… Jacqi and I managed to sneak away to Hawaii for a bit after during a busy season of shooting weddings. Here’s a shot of yesterday’s stunning sunset - I’ll post more when I return!

In the meantime, Gabe & Ashley are holding down the fort. Feel free to shoot Gabe Portland wedding inquiries until I return!

This is my beautiful wife Ashley. She is the one that keeps me going. She keeps me well fed with amazing food. She lets me debrief after a long shoot whether it’s just me needing to process everything in my head or talk 100 words per second. She kicks my butt when I need it and keeps me accountable and on task. AND she is an amazing mother to my two sons. Without her I would not be here doing what I’m doing at the capacity in which it’s done. I love her for so many reasons and I want you to get to know some more about her and why we like to have her involved in the business so much. We really are opposites on some things which makes for some fun discussions but more importantly we’re learning to use that to our advantage and work off each others strengths. Many of you (including the Author, Dane Sanders) requested Ashley, Jacqi, & Boone answer the questions from our new favorite book Fast Track Photographer and it is my pleasure to introduce to you my wife, Ashley Rodriguez. (check out the deliciousness on her site: The Artisan Sweets Blog) You can see my answers on our previous post and I’m hoping Boone & Jacqi will have some answers up after their upcoming time out of town.

D.S. : What is the strongest/most colorful aspect of my your personality?
A.R. hmmm…. I think I am a thinker. More often than not I over think. Because of this I tend to be very sensitive and highly aware of who and what is going on around me. I am passionate about learning and spend a lot of time thinking and analyzing what particular subject has captured my interest. Colorful or not I am most often the fly on the wall who happily sits in silence but notices everything that is going on in the room.

D.S. : What styles of clothing do you look best and feel best in?
A.R. : At this point in my life my style is non-existent. But if I did have a high clothing budget and time to care about what I put on in the morning I would dress myself in quality clothing that someone who loves what they do has created with love and passion. I lean towards what I would call a fashionable hippy. Earthy yet sophisticated.

D.S. : What kind of music do you love? Is it an important part of your identity?
A.R. : Depends on my mood. Gabe’s the music man in our family so I usually let him decide what is on the playlist….. unless it’s some crazy head-banging crap he sometimes listens to. But then again he is kind enough to let me get my Dave Matthew’s fix from time to time. I do love music and it has been a part of most of my life I just don’t have any one genre that really speaks to me.

D.S. : What style of art do you prefer?
A.R. : As with music I am moved by many different styles and mediums. I studied studio arts in college and was planning on being an art teacher before food stole my heart. I tend to gravitate towards paintings that are bright, vivid and clean. It is really hard for me to just pick one style. Let’s just say I can (and do) appreciate most styles of art.

D.S. : What style of architecture and design do you lean toward?
A.R. : Clean, modern, simple but livable and comfortable.

D.S. : What decade do you most identify with?
A.R. : The zeros.

D.S. : What defines a celebration for you?
A.R. : Amazing food. I could be by myself with a bountiful meal and still consider that a celebration.

D.S. : What foods and beverages do you most like and identify with?
A.R. : Alright. Now this question is for me. Let me just say that I am pretty sure I could write a book on this subject but I will give you the synopsis by just talking about chocolate for now. I know what you are thinking… chocolate!? Everyone loves chocolate. But please let me explain. If you have ever worked with chocolate you have noticed that some days it can be very moody and will not cooperate with you no matter how gentle and meticulous you are. Other days chocolate is your best friend and will happily oblige and can be made into the most beautiful creations without any complaints or blooming (it’s a chocolate term - look it up). Chocolate and I are the same. Unlike my always happy, pleasant and easy-going husband I tend to be a bit moodier. My dad says I have been blessed with an artist’s temperment. That’s a nice way of putting it. However you want to say it, like chocolate, when I am having an off day I am not easily coaxed and will not be molded, tempered or tamed for anything. But on good days I like to think that I can be as smooth, deep, complex and sweet as the best chocolate.

D.S. : Do you have a philosophical outlook that you feel strongly about and want to share with the world? A spiritual identity? Would an overt or more subtle expression of that outlook best reflect the real you?
A.R. : I love Jesus. Not just as some great guy or an amazing teacher (although he was those things). I love him because he first loved me and loved me enough to die for me (and everyone else in this world) and then miraculously came to life again to show he in fact was the one true God. Pretty amazing. It is my intent to live everyday of my life to glorify God. I also love God because he created chocolate. Amen?!

