Solar Rose Co.

Risking Instagram's wrath by posting another horizontal image because LOOK at this jewelry.

Lisa and Page flew in from the southwest and brought these beautiful stones with them. The most lovely pops of colour on what turned out to be a cloudy, Seattle day.

I'm all about unique jewelry and accessories. The big client guide that all my couples receive is always being updated with new vendors and brands and cool s**t, and I think I need to find some jewelers who specialize in turquoise...

This was Take 2 of an engagement session.

Our original plan had been to head out east of Seattle to a waterfall, but the entire highway got shut down, leaving me sitting at 0 mph instead of romping around said waterfall.

We rescheduled, and there wasn't a waterfall this time, but these two only had eyes for each other anyway.

Hello, happy September, we're all still q***r over here 🌈

One of the most important things to me as a photographer/outdoorsy person/human being is not being a dick to the planet.

Overall, climate change is going to wipe us out before it destroys the planet entirely. She's going to be just fine once we're gone.

But in the short term, and for specific places, we need to think about our impact while we're out and about adventuring if we want to continue to have nice places. This is especially true for elopements and small weddings, which can involve a little more than the average hike.

Think about it: one person's impact doesn't seem like much. So you stepped on a few flowers. There are LOTS of flowers, and they grow back, right...?

It's not just your boots, though. People follow other people, and the idea that "well if THEY did it" is...rampant. One set of footprints leads to 100 leads to 1000, and before you know it, that place where you said your vows doesn't allow photography anymore, restricts permits, or closes down for conservation efforts because it's been overrun.

By people acting like dicks.

I'm not trying to keep all my favourite places some closely guarded secret written down in a wee book that I demand to have cremated with me (although that's almost appealing). I'm just saying that in order to have nice places to go to, we need to collectively agree to act like we give a s**t.

With the location lists that I make for my couples, I also send a "Leave No Trace" guide. I'm pretty stoked on it. It lays out all the ways you can ENJOY getting married in the outdoors, not a bunch of party pooper rules.

I'm also Leave No Trace certified! I took a course on LNT specifically as it relates to photographers (and you can too, photographer friends; the fee goes right to LNT.org! Message me for more info ).

This is longer than intended but I have a lot of feelings.
TLDR: let's all get along and stop being dicks to mother nature.

I was in the middle of typing "Hello, haven't shown my face in a while," and then I realized that that is not my face, it's the back of my head again, and I am sitting on a rock. Again.

I added a collection of photos to my website (solarroseco.com/about). I'm not ashamed and will continue to do this because it's a part of who I am now.

Anyway. August is winding down but the work isn't (September is going to be my busiest month in business, ever), and I'm grateful for that. And you. And cameras. How is it basically September.