May 17 - Norway Day once again

It's that time of the year again. May 17, Norwegian National Day, with all that that entails: the children's parade, hot dogs, ice cream, cakes, games, flags, speeches, anthem, national costumes, bells and whistles, uncomfortable shoes and ironed shirts, red-white-and-blue, blisters, messy faces and sticky hands. Possibly the most anticipated day of the year, or a least a solid runner up after Christmas and birthdays. Here are some glimpses from the Houston celebrations, which took place a few days early on the 13th. Hope you enjoy! If you see your own kids in here, 'like' the link and show it to your families at home. Sx

Confirmation and family portraiture

It was Magnus's confirmation last weekend, and to mark the occasion, all of his grandparents and his uncle and a cousin, had flown in from Norway to help celebrate. Not a bad turnout, considering the 12 hour flight time. They also wanted to mark the occasion with a family photo shoot. In order to catch that soft morning light and avoid the heat, we were in the park at 7.30am. Good decision, - the light was beautiful. Though there were some calls for breakfast afterwards :) I hope you enjoy the photos. And as always, if you have a family occasion, or you just want some lovely memories of your family or your children up on the wall, let me know. Sx

...and it was all yellow.

Sometimes you just get lucky. I was in the park a couple of weeks ago, and it was lush and green. When we showed up for this family shoot a few days ago, the landscape had completely transformed. It was all yellow, as far as the eye could see. Millions of pretty flowers covered the fields. It looked like someone had just spread out an enormous yellow blanket for us to sit on. Thank you! Having not lived through an entire Texas spring season yet, I'm not sure how long they will last, but I'm definitely making a note in the calendar for next year, and so should you :) I had so much fun with this lovely family. If you want to have photos like these taken of your own family, email me, so we can stick a date in the diary. Maybe we'll still be in time for the spectacular spring flower show...

A box of memories.

I have a box of memories. It contains a collection of my childhood drawings, old family letters bundled together, music that had significance to  me at some point, a copy of my Masters thesis (the most cohesive things I ever wrote), video tapes, the decorational flowers from my wedding cake, photos, negatives, wine corks from special occasions... Basically, it's the box I would grab if the house caught on fire. The kids love to fish through it, amazed that I wrote letters at the tender age of four. And they are mesmerised by the photos. They love guessing who's who, though they often miss by a generation, which amuses me. (They sometimes miss even within their own generation, and will sit and argue over whether the baby in the picture is Emma or Selina). This box means even more to me now that I have kids, because it helps them piece together their own life puzzles. I still remember most of the people in the photos, but the kids never got the chance to meet some of them. The photos and letters gives them an insight into their own history, and as they get older they will come back to them and research and rediscover them until they have a fuller picture of who they are. This is what I cherish about photography. It's like a long arm stretching back into your own past, helping you get to know your 'young parents' a little bit better, or seeing a resemblence with a grandmother or auntie. Some of the prints are so washed out, you can barely make out who their depicting. But having a bad photo or no photo at all makes all the difference. It's a memory saved, and I'm glad for each and everyone of them.

Me with my dad. Me with my beloved grandmother. My grandmother's mother with one of her 11 children and a granddaughter. 4 generations right there on my coffee table.

Her mother's footsteps

What do you do when you have a beautiful dress and you need a pair of red shoes to go with it? Borrow some, of course. They might not fit right now, but who's looking? There's been a lot of clickety-clack going on at our house today, and I haven't checked, but I'm guessing my shoe closet is not looking like its normal self anymore.