Preview

Gah!! 

These two make me so happy!

This is just a sneak of more to come in January.

Have a wonderful Wednesday & a jolly good New Years Party.

Valencia - My Winter Travel - Part I

Valencia - My Winter Travel - Part I

Last Christmas I ... (uhm this sentence will end different than you expect) ... traveled to the south of Spain. As some of you well know, I love the south and have not been in Spain since the introduction of the euro. This seemed like a good enough reason to have a small escape. 
We found a cute apartment right next to the famous market of Valencia (Mercat Central de Valencia) and with that in the very heart of this wonderful city.

Come along for a couple of my favourite glimpses of Valencia.

Christmas Wishes from La Rici

Dear Friends,

I hope you all have the most wonderful Christmas time.

I am very excited to celebrate the birthday of Jesus these days and have some slow time. It is wonderfull to know that this season has a higher meaning and a really good reason to it.

My brother is right now backing christmas cookies, while Viola & I listen to kitschy 80s music and have occasional outbursts of laughter.

Also, it´s seventeen degrees in Germany. This is almost as warm as last year in the south of Spain. I think God smiled at me and said, Oh well you can´t travel this Christmas, I give you some warm days anyway. Haha.

Have a  good one!



PS,
If you feel like watching something pretty I highly recommend Lindsay Stirling's video of Hallelujah. Find it here.

My lil´Christmas Joy - DIY alla Rici

I hope you don´t mind, but this week it will get very christmasy on the Blog.

Jan and his family are already of to visit their family. I have the studio all to myself. I get to do some slow walking, loud singing and sharing a bit of my behind the scenes from my snug apartment.

I don´t quite know why but this winter season is about the quietest I have ever had in the longest while. It could be that I did not yet arrive here and do not have multiple circle of friends to meet and checklists to fill. Or it is the fact that this year we decided to do just one gift for each one of our cozy circle. Each one will get one secret santa present. And then we will simply delight in the company of each other and more importantly in His presence. I am very much looking forward to a small circle of family & friends. A tradition I totally and completely adore about my family is the fact that it is never (ever) to crowded in our home to welcome a guest. This year we will have an exchange student from a small island with us. And ya´ll know how much I love international students. Hihi.

Monday Post - Christmas Market - Sommerhausen

It was a glorious illusion to think I would have tons of free days come November. I thought I would have time to travel, dip my feet in sand... you know write poetry. ;) 

The artsy things. Instead I decided to take an occasional day and visit friends. Share the hours and forget about work every now and then.

Preview

Till soon.

Our Thanksgiving

This post comes a tad later than planned since I spent all of last week in bed. No screens, no books, no nothing. Rarely had I ever so much rest & sleep than last week.

So here comes our cozy Thanksgiving. We gathered with a bunch of friends. And here is what happened.

 And yes this involves rosemary. 

Vine Lover´s Castle Wedding

There is no better place for vine aficionados to get married, but a castle surrounded by plenty of vine. It was the sweetest day as the couple laid eyes on each other for the first time in a tiny village church down the valley. Joy spilled over contagiously.

Golden Fall - Monday Post

Last weekend  on Saturday I got up really early an drove for one hour south... nothing unusual from my wedding routine, but geuss what? It was not a wedding saturday... and with all this incredible golden, mild goodness of this years fall I can get pretty grumpy when I am not able to take pictures around the best hours of the day... you know it being a satuday and a gourgeous one and all...

Therefore I decided to take my little baby (my camera, to avoid confusions) to the Christ crusade meeting from all of southwest Germany. Well... here is what happened. I asked Martin if he would like to sneak out for a mini break and shoot in the little wilderness behind the house. 

Let me just say... there was a lot of gold, in the leaves, in the air and in the hair.

Come along and see it for yourself.

Workshop - Grundlagen der Fotografie

Liebe Freunde,

endlich ist es so weit. Die letzte Hochzeit des Herbstes ist bearbeitet. Zur Feier der 25 Hochzeiten die ich fotografieren durfte und der 30 die ich bearbeitet hab (für zwei weitere Fotografen) gab es zunächst eine extra Portion Tandooro Chicken mit Nan...

Nach der kleinen Stärkung geht es weiter mit einem Highlight im November. Unseren Studio Workshop. 

