Hannah Nielsen » Documentary Family Photographer Seattle Portland and Worldwide

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PINIt runs in my family. I was that kid who walked home from the bus stop with her nose in a book. I’d get in trouble late at night for not turning out the light in my room because I couldn’t put my book down…and after I did, I’d often be found under my blanket with a flashlight. “Just one more chapter!!” In some ways I’m still that kid. I often look over at Mister, softly snoring in the bed next to me and think “Is it going to bug him if I read just a little bit more??” I am a book junkie. I love to read. So on that note, let’s talk books!

Here’s what I’ve been reading lately…

PINThanks to my friend, Kris, I just finished Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail. This isn’t normally the type of book I’d pick up on my own, but Kris said it was great and lent me her copy. Within the first few pages I was hooked. Having just finished an athletic fete of my own, I was completely engaged in Cheryl Strayed’s battle with her own body and the trail. I sorta want to go hike it myself now…buuut not by myself. Who wants to come?

PINLone Wolf fit the formula of all of Jodi Picoult’s novels: moral conundrum + multiple narrators + plot twist = entertaining, easy read that kept me interested, but not riveted. I think I’d recommend it as an airplane or beach read…I will say I liked some of her other novels better, but I’m yet to be bored by any of them.

I’m trying to read one business/photography book for every just-for-fun book. Sometimes it’s hard because I usually read at night and business books can sometimes be dry…but this one kept me totally engaged! (I haven’t started my second one yet.)

PINStart With Why by Simon Sinek takes the concept he discusses in his TED Talk and takes it further.  I watched this particular TED Talk 7 or 8 times before I decided to buy the book…not because I wasn’t sure if I should buy it, but because I loved the talk so much that it never occurred to me that I needed any more. I was wrong. This book is great! I highly recommend both the talk and the book to anyone in any business or leadership role. Genius. 

So that’s what I’m reading…How about you? I’d love your recommendations! Please!

 

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  • May 9, 2013 - 11:39 am

    Photography Barrie - Oh man my wife LOVES Jodi Picoult!ReplyCancel

  • May 9, 2013 - 12:13 pm

    Kim Wilhite - I love reading too! Need to find more time for it.ReplyCancel

  • May 9, 2013 - 12:27 pm

    lin - Thanks for recommending these books! I am just looking for something to readReplyCancel

  • May 9, 2013 - 1:53 pm

    Jenna Leigh - LOVE this! Jodi Picoult is amazing and captivating and fabulous! Reading is such an escape for me too!ReplyCancel

  • May 9, 2013 - 2:03 pm

    Jennifer Weems - Thanks for the book recommendations! I’m always looking for a good read.ReplyCancel

  • May 9, 2013 - 6:13 pm

    Michelle S Hanks - This is something I never make time for. I’m going to check out the TED talk though. Thanks for the info.ReplyCancel

  • May 9, 2013 - 6:54 pm

    Alaina Bos - I’m such a bookworm usually but I’ve gotten away from reading and this post inspired me!! Thanks for the recommendations!ReplyCancel

  • May 9, 2013 - 8:26 pm

    Jamie Bodo - I’ve recently the joys of audio books!!! I’ll have to see if these are in audio form, lol! Thanks for sharing 🙂ReplyCancel

Yesterday you got a look at part 1 of the Halters Day in the Life shoot.  Today I’d like to share the rest with you. As I mentioned, this family holds a piece of my heart, and it was so much fun to shoot this! I just can’t get over how special it is to just be a fly on the wall during a family’s regular routine. These are the moments that won’t last forever, but that they’ll always want to remember. I got to capture that. I just read something on Pinterest that said, “Enjoy the little things in life, because someday you’ll look back and realize that they were the big things.”

When we got back from the park, the ladies watered the plants, Cass changed her soaking wet clothes, and everyone helped with dinner.

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After dinner it was bath time and then Daddy put Kenna to bed.

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Then Mommy put Cass to bed…Goodnight cutie pies!

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Hey, good news! If you made it this far, you can enter to win your own Day in the Life shoot! Just share this post on Facebook (by clicking the “Share on Facebook” button below) with the sentence “I want to remember______”.  Tell me what it is about your family right this second that you want to remember. Is it the way your little girl twirls her hair around her finger while she falls asleep? Your son’s obsession with Spiderman? The way your husband holds the baby while he cooks dinner? What is it you want to capture forever? “I want to remember _____” Make sure you “like” and tag Hannah D Photography in your post so that I know you’ve shared, or comment on this post telling me that you’ve shared! The winner will be chosen at random on Monday, May 13th. For each friend you get to enter, you get an extra entry too so be sure to tell them all!

