Femke is here! My buddy Miranda and her husband Richard's little girl has arrived and everyone is happy at home with stuffed giraffes and hundreds of geboorte kaartjes. I did Miranda's maternity shoot a few months ago, and Femke is nearly a month old already! We had a nice home shoot on a sunny Saturday with Miranda's parents, who are visiting from South Africa, and Femke pretty much slept through it - even when we put her on top of the standing piano that Miranda's family had shipped all the way from Africa to now live in the Netherlands! Miranda and Richard are both so natural and sweet with their little girl, and getting to hang out with Miranda is always one of my favorite activities :)
Iekje, Harriët and George family shoot in Glimmen
This fun family session took place about a month ago in the Quintusbos near the town of Glimmen, just south of Groningen, and it was a fun afternoon spent romping around on hay bales and playing with the pets.
The family had an awesome jungle gym in the backyard, and Iekje really showed the kids how it's done.
Harriët's pet rats Dolfje (left) and Cleo rode along for the photo shoot on Harriët's shoulders, and were super sweet critters.
Maarten and Annemiek's wedding at the Paterswoldsemeer in Groningen
This wedding was featured on the new Dutch wedding blog, Trouwshop, on August 19, 2013.
Maarten and Annemiek had so many cool geeky details incorporated into their wedding day(s) - in the Netherlands, couples will often have a ceremony at the City Hall (Stadhuis) on a weekday and then have a bigger official ceremony with more guests in the days to follow. On the Wednesday morning these two were married, the square where the City Hall is located was one of the sites in town setting up rides and roller coasters for a May fair. For Maarten and Annemiek, it was a sweet reminder of the first days of their relationship four years ago. From a reading of "Oh, The Places You'll Go!" by Dr. Seuss, to Star Wars quotes inscribed on the inside of their wedding bands, to hand-crocheted dragons handed out as wedding favors, to using a copy of "The Hobbit" as their guest book, to LIGHT SABERS (!!), Maarten and Annemiek used so many personally meaningful aspects of their day to share their love with their friends and family. It's great when nice, nerdy kids get together :)
After their City Hall ceremony on Wednesday, they had their ceremony at the Paalkoepel on the Paterswoldsemeer just south of the city of Groningen. Annemiek has family who live across the lake from the ceremony location, but after a trial run of taking a boat across the water to the Paalkoepel when Maarten immediately fell overboard, they decided to err on the side of dryness and wielded umbrellas against the rain.
One of the most touching parts of the ceremony was the attendance of Annemiek's grandmother from Friesland. Her presence was very special for Annemiek, and they shared a lot of little moments throughout the day.
An iPad came in very handy when the wedding party was trying to figure out how exactly to tie a tie.
Annemiek went for a dramatic black dress with red and white flowers as details, and her bouquet and AWESOME shoes were perfect.
For their portraits, we started out in the woods near Annemiek's family's house on the lake, then we headed into town to the Cibogaterrein, which is full of cool graffiti and modern buildings - even in the rain, it was a great, colorful spot for these two to be my models.
During the ceremony, our mutual friends Rebecca and Alain read an excerpt from "Oh, the Places You'll Go," which took on a special meaning on a wedding day:
"Congratulations! Today is your day. You're off to Great Places! You're off and away!
You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose."
Another sweet surprise during the ceremony was when friends and family stood up and read to the couple about what love means.
This photo was featured on the Moment Junkie blog on June 1, 2013.
Maarten seemed equally impressed and horrified by sharing the first slice of cake with his bride.
I think Maarten and Annemiek both win with their new in-laws: equally crazy and fun.
I loved seeing Annemiek's reactions to her dad's toast - embarrassed for a second, then very seriously amused.
A very special surprise came when Annemiek's closest friends from college serenaded the couple with a rendition of "Afternoon Delight." Seriously awesome.
These two win the best wedding ring inscription, as far as I'm concerned. Maarten's ring read, "I love you," and Annemiek's read, "I Know."
