Lydia Jane Portraits | Butlers Orchard Photography

when the leaving is hard but you go now 

and you feel what you drag across the floor 

because something with these trails are just different 

since they shook the earth in 1904.

tallest man on earth

Before I can photograph anyone, I need to study my subject.  I don't always get to spend time with brides before their wedding day, so I've had to learned nuance and focus hard to pay attention: what does the bride do for a living? What is her e-mail address (a university e-mail, an old childhood e-mail, a "first name last name" gmail?) How big is her bridal party?  Who is the ring-leader amongst the bridal party?  Is the bride the introverted one?  Is she loud but introverted? Does she escape off to apply make-up alone, and return to the group once she's had time to herself?  Is she stereo-type A?  Is she late and doesn't seem to realize, or is she late and losing her marbles under the couch?  How much jewelry is she wearing, wear is it from, and what is it being stored in to transport to the wedding?  What kind of shoes does she have -- practical or glamorous or a hearty effort to achieve both?  There are dozens of minute-by-minute displays to study so I can better understand, and therefore better photograph.  I'm well-trained in processing small details quickly and giving myself a general answer to the question: Who is this person?

So, when my "bestie" of almost 14 years stepped in front of the camera I had an odd moment of panic.  I couldn't be more comfortable with her -- even the her that has changed and is changing.  I trust her, we've analyzed our oddest and best body features together for years (I'm much shorter than her, but my legs are inches longer!  She has a Victorian neck with chiseled collar bones, and I have a tree stump.), I know the stories intimately that have brought her here, and vice versa.  We both lament the problem of being young -- using words we didn't understand, wanting too badly to be an integral part of a grown-up world, trying to be taken seriously! We've been transformed as people on a dual-year basis:  each of us at 16, 18, 20, 22 and 24 are at core levels different women, and it's unsettling to look back and think "Oof.  Once I was a little girl who thought I knew what I was talking about."  It's unsettling because we know how particularly intent we were on being mature, smart, well-spoken.  It's unsettling because we realize we'll in a few more years we'll look back on today and think "Oh, what immaturity.  We thought we knew so much."  Change is hard for her, compassion is hard for me.  She can be overly dramatic, I can be overly stoic.  She's very ordely, I'm very scattered.  I know this friend well.  But the reason for my odd moment of panic is that I know her so well, connect to her so quickly, have so much information about her, I wondered if I could document who my friend really is today in her life.

If you were to meet my bestie, you would notice about her the exact same things that drew me to her when I was 11 years old.  You'd notice her brash sense of humor, her "How did she come up with that?!" weird yet spot-on analogies, her extroverted need to be in the middle of people as often as possible, her vocabulary.  You'd hear her various, constant laughing.  You'd want to be close to her energy and buzz.   You'd be interested in her deeply emotional and sincere opinions.  Whenever I've photographed her in the past my instinct was that mouth-wide-open, amused, laughing Lydia.  She is still that, but as she's come into herself ever more, I find myself seeing her confidence, her chin up, her experienced strength, her empathy, her boldness, her quietness.  I've come to her house at midnight to sit with her while she wept on the floor.  I've toured her college art show, admiring her higher-education work.  I've watched somebody else become her very best friend, just like she watched the same thing happen to me.  And very soon I'm going to watch her leave behind her childhood, family, client base, and foundation to move to a new city and life with very little security.  As we photographed, I had the Courageous yet Kind Lydia Jane in my heart and mind.  I love you, old friend.

(Pssst! Go see her beautiful new logo and website ---> l y d i a j a n e . c o m) 

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to book your own i'm kristen portrait or headshot session,  especially in the maryland/virginia/dc, new york/boston, or oklahoma to dallas areas E-MAIL ME HERE (i'll also be traveling around san francisco + the lake tahoe/nevada areas in coming months.)

Erica + Eric | Linganore Winery Carnival Wedding

out of the tree of life i just picked me a plum 

still, it's a real good bet, 

the best is yet to come

frank sinatra 

(Linganore Winery was the dangerously gorgeous setting for this wedding day.  Oh I love this place.)

She's proven herself responsible, competent, independent.  Erica is an organized dental hygienist, and it makes complete sense.  She's not a hot mess.  She's not frazzled.  She's not "all over the place!" She's not quirky-goofy-silly-boppy.  She's kind.  She's kind.  She's focused.  She's a go-getter.  I could nearly imagine her as one of the first women graduating (at the top of her class) from a university in the 1930's.  (She'd be wearing pearl stud earrings.)























I've been photographing the Smart Family for years, and Erica is Jessica (before marriage: Sherwood) Smart's little sister.  Last winter  their mom asked me to take a few pictures of the whole Sherwood clan and it was during said shoot that I met Eric, Erica's boyfriend.  He had accidentally slept in (and felt horribly about it), came screeching into the parking lot, and was finishing off his breakfast: a bag of Doritos.  Trimmed, neat, prompt (actually, early!) Erica was taking it in stride, and laughing.  Throughout the session the two of them seemed to wander behind or whisper during frames.  I hoped, right then in that moment, that this wouldn't be the last time the two of them were in front of my camera.  Eric had kind eyes, he seemed to walk hand-in-hand with Erica out of her comfort zone in healthy ways (minus the chemical chips), and seemed to respect her well-developed strengths.  Oh. And he made her laugh.  Thank goodness they decided on forever.







When I took this picture the gentleman in the wheelchair, Erica's grandfather, was quite sick.  He sweetly enjoyed the wedding, but not soon after he moved worlds.  I care deeply, passionately, about my work and the high-honor it is to record families together on days like these.






The gasps and responses to Erica making her way to Eric are some of my favorite in the history of my career.  Truly the definition of sweet.
































