Aviva Photography Blog

Oh PCS season, how I LOATHE thee….

Jen and John are neighbors, dear friends, and all-around fantastic people. Talented Jen designs jewelry for her company, Jib and Genoa – you may remember some photos I took of her line – wow, almost a year and a half ago!

Well, as I mentioned in that post – Jen & John got married here in Okinawa two years ago, so they’re really still newlyweds. They also didn’t have a wedding to speak of, nor any photos. I have only been waiting over a year to do this! And the great part is, since they’ve been here for a while and are very creative, they had ideas. I LOVE clients with ideas. So we headed out to the sea wall for some fun. First up – photos with their third family member, Gunner.

He was not exactly excited, but half the fun is taking dignity away from a cat, right? How handsome is this kitty!? He is such a lover.

So John, awesome lawyer by day, and art director by evening and weekend, wanted to take the cat for a …”walk” in the photos. They saw this one SOOC (straight out of the camera) and we ALL laughed so hard. At least 1000 words, right?

After terrorizing him, we let Gunner relax in Mama’s arms for a nice family portrait. Much better.

While John brought Gunner home (hopefully he didn’t claw up their bed for making him do that…) I had Jen sit and pose for a few individual photos – Jen, you have such a beautiful smile, but of course – you’re a friend and I see so much personality in it!

Then we were off to the sea wall to fulfill another wish. They had just returned from a jaunt to Tokyo, and returned with a nice set of chopsticks. They felt an integral part of their Okinawa experience was the introduction to Goya. They brought a paring knife and this interesting (and for those who don’t know, amazingly BITTER) melon in order to feed it to each other and capture their reactions. What’s even funnier is that this was only days after Jessica had me take A’s photos eating that lime! PRICELESS!

These two are so happy – and as usual, I look at these and realize that taking photos of friends is fantastic – none of that “cheesy” smile stuff – just having a good time together and capturing the fun. (Especially when I see colorful doorways and greenery! Happy Aviva.)

A favorite local soba haunt was a necessary shot for sure…

And of course, some obligatory Hubba Hubby shots! (John, you are pretty darned photogenic, my friend.)

Besides the goya & chopsticks – they packed a couple of straws for the obligatory vending machine moment! With Bikkle! (A favorite of my daughter’s as well.)

As we were finishing, we definitely wanted to get a shot inside Uroko’s, a favorite watering hole. It was after 7pm at this point, but we didn’t bring our wallets; just camera gear, goya, chopsticks, straws and ourselves. But like I said, this was a favorite spot in the neighborhood – and so we entered the bar and asked, “Would it be ok if we ordered a couple of beers and came back to pay you later tonight?” I know those of you who live or have lived here understand…. Only in Japan! The lovely waitress said, “Oh sure sure!” and poured a couple of cold Orion drafts. And another amazing memory was captured! Kampai!!

I won’t even start lamenting the fact that they’re leaving me in July. I can’t stand it. What will I do when you aren’t down the street? When I want to sit and watch Mad Men or walk over to Uroko’s to see Hitoshi-san play guitar and sing classics? I don’t care if you’re in Spokane and it’s 3am, I’m calling you. Deal with it!

We WILL visit, and my experience in Okinawa has been richer and more wonderful for having known you both. I wish you nothing but the best – always! (SNIFF)

Only a couple more shoots to share before I’m finished with shoots for the summer…but don’t worry, I have other plans in store! Stay tuned.

I might get choked up writing this post. Thankfully, these two aren’t leaving yet. Elizabeth (affectionately known as Ebeth) and Dean sat behind us on the Patriot Express from Seattle when we PCSed to Okinawa. They don’t have kids, but commented to us on the plane when we struck up a conversation that if they were all as well behaved as ours was on the way over, they might’ve considered it. (huge compliment – my kid has her moments, but she is an excellent traveler) They also have lived in San Diego, which is where we moved from so we immediately had some things in common and plenty of time to talk! When we were staying at the WestPac on Foster, we ran into them a few times and had our welcome brief together too…you know how it is. They’re adventurous and fun and we just kept running into them, so we exchanged phone numbers and have been friends ever since. Sometimes it’s just meant to be!

