Author Archives: Wendy Andrews Photography

I can show you your strength & your beauty. Authentic Portraits

love on the lake

7 August 2013

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I just fell in love in one hour~

If you had the chance to combine 3 things that you absolutely love into one hour, what would it look like?

a summer morning
paddle board on the lake
yoga

I couldn’t wait to try yoga on a paddle board. I arrived excited, nervous & alive, drawn to the idea of something new, a physical challenge and the beauty of an outdoor yoga practice. The security of the bamboo floor holding my mat steady was a mile down the road in the studio.

Paddling out onto the lake helped me relax and breathe a little…So far, had mastered getting onto the board, standing and the basics of locomotion. I was awake!

The small group gathered and I began to notice how beautiful the day was-clouds holding the sun back made the far shore light up. The breeze was (thankfully) gentle and calm.

Yoga allows me to dig in to my confidence even if I fall out of a pose, which I do enough. Sometimes I’m not content in just being there, instead I try to reach a little further into my strength or flexibility or balance. The amazing part of yoga on a paddle board in a lake with a breeze blowing, is that each movement had me reaching further. Digging a little deeper.

The boards touched, “kissed” is how our SUP yogi described it. We drifted and paddled back into the lake. Down dog supplied one of my favorite views – reversed perspective of lake and clouds. Warrior felt strong, plank-solid. Tree pose, a standing, single leg balance posture gave me a challenge for my next class.

Yoga, breezes, drifting, paddling…and then headstand. What?
Headstand on a paddle board, in the lake on a beautiful summer morning!

Nothing more amazing than coming out of relaxation in a bouquet of Lilly pads.

In love…

cheers

9 July 2013

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I felt my lungs inflate with the onrush of scenery – air, mountains, trees, people.
I thought “this is what it is to be happy”
~Sylvia Plath

A sense of community is a powerful feeling.
I could imagine it might grow old, having people around you all the time, who have known you your entire life. When I have the wonderful, yet rare moments to share the present with people who have known me as a child and have watched me grow it feels very much like home.

Our parents laughed, cried and created memories together during a lifetime of summers. Carving out a legacy. Several of us, reunited over the years, carry on the legacy and nurture the bond of a passing generation. Exchanges and laughter, updates and photos keep us current in each other’s lives.

Sometimes I walk down the dirt road, as I have thousands of times in my life, and hum the theme song from the TV show “Cheers”. I relate to “where everybody knows your name, and they’re always glad you came”.

My sense of community~
Value Cherish Honor Enjoy Home

Unique Perfection

28 June 2013

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I just can’t stop!

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Looking back, It might be the way the early morning sun made the petals come alive that had me running for my camera. Maybe it was the afternoon shade that made me look again, closer.

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I wanted to climb each layer of the pink peony petals and dive into the center of the white peony and swim. It looked like it might be whipped cream lightness (the way I think jumping onto the tops of the clouds from an airplane would be). (I’m the only person who thinks that might be fun…?)

When I see a blossom so beautiful in nature, I just can’t stop myself from shooting endlessly. The ones with imperfect petals stand proud of their uniqueness. They’re my favorite. Perhaps if I can hold it still for a moment, it could last forever.

Nature. Perfect. Gorgeous.

Emmons

27 June 2013

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I’d rather be standing at the top of the hill I just dominated -unable to breathe, ready to puke, hair matted to my forehead, than at the bottom wondering what it would be like~

11 hours & 55 minutes into our hike we summited our fourth Adirondack mountaintop that day. The one word on the yellow disk on the tree, “Emmons”.

The rain started enroute to our second peak. Raincoats came out early and stayed on late into the night with hoods pulled tight for warmth against the cold night air.

Clearly there were other places to be instead of hiking a herd path with a flowing river surrounding each footstep. My cousin, Pam & I couldn’t think of any place we would rather be that day than in the Adirondack wilderness about to conquer ‘The Sewards’ – four remote mountains on a 21 mile hike.

We had done our preparation: research, planning and physical conditioning over the long winter. We were ready to hike and we were ready for The Sewards.

Pam & I made a commitment to each other that we would “finish our 46”. Translation: we would complete hiking & summiting the remainder of the 46 Adirondack Mountains (peaks). I already had climbed 15, Pam had 30. When originally measured, all peaks were over 4,000′ in elevation. Some are a lot closer to a parking lot than others.

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Why, you ask?
It’s kind of a long answer…let’s start hiking.

*for those who recognize their mountains, correct-this view is not from/of Emmons!
the photo on the bottom of the page you’ll recognize as Emmons!

flying

20 June 2013

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ever feel like you can fly?
seriously…
well, maybe not like Orville & Wilbur building the wings and attempting to fly….

sometimes my body is in alignment and feeling strong
my thoughts are open
my heart is receptive
and filled with gratitude

and then it happens

I feel like I can take flight

ok, so its during a yoga class, deeply centered, feeling strength from inside and no resistance from gravity. gently prompted into a graceful pose…and then it happened!

simultaneously: strength, power, gratitude…and flight

I’ve felt flight before and as if I didn’t want to miss out on a wonderful dream by waking up, I try to hold onto the beautiful moment.

the overwhelming gratitude filled my heart.

I can fly

second time

12 June 2013

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“To me, photography is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event.”
~Henri Cartier-Bresson

A different route home took me past this barn one spring evening.

It was dusk, past sunset, the blue evening sky visible through the barn where walls once were, exposing the ‘bones’ of this barn. It’s beauty took my breath away.

In the early hours of daylight the next morning I was back at this barn, gravitational forces at work. At first, I tried to maintain a self-imposed ‘no trespassing’ boundary, but the more I fed my camera, the more photos I had to take. I ventured to the side, and eventually around to the rear of the structure, capturing the changing light as it filtered thru the open slats. My feet, shoes and jeans soaked by the early morning dew on knee-high grass. Birds flew past, oblivious to my presence. Weeds grew among remnants of machinery left behind, rusting in the sunrise of the new day.

I imagined this farm in better days, before its retirement, filled with purpose and energy, unending labor. Its place in history. Textures, colors, gravity…I couldn’t pull away.

I drove past last evening, a pile of rubble remained.
It took my breath away.

The barn is retired.
Barn wood salvaged.
I imagine the artist who will create a new purpose.
Amazed by its texture.

Breathless by its beauty.

trees + tulle = bliss

28 May 2013

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Today I have grown taller from walking with the trees.
~K W Baker

Finally, a beautiful morning!
The long winter seemed to be over.

For several years, I’ve run on the path near these woods. Yes, for exercise (to feel the weight of fresh air fill my lungs, and the leaves and pine provide a soft cushion) and a need to connect with nature. I come alive when I am surrounded by trees, mountains, lakes, trails (birds? only from a distance).

These tall pines, planted in perfect rows intrigue me. I like the patterns and lines they create. I’ve envisioned a photo session here many times.

It was a little out of my comfort zone to bring a few miles of tulle into the woods and set up the photos I took that beautiful morning. I’ve been inspired and was motivated to try something different.

As the light softly filtered through the highest branches of the pine trees and gently touched my model, I began to fall in love. My heart pounded (in a good way), not a “gasping for air on a long run” kind of pounding, but a much more intimate feeling that I was connected – with the images appearing in my lens, with the fresh morning air and with the beautiful woman, wrapped in tulle that day in the woods. I was alive and happy. I was present.

Later that day I opened my trunk to get my yoga mat when the breeze blew a big cloud of tulle from my trunk. I entered yoga that evening laughing, happy, present.