Don't forget to book your spring mini session! I have a few spots left.
Please join me at one of my favorite local spots: the JC Raulston Arboretum in Raleigh, NC. Mini sessions offer a cost-effective way to capture mid-year photographs of your family. Plus they're really fun! Here are a few reasons it's time to get in front of the camera: Birthdays or other milestones Gifts for family and friends Seasonal/Easter portraits Outdoor headshots The details: Saturday, April 26, 2014 JC Raulston Arboretum Raleigh, NC Investment: $175 Includes: 25-minute session Online viewing gallery of 7-10 professionally edited images 5 professionally edited digital images (with print release) 20% off additional la carte products (artwork and digital images) Rain date: April 27 (Overcast conditions and even a few sprinkles are just fine, but please reserve this day in case it's pouring rain or storming on the 26th.) To schedule, email julia@calmcradle.com or call 919.996.9407. Full payment and signed contract are due at booking. Appointments are limited, so please book early. To view more of my work, check out my portfolio here, as well as portraiture blog posts here. Hope to see you in April!
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If you've been following this blog at all over the last few months, you know I've been entirely immersed in my little sister's wedding. (Previous wedding posts: here and here for more Colorado trip photos, here for save-the-dates and programs, here for wedding invitations, here for engagement photos, here for bridal shower photos and here for a DIY travel journal.) Well here's my final related post: photos from the wedding weekend. There are so many things I want to recount and remember about this event, but first things first. Let's set the scene. Planning a wedding in the middle of the winter in the middle of the Rocky Mountains at 8,300 feet was a risky maneuver, but boy did it pay off. The ground was covered with four feet of snow, and it snowed lightly but consistently each day of the trip. The wind was gusting up to 80 miles per hour. But to the crew of 50 guests, mostly hailing from Minnesota, Wisconsin or Colorado, these conditions were nothing to write home about. They just provided a dream-like backdrop for the big day. The wedding took place at the Wild Basin Lodge, which sits at a remote entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park, along the St. Vrain River. Most of us stayed at the lodge or cabins within walking distance of the lodge. Above: My immediate family has grown from 6 to 15 people in the last few years. I wonder what the next couple years will hold? (Thanks to my cousin, Katie, for taking this photo.) Below: A stand of aspen in snowdrifts in Rocky Mountain National Park. Here are a few winter scenes from in and around Rocky Mountain National Park's Wild Basin entrance. Oh, did I mention the wind was insane? My mom took this photo of me held up by the wind in the park. Plenty of sledders hit the hill in the backyard of our cabin, including...the mother-of-the-bride (top center)! The rehearsal dinner took place at a cute little Italian restaurant called Mama Rose's on the river in Estes Park. It was dusk and snowing as we drove down into the beautiful town (below top center). I'd love to explore that area more on my next trip. My mom recently discovered an envelope that belonged to my great-grandmother, on which was written: "The ten (10) cent piece worn in my shoe when I was married. Aug. 24—1907.” Apparently it is a Scottish-Irish tradition for the bride's father to place a coin in the bride's shoe just before the ceremony. So my parents surprised my sister with this re-discovered tradition and my great-grandmother's coin from her wedding day more than 100 years ago. Below right: Flower girls Cricket and Iris check out their dresses before go-time. They couldn't get over the fact that they all got to wear matching outfits. The ceremony was supposed to happen outdoors with a view of the river and mountains, but it was too blustery and snowy. Instead it took place in the entryway of the lodge in front of a huge stone fireplace with a roaring fire. Life doesn't get more picturesque than that (though I don't actually have pictures, because I was busy being in the wedding). For official photos, you can check out a beautiful blog post by the wedding photographer, Meghan of Visual Poetry. You'll see the space was small—with just enough room for three or four rows of guest—which made it even more intimate and special. To prepare for Mari's entrance, we were led outside and up the back stairway. I will never forget holding her train and helping her up those stairs as light snow was falling and landing on her amazing red hair. Yep, it was a fairytale from start to finish. There were many moments from the ceremony I won't forget either, like watching Andy's expression when he saw Mari and when the flower girls walked down the aisle holding hands and Cricket stopped to hug her new uncle. Also: bagpipes! I know my Scottish grandpa was smiling from above. We took bridal party photos in front of the frozen St. Vrain River, surrounded by aspen and foggy mountains. Right middle: Sweet "Just Married" blanket, stitched by Andy's mom. Bottom middle: My sisters and me. It's not often we're all lucky enough to be in the same place at the same time. Bottom left: The flower girls (my girls and their cousins). (Thanks again to Katie for taking those last two shots.) The details and decorations at the reception were unbelievable. My sister is lucky to have crafty friends who were endlessly generous in giving their time to help with decor. (I should also note that when one friend, who played guitar and sang beautifully during the ceremony, found out the wedding was supposed to be outside, she began practicing in her backyard on cold nights to make sure her fingers were agile enough to play in adverse conditions. Now that is loyal friendship.) One thoughtful detail was the canvas below (top center). Mari found wedding photos of Andy's and our parents and grandparents and had them printed to look like Polaroids. It