The Von Steegs and Larsons used mom’s birthday as a perfect excuse to all get together at Tahoe and have some family photos taken, with the latest additions Addison and Berit. Of course the girls weren’t too thrilled about sitting for photos with all that excitement of rocks and water around, but had a blast on the playground, and sure liked the bright colors of the petunias:

My friend Judith is in town from Munich/Germany and I took some time to hang out with her and my son Levi, at a beach on the East Shore, and as the sun was setting we went to a meadow up by Spooner Lake which I have been wanting to go to for portraits for a long time! I had hoped to take Betsy and her dress there, but that didn’t happen. So anyway, we got a lot of great shots, the light was beautiful, and surprisingly Levi cooperated. For 4-year-old standards at least… I have so many images I love, it’s impossible to choose just a few! As you can see, we laugh a lot together. On the way back I just had to stop at Chimney Beach parking for some almost kitschy sunset shots – the color in the sky was phenomenal!

The weeks go by so fast – Drayson is already 3 months old and came back for another shoot! He’s starting to be able to do a thing or two, which is so cool – I can’t wait to see the changes over the next few months! We tried to get Ashlyn to be in some photos, which we barely managed – her max sit-there-time is about 1.5 seconds. I introduced an antique bath tub which made for some really cute images:

Ashlyn found my son's goggles and pretended to be swimming in the tub

Mark and Stefanie took me to the spot where he actually proposed – on a huge boulder jutting out to the lake on Tahoe’s East Shore. It was a bit of a climb to get down there, but certainly worth it; the boulders are just phenomenal! Stefanie has been going there to swim since she was a little girl. They even incorporated the mountains above Incline Village as a water color painted after photos Mark took from that very boulder on their custom-made invitations!
We had a lot of fun, the only challenge being that there is hardly any shade there; but Tahoe colors and feel were what we were after, and we sure captured that – proposal boulder inclusive!
I am so excited for their wedding mid-October! They have picked the most gorgeous, rich colors and hopefully we can catch some turning aspens.

Congratulations, you two!

In a whole bunch, actually – Betsy took photos of my family! I’ve had family portraits taken every fall since our little guy was a year old, since otherwise, I am never ever in any photos with him (or anyone else, for that matter). The most difficult part was to get the guys to look like humans, not pitbulls – yeah, it was bright, but we weren’t looking into the sun, even my light sensitive self could handle it! Geez… We still got lots of fun ones, despite a 4-year old, a dog (who both headed for the water every chance they got), and Betsy’s first actual being-in-charge family shoot.

Betsy did get pretty cold after hanging out in the lake for a while with the sun going down lower and lower… but what a trooper she was!
The underwater shots were definitely experimental – I have only used the housing a couple of times and wanted to play with it a lot more, but we were both so cold that we called it a day…

It didn’t take much convincing to get Betsy – my assistant and second shooter – to agree to doing a trash-the-dress session of her in her wedding gown! Not being one to hold on to things for sentimental reasons, she would rather have cool photos of her in the dress than have it sit in a box forever (not that she had gotten it cleaned, anyway…).

Though I have to say I am not so much into actually trashing the dress, as in tearing it and purposely getting it dirty, more into creating unusual, cool, creative, fun images. So here’s the first set, from the Railroad Museum in Carson City:

It was the coldest and windiest day all summer, more so of course up at High Camp in Squaw Valley, and the fact that the ceremony took place at 6 pm in the shade really made the girls shiver.


More records:
Best singing at ceremony. By the bride’s sister Nicole – a song which had been written by their grandfather and had been sung at their parents’ wedding as well (so meaningful!); and ‘At Last’ by a close friend, Kara.


The fastest bridesmaids!


Coolest second dance of all times (Lindsey is a dance instructor and choreographed a little sequence to go with ‘Thriller’ for herself and Derek). Possibly only second dance?


The fewest family and bridal portraits.


That’s ok, they really just wanted to party – and it was by far the best party I have witnessed all summer, check out the dance shots…. they were unstoppable! Everybody!


Lindsey and Derek were happy as can be and took it all with a lot of humor! What a great crowd they had at their wedding and clearly a lot of fun on the dance floor. It made working such a joy!


Lindsey was stunning in a Calvin Klein dress, Marc Jacobs shoes and oh-so-beautiful Sterling Works earrings.


The first shot is from the phenomenal rehearsal dinner at Garwoods the night before:

Just before labor day weekend Trisha and Adam exchanged rings at an old Tahoe favorite, Chamber’s Landing on the West Shore. It couldn’t have been a more perfect day – warm, calm, bright blue skies which turned pink as the sun set – and no crowds! The wedding was very intimate with immediate family and closest friends – including, of course, Adam’s two daughters and Trisha’s three sons. 4 year-old Hunter sure kept everybody entertained!
The cake was the cutest I have seen all summer and was gone in a flash – Tiramisu cake from The Tahoe House – who could resist that? Complemented with gorgeous flowers by Martha’s Floral Design.

I couldn’t imagine a happier couple, or a better day for a wedding – my best wishes to Adam and Trisha!