the ex•position

saturday was another perfect fall day — sunny skies, 60s, apple cider slushies, a hike, pumpkin carving, coffee, brownies, yankee candles, and two great friends to share it with.

maggie and steve are pretty experienced pumpkin carvers as you can tell.  i am amazed at their owl and so excited i get to show it off on my porch.

since tyler and i would be classified as beginners, we kept it simple with a block-lettered “fitch” and polkadots.  pretty cute, i think.

isn’t fall the best?

- rachel

if you follow both our blogs, you already know that we had 3 weddings & a “day after” session this past weekend.  we combined our forces, traveling from 4 locations to meet in good old central illinois to make it happen.

but, although we were crazy busy, we managed to make it to two family birthday parties.  tyler’s sister darby turned sweet 16, and we celebrated with her when we arrived friday night.  then on sunday, my daddy turned 55.

here’s a picture of my amazing parents!

jordan and heather came home too for the occasion, and since it was the most perfect fall day, we spent 10 minutes or so taking some pictures.

the last time tyler & i sat in this old hammock, it broke and we fell to the then very muddy ground beneath.  apparently jordan + heather < tyler + rachel.

they’re pretty cute together. : )

- rachel

beau did an awesome shoot of alex last week.  enjoy!

i love that this is a silver slide on a playground.  definitely one of my favorites!

lounging on the steps.

the standout favorite:

hope you like the rest tomorrow, alex!

- rachel

we had the best day saturday driving around southern illinois with tyler’s family.

we went to the garden of the gods (if you look closely, you can see lots of tiny people on the rocks):

and to a town called cave in hole where we ate at a floating restaurant:

cave in hole is named after this cave (makes sense, huh)…

that picture of me and tyler was taken by darby.  : )  i am in love with it and can’t wait to get it printed.  i especially value pictures of us together since we’re usually on the other side of the lens!  thanks so much, darby!!!

as you can see from these photos, southern illinois is just not cornfields!  i, for one, had no idea any of these incredible places existed until we moved to alto pass.  southern illinois has so many awesome trails, wineries, orchards, and places with huge rocks/bluffs.  you should really plan a weekend to explore it.

- rachel

luke consented to our first early-morning shoot in ages.  the light and air are always so different at 8:00am than at 6:00pm.  here’s some crisp blue for starters.

luke’s mother likes the way his green shirt goes with his green eyes.

luke probably set a record for most outfits in a session.  we offer unlimited changes as long as there is time.  i think guys have an unfair advantage over the girls in ability to change pretty much anywhere.  luke must have squeezed into 7-10 shirts over our time.  a lot of good choices, i might add.

casual.

the next picture moves.

and we’ll finish up with a bit of vintage throwback.

- tyler

remember andrew from here?

i met andrew when i was in 7th grade through his sister & my wonderful friend, whitney.  andrew is a phenomenal musician, so i was ecstatic when i had the idea to ask him about writing a song for our website.  when talking to him, we found out he was in need of some photos for his new CD and other promo materials — so we did a little exchange!

andrew wrote a beautiful song for our weddings website called “fair clover fields”!  we are excited to have it up, and i think it really enhances the photos.  he’s got another one on it’s way for exposure | photostyle too.

as far as our part of the deal, i had the hardest time narrowing the pictures down!  i love photos with instruments, and since he brought along a mandolin, an acoustic guitar, and an electric, there was a ton of variety.  enjoy the pictures.  : )

since andrew is a great local artist, i thought you might like to learn a little more about him.  make sure to check out his site for upcoming events.

in his own words…

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thanks for reading… now go check out the song!

- rachel