was hard (for me) not to cry looking at all those beautiful images of lifelong commitment. The floral arrangements by Floral Designs of Europe were incredible and unique. Below right: I love the basket full of river stones and pine cones Mari and her friends devised to hold the wedding programs. Below left: The flower girls couldn't keep themselves off the dance floor while watching Mari dance with my dad. Below bottom center: The seating chart was adorable. Everyone's names and table assignments were written on little blocks of birch stuck to this board. Next to the board, you'll see canvases of the engagement photos we took in January. Below right: Bride and groom pine cone cake toppers! It should also be mentioned that my family has many wedding traditions. One is that the bride and groom drink champagne from a special double silver cup. Another is that toasts are a really big deal. My dad always gives a thoroughly researched, footnoted, intricate tear-jerker. And then my sisters and I do something ridiculous. And that ridiculous something might have been an ‘80s cover with words re-written for the happy couple. And that ‘80s cover might just be documented here. (Yes, I'm rocking a snowshoe guitar. And yes, I will probably receive many threats for sharing this footage.) Not pictured: The girls fell asleep on our shoulders as we danced the night away at the reception. I will always remember bundling up their sleeping little bodies and walking them back to the cabin—just the four of us together in the pitch dark mountains. Fresh snow was falling. It was silent except for the sounds of our boots crunching on the snow-covered ground and coyotes howling in the distance (and by distance, I mean a few yards away...). My heart was full-up. Below: This is how you leave the mountains: quite precariously with three men pushing your car out of a steep, snowy, icy driveway. And this (right), is a Rocky Mountain sunset send-off from the Denver airfield. After four months of planning and preparing and traveling and photographing and blogging, I'm officially signing off from the coverage of the amazingly beautiful and unique wedding of Mari and Andy. Congratulations to them on the beginning of their new life together!
And just like that, my parents have married off the last of their four daughters! This is a post about a mystical place—one with all the workings of a fairytale: a meteor crashing to Earth, the quest for its remains, a 20-year dream to build a church on that rock...And then, a devastating flood, mud and rock slides, entire towns cut off, emergency evacuations, hundreds of miles of roads destroyed. Displacement. And yet, as the flood waters receded, up bubbled stories of hope and rebuilding. This place, the canyon cut by the St. Vrain River, experienced historic flooding in September 2013. We found ourselves winding through this canyon a few weeks ago. It led us up to my sister’s wedding in Allenspark. As we headed back down through the canyon after the wedding, the journalist and documentarian in me wanted to hop out of the car to take a closer look—at the debris washed up on the sides of the St. Vrain River; at the bulldozers around every other curve, trying to fix everything that was broken; at the ruined homes, sitting untouched five months after the flood. I wanted interviews! I wanted to do a follow-up story! But, of course, I had two toddlers in the back seat and a flight to catch. So on my husband drove as I snapped photos out the window with my phone. The weather that day was strange: intense wind and snow up high in the mountains, a patch of clear blue skies halfway down followed by fog and more snow as we neared Lyons and Boulder. The landscape was tremendous and dramatic. How did these rocks so perfectly mirror both the hope and sadness settled here? I wish I were presenting you with an in-depth follow-up on the flood. But if you spend a moment thinking of all the people whose lives were turned upside down here last September, I'll be happy. Also, check out this photo book created by the students of Lyons High School documenting the flood. What an amazing project. Above: Let me introduce you to the Chapel on the Rock (also known as Saint Catherine of Siena Chapel at St. Malo), which I had never heard of until we passed it driving between Allenspark and Estes Park. First, here’s the enchanting history (the meteor/search party/20-year dream mentioned above). Now look closely and you’ll see Mount Meeker rising up from the fog in the background. It wasn’t the clear day I was hoping for to capture the full glory of this mountain-framed church. But let me tell you, it was hard won and I won’t forget it. Above: It was snowing steadily and the winds were gusting up to 80 miles per hour. I was standing on the shoulder of a highway with a steep drop directly in front of me. The wind literally knocked me off my feet twice. So I took a few hurried shots and climbed back into the car, vowing to come back here to take more photos on a clear day. And I will. (I also regret not taking photos of the construction site immediately to the left, where bulldozers were removing a massive pile of debris from rock and mud slides that narrowly missed the chapel in September. A beautiful lake once sat beside the chapel. Hopefully it will again one day.) Below: This is one of my favorite photos of the trip. The sun breaking through to reveal debris piled up along the river. It's difficult to believe this little river could cause so much destruction. Isabella Bird wrote a spectacular account of her 1873 adventures in and around this canyon in A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains. You can see damage to the right side of this house, as well as a newly constructed bridge on the left side of the photo. The way the light and fog were hitting this little farm as we approached Lyons took my breath away. Driving out of the canyon into Boulder in heavy fog and light snow. Our last views of the foothills before heading into the plains. My next post—the last in this series of wedding-related posts—will cover the actual wedding weekend. Yippee!