D.S. : What are your thoughts about marriage, framed in the most positive way possible?
A.R. : First of all I am truly the most fortunate girl in the world. I am married to the most sensitive, caring, kind, creative, funny, handsome and loving person I have ever met. So no matter how hard marriage can be (and it is) he makes it pretty darn easy by being so amazing. And he makes pretty cute kids too so that’s a plus.

D.S. : What culture are you most influenced by? Are you comfortable incorporating those influences in your branded image?
A.R. : Relunctantly and proudly I say American. My world view is not as broad as I would like it to be. I have spent some time in Venezuela (5 weeks) and Italy (5 months) but not long enough to really have it influence me on a daily basis… scratch that I take it back. In Italy I met and feel in love with food so that obviously was a HUGE influence in my life. But as far as the day to day culture and such goes I would have to say I am most influenced by America. I hope to spend more of my life traveling with my family and know that that will be a great influence. Without rambling on any further I guess I would say that American culture does not really define who I am so I don’t think it would really influence or be an integral part of our branded image.

D.S. : What kind of car best gels with your personality? Restaurant? Magazine? Musical instrument? Musician? Writer?
A.R. : Any sort of convertable. There is just something about the way I feel when wind is hitting me against the face. Restaurant? Any place that let’s the food be the star, not the decor or any other statis symbol. One that comes to mind right now is Tilth in Seattle. It is clear to see that they are in the restaurant business because of their love of food. Magazine? Right now I am in to Saveur. Reading it makes me hungry. Musical instrument? My voice. Writer? Anne Lamott writes with this sort of sassy spunk that is a part of my alter ego (some days it is a part of my regular ego).

D.S. : How would you describe your ideal client? What sorts of activities is this person involved in. What kind of products does she/he buy? What publication does he/she read? What places does she/he frequent?
A.R. : Gabe and I both are so excited about supporting and working with people who are passionate. We love to see people doing what they love and doing it incredibly well. Gabe and I feel so blessed to be able to make a living doing the work we love to do. It takes a lot of effort and we really appreciate it when we have clients who truly value our hard work. We put so much of ourselves into it and see our business almost like a third child. So I think my ideal client sees that, appreciates that and understands that.

They also have to be fun and quirky or at least be willing to work with photographers who are.

D.S. : Which celebrity’s public image are you most attracted to? Why? Do any of those qualities apply to your own brand? If so, how? And how are you uniquely different?
A.R. : I appreciate the often hard to find but intrigueing combination of confidence and humility. Ellen DeGeneras has it. I think comediens often have it because they have to have the confidence to get on stage and the humility to be able to laugh at themselves.

D.S. : What indefinable quality do you possess that makes you bigger than the sum of my parts?
A.R. : yikes. This is kind of one of those life-defining questions that I am quite nervous to answer. Because once I write it it is there and will be there until I come and delete it. At this point in time I am going to say that it is my ability to know what I want then do whatever I can to get it. Sometimes it takes me awhile to figure out what it is that I want but once I know… there is no stopping me.

Gabe and I recently had the opportunity to photograph Stephanie & Matt’s wedding on Orcas Island in the San Juan Islands. Hitting the end of our ferry ride, we set out for our destination, the Outlook Inn. You might recognize them from our Bellevue Engagement Session that we shot two weeks before the wedding!

Stephanie and Matt have been completely enjoyable to work with, so it was fun to meet their family and friends. It was easy to tell that the couple is well loved by their guests.

Regardless of the fact that it poured most of the day, their wedding was charmingly beautiful and clearly just as meaningful.

There wasn’t a dry eye in the room!

Yeah, unbelievable. Those cheeks just don’t stop! This little guy was so stinkin cute and he just wanted to stick his tongue out at me most of the morning. I couldn’t help but smile the entire time. Sara and Jim found us through our good friend Kirk over at the Practical Westcoast Blog. We had a great shoot the weekend before last at their West Seattle home and over the phone realized that we all went to college together. Check out the darkroom slideshow.

Boone and I shoot a select amount of seniors and families each year and so far we’ve had super-rad clients for 2008. You can look forward to some more awesome seniors up on the blog in the near future as well as maybe a family or two. Still have a bunch of weddings to post as well!

I love this parting look that he gave me as we packed up to leave. Perfect.