Danica & ryan Romantic Los Rios District Engagement Session - San Juan Capistrano, CALIFORNIA1/23/2024 It all starts with presence. With more presence comes patience. With more patience comes peace. With more peace comes joy. With more joy comes laughter. With more laughter, comes nourishment. With more nourishment comes fulfillment. With more fulfillment comes belonging. With more belonging comes purpose. With more purpose, comes intentionality. With more intentionality, comes honesty. With more honesty comes vulnerability. With more vulnerability, comes courage. With more courage, comes possibility. With more possibility, comes freedom. With more freedom, comes living out your deepest truth. With living out your deepest truth, comes building your dream life. With building out your dream life, comes living your dream life. It all starts with presence. Beyond grateful for getting to be present in transcribing the heartbeat of my clients souls in the multiple expressions at hand - an engagement, wedding, expansion of a family or new business into vibrantly candid and blissful photographs. Cannot wait to document these two lovers next year at one of my all time favorite venues. A question I’ve been getting asked A LOT lately is if I still do photography. The answer, YES. I am still documenting my favorite souls alongside my Courage Coaching and The Living Courageously Podcast! You definitely do not see as much in this space as I am so insanely passionate about sharing all that unravels through living courageously! You see, truth is, photography is embedded in my soul. For as long as I can remember, 13 years professionally, for my whole life as a hobby, photography has been my vessel, my way of being in exchange and communicating that which I am inspired by within this world. Truth is, it was far easier to hind behind other people and my photography than it was to put myself out there and follow my calling. So here we are, in this incredible harmony where I have grown, my business has grown, my way of being in community, in exchange, in connection with you and the universe has grown. I am at the latter part, although I am INSANELY HONORED to document the most inspirational souls, I am courageously putting myself out there, in ways I never had the confidence, courage, trust to do so. Courage coaching and photography coexist. Behind it all, my immense dedication to seeing a person through the most pure, positive, real kinda way. Where this very reality creates this space, connection, exchange for us to truly see, hear and honor each of us. As we are. Where we are. Who we are. This reality, damn is it so beautifully supportive. So dynamically, sincere. Behind my ways of being in exchange, lies the same foundation — that of my values and the why behind what I do. ⛰️My values — honesty, presence, sincerity, quality time, acknowledging, honoring, holding dear, expressing gratitude and love, compassion, being kind. ⛰️My why — I have been blessed to live a life far beyond my dreams and I am committed, every single day to supporting others in realizing their dreams. These right here are reflections from my 2nd to last wedding of this season! Two souls who I had the honor of reconnected with, the absolute joy of getting to be witness to their love and something so dear to my heart- them seeing me fully, completely as me. Vendor love : Venue : @lakehousehotel @hollykalkinweddings Photographer: @ashleystrongsmith_ Makeup : @hollieberrybeauty Florals : @alliumroseflorals Dress : @bylillianwest Coordination : @hollykalkinweddings Cake : @hazelandjadebakery Giddiness. It was present. It was felt. Completely. Fully. Throughout the entire experience. Heading up there for a few days. The preparing for. The arriving at. The meeting in person. The witnessing. The documenting. The joy. The love. The laughter. The surprises. The pristine expression. The giddiness. I couldn’t edit their sneak peaks fast enough. The entire day was so intentionally thought out. Every detail. Every expression. One of the things that really ignited my passion and inspiration with this very wedding was the dedication to the preparation and the research, specially around photography. They thought about every detail and what resonated most deeply, the insanely amazing bride you witness here, went two days before the wedding, at the exact time around when we were scheduled to do sunset romantics to scout out the locations immensely. I woke to videos with 5 minute updates for the half hour around sunset. It was a gesture, to me, that brought a unification. Their deep love and desire for badass sunset photos. Their immense dedication and research in ensuring they knew the perfect timing and location. My connection to lightning, the “golden hour,” my couple at hand and the power of authentic, deep, present connection. Within these moments was that of deep breathing, embracing and holding close, this, this very sacred space and time together. I sent their sneaks while on their honeymoon and this was the reply I got, “OMG YOU ARE AMAZING! We just sat on out deck squealing at these photos! Absolutely STUNNING! Wow! Especially those sunset shots! Ahh you absolutely killed it!!! We can’t wait to see the rest!!