I’m excited to be able to share this wedding that I shot with the esteemed Gavin of Seim Photography in Ephrata, Washington. The wedding took place at Cave B Inn along the Columbia River in George, WA. The weather played havoc with us before finally clearing up right before the ceremony took place & left us with some amazing and dramatic clouds to use as backgrounds.

Jess & Mike are an amazing couple, so very sweet & in love with each other. That always makes my job as a photographer so much easier and leads to some great photos. Plus the reception was a party!

As usual seeing dad interact with his daughter was especially touching for me. In this case, it was especially touching since Jess was the oldest of 3 girls, just as I’m the dad of three little girls (who won’t always be so little). Every time it makes me think forward to how it will be for me to have that same interaction with my own babies when they come to that point.

On with the photos…

As usual for the best viewing, open up the photos and use your arrow keys on the keyboard to navigate through the photos.

Sometimes taking pictures for clients is about completing their vision. Sometimes it’s about completing my vision. The latter is far rarer since it only happens when my vision happens to line up with theirs. This was the case with the From Sword to Sunrise (FSTS) band shoot. These pictures have been knocking around my noggin for a while & I’ve been hanging on to this location waiting for the best opportunity to make use of it. When local metal band FSTS said they needed some promo photos I proposed these photos & they were on board.

This was also the photo shoot that led to a sore foot & even sorer arm. While getting the shots of the guys by themselves through the window frame I stepped on a nail (I actually stepped on four but only one went through to my foot). I pulled it out hoping it wasn’t rusted—it was only rust. So I spent the next day getting a shot in my arm that hurt far longer than the nail.

It was all worth it.

Thanks to Caleb Skytte for his help with the shoot. Check out the photos.

Reminder: you can click the right & left arrows to jump from one photo to another.

While we were over visiting the other side of the mountains—sill refuse to call it ‘the coast’ unless I see the actual Pacific Ocean —we had the chance to hang out with one of Gina’s friends from high school & photograph her little ones as a surprise birthday gift for their daddy (kind of a recent theme at MS Photo!).

She brought up the idea of having her daughter have a tea party on the beach & I thought it was an awesome idea! So at the end of the day we got out the big lights & headed down to the beach just in time for the wind to pick up & the waves come crashing in. In all, we only had about 5 minutes of actual beach shooting before the little model had enough of the cold & wind & we called it quits—not before getting some great shots, IMO!

Fortunately the weather was more than accommodating for the rest of the session & it was a blast for me to catch the kiddos going from being shy (notice the first subject I was offered to photograph was ‘Doggie’ the sheep) to playing it up for the camera.

Take a look by clicking through. FYI, once you open up the window, you can just arrow through the photos with your keyboard which is very cool, try it!

During Easter weekend we headed over to the other side of the mountains & had the pleasure of shooting Sara & Matt’s engagement photos. The weather was iffy at best, but it was still far better than the previous visit we had, where it rained the entire time—at least this time there were times when the sky wasn’t dumping on us.

For this session we drove up to Boulevard Park in Bellingham and were able to get a few shots before the rain started. We warmed up for a few minutes in Woods Coffee (An outstanding place that was packed with people. The hot chocolate was great & I understand the coffee is as well). When it became clear the rain wasn’t stopping we decided to head over to Sara & Matt’s wedding venue, The Bellingham Cruise Terminal to check it out. It’s a very cool space with an amazing view of Puget Sound.

Matt & Sara were so laid back and a pleasure to work with (not surprised at all) and so at ease with each other and me. I think/hope that comes across in the photos.

Click to see…