justin + rebecca : berkeley engagement

May 16

Ocean City, New Jersey.

Rebecca + Justin had joined a summer project with Cru that summer to work and serve there along with other college students from all over the United States. They were just 2 of a handful of UC Berkeley Students to go to Ocean City that summer.

They didn’t really know each other before that. But when they arrived, Rebecca was convinced that not only did Justin not really like her, but that he probably disliked her.

At least, that was the only way she could explain why he never talked to her.

But Justin was just blissfully unaware. Isn’t that like guys sometimes? Guys, feel free to speak up or forever hold your peace…I know that’s what happened with Aaron and I. After a month of hanging out, I was sure that I was madly in like with the boy and as far as I could tell I was just another friend he liked to hang out with. And flirt with. and instant message all the time…but I digress…

But Justin (much like my husband) eventually wised up to the fact that he had a girl right in front of him that might just be the one he could spent forever with.

In Rebecca’s words “Justin stopped ignoring her and realized what he was missing.”

I’m pretty happy that he decided to lock things down. I think that now he knows exactly what he’s got…

After we spent some time at the Berkeley Rose Garden we headed over to the Berkeley marina to run around with some balloons. It was a little bit (okay, VERY) windy but I think it made for a fun challenge…

Rebecca + Justin, thanks so much for allowing me to tell your story.

I’m mad that you are spending the summer in Paris without me… but I guess I’m pretty excited for your wedding in September, so we’ll call it even.

xoxo,
Em

Posted in engagement | 3 Comments »
a weekend in tahoe : the film challenge

May 14

I love our friends.

Aaron and I are so thankful to have so many wonderful people in our lives, and it’s pretty fun to know so many other young couples to share this time of our life with.

A few weekends ago we took a trip with a few of these guys to Lake Tahoe to get away for quality time with each another and with nature.

My personal challenge for the weekend was to get some practice with a few of my old + new film cameras. Thankfully, this didn’t feel like work at all. It was fun to capture life as it was happened with one or two clicks rather than looking at my screen, readjusting, deleting, refocusing…

That’s one reason I’m so in love with film. It forces me to slow down and compose carefully. To be intentional about what I capture. And then after that, forget about it. It allows me to be more present with my friends, my subjects.

One day of our trip we all went out to explore and I spent a few minutes with each of my friends to photograph them, just as they are right now. They were all so patient with me as I manually focused every.single.frame.

At the end of the day, I really cherish these images.

Each one is a visual reminder to me of how much I have to be grateful for.

Mia + Chrissy are both alums of my fun : 101 photography class so I let them take the camera for a few frames. They did a good job… although I’m thinking it’s about time for a haircut…

Besides exploring for our photo shoot, we mainly hung out at the cabin, cooked + ate food, and played games. Pretty much the perfect weekend.

This was the view from our balcony…

Paul + Mari were the only ones who really worked out. Kudos!!

xoxo,

Em

p.s. for my photo friends, these images were taken with these cameras / film stocks

mamiya 645 // kodak portra 400
fuji GA 645 // fuji pro 400H
pentax k1000 // kodak portra 160
canon eos-1 // kodak tri-x 400

Posted in film, friends, personal, portrait, travel | 3 Comments »
brian

May 11

There was that time we tried to sneak into the movie studio family picnic by giving them my real name and just acting confident “Oh, no Emily Hathaway on the list? How strange…”

I think what we had really wanted was to ride in the hot air balloon they had on the grounds. We did manage to find a way to snap a polaroid as Brian ran in front of it. We told people they had given us a ride.

Then there was the time we bought electric scooters at AAAH’s in Westwood and we were so excited riding them down the hill to In-N-Out from the dorms only to find that the battery power did not even get us 1/4 of the way back up … It was a long and heavy drag back up that hill…

There were countless 2am Wendy’s runs with the other dorm staff. There was a road trip to the Grand Canyon. And there was one very fateful drama/history seminar in which our final assignment was to create a story based on a character in a famous piece of classic art and then PLAY THEM in that drama that we would perform for an unwitting audience. Well, that was interesting. Don’t even get me started.

UCLA was a wonderful place to me. Mainly because of people like Brian.

Friends who were up for an adventure no matter what watch of the night.

My friend Brian continues to inspire me. I have loved seeing the dreams he has chased after UCLA, and it makes me incredibly proud to see him achieving them.

Brian is a writer and a freaking funny one at that.

He and some of our other talented friends have created one of the most popular web series to hit hulu and now he is set to embark on a project that made me jump up and down for JOY when I heard he got the job. Here is just a little hint.

