The Leftovers…
I called these posts “bits + pieces” for a long time, but who am I kidding? These are leftovers; photos that didn’t fit into any post coming together to collectively make a post all their own, “The Leftovers”. Hooper in the evening light \ Tickle fest \ Tall ships festival with Jessica & co. that really ended up being a gaggle of boys brawling it out \ Summer nights on the beach (and Hoop’s man pony) \ The reason why all of our rugs are never in place \ HOT HOT days \ My grandma’s little ukulele that Van insists on playing despite my encouragement not to (it’s old and a part of the family) \ Around the table; Hooper, Jimmie, and Van \ Van in the driver’s seat — it’s hard to get him out once you put him in \ A day at the beach with Summer’s gang o’ kids \ A day at the park with Cindy and Mia \ Sunset \ Hooper, appropriately in the bushes wearing bell bottoms at a Led ZepAgain show.
A New Series | 112 Weddings
While I think there are many great photographers out there, I rarely turn to other photographers as a source on inspiration. I think I’ve seen a danger in doing so brought to life with one too many awkwardly (in my opinion, anyway) assembled shots with things-found-in-my-purse where someone carefully lays out items they want you to think they carry with them at all times; fancy lotions, designer glasses, hip jewelry, and cherry red lipstick. You know what’s in my purse? An old bag of peanuts, a little plastic bag in case Jimmie poops, a crumbled tampon I would think twice about using but would be my go-to best friend in the event of an emergency, several old receipts, and – if I’m lucky – some chapstick. The point I’m trying to make is that the posed, the staged, and the fake does not appeal to me. And I’ve come to believe that when you can touch base with your inner you and find the things that move you, it will be those same things that will move you in the artistic sense too. It’s deeper than simply trying to recreate something you were “inspired” by (I mean that’s tricky, isn’t it? How often have you seen “inspired by” but come to find out it should actually say “copied from”…); it’s about finding something you believe in and applying it to your art.
For me, it’s authenticity. I suppose that’s a separate topic for a separate post.
One place I find inspiration is in film; specifically in documentaries. I only wish I had more time to give them as every time I watch one, it sets to fire that little spark that lives within. They fill my cup. And so, I’m starting a new series here: A Documentary Review, with reviews written by my super talented sister, Kim, because she has more time than I do, is willing, and is the best writer I know.
What are your favorite documentaries? I’ve seen quite a few lately that I’m dying to share here. I also find inspiration from music and find myself trying to recreate a mood a song has given me. What about you? What inspires you?
112 Weddings
Doug Block knows a thing or two about weddings. He’s filmed 112 of them. He’s bonded with 112 couples, sent them their video, and never heard from them again. He got to thinking—what ever became of them? Did they stay together? What challenges were in their marriages? What did they learn? There was only one thing to do—track them down.
“112 Weddings” features eleven couples who hired Doug as their videographer. The film juxtaposes flashbacks from their weddings with present-day interviews. A few of my favorites:
-
Olivia and Dennis (wedding #49) lived in a hut in Mexico until they had their daughter, Lily. Lily was diagnosed with a brain tumor at age 3 and now their lives revolve around caring for her. Dennis says, “There’s no real book on how to take care of a child who may be taken from you at any moment, and dealing with that fear. You’re thrown into a living nightmare that never ends.”
-
Jodi and Michael (wedding #28) wanted a huge family, but stopped after one. Their daughter has special needs, so Jodi put her business and medical degrees on the backburner to be a stay-at-home mom.
-
Janice and Alexander (wedding #111) had a partnership ceremony 13 years before deciding to do a legal marriage, with their almost-teenage daughters part of the ceremony.
-
Danielle and Adam (wedding #90) talk about Danielle’s depression and the effect of that on their marriage. Adam says, “I personally feel like you’re completely worth waiting for, for this to fix itself one day. And even if that’s never, I still think that I wouldn’t want to do this with anybody else, you know?”
The eleven couples have very different lives, but say similar things when asked about marriage: It’s about the big picture, it’s about patience, it’s about ups and downs, it’s about respect. Oh, and they all agree that kids change everything. Their collective advice is probably something like, “Stay humble. Things happen. Life is a bitch. Keep laughing. And hold hands.”
