If You Would Have Told Me...

If you would have told me...

...that twenty-two years after I received my first camera , a red plastic 35 mm Kodak, I would be shooting with an incredible Canon 5D Mark II...
...that I would travel nearly four-thousand miles across an ocean to shoot an international wedding...
...in the dark room of my high school that I would be making photographic art with a digital camera and computer and not with C41 film and chemical baths (which I actually really miss!)...
...that I would be an artist, not an imitator...
...that my summer weekends would be filled with brides, babies, and blogging...
...I would be witness to amazing stories of adoption, growing families, and answered prayers.
...I would be writing this heartbreaking, yet hope-filled post...
...I would be lucky enough to photograph neighbors, life-long friends, in-laws, and a nephew...
...And watch little ones grow and grow...

If you would have told me...

I probably would not have believed you, but I would have thought that whomever experienced all of that would be one lucky chicken. And for every ounce of good fortune I have experienced, I am sure to stop in the middle of life's chaos to appreciate every little morsel of it. At the end of the day, I am the one behind the camera, but more importantly, behind me are friends, family, clients, colleagues, and mentors. There are not enough ways to thank them all...but that's another post entirely...

Here I am, and here I go...setting off on a journey through 2011. So, go ahead and tell me...it's going to be amazing and inspiring, isn't it? I just might believe you this time.


Aliza

Happy Everything!

A proper adieu to 2010 will be on its way just after the new year. The blog will be on hiatus until 2011, after we dig out from wrapping paper and sugar cookies. In the meantime, we'll be celebrating the holidays in a warm, colorful, and relaxing way. The camera's coming along, so I'll be sure to share our favorite moments.

Happy Everything!

Aliza

The B Family

An unseasonably warm and sunny day greeted us for the B family session. Throw in three generations, a bucketful of smiles, and two cute little peaches with blond hair and bright eyes, and you've got a recipe for some great photo memories. It's always a treat when the wee ones ham it up for the camera...so innocently adorable. A few favorites from our morning session...

The B Family | Glendale, Wisconsin

Aliza

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like...Chanukah?

The holiday season goes a little like this vignette from the Werner household:

(Setting: Werner living and dining rooms. The scene begins as Aliza and Nick walk in. Aliza places the Chanukah menorah on the table and sets up the candles. The room smells strongly of pine. Nick turns on the satellite radio...)

Radio: It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...Everywhere you go...

(Aliza strikes a match and lights the middle shamash candle.)

Radio: Take a look in the five and ten glistening once again...With candy canes and silver lanes aglow...

(With the Christmas tune playing on the radio in the background, A&N huddle around the menorah.)

A&N: Baruch atah adonai elohainu melech ha'olam asher kiddishanu b'mitzvotav v'tzivanu l'hadlik nar shel Chanukah.

(As Aliza lights the first night candle...)

Radio: It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...Toys in every store...

(With the menorah's candles flickering a cozy orange glow...)

A or N: Now that the menorah is lit...let's go decorate the tree!

(A&N head to the Christmas tree ten feet away to begin the annual detangling of lights, search for escaped metal hooks, and discovery of memories represented in the collection of ornaments. As each bauble and trinket is hung on the branches, Aliza sees one last shiny item at the bottom of the box. It's a delicate menorah ornament...a gift last year from her mother-in-law. On the tree is goes.)

Radio: It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas; Soon the bells will start...And the thing that will make them ring is the carol that you sing...Right within your heart.

Annnnnnd...scene.

The Eighth Night of Chanukah
The lit menorah glows brightly in front of the Christmas tree.

Aliza

These Boots Are So Cute!

I have buckets full of beautiful babies and families and weddings and travel and news to blog...but the spots dancing in front of my eyes are nature's way of saying, "Peel yourself away from the computer!" Those little guys need a rest from the screen tonight. So, just a shot from our weekend away. Our friends N&M invited us along for our annual trek to Green Bay for a Packer game. We. Were. FREEZING! Over the years, I have acquired many fancy pieces of outdoor gear to help get me through the torture that is a Wisconsin winter. This year, my purchase was a new pair of boots! Not just any boots. Not anything like the boots the little girls in the Gap commercial sang about last holiday season ("These boots are so cute! These boots are so cute!"...has anyone gotten that out of their head yet, a year later?!) These are the kind of boots that people see and say, "Hey, killer boots, man!" (to quote my husband quoting an awful Jim Carrey movie). We are talking, learn how to walk again while wearing these boots. Soles several inches thick. Fleece. Fur. Squishy padding on the bottom. Despite ambling along looking like a penguin with bricks strapped to my feet, they were totally worth it. Not a single toe got cold during those hours out on the tundra. They were probably my best purchase of the year, as sad as that sounds.

So bring on the snow and windchill! I'll shuffle into my boots and seventeen layers on top and finally laugh in the face of Old Man Winter. Ha! I can't wait to rock them again!

Hubby and me | Lambeau Field | Green Bay, Wisconsin
December 2010

Oh, and the Packers won! GO PACK!

Aliza