2012

in a few hours we're going to be spending our evening with some close friends and their kids, having a low-key night in. husband's getting ready and i'm trying to get some last-minute work done. :) i don't know how you feel about new year's, but there's something so refreshing about it on my end, every time.

the main theme that i can't get out of my head going into the new year is gratitude. we are so blessed. i'm thankful for my husband who loves and cares for me in a different way than i ever knew before. i love the conversations we have and also how much time we spend laughing together. he is an amazing partner. i never saw him coming but i'm certainly glad that he did. :)

i'm thankful for my baby nieces who were born yesterday. they're so itty bitty and definitely premature BUT amazing things are happening and they are doing much better than even the doctors expected. i haven't seen them in person yet but i'm absolutely in love with them already.

i'm thankful for the things that have happened this past year that have been hard. the challenges have grown me in profound ways.

i'm thankful for this job that has continued to be what i need.

i'm thankful for breath and life and future and hope.

happy new year. :) blessings.

happy almost new year merry christmas late.

yes, what the subject line said.

;)

we had a lovely, lovely christmas and from those days i'll be sure and post a few pictures here, soon. it was quiet and loud, simple and complicated, so what we needed and also absolutely what we wanted. all of the above. in this week between christmas and new year's i am still eating like it's going out of style because we have so many killer leftovers overflowing our fridge, which i love. i just won't love it when i can no longer button my jeans. hah. needless to say, we are definitely enjoying this time of year. hope you and yours had a wonderful christmas celebration, too.

a few weeks prior to christmas, a wonderful and regular client of mine called and wondered if we could do a family shoot at the local christmas tree farm. i said YES, absolutely, sounds like a fabulous idea. we got a beautiful sunny morning and a happy little lady, all in all it was a great shoot. take a peek at some of the results:

















nick, nicole, and addison- as always, it's a joy and my pleasure to spend time with you guys! thanks for another great family shoot. :)

all is calm, all is bright.

... just kidding. you might've thought little ellis would've been in the holiday spirit but he wasn't quite in the mood to chill by the fireside while i snapped away... oh no, he made us work for it. :) exhibit a:



perhaps it was this particular chair and he knew yellow was not his color?! REGARDLESS. he is darling and precious and his parents and i had a great time setting him up for these shots in and around their home. take a look and see-














melt my heart! thank you so much for the opportunity to get to know you all and capture your sweet little boy. :) he's just adorable.

runaway!

candid moments like these are the most fun to capture during a photoshoot! check out that little escape artist. :)

home is wherever i'm with you.

literally, i am so glad to be back in our house.

this past season has been a whirling dervish of change and transition and WORK. i promise you, i'm not complaining, just explaining... chaos has been the name of the game. whether it's a busier-than-normal fall work season (thanks everyone!) or unexpected real-world stressors where we as a couple (who are definitely not "spring chickens", ha) have had to grow up in new and interesting ways, or extended family pieces we've needed to attend to... there's barely been time for us to learn how to now be a we not to mention us to make this former bachelor pad something home-y. i look around and it definitely reminds me of many moons ago when i first stepped in to j's world and it feels almost foreign to call it "mine"- it definitely doesn't match up with the "mine" i have in my mind. :)

this week promises another work trip (one last one for 2011!) and then i'm firmly rooted... at least for 3 weeks. :) that will be the longest stretch we've had of uninterrupted anything since saying "i do" and WE CAN'T WAIT. first order of business: going to pick out paint colors and find things that are still packed in boxes (do i even remember what i've been missing?!) next, catch up with folks we love and decorate our second christmas tree (first, married). we will just rest (mentally/emotionally) and it will be grand.

today's batch of photos are shots that speak home and this christmas season to me. a contented rest, a peaceful place to land. enjoy.





















happiest monday!
with love,
n

happiness.

moments like these are one of the reasons parenthood is so beautiful to me. :)

(it's personal) thoughts on weddings, particularly my own.

(all photographs in this post by the amazing and talented bryan rupp. we are so thankful to have had him capture our day!)



weddings are funny. obviously, i knew this well before my own. true confession: i've been a bridesmaid nine times. NINE. no, i don't exactly feel like i qualify for the 27 dresses club, but close. my bridesmaid-ing abilities and desires have hit their limits. oh yes, and i shoot weddings for a living and have been for the past three years. it might be safe to say that in my range of wedding-related experience over the past twenty-nine years, i've seen it all.



when it came to my time to put down the camera and be the bride, truth be told, i never pictured it playing out like this. but when in life do things really go according to OUR plans!? :) and yet, somehow, so much played out exactly like i thought it would or could.

one of the main things i personally realized from seeing this whole, rite of passage "wedding experience" through bryan's lens- there is a powerful opportunity for both redemption and beauty in every photograph from every stage of life. i love these pictures from a friday afternoon in september. artistically, i think they're oh so pretty. and you're only seeing four shots out of 500+.



