ILLUMINARE | photography + cinematography » life in general

Aunt Mary & Uncle Bill

Annie — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 04:19:35 +0000

While in Gulf Shores in May, my Aunt Mary and Uncle Bill celebrated 20 years of marriage by renewing their wedding vows on the beach. My Aunt Mary was a beautiful bride 20 years ago, but she was absolutely stunning on her 20th anniversary. With their faces glowing and “big ol hearts dancing in their eyes” they pledged their love for each other once again in a perfect sunset beach ceremony. It was truly moving to see. Their love for each other is still just as strong as it was when they got married and I had tears in my eyes while looking through the photos and seeing the love and joy that radiated through them.

Aunt Mary’s best friend and maid of honor (who she’s known for as long as I can remember) Shirley, was there with her husband Lyn. They were also a very sweet couple!

I love this shot of Aunt Mary and my dad.

Let the Party begin!

The Blue Angels

Bret — Mon, 17 May 2010 02:19:19 +0000

Alright, this is a huge post but the topic requires it, it was all just too cool. Since Pensacola, FL was only about a 45 minute drive from Gulf Shores, Ann’s cousin David set up a group trip out there to catch one of the bi-weekly public practices that the Blue Angels hold at their base there. It was super cool. Then immediately following the show/practice, we spent a few hours exploring the aviation museum there, and still probably only saw 15% of what they had. Nevertheless, it was all totally awesome, check it out:

Gulf Shores: The Beach

Bret — Fri, 14 May 2010 17:00:59 +0000

Here’s an all encompassing view of our typical day on the beach. It was almost as if there was a rotation or a schedule because you’d be hard pressed to find the beach out front of the house lacking some of the family at any time during the day. Can’t blame us, right?

It was a gorgeous week with something for everyone going on.

This is a textbook scene from the week. Ryan: beer within reach, fishing pole set and ready…and his bird friend nearby. No idea why, but they were buds.

And for many, chilling out was all that they wanted to do:

But I can’t sit still, so luckily there was a group willing to go all out with the Frisbee. I’ve got to admit, I arrived with my Frisbee skills severely lacking. I haven’t been practicing enough I guess… but we fixed that. We were ready to go pro by the end of it all. Ann got some stink’n awesome photos of the action:

This is the “Yeah man, I totally caught that” look.

And then…by wondrous achievement, celestial alignment brought the entire group together for several group photos. I’m still amazed that it even happened. How do you submit stuff to the national archive?

And then there was this… that instantly made the hot tub seem a little less appealing. Good thing he was just kidding.

Gulf Shores: That First Night

Bret — Fri, 14 May 2010 00:48:16 +0000

Day 1, Gulf Shores, lots…and lots..of family. I gotta say, when this family gets together, it’s an unbelievably good time. There was great food, some intense poker playing (which I came out of unscathed, miraculously) and of course, the karaoke/rock band set-up.

Well, as you can see from the picture above, as the night wore on the karaoke got..well…old. Now I thought they did pretty good, but none the less, we all took the hint and hit up the hot tub on the balcony. It was the first of many nights that ended with everyone hanging out there. What a wonderful invention.

Road Trip: Destination Gulf Shores

Bret — Thu, 13 May 2010 02:59:44 +0000

So just this last week Ann and I took a week off to head out to Gulf Shores, Alabama with a bunch of family. We’re big fans of road trips, so we opted to drive out there. The first day was mostly done late at night and in rainy weather, but the second day allowed us the freedom to stop and enjoy some things we normally wouldn’t. We got a bit of down home relaxing in a small town just outside of Dauphin Island (the place that a week later would be in the news with reports of tar balls washing up on shore, allegedly from the oil spill making its way inland). We saw a bunch of prep for a parade and a festival going on near a little harbor, so we decided to pull of the road and check it out. There was a ton of stuff going on with most of the locals getting together to bless the ships, have some great seafood, and compete in a gumbo cook-off.

Heading out from there, we made the short 20min or so drive to Dauphin Island to catch the Ferry across the bay. Along the way, Ann got this awesome photo of a flock of birds as it passed over an oncoming car. Almost freaky, huh?

Getting to drive up and ride the Ferry across was a great way to wind down from all of the driving, giving us a chance to get out, stretch our legs and of course take some pictures!

(Don’t get your panties in a bundle, this is a natural gas rig, no oil spill from here!!)

The guy in the photo above worked on the ferry we took. We talked to him for the whole ride across, and he really become the personification of the whole area for us. He had just come down from Minnesota to work on the ferry a few weeks prior, but now due to the oil spill heading this way he was expecting to be layed off and jobless within a month or so, as passenger ships cannot continue operating in it. We never exchanged names, but just by hearing about how this situation has impacted his corner of the world really gave us a personal connection to it all.

Jilly Bean Jaggi-The Fun Has Just Begun

Annie — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 16:32:47 +0000

My niece Jillian (Jilly Bean) turned one in February. I thought she was cute when she was born, but I gotta tell ya, I don’t think it gets much cuter than this!

This little girl sure loves her daddy!

the sun is shining, and it’s raining too

Annie — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 00:30:51 +0000

We had some nasty thunderstorms here in the Dallas area today. Around 5:00 pm I noticed a strange orange glow coming from the window. The sun had made it’s first appearance of the day! My neighbors were outside and they were all pointing at the sky. I had to go see what was up. I was not disappointed! There in the dark grey/blue sky was one of the most gorgeous, vibrant, perfect rainbows I have ever seen! I just had to run inside to grab my camera!

bmw 328i

Bret — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 03:08:48 +0000

My friend Kevin recently went through a series of unfortunate events: An ice storm + an eighteen wheeler = a totaled car and a missed Christmas with the family. From all of that chaos and misfortune he was able to turn years of hard work and an end of year close-out into the car of his dreams. He got his new car with something like 14 miles on it, and wanted to get some pictures of it while still in pristine condition. Here are some of my favorites…

the modern

Bret — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 19:57:56 +0000

Last week at the office I was able to catch a viewing of a documentary about Tadao Ando’s Modern Art Museum in Fort Worth. It was simply amazing to learn about, and inspired me to take Ann out there on Friday afternoon. It was bloody cold, but still an absolutely beautiful day. I can’t believe that we’d never been to see it! I got a few weird looks from different people at the museum as I spent as much time looking at corners, joints and lighting as I did looking at the art inside. The care and perfection that went into the design and construction of The Modern is breathtaking. I don’t really need to talk it up, it needs no explanation or defense, just check out the photos below. And be warned, there are a lot even though I trimmed the set down as much as I could. Enjoy.

get your crazy on

Annie — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 20:22:47 +0000

We had a BLAST with the crazybooth at Austin and Kristin’s wedding! As if we need an excuse to get crazy.

Bret and I even had a chance to jump in!