Marina & Abbas' wedding party in Amsterdam
This celebration was a majorly international love fest. Marina is Russian and Abbas is Azerbaijani, and they can call both Moscow and Amsterdam home. They had their wedding in Russia and threw a sweet little dinner party and reception for their best friends from all over the world on a boat cruise through the canals of Amsterdam. Their guests came from all over Europe, and two of them even flew into the Netherlands from Africa (via London) while we were cruising around - we took a detour to the town of Amstel to meet them, and soak up some of the nice afternoon light. It was really a pleasure for me to get to meet such a great group of people, and to see how happy Marina and Abbas are together - she laughs at his corny jokes, and they jumped on a bicycle built for two in the Vondelpark. There were other surprises in the park - see for yourself!
Marina is a lovely lady, and in spite of the offers of champagne, she made sure her make up was just right before we headed to the park for some portraits.
Suddenly, a wild bachelor party appeared. Toward the end of our photo shoot, we saw a crowd of Dutch guys careening toward us on rented red Mac bikes. As they came to a halt in the sandy soil, their ring leader hoisted Marina into the air and his friends attempted to share their beer with Abbas. The green of the Heineken bottles and the pink of the groom-to-be's curly wig matched Marina's bouquet. It was awesome.
We took a couple of taxis to the Piet Heinkade and passed by some more iconic Amsterdam scenes on the way.
Abbas held the bouquet out the back seat window while we were stopped at an intersection to rally the small convoy of their friends.
We boarded a spiffy boat where Marina, Abbas and their guests ate, drank and were merry (married?) as we wandered under bridges and past windmills throughout the afternoon.
A violinist (Melanie Waite) and a cellist performed classical songs for the guests as we sailed along.
Amy and Barend at De Keukenhof tulip gardens
Amy and Barend are awesome. Amy contacted me recently about doing an engagement photo shoot of her and her Dutch fiancee at the world famous tulip garden, de Keukenhof, and I could barely contain my excitement. Really, it was a little embarrassing. De Keukenhof is quite likely the most beautiful place in the entire country, and this week was the peak of the short tulip season. We were also incredibly lucky with the weather - not a cloud in the sky! We arrived at the gardens as they were opening on Wednesday morning, the day after the coronation of the new king, so we managed to have the garden virtually to ourselves as the Dutch were nursing their hangovers and tourist buses hadn't flooded the gardens yet. Amy, Barend and I had a great time, making bad puns about wells, Game of Thrones, and dogs providing natural fertilizer to the flowers, and even though we had to negotiate our way over some barbed wire to get to the gorgeous flower fields outside the gardens, no one was injured in the making of this epic photo shoot. Thank you, Amy and Barend, for making my dreams come true.
:)
Olya, Chris and Casper family shoot
Olya jokingly referred to herself during our family photo shoot on Sunday as a "copy machine" in explanation for the clear Mini Me effect of her sweet son Casper - he is a tiny, rambunctious copy of his Dutch dad, Chris. Olya thankfully sought me out about a year ago to work with for a photo shoot, and luckily we have gotten together a couple of times since then, but this weekend's shoot was really special. The family will be growing by one in the next couple of weeks, and it was really a pleasure just hanging out with them in their well-lit and colorful house of love and occasionally questionable humor (mostly Olya and I)!
Miranda, mom-to-be
Miranda may be the true personification of a ray of sunshine. She is just non-stop positivity and awesomeness, and she has been a good friend of mine since we lived together in a pretty awful international student house together in Groningen - the housing was so bad, it was actually torn down a few years ago! We called it The Containers, since it was essentially shipping containers that had been sparsely furnished and stacked on top of each other, and then exchange students were made to live in them. Miranda found a way to brighten up the containers with a plastic purple chandelier and copious cups of tea, and she was actually one of the very first people to encourage me to pursue photography back in 2005. Now, eight years later, we're both back in the Netherlands, she's having a baby, and I got to take pictures and laugh with her this weekend. I can't wait to meet her little girl and I could not be happier for her new little international family!
