Sessions: Toafā Te‘o Grad Portraits

Sep 1, 2020 | Photography

Quick snaps of this beauty, Toafā Te’o, back in May to commemorate her high school graduation.

She actually attended high school in Kansas (thus the Skyhawks on her grad stole sash), and came back to visit American Samoa for a family gathering, but she got stuck here once the borders closed due to the COVID pandemic. She missed her graduation in the states, but her family here celebrated her all the same.

Congrats Toafā! Wishing you all the best in your future endeavors girl!

Photo documenting the silver linings of my life in the time of COVID

Apr 1, 2020 | Lifestyle, Photo Diaries

Social distancing is my new favorite hobby

But first, a quick update:

The island’s borders are virtually closed to the outside world, save for cargo flights and a recent C130 which arrived with some medical supplies.

Only 7 COVID tests have been administered in American Samoa, and at the time of writing 5 have come back negative, awaiting 2 more results. But also, an article came out today that there’s an influx of patients at the hospital with flu-like symptoms, which has a lot of people worried.

We’re still on Code Blue, which means we are on high alert but not freaking out completely…. so that’s good.

I feel so grateful to have the ocean right as my backyard. To be able to get outside daily, move my body, and still feel safe and sheltered in my small close knit village community

it’s always a highlight of each day in quarantine.

I think I posted similar pics from my iPhone and wrote a blurb about these photos in a previous entry, but I wanted to share some photos from my SLR camera here. I woke up early and Ian was no where to be found. I walked out to the beach and took photos of the rain curtaining Mt. Rainmaker, and the mist in the distance. I saw Ian was out paddle surfing, and I joined him in the water for a dip and chatted with some neighbors at a distance. We got back to the house and showered and prepped for work at 8am.

I wish we could do this every morning.

As evening approaches, Ian and I sit outside for a little happy hour, which involves a cold bevvy and card games on the balcony. A warm ocean breeze whistles through the trees, and we are treated to a tasty rainbow right above us–a gentle reminder that

this too shall pass.

Happy hour snaps of my handsome fiancé. Even after spending every single day at home with him for the past 3 weeks in quarantine, I never tire of him, nor does tire of me, which has me in awe. He makes me laugh every day. He makes quarantine feel like a staycation, and I’m so

blessed he’s my person.

A bit batty

about bats lately. They’re so fun to watch, flying from tree to tree, eating coconut seeds.

Venturing out

Is it weird that I’m nervous to leave our house now? We limit going out as a precaution because we secretly dread the news that may come out any day now of a confirmed case here. On Saturday, we dropped off some stuff for Gabby at the VA quarantine facility, picked up some groceries and ran an errand, then came back home.

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Another happy hour of card games and bevvies. I seriously feel like we’ve got a good handle on what retired life will be like. We only hope we are still living by the ocean by then,

happy, healthy, and together.

This photo from Sunday reminds me of how upset I was over some silly thing. Ian was trying to make me feel better, and one of the ways he does that is by getting me

excited about the sky.

He snapped this picture of the sun setting outside and pointed out to me the clarity of the sun on the water creating vivid sunset lines in the lagoon. I looked out and saw what he saw. It was beautiful I was still being a sour puss so I responded with a begrudging “mhm yeah” but I couldn’t help but think my guy is so sweet.

This has kind of been a long post about nothing in particular, but I’ve really just been enjoying this photo documentation of my life lately.

Despite the harsh reality of what’s happening around the world, these little snippets are my silver linings, and are an appreciation of the little things in life that keep me

sane and happy.

Quarantine Diaries: Keep calm and stay 6 feet away

Mar 29, 2020 | Lifestyle, Photo Diaries

How to keep calm and socially distant

Make food, and make it pretty. Wash hands.

Eat and enjoy it. Wash hands.

Spend time with fur babies. Wash hands.

Get fresh air. Wash hands.

Let the sun in. Wash hands.

Go for a drive. Wash hands.

Put on a face mask. Wash hands.

Buy materials for home projects. Wash hands.

Go home. Wash hands.

Make something. Wash hands.

Coming out of quarantine, social distancing still

Mar 28, 2020 | Lifestyle, Photo Diaries

We are officially done with our mandatory 14-day medical home quarantine! We can finally get in our car and drive around, still remaining socially distant and fairly isolated. Ian and I have taken this whole quarantine thing seriously, but it’s a bummer to hear that others haven’t.

There are still no confirmed cases in American Samoa, and last night they officially canceled flights to/from Hawaii, essentially closing the borders. I’m actually glad they did, so at least now we can focus on our people here, not clog up our medical system, and get people tested and treated.

Ian and I finally got to leave the house to get groceries. Now that there’s a curfew on stores to close at 6pm, it was interesting to see the signs that stores had up to address new hours.

