WELCOME

Hello friends! Please, come in take a seat. Let me get you a warm beverage and we'll talk. Green chair studio is my heart and passion. Photographing your personal bit of heaven --- your wedding.. your child or your pet --- is a gift to me daily. Would you like to meet in person for lattes to discuss your session needs/wants/desires? Pop on over to the website give me a shout and we'll calendar merge. By the way, I love hearing from you, so whether you are just stopping by, or are a loyal reader...leave a little comment. Hearing from you makes my day crispy and fresh!

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

mikey + gina | portland engagement





mikey serenading his lovely bride to be







As they dance in the hall where their reception will be held, Portland graced us a bit of sun.







tippy toes.. tippy toes!





I met Gina over a counter, exchanging cash. She was my favorite bank teller. One day as we chatted, I looked down and saw the most beautiful ring.

"Oh, are you getting married?" I asked. All at once my professional bank teller became a giddy girl so deeply in love she shimmered. Her joy about her upcoming wedding was contagious and I left humming a sweet little tune.

We continued to chat whenever I went in, about dresses..venues...etc... and each time she talked I was swooped up into her happiness. On one particular such occasion I happened to mentioned that I was a photographer and if she had any questions about that aspect to surly let me know.

I think her next question might have been, "Are you available for our date?!"

We met for coffee and I learned the Mikey + Gina story. It is one of the sweetest love stories I have ever heard. I swooned just a teeny bit. They were best friends for years. Watching as they each dated other people..broke up...dated... broke up..

Finally one night as they sat and talked their way into 2am, they realized that the one constant had been each other. They were the love they had been looking for all along.

They are dorky, cool, awesome, funny, hip, silly and everything else that I find adorable and perfect. Is it possible to adopt a fully grown couple?

Their wedding day can't get here fast enough. I am doing the hurry-up-and-get-here tap dance. I am so blessed to be witness to a completion of one stage their lives and the beginning of the next.

While editing their images I had a sweet smile sneak in. It took up residence on my face for the rest of the afternoon. I hope their love gets on you a little bit too.

*squeals of joy*

See you two soon.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

risk







--------------------

December 31st, 2009

ISO set to 1000 and aperture at 1.4, I risk taking a really crappy picture. “I don’t want to get up out of my chair right now”, I exclaim. “I don’t want to take a picture!” But the voice/force that is not yet done speaking, that is not yet done ‘using’ me, pulls me up out of my chair with a heave and sends me to fish my camera out from it’s snug Christmas trip packing. I did not go quietly, I complained bitterly as I shuffled into the living room and retrieved what I was commanded to.

Some days it is not a matter of feeling the inspiration but of stepping aside so that the stampede of thoughts can come thru. It builds up behind the dam of noise and daily living until I sit quiet, long enough for it to squeak a pinky toe in and then it’s all over...I really have no choice but to let it finish.

So now I sit... photographing a pile of yellow papers in the dwindling daylight letting ‘it’ finish.

It started nudging through as I walked home from my morning cup of coffee. Snow sloshing under my feet, the words started to form. “Argh, not again! Why are you coming now? Can you not wait until I get home? I have no way to record you right now.” So Instead of my usual process of allowing it all to form and sweetly mingle right then and there... only to evaporate. I tried something new. I asked it to come back when I could give it a voice. Something I learned from watching Elizabeth Gilbert in the TED talks. {she is brilliant}

To my surprise...it backed off.
--

Now sitting at my small desk, distant jazz thumping in the background and a world of white expanding before me I give ‘it’ a voice.

"Come thru the winter light of my window. Come thru the scratchy sound of my pencil against the paper. Now is your time. Now what would you say?"

I look out.

Lavender clouds drift. Robins flit & perch trying to regain the comfort of spring. A Train whistle blows. The soft snore of a sleeping kitten shushes the room. All combine to wrap my brain in a cushion of color and push my hand to write.

Fingers pressed hard to hold the paper steady. My thoughts leap and bang against each other until they tumble one by one onto the page. They have been silenced for so long, that they trip over themselves getting out of the starting gate and then heap into a puddle before me. My task now, to assemble them into some reasonable order.

--
40. 40 is on the way. A fact that has not totally gone un-noticed by me. But nonetheless a fact that I seem to be in a shocking bit of denial about. It is barreling down on me like a heard of bison across the plain and I say, “Did you hear that? Did you hear that quiet, soft squeaky noise..? “

Don’t get me wrong, I am excited for 40. I am beyond thrilled to be out of my 30’s. I didn’t like going into them, being in them, or even the sound of them. They were the hardest years of my life. But somehow the excitement of turning 40 is being beaten back by my reality. My life at 39 does not fit the expected reality of 40.

