Malawi : end of day one + day two

September 20, 2009 | 8:00pm

Whew! If all wedding showers are like that in Malawi, I want to know where to sign up! Basically, as far as I can tell, it's a just a huge party full of dancing, throwing money, speeches, and amazing food. Everyone - and I mean everyone - has been so incredibly gracious, charming, and grateful to us for being here. The latter seems so odd to us, but we're finding that people find it so wonderful that we've come so far for Eddie and Mwai. We feel so blessed to be here at all, let alone to shoot a wedding!
Tonight I tried a snack called bwemba. It looks a little like a dried edemame pod. You suck on the pod and spit out the little smooth, brown seeds that look like perfect little beads. It's super sour, but surprisingly yummy.
This evening a mysterious black chicken hopped the wall of the compound and arrived on our window sill... we've named her Charlene. That's all for today, it's been a long one.


September 21, 2009 | 7:40pm

This morning I took my first shower since I left Seattle. There's no stand up shower, just a tub and hand-held unit. At this point, I could care less. Hot water and soap does wonders when you're sleepy and greasy. :)
Today was a beautiful day! We drove out to Kara O'Mula Country Lodge at Mulange Mountain. Along the way we passed several small towns and villages, as well as lots of tea farms! The scenery was amazing! The mountain was awesome. We walked around a bit and then had dinner at the lodge- roast chicken, potatoes, rice, and some fantastic Carlsberg beer. We're now back at the house uploading and editing while watching DVDs of House with Eddie and Mwai. Tomorrow we're headed out to a smaller game preserve. Hoping to see some cool stuff. Later-
xoxo, Amy

Here are some of the images from the day...

Africa : {a very long} Day One

Several of you have asked repeatedly to see photos from our trip to Malawi. I apologize for the delay, there are a lot of days to cover and I've been trying to think of a way to do it without boring you to death or conversely, leaving out details. I think I've got it now, so here we go. I've decided to just dictate the blog directly from the journal I kept while there. I will apologize ahead of time for any gaps. Enjoy.

September 19, 2009 | Amsterdam, Netherlands | 8:37am local time

Muli Bwanji!
Well, we're officially on our way to Africa. We've just completed the first leg of our journey by landing in Amsterdam after a 9 hour flight from Seattle. Nichole and I are sitting in Cafe Amsterdam in the airport waiting for our gate to open. We're drinking fantastic hot cocoa and enjoying their "French Breakfast". This is a croissant, french bread, cheese, fruit, jam, and literally a shot of orange juice. Must be a shortage of oranges this time of year... The music while sitting here has ranged from the Spice Girls to DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh +Prince. We're off to our gate and our flight to Nairobi. I didn't sleep on the last flight (instead I watched The Hangover, The Proposal, and X-Men:Wolverine...) so I'm hoping to get a little shut eye on this flight. Tio nana!!!

September 20, 2009 | Lusaka, Zambia | 12:36 am local time

Sitting on the tarmac in Lusaka. This is the flight we caught in Nairobi, we're just here for a quick hour layover before we're back in the air and headed for our final destination- Lilongwe, Malawi! It's been such long travels but we're nearly there. Our dinner on this flight was some sort of chicken curry with rice which was actually super delicious. I've been able to sleep a bit on this flight, which has been nice (Thank you Ambien!) but I'll be happy for whatever sleeping arrangements we have at Mwai's mom's house once we get there. I am beat. Note: We are currently in our 4th country and 3rd continent.

September 20, 2009 | Blantyre, Malawi | around 2pm local time

Well, we finally made it to Blantyre. Mwai's Uncle Patrick picked us up at the airport in Lilongwe at about 2:00 am and surprised us with the fact that our drive to the house was not going to be the two hours we'd been told to expect. No, it was going to take FIVE hours. Joy.
So, six hours, three gas stations, several Imperial Mint candies, two police stops, three quick naps on the side of the road including three noisy roosters, and one hitchhiker later, we arrived at Mwai's mom Thandie's wonderful home. We ate yams and tea for breakfast and were able to take a quick three hour nap. We're now up (thanks for the Red Bull, Mwai!) and headed off to Eddie + Mwai's wedding shower where we're sure to get some great photo ops. No rest for the wicked.

