art + reika

I first saw Art and Reika just over a year ago as they walked into our tiny church plant and immediately pegged them as too cool to ever hang out with us.  They're the kind of fabulous that just seems to happen, ya know? The kind of cute that could throw on anything and it would look fantastic and effortless; they're so cool we invented a hashtag just for them. But here's the thing - tell this to their face and they would both just giggle. Art and Reika are two of the kindest, most genuine folks we've ever had the pleasure of knowing and our lives are most definitely better because of them. They're completely head over heels for one another - so dedicated to each other and to their friends, fully present in whatever situation they find themselves which is a rare thing these days. Basically, as all of our grandma's would say : "they're good people." 

Art and Reika will be married in June and sometimes I die a little when they share details about their wedding - and here's my favorite part : I'll be shooting all film! They're big bike enthusiasts so we spent one evening rolling from one favorite spot to another around Columbus and had a blast. ​

Thanks for all your lovin', Art + Reika. ​#artandreika4eva

​Kodak Portra 400 Film

Los Angeles, CA or Ruthie's Big Adventure

My love affair with film continues -- it's slowly becoming all I use for personal work and I hope to be incorporating it more into my professional work soon (more on that to come!). I woke up to an email from Richard Photo Lab on my birthday letting me know that my film scans were ready for viewing and I couldn't have asked for a better birthday gift! This was my first time using RPL and they lived up to all the hype -- such rich image color and texture. (You getting nervous, DSLR? You should be.) And so here's a peak at the fun we had touring L.A. with our good friends over at Ginger & Birch. The Avalon Hotel provided a perfect setting and delicious coffee for our loungey-baby-napping-mornings.

If the trip had a theme, it would be good food. Thanks to Ashley for her mad research skillz. We ate good, y'all. Favorite setting goes to Eveleigh on Sunset Blvd.

A spontaneous highlight of the trip was stumbling upon the Painstakingly Made Pop-Up shop hosted by Jihan at Geronimo Balloons -- so many fabulous hand made delights and great to meet some faces that we follow online ( Paper & Type and Darling Magazine )!

A secondary theme for the trip might be: We are not cool enough for this place. If you're ever in L.A., drop by The Hart and the Hunter for the.best.buttery.good.biscuits you've ever had. (I'm from the South so my biscuit review is legit, folks.)

And then there was the most magical moment of the journey : sharing the wonder and awe of the ocean with our baby girl. It's a humbling thing to experience such beauty with a person whose brand new eyes have never seen such a thing. Your heart gets swollen and eyes a little misty and that desire to only share with her life's most beautiful things is satisfied for a moment.

Ashley's sister Whitney is living in L.A., so we had an insider's know-where-to-go-for-killer-sunset-watching. And so we went. And it was the perfect last day.

Thank you A&A for your crazy "let's invite a six month baby to share a hotel room with us." It was wonderful.

And delicious.

All images shot with Kodak Portra 400 35mm film.