Kennt ihr das auch? 
Wenn man auf Reisen unterwegs ist, und man möchte das Erlebnis einfangen, weiß aber grad nicht mehr wie die Modi der neuen Kamera funktionieren?

Ja, das kennen wir.
Und wir möchten euch gerne helfen besser mit eurer Kamera die Bilder zu machen die ihr einfangen möchtet!

Um was wird es gehen?

Berlin For A Day or Two - Monday Post

Two weeks ago I got this immensly wonderful mail in my inbox. A friend from New York had asked if four five days later I would be around Berlin. It was not my plan till then,but I made it my plan. So I sat on a train for half a day & emerged in Berlin right after his flight arrived. He is one of my dearest chums from way back as I lived for the first time in Italia. It was this season of life when friends told me I should watch Big Bang Theory and I vehemently  resisted because I had all of this in real life right outside my door. Speaking of  sharing a house with approximately thirty computer scientists and engineers. Till now it is one of my favorite times of my life.

 I loved being able to drive up to Berlin and hang out for two days. Have our wonderful conversations, take a stroll around Berlin in fall, make nerd jokes, try craft beer and finally being introduced to lol. Till this past weekend I thought lol is laughing out loud. Turns out I was wrong and this Lol championship is also a good reason to pay Germany a visit.

Q&A - Wedding Albums - For those who plan

Happy Friday ya´ll!

Today I thought is a good day for some Questions&Answers one of the more frequent questions we get asked by our couples during and after the wedding planning process.

Today I will share the arrival of my very first studio album. Could not be more thrilled about how pretty it is! 

Do we offer wedding albums?

The simple and beautiful answer is yes, we do. :)

Romantic Outdoor Wedding - Wanda & Markus

It started out as a rainy day and despite the thick clouds this incredible couple decided to set up the chairs on the field behind the romantic mill. For the first look we met under a broad roof between the hen house and the main house. I just love this well curated place. Every corner you turn is utterly photogenic. And this day? My couple was a dream to be around. They were full of joy and laughter. From the first to the last moment. 

Today I wear my PJ to work - Monday Post

Don't´we all love wearing our pyjama?

The unusual about my past weekend was that I shot two weddings in a row. Not the usual one short, one long wedding. No, two long ones. While Friday I got to be at one of my favourite locations south of Stuttgart again, Saturday I shot at a greenhouse wedding!  What joy & beauty awaited. 

This aside I knew I had to prepare the days with sleep and rest well in advance. I packed my favourite food and prepped the car with some stay awake music for driving home late at night. Then there was only the agonising outfit choices to be prepared. Believe it or not... Friday I wore my PJ to work. 
Not what you think, editing in front of the screen, not-seeing-a-single-soul-work-day. It was a wedding day. :) 
There you go, how to wear an italian dress and a PJ top. 
Since I totally forgot to ask someone to take my picture, here is another one, with the same pyjama top. :)

Other highlights were, that I was told I speak Italian with a Spanish accent from a Sicilian. Always a pleasure. And then Sunday (brain function about zero) I placed four baby vases on the mattress of my bed and ten minutes later lifted the mattress to open the bed-drawer... Yeah, my advice: don´t do that...

Here is to rocking your long weekends & being cozy while doing so! 

Have the most wonderful new week!!

Pyjama top: Ralph Lauren Sleepwear (as in 2012)

Dress: Intimissimi

Photo: Thank you ! Jan

Fall and Celebrations - Monday Post

I woudln´t have believed it earlier this year but September turned out to be my busiest month. I have shot three long and three short weddings and minor shootings during the week. As the past Saturday came I was excited that my weekend had two full days of pause. 

Not only this but also German Unity Day. I like this day. It is a day I love spending with people I could not have hung out with would the wall not have crumbled. I like this day because it is a reminder that peaceful revolution is possible. I like this day because we have this immense gift of living in a free country. This in times where waves of displaced people remind us that political and religious freedom are not always for granted.

For that and all the other good reasons I asked some very precious ladies to share the day. We had an extended brunch and then a walk in the fall goodness. 

Come along for a happy mash of impressions from this day.

Wedding Tamara & Nico

The day we met was just lovely. We laughed a lot and she especially as they told their story of quietly looking at each other for semester after semester till finally in their last week at the university Nico summoned the courage to speak to her. It was the sweetest story and I think I fell in love with them that day. To trump all this they got engaged in Bolzano where I once have studied. You can image we had plenty to share. 

