"backpacking"

Sarah surprised me a couple months back by asking if I would like to go backpacking. I will be honest and say that despite my former longing to do just that, I was the most resistant to the idea. After her…persistence, we made plans to go on a 4 day “backpacking” trip. (It was not fully backpacking, more like a warm up for future endeavors.) We did not hike all day to get to our campsite nor did we relocate every evening; we basically hiked in 1.5 miles to a site, and then hiked out each day for other activities. Even so, there is something about camping out of only 2 bags that I think we really enjoyed, and I hope something we revisit and explore more of in the future. (By the way, if Sarah’s bag looks bigger that is just an illusion…well technically it is taller, but that is just because she has her stuff spread out more…right?) -more after I get back from an upcoming trip-

teddy

Teddy’s senior portraits were a lot of fun for me; great light, a ranch outside of Madison, riding in off-road vehicles to get to locations, a slight mist (sometimes more like rain) and of course a great subject…now I was a little worried that Sarah was not having as much fun due to her hands freezing while being my Voice-Activated-Lightstand, but she actually had a lot of fun too. Thanks again Teddy, good luck this next year!

family wedding

Over the weekend I attended my first wedding in quite a while. It was actually more difficult than I thought to just sit and enjoy. Is it a bad sign to automatically check the light conditions in the venue and constantly be wondering where the bride ran off to? Luckily I was not shaking my head at the photographer, she was always ready for the shot and worked to get in the right spot, it makes me want to see the images.



But enough about my feelings…this was the wedding of my cousin-in-law (Sarah’s cousin, mothers side) who got married an hour away. The added bonus was that we not only got to spend time with Sarah’s Mom and Dad but also her Aunt, Uncle and Grandma from Idaho. It was neat to see Mom-in-law with her sisters, interact with Sarah’s devious Uncle and visit with Grandma.




I guess you might say that I learned a lot about Sarah by meeting (albeit, a small portion) of her extended family. I think we will definitely try and make it out to Idaho next year for the annual Thaete family reunion.

They followed us over to Madison after the wedding for a little tour of our neighborhood.

kelly

Kelly is a friend of Areanna, I first met Kelly at her Prom Portraits. If you can't tell, Kelly likes to have a little fun, which keeps me on my toes and also makes for great photography.

Qdoba

This is Steve,
we sometimes meet for lunch...at Qdoba


He likes his "Ancho Chile BBQ Burrito" with extra hot...


I usually don't get between him and his Qdoba...


He can get angry without a full Qdoba..


And sometimes, if he is nice, Steve and I will talk photography...at Qdoba

jorja and adam

I couldn't just put 10 images up so here is a sideshow instead. And an added bonus is the photo of me of me (taken by the second photographer for this wedding, Mike, who also has some images in the slide show) showing Adam EXACTLY how I want him to dip Jorja for the following shot.

Have fun.

camping

Sarah and I were camping with some friends from church this last weekend. We expected rain, and got it. (It has rained every time we have gone camping here in Wisconsin; I am beginning to think that it is normal and not just bad luck.) We hoped for biking, hiking, canoeing, fun and laziness…and got all those too!