More soon!
xoxo, Amy

Here are some of the photos from the shower:

Check us out on La Belle Bride!

This is quick and LOUD happy shout out to La Belle Bride for showcasing my great friends Evan & Angela's beautiful wedding this past Fall! A double extra-extra loud thanks for also sharing several of my photos from the day.

As officially Angela's Maid of Honor, it would have been difficult for me to shoot the entire wedding, so my AMAZING assistant Adam was their go-to guy for all the shots I couldn't get!

The wedding was held at the beautiful Inn at Laurel Point in Victoria, BC. The accommodations were lovely, the food was fantastic, and the weather was less than stellar. So instead of having the ceremony on the third-story patio as planned, they moved it right into their own suite! It was a wonderfully intimate occasion that I now can't have imagined any other way.

To read more about this terrific wedding, and to check out a few more of mine and Adam's photos from the day, please skip over to La Belle Bride and read about it in Angela's own words... here. In addition, more of my photos from this wedding can be found on my website, here.


Thanks again to Chantale at La Belle Bride for sharing!

XOXO,
Amy

Un grand jour avec Georgia et Pascal

This past Saturday Adam and I braved the chilly Seattle weather to meet up Georgia and Pascal for a city-wide engagement shoot. Pascal lives in New York and was only in town for the weekend, so we were determined to make the most of it! Luckily the weather decided to hold off for us and we stayed dry for the better part of our day. We traveled all over Seattle from Greenlake to downtown and had such a fun time. I was even able to give them a little surprise at our last stop- The Triple Door. Will, the production manager, was awesome enough to add their names to their marquee- SO cool!

I am absolutely in love with this couple. Ils sont tellement en amour! It is obvious just being around them how completely in love they are. They are so sweet together, the kind of people you are delighted to meet and enjoy getting to know. Georgia and I even discovered that we went to the same high school and graduated just a year apart!

I am super excited for their wedding in May. Pascal is from Cameroon and lived in several countries before settling in New York. Georgia is quite the traveler as well, so their wedding is going to be packed with fantastic people from all over the world. They are also highly involved in Cuban Salsa music and dancing, so I cannot WAIT for the reception! What a party it's going to be. Il va être fantastique!

Here are just a few more of the photos from our awesome day trip, s'il vous plaît profiter ...

A Fresh New Look

The new website is here! The new website is here!

(New design, same address)

First of all, I'd just like to apologize to all of my recent fantastic clients who have yet to have their faces grace this blog due to my compulsion to complete this new web design. Soon my friends, soon. Second, the web address is still the same (www.soperphotography.com) , it's only the design that's changed.

Why a new design, you ask? Well, I wasn't happy with my previous web host so I dumped them. And with my new uber-host (they're based in the UK) comes a new uber-fab site, which I designed myself, so I hope you like it. Any issues or requests (or happy thoughts) you have regarding the new site will be read and considered, just leave your comment on this post. It was my goal when setting it up to be brighter, cleaner, and more friendly than it's predecessor, and I hope it's just that.

The downside: Unfortunately, this new site is in Flash. Those of you viewing it in HTML are not going to be happy. It totally sucks, I know. I haven't figured out a way to give you your own pretty version yet, but I'm working on it. You can always download Adobe Flash Player HERE (for free!) to make things much happier on your end in the meantime. Hint: If the home page doesn't look remotely close to the image above, you're in HTML.

So, that's all for now. There are still lots of babies and weddings, and tons more from Africa to come. Perhaps I'll just rapid-fire a bunch of new posts off to you next week, I suppose you'll just have to wait and see.

Loveyameanit!

Amy

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

AFRICA : Sneak Peek!

There is so much to share and show and gush about that all I can seem to do right now is give you a glimpse, albeit brief, into our time there. You can be certain there is a TON more to come.

I also want to take this time to begin my long diatribe of thanks to Mwai, her mom and their entire family for opening their home and their lives to us for two solid weeks. You hospitality and graciousness brings me to tears. We love you more than you know. Thank you from the bottom of my humble heart.