If you read our blog we would love to meet you! Don't be shy, please just come up and say hello and introduce yourself. We love meeting new people!! We met some of our now closest friends in Vegas last year and none of it would have happened if one of us didn't go up and say "hi, we are 'cyber friends' lets be real friends." I attached a photo that our lovely friend Gabe McClintock took of us in Vegas last year at this time. This is us, we're pretty much attached at the hip so wherever you see Chris you will likely see me and visa versa. A few things you might want to know about us and WPPI. We end up at the McDonalds counter to get an egg mcmuffin about every morning we are in Vegas... health is totally thrown to the wayside here. We don't believe in bedtimes when in Vegas.... our mentality is why sleep when you could be developing meaningful relationships?!  At the evening party's you will most likely find me tearing it up on the dance floor... I love to dance. We aren't afraid to laugh at ourselves and have a good time.

We always try to keep our Vegas Schedule pretty open ended so we can have the opportunity to connect with people and just go with the flow but we would love to bump into some of you so I attached our tentative schedule below. We'll be speaking on Tuesday @ the ProDPI booth so come out and see us!

Our tentative Vegas Schedule is as follows: 

Friday- get into MGM

Saturday- Upward Spiral Jesh de Rox Party

Sunday -  AIRHORNS & Lasers!!!

Monday- plans TBD

Tuesday - 12:15 Speaking at ProDPI booth on the trade show floor about Building a Brand Experience. Come on out and say hello their booth is 1309 in MGM Grand Marquee Ballroom. 5:30pm MARFA girls dinner!

Wednesday-TBD leave Wednesday evening.

As this pertains to our clients, we will be out of the office until March 11th and will return all e mails and calls at that time.

We had a great crew on board with amazing talent. Everyone was jiving on this shoot. It is so important to us that everyone involved on the day of a shoot really grasp and get excited about the vision. Everyone on board not only got it, but totally had fun with it which is always the goal. We had a full day with a 6:30 am call time and finished up around 7:30 pm that night. Both Chris and I put a lot of time into producing this shoot in order to make it happen at the caliber that we had imagined it happening in our minds. There were a lot of people involved in the process that were kind and generous enough to give of their talents that day. People are what matter in life... people are what make things happen and we are so thankful for the awesome people that came together for this shoot. I have to give a huge shout out to the models because they were rolling around in the snow in under 30 degree weather most of the day and they did it with smiles on their faces. THOSE are the kind of people we want on a set. People that can grin and bear it. People with good attitudes. This crew is what made the shoot. Our intern, Marissa, put together a little behind the scenes video of the day that you can check out here: Snoqualmie BTS. 

Concept & Photography: Sarah & Chris Rhoads

Makeup/Hair: Tiffany Lowry 

Models: Ashlyn Pearce & Kourtney of Heffner and Kyle Still of Mode

Hair Pieces: Violet Magpie

Clothing: La rousse

Styling: Tiffany Lowry/Sarah Rhoads

Assistant: Marissa Maharaj

Digital Tech Assist: Tyler Eide

This quote hits the nail on the head... so much so that I felt like I would be doing an injustice if I didn't share it. Everything Cecil Beaton is saying here is the heartbeat behind everything Chris and I believe in as business people and creatives. It is the push behind the things in which we strive for.

It seems like Chris and I have always gone about things in a way that makes people cock their heads to the side and say "huh??". The vein of convention is not one that runs thick in our blood. We have come to appreciate and embrace the feeling not feeling understood. In fact, we welcome it because typically it means we are doing something right. One of my favorite books, "Ignore Everybody And 39 Other Keys to Creativity" by Hugh MacLeod speaks life into this sentiment. MacLeod says, "The more original your idea is, the less good advice people will be able to give you."  Good ideas have lonely lives and more often than not are initially rejected by people. Basically, know you're onto something when everyone thinks you're nuts. 

It takes a daring and unconventional spirit to step out there with an idea, concept or theory. Everything in us tells us not to. Everyone around us tells us we're crazy. It takes courage. It takes everything BUT the status quo. It takes being unconventional welcoming the uncomfortable feeling of being misunderstood by others. 

I think about explorers like Columbus who had the insane idea that the world was round when everyone thought it was flat. People thought the guy was totally off his rocker, but without him risking everything and trusting his crazy gut instincts we wouldn't know what we know today. Columbus was daring. I think about someone like Jackon Pollock who was the first artist to paint in a particular style called Abstract Expressionism. Controversy followed Pollock and his style of work throughout his life and continues to even after his death. Most people just didn't "get it," they don't understand.  But thank God that didn't stop him from adding his beautiful and interesting aesthetic perspective to the world... it is one that has inspired so many others that have come after him.  

The basic idea.... We know we are doing something right when everyone else tells us we are nuts. When that happens, don't shy away... BE DARING! The better our idea is the more pull back we will receive from others. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I think every successful person has to be slightly insane to get to where they are. They go against the grain. They do the opposite of that which they feel. They don't listen to others telling them they are crazy. They just do. They dare to be different... even if that means they fail.

Photographing them truly allowed me to forget about my camera completely... it was one of those sessions where I felt so connected with the couple that the rest was just an afterthought and the camera was just an extension of my hand. I had been dreaming up doing a "travel" styled shoot for a while and Kaylee and Johnny were the perfect people for it. The VW Bus, the Hunter Boots, vintage cameras, maps.... all of it was so fun, so perfect. But at the end of the day it was all of the in between moments that happened between Kaylee and Johnny that made this session what it was. They truly allowed us to see them for who they are and when couples can fully let their guards down magic is the byproduct. Enjoy Kaylee & Johnny!