😍😍” My reply, a voice note of me giggling that said, “That you for igniting such an inspiration within me. It was truly such a gift.” Congrats lovers! Dream team : @kaylee_dawson & @_erikmartin @miabellaweddingsandevents @flowersbymaria @bruce_barrios @hairbyrandall @matrimonyfilms @uscedu @walnutgroveweddings Yesterday, I arrived in Catalina. Deeply rooted in gratitude, I took a much needed deep breath! You see, when I expanded by business, launching both Courage Coaching and The Living Courageously Podcast, I did so with such an intense awareness around the fear turned courage to be able to do so. The questions were endless. From within and my community. But, what does this mean for photography? Are you still doing photography? Do you still have the capacity for photography? Do you still want to do photography? Are you sure you can do it all? Won’t you be a jack of all traits and a master of none? Will people take you serious? Oh goodness, could I keep going. Truth is, I didn’t have the answers. All I had was a deep knowing and call that was loudly placed on my heart and knew it needed to come into existence within this universe. Here I stand, almost two years after making the promise to myself to finally let my passion of personal growth, development and transformation to take shape in a deepened form. Here I stand, a year and a half after declaring Courage Coaching to the world. Here I stand, nearly a year from releasing The Living Courageously Podcast. Here I stand, in true alignment with being a multi-passionate business owner. Here I stand, rooted in gratitude and connectivity of the honor of being able to connect and document through the gift of photography. Here I stand, deeply connected to, in gratitude and presence of it all. These moments here are from last weekend's wedding where the vibrancy was in full swing, the expression was so uniquely divine and the love so immensely felt. Epic vendor team : Venue : @theshermangardens Food : @608dahlia Florals : @robintempleflowers Beauty : @aiprll_hmua Cake : @penelopesperfections I’ve been struggling to find words these past few days. Friday night, on the way home from seeing my biggest inspiration Rachel Hollis, I open instagram to see post alluding to losing one of the members of the Mountains Provisionary Co-Op that I so proudly documented just a few months prior. As I arrived home and opened my phone once more, I was immediately covered in chills with tears rolling down my eyes. Lauri, the owner of a store called MagPi here in the mountains was murdered right outside her shop defending the pride flag she so proudly flew right outside her store. A senseless hate crime. A senseless hate crime here in our sacred mountains. A senseless hate crime towards an inspirational ally of the LGBTQ+ here in our sacred mountains. My heart is shattered. And my deepest condolences go to her family and this community. Although I didn’t know her personally, I knew her through being involved in this community, here on the mountain that I have never felt more at home in and through documenting her alongside the other remarkable founding members of the co-op. During those few hours and the following months of seeing those photos on their website and on flyers around the mountain, a pride penetrated my being as the values of this community are truly so inspirational. Honoring and creating space for all. Something that I aligned so deeply with and honor so fully in every aspect of my being. For locals or anyone in support to Lauri, there will be a vigil coming soon! I will share more info once I have it! Please continue to honor her legacy and hold space for her, her family, community and the impact her murder has had on our mountain. The answer is love. Always choose love. Hate has no place here. Discrimination has no place here. ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜 Remember when I was in Florida? So deeply embedded in and inspired by being witness to one of my insanely badass clients turned friends in her own slice of divinity here on earth? These here are just a few of the moments documented during her three hour lifestyle session - in her very own home, backyard, neighboring forest and favorite beach. Throughout this entire experience, there was an all consuming vibration - one where every bit of my senses were heightened. The reality of being in a new environment (for the first time), getting to travel for a passion, being around someone who lives life so deeply, fully, intentionally + emite that to everyone around her, engaging in enhancing conversations, having space and time for me, dedicating and entire day to working ON myself + my business. Reflecting back on my writings from this very time, a few of the words that caught me attention were these, “What if you embraced all parts of you? Everything that has been? Everything that is? And an opening for everything that will be? Listen. Honor. Let your light shine. Let your truth be heard. Let your most authentic self radiate out into the world. You matter. You belong. Let ALL of you be you.” So, I leave you with this… What if you embraced all parts of you? Lea, thank you SO much for believing in me so deeply and fully and inviting me into your slice of divinity here on earth. You are truly such an inspiration. I am honored to know you, call you and friend and document your radiance. Keep shining my girl! |
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