Reasons why I need to wake up early more often

Reasons why I need to wake up early more often

Reasons why I need to wake up early more often.

The way the mist envelopes Matafao.

The reflection of the mountain on the lagoon.

The fiery vibes in the sky that sets a soul on fire.

The ripples of life teeming below.

The shroud of cloud cast afar.

The wondering what life could be.

The flutter of the birds we wished we were.

The lights showing off in powder hues.

The birds playing tag with their shadows.

The puppy cuddles on the pier.

The sun coming up out of the ocean horizon.

Sessions: Meagan + Hideyo waterfall maternity shoot

Sessions: Meagan + Hideyo waterfall maternity shoot

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!

You can see all the islands from up here!

You can see all the islands from up here!

At Mt. Alava – the next morning we woke up just as the sun was rising. Yodi was up already and wagging her tail. She slept in the tent with us. I was in between reading a book and staring at my engagement ring. I don’t normally wear rings, so it felt different, new. Ian got up to attend to nature’s call. And the light was streaming through our tent under the fale. We got up and breathed in the cool air and took in this majestic view.

You can see all the islands from up here!

Well not all of them, but way more than I’ve ever seen all at one time, so I was really excited. To the west we could see Upolu and Savaii, and to the east was very clearly Ofu and Ta`u of the Manu`a island group. We jumped back up on the platform and ate some potato chips, snapped some couple-y photos, and called our mains to break the news. This was our first day as an engaged couple, and it was off to an epic start.