Bryn, Cees and Tobin in Groningen
If Tobin doesn't turn out to be a sweet, geeky, hilarious guy, I would lose faith in the science of genetics. His mom and dad, Bryn and Cees, are two friends of mine, and their son was fittingly born into laughter: his dad was performing in the English-language improv group, Stranger Things Have Happened, monthly show back in October, and his mom was laughing so hard at their nonsense and hilarity that she actually went into labor early! I was very happy to finally get to spend a few hours with this new little family in their house with wonderful window light and, naturally, lots of laughs.
Rebecca, Alain and Ilya - now featuring Merlyn!
On a misty October afternoon, long, long ago - all the way back in 2012 - I spent a fun afternoon with my good friends Rebecca and Alain, along with their son (Ilya, otherwise known as Alain's first clone) in Heusden. In addition to it just being a family shoot, they also wanted a special maternity shoot before the arrival of their second son, Merlyn. Well, in January - while I was in Nepal - he arrived! Last week I headed back to the Dutch south to do a follow up featuring the family's newest addition!
The boys have matching dragon outfits!
My super talented friend, Anniek Olsder, used one of the photos from the maternity shoot in October in her Juno-inspired design for Merlyn's birth announcements:
Lauren and Karl's maternity shoot in Groningen
Lauren and her husband Karl came to Groningen from California, and thus share my struggle to find decent Mexican food here in the land of the Dutch. Lauren was a friend of my friend and client Erin, and we both assumed we would end up meeting at some point due to the mutual Americanness in Groningen, but I decided to just introduce myself, and almost immediately Lauren asked me to do a maternity shoot for her. The international love continues!
Aside from always enjoying meeting other expats here in the north, Lauren also recommended to me a totally decent Mexican restaurant in Leeuwarden, which brings me joy, too :)
Rebecca, Alain & Ilya: family shoot in Heusden
These guys are some of my favorite nerds, and they've started the important work of spawning the next generation. I've known Rebecca and Alain since I first studied abroad in the Netherlands in 2005, and since then they've gotten married, started a business together and started a family. Their son is a clone of his dad, and they're expecting their second child soon. They technically meet my unofficial international criteria too, since they are a Dutch-Belgian family, and both my fiancee and I were really happy to have a good excuse to spend the weekend with them, hanging out, eating copious amounts of baked goods and watching "Scott Pilgrim versus the World." I always appreciate it when my friends want to work with me, and I love to work with people that I know won't think I'm truly crazy for my suggestions - in fact, they're often crazier than me, which I love.
The ministry of funny walks is genetic.
Klaas, Deike, Ella & Lena in Groningen
This loving international family wanted a sweater-tastic autumnal photo shoot to give as a gift to Deike's mom, which is a wonderful idea I'm hearing more and more often from clients as their motivation: it's hard to find a meaningful gift for grandparents, and a fun family photo shoot is a lovely present! We had a nice, albeit blustery, time in the Dutch countryside, complete with a windmill (naturally), and some delicious German/Dutch apple pie afterward. Thank you guys for working with me!
I have to say this one (above) of Lena and Ella is my favorite shot of the day :)
This is the family's sweet pup, Beer, who was interested in getting some camera time for herself. Kids and critters make any photo session infinitely more fun, in my experience :)
My sister got married!
My sister is my tall, beautiful hero. She's an awesome mom, a very motivated medical professional, hilarious and on top of all this, is my favorite photo model. Being her older sister, thankfully I got to be her maid of honor, and holding her bouquet and seeing the tears in her now husband's eyes before she even came down the aisle was for once much nicer than taking photos of the moments. At the same time, I did want to give my own little gift to her of taking pictures every moment I could, so while all the bridesmaids and I were getting ready in a cloud of hairspray and bobby pins, I took a few photos of her. After the ceremony, we had a tiny portrait session on the playground behind the church where they got married - after, I will point out, letting their official photographer, Alison East, take all the group shots! It was admittedly surreal not being THE photographer, but being able to really experience the day as a sister was wonderful, and I appreciate Alison making that possible, too.
My lovely niece, Kayley :) This was a special moment. Pastor John Woods, in this photo saying a prayer for Megan before the ceremony, has known Megan and RJ for years now, notably as RJ's basketball coach when RJ and Megan were home schooled. He met them when my sister was pregnant with their daughter, Kayley, and gave a wonderfully personal service for their wedding.