Along with the sounds of water, the smell of completely new babies, and the taste of fabulous cheese (especially melting) I think some of the best things in life is confidently, securely happy people who love to laugh.

And... kiss.  Drew Barrymore shares a similar idea boldly: "Kissing - and I mean like, yummy, smacking kissing - is the most delicious, most beautiful and passionate thing that two people can do, bar none."















My soul is fed when there is fun energy.  It's crystal clear when groups of people have an air of stuffiness, vanity, or superiority instead of carefree, happy fun.  Photographing these people was so easy because they were sincerely happy.  Every of of them.  Ah! That's another thing! Sincerity.  That's the word.  I've been writing this post trying to clock this nail on the head: they are sincere.  Good, sincere people.  You can see it in their eyes; their body language.
























Erica, with help from her guy and family, pulled off the perfect mix of "young fun" and "classy" with their carnival at the vineyard reception.






















Thank you for being best buds, and life-long teammates.  Thank you for having me photograph yet another special event in your family's life.  Thank you for getting married at Linganore (OH. MY. MY!) And thank you for being patient with my slow-blogging-new-mom year last year.  On that note: congratulations on your little guy on the way.  He's going to have a great life alongside the two of you. "The best is yet to come..."

Ps. This may be my favorite "Smart Family Shot" yet ;)



--- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- to book me, "i'm kristen," for your wedding or family-story,  especially in the maryland/virginia/dc, new york/boston, or oklahoma to dallas areas E-MAIL ME HERE (i'll also be traveling around southern california + the lake tahoe/nevada areas in coming months. actually! i'd love to travel anywhere! )

Josh + Brielle | Linganore Winery Wedding

“part of me is made of glass, and also,
i love you.”
nicole krauss

Summer sun makes promises.  Especially promises about love.  Brielle spent a summer day and night at a beautiful vineyard reception.  Wine! Dancing! Cheer!  Maybe he liked her.  Maybe he definitely liked her.  She left that wedding a summer or so ago frustrated ("Is he going to ask me out? Or do I need to get over this?") and ardent ("I want him to ask me out.  I don't want to get over this.")  The summer sun set. 








With the capacity of an entire team, a young Brielle has been administrating at her large church for years (yearssss) now.  She isn't just "good for her age."  She's good.  AND she's her age.  It's hard to walk into that building and not see a little blonde-bun-ned, walkie-talking and power-walking Brielle.  Her capable ability is a genius match to her blunt, radical, sharp, independent personality.  She is a think-a-head-er.  She's a do-er.  She thinks of the problems before they arise, and prepares for solutions before they are needed.  Brielle is not an airhead or ditzy blonde.  Though she be little, she be fierce!  She is not a drizzly, naive, "tender", or high-maintence.  I would be willing to bet that she's heard the phrase "you seem so much older than you really are!" weekly throughout her life.  I love her Brielle-tough-ness, her confidence, her crazy great sense of humor, her strong beauty.

I remember when Josh "first came to town."  He started teaching at the church's Christian school.  He was fresh out of college, energetic, consistently involved (in everything), and... single.  I was sure he'd pick one of the many pretty, available faces and get married within six months.  I was wrong.  Josh really invested himself in the roles God put before him.  Summer camps.  Sound booth.  Classroom.  Wrestling coach.  Church meetings.  It was a joke around there that Josh had a secret bedroom in the church scaffolding ;) "Does he ever leave?"  He, in particular, has spent great amount of time and life with the youngins.  The respect and friendship the kids share with him is undeniable.  But that great quality could sure be confusing when you're a younger girl... who likes him!

And yet, even though it maybe took him a *little* too long, Brielle found out that her crush was not an unrequited one.  And there was indeed something more between them.  "From time to time, when a piece of music no one has ever written or a painting no one has ever painted, or something else impossible to predict, fathom or yet describe takes place, like falling in love, a new feeling enters the world. And then, for the millionth time in the history of feeling, the heart surges and absorbs the impact.” They fell in love.  And last summer, he proposed in the church auditorium... where they have spent so many years of life together.  This winter, they married in that same church.  A legacy of giving, loving and pouring out themselves together continues and also begins.  













This was during the worship song... they weren't really singing ;) But they had some cute jokes for each other.





But, here's what I love.  Mr. Slow-Mover-Hard-Thinker-Teacher and Miss In-Charge-and-Super-Mature become so... kiddish when they are together.  I watched Brielle all morning and just thought "She seems so grown-up."  And then I watched Brielle in a chilly field with him and I thought "Wow, she seems like such a little girl."




Beautiful, yes.  Adult, yes. But the whole energy and environment changed.  Not only was she more relaxed, but she seemed completely carefree.  It was a side to her that I've personally never seen quite that way and also so enjoyed.  And Josh.  Josh was crazy over her.  I had a hard time getting them to stop talking and joking to take pictures... which is a dream come true, in my book.



















After celebrating with (what seemed like) the entire church and school, the evening crowd drove over to nearby Linganore Winery - ironically enough, the same winery she emotionally fumbled at that one not too far-gone summer.  With new rings on their hands and surrounded by the people they have loved on - for years - there was jubilee and partying for them.




The dance floor never (not once.) slowed down for over two hours.  Who was out there, keeping their kicks in the air?  Mostly Josh's students... plus many good friends and dear family.  It was certainly one of the longest, loudest, fastest, constant-est parties I've ever been to :)  Hoards of high-schoolers should come to every wedding!

 


Happy wedding day, you two kids.  Enjoy your Cancun summer sun, and all the promises you're reminded of while you're under it :)

ps. special special thanks to lydia jane for second-shooting with me + for a number of her lovely images used in this post :)