Lara Swanson Photo » Nontraditional, Offbeat and Alternative Photographer

MJ and Corey threw an incredibly chic and fun wedding at the Mandarin Oriental. It was clear that the guests had as much fun as MJ and Corey did; it made Joanie’s and my work easier! This was also fun for another reason: it was the mosts challenging ceremony I’d ever photographed. The 5 o’clock sun was just above the heads of the bridal party on the platform, meaning I had to crouch on the ground to get the officiant’s head to block the rays from streaming directly into my lens. Of course, I wanted to do artistic work with it too, because when do you ever get powerful light like that? :) I love the outcome. MJ and Corey, thank you so much for letting us be a part of your wedding!

The Presidential motorcade drove by:

Corey rocked out with the band during the reception:

I’ve begun to feel old now that I need more than one hand to count the years I’ve known the people I’m photographing. I met Ebie my freshman year of college at AU; we lived either across the hall or a few floors away from each other all four years that we went to school.

I photographed Tina and Kat’s maternity portraits over a year ago! They now have a beautiful baby boy, Aidan, who was an absolute sweetheart and made my job a piece of cake.

I mean, really, look at that face.

Thanks to the amazing videographers at Playa Weddings, there’s footage of our underwater photo shoot in Mexico! Enjoy :)

Here’s the photo I showed them on the screen:

Meet Sydney.

Sydney is the daughter of my amazing clients, Jamie and Chris. They invited me to the birth of their first child, and it was incredible.

Sydney was born via an unexpected C-section at 7:02pm on Monday the 14th. Chris showed me his photography skillz:

Great-grandma also loved it:

I love this photo of Jamie’s sister holding Sydney, while her father and mother look on:

Baby faces:

Jamie and her daughter:

I had just gotten home from Michelle and Tyler’s engagement shoot in Old Town when I engaged in a Twitter conversation with a fellow photographer about flipping gender roles in our portrait sessions. Because of my thesis in college on gender roles perpetuated by wedding traditions, I’ve taken to posing my couples in non-hetero-normative ways, or balancing the male/female roles in the poses. Michelle and Tyler’s engagement session is a great example of how much fun we can have doing this!

Michelle and Tyler do jujitsu. This is an exercise they have to do – one runs at the other, jumps on the other, then does a crunch while their legs are wrapped around the other’s waist. It’s incredible.

They watch ANTM. I told them to be “fierce”, and fierce they were.

They play a card game that I’d never heard of (and darn it all I can’t remember the name of it) – but during our “nerd out” time in the garden we agreed this would be an awesome shot.

More nerding out. She’s reading a book called “Beyond Barbie and Mortal Kombat”, by the way.

Both of them were superb sports, and Michelle offered to get this flying shot. No Tylers were harmed in the making of this shoot.

I have known Laura for a very long time – we were roommates in college my freshman and sophomore years! She has since earned her master’s degree and needs headshots for her choral journey – teaching, singing, and conducting! I thoroughly enjoyed our opportunity to catch up, too :)

Check out those shoes!