Just wanted to share a canvas that is leaving the studio today.  Holly and Eric ordered a beautiful 24×36 canvas of one of my favorite engagement shots ever.  Their dog Fenway is so super well trained, and was so fun to work with.  This box should arrive just as Holly & Eric are packing up for their move to Colorado.  I’m glad they get to take a little piece of Wisconsin with them now.

So many people overlook their engagement pictures for getting prints and albums, and they always turn out great!

July is just so crazy.  At least for us.  It always fools me into thinking that if we just get past the 4th, it will be all downhill coasting from there.  And then about July 6th hits, and oh no, not so much.  Another hill to climb.  Or two.  This week is the real last leg though with County Fair looming.  As I’ve mentioned before, I’m still heavily involved in my “home” county fair – the one in Racine.  I have a history there, and my Mom and I share a Superintendent position, and therefore spend quite a bit of time volunteering out there.  This year we have added an En Plein Air painting competition on Thursday.  Participation is limited to 15 people, but anyone can be among those artists.  You will be given a prepared canvas and three hours to complete a masterpiece on site.  If you are interested, please contact the Racine County Fair office at 262-878-3895  to sign up!

—

My friend Joel Serrato is a deeply talented filmographer.  He shoots exclusively in Super 8, and has a real passion that shows thru in his work. He is currently giving away an engagement film.  If you would like to enter, click on over to his blog for more details.

—

Hubby saw an end to the ongoing Kidney Stone saga last week with a lovely kidney stone removal procedure.  (the “lovely” there was tongue-in-cheek)  I wasn’t able to be there, as I was judging at the WI State Fair, but there is proof positive that he handled it all just fine.  He bought his own get well balloon:

—

The wedding blog Elizabeth Anne Designs is looking for new brides to blog for them!  If you would like to flex some writing muscles and document your planning journey, give it a shot!  Click here for details.

—

In addition to things being that special July brand of crazy around here, we’ve had a few exciting developments.  Not the least of which was being invited to be a part of Style Me Pretty’s “Little Black Book“.  I’m honored to have been selected, and I can’t wait to see who gets introduced to m three studio because of it!

—

Another exciting development was introducing our photographer friends to a new venture Hubby and I have been working on for almost a year now.  If all goes according to plan, we will be introducing it to everyone next month!  The response has been really great so far, and I can’t wait to go 100% public with it.  If you are a photographer and didn’t get an email from us – please email me at: molly (at)blankmywalls.com  with “add me” in the subject line.  It was difficult to construct a comprehensive list of all of the photographers we know and love, or have ever met, and we didn’t intend to leave anyone out!

—

I still haven’t seen Toy Story 3 and it is eating at me.  As a former animator, I loathe not keeping up.   Hubby and I have also been totally charmed by the commercials for Despicable Me, and we might have to see that one too.  I keep hearing what an amazing film Inception is, so I might have to talk him into that one.  Of course, I better get this list accomplished before Eat, Pray, Love comes out, because nothing is keeping me from seeing that one!

—

The terrible storm we had last week (tornadoes, flash-flooding, giant sink-holes, foundation collapses) had one good side-effect for me.  The day after I was out in the yard making sure Hubby didn’t fall off the roof, when I gave a weed next to the ladder a yank.  Our yard is over-run with weeds, thanks to the aforementioned crazy July and June.  The weed practically jumped out of the ground.  I quickly realized that the dirt was so saturated, weeding on this day would be a breeze.  One of the benefits of being self-employed?  Taking an impromptu break mid-day to weed the yard.  I accomplished in one hour what would have taken me all day any other time.   The joy this gives me, I can not express.

—

This week promises to be one packed full of fantastic fair food, crashing demo derby cars, the fun-filled wedding of Jenny and Brandon, and who knows what else.   I hope yours is as much of an adventure!

Yes, I love couples in love.  Yes, I adore your stories.  I believe in marriage, and I crave the energy of a wedding day.  But when it gets right down to it, I get seriously inspired by the location.  Place has always been a huge driving force in my work.  Looking back on my art career and training, you’ll find I was always drawing, painting, printing and making films about places, and the stories they held.  It is part of why I love to travel so much – I have an insatiable appetite for new places, new stories.  This blog series is all about the places I would love to shoot a wedding at because I find them seriously intriguing, inspiring and amazing.  And I have no doubt that a couple who chooses to get married there would be equally amazing and inspiring and I want to be there to document it.

Let’s take a little trip to America’s wine country, shall we?  Outside of the vineyards, the mountains, the coastline, the wine (oh, the wine!), there is something so much better about weddings in Napa Valley; the light.  The light in this part of the country is some of the best you will find.  Warm, buttery, lemony, dusky.  Just gorgeous.  And you know, if anything inspires me more than a fantastic wedding venue, it is the light.

One of the very best wineries in Napa to get married at is the V. Sattui Winery, in St. Helena, California.  Nestled right in the heart of the Napa Valley, it is an ideal spot to not only have your wedding, but for your guests to use as a home base for exploring.  They have two and a half acres of gorgeous fields surrounding the original, 125 year old building.  That building makes a perfect backdrop for a wedding ceremony, by the way.  Their outdoor courtyard is just the spot for an open air reception (a long standing dream of mine to shoot), though I think they also offer tented receptions.  Shooting a wedding at V. Sattui would be a dream!

(all images from google images)

Also owned by the V. Sattui winery is another winery that would be ideal for a wedding.  (Though their website says they don’t have a permit to do so)  If you can’t have your wedding at Castello di Amorosa, then you could do a fantastic day after shoot there, or an even more fantastic rehearsal dinner.  This winery is a new construction castle modeled after those in the medieval wine towns of Tuscany.  It is simply gorgeous at every turn, with so much to explore.  Weddings at Castello di Amorosa?  Yes please!

If V. Sattui and Castello di Amorosa and the idea of a wedding in either of those locations wasn’t enough to inspire you, lets take a look at Napa Valley in general.

A Napa Valley wedding is high on my wedding photography “bucket list” for sure.  It doesn’t get much better than California sunshine, warm buttery light, outdoor wedding ceremonies and homegrown wine.

If you are planning a Napa Valley wedding, this is one photographer who would love to be there.

If you would like a winery wedding a little closer to home (assuming you are from Wisconsin), check out these local wineries:

Parallel 44 Winery

Stone’s Throw Winery

Wollersheim Winery

I haven’t even posted Christine & Charlie’s wedding to the blog yet, and they were married back in May (remember when I said the blog is far behind reality?).  But I do want to share this moment before I forget.

After their wedding party pictures at the Capitol, Christine & Charlie decided to walk down State Street to their reception at the Overture Center.  It was early evening, with the sun sinking low on the street.  People lined the sidewalks browsing, eating, drinking and enjoying the first days of summer.  A group of drummers were gathered near the top of the street and you could hear their beats for blocks.  Suddenly, Charlie seized the moment and led Christine into the middle of the street and made his own wedding parade.  People clapped and cheered, the street was all theirs, and the drums beat on.  They laughed and smiled and stole looks at each other as they walked, hand-in-hand, towards the sunset.  It was quite a moment, made all the better by the fact that it was entirely found and spontaneous.

When we reached the Overture Center and the wedding party was again on the sidewalk, Charlie turned around, his face lit up like a firecracker, “That was awesome!”.

It was.