Jiggs & Emily

Jiggs and Emily are my grandma and grandpa. My dad's parents. When we were in Utah for the holidays, my brother wanted me to take pictures of them while I was visiting them. I'm so glad he suggested it.

I know that everyone thinks their grandma is amazing and wonderful, but mine really is. :) Both her parents died when she was young and she and her brother bounced around the foster care system until ending up with the couple that raised them. Her brother was later killed in the line of duty during the Korean War, leaving her the sole member of her family. She went to BYU Academy where she met my grandpa and raised their family of five boys and two girls. She's funny, very creative and artistic, remembers everything you tell her, loves to talk to you anytime you come by or call. She sends us cards for every occasion, and she always puts a little bit of confetti inside. It's so cute and festive - unless you forget the confetti is in there and you spill it everywhere as you open the card. It's just such a Grandma thing.

My grandpa is the youngest of a huge family. When I was growing up, he worked at Geneva Steel. I always loved when I could see (or smell) the plant, that I would think about grandpa and wonder what he was doing. Everyone calls him Jiggs. As I recall, Jiggs was a character in some comic strip when Grandpa was growing up and his siblings just started calling him that. Talk about a nickname that sticks! Grandpa coached all the boys in wrestling and started a wrestling club and legacy that is continuing on through my uncles and cousins. He is a sweet, reserved and pretty quiet man. But I'll never forget the first time I saw him - in the middle of a conversation - get on the floor and put one of my cousins in a wrestling hold. I'd never seen him move that fast. (It was all the more delightful since my cousin deserved what he was getting at the time.)

I have so many grandma stories, I really can't even start telling them. I'll never stop. The neat thing is, all of my cousins and my brother and sister have their own grandma stories too. I hope I'm a grandma like her someday.

One regret that I do have - when I was little, we didn't spend as much time with my dad's family as my mom's. That changed when I was in college and when I moved away. As a result, my sister and brother had much closer relationships with grandma and grandpa than I did for a very long time. When I moved back to Utah, I was teaching voice lessons after school in my classroom when I found out I was going to have to rent the room the following year. Knowing that my students wouldn't drive clear to my house for lessons, Grandma and Grandpa had me teach at their house. They rearranged their furnture so I could put my digital piano in their front room, they rearranged their lives so I could have the front room to myself to teach every afternoon, and Grandma even made sure to dust my piano and straighten up my music so everything looked nice when I came to teach in the afternoons. As I look back now, it was a huge sacrifice, but they made it seem like no big deal. And the best part was that I got to see them almost every day. I really cherish that time with them.

Grandma and Grandpa have a long, straight sidewalk leading up to their front door. When we were little and walked out to the car to go home, Grandma would always follow us down the walk and stand at their hedge and wave until we drove away. I remember how sad I was the first time I realized she couldn't walk to the hedge anymore. But, she does always stand at the door until we drive away.

When we were leaving on this day, I asked them to stand at the door so I could take their pictures. Grandma said something about not looking nice and not wanting her picture taken. When I told her I had been taking pictures of her and of Grandpa for the last hour, I'm not sure how excited she was. But when I told her I was on assignment from my brother Matt and that the two of us really wanted pictures of them, she seemed okay with it. I'm glad. Because I really love these pictures.

I've been thinking a lot this week about why I love photography as much as I do. As I've been working on the website and spending so much time on the business side of things, it was wonderful to fall in love with a set of pictures. These images bring back so many stories and memories for me of who my grandparents are, that they just make me happy. It's been a powerful thing to experience as I see the pictures. And the thought that I might be able to capture moments like that for other people is really humbling and makes me want to work even harder.

My stepmom wants my dad to use this shot to paint a picture of Grandma and Grandpa standing at the door. I'll post it here when he finishes it.

Grandma & Grandpa - thank you for being who you are. Thank you for raising such wonderful children and for keeping our family united. I love you so much.


P.S. Siblings, cousins, aunts and uncles - if you didn't get the online gallery link for these pictures through my Facebook message, send me an email at macy@macyrobisonphotography.com and I'll e-mail you the link so you can see the rest of the pictures.

Dad & Kim

Another Utah photo session! This time with my dad and stepmom. I did their pictures at the same time as T & W's pictures, so the locations may look familiar.

First shot of the day:

I now feel I can blame my genetic makeup for the scrapbooks full of me making goofy faces for the camera.

I've talked a lot about my dad on my family site. (here and here for example) He's pretty great. I like having a serious shot of him. He wanted me to take a picture with him and the ducks behind him, but I prefer what I ended up with.

Dad and Kim have been married for seven years. They just celebrated their anniversary. We all think she's pretty amazing and that my dad is dang lucky to have found her.

The next two shots need some explanation. I merely asked my dad to try not to squint so much. Granted, it was close to noon and the sun reflecting off the snow was pretty bright, even though we were in the shade. I think my request was something along the lines of, "Dad, can you just open your eyes a little bit more." And this is what I got:

At least Kimmie looks good.

I think the best thing about Dad and Kim finding each other is that they make each other so happy. They laugh a lot.

All I'm going to say about the last two pictures is that I was trying to get them into some different poses to get some variety in the shots I was taking - and T. decided to make a comment. T. is to my right where Dad is looking. These pictures are a fun memory because of their reactions to the comment. But I'm going to keep the comment to myself. Believe me. It's better that way.

Dad & Kim - We're so excited for the two of you to come visit! Love you guys!

Amanda & Darren

The second family wedding this year is Amanda and Darren's wedding. I was able to take their pictures during our family session as well, but we also did a separate engagement session a few days later.

Here are two favorites from the Provo pictures. (I have more favorites from Provo, but this is already going to be a picture-heavy post.) This was the first one I shot of the two of them.

I loved this one from the bridge behind the movie theater. I got some more fun bridge shots, but I didn't want to blog any possible invitation or wedding website photos just yet...

Amanda and I met up with Darren later in the week in Salt Lake to take some more pictures. We started out at the Salt Lake City Public Library. I know - you're thinking, "Library? Boring!" You are mistaken. It's one of the coolest buildings in downtown Salt Lake.

Amanda is an amazing person. She's a hard-working-type-A-personality-outgoing-funny-considerate young lady. I think the thing that excited me the most about moving to the Boston area was that I would have a chance to get to know her a little better while she attended Boston University. We live far enough away from the city that we didn't bug her (at least, I don't think we bugged her), but she was close enough that if we were in town for something, we could meet up with her. Or she could come for the weekend every once in a while and hang out with us. The best thing she was there for was when our little G-Man was born. I loved that his older sister was one of the first people he got to meet.

I also love this next picture. It's quickly becoming one of my favorites.



Another fun thing about having Amanda in Boston was that we got to meet her friends and were able to get to know them too. (We ended up "adopting" one of them so we could get an XBOX360 up to a dorm room. It's a long story. However, we're very proud of our "son" Mike.) She has a great group of friends and we loved the chances we had to spend time with them too. That's another wonderful quality Amanda has - she's a great friend. As busy as she was (and she was busy - majoring in Space Physics with a minor in Mandarin Chinese. She was also the president of the Relief Society women's organization in her student church congregation during her junior year and worked in the physics lab for her mentor. Among a million other things.), she always worked hard to make time to spend with her friends. I admire that kind of balance.

I love this next picture. This happens a lot...

Darren is originally from Utah and attended Harvard University. He served a mission in Korea and returned to Harvard afterward. He is a fantastic singer - he sang in the University Choir at Harvard and was also chosen as one of the Choral Fellows. He was also involved in Harvard Model Congress. (which involved some very cool trips overseas) Darren studied Computer Science and worked in one of the computer labs in his "spare" time. (Really, as busy as they both were, it's a wonder they had time to date at all.) Amanda had been in Boston for a year before they met and was friends with some of his roommates. They started out as friends and started to date two years ago. They got engaged right before the two year anniversary of their first date.

It's been really wonderful to watch their relationship grow from friendship to flirting to wondering if they should date to dating. Seeing how they've matured together and made difficult decisions together and relied on each other is inspiring.

And with all that maturity, they still tease each other and act silly.

They both graduated from their respective schools in 2008 and both ended up in Seattle, Washington. Amanda is pursuing her doctorate at the University of Washington and Darren works for Microsoft. After getting married this summer, they'll make their first home in the Seattle area.

I have a lot of favorite shots of the two of them, but these last two are the most memorable shots of the day. For this first one, I saw a ledge and said, "Hey guys! That would be fun if you did Toyota jumps off the ledge and landed in the snow!" Blank stares from both of them. Cricket sounds in the dead of winter. They had no idea what I was talking about. When I described the "Oh, What a Feeling!" ad campaign, we were at least able to find a common point of reference by describing the jump as a "High School Musical" jump. In the end, I took this shot and they didn't even realize. Such a fun memory. Of feeling old.

