This past weekend was the final weekend before my fiance Eric and good friend Samuel departed the big island. We rented an infamous orange jeep, piled it full of friends, blasted the tunes, rolled the windows down and headed out to one of my favorite places on the island. Waipio Valley…

I love all the wild horses :)

photo credit for mini photoshoot | sarah wallensteen

my fiance’s stylin head of hair ;) our kids are bound to be little lions :D

the awkward in-between :)

see that zig-zag trail on the wall of the cliff? Thats the three hour hike we ventured on 

( above photo credit | sarah wallensteen )

( above photo credit | sarah wallensteen )

Below are some portraits of some lovely people I work along side here in Kona. They are amazing leaders, sold out for the Lord and committed to discipling and equipping students. They will be leading outreach teams this summer to India. Greece. London. Uganda. South Africa. Thailand. and Egypt. So excited for the amazing stories and testimonies that will come from that time :) 

such a fun and photogenic group :) loved shooting these! 

            

This lady’s birthday was the other day so I asked if I could bless her with a shoot. I was then even more thrilled when she told she hasn’t had a photo shoot since her SENIOR PORTRAITS!! I think I take for granted living with a group of photographers. So happy to bless her with some new and beautiful images of herself. I love this girls joy, you can see it radiating all over in her smile and sparkling eyes :)

follow her journey on her blog HERE

she also has a hidden talent/ God given anointing.. this chick can RAP! here’s a little rap she wrote and performed a few weeks ago on base 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_PALT3zodY&feature=youtu.be 

take two ;)

a few days ago Will came out here to Hawaii to visit Dawn for a week and I couldn’t help but photograph them again, always more practice for the wedding! Such a fun couple, i’ll be shooting their California wedding this June!  (a few posts back you can view some of their engagement photos from Italy this past summer)

the beginning of a days stroll

Zagreb, Croatia

“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched.

They must be felt with the heart.”

.engaged.

These two incredible individuals let me shoot them while in the mediterranean this past summer when Will proposed to Dawn. Dawn is a fellow teammate of mine and has endured many months apart from her love as we’ve traveled around the world. He surprised her by flying and meeting us in greece, whisking her off to santorini, and asking the question to which she responded .. yes, lets do this :) He then traveled with us the next week as our team moved on to Italy. We sneaked up allies and found hidden parks to capture their love.  They’ve been best friends for years and within hours of seeing each other after being apart 6 months back in 2010, they both knew something had changed ;) They dated two months before Dawn left to spend the next year traveling, where they spent four or five months at a time apart…basically these two are wonderful who have a deep devoted love and its been a joy to see their relationship unfold over the year :) So thankful for the friend Dawn is to me and i’m so thankful for the wonderful man Will is. These two are a bombshell couple :) enjoy!

- these photos were taken this past summer, due to traveling and being insanely busy, they are only getting posted now! I did a second updated shoot with them yesterday.. so stayed tuned!

It times like these when I am so in awe of the incredible creator he have. I feel so blessed to be able to expierience so much beauty and so privledged to call father the one who created it. Lord, your creation speak to all who are looking.. 

Psalm 19 “the heaven proclaim the glory of God, the skys display his craftsmanship..”

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The perks of driving 4 wheel drive at 10mph over lava rock for 30 minutes… a secluded camping spot known only to locals.. and waking up to your own private beach.. mmh good morning hawaii.. ;)

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from our hike into the waipio valley waterfall

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