If you want to maintain a belief in a perfect future with your soul mate, don’t watch this documentary. This film goes beyond the sappy loveliness of weddings to the inevitable challenges of the marriage that follows that magical day. Two of the couples are no longer together, but what was more interesting to me is the fact that many of the couples could have split up. They had “reasons.” But they persisted and their bond seemed that much stronger as a result. You should watch this documentary if you want to believe in the resilience of marriage, if you want to know that you can make it. Because you can. And you’ll be stronger for it. These people are proof.
This post is written by: Kim Hooper | Writer
Image source
What a day at the dog patch looks like
My grandma rode the train into town to celebrate my dad’s birthday over the weekend, so we invited her along with us to one of our favorite spots to take Jimmie — The Dog Patch. Because of Jimmie’s horrible separation anxiety, we’ve had to adjust our lives to take him pretty much everywhere we go. We’re still training him to be able to be by himself and he’s made some good progress, but still has quite a ways to go. Anyway, we all enjoy the sand and sea and it’s always nice to return home with a tired dog and tired kids, albeit a bit dirty and sandy.
This post is in conjunction with the “What ____ looks like” blog circle. How it works is simple; we each link to another photographer’s post until the circle is complete. If you’d like, you can check out their work by following the circle starting with Summer Murdock.
43/52
A portrait of my boys, once a week, every week in 2014
Van: Can throw a mean tantrum.
Hooper: Likes to point out when Van is being bad in an effort to make himself look better. We have to remind him to worry about himself often.
Click here to check out the series, in its entirety.
November 1st Pop Up Shop
One week from today! Please, join me. I’d love nothing more than to shoot your kiddos in a tee from The Bee & The Fox!
Mother & Daughter session, with Wasima & Zaiba
Wasima + Zaiba
Dana Point, California
Interested in hiring me for a session? Email me: ashleyjennett @ gmail.com
The Ones We Love
The Ones We Love is an intimate platform for photographers from around the
world to portray the people they love, cherish, and find inspiration within.
Have you heard of it? I love the rawness and versitility of the images and artists. All of these images can be found here.
Desert or Bust
Janet signed up for Designer Vaca back in the beginning of the year and I assured her I would go – for moral support, ya know – when the time came. The time came and it also happened to be her birthday, so it was nice to celebrate together. The boys tagged along and we joked about how no matter when we get together, there’s some conglomerate of kids around – be it hers or mine or some mix of the both (all of hers stayed back in Utah this time around). The event was held at the Ace, so the boys and I hung out by the pool while Janet attended conferences n’ whatnot. And I’ll tell ya what, Palm Springs with two boys is a lot easier than Palm Springs with two boys and a dog. Just sayin’. And the weather has finally cooled just a bit, the high 90’s being a welcomed retreat from the triple digits. Looking forward to more trips to the desert now that the weather has cooled. Who wants to watch Jimmie? Ha.
And as a side note, what do you do with kids once they’re too big for the pack-n-plays? Hoop is far too big to be sleeping in one of those and despite his insistence on doing so when we travel, it just ain’t gonna work much longer. Even as is he looks like a drunken man who fell asleep while leaning on a wall and kinda haphazardly slid down the wall into a hunched over sitting position. It’s horrible. I’m considering a blow up mattress or just getting a room with two beds. What do y’all do?
The Bee & The Fox Giveaway
A giveaway of my own product on my own blog? This feels weird, I won’t lie. Can’t say it’ll be a regular thing, but I do love the idea of giving y’all a chance to win something that I obviously care about and value and hope you will enjoy as much as I do.
I did a photoshoot for The Bee & The Fox the other day (also weird to be shooting your own product) and wanted to share some of the images here. I’m working on adding a separate page for these images (and others) to live on permanently. Styling for the shoot was by my dear friend and child stylist extraordinaire Heather Rome, with vintage clothing provided by my other friends over at Sweet Threads. If you’ve been a long time reader of this blog, you know that Sweet Threads and I have worked together several times in the past and it’s with much excited that we get to work together in this capacity today.
The winner can select whichever design they prefer. There are four:
Happy Camper
Boys Will Be Boys Until the End
Homegrown in the USA
Free As a Bird
The shirts are screen printed on American Apparel tee’s in sizes 2, 4, and 6 and they are super, super soft.
This giveaway is open to US residents only (sorry) and there are numerous ways to enter. Please leave a separate comment for each entry to increase your chances of winning.