To view more wedding posts, click here for more Colorado trip photos, here for save-the-dates and programs, here for wedding invitations, here for engagement photos, here for bridal shower photos and here for a DIY travel journal. Please join me for a day of mini sessions at one of my favorite local spots: the JC Raulston Arboretum in Raleigh, NC. Mini sessions offer a cost-effective way to capture mid-year photographs of your family. Plus they're really fun! Here are a few reasons it's time to get in front of the camera:
Birthdays or other milestones Gifts for family and friends Seasonal/Easter portraits Outdoor headshots The details: Saturday, April 26, 2014 JC Raulston Arboretum Raleigh, NC Investment: $175 Includes: 25-minute session Online viewing gallery of 7-10 professionally edited images 5 professionally edited digital images (with print release) 20% off additional la carte products (artwork and digital images) Rain date: April 27 (Overcast conditions and even a few sprinkles are just fine, but please reserve this day in case it's pouring rain or storming on the 26th.) To schedule, email julia@calmcradle.com or call 919.996.9407. Full payment and signed contract are due at booking. Appointments are limited, so please book early. To view more of my work, check out my portfolio here, as well as portraiture blog posts here. Hope to see you in April! This image keeps catching my eye as I scan through photos from our recent trip to Colorado. It sums up our stage of life right now: every day feels like an adventure, whether we're climbing snow drifts in the middle of the Rocky Mountains or just playing in our own living room; the girls are constantly running in different directions as I struggle to keep up; and no one listens to my pleas to be careful. But these moments of observing our children discover and fall in love with the world around them make the chaos (and their reckless jumping off tall objects) all worth it. This is joy! As you know if you follow my blog, I've had a decade-long love affair with Colorado. (I've taken many of my favorite nature photos there, and my novel is based there.) So I was ecstatic when my sister called to tell me she was engaged and planning a winter wedding just outside Rocky Mountain National Park. We made a week of it and spent the first half up at our home away from home, Summit County. Below you'll find photos from this portion of our trip (all iPhone), and I'll post the wedding weekend photos next week. May these photos be your last glimpse of snow this winter... Below: The Front Range of the Rocky Mountains juts up from the plains on our final approach into Denver. Oh, how I love this approach. This snowy, early morning stroll/climb around Lake Dillon was one of the highlights of the trip. Let's talk about skiing. I grew up with an ice skating rink across the street in a neighborhood surrounded by cross-country ski trails. You won't hear me complain about the warm climate where we're raising our kids in a few weeks when it's hot and sunny, but I do regret that snow sports are foreign to them; snow was such an important part of my formative years. I really wanted to get both girls on downhill skis on this trip so they would start loving snow and have a shot at being more than mediocre skiers as adults, like their mom (I didn't actually learn to downhill ski until I was 15). Below: Top L to R: Pre-wedding skiing with the bride and groom. Nora's first moments on skis = tears. The girls trying on their ski boots and freestyling around the shop (C was jumping off those two steps while doing kicks and spins—ahh!). Middle L to R: Ski picnic. The bride dropping in. My niece, Iris, taking after her Olympic skier grandpa. Bottom L to R: Cricket throwing snowballs in lieu of skiing. Meg and Christo with the bride. The bride and me. (Thanks to Mari, Andy and Christo for taking the photos I'm in.) Unfortunately Cricket was under the weather on our ski days and refused—after the excitement and anticipation at the ski shop—to give it a try. Instead she busied herself throwing snowballs and building snow forts. Just watching her enjoy playing in the snow made me happy, though. Nora—after some initial tears—became enamored with skiing and riding the magic carpet. Heartbroken does not begin to describe how she felt when the lift closed for the day. Mid-week we packed up the car, drove down from 9,600 feet to the mile high city of Denver, then headed north to the wedding in another high-altitude canyon by way of Boulder. Stay tuned for photos of the wedding weekend next week. Below: Ranch drive-by as we headed into Boulder. Below: Cow-speckled landscape where the mountains meet the plains.
Last week I shared the wedding invitation suite I designed for my sister. Now I'm finally getting around to posting the save-the-date and program. I created this design with the same technique I mentioned here using this photo, which overlooks the Gore Range in Summit County, Colorado. We printed the programs on 4x8-inch linen paper. Mari and her incredibly crafty friends came up with the basket display, complete with pine cones and river stones. The back of the program listed the wedding party, which I'm omitting here for privacy, but I wanted to include the note and design at the bottom, which is an inversion of the mountain motif from the front. Indeed, we are endlessly grateful to everyone who traveled or sent their love from afar to make this wedding so special and reflective of the beautiful couple.
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My new book is out! Click to learn more about it.Hello thereI'm Julia Soplop, writer and photographer. I believe there is something profound in bearing witness to moments of joy and pain in others’ lives. My husband, three girls and I live outside of Chapel Hill, NC. You can read more about me here.
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