just a little teaser from our wedding with the hilarious Quigley’s from down under. (Sorry Charla & Chris I just had to say it.) More to come soon.

Over the weekend I was eavesdropping in on a conversation between two older women. Their topic of discussion was about men… rather negative actually. I couldn’t help but to chuckle and appreciate even more of what I have with Andre. My man is the only one like him… well I know he was made for me and I for him. I couldn’t imagine going back to life before him. He’s helped me to make sense out of my madness and when my sanity hangs by a thread he knows just what to do.

Since I started FickleZeal almost three years ago he has provided me all the tools and faith that I have needed. The only thing that was missing was him. He was proud that I had my “thang” (Andre’s word for business) and believed that I could do it. I knew I could as well, but I believed it could be better. I wanted him to be right with me in business.

He’s such a creative and detailed oriented person without fear. He is my yang to my yin, but yet we’re so much the same. He balances me. Awe, I know I’m getting sappy, and I know he’s going to dislike this post. very much. but every now and then it’s good for my soul to let it out. I’m in love!

Regardless of what those woman said I know my man is simply irreplaceable! We have an irreplaceable love.

We’ve been shooting weddings together for the last two years, but now he’s been bitten by the photographers bug and is joining me even more. Our last photo shoot did him in! Shooting the Down Syndrome Appreciation Event together was incredible. I couldn’t imagine experiencing it without him. The excitement that filled my being also filled his.

Besides that he makes me look good! Producing the behind the scenes video really brought life to our event, but more than that the beautiful people. I’m so grateful for all the wonderful feedback that I have received, but really it’s Andre making me look good. and he doesn’t even mind that I’m getting most of the credit, he just smiles and says “it’s ok, it’s really your “thang”".

my irreplaceable love. Andre.

As parents of a child with Down syndrome (Ds) it captivated us to look into familiar eyes, for our Ds Appreciation Portrait Event, doing our best to capture the true beauty of each person for who they are.  After we finished our long but thrilling day, we rushed home to review the photographs.  Warmth filled our hearts to see how amazing these special Gifts truly are.  It allowed us to reflect on how much one extra chromosome has changed our lives, entirely…for the better!  

We have been so privileged to go on this exhilarating roller coaster ride of emotions and self reflections to end-up in a new world almost everyday. What an adventure she has taken us on so far!!! We know that it’s only the beginning and we can’t wait to see how else she will help us evolve in this short life that we live. Only a few are chosen to be a part of this special adventure. We are the LUCKY ones!

We have never seen as much beauty in life and the pureness of a moment until our daughter “rocked our world”.  She has opened our eyes and hearts to a whole new existence that is filled with more joy and love which can never be expressed in words or actions to its fullness. FickleZeal was born because of Lana and all her glory. To be honest my favorite subjects are people with Down syndrome. It’s photographing their incredible beauty and going on the journey of awe and wonder with them. Each shoot is new and each person is unique. More than that each one of them brings out an inner part of me that I didn’t know existed. They awaken a better me!

Andre decided to get some video clips with our point and shoot camera just “cause”. And that just “cause” has turned into this lovely behind the scenes tribute to our day and every lovely person we photographed.

Thank you all for coming out and allowing us to capture your beauty! Photographing you gave us such joy and excitement. You are all dear to us!

In honor of World Down Syndrome Day (Mar 21), we wanted to spend time capturing the beauty of people with an additional 21st chromosome.  So last weekend we were so excited and LUCKY to spend our day with 12 remarkably unique, gracious and lovely people, our daughter included.  I can’t express the joy we had getting to know and photograph each person that came out.

We’ve often said that even though people with Ds may be categorized together because they were born with an extra copy of chromosome 21 in their DNA structure, it does not define them… and this was more than evident throughout our day of shooting.

Here are our FAVS from the day:

Meet Miss A, energetic and spunky!  Perfect start of the day.

Meet Mr Josh, caring, strong, and filled with personality.

Meet Miss E, on the go & free spirited.

Meet Miss M, too cool for words.

Meet Mr M, giving & mischievous.  great combo!

Meet Miss E, pure sweetness.

Meet Miss C, knows what she wants!

Meet Mr H, cuteness overflows him.  It was crazy how much he reminded us of our Lil’ Dez.

Meet Miss K, shy but SO lovable.

Meet Miss J, talk about wit and charm.

Meet Mr M, such a flirt and conversationalist.

Meet our Little Miss Lana, all that and a bag-o-chips!

October is National (America) Down Syndrome Awareness Month.  We look forward to hosting another portrait event then, so if anyone is interested please let us know by commenting below.

… but not necessarily in this case.  We’re suffering with the loss of my hard drive.  This unforeseen setback has caused me to run behind with ALL of my clients.  For this I am deeply sorry!    I do not have access to past emails, email addresses, or recent images.  We’re preforming an 8+ hour back up of over 560GB of data and once this completes we will rebuild my computer and then if all goes well I will get back to the swing of things on Monday.  If you are waiting for something from me PLEASE, I beg you, be patient.  This is unfortunatly out of my control right now.  And if you know me at all you know I HATE not being in control.  LOL!

On the flip side of this horribly inconveniencing experience we have come up with a long overdue rather great backup system that will protect us from this occurring again.  Which puts my little stressed, sleep deprived, mind at a bit of ease.  It’ll be at great ease once this process is all said and done.

On a personal note this happening right now has given me more time to spend with my family, which is lovely.

So, all things considered I guess this is for the best… well it could have happened during my slow season instead of my busy season… yeah, that would have been nice!

Until next time, I hope you all have a Happy Easter weekend!