i have one sibling. one sibling named brandon. we are thirteen months apart. as kids, we grew up in close quarters: sharing a bedroom for years, even sharing a double bed for a year while we were in a teeny two-bedroom townhouse. on family vacations, it was just us. nobody else to talk to, nobody else to argue with. although there have been times i have wished for more siblings, brandon is the most-quality younger brother you could have. i almost typed older brother right then; although he is a year my junior — in so many ways, we are twins. we look a lot a like and were often mistaken for twins as youngsters. [also could have had something to do with the matching sweaters my grandmother loved to knit.] we’re both logical, opinionated, take-charge kind of people. we both love learning — about anything. he’s an ENTJ, i’m an INTJ… and we’re both obsessed with the myers-briggs personality test.

five months ago, brandon met a beauuuuuutiful girl named jen at church. i was talking about her one evening out for dinner with some friends, how she’s qualityyyy, how i really like her, how she’s funnnn and brandon was there, listening. a week later he texts me, so you really think jen is great? — yeah i do. hmm. he asked jen for coffee. they hung out a lot. a month later it was official. last friday i snapped a few photos of these two. yay dating three months. love you both. happy inside. go brando.

sometimes you need to photograph, just to photograph. while emily was visiting this weekend, we found this great dress at mintage. leanne spent a half hour [literally--soooo cold!] chilling in a forest near my house. we took a few photos and i giggled. i love love love what we captured. leanne is pretty. [i've photographed leanne before. here & here & here.]

ps. see emily’s version of the shoot here.

one of the dearest people in my life, kristen leigh snyder, met a man from oklahoma named caleb in the fall of 2010. through a few months of occasional chats then two months of very regular phone calls [he was in oklahoma, she was in maryland] and a few months of silence [sometimes guys and girls need that silence to figure their stuff out] these two started dating in april 2011. the great united kingdom trip kristen and i took in may 2011 was one week after these two started dating. i remember kristen waking up one morning at 5am, rushing down to the lobby of our dublin hostel [which was disgusting, by the way] in her adidas shorts, rain boots and beige peacoat to Skype with caleb after his workday. it was all so new — this caleb in her life… but she was excited.

we got back from the united kingdom, her to maryland, me to vancouver. a few weeks later, caleb packed up and moved from oklahoma to maryland to date kristen [long distance suuuucks] and he’s been there ever since! AND after ten months of dating, as of saturday, february 25, 2012th these two are engaged! check out kristen’s most recent blog post. i’m sure there will be another full one to come about the proposal soon. during my maryland visit back in december [pre-engagement] i photographed these two  & i think it’s time their session is posted in full. i really love these photos, love my friend kristen, love her fiancé caleb. it’s going to be a fun year. can’t waiiiiiit for their wedding.