After taking this picture, I dashed upstairs and got in line with the other bridesmaids and groomsmen to actually be a part of the wedding. Following the ceremony and group photos, I snagged Megan and RJ for a couple more shots on the playground.
During the reception, I just danced like a fool and gave a speech, as part of my responsibilities as maid of honor. I'm including it below, because everyone should see just how freaking wonderful my sister is.
"Megan, Mina, Meg, Megs:
The earliest possible place to start is your birth, which was kind of a fitting way to describe my view of you early in life: unnecessarily dramatic and lots of screaming. Yes, like most sisters, at first there was conflict born of your aspiration to be me and your desire to be around me at all times, which I failed to see as flattering and considered more in terms of, "How far can I kick you off the bed without causing major injuries?" Barney, The Lion King, Homeward Bound viewed so many times that Travis eventually buried it in the bottom of his football toy chest, but the movies and shows of your childhood are the soundtrack to mine, too - I still know every word to "I Just Can't Wait to be King" thanks to your insistence on the sing along tape. I could have done without hearing "I love you, you love me, we're a happy family," for the millionth time, but it's a fine sentiment for today.
It has actually always been music that has been a common denominator for us in spite of any differences we had over time. When we moved to Winston, the Spice Girls told us all about girl power, which you fully embraced even in kindergarten: you used your "girl power" to get your first kiss at naptime, I'm pretty sure even before I managed to go on my first date. As we got older, where you were sassy, I was nerdy. Where you were popular, I was wearing braces and glasses, and avoiding direct sunlight. Where you were a model, I was eventually a photographer and lucky enough to sometimes photograph you.
By the time I moved away to college, I had accepted that we were different people, and of course I loved you in spite of your perfection, but I was so delighted that on each trip home, I could see signs of your inner nerd breaking through. I always knew you were smart and funny, but I was proud to see you really embracing your intelligence and wit. It was around this time that you started dating this really tall guy with an incredibly deep voice who, while conducting himself like a bit of a gangsta, clearly also had a big heart and his own geek streak. Everyone here knows how much you guys have been through together, and how far you've come, and I cannot tell you guys often enough how much I admire you both. When Kayley was born, you both immediately became the dedicated and loving adults that we see here all dressed up today. You grew up, much faster than most people, but you are two of the most motivated and accomplished people I have ever met, and Kayley is the coolest daughter ever, so clearly the genetic situation also worked out really well.
RJ, I love you, you are insanely lucky but also very deserving of marrying my sister. Megan, I know age-wise you're supposed to look up to me, but I look up to you. Literally because I'm shorter, and figuratively. You are so beautiful, intelligent, focused, hilarious, talented, responsible and kind, and I hope one day to be as wonderful of a mom and as gorgeous of a bride as you are. You are both wonderful, I'm proud to now be officially related to RJ, and you are my favorite sister. I love you, and congratulations!"
My dad took this photo of Megan and RJ, my brother Travis and his girlfriend Renee, and my fiancee Elger and I outside the reception site, the Lexington Civic Center. It was a day that Megan and RJ deserved to have their relationship and love honored by friends and family, and I was so happy to get to be there as her sister.
Permentier Family shoot in Ferwert, Friesland
It is always especially fun to work with clients who are a little bit crazy in a good way, and the Permentier family definitely set a new standard for hilarity during our photoshoot a couple of weeks ago. I know Irene through Stichting Didi, and I had a great time with her sister-in-law, Christy (a fellow American in the Netherlands) and her brother Matthieu when I did a newborn shoot for their little girl, Eleanor, this spring. She has gotten even cuter since our first shoot, and she's a healthy, smiling addition to a family that is big on smiling.
From the point-of-view of a baby, all grown-ups seem even crazier than normal :)
Remco and Jessy have two sweet dogs, so I did a mini session for them back at the house.
After the full family shoot, Christy, Matthieu and Eleanor had a sweet shoot unto themselves in the woods.
