October 1st, 2019

I love the first of the month. it’s hopeful. a fresh start. a new month to do the things I’ve promised myself I want to do. and October is such a wonderful month of the year, packed full of some of my favorite childhood memories. ☺️ it feels weird/perfect that this will be my last ever October without a little person of my very own here on earth.

today we took two very different photos.

we took the first at my parents in our normal jiffy. I said it was great, but after sitting on it for a bit, I realized I wasn’t happy. not because of the set up, I mean, we look like a content pregnant couple in the suburbs, it’s almost comical how traditional it is. but it didn’t feel like it represented my heavy heart today. so we tried again this evening. I’m much more pleased with the result.
the second portrait we took is quiet and dark. no, it’s not a perfect or cheerful beginning to our October, but it feels as right as Matthias dancing with me in the park today.

it’s okay to have hard days.

Six Months of Pregnancy

six months of carrying life. it feels like we’re both days and a lifetime away from meeting him. mostly it feels like it’s right here, happening now. what was life before him? can we ask that yet? does he need to be born before we talk about not knowing what it was to exist in a world without him? I love our firstborn so much. he takes up space in so many of our conversations already.

tonight we walked through woods on the property out to the pasture for these. it was worth it, even having to dodge the multitudes of spider webs and getting on hands and knees to get through barbed wire fence. we didn’t go out at the ideal time, and it was more of an adventure than a 120-second “let’s get our portrait today”, but some days these will be that, and that’s ok. aiming for achievable, that’s all. and for this Saturday night, walking the land was achievable, thoughtful, quiet, & fun. my heart is happy & full.

Annalise is Engaged!

TODAY another Bonin sister, our darling Annalise, said YES to marrying her best friend!!! YESSSSSS!!!! I met up with Kate before 6pm to shoot the proposal... which ended up happening at 7pm... we were eaten aliveeee by mosquitos while waiting, but WORTH IT.
That’s 4/4 Bonin proposals for me to shoot so far. I’d like to shoot all of them... there are only 6 siblings left to get married. That’s not an unreasonable goal, right?
We had an unbelievably fun party to celebrate at the parents house after the proposal and there is evidence of that all over Instagram. (seriously. follow @terri.bonin @mrsjoybonin @sydniebonin @alexisnhouston @moremadeleinefrost)

This week and today have exhausted us. Matthias & I are boneee tired. He’s already asleep next to me as I write this. After the engagement party we were ready to just crawl in our own bed, but we didn’t want to miss our photo for the day, so we decided to get it at my parents before heading home. I went to meet him in the backyard since we decided to do a porch photo and Matthias had it (mostly) ready to go & told me exactly where we were shooting & how we were shooting it. Ummm. Who is this person? Did a bodysnatcher get Matthias? What a kind man.

September 26th, 2019

This evening we met in the middle on Matthias’ way home from work in Houston, & on my way downtown meet a couple. We ended up at JINYA ramen bar. We’ve been to 20 countries together, but have never shared a meal of ramen until this year?! We were missing out big time. 🤦🏻‍♀️

After dinner we had a few minutes to spare before parting ways (while I did my best to ignore the cold stone creamery... pregnancy has unexpectedly given me a sweet tooth), so we set up one more shot. Our dinner picture back-focused anyway, so a second try seemed reasonable.
The outdoor ones were accomplished with an interval timer. 1 shot per second for 20 seconds. That gave me enough time to start the camera, walk to him, get tickled, have my foot eaten up by an ant, and be done. I haven’t figured out burst shooting with the remote yet, but the interval timer worked for tonight. Shooting self portraits is showing me there’s a lot I can still learn about my camera.

Matthias’ fave photo is the ant one. “So real”😂

Time Together

This is the path we like to walk around his parents property together. So many conversations that have shaped us as a couple have happened out here. I actually wanted to snap a walking picture, but my auto-focus was losing its mind on me tonight (I just need to figure out this remote shooting a little better.) Because these are intended to be quick photos, I didn’t want to try to fix it while Matthias was with me. Light is also disappearing faster these days and we didn’t want to miss our opportunity to get it during or after family dinner... so, a standing portrait with manual focus it is.
For the past year we’ve had family dinners twice a week: Wednesday at his parents, Thursday at mine. All the siblings show up and bring their people. Both sides continue to grow as we add in new spouses & significant others & grandchildren and it makes getting together often quite the ordeal, but we are very laid back. It’s always self-serve easy food, easy drinks, and we just enjoy chit chatting. Tonight, I am grateful.
PS. If you can, read Bread & Wine soon. It’s about family, the table, traditions, the mundane and the spectacular. I promise you’ll enjoy it.

September 24, 2019

I met Matthias in Hughes Landing before his dinner tonight. I didn’t want to be a nuisance lugging my (actually very small) tripod up to the eleventh floor. I thought I would be too distracting, but it turns out, trying to shoot a self portrait without one is way more complicated and conspicuous. Lesson learned: when we do this in public, just take the tripod.
He said tonight he feels like he used to in the locker room before basketball games. Butterflies in his stomach. Hopeful. Ready to kill it. Life circumstances have been hard... like, really, really hard recently. But seeing him happy... seeing him excited... it fills my love tank alllllll the way up.

In Our Hotel Room

In our hotel room. Matthias on the phone with work, pursuing his dream. We’ve been staying in hotels a lot recently. Not out of town, just about 20 minutes from where we’re currently staying at Matthias’ parents. Hotels are peaceful, aren’t they? Especially when we’re together.

Not that it isn’t quiet or peaceful at his parents. In fact, it’s really wonderful on their property. We have space and privacy. But it doesn’t mean we don’t miss the solitude of our own place. A place where you can walk around mostly naked, you know? We have been home displaced since the dog attack... tomorrow marks four weeks exactly since that happened. It has been a short four weeks made up of many long, longgg days. This last week was the first time we’ve talked about or looked at where we want to go next. We walked beautiful apartments in The Woodlands and talked about what our next season of life will be like. A new place and a new baby. Today, I am hopeful.

Woodland Fairytale Wedding Under the Stars

Aurora & Matthew | November 17, 2018 | Their Mississippi Family Farm

View the full gallery HERE.

Enchanted Rock | Engagement Session

On Friday Matthias & I drove up to Fredericksburg to shoot with Holly & Shayne. We hadn’t decided on locations before arriving, but goodness, it didn’t matter! Enchanted Rock ONLY has good views!

View the full engagement gallery HERE.