Once upon a time, a circus tent was upraised at the Oregon country fair. A boy was touring with his family’s circus show {new old time Chautauqua} from Homer, Alaska. A country Kansas girl was touring with her brothers {Nana}, a group of uber-talented ‘ninja acrobaticalists and they happened to meet at this circus. Tyler and his family lived in a cozy town in the most dramatic of landscapes: Alaska. Being from a small town, there wasn’t a lot of safe fun for kids his age when he was being raised, so his mother started a summer school for kids in her hometown; a circus! As a boy Tyler remembers traveling in a hollowed-out bus turned into a living area by his parents. What characters! What memories! Akina, the sweet {darling} that she is, is every bit as dainty and alluring in person as she is in these photographs. She grew up in a large family in the {lovely} fields of Kansas. I love that she was from such an artistic family! It made her so perfectly suited to the ever-so-sweet Tyler! They were in high school at the time but life would have them meet again in a chance meeting on the streets of Portland, Oregon where something delightful happened! {love}! After reuniting they quickly pick up where they left off, joining the band {animal eyes} and creating music together {how dreamy, right?}. Tyler plays guitar, mandolin, trumpet, and piano. Akina plays the violin occasionally and sings. She’s the backbone of the band, in his {sweet} words, in addition to cooking, critiquing, and being their #1 fan! They had even just finished playing at a {hippie circus} before our photo shoot.
I can’t help but {swoon} over the way these two fell in love: performing circus plays, serenading each other with music, juggling, marching bands, and all the grandeur of being a part of a traveling crew-exploring the new wonders and laughter of people around the world! They told me all about being a part of the circus! What captured me was that when they close the gates at night to the public, the lights remain on for the circus performers and that is when separate camps of people erupt into gatherings to play music, dance, eat the best of the food cheaply, and enjoy late-night campfires and camaraderie! It sounds so {delightfully} fairy-like! Something about our upbringings leave indelible marks on us all. It is something beautiful to appreciate what makes your soul sing and I found exactly that when I was given the chance to style & design this conceptual engagement photo shoot for these {lovebirds}! I had much help from my dear friend and assistant {Rachael Driscoll}! She is a delightful artist of design. I’m one lucky gal to reap the benefits of having her creative mind so close at hand when things like this come along!
After hearing their rich-with-details love, I knew that the traditional circus themes wouldn’t be enough to tell their story-that would be too obvious! The scenery had to have presence, color, history, and the other-worldly allure of that circus feel, that feeling that transports you to those favorite joyful moments in life. And the St. Johns bridge caught my breath just so! I’ve seen plenty of photographs using cathedral park underneath the bridge for a setting, and while the underbody of the bridge is quite spectacular as well, I knew it wasn’t enough. I {needed} to get them on that bridge!! So, we set about planning an early dawn photo shoot on a bleary Sunday morning to limit the traffic! What a fabulous couple! Not only did I never once hear a complaint, but they {understood} my vision, my art!
So, I purchased a vintage lace dress that I just needed to see her in! I found it at my absolute new shop obsession, {Timeless Vixen}, on Etsy! {sigh}. This shop makes my heart flutter!! The lace dress was dated to the 50′s, and so I wanted to be true to the time period. I found some vintage blue pumps on Etsy as well, with a 50′s lace and velvet birdcage headpiece. We outfitted Tyler in some brown slacks, rolled them up to add a little {nerdy} touch, complete with suspenders and {darling} yellow bow tie courtesy of {Divine Domestication}. He came prepared with mismatched socks and vintage brown shoes! The whole night before it rained hard and long, and as I awaited them at my home, the rain did not let up. I’m so glad that they were so agreeable because even though it was wet, rainy, cold, and windy up on that bridge, the resulting images took our breath away!
Rachael and I talked through how to tie in our wonderful theme!
1. We {love} balloons.
2. I heard the remixed 99 red balloons song and it took me back.
3. It felt truly “right”! Since the song has a melancholy theme, I wanted to read the true translation and take all the great parts of it to depict here. here is the part that we jumped off on: “have you some time for me? Then I’ll sing a song for you about 99 balloons on their way to the horizon. If you are perhaps thinking about me now then I’ll sing a song for you about 99 balloons and that such a thing comes from such a thing. I found a balloon and think of you and let it fly away.”
So, we decided to play off of how {musical} this couple was. One of my favorite images from this shoot depicts Tyler whistling to his love. Aah! Be still my beating heart {smile}! Also, since there are a lot of industrial and sci-fi themes to the song, we made it playful by having them pose as robots for several shots {giddy laugh}! A love those ones! The balloons played homage to their lovely circus background and tied in the song! And to finish it off, they let the balloons go. Such a {lovely} morning. The fog lingering in the trees on the mountain behind. The glistening raindrops on the road casting yellow light from the reflection of the lamp-stands on the bridge. The creamy green-blue shade of the richly historical {St Johns bridge} matching the sweet tie on Akina’s dress. The wind playing in the folds of her lace dress and moving her hair in organic ways. Simply everything was how it should have been. And get this: they were {naturals} in front of the camera! I could have just died of {happiness}! They were goofy, gleeful, alluring, and so obviously head-over-heels for each other! Between running back and forth as passing cars zoomed past and honked their horns in congratulatory praise of what they most likely thought as an elopement or wedding session {smile}, we laughed, worked together, and enjoyed the moment! I could not have done it without Rachael; and, sweet Akina and Tyler were so wholly {delightful}, that I’m so honored to have had the privilege of meeting them and documenting this moment for them!
my. heart. is. glad. {smile}
