For those beat-you-down days: a rum and coke.

On August 16th, 2008, my cousin Martha tied the knot with her fiance Mikael. The scene was Long Pasture Wildlife Sanctuary in Barnstable, MA. The weather was iffy that day, but cooperated with us fairly well and gave us a fabulous sunset as a backdrop later on.

Simple, elegant rings were a lovely choice.

Martha donned her custom-made wedding dress, which she acquired on a trip to Thailand.

Family and friends gathered from as far as Denmark and Sweden!

A simple ceremony...

...for a wonderful couple!

After the ceremony, we had big family gatherings for group shots. This was by far one of the toughest things to manage, especially since as one of the cousins, I had to be in it (I'm the last on the far right).

Mikael and Martha were visibly having a lot of fun being surrounded by friends and family from all over.

The storm rolled by to the north of us, granting us some simply marvelous clouds!

I brought my fisheye camera for a little something different, too.

While we were on the Cape, we stayed at One Centre Street Inn in Yarmouth Port--a very comfortable and hospitable location. Delicious breakfasts and excellent hosts; I highly recommend staying there if you get the chance.

Many thanks to my extended family and my husband for helping to take care of little Ruthie while I ran around having a great time with my cameras!

Ladies and Gentlemen, like I told you before, my Portraits of Light series, (viewable here), is now up at Yellow Dog Tavern.

So, come one, come all, to the official opening on Tuesday, September 16th, 6-8pm.

I even wrote a press release and created an Evite for people to attend. Oh yeah, I hit Facebook too. YES, I am that organized.

So I'm hoping a lot of folks will show up next Tuesday evening--it's bound to be fun. Plus, you get to meet Ruthie, who will be tagging along in the baby sling. She's cute.

Remember Brian and Kristi, and the picture of Kristi that won an award from WPJA? They tied the knot at Overhills Mansion on September 6th, this past weekend, and I was their lucky photographer.

Of course, the weather wasn't cooperating with us early on, and when I arrived at the mansion, hurricane Hanna had knocked out the power. The caterers were carefully arranging furniture and getting the generator ready to go, while I assessed my lighting situation (vastly different from what I had expected, of course), and prepared to shoot a ceremony almost completely in the dark!

Kristi was remarkably unfazed, joking around with her bridesmaids as she got ready to put on her dress.

All went well from there, and after their brief ceremony, lit only by sparse window light, the officiant's flashlight, and my strobes, I took the couple outside during a lull in the weather to catch a few relaxed moments.

Inside Kristi's bouquet, she had placed her grandmother's heirloom ring.

After a few hours the power came back on, the caterers (who had been working very hard) breathed a sigh of relief, and everyone enjoyed the music and dancing.

Best of all, the wonderful couple I met nearly a year ago was finally married.

Many thanks to Kristi and Brian for making such a crazy and unpredictable day a wild success, and a lot of fun.

Catering provided by Whitehouse Caterers, music by Absolute Entertainment, gown by David's Bridal.

Today is my parents' 29th anniversary.

Last year, they became proud grandparents.

So, their granddaughter (with a little help from mom) has a special wish for them today:

P.S. Seconds later, the message was eaten and destroyed.

I can feel the air cooling around Baltimore, and it's already making me miss the summer. When the seasons change, it's almost always a case of "grass is greener" with me. I dislike the intense humidity here, but I love being able to go barefoot and to have the light extend long into the evening.

Oh, and I'll miss swimming too!

This shot is unusually panoramic for me. Taken with a HOLGA, it has four exposures made to overlap in-camera. Usually I find I can only pre-visualize three frames at a time, but this one proved an exception. It helps to have the ocean as a wide open backdrop; which is why I think more exposures succeed here. In a more crowded environment, you might have too much going on to create a unified composition.

One of the most beautiful things in life are those tender moments between parents and children.

Of course, it's always more tender when it's your own child and your beloved husband.

I love you, darlings!

I've slowly but surely been wading through the scads of family photographs piled up on the shelves in our apartment. You'd think that being a photographer would mean that your own life has been cataloged quite nicely.

Not so, of course! Like any family, documenting and tracing history as it's happening is hard to do. But when you do, it's a blast to look back and see how things have changed.

What is plain to see through my family photographs is an ever-changing photographic approach. What a kick to see some of my very first photographs, taken upon receiving my first SLR, a Pentax SP1000 around the age of 12. It's plain to see that in spite of my dad's careful explanation of the light meter and exposure, I didn't know what I was doing.

Whoops, in my misguided attempts to get the exposure correct, the shutter speed was too long!

What's with that huge ugly shadow across mom's body? Ah yes, flash is a whole 'nother beast.

And lo and behold, the strangely uninteresting group shot at an ice rink. No composition whatsoever.

It just goes to show that you've got to start somewhere, and that practice is such a critical tool. Part of what gets me excited about photography is that it's a democratic medium that most anyone can pick up--widely available, widely popular, and wildly interesting.

Of course, the flip side of that is that there's always more for me to learn. Back to practicing, folks!

When on vacation in August in South Carolina, I had the privilege of seeing a newborn Loggerhead turtle make its way to the ocean.

A whole crowd of people had gathered around the little guy, for the critical moment when he both learned where the ocean was (it took a little coaxing), and swam for the first time.

As cheesy as it sounds, when you get to witness those moments of rebirth and continuation in nature, you can't help but feel that things can't be all that bad.

Anyone who's been to the Inner Harbor in Baltimore may have seen the strange lattice sculpture down by the Maryland Science Center near Federal Hill. I have no idea who made it, but it sure is a visually interesting element. I whipped out my HOLGA awhile ago to see if I could take a few good photographs.

This is my favorite out off the three rolls of film I used trying to capture the thing. The distance between what was in my head and what came out on film was pretty wide, all said and done, but looking at my work gave me a few ideas. Next time, I'll try a different time of day, or perhaps when the sky is filled with interesting clouds, or maybe rain!

While my family was on vacation at Folly Beach in South Carolina, I had the chance to spend quite a bit of time with my nieces and nephews--always a joy. Eudora, the fourth of five, was thrilled to discover that each night crabs created lovely holes for her to fill with sand.

I followed her around from hole to hole, and eventually discovered that, given a little time, the crabs would kick the sand back out of their holes again. Eudora didn't know, I'm sure, that she had a never-ending stream of work ahead of her.

My favorite little tidbit about this shot is the contrast of her braided hair amidst all the sand; such a lovely texture to devour with your eyes.

This is the story of Gabby and Maya, two adorable kid sisters.

Their mom, Jamie, invited me over for a spell one afternoon. Instead of traditional payment, we agreed to barter: I photographed her daughters in exchange for a huge haul of excellent used toys to bring home to my daughter Ruth! A great win-win situation.

Gabby, the eldest daughter, conversed with me freely and enjoyed hamming it up.

Maya was almost completely full of giggles the entire time.

Some of my favorite goofy shots were when I told the girls to spin around and be silly. By far, the best technique was to tell them, "Don't you smile at me!" in a scolding voice, or "Don't let me take your picture!"

Photographing these little girls gave me a little view into what motherhood will be like for me in the coming years. At every stage in a child's development, there are new levels of beauty and mystery!