Tamara enchanted me with her classy yet modern style. Her dress is a special design by her and a dress maker from Munich. Oh Gosh! And then there are those portraits where she reminds me of Audrey Hepburn. But see it for yourself!

Business Portraits with Johannes

Often before moving to Stuttgart I had asked friends what their favourite place is if they were familiar with the city. One friend had said her total favorite place is the "Schlossplatz" castle plaza during sunrise. Taking her word on it I decided to meet with Johannes during the magical sunrise hour right there. I had a look at all the buildings near by & decided that for the vibe he wanted for his images, this would be a marvellous place.

Monday Post - Who Are You

This weekend something queer happened. I had a short wedding on Friday and a morning shoot on Saturday... then I settled at Anna´s place & we started our weekend together. Made pancakes for breakfast and had lunch with Samosa´s. After a full day of relaxing I just could not believe my weekend had another day of rest in store. Good times, friends. I watched three sunrises and sunsets. I mean seriously, when was the last time you took the time to savour a new day being born? Gosh it is a miracle, every.single.time. So there I was on the balcony talking to God. 

In the past weeks I started reading the Chronicles of Narnia and I have to tell you, I am in love with these books! Not the films, the books! I think there is so much truth in them that I have to read them all over again. Even more, I think C.S. Lewis has a gift when it comes to speaking about God´s character. Some of the lines just hit me full on. 

Wedding Anna & Chris

Honestly, I am at a loss for words about where to begin. This is at the same time the closing and the beginning of a new chapter. Maybe you need to know one thing about Anna & I... we where roomies for the last half year and I had never have anybody, no I mean it, grow so close and steady to my heart as this girl did! Where shared are lives and our joys... and all the quiet, crazy moments in-between. With the big day drawing nearer we brainstormed endless ideas & options about how to let this day unfold. And at the same time middle of August came, not quite daring to talk about moving apart but still looking forward to the rest of all the goodness. I have seen Anna & Chris on the every day, quiet, not glamorous and just normal days and I love the way they love each other. How he makes her crazy chuckle and how she makes him write songs. I remember the day we went swimming in the river and he held her in his arms, you know, "to keep the fish away"... and how they scream-laughed all the way through. The good, honest kind of belly laugh. 

In the early hours on that special day I went to meet with Anna extra early. Before the wedding bustle swept through the day... to have some tranquil moments and I was especially honoured to have been asked to come, because as she said, I carry peacefulness... 
and then for the first time I had a bridesmaids shooting. It was a bliss! Those girls stopped traffic, I tell you! We were in the park in Baden-Baden and they did their crazy flirting with my camera, as one driver going past our lawn actually hit a traffic sign! No kidding! 
We all laughed our way through this day. This couple is so full of radiant joy that you can hardly help yourself but to be joyous with them. 

Sneak Peek for your Friday

So in love with these two!

Heidelberg with friends - Travel

I remember as Alex shared with me that he was planning proposing to his girl. I was freaking out & had to keep all the goodness to myself for some weeks. We chatted about photographers from the Washington DC area & as the wedding plans where finalised I realised I would not be able to fly over to their wedding in the states. Oh that was a low of lows. Fast forward a couple more weeks & the two lovebirds came to honeymoon in Italia & Germany. Needless to say we had to meet!

Little Black Dress alla Italiana

In the past weeks I have been asked so many times to give travel advice for Italia that it really had me thinking about... starting a travel guide, a new Blog series on Italia or an e-book or... more than any of those ideas it gave me a deep longing to go south again. It has become kind of an annual tradition. To leave the screens and appointments for some refreshing days and to go south. In order to tame this strong urge of wanderlust I decided to publish some more images from the last time I short-visited Roma. 

La Rici at work - Monday Post

My past Saturday´s joy was that I shot like the most relaxed wedding ever. It was a wonderful affair. As we entered the dining room all the table numbers where decorated with characters from the best series ever (Kirk& Spock, Bert&Ernie...). So I scouted the room in all tranquility, taking the details shots... as I stumbled on my couple´s table... it had Penny&Sheldon as their table number and I knew we were a perfect fit. ^^

Apart from this awesomeness they are total Italia affacinatos and are honeymooning in my beloved Toscana. If I could give some travel advice? Oh hello yesss!