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  • May 8, 2013 - 4:14 pm

    Dana Halter - Thank you, Hannah, for this beautiful gift. I’d love to do this every couple of years to capture the girls growing up, and what changes…and what stays the same. Such a wonderful concept, and it brings me great joy.ReplyCancel

  • May 8, 2013 - 4:25 pm

    Whitney Lane - These are adorable what an awesome memory for them to have a day in time stand still for them to always look back and rememberReplyCancel

  • May 8, 2013 - 4:36 pm

    Tanja - This is soooo wonderfull! What mom doesn’t think back at the time when she used to tuck in her little ones. So precious to have photographs like this. Can you imagine the parents looking back at these when their kids get married…ReplyCancel

  • May 8, 2013 - 5:29 pm

    Michelle S Hanks - Fabulous! That dad is Awesome!!! I’m just saying, he’s so intertwined with thier girls. Great stuff and oh, puppies! I love the dogs!ReplyCancel

  • May 8, 2013 - 9:51 pm

    Morgana - So Adorable 🙂ReplyCancel

  • May 10, 2013 - 2:20 am

    Nick Rose Photographer - Awesome idea for a shoot…lovely images!ReplyCancel

This family is close to my heart. I met Cassie when she was 14 days old and she was my very first newborn session. I became her nanny a few months later, and she was the ring bearer in my wedding.  When McKenna was born, I was there to document the moment that Cassie got to meet her, and spent hours and hours rocking her in the first few months of her life. I should also mention that Cass and Kenna’s parents, Mike and Dana, are pretty awesome too and my mister and I really love hanging out with them (Sounders games, beer tasting, and so on).

This shoot is something new I’ve been chewing on for awhile and I’m in love with the concept: A Day in the Life. I got to go into their home and stayed from the time the girls woke up from their nap to the time they went down for the night. I got to experience the dinner time routine, a walk to the park, bath, and bed time, from the perspective of a fly on the wall. I loved watching the girls interact with each other and Mom and Dad, and capturing the every day moments in a special way.

The perfection in the imperfection.

Have I mentioned lately that I love my job?

Here’s just a little bit of the first half of our evening…The second half will be in another blog post tomorrow. Ohmygosh it was soooo hard to narrow it down! Mike and Dana, I can’t wait to show you the rest!

First Cassie woke up…and helped Daddy. And played with two of her best buddies, Siri and Frodo.

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And then McKenna woke up. She’s a lot like her big sister in that she’s a huge helper, and loooves her dogs! She also patiently waited for Mommy to come home.

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And then it was time to get ready to go to the park!

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Stay tuned for more of these cutie pies tomorrow!

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  • May 7, 2013 - 8:41 am

    Chantal Brown - What an adorable little girl! She is so cute!ReplyCancel

  • May 7, 2013 - 10:15 am

    Dana Halter - Hannah! These photos are magical…and they make me smile. From helping us raise our girls to documenting our lives to being great friends, I’m so very grateful that we connected back in June of 2009. Love you!ReplyCancel

  • May 7, 2013 - 12:58 pm

    Jennie - This is awesome! I do this with my own kids each spring. I’ve been doing it for 4 years now and it is so fun to look back on my life and see how things have changed or stayed the same. My pictures aren’t great because I have to take them myself. It would be awesome to have a professional do it for you! Great idea!ReplyCancel

  • May 7, 2013 - 1:58 pm

    Becky Stephens - What a fantastic idea! I love this, love the big sister helping her little sister!ReplyCancel

  • May 7, 2013 - 2:04 pm

    Stacy Gendreau - I love everything about this! xoxoReplyCancel

  • May 7, 2013 - 5:49 pm

    Jade - This is such a great concept! You inspire me to do something like this…nice work!ReplyCancel

  • May 7, 2013 - 6:02 pm

    Wedding Photographer Barrie - Beautiful storytelling, awesomely fun work!ReplyCancel

  • May 7, 2013 - 10:43 pm

    Michelle S Hanks - A few things. Love this and I realize that I have done this for our daughter (and us) for the last 9 years. Second, these images are gorgeous! And last, I live those dogs. We had Aussies for almost 11 years and we miss them!ReplyCancel

  • May 7, 2013 - 11:44 pm

    Jamie Bodo - Absolutely ADORABLE!!!ReplyCancel

  • May 8, 2013 - 1:34 pm

    Amy - These photos are so sweet. What a great way to remember the little things.ReplyCancel

  • May 14, 2013 - 8:55 am

    julianna Rennard - What an amazing life she has.ReplyCancel

  • June 6, 2013 - 12:06 pm

    Forrest - Fantastic photographer! Got right down the the essence of it all- I suppose having the right subjects helps, tho 😉ReplyCancel

I’ve known Courtney since we were freshmen in high school — giggly girls talking about boys. She was my first roommate when I moved out of my parents’ house. I have vivid memories of staying up late, eating cookie dough, and watching the same movie over and over again. She was also my 3rd roommate…and my 5th. We just couldn’t stay away from each other.

Since I moved away after college our visits have been few and far between, but Courtney is one of those friends you can go years without seeing, and then when you finally do, everything is exactly the same.

Courtney brought her man, Ed, up to Seattle from Oregon for their engagement shoot (and a visit!). We met at the Puyallup Spring Fair. What a fun location!! I was excited so to see her, and to finally meet him, and for their shoot of course. Ed is as sweet and fun as I would’ve hoped and I’m so happy to see my friend so happy!