Ebeth jumped in with both feet and among other things, she is a head honcho with Ramond Ko jewelry sales now (so she might look familiar if you’ve bought something here). We were thrilled that after rescheduling for rain and work interferences – we FINALLY had a gorgeous night at the beach to shoot.

Ebeth, your blue eyes are stunning.

It’s always an added bonus to shoot friends; people that I know and that are already comfortable with me. Dean is super friendly and smart, and definitely a hubba hubby (HELLO). Dean is my dive husband (Ebeth doesn’t dive and neither does my hubby, so it’s our thing – we have to go again soon, man!) , and had also had taken my GAMU class…interestingly enough, with my assistant for that evening, April of  April Belle Photography. So it was even more fun for me to geek out talking about photography with them while I shot. Never hurts to have such beautiful subjects! (But ALL my subjects are beautiful!)

Do this!

OK.

DO THAT.

Sure.

Sit there! YES, on the ground. I know there are ants.

Yes ma’am.

I love my clients.

Dean, your smile is contagious and oh so handsome. I’ll spare my photos of you with flowers in your teeth – but just know that I have something to bribe you with should I ever have to use it.

And Ebeth – well you’re just a gorgeous Tar Heel beauty – the camera LOVES you!

Oh what I wouldn’t give for another sunset like this – again it feels like it’s rained ever since this night!

Oh the light….the perfect breeze…I love what I do!

Let’s finish with one of my favorite sunset shots ever. I think I jumped up and down when I took it (didn’t I?) – who wouldn’t want this on their wall?

I’m so glad I don’t have to say goodbye to you yet…I love having you here as my friends. I’ll have the editing finished very soon and you’ll be out of suspense!

More soon…even though it has rained, I was busy in between the rain drops!

I met A’s mom, Jessica, a while ago at a book club get-together. I instantly liked her – smart, funny, interesting – and very very proud of being a mommy. She spoke about portraits with me a bit – I definitely was hearing that she was more a fan of “get out and play” shots than posed studio shots (always better for a young active kid anyway, right?) but I gave her a card and figured she’d call when she thought about it.

I ran into Jessica a few times out in town and around my neighborhood (she lives nearby) and we both had crazy schedules, but she still had in mind that she wanted pictures of A. Well I got an email from her not long before my trip in April, and told her that we could hook up in May for the shoot. Perfect! The weather had been SO iffy around that time, and the evening of our shoot turned out to be perfect, it was like someone just wanted it to happen for us! I present my latest boyfriend, A.

A’s dad had left for a deployment only a couple of weeks before, and I think seeing his little man here might just make him happy. Trevr, he’s just delightful…I’m sure you miss him, I hope you love these too.

From the moment they arrived, it was GO GO GO. A learned to walk/RUN and I think he hasn’t stopped since besides to sleep. The good news is, my camera and I – we’re quick! And a game of peek-a-boo chasing never hurts either.

I love a one-on-one with a child for a shoot – and as I mentioned, Jessica was the perfect mama – she backed off and let me play with him but was always close enough to give him what he needed…like his monkey, “Bla Bla”….

…or have a hand close by to stop him from falling. (definite FAVORITE!!)

Could you just eat him? Love the faux-hawk…and this outfit. Fantastic, Jess!

He stopped at the square his mama painted for him on the sea wall for his first birthday with a knowing smile. This is so cute!

Lastly – I had to share these. Jessica brought a lime with her to show me one of her son’s favorite snacks. Also the snack that results in some very interesting facial expressions. I think a series like this belongs on their wall… don’t you??

Thanks for being YOU, Jess, that was so much fun. A was a delight – and I hope you got a great night’s sleep that evening. And thank you for being patient, I’ll be done soon!

More to come, everyone. And though I had to push it back a bit due to shoot rescheduling (uh yeah – RAIN much lately?), GAMU classes will definitely return this summer. Information about that too very soon.