Erin & René's wedding in Groningen
Falling in love with a place is not so different from falling in love with a person, especially if either that place or that person happen to be thousands of miles away from the place you come from. This place-and-person love is something that Erin and I have more intensely in common than most: Erin, originally from North Carolina (Winston-Salem, even!), chose somewhat randomly to study abroad in Groningen, subsequently fell in love with a nice Dutch guy (René), and is now living here in this special Dutch city running her own business. It's a trajectory I know incredibly well: it is exactly the same origin story for how I came to be living here myself! Erin just happened to do it about 10 years before, so I was following her example without realizing how parallel it was until she introduced herself to me about a year ago. She and I have happily become friends since then, and it's so satisfying to have someone with the exact same background of sweet tea and Southern living with whom you can talk about the charms and weirdness of our new adopted culture. Above all, it is inspirational to see another American and Dutch love story being celebrated in such a beautiful place - congratulatons, Erin and René, and thank you guys so much for letting me be a part of your day.
Erin's mom and several other members of her family flew over from North Carolina to be at the ceremony, which was naturally an emotional event for everyone.
Erin and René very thoughtfully hired a couple of bike taxis to ferry guests from the ceremony at the Martinikerk to the reception at Café Peter Pan.
Having a strong stout beer was one of René's only demands for the reception.
Erin's mom helped to cut the cake, which was delicious and made by one of Erin's friends, and I was really amused to see her intensity in this task.
Poelman Family in Stadskanaal, Groningen
I had a lovely time spending the afternoon in Stadskanaal with the extended Poelman family, thanks to my talented friend Jet inviting me to do a family photo session. The town of Stadskanaal is right on the border of the province of Drenthe and quite close to Germany, so it's surrounded by lots of big open fields and beautiful forests, both of which are great places for a walk and a laid-back photo shoot. Thank you, Jet, for letting me hang out with you guys!
Before our official shoot started, I just took some candid photos of the grandkids and their grandmother in and around their playhouse, with bubbles, puppets, and tea parties.
Tom & Naomi's Wedding in Nant Peris, Wales
This wedding was featured on the Whimsical Wonderland blog on October 3, 2012.
Oh, my goodness. Being friends with fun, adventurous, kind people is something to be grateful for daily, but especially when those friends ask you to be their wedding photographer, AND their ceremony is in the mind-blowingly beautiful Welsh mountains, AND they are willing to climb hills in rain boots in their wedding outfits for portraits. Tom and Naomi are two of my favorite people on earth, and their thoughtfulness and love for each other came through in every lovely detail of their wedding, which felt like the whole village was a part of the party, and not without cause - the 90 residents of Nant Peris, where the groom's parents live, all played some role in the wedding, be it providing flowers for the entrance to the marquee, decorating the cake, and catering locally-sourced food, in addition to serving as the mountain rescue team (whose services in that role were thankfully not needed). Tom is British, and Naomi is Canadian, and they met at their international high school in Groningen when they were teens, and have been together for nearly 10 years already. As a friend, being at the wedding was a beautiful event to witness, but my talented fiancée' Elger (his photos are credited underneath) and I were even luckier to get to spend the most time with the bride and groom as their photographers. Elger spent the day of the ceremony with the groom, groomsmen and groom's family, all of whom performed in the various creative portions of the reception. Tom and Naomi are not only very creative people, but their families and many of our mutual friends are also expressive and generous, and there were musical and theatrical performances throughout the reception. It's almost impossible to describe every wonderful little thing about the wedding, and I am absolutely gushing and biased, but hopefully the photos can help to share the downright magical feeling of being there, with the misty green Welsh mountains in 360 degrees around the glowing marquee, and the love, and the music, and the lanterns, and the happiness! Congratulations, you guys :)
Naomi's bridesmaid, Johanna, gave Naomi a manicure of sorts while her hair was up in curlers.
Naomi's mom, Joyce, went along with her daughter to the salon and got her hair done for the day, too.
Photo by Elger Abbink - this was the point at which Tom, when he was beginning to get dressed, realized that, if the weather got warm enough to justify doffing his jacket (haha - it was pretty unseasonably chilly so that never happened), his shirt was a tad too transparent...
