This film photo was not taken today, but with the weather we’re having, it could have been.
Instead, I took the day off from photographing today and I’m posting this photo for my Monday To-Do list. And as a reminder that when your two-year old is standing in the bay with a giant leopard shark three feet away from him… you should probably go and get your child out of the water. That’s what my husband told me I should have done, instead of just standing frozen at the water’s edge calling, “Harper, come here. There’s a shark!” And even though I don’t think leopard sharks are a threat to humans, I still think that’s probably a good rule of thumb for future shark encounters.
tomales bay
Wait for it…
Seana first contacted me on November 10th about family photos. We had three or four scheduled dates to meet but each time it just didn’t work out… thanks to conflicting holiday schedules, bad weather, the flu, and even an epic battle with poison oak. But we didn’t give up. We waited until schedules calmed down, the weather was just right, the poison oak went away and everyone one was feeling healthy, relaxed and ready to play…
Thank you for not giving up, Seana.
It was so worth the wait.
My new favorite day of the year…
For a photographer, there is almost nothing more fun than getting to spend a day with people you really like and playing dress-up in a beautiful location. Over the years, starting in middle school, I have had several hilarious “fashion” photo shoots staring myself and my friends… which would be a funny blog post someday if I can find the prints… and if my friends won’t disown me after I share. But last year I experienced my first ever (paid) fashion shoot with a real model (and dear friend) for Susan Hayes Handwovens and I was giddy the entire day.
So I was very excited to get the email from Susan Hayes that we were going to do it again this year. Our day of fashion fun was yesterday… the first not-a-cloud-in-the-sky or fog-on-the-horizon day in Tomales in months. I was a little disappointed because I do love photographing in the fog… but the sun was pretty nice too, and it helped that we had access to incredible locations including an Audubon Research site and the Marshall Store.
Now my only problem is editing… when everything is so beautiful it is so very hard to choose just one…
Thank you Susan, Jack, Aimée, Mariah and Josh. I had so much fun and I can’t wait until next year.
To see more photos from this photo shoot please visit my Paige Green Photography facebook page.
We are going to Iowa…
On April 4th, 2010, our wedding anniversary, Arann and I went to Tomales Bay, to the house where we stayed the night we got married.
Well, fake married. We haven’t legally gotten married yet.
In November 2008, we were at the height of our wedding planning when California passed Proposition 8, denying same-sex couples the right to get married, and we were heart broken. We thought about canceling the wedding, but instead we decided to continue with our plans, because we felt the ceremony with our loved ones was the most important part.
And on April 4th, 2009, we had an amazing celebration with family and friends.
But because we want to get legally married in a state where all people are allowed to get married, we haven’t gotten legally married yet.
At first I didn’t think the legal part mattered to me. But a year later, I can feel the difference. Even though people, and insurance agencies, don’t question us when we say we’re married. And even though we made our vows to each other, and in my heart I know that is the most important part. I also know that if anything happens to one of us, the other one has no legal rights. And that bothers me.
So in June…
We are going to Iowa.
Because who wants to go to Iowa to get married?
We do.
We want to support the middle state that has historically been a leader in civil rights.
First making a stand against slavery in the civil war, and then putting woman’s suffrage on the agenda 50 years before the rest of the country.
And now leading the way again with same-sex marriage, which became legal in Iowa on April 3, 2009, the day before we got fake married.
Coincidence?
No way.
We are going to Iowa.
Top 5 Reasons to Do Engagement Photos…
1… You get to snuggle and kiss the person you love most.
2… You can visit amazing places you have never been before… like Samuel P. Taylor, home to endangered salmon and giant redwood trees.
3…. You get to practice being photographed during intimate moments, which you will soon have to do many many times as people hit their wine glasses with their utensils, signaling for you to kiss, over and over again at your reception.
4… You get to know your photographer, who will be following you around and documenting those intimate moments, on the biggest day of your lives.
5… You get to have lots and lots of cute photos of just the two of you, right before your lives change forever.
It was fun getting to know Jennifer and Ramsey during our photo shoot and I can’t wait for their wedding in August. Thank you to the Green Girls, who recommended me as a photographer.
The man I am going to marry…
On my last night in town before I flew home to South Carolina, I had to get a few more landscape photos for an assigment. So Arann and I decided to multi-task… date night with mussels and french fries, landscape photos, and photos of him in his chicken suit… of course. (The cows were very intrigued… it was not a typical Tuesday night event for them.)
For those of you who don’t know, Arann is the lead singer of The Bluebellies, and he writes and sings a lot of songs about chickens. He really wants everyone in the band to buy chicken suits for their next band photo… but chicken suits are not cheap… so he is having a hard time convincing the other members it is a worthwhile investment. This one came from Target and was about $70. I bought Arann’s suit, because I figured it can be a write-off, since, as you can see, it is for my very serious photo-business.
One funny detail… the tag says the suits are ‘one-size-fits-all,’ but as you can see, they weren’t expecting one of those All’s to be 6’4.
And I really like how Arann left the hanger tag on the suit… it is very Arann…
So hard to choose…
Meet Kiea and Colin. They got married on 6-7-8 (june, the sixth month, on the 7th day, and in the year 2008)… and everything about their love story seems to work in that amazing organic way… proving they fit together perfectly. They said their wedding was absolutely wonderful, and their only regret was there weren’t many photographs of just the two of them. They had a different photographer, who did an excellent job, but who didn’t get enough photographs of the two of them.
So they called me and we made a date. Kiea scheduled a hair and make-up appointment with a friend and then we met in the middle… which happens to be in the middle of the most beautiful countryside and a perfect backdrop. And in a matter of 2 hours, we covered just about every beautiful setting possible. Now the only problem is, how do you choose which photo to pick as your favorite… because they all are so darn cute.
It was wonderful to have so much time to play, and to play without the stress of the wedding day. I loved it and only wish I could have a photo shoot after the wedding with all my wedding couples.
OK… I said it was hard to choose a favorite… but this one wins, for me.
15 minutes of Cute Baby Faces…
Congratulations to our friends Susannah and Rich on making a super cute baby. Elena was born on May 16th and has been keeping them busy and entertained ever since. We invaded their get-away to the Bay this week and arrived just in time for chocolate cake, the sunset, and Elena’s 15 minutes of awake time before feeding and then going back to sleep…. we have good timing. This was our 15 minutes of Elena…
Waking…
Inflating…
And she’s Up!
Slipping back to the happy place.
Breaking point.
Gone.
Cabaret on The Bay 2008 – sneak peek in black and white
When I moved to California in 2001, I learned about the concept of ‘community’ with these people.
That concept has shaped my life ever since, so it is only fitting that I now apply my theme of documenting communities to my own community.
So, welcome to my community. My community of characters, who I met one-way-or-another through Walker Creek Ranch, Marin County’s Outdoor Education School, celebrated life together last week with a Cabaret on the Bay Party.
I celebrated our celebration by taking portraits. A lot of portraits, and because my scanner is not the best, my color scans need a lot of work just so they look normal. But the glorious black and white, of which I may have fallen in love with all over again, is close to perfect, no tweaking necessary.
Enjoy.
somewhere between a handshake and two kisses 