After trying to find a good location to shoot on Capitol Hill (high noon sun + hills full of freshly fallen snow = lighting nightmare), we got some good shots in open shade on one side of the hill. They wanted to climb to the first balcony outside the building to try and get some pictures with me shooting below, so I stayed where I was while they climbed the stairs. The sky was so blue and beautiful, I just clicked. And I really like it. (Especially since the moon is right above Amanda and she's actually a rocket scientist.)

Darren & Amanda - I'm thrilled for you guys. I am so grateful you had me take these pictures. I have great memories of all our time together, but especially this day. We're so excited for your wedding this summer!

Chris & Heather

As I've mentioned, we have two weddings coming up in the family this spring and summer and we couldn't be more excited. While the family was in Utah for the holidays, we took a morning and I took family pictures of all of us. I also took the opportunity to get shots of both couples. Chris and Heather had some beautiful shots taken in Texas for their Save the Date cards, but they are so photogenic, I wanted to take some shots too while I had them for the family photos.

Chris and Heather met after Chris moved to Texas with his mom and stepdad. He got a job at a local grocery store and Heather was a checker there too. They became friends and have been together ever since.

Heather has always been a part of the family to me. She and Chris were a couple years into their relationship when I came on the scene and she was as welcoming to me as the kids were. I've really appreciated her and the chance to get to know her. She's smart, fun and one of the most considerate people I have ever met. She really goes out of her way to make sure others are comfortable and know they are appreciated. And she's amazing with kids. She was a nanny for a couple years in college and I think the family she worked for is still mourning the fact that she graduated and went on to her career.

I'll never forget meeting Chris for the first time. As you can see from the pictures - he stands out in a crowd. I went with Diggity to Texas for the holidays and Chris was pretty easy to spot at the airport. I was extremely nervous about meeting the kids (Diggity and I weren't engaged yet), and Chris put me right at ease. He really has a way with people. It's fun to watch him interact with different groups. He's an extremely loyal friend and hard worker. Like Heather, he is very thoughtful. He's a fantastic person. I'm lucky to have him as a stepson.

They are really a beautiful couple. Or, I should say a handsome couple. ("Handsome" is Chris' nickname. His mom calls him by it all the time and so does Heather. It's adorable.)

As I was looking through these, I kept wishing their dog Toby and cat Gracie could have been in the pictures too. How fun would that have been?! They might not have been up for the snow and the cold...

Chris and Heather - thank you for letting me photograph the two of you! I'm sorry your feet got so cold. We can't wait until May!

The R. Family

I don't know many couples that are as much fun to hang out with as T & W. They're hilarious, they love to have a good time, and even if they weren't related to me I would still want to be friends with them.

We went down to the Riverwoods Shopping Center in Provo while we were all in Utah over the holidays and scouted out some fun spots. I see a lot of shots from Utah photographers in this location, so I thought it would be fun to see what we could come up with.

I found out while we were shooting that W. used to work as a makeup artist for a photographer when she was in high school. She ended up modeling for them quite a bit as well. As you can see, she knows how to work it. T. isn't bad either...

Yes, that really is her hair. Yes, she really is that beautiful. W. is a colorist and hairdresser in Reno. She also does a lot of bridal hair and makeup on the weekends. T. is a superstar basketball referee and spends his days sharing his love of history with his high school students. They're just a superstar couple.

They're also high school sweethearts. They've been together almost 20 years, and they adore each other. You can see it when you watch them interact. It's inspiring.

And they are constantly laughing. It's a joy to watch.

I'm so glad I got to photograph the two of you. The CD is going out in the mail later today. Hope you like the pictures!

P.S. Happy birthday, T!

The A. Family

I was able to take pictures of my sister's family while visiting Utah this week. We've gone through all the shots to pick favorites and I couldn't wait until I got home to edit a few of them:

A. was cutting a tooth the day we took these. She was a trooper.

I love when I'm able to take a picture that captures a personality -
or in this case, sums up my sister and brother-in-law's relationship.

M. was a total supermodel for the first part of the session. Then she started with her cheeser grins - which were still cute, but not as cute as the shots I got at the beginning.

We took M.'s new coat for a test in the snow. I think it helped her run faster!