This is me at work, running crazy during the golden hour.
Here is to clients who make you feel like the luckiest. To a gorgeous taste in flowers and golden hours that take your breath away!

Have most wonderful new week!

Thank you Florian for this one!

Monday Post

It was the first time we shot together in almost two years. We were on the road to Potsdam & I was gazing out of the window. I had not been in the north of Germany for quite some years and somehow I had forgotten how perfectly wonderful the landscape is up here. I was super thrilled about shooting together with Jan again and curious how the teaming would end up, since I had gotten quite used to shooting on my own. 

Sooo, this is the back entrance... jup! Life is sweet friends!

If you think about getting married in a castle I would most love to shoot your wedding there! ;)

In the end I savoured the moments when I knew Jan would have my back. I was able to focus on documenting the details (something I love like crazy) and he would take the first round of group pictures. It was a marvellous bliss to split tasks like this. I would entertain the small group pictures while he was with the couple around the corner to work his magical-in-the-woods portraits. And then to actually sit down to drink my evening coke and not drink it on the run like usually was a new peak.

This is us getting the gear and mood ready to rumble. Oh how I love castle weddings!

Location: Schloss Kartzow

You can book us together here: Jan´s page

Have a wonderful new week friends!

Urban Fashion Shoot

A little urban wilderness and the good light just streaming in from behind the overgrown tracks. By the way, this is the only kind of tracks I feel comfortable shooting on... Overgrown, worn, wild. 

The warmest wedding yet - Personal

It´s a lovely season in Germany. Every day you can count on the sun beaming it´s most radiant rays endlessly. 

This is all very lovely for having a lovely-lazy pool day. To read the summer read you had on your list. Or... others just like me, might shoot a wedding on the warmest day of the year. 

So todays snapshot is from a day with 40 degrees in the shade. Eight straight hours shooting outside. All my attempts to find an assistant for the day failed and I knew I would face this day on my own. To be quite honest shooting in a  heat like this is one of my anxieties. 
This is after all the fresh hair and make-up has long left me. This is after the job is done. This is after having conquered a day I was afraid of fainting from the sheer heat. I remember sitting in the car and feeling so sick I could not drive. But this shot right here shows I made it. Not only to the location, but through the day. I set out to give my very best and conquered the day. This picture is surely not the most perfect or prettiest picture. But it is me, just how I am, with tons of sweat puddles (hence the black and white) and rings under my eyes...  and this is also me having faced my fear and made it out alive. Yes. And I am happy to report that after not exactly the most chilled wedding day my wonderful couple loved their wedding images. Despite the sweat, despite the moments of desperation (no air-conditioning anywhere), the hours of endless joy and beautiful spoke louder than the circumstances which held them. 

 Here is to always focusing on the joy instead on the circumstances.

Have a wonderful week!

Sneak peek

One of my faves for your sweet Friday.

Always love me some good evening light!

Engagement Session in Würzburg

We met in one of my favourite cafés in Würzburg. After the first couple of laughters shared I knew I would love them as my clients. And all the more as clients from the Franconian region where I had lived the last couple of years.

How to Get Around Without Owning a Car - Behind the Lens

My photographic past year was awesome, car wise. I had a borrowed huge VW passat for over six months, named her Arabella and we got along just splendidly. 
Not so much anymore as she decided to have a break down (not on a wedding day though, good girl).

So then, what next, when your new income just does not cover an own car yet? In the country of cars they are just not as affordable as in many other places, ;)
After talking to Jan about this years game plan we decided to opt for car sharing. I had rented a car several times last year and it is not the best affordable option. So here comes Stadtmobil. As for me living in Stuttgart downtown I don´t need to have a car right in fron of the door five out of seven days. If you are familiar with those worries about financing an own car or live anywhere close to those little stations where you can rent a car via car sharing I can highly recommend this option. 

You can find car sharing in Germany here. And in Stuttgart here. They really do have a station in every second street down town which makes it super easy to pick up the car you need. 
If you need a bigger car you can find them with Stadtmobil as well. 
If you are a student and plan to move I can highly recommend this wonderful page here.



I hope this was helpful to some of you, 
see you next week!