Hair & Makeup: Tiffany Lowry

These two asked lots of great questions and wanted to focus on how we work with our couples on a shoot, managing expectations, building a powerful brand experience, getting published and pushing their business overall to the next level. The shoot we arranged for Jess and Matt will be in a post to follow and it was SOOO much fun! We are so excited because these two are in the process of finessing and refreshing their overall brand experience and launching an updated site so their visit to us was timely. We really wanted to encourage Matt and Jessica to leverage their strengths as individuals and as a husband wife shooting team. I am a firm believer that you should exhaust more effort working on making your strengths even stronger than trying to fight with your weaknesses. And our experience has been that as a hubby wife team each of us should be empowered to do jobs that play to our strengths. That way each of us feels empowered, used and needed. 

We wish these two all the best in their journey together as photographers. They are such beautiful people.

You know those people you can sit down over coffee with and forget about time all together? That is Hope and Joel. I think that is because the four of us share very similar perspectives on life. All of us believe in running after our passions and living the full life, perusing joy, creative expression and loving others better. We all believe in the ADVENTURE of it all... and I'm slightly smitten with people who see the bigger picture like that because it often seems like they are the minority. But life is an adventure to be lived. We must know who we are, see what we want and run after it. We love these two and are so excited for their wedding in May!! 

The other pull is from a magazine called B Wedding Magazine and we had one of our brides bouquets featured in the mag :). 

So in here lies the question that a lot of people ask and want to know... "how do you get published?" We received a handful of e mails about this subject this week. The truth is we are no experts on the matter, but if there is one thing I can say it's to put your best work possible out into the world and good things come back to you from it. It may sound obvious, but it's true. Most times we haven't sought out to be published, we have simply sought after doing the best work we were capable of doing.... if you continue to do excellent work people will seek you out for it. For instance in these two examples B Wedding Magazine contacted us, SPU contacted us; When we were published in Professional Photographer Magazine and Design Aglow, both magazines contacted us. This isn't always the case and there are of course circumstances when we do submissions. An example of this would be when we have been published in Seattle Metropolitan Bride and Groom. That is a bi-yearly submission based process and the editors select from there. But at the end of the day it comes down to the work. Are you creating work that is unique/interesting and different from those around you? Are you standing out in your market? Have you differentiated yourself? Are you truly putting your best foot forward? Is your goal to get published or is your goal to create work that is your very best that you are proud of? 

Off to an all day mentor session with an awesome hubby/wife team. Ciao & Happy Thursday!

And just when you thought it couldn't get any better than that there is Laura's very talented other half, Chris Pardo, who is the genius behind what we believe to be one of the best modern architecture/design firms out there, Pb elemental. We were introduced to Chris's work at Pb through our neighbors whose house was designed by Pb elemental a few years back - we absolutely adore it (you can peek at it here) and since then we have followed Pb's work throughout the Seattle area dreaming of one day having a design similar to the one our neighbors have. So when Chris reached out to us about photographing their wedding we were stoked, flattered and honored. These two get it. They know what they want out of life and are running after it with everything they've got.  For their session we ran around their neighborhood in Capitol Hill and it was a beautiful sunny Seattle day.  So without further adieu, meet the fabulous Laura & Chris.

And the winners are: 

1) Ken Liu 

2) Feuza Reis

3) Gerald Pope

4) Thomas Boutwell

So excited to party with you all in Vegas! I will e mail each of you with how to claim your tickets!

I've been thinking a lot about this idea of pushing through recently. I've been watching the Winter Olympics and I am fascinated by the absolute perseverance of the contenders. Pushing through takes on a whole new meaning when you are an Olympic Athlete. These people train day in and day out, pushing through injury, discomfort, pain, sleeplessness and the list goes on. The sacrifice they undergo is intense. But what all of these contenders have in common is passion. There is something in them that drives them to a slight sense of insanity. And I DO think you have to be slightly "insane" to achieve a certain level of greatness :) These people have designed their life around their passion which is why they make "pushing through" and persevering look easy. It's never easy but they recognize the absolute necessity in it.

I learned that one of my old dance friends who I did ballet with for years and years is in the Olympics this year as one of the top male figure skaters, Evan Lysacek. It's so amazing to think of how far he has come. Evan trained with me at one of the best ballet studios in Chicago, not because he wanted to be a ballet dancer, but because he wanted to be the best figure skater possible. He is someone that has pushed through the pain and sacrificed a great deal to get to where he is. But when you are pursuing your passion, sacrifice feels like gain and perseverance is like having your morning coffee. It just comes with the territory.

Here is a frame from the winter shoot we had on Tuesday. Lots more coming...

We get e mails asking exactly what to do to get from point A to point B in the development of their craft and business. The truth is... THERE IS NO MANUAL. And people who seek one out and follow after doing the "norm" will reach a very limited level of success in the long run. 

Sorry for the sap but sometimes you just can't hold it in and this is one of those days that I have a "get out of jail" card for being a sap-face about my valentine. 

Also, these fab lips were done by the miss fab Tiffany Lowry from our "Deranged Housewife" Valentines Shoot! 

Right when I met these two it was like the sparks went off. Lisa and Brian cater their lifestyle around embracing life to the fullest and loving every minute. In my opinion, that is a good solid philosophy to live by. We cannot wait to shoot their wedding this summer!

The light came out in full force for their e session. It was goldeny yummy goodness and for anyone that knows me knows that is my shooting sweet-spot. I was in heaven. 

Enjoy a little bit of Lisa and Brian!