Courtney and Ed, I can’t wait to shoot your wedding in August!! Here are a few of my favorites from their session.

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  • May 6, 2013 - 10:26 am

    Tamara - Fun! Plus, I love the colors.ReplyCancel

  • May 6, 2013 - 11:02 am

    Rebecca Anne - Oh the are so adorable! Love the popcorn shot!ReplyCancel

  • May 6, 2013 - 1:26 pm

    Natasha - TOTALLY LOVE the popcorn and carousel shot!ReplyCancel

  • May 6, 2013 - 2:13 pm

    Whitney Lane - I love the sweet treats booth shots! I am obsessed with carnival and fair engagement shots they are SO FUN!ReplyCancel

  • May 6, 2013 - 2:40 pm

    Gretchen Korf - IN-spired! So fun!ReplyCancel

  • May 6, 2013 - 3:57 pm

    Jete Devisser - These are so fun! I’m dying to do an e-session at the fair – they add such an element of fun and whimsy!ReplyCancel

  • May 6, 2013 - 4:20 pm

    Michelle S Hanks - What a sweet shoot. She looks giddy, doesn’t she? How precious! I look forward to thier wedding.ReplyCancel

  • May 6, 2013 - 4:23 pm

    Ray Urner - Ok, this looks like WAY too much fun!ReplyCancel

  • May 6, 2013 - 5:07 pm

    stefanie - what cute photos!ReplyCancel

  • May 6, 2013 - 5:23 pm

    Mark Martinez - Wonderful work Hannah! Popcorn shot is super fun 🙂ReplyCancel

  • May 6, 2013 - 5:30 pm

    Amanda - I LOVE these!! I was just telling my sister I wanted to try and do an engagement session at our state fair this year!!ReplyCancel

  • May 6, 2013 - 6:54 pm

    Jennifer Weems - Great job, left me wanting a corny dog and funnel cake.ReplyCancel

  • May 7, 2013 - 6:26 am

    Valerie Waters - Gaahhh!!! I’m in love! Beautiful!ReplyCancel

  • May 7, 2013 - 8:06 pm

    Ann - Love the mood in these frames. Dark skies call for cozy shots! Well done!ReplyCancel

Ryan and Audrey emailed me a few months ago looking for a wedding photographer and I was so happy to hear from them. They live in Portland so we emailed back and forth for quite awhile before we were able to meet in person. I instantly felt like we could be friends, and I was THRILLED when I found out they’d be getting married in Hood River (the same town my husband and I got married). Our emails back and forth ranged from silly to logistical and by the time we met for our consultation I felt like we should be having beers, not signing contracts. I’m so honored and excited to have taken their engagement photos and can’t wait for their wedding this summer! Ryan and Audrey have been together for TEN YEARS (!!!) and their easy, comfortable love was apparent to me right away.

Ryan participated in my love letter contest for Valentine’s Day. I’m not going to share the whole thing yet, but here’s a little glimpse into how awesome this couple is:

“I irrationally love Audrey – it’s beyond reason and measure. I love her because there are I times I’m not sure why she loves me, but damn am I grateful and thankful. I don’t believe in time because love is infinite – therefore when I’m with Audrey it’s not measured in days or weeks or minutes, or years – it’s felt. And it continues to grow. Infinitely!”

Without further ado (and with a giant HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Audrey!!!), here are some of my favorite of their engagement images…as you can see, I had a little bit of trouble narrowing it down…

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  • May 2, 2013 - 11:01 am

    Katie - What a great great session! They are so in love and you can see that in the way you photographed them. I love the fun, airy, natural interactions between them. 🙂ReplyCancel

  • May 2, 2013 - 12:07 pm

    Audrey - EEK! I Love them Hannah!! You did such a great job with and that little snip it from Ryan’s letter made me cry all over again! You have such great vision and execution for the matter. So thankful we found you and this makes us that much more excited for August!!ReplyCancel

  • May 2, 2013 - 12:20 pm

    Erin - These are super cute! I love the colors too.ReplyCancel

  • May 2, 2013 - 7:54 pm

    Alaina Bos - They are sooooo cute together! And I love LOVE the sunflare! Especially the shot with the back lit dandelions! So gorgeous! I can’t wait to see their wedding photos! Oh, and I LOVE Ryan’s love letter too 🙂ReplyCancel

  • May 2, 2013 - 8:13 pm

    Ray Urner - I love the flowers especially..!ReplyCancel

  • May 2, 2013 - 8:29 pm

    Jennie - AMAZING!!! Love your style so much girl! You rocked it!!ReplyCancel

  • May 2, 2013 - 9:46 pm

    Michelle S Hanks - Sweetness in every shot! If you guys chatted about clothing choices, y’all collaborated perfectly. Great color and timeless appeal.ReplyCancel

  • May 6, 2013 - 7:44 pm

    Kate O'Connor - Gorgeous, happy, love love love these! The sun, the tree – and what a freaking sweet couple! All the very best to them – they’re so lucky to have you as their photographer!ReplyCancel