I truly believe you can spend a great deal of time with someone and not really know them. To know someone.. ask the people the know them best. In the case of Katie + Stephen I hardly knew them at all when I arrived on their wedding day.. there was no engagement session and I had only met with Katie for an hour or so to plan the day. When I left the wedding, however, I felt like I had known them for years. Best Man + Maid of Honor speeches are vastly different from one wedding to the next.. but I inevitably feel, walking away from them, that I truly KNOW the bride and groom. Katie + Stephen are two of the most genuine, incredible people I’ve had a chance to run across doing what I do… and I gathered all of this from two amazing speeches. I realized pretty quick they were top-shelf folks by spending the day with them… but once the speeches had been given.. I was beyond thankful to have been a part of the their day. No joke. And what a great day is was! Photographically speaking it was perfect! Beautiful, ORIGINAL details everywhere. Perfect picture time.. right before sunset. Stylish, [happy] beautiful bride with a dress that made me gasp. All of the elements just came together to make this event amazing and made me proud of the work I produced. To future brides everywhere.. 1.) the more details.. the better.. taking the time of plan and make the day You.. makes a world of difference in your photography. 2.) The time of day really does matter [photographically speaking].. work out picture time to land right around 2 hours before sunset and you’ll thank yourself later. Thanks Katie + Stephen for planning such an incredible event and letting me capture it!!

It’s SPRING!! To help ring it in I’ve got the super sweet + full of live couple Qwynn + Brandon! Now, go play outside everyone.. it’s beautiful!

i am one big dumb american… and i realized it just about 20 minutes ago. all day. ALL DAY I’ve been stewing because when I woke up this morning and looked out my window.. all I saw was a huge truck loading up the construction dumpster that’s been sitting in our yard since we’ve moved in. i was happy to see it go.. until it dumped out all the trash and pulled away! they took the dumpster and left the junk?! i frantically called david [bless his heart for the frantic mid-morning calls he gets from me sometimes].. to find out what was up. we assumed our contractor/builder had never paid the bill [which was not the case] and it was repo time for the dumpster. i’ve been frustrated all day… thinking how we did nothing to deserve this. all day the neighbors were coming out of their homes to stare at the large pile. so embarrassed i wanted to tell them it wasn’t our fault. all day, cars slowed and starred. i wanted to paint a sign letting them know it wasn’t me and hoped no one that knew us drove by it. all day. until. i turned on CNN

…and watched.

…pictures.

…devastation.

…piles of trash just like mine..

….miles and miles and miles and miles long.

families’ entire lives are in those piles.. all their family pictures, heirlooms, hard work, pets, pride and even family members are in those piles… big. dumb. ungrateful. american.

God, thank you so much for the little reminders of your grace.. undeserved.. completely unearned.. uninhibited and unselective grace. i don’t deserve. make our hearts heavy for Japan and show us how we can help and show love. your great great love. thank you for loving me even though often i deserve quite the opposite with my ridiculous attitude. oh God thank you for grace.

here lately. i’ve been doing a whole lot of thinking. the theme of the last month has been to “slow down”. my personality causes me to get involved in everything… immediately… at full force… with all i have [which is fun sometimes, but other times means i take on way too much]. so, this month. i’ve slowed down.. to. just. think. wedding season is coming up quick and kind-of officially kicked off this past saturday.. so if there’s ever a time to collect my thoughts.. now is the time. my heart has been on an amazing adventure this year, already. God is so beautiful and faithful and has awaken my heart to him.. and i’m loving it. now that it’s quiet and i’ve slowed down i’ve been able to hear Him speak to me and ask what i have to give. with so much pain and so much loss .. what do i have to give to show His beauty and glory and love and hope? the way He provides hope and love for the hurting is through people. His people. ordinary people like me. and i’ve been wasting such an opportunity to be a part of it all. so He showed me what i have to give. i came to this answer by the help of my sweet friend sarah. sitting in the Pal’s drive through she’s telling me about the power of the gift of photography. i’ve always believed in the power of photography.. it’s why i do what i do… but i immediately thought of a family i gave a session to last year. amazing family. very large family. so large that photography isn’t at the top of the priority list. diapers and nap times and crayons and elmo and screaming and a very long list of life comes way before it. this particular family is huge in adoption and fostering and have opened up their home and lives to those little ones most in need of love and hugs. it filled my heart and completely overwhelmed them with joy to have images of their family. it might be one of the best opportunities i had last year. what i have to give… has been right here in front of me.. literally staring back at me for most of my days for 2 years. photography.

i’m thrilled to announce a new branch of Lori Hensley Photography… very soon… that does just that. allows me to give these powerful images of love and laughter to good people. i whole-heartedly believe good things should happen to good people and i want to be a part of making that happen. these sessions will be for families who have sacrificed so much of their own time and lives for others.. like the family i mentioned above. they are also for families who’s family member has just been diagnosed with a terminal illness and given x amount of days. i want them to have images all over their houses of their love and laughter to remember for a lifetime. i get it. i finally get it.

i’m brainstorming a name and a process to get the ball rolling with this and will officially announce it when the new site is ready to launch. once the site is up i just want stories, nominations.. and i’ll take on one a month. spread the word to those you love and those good-good folks out there. i’m beyond thrilled about this. stay tuned!

This is Kelci. Full of life, full of fun! If you follow this blog you’ve seen her face before. I shot her first round of seniors last fall and after an incident with her dog and my memory card.. I agreed to come shoot the images that were lost. I love how they turned out. 4G Sandisk Exreme III #8 R.I.P.

Happy Tuesday everyone! Productivity is at an all time high this week. I’m so ready to get all of my sessions edited so that I can really start digging deep into what I learned last week at WPPI 2011. It was so enriching. I’m so thankful I had the opportunity. More to come on that note soon…

… while on the thankful note… I’m also very thankful to know the family on the blog today. I met Rodney + Harrison when David and I attended their church last year.. OneLife Church. Great, great place! If you are in the Powell area.. please do your self a favor and attend this Sunday [at 10:00 I believe]. Give God the chance to change you’re entire life.. He is certainly doing just that in this church and is doing great great things through it. It’s so encouraging to watch! Beyond being great church leaders.. these two are some of the most genuine folks you will run across and all those that know them are thankful.

Last week I had the chance to shoot their little bundle’s 4 month pictures. What a joy and WHAT a joy going through them! David and I are getting closer to the point where we’re thinking about kids [not quite there].. but getting there… and these sweet pictures make it that much more exciting to imagine! Parenthood is going to be so much fun…. poor kids are going to be drug all over the country.. up and down ski slopes.. all over the national parks.. and hopefully all over the world [maybe even before they're 3, ha!]. Soooo exciting! The web should start preparing now for ALL the pictures that will be posted.

********* I will not be shooting any family sessions this year due the number of weddings I’m taking on. I hope to pick them back up in 2012! thanks! email me if you’d like recommendations of great family photographers in our area. *************