I KNOW.

The future is pretty bright my friend.

When Brian was up in the bay last month taking a short respite from the busy life of a Hollywood comedy writer, I made him go out on an adventure to test out some new film with me. He was very patient while I tried to figure out how to use my new Mamiya. Very patient…

I shot most of these on my canon eos-1 with kodak portra 160 and a few using the Mamiya 645.

xoxo,
Em

Posted in film, friends, portrait | 3 Comments »
matchstick coffee roasters : vancouver

May 2

It’s the kind of place you’d consider moving to Vancouver for.

It just feels like home. Albeit a slightly better dressed version of home.

The space is bright and well kept. A long wood table on one end full of chairs, every corner of the shop spotted with customers on laptops and small families with scones and curious and friendly gentlemen asking what kind of camera is that you are using?

The kind of place you don’t feel lame for getting a macchiato + a scone after you’ve already sat and drank your americano as slow as you can. It’s the type of space made for lingering.

I loved visiting Matchstick while I was in town to see my sweet friend Jamie Delaine. For 5 days all we really did was drink coffee and talk. Matchstick was the perfect backdrop to our conversations about life, photography, community + faith.

If you’ve followed my blog for a while you had heard me go on and on about my love for a well-crafted espresso. But  it wasn’t just that the space was lovely  - every little thing about this place tells me that the people who own it and work it are doing it for no other reason than this is what they were meant to do. It shows.

If you are in Vancouver, you ought to stop by. Say Hi for me.

More photos of Vancouver yet to come.

All of these photos were taken with my Canon eos-1. Kodak Tri-x 400. Processed by Richard Photo Lab.

xoxo,
Em

Posted in film, personal, photography, travel | 3 Comments »
paris

April 27

I am a perfectionist. And it is not a good thing.

I have the tendency to look back and dwell on what I should have done. On the one hand it helps me grow. I am always thinking strategically about what I want to change for next time. On the other, it robs me of gratefulness for the process. Perfectionism keeps me enjoying what I have been given.

Which brings me to Paris. Glorious Paris.

You’d think I just danced around Paris light as a feather free as a bird by looking at these images.

Wrong. I was frustrated that it was cold and rainy the whole time, because I only brought one pair of long pants and one jacket. Neither being very fashionable. I was tired from walking all over the city all day and night because no one in my party wanted to take long Parisian lunches and take a break. I hadn’t really planned out what I wanted ahead of time, so I found myself in every church and museum Paris had, wishing I was just sipping coffee at a cafe or shopping. Just writing all of that out is rough. I want to go back and erase it. Make it sound less like I am a petulant child. But that’s exactly how I was acting.

Which led me to day 2 in Paris. Aaron and I had split from our dear friends after climbing the Arch de’Triomphe and I was a cranky hot-mess. I sat down on a bench and cried, feeling tired and sorry for myself.

Bless my husband for dealing with this kind of behavior. Really. It was one of those moments where you can SEE yourself acting badly but you feel absolutely powerless to snap out of it.

After figuring out what in the world was going on inside my head, he helped me make a plan. Go back to our place and take a nap. REST. Get some macarons on the way back to that nap (RIGHT? He’s a saint.) Then map out the shops I want to go to tomorrow and stop feeling sorry for myself.

It’s funny but this is the kind of thing I love about traveling. Not that it makes me act like a lunatic, but that it really forces me to figure out what prevents me from doing what I love. I love our friends so much and being there with them, I wanted to just do the things they were excited about. But I was doing everything at the expense of my own needs, I wasn’t even listening to my body or stopping to slow down when I knew I needed to.

It would have been easy to just post all of these images and say “Yay for Paris! We were living the dream!”

I mean, we did. It was marvelous to see so much. But even with these images it took me so long to edit and post them because I even wish I had taken different pictures… More of the normal city things while we walked around… or shot everything on film… or …

Even now I know I am being crazy. But I think it’s good to put that out there so you aren’t just sitting here thinking that pretty pictures equals pretty easy life.

That’s just not reality. Life is messy. I am a mess. But that doesn’t mean life isn’t good.

And just because something isn’t perfect, doesn’t mean it’s all bad. In fact, sometimes it’s the imperfections that make the good stuff even sweeter.

I would also like to take this opportunity to put this out into the universe, if you are getting married in Paris next spring, let me know. Or if you need photos for a magazine editorial. Or if you even just want some family photos…

I will shoot it for free. Just fly us back, and it’s on me. Shoot me an email emily@gem-photo.com

xoxo,

Em

Posted in photography, travel | 8 Comments »