We’ve had a food shortage the past couple of months because the container ships were delayed and some panic-buying after the cyclone and now COVID. Luckily for us, the shelves were well-stocked at the grocery stores because two ships came in. People were still buying in bulk (like this guy with his cart full of Lysol) but we got everything we needed.

Our first socially distant dinner date with our brüs and neighbors, Mark and Alice. They were so sweet to make us a scrumptious chicken curry and rice dish in Sri Lankan clay pots called walang, over their homemade stone oven on the balcony. It was so lovely catching up, drinking wine, chit chatting about the journeys ahead and our seemingly long ago travels.

I feel like this photo is quite an apt photographic description of our quarantine experience. Snorkeling, cleaning our home, planting herbs, re-using ziploc bags, and playing with our pets… that’s kind of what quarantine life has been like for us. Not included in the picture: the cooking and teleworking.

I’m still getting up most mornings and doing my usual routine of yoga, journaling, showering, and getting ready for the day. I pulled out this white cotton pajama set that I thrifted last year. I hadn’t worn it yet but it looked so formal for a pajama set so I wore it to ‘work’ on Friday haha.

Sessions: Meagan + Hideyo waterfall maternity shoot

Dec 15, 2019 | Photography

This is one of my favorite maternity sessions thus far, with our friends Meagan and Hideyo.

If you know Meagan and Hideyo, you’ll know that they are easy-going, hilarious, and all around just lovely people. They wanted to do an off-the-beaten-path session so they took me and Ian to this beautiful hidden waterfall in their village. Meagan was about 7 months preggo during this shoot and was moving around with such grace and ease through the dense tropical rainforest, one might have confused her with a (pregnant) woodland fairy!

We managed 3 outfit changes within about an hour for this shoot, and that’s impressive not because of me (Ian helped a lot too, and made skirts fly hahah) but because of how easy and cooperative Meagan and Hideyo were to work with. They just ran with whatever I asked them to do, and had a lot of fun doing it. They mostly did their own thing too, hugging and talking and goofing around with each other, which was fun for me and made the session so much more genuine. I can’t help but think that maternity photos are just a tiny bit cheesy (but in the best way possible), and I’m pretty sure Meagan and Hideyo would agree… you can tell because of how much fun we had with this shoot!

They’re keeping the gender a secret, like they don’t even know what the gender is yet, so it’s going to be a great big surprise on bebe’s birthday! I can’t wait to meet their little one soon!

Sessions: Kelley’s Maternity + Family

Dec 10, 2019 | Photography

Another maternity session with Kelley and her baby bump, Alden, and this time with little J-Ro in tow.

Oh, and their dog Avey joined too!

For this shoot, Kelley chose the off-the-beaten-path location in our backyard lagoon.

Altogether, we took 3 paddle boards, 1 kayak, 4 adults, 2 dogs, 1 toddler, and of course, Kelley’s 9-month baby bump!

Ian came with me and was super helpful in making her maternity dress look like it was blowing in the wind,

when in fact it was so hot and muggy, and we were all sweating bullets when we got to the location even before we started the shoot.

Luckily we got in the water for most of the shoot, and made some mama-magic!

The last time I took photos of Kelley was her first maternity shoot back in 2017.

It’s always so neat to follow a specific family’s growth over the years.

Check out my first maternity photo shoot from with Kelley that we did in her front yard here,

and another session we had done when she got her ‘preggo dress’ here.

Sessions: Mareike [moana/azul] – Part 3

Oct 1, 2019 | Photography

Part 3 of the session with Mareike.

[ moana / azul ]

Snapped these on the same morning as part 1 and part 2 of this session, using Mareike’s Canon G12 camera and underwater housing. It was such a dream to shoot Mareike in this setting… the beach is our home. I think I met her for the first time at this very beach. I’d been meaning to take her photos for the longest time, so for it to finally happen makes me so happy. And the photos came out awesome too! She actually gifted me with the camera that I used for this shoot, and I feel so lucky to have a friend like her in my life.

Sessions: Mareike (island style) – Part 2

Sep 30, 2019 | Photography

Part 2 of the sunrise session with Mareike.

This beautiful woman is a scientist. Her love for the ocean has taken her all over the world, drifting to American Samoa about 5 years ago. She is art–she embraces the ink of the islands etched on her skin to tell her story. Since we’ve met, we’ve gone on many adventures, shared many conversations, and laughed and danced together more times than I can even remember. She has become a neighbor and a friend, and I’m stoked to capture her essence on this beautiful morning just as the sun kisses the ocean and we thrive on another beautiful day in the islands.

There were SO MANY shots that I absolutely loved from this session, so here’s a good chunk of it.

Even more photos!

PART 1: Georgia + Mareike at sunrise | PART 2: Mareike (island style) | PART 3: Mareike [ moana/azul ]