ARIANNA + JEREMY ENGAGEMENT SESSION

Today’s blog is a little different. It’s way more personal than most of my past blogs have been. A few weeks ago I was able to sneak in a little mini session with Arianna and Jeremy while they were visiting San Diego from Idaho! It was a rainy day with just enough break in the weather for pull these off, and you’d never know it was windy and chilly!

Now for the back story of these two and why they both mean so much to me;

Arianna and I are childhood best friends and if you don’t know much about how I became a photographer..well, it began about 10 years ago when I was 15. I graduated high school a year early in 2012 just after my 17th birthday and was shooting pretty regularly at that time. I can’t even recall how many senior photos of mine are in the Class of 2012 year book! But one of my favorites will always be Arianna’s. Dutch angles were all the rage and I really don’t even know how or why I was drawn to them to be honest. I wasn’t apart of a big photographer’s community where I got inspiration or anything. I just did it and if I am being even more honest, I didn’t know until about 6 months ago that dutch angles were even a thing and I indeed do them ha! I look back at Arianna’s senior pictures and almost every single one is a dutch angle. If you don’t know what that is, it’s basically tilting the horizon completely one way or the other. Today’s “trend” is a perfectly straight horizon and the slightest tilt is less aesthetically pleasing, funny how that works. I’ll attach a few photos from Arianna’s senior “Class of 2012” photos below for you to see where this little old photographer started and so you can check out those dutch angles in all their glory haha!

This brings me to today. 7 years later, and only 7 short months from the day my life long best friends says “I DO” to the love of her life. Arianna and I were best friends, like “the only friend I have” kind of best friends. She was the sole person I had in my life that knew everything about me, my home life, you name it. I say she knows me better than I know myself sometimes. We were best friends through so many phases of life which is both trying and also amazing. I have told this story a few times now, but for me it never gets old; around 6th-7th grade, I remember watching a movie with Arianna where a couple were at the alter getting married. We were shocked that couples totally just “MADE OUT” in front of everyone (aka just a good ole smooth lol), and we were most confused how no one just misses?! Like how on earth do these two people manage to kiss one another and not just smack into the other’s face?! Yep-as you guessed-we hadn’t had our first kisses yet (I am not ashamed of that one bit.) As her wedding day is on the horizon I have been extremely sentimental about all the things we talked about and experienced over the years. The memories are humbling and really make me appreciate the one who found her. Jeremy is all the good parts of Arianna, and yet the perfect balance of opposite to really bring out even more and better qualities in her. When they came to visit us in San Diego early February, I had the realization he reminded me a lot of…me? Arianna and I have always been the exact same but completely opposite. It was always so weird to describe to people but we both knew what we meant. Jeremy is exactly that, too. I cannot wait to see what the future holds for these two and I am so lucky to be able to stand by their sides on the most exciting day of their lives.

OKAY OKAY…What you’ve been waiting for. Don’t judge too hard, I was 17 and completely beginner in these shots. But good little stroll down memory lane, none the less! (Also, shout out to Arianna for even letting me take photos for her year book photo…seriously!) Also, how wild is it that the those little yellow flowers were at the locations we shot at both times?! Senior photos in Idaho, engagements in California! SO NEAT. I didn’t even realize it when I took the ring shots!