Saluti!

Sneak Peek

Sitting next to you is like taking a sip of eternity, the sun, the stars, the sky, never tasted so good. 

- Christe Ann Martin

More of this lovely couple on a good-light-day is coming to the Blog soon.

Have a lovely Wednesday!

My past week´s joy - Not a Monday Post anymore

Since I moved to Stuttgart I knew I wanted to pursue another passion of mine. I mean beside the obvious love-struck awesomeness of going full time on photography...

I wanted to have a guest room ever since I left my parents house almost seven years ago. I grew up with new and old friends running in and out of our home. Some stayed for years, some just for one night. Some I call family, some are intimate friends to this day, some taught me english, some how to cook exotic recipes. 

As my Finnish friend JP texted one day if he could quite spontaneously crash for the night, I was delighted to host a wonderful friend. We had met in Würzburg and if we even met for some twenty minutes in between lectures to grab lunch, I always had the feeling that superficiality is just not in his repertoire.

As he was traveling to many countries in the break between semesters his wonderful and at times crazy stories of adventurous encounters gave me a really bad case of wanderlust. Or how Tolkien would put it: 

I want to see mountains again, Gandalf, mountains,(...)

Anyway, I enjoyed hosting and listening and laughing and remembering.

And then I had to grab at least one or two frames of him... If I would have a street style Blog he would be on it. As in very second week ;)

Engagement Session - Alex & Marcel

One of my total favorite parts about my job is that I get to take it with me. On the road, where I travel. And as it happens for my weekend with le ragazze (my Itaian girls) in Munich it coincided with a lovely inquiry. It happened to be one of the more rainy weekends and for some time we where contemplating whether to risk it or not. Usually I would opt for a rain free day for an engagement session since I think this is the one day you can actually reschedule opposed to your wedding day where you have to rock whatever comes your way. 

But since the travel days where kinda our restriction we decided to run with it and run we did. Call me strange but I actually love the overcast sessions so much! They have their own prose to it and the colors pop even more.

Having spent almost a decade side by side they decided to get engaged on a beach in Thailand. 

Alex & Marcel, thank you so much for asking me to take your pictures. I loved it! I loved that you let me see your giggles and embraces!

I wish you all the best for your journey!

Monday Post - Know your Dreams

For the first time in the almost two years I have been shooting weddings in the Stuttgart area I had a wedding at a location I already knew. Oh what a fabulous feeling. For the first time in two years not everything was all new. Also for the first time I had a more or less relaxed morning before a wedding day. I did not run around like crazy ( what usually happens) in a hectic mind set for the fifteen minutes before leaving the house. This time it was only five minutes. Haha. For me this was a new goal. To quiet down the hectic I usually get myself into before I start the wedding day. I was hoping this year some kind of routine would set in. Some set game plan to calm my nerves. 

The wedding I was able to accompany this Friday was at a dream of a location of mine. It is an ancient mill set in a quite valley. Birds of all kinds, geese, white doves, ducks ... all things feathers are sprinkled across the greens and as soon as you close the door of your car you enter into this new place you leave behind all things fast and hectic. It is like a mini-vacation every time I come to shoot a wedding there. A place where the grandfather lets out the big geese at sunset hour so they can eat beside the small stream. Where all the kids and grandparents eat lunch on the porch before the wedding guests come streaming in. 

So looking forward to shooting there one more time this year. :)

Picking daisies.

Sneak Peek

"If someone asked Emma, as they sometimes did at parties, how she and her husband had met, she told them:

‘We grew up together.”

- David Nicholls

This weekend starts unusually early. I had a Friday wedding yesterday and today I can go on and pretend I have a normal work week. Go for walks, have my favourite pug over for a visit and go to church tomorrow not being entirely sleep deprived. Oh what a day. :)

Here is a little teaser for your weekend. More to come soon of these lovelies!

What is a butterfly moment?

When was the last time you held a butterfly?

Last week I was hanging some laundry on the balcony and one of those tiny, precious guys decided to pay me a visit. He sat on my hand. I mustered its wings. Felt its minuscule feet on the skin of my hand and thought this would be a cool selfie moment. 

But then it occurred to me, you cannot take selfies with butterflies. The mere notion of movement will chase them away and the magic is vanished into thin air.