Kamee June Photography

is anyone else shocked that it’s early september already? one more month and it’s holiday time. i sat down to look at my calendar and realized that there were some big events coming up for kamee june and my family as well. it’s going to be a great fall! ;) let’s kick october off with another california kamee june workshop, shall we?

it’s going to be really cool. come. i would love to have you!!

“where you are is where i belong.

where you go is where i want to be.” –dave matthews

sometimes a tale of love is better told from its hero or heroine…

“My Dearest Andrew,

My lungs require an extra deep breath, as I sit here to write you this little token of love. A gigantic, nostalgic sigh as I sail away to the beginning of Us– all those nights I’d stay up, restless in bed, under a mess of white sheets, with the sound of Ryan Adams serenading my racing heart, that old brown journal in hand, searching for words to give to you, words that could do justice for the feelings that were just starting to take my heart captive.

I loved writing to you, and imagining you reading my thoughts out loud, thousands of miles away, underneath a little yellow light at your desk, I imagined your hands, what they looked like, as they tore open the envelope, unpacking what I had sealed for you.

Our exchanging of words, of heart, in letters, in poetry, and now in real life have become my favorite memories, ever. The sharing, Andrew. What we’ve intentionally shared, it moves me like the moon moves the waves. They’ve washed me up on your shore, once lost at sea, now comfortably anchored with you, where I intend to bask for all of time.

Even before we met each other in person, I remember sending you a post card from a little ma and pop shop in New York. I remember signing my name– Love, Whitney. I wondered what you’d think when you’d see my handwriting, and what you’d feel when you saw the word Love, followed by my name. Would you smile? Would your heart skip like mine?

I remember your voice so well, because it was all I had for all those months. Smiling, I sat perched at my window sill, looking out to the street, the rain falling, and the lights gleaming, listening to your dreams of meeting me, someday soon. If we could only meet…

We would whisper in the dark, until 3 am, talking about anything that came to mind. You sat in your old El Camino, and told me about the bench seat you installed, and you told me one day you’d like to have me sit real close to you in that middle seat, and take me out to dinner, and hold my hand. To just hold your hand, what I’d do.

I remember giggling in excitement as I’d anxiously tear open the mail sitting on my bed. I’d read those letters a hundred times, and wonder what would happen if we took this chemistry to the next level… if we perhaps… met.

And at last, we did. Five long months later, it was time. I picked you up from the airport, after reapplying my lip gloss 37 times, and my heart felt like it was going to burst at its seams.

I saw you standing there on the curb, at LAX, and as my car slowed down, time began to stand still.

It slowly sank into my skin, what was happening, as the door slowly creaked open, and as life continued to play, in slow motion, I saw you, my future, merging with me… your future.

Andrew, that first time we looked at each other, that… that was magic. Do you remember it like I do? The beginning. Our story. It’s my favorite one.

Now, a few chapters in, I sit here, completely overwhelmed by what has been written for us.

And to think, our beginning… was just the beginning.

My love, cheers to the future, and our story being told, and retold, to each other, in memories, to one another, and one day to our children to come.

I love you.

Whitney”

love. love. love.

“To My Darling, Whitney,

It is evident you have beauty and charm in spades—an overabundance in fact, if that is possible. No one can deny that. Anyone with even the slightest amount of sense and eyes in their head can tell you’re magnificently made. And I know this far better than anyone else, having been given the opportunity to study you so intently all these months. But there is far more to you than cute dresses, or even your stunning, natural aesthetics…

Whitney, it has been the greatest honor for the last year and some months, having the ability to get close to you and look below the surface of your person. All men and women may admire you for those things I spoke of a moment ago—your charm, your beauty, or the many ways your love bubbles to the surface—but it is for me alone to know you in the most intimate ways. That privilege is the greatest gift I have ever been given; you will always be my clearest evidence of divine providence.

Your smile swallows my heart; it’s perfect punctuation for the only joy I’ve known to truly be contagious. You effortlessly season all your words with grace, but that’s because you bring them forth from the overflowing storehouses of love I’ve seen inside your heart. You’re incredibly delicate, softening my heart with a gentle touch and tender voice. At the same time you’re a refuge of strength where I seek restoration and renewal for my soul.

You’re my famous love, my one and only home.

You’re my sun on every hoped-for horizon, the fruit of blessing that I survