Arianne Grace Swobody
My sister and bro-in-law welcomed Arianne Grace into the world on December 17, 2011 and she couldn’t be more beautiful. I can’t remember seeing a newborn baby up close on the day of her birth but I know they aren’t always this adorable 
I’m so proud to be an uncle that it’s making me even more excited to be a dad in the spring. We have spent plenty of time playing with little Ari the past few weeks and we took some time to shoot some photographs of her this past weekend. Congratulations to Ryan and Steph!
She was exhausted after a long photoshoot… I can’t really blame her
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Tags: Family
Chicago
Chi-town. The Windy City. The drawbridge capital of America.
Kendra and I were lucky enough to spend a couple of days wandering around this fabulous town in late October and I can’t wait to visit again. We met up with family flying in from Spokane early one Wednesday morning and departed from Sea-Tac airport headed towards the Midwest. Just a few hours later we found ourselves eating Chicago-style hot dogs and drinking beers at various pubs. I can’t emphasize enough how great this city is — the people and the food (my Lord, the food) couldn’t have been any better. We spent time down by the water at the Navy Pier, visited Millennium Park and did some shopping along the Magnificent Mile. There is no doubt that I’ll be putting Chicago on my list of places to visit again in the future.
In the words of Ol’ Blue Eyes, it’s my kind of town.
Filed under: Travel, Vacation | 5 Comments
Tags: Family
Steph + Ryan Maternity Session
I recently shot a mini-maternity session for my sister and her hubby and the weather couldn’t have cooperated any better. I wouldn’t expect there to be much sunshine in early October but we lucked out and enjoyed a few gorgeous hours at Cottage Lake Park in Woodinville. These two are going to make fantastic parents and I can’t wait to be an uncle!
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Tags: Family
Camping at Mt. Rainier
I have always heard that Mt. Rainier is a “can’t miss” sight in the PNW when the weather cooperates but I didn’t know what I was missing out on until we visited recently for a camping trip. We spent two nights at Ohanapecosh on the southeast side of the mountain over a long weekend and I can’t wait to go back again. There are some great hikes in the area and the river is absolutely gorgeous. Weekend activities included a hike up to Silver Falls, shaving sticks into spears, jumping into the river, Oreo vs. generic chocolate sandwich cookie taste tests and countless games of Sequence. Needless to say, we had a fantastic time with family and friends.
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Glassblowing with William Carson
A few weeks ago Kendra and I drove down to the Tacoma Glassblowing Studio to experience glassblowing first-hand. We spent 5+ hours hanging out at the studio with my cousin William Carson who has focused on glassblowing for the last decade. He showed us the ropes and gradually we became more comfortable working with molten glass that just came out of a 2400 degree furnace. We were able to make a few items each which ranged from simple bowls and paperweights to the seasonal pumpkins that are sold each year. Below are some photos from the day but be sure to check out his work at WilliamCarsonGlass.com as well.
Second photographer: Kendra Belknap
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R+S Wedding Prep
In early August I had the privilege of shooting some photos of my sister getting ready for her wedding day. We spent the weekend up in Mt. Vernon on Big Lake with friends and family which included countless games of laddergolf and Sequence. I would like to thank both families for everything from the rehearsal dinner to the BBQ at our rental house — we had a great time with everyone.
The morning of the wedding Steph and I shared many laughs while she was getting her hair and makeup done. It was great to reminisce about growing up together in Marysville as we retold stories to each other that have always put smiles on our faces. Check out a few of the photos from Steph and Ryan’s special weekend.
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Cannon Beach
In mid-July we took a couple of days off of work to drive down to Cannon Beach, OR and enjoy some time at the beach. The weather could not have been any better — low 70s and sunny the entire time! We spent plenty of time hanging at the beach, flying kites and throwing some ‘shoes, but we also had our fill of delicious food around town (a big thank you to Erinn for telling us to visit Bruce’s Candy Kitchen). The most surprising (and maybe the best) part of the weekend was watching the Neil Diamond cover band perform at a nearby park on Sunday afternoon. No one can come close to Neil, but these guys did a fantastic job covering his greatest hits! Here are some of our photos from the weekend, including one with fake Neil!
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Tags: Friends
Independence Day
Our tradition of spending the 4th of July at the family lake cabin at Deer Lake continued this year and it was another great weekend spent with family and friends. It doesn’t get much better than early morning fishing, playing some washoes in the sun, boat parades and lighting off some fireworks on the 4th. We even experimented with our abundance of firecrackers by inserting some into one of our Costco muffins just to see what would come of it (spoiler alert: it wasn’t as exciting as we were hoping). Enjoy the photos documenting some of what we did over the holiday weekend!
Filed under: Spokane | 1 Comment
Tags: Family, Friends, Holiday
Paris
The second and final leg of our trip was spent in Paris. We didn’t enjoy Paris as much as London, but that’s mostly due to the fact that Kendra and I had a tough time speaking to the locals (when I wasn’t speaking Spanish by accident). Once I felt more comfortable with my “French” we were able to spend more time enjoying ourselves and city rather than dreading the upcoming conversation with the waiter at the next meal. Our little apartment on the north side of the Seine was just a block away from Rue Montorgueil which had more food shops than you could visit in a week. We must have stopped at 2-3 shops a day in order to sample the variety of food that was available to us.
Our alarm woke us up at 7-8am each day so that we were up and ready to visit the sites that the City of Light had to offer: Notre Dame, St. Chapelle, Montmatre, the Louvre and Orsay museums and of course, the Eiffel Tower. We also took a few walking tours around a few of the neighborhoods to get a better feel for the city as a whole. Overall we had a great trip, and I can’t wait for our next European adventure. Enjoy some of the shots that I took while walking around Paris!
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London
It’s been quite a while since my last post, but I’ve finally finished up sorting through and processing the photos from our vacation in Europe. Our first stop was in London and I can’t say enough about the city. The people and food were amazing and the tube makes things incredibly easy to get around town. We were lucky enough to spend the entire week in a flat in the Kensington/Chelsea district, which was a great location for pubs and restaurants. We also took a day trip out to the countryside to see some of the Cotswolds and Oxford — definitely worth the time to see a different side of England.
I’m trying out some new post processing techniques, so let me know what you think of the images!
Filed under: Travel | 2 Comments
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