Luke + Juliette | Sweetheart Session | Claremont, CA

It's my brother's birthday and I wish I were near him. with him. able to do something crazy somewhere in the vacinity of him. but he's working at some fancy firm doing some fancy design stuff in Silicone Valley, changing the world one fancy art development at a time. 

I hunted through a few pictures I had of him. And then realized...oh man oh man, i never shared his sweetheart session with his best friend and girlfriend, Juliette. 

So here is Luke and his woman. These beautiful people are my family and I'm sending you one solid air guitar your direction...  :) 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! :) 

Charlie + Ronika: Tucson Palo Verde Desert Wash & Sunset Bike Ride Engagement Session

Charlie & Ronika are so chill and made my job was painfully easy. I realized that much of their ease would allow me to hush up and let them breathe together. Pre-wedding craziness is at a high and this evening together seemed to be progressively more of a detox "i-love-you-so-much" interlude. And the reminding grace that "oh-my-gosh-i-want-to-be-with-this-person-forever" seemed to wash over them in moments of sweetness and sunbeams...sunset bike rides. I am beyond excited for their wedding at the Tucson Museum of Art. Game on baby. | lkm

EDIT // I asked Ronika for some of the backstory for her and Charlie's wedding day and she gave the sweetest proposal story that i had to add...

Its beginning: The modest rumble of a triumph motorcycle, led me to you that night. I made my way to the door to thank you, Charlie, for the two colorful assorted bouquets. I found you at the end of the steps looking hesitant but sexy in cowboy boots, fitted jeans, button down gray shirt covered by a brown vest. I walked toward the man who I had desired since a young girl. By our third date I realized he was the face I had tried so hard to imagine, a man full integrity, love and a need for adventure. I opened my arms and you embraced me, I felt the slightest trembling running through your skin. You grabbed my hands and looked up at me with a big determined grin and said, “Ronika a year ago today I asked you to hangout and today I wanted ask if you would hang out with me for the rest of your life!” . The man of my dreams took one knee and asked me to marry him. I was altogether beside myself unable to keep tears of happiness from ruling my entire face. My dreams had become a reality this is a moment I shall always remember....Shall we always to choose to love.

Dan + Erin | 'Vintage-Meets-Urban'-Inspired Downtown Tucson Engagement Session | Pt.2

{Dan + Erin | Vintage-Meets-Urban Inspired Downtown Tucson Engagement Session | Janaury 2012}

I thought that shooting in La Placita in downtown Tucson would be too cliche. But you get a couple like Erin and Dan to unleash, be real, enjoy each other, share a few inside jokes, laugh, trip, embarass themselves gloriously so--and you could stick 'em in front of cardboard boxes and still have a spread worth a million bucks. Oh the color!! My gosh, these two burst with such a raw, goofy delight in each other--my face hurts from smiling. | lkm

(above) check out their vert! they nailed the 'jump' on the first try. standing ovation please.  that pole little kiss moment there was purely spontaneous. Dan--you're so suave. erin's grin in these middle-of-the-street/my-photographer-is-going-to-kill-us images...was favorite. so we found this truck...kinda random. but i'm a fan. 'hey dan, grab erin's hand and frolick gleefully down the alley and then embrace each other in than corridor.'i can't get over how perfectly the tones of what they were wearing meshed with the wall...so the day was mostly overcast which is often some of the BEST natural-soft-box-style lighting you can get....but I was secretly a little bummed that we missed out on some of that golden flare when a session ends with a sunset-provided epic finale....... and yet...... there was a band playing in downtown that night. Just as dan and erin were getting into the car i knew i had to cease the moment. quickly. before we lost momentum. and boy did these two deliver :)   Dan + Erin, we love you guys. You are SUCH a treat. Lawson & I still can't wait for our double date. Thank you for trusting me with these memories. So so blessed to be a part of this special season with you guys! | lkm