It’s not that I am not where I thought I would be, although I am not, it is more that I am not living the collective vision of what I SHOULD be doing or have accomplished by 40. I have to admit to myself, to my family, to the society at large that I don’t fit the 'mold'.

But ‘fit’ or not, this is what and who I am right now. This is who I bring into this new year, to this new moon appearing and disappearing behind the blur of dark clouds.

I take a breath and look up to see the stack of paper before me heaped against my cup. They are my manifest. This voice inside that pushes until I absolutely have no choice but to let it come out. Whatever fever this is that takes my hand and pushes me to write, it is no longer willing to lay silent. Through scratching pencil, clacking keyboard, smooth goosh of pen on paper... how ever, when ever, now ever... it will be expressed.

So what do I want for myself as the new/blue moon rises on my 39th Winter? I want a life of joy, a life filled with the rush of expectancy, discovery and awe. I want a life of Truth. To know the Truth of me. To look on this world with God’s eyes. To get angry, to be hurt...to laugh, to love.. To feel it all and not silence any aspect of it. I want to live through my fear. To know it will come but that it does not have to dictate my direction. I want to take risks.. to try when I do not know the outcome. To do.

I want to be completely grounded and playful on this earthly plane as well as steeped in the mystical realm of the universe. I want to be in possession of the ability to plan. I want to have the freedom that great amounts of money will bring, but I do not wish to pursue it.

I wish to pursue my joy, my vision, my laughter, my love. I wish to share this vibration of awe that washes over me.


-deep breath-

I look at again at my ever growing pile of yellow & ‘lead’ and feel my heart skip a beat. The light spilling in through my window is breath taking... The colors, the shapes, the glow of the whole scene makes me slightly giddy. I can taste it.

As I shift my gaze past the pile of papers, I see the once snow peaked rooftops exposed as the last tastes of snow slip to the ground.

Trees born bare, exposing what thru the flourish of death we could not see. There is a peace in winter, a hush and a stillness that gives rest to a world busy with itself. It is as much of a gift as the cornucopia of summer and the splashy boldness of fall. It brings me to a place of hushed reverence, of darkness and exploration that in the spring, will bloom.

This is the winter of my 39th year. And I am ok with that.

As I sit letting the last bits trickle thru, I hope. I hope that you know... wherever you are, you are enough.. Whoever you are, you are a gift. I hope that you live this life as though you matter, because you do...more than you can ever know. No one sees like you, no one feels this life as you do. Share it with the world and we are all the richer.

So much love, light & play I wish for you.

In Gratitude,

Heaven

My Valentine

Valentine's day is creeping around the corner. I can hear it's tiny cat feet on the back stairs. This year as in the two previous...I am my own Valentine. There is no special someone to swoop me up with flowers and kisses. And this year, I am more than OK with that. It's been a long road to get to, but SO very worth it.

The first building block in my re-building, came in the form of photography. Shocker!

I was in L.A. assisting on a shoot with the very talented Rachel Stephens. We were giving women the chance to explore their sensuality with classic boudoir photography. I was in awe...these women were AMAZING! I watched them transform before my eyes. They would start shy and timid and end truly claiming their sensuality and power. And they were having so much FUN!

As luck would have it, one of the women scheduled that day, canceled. Rachel turned to me and and said, "you in?" I think I blinked twice, twisted a strand or two of hair and then said, "YES!"

I was very freshly going through a divorce, one I was not choosing to go through. I was feeling un-loveable, un-worthy, un-sexy and un-human.

With music coaxing me..I stepped before the camera. I looked up and saw a room of women {rachel + the makeup artists} cheering me on, telling me how awesome I looked and giving a hoot or two. Women, I don't need to tell you how good it feels to have 'girlfriends' around supporting you. I stepped up and out and embraced the moment. I laughed, pouted, teased, and posed my way back into 'me'.

I can't tell you what a photo session like this will do for you. I can only tell you how empowering and life changing it was for me. At a time in my life when I was at my lowest, I was reminded that life, and girlfriends, supports you. That I was still every bit a woman.

Whether you are your own Valentine this year or you have someone special, boudoir photography is the perfect way to celebrate.

Happy Valentine's day to you all. Love yourself well so that you can go forth and love the world.

peace + love

*if you are interested in a full session for Valentine's Day, they can be booked weekdays during the month of January...please call or email for times + availability. greenchairstudio@gmail.com + 503.810.0088. Thank you!

-Heaven

you NEED me!















Adoption: bringing a new heart into your home. It expands you & your life in ways unimaginable.

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Thank you!!

{please fwd this around....if one of these cuties is not be for you...they might be for your neighbor}