Portland Wedding Photography & Candid Portraits

I used to be one of those people who could get out of the house in ten minutes, twenty including a shower. It really hit me this morning how much being a mom has changed this. While I never used to enjoy putting on makeup or drying my hair, it’s now a sort of luxury to be able to take the time to do these things on occasion.

Our house can be a bit hectic in the mornings. I am so used to it, that it never even occurred to me until my mom, who is visiting, commented on her first morning. I tend to wake up while my hubby is in the shower, sometimes our little girl is the culprit waking me up. Other times she sleeps deeper than ever laying across our queen size bed, as the morning light starts to roll in. Once she is up, I go downstairs and get food ready for my hubby so he can squeeze in a few minutes with the little one. Even if it involves a diaper changes, it’s still time together. Downstairs it’s breakfast to go for hubby, lunch in a box, breakfast for the furry ones, toddler in the high chair and finally some food for me.

I do all this in a very sleepy state.

This morning it was all of a sudden 8:15 by the time the routine was done, and I realized I needed to get ready for my portrait session. I put on a bit of extra mascara and change my outfit a couple times, since I was about to get a turn being on the other side of the camera. Almost ready, I told my daughter I had to go out and take pictures. She ran to the closet I keep my gear in and said “camera”. I took a few minutes to show her the photos (of her) still on the memory card, which just made her smile.

A bit later, I met Deanna Russell, a photographer friend, at Jenkins Estate. We did a business portrait swap. Getting in front of the camera for a photographer always feels a bit odd. We explored the park a little bit, and found some great buildings to use as backgrounds for our portraits. Here is one of my favorites portraits of Deanna.