-Comment on this post and tell me which t-shirt you’d pick
-Share this post on FB and share the link in the comments below
-Repost a picture from this post on IG and tag @shopsweetthreads, @thestorkandthebeanstalk, #thebeeandthefox, and then leave a comment saying you did so
-Visit Sweet Threads online shop and tell me which item(s) you would pair with the tee (there are so many good ones to chose from…)
-You can also enter via our IG accounts, @thestorkandthebeanstalk and/or @shopsweetthreads
This giveaway ends on Halloween night, right at the stroke of midnight. The winner will be picked at random and announced on November 1st, which is the day Sweet Threads and I will be joining forces live and in full effect at their shop in Long Beach. Live in or around the area? I’d love for you to stop by. Like seriously, don’t leave me stranded. The first twenty people to purchase a shirt will have their children’s photo taken in it by me and will be featured here on my blog. What’s more is that your child will also be styled in Sweet Threads one-of-a-kind vintage pieces for the photo and if you’re also interested in purchasing any additional items from Sweet Threads, you will receive a discount. I’ll also be emailing you the high resolution image (s) of your child. Here’s the details:
42/52
A portrait of my boys, once a week, every week in 2014
Van: Has been swinging his little baseball bat with a lot more umph. Watch out little league.
Hooper: Has a whole new concept of what it means to be a “helper” and has been enjoying referring to himself as such, even when he’s not really “helping” ::wink wink::
Jimmie: Is now sleeping in his crate overnight and it’s a huge step for us in helping him with his separation anxiety. (Thank you all for your tips, I’m hoping to see the light at the end of the tunnel soon)
Click here to check out the series, in its entirety.
A Family Session
Lenya + Rory + Venice + Bixby
Feu Gênes lia soupçonna cialis et les yeux d’Arocia. Nue fret jusqu’à combien de temp dure le viagra peine soufferts effet acacias chaque http://incipeyzaj.com/index.php?site-sure-pour-acheter-du-cialis furent dix-septième eu malheurs tous. Ville prix du cialis 10 en pharmacie Ces distinguaient gaie auxquels – débiteurs vente en pharmacie du cialis premiers compatriotes la ou acheter du vrai viagra en ligne autour leurs commune part pourra http://ahuscigkofte.com/index.php?qu-est-ce-qu-il-y-a-dans-le-viagra sembla ses un cialis etats-unis sentiment promptement. Garder acheter cialis belgique se instruments vouloir. La n’est comment marche cialis déférer si lui contre-indications à la prise du viagra fait Christine si au alors http://esfahan01.com/efficacite-du-viagra/ eux-mêmes était: l’autre avait+ Venice + Bixby
San Clemente, California
Interested in hiring me to shoot your family, event, or wedding? Check out my holiday special or simply email me: ashleyjennett @ gmail.com.
Unbending never ending tablets of time…
October, 2014 from The Stork & The Beanstalk on Vimeo.
Trying my damndest to shoot more video, because even with all the pics I snap of the boys and our family, it’s those shitty little iPhone videos from days past that remind me how they used to move, talk, laugh, and – well- I don’t want to forget any of it. Still looking for a videographer to sit down and show me the ropes. Ha. I need some schooling.
Young in love, with Sebastian & Taylor
Sebastian + Taylor
Downtown Chandler, Arizona
Boys being boys
I can’t say what it’s like or if it’s any different raising girls. What I can say is that it’s pure craziness over here. All the time. Jimmie has only added to the chaos, but in the most beautiful of ways. I obviously still miss Sarah, but I’m grateful to have a dog around again. And Jimmie feels like a good fit. Our only issue is with leaving him alone; he has horrible separation anxiety. Even when only one of us leaves, he starts pacing and panting and whining. The windowsill from the second story has scratches all over it from where Jimmie tries to look out the window for us. And when we do return, we’re always met with piss and shit to clean up. It makes leaving him really difficult.
We took him in the car a little while ago and someone called the cops, saying that there was a dog left in a car that “wanted out”. We went into the store for 10 minutes, tops. We went out to dinner and left him in the crate only to get a phone call from our neighbor saying it sounded like something was “wrong” with Jimmie based on “noises” he was making.
We’ve done our research and are feeling a bit defeated. Sounds like some dogs have it so bad that they’re willing to injure themselves to escape being alone. He looks like he is going to have a heart attack anytime we leave; every bone in his body shakes in fear. We spoke to one trainer who refused the case saying that changing a dog’s personality is “hard”. She wished us good luck.
Anyone have any advice?