Personally: Walking San Francisco

December 20, 2014 by Ara R. in Personal

I'm out walking, comfortably cocooned in a pink Mountain Hardwear jacket. I walk the hills half out of love, half out of defiance. I don't know if you've ever been to San Francisco, but the hills are huge. Sudden. Unrelenting. Sometimes you trust your shoes, your balance, your luck--both up and down. On a sidewalk. I walked up California Street tonight, to the very top. To see the cathedral, the Fairmont hotel, the view. Yesterday, I walked six miles in a relatively straight line to the Golden Gate Bridge..

Personally: Sandy Macaroni Salad - An Unexpected Love Story

December 01, 2014 by Ara R. in Personal, Photo Features

I was wandering aimlessly the day I took this picture, slowly following my nose around the beaches, taking a break from the city. I ended up at Hug Point, following the rocks around to the waterfall in the cove often hidden by high tides.

Personally: One Precious Photo

October 31, 2014 by Ara R. in Personal, Wedding Tips

Family dynamics at weddings can be really tough. Nathan and I struggled with etiquette and personalities and who to invite and such, and then the deeper things. I regularly talk to my couples as they face all this, too. Every family is so different: closely-knit, big, small, struggling parents, divorces, estrangements, new marriages, 50+-year marriages, huge happy sibling packs, sister drama, brothers who hug, cousins closer than sisters... I love it. It's humanity. There really is no "normal", which I appreciate.