start planning your next trip to the “Emerald City!”  As my last post stated, I was actually in Seattle to shoot a wedding with a friend of mine.  My hubby was able to come with me on this trip, so we decided to stay an extra day and explore Seattle (thanks Grammy & Pappy for taking such good care of the kiddies while we were gone!!)  Seattle is such a cool city with lots to see and do!  When Matt and I are in a new place, we like to do our exploring without the assistance of any kind of official tour guide.  But we heard that “Ride The Duck” was a good way to see a lot of the city and we figured since we only had one day there, we should give it a try.  Here’s what “The Duck” looks like and the reason I was a bit hesitant to jump on board and mark myself with a big fat TOURIST sign:

But this is what made the ride SO WORTH IT!!  Meet our “Duck Guide” Johnny (I think that’s what his name was, I was a little distracted by the fact that a straight man was wearing a boa and belting out the theme from Love Boat).  They even sell “Wacky Quackers” to passengers.  What is a “Wacky Quacker” you say?  Well, it’s a noise maker that sounds like a duck, which they sell to parents of pint sized passengers.  We got to hear duck calls for the first 45 minutes of the trip, definitely reinforcing the tourist sign.

And this was our entertainment for a full 90 minutes!  Every time we were approaching a new part of the city, our pal Johnny would put on the appropriate head gear and bust out a song.  I’m talking full on singing and even some dance moves!  Gotta love the “Man in the Big Yellow Hat” on the bottom right… reminds me of Curious George.  I love to laugh, so major kudos to our tour guide for making me laugh so hard that I thought I was going to pee my pants!  And we were thoroughly impressed by the fact that he probably does that over and over again with the same level of enthusiasm… this guy obviously loves his job!

Here’s a bit of what we saw on the “land” part of our tour… and if I thought there was a Starbucks on every corner here in AZ, it was because I hadn’t seen Seattle’s collection of coffee shops!  The colors of the city were amazing and there were lots of random artsy things to see!  Like the tree a couple of images below on the right… totally fake… and the orange something or other two images down on the left… all just city art for your viewing pleasure.

The next part of our tour, The Duck magically became a boat as we drove right into the water!!

Check out the view:

And I got to see the house from “Sleepless in Seattle!”  My husband has not seen that movie, so he was wondering why all the women on the boat were so excited.

I couldn’t believe how quickly our tour flew by thanks to our on-board entertainment and all the spectacular views of the city!  So if you are ever in Seattle, ride The Duck and look for Johnny!

And you can’t go to Seattle without seeing the Space Needle.

This thing is actually pretty amazing!  Built in 1962 for the World’s Fair… the structure and technology pretty impressive for the time.  Yes, I got my geek on and read all the history and fun facts in the observatory tower.

Here’s hubby and I at the top.  I love getting to see new places with this man!

And the view from the top:

I couldn’t believe how cool the light looked shining on the water!!  I think there are some pretty cool man-made parts of the city, but nothing compared to what God creates…

We had lunch over at Pike’s Place Market… I loved watching these guys toss the fish and wrap ‘em up as people ordered!  They just look like they are having a really good time…

And the reason I want to move to Seattle:

We ate the sweetest, crispiest, Honey Crisp apples I have ever eaten!

Good bye Seattle… you were so kind to give us a weekend of sunny weather!  Our Duck Guide actually told us that the amount of rain that Seattle is known for is not as extreme as people think… he said the locals just spread rumors that it rains all the time to keep everyone from moving there

I have been wanting to do this post for so long and now here it finally is!  The months of September through December are the craziest of my year work and personal life wise, so some blog posts get put on the back burner.  I had the most amazing opportunity to go up to the Seattle area to photograph a wedding with my very talented friend Tara Malouf of Red Thread Photography!  I not only had a blast photographing this wedding with Tara, but she and her family so generously opened up their home to my husband and I while we were there… and I’ll tell ya, it’s hard to find a more loving and welcoming family than they are!  I can’t tell you how much fun we had talking about photography and a million other things we have in common.  Now, one of the things I love about Tara is that she is so great at telling people’s stories… with photos and words!  Just hop on over to her blog and you will see what I’m talking about.  And the name of her business “Red Thread” is so perfect for that reason… go here to read the story behind the name.

So, thank you again Tara for having me!  This wedding was so beautiful and it was a joy to photograph it with you!

The shot on the left makes me feel like singing that song “Going to the Chapel and we’re- gonna get ma-a-a-aried!”  Such a lovely church for a wedding!

As the bride and groom were headed back up the isle, she looked up where i was shooting from (on the balcony) and had the most radiant smile!  I love moments like that!  So real, ya know!  And the song that the bride walked down the isle to was composed by her father… it was such an emotional and sweet thing to watch him walk her down to her groom as the string quartet played it!

The actual ceremony was not by the seashore, but we did take them here afterwards for some shots of just the two of them!  The colors were amazing!!

Those were a few of my favs!  What a beautiful Pacific NW day!

Annnnd… whenever I am shooting with another photographer, I have to get a shot of them in action.  Don’t kill me Tara, but I gotta post this cuz it’s so you!  I love how you aren’t afraid to get down and dirty to get the shots you are envisioning!

Just one of the many blessings of this photographic journey I’m on are the wonderful friends I have made through it!

And I believe this shot is courtesy of Tara’s husband- thanks David!  Hope to have the chance to visit you guys again in the future!

Alright, stay tuned because I’m hoping to get a post up of a few of the crazy fun things my hubby and I saw and did in Seattle!  Love that city!  And you won’t want to miss the photos I got of our tour guide on “The Duck”.  Also, my new year’s post is coming (a little late I guess) as well as a maternity session and engagement session from the end of December!  2010 sessions kick off next week and I’m super excited!

Joyfully, Erin

Happy New Year!!  Wow, is it really 2010?!  That sounds so far in the future, but here we are.  I’m not going to go on about the new year much in this post, because that has a post of it’s own coming!  And I have a beautiful newborn girl to share with you all in this post:

This sweet little one stayed asleep almost her entire session… thanks to the gentle hum of a blow dryer  Seriously, I am thinking about making a recording of that sound because it usually work like a charm!  Luckily it was also serving to warm up the fabrics and such that we were posing this sweet girl on.  Whatever you gotta do right!?

So, I have to admit, I saw something like this on a card in Walgreens and thought it was the sweetest idea.  I’m all about looking for inspiration in all the everyday places, even when picking up some diaper cream at your local drug store.

Beautiful momma and her baby girl…

I have one thing to say about Michigan fans… they are diehards!  I have had a handful of newborns that are born into families with the lovely maize and blue colors representing their Alma Mater, and each one of them has been photographed with Michigan on them somewhere.  I love it!  I know my family did the same thing with everything from cups, bibs, and pacie clips for the good old UofA when my babies were born!

Thanks again M & E for  inviting me to photograph your beautiful baby girl!

Joyfully, Erin