beyond the surface of "that's a good angle" or "i like the composition of that image"- i am seeing the best of september 30th, 2011. i'm seeing expressions on my face as i look at my new husband, love in my eyes, and his mirrored right back that i never have the opportunity to see play out in real life/real time... because it's OUR moment. we're in it. we rarely observe it. looking at these photos it almost cements the feelings of love and commitment in new and different ways than before because we get a glimpse from the outside, and it's beautiful. photography is one of those things that i often hear goes at the bottom of the budget (be it wedding, or otherwise), but to have the RIGHT photographer capture those emotions and meaningful times- it's worth it.



photographs are a powerful medium. it's been personally revealing to me as i've gone through this season of re-meeting (that's a long story for another time... :)) my husband and the two of us joining our lives just 52 days ago. it's been refreshing and inspiring as i think about the photos i want to take and share with any of you who are still with me after falling off the blogging wagon. ;) (ps... thanks for still checking on this little ol' thing.) i'll continue to share some of my business here. but i also think i'll share photos that i love simply because i look at the image and feel inspired. inspiration is key to the arts and if i'm just throwing pictures out there but no heart is behind it it won't really resonate, with you or with me. more photos. more heart. more feeling. those are just a few goals i have for the next season of my life. coming here, soon. :)

new facebook fan page!

have you seen this yet?

stay in touch! stay up to date! stay current with photos i've taken this summer!

(nancynoble).photography on facebook

happy september-
n

how my summer is going

planning a wedding and moving in the midst of my busy season of work = craziness. :) the photo second from the top? yep. that's my mental state much of the time. hah! however, we are finding joy in the middle of all the transitions and lack of sleep and i suppose that's probably preparing me for... (parenthood someday?! most likely).

life is GOOD and i'm not m-i-a due to a lack of things to show and tell, it's just that blogging is literally not going to happen all that often until my life becomes a little less insane. clients- you are AWESOME! i'm loving the families, high school seniors, and bride/groom combos i've been shooting and seeing. there is much in the works for 2012 so if you're following the latest, definitely know fun ideas are in the works for the future. hope you guys are having a great summer and i'll check in again when i can. :)

puppy love.

for almost a week, i cared for these four cuties while their "parents" (my friends) were on vacation:









oh, man. i adore these dogs.

lovebirds

this sweet couple and i wandered around downtown portland on a simply GORGEOUS summer day... andrew and stephanie, so nice spending time with you today! looking forward to your portland wedding next month.

yesterday

the day that came right before today, i made pie.



so tasty & delicious.

i also worked on photos from this family's photoshoot from last week... can these kids get any cuter? probably not.











happiest of holiday weekends to everyone! enjoy the time with your family and friends.

(shift)

change is so in the air.

moreso than in any other season of my life, i can feel it all around me. tangible. as a child, i was so resistant to change (for fear of the unknown) that my mom used her spare coins as a bribe/brainwashing-lesson and every time she'd hand over a quarter i'd have to repeat back to her the phrase "change is good." probably one of the smartest moves my mom ever made, as it's a lesson that sticks with me even when i'm struggling the most with a shift that i didn't see coming or something that's most definitely outside my control.

it's so humbling to submit your life to someone greater than yourself. yet i honestly have never ever been so excited to follow the leading of the God i love and serve. at the same time, it's the wildest ride i could ever imagine, and sometimes it scares the crap out of me.

what i've waited for as long as i can remember is happening. and this story is more than i could've dreamed in my wildest imagination. no it's not perfect, he's not perfect, i'm not perfect. not at all. but this is so stinking good. it's been worth every past heartache and disappointment, every long year of not knowing if what was deep in my heart would ever come true. now i'm surrounded by the "coming true" and i'm in awe. most times, speechless. it's so crazy i don't even know how to string sounds and syllables together to explain it. my heart is full of gratitude as i absolutely did not put any of my dreams/desires together. God did. in His timing.

in the middle of all this amazingness is also a little bit of pride-poking loss as i also sense God preparing me to focus primarily on my own family. He knows me better than i know myself (thank goodness) and some of the ways i accidentally got my little identity wrapped around and inside my career He's slowly stripping away. it's hard. yet i'm thankful for these humbling revelations as i've often seen played out before me that you can't do it all. you can't do it all and do it all well, anyway.

my 2011 continues to be filled with amazing clients and lots of travel. it's been a wild ride these past few years figuring out a business and seeing where it could go. i'm not giving up, i'm not quitting, i just realize that the winds are changing and i can not wait to see where those winds will go.

(it's personal) happy.

life is rich and full and i am a blessed woman. so much to be thankful for.

traveling today! west --> east once again, to shoot several families and one fabulous wedding. can't wait to see all those folks and to be able to show you what i've seen once i return!

natalie + casey (engagement)

good friday morning!

i definitely hope this blog post finds you well. spring is all around us in the pacific northwest, and last week i was able to enjoy some of the springy-ness outside during this engagement session with casey and natalie.
















CONGRATS, guys! so thrilled for you two, may you have many wonderful years ahead. :)