Favorite Images of 2018

This year’s word was Intention. Because I can fall into reactive patterns responding to fires instead of keeping my eyes on the horizon and the bigger picture. Making deliberate choices gave me opportunities alongside wonderful adventures.

One of my favorite things was storytelling adventures with Anika, like Jedi photos with lightsabers, and Belle. Owe enjoyed bringing Belle to The Book Seller in Grass Valley. Of course we created mermaid photos! We also tried Beautiful Photos is Unexpected Locations- such as Petco and Costco. The resulting photos were a good time- fun to create while trying to be stealthy, and made for some pretty images. Having fun while making photos is important :)

I discovered a new joy this year volunteering with a local animal rescue, AnimalSave. I took portraits of rescue cats to help them find new homes. It’s incredibly rewarding to help socialize the cats, share their images, and see them find new families. Meanwhile, I’ve honed my skills with many different kitty personalities. And caught some beautiful moments. Our portraits help cats find homes, as well as being featured on posters requesting donations and volunteers at places like the Nevada County Fair. Thank you to everyone who volunteers to help animals everywhere.

And, yes, you can have cute kitty cats as your phone Wallpaper and Lock Screen. Click here to visit our Wallpaper Gallery.

And I was so proud to see my new book published! A few of my photos appear in the book sharing crafts for all seasons. We got to create lots of cute and enchanted crafts with kids to choose the very best for our new book. This book, Magical Forest Fairy Crafts Through the Seasons,* teaches skills for hand sewing and handwork. Then it shares how to make little fairies and crafts with simple supplies like pipe cleaners and a wooden bead. These crafts are designed with lots of photo details. We made hundreds of samples for the photographs. Which means that each step is easy to follow for all ages. Seeing it in print is so rewarding!

*Affiliate link: should you choose to purchase, I receive a small amount of compensation while your price remains the same. Win-win, yay!

We connected with wonderful families, brides, and grooms this past year. Each invitation is a little adventure on it’s own. And we’re so grateful to meet all the wonderful people who trust us with their memories. Thank you!

Events in 2018 were entertaining, fun, and gorgeous to photograph. From the Nevada City Craft Fair to the Draft Horse Classic, we enjoyed each opportunity to document our delightful community. What a treat to call Nevada County home. We even got to document a proposal inside the ring at the Draft Horse Classic!

Another new adventure for us this year was helping companies with their social media and branding online. We visited wonderful folks making our community bright, like the Olive Groove.

We also volunteered with Sierra Harvest to create fun and delicious-looking images of their work in the community. Doing good feels good :)

We got to create inspiration at the Inn Town Campground as well, which is always a delight. From s’mores in summer to harvest decorating, the campground is endless fun (and loveliness!). We were even featured on the Airstream Thanksgiving post on their Instagram feed!

Travel photography was part of our year as well. We visited Tahoe, Santa Cruz, and, of course, numerous day trips from Nevada County. Each adventure is a chance to share places we visit with images that share the wild beauty of the world.

And of course I keep taking photos of my family :) and Chewbacca the dog and Panther the cat. We sadly said safe travels to our black cat, Lucy, who passed away after an awful morning where she went to from healthy to gone in a matter of hours. On the positive side, her passing inspired us to connect with AnimalSave. And we opened our home to a new black cat, Panther. He’s about three, a big boy with blue eyes who melts our hearts every day. My family first inspired me to keep learning photography. And they’re my everything :)

In 2019, we’re tinkering with bringing more movement to images. We hope to evoke emotions with new ways to share images that inspire us along with our community.

Here's celebrating the images of 2018 while looking forward to more epic images in 2019. Happy New Year 🎉