0 % Tue  May 26 Sunny 82°/52° 0 % Wed  May 27 Mostly Sunny 80°/52° 10 % Thu  May 28 Sunny 75°/49° 10 % Last Updated May 19 10:12 p.m. PT

Open Source Photo West: Collage

Last weekend we had the pleasure attending the Open Source Photo conference at Hotel 1000 in Seattle.  Open Source Photo is an online forum for professional photographers, and an amazing resource for newbies and old salty veterans alike.  The conference was a melting pot of guest speakers, photo shoots, socializing, and great food!  Wading through a sea of photographers, we captured a few frames on our rented medium format film camera.  We truly love the raw beauty and depth medium format film has to offer.  Fortunately for us, we were able to enjoy a blue sunny sky; a rarity in the month of April around here!  Here's a collage of some of the images we captured.

Allie & Ava

I photographed Allie & Ava this week while we had some nice warm days, they just turned two and it was time for their birthday photo session. As I photographed them, I listened to them talk in their little Smurf voices, it reminded me of Ella when she was their age, speaking in sweet dainty sentences. More to come....

Photos of the Day: Jared, Katie, and Signe

We had the opportunity to meet with Jared and Katie for lunch last weekend to go over their wedding album plans. We also happened to have rented a Hasselblad medium format film camera. This was the first time we got to meet their daughter Signe (pronounced Seena). Katie was beautifully pregnant with her when we shot their wedding in January. Here are two of the frames we captured while we hung out. Isn't she beautiful?!!

Photo of the Day: Gibson Timothy