Photo by Elger Abbink - ...so Joe, Tom's brother, and Tom quickly drove to Bangor, about 20 minutes away, to buy an undershirt for the groom.
Photo by Elger Abbink
Photo by Elger Abbink
Photo by Elger Abbink
Photo by Elger Abbink
While Naomi, her bridesmaids and her mom were getting ready at the guest house where Joyce was staying, a hilarious moment of pure Welsh stereotype occured: a flock of a hundred sheep poured down the main road of the village and very briefly into the yard of the guest house. Some wedding guests were actually delayed in getting to the venue on account of the sheep traffic. Only in Wales!
The third photo in this series was featured on the excellent Moment Junkie site on September 13, 2012.
Photo by Elger Abbink
Photo by Elger Abbink
Tom's family's home has a well on the grounds, Ffynnon Peris, named after an early Welsh saint, Saint Peris, where Allan conducted a blessing for the couple to close the ceremony.
Sidenote: these portraits were all actually taken on the day after the wedding, when we had the whole day to scope out the most beautiful spots around Nant Peris.
I LOVE their boots! Naomi's have pink VW Beetles on them, and Tom, the British groom, has Union Jack wellies. It gets no more British than this, folks :)
Photo by Elger Abbink
Photo by Elger Abbink
Photo by Elger Abbink
Photo by Elger Abbink - Northern Wales is the home of Mt. Snowden and the biggest mountains in the country, so there are tons of hikers around (including in the back yard of the groom's family's property), and Tom and Naomi volunteered to hike a little way along the mountain pass to take advantage of the awesome view, when some hikers naturally came along.
In the Netherlands, The Impossible Project has revived the development of Polaroid film after its production ended in the United States. Tom graciously let me use his Polaroid camera with some color film to add to our photo coverage of the day!
(Yes, despite knowing the frame is square, my SLR instincts still kicked in for this frame.)
As the tent made the transition from ceremony hall to reception hall, guests were treated to bara brith cake and, naturally, tea.
Tom and Naomi are both members of an improv group, Stranger Things Have Happened, and their fellow improvers created a show for them during the reception.
D'Arrigo-Wit family photo session at the Noorderplantsoen in Groningen
Cristina and Ernst met in a place neither of them were from, and this beautiful Italian-Dutch family that has travelled the globe is now calling Groningen home. Their beautiful and goofy daughters, Carolina and Isabella, made my work so easy on Sunday morning in the Noorderplantsoen. We got really lucky with some nice spring weather in my very favorite place in the city!
Newborn portraits with Eleanor in Den Haag, The Hague
This is Eleanor, she is tiny, and she is very patient. Her aunt, my friend Irene through Stichting Didi, asked me to take photos of her newborn niece in Den Haag, and I was happy to oblige! Eleanor's mom, Christy, is American, and her dad, Matthieu, is Dutch, and these two actually met in the exact same way as my fiancee and I - she studied abroad, fell in love, and got her Dutch significant other much more into American college sports. They are a great family, and it was a fun time hanging out with them in their beautiful apartment in the center of Den Haag, along with their four pet rabbits. One of the bunnies makes a cameo in the shoot, and almost every toy Eleanor has is also a bunny of some kind, so it wound up being a bit of a theme.
Mother's Day Weekend in Zeeland
This weekend, I was a gift! My friend Jeroen, whose awesome wedding I shot a couple of years ago, was brainstorming about what to get his mom, Josee, for her 60th birthday and Mother's Day, and luckily he and his sisters decided to give their mom the gift of an afternoon of family photography. It was a really fun and beautiful time, the family rented a house at the Noordzee Résidence De Banjaard near the seaside town of Middelburg, and it was my first time traveling to this unique area of the Netherlands. I was welcomed warmly, with generous plates of pasta and Belgian pastries (dessert with lunch, now THAT is a vacation weekend), and was lucky to get to photograph such a nice family in this idyllic setting.
This scene really just felt like walking into a magazine cover, for a story about family and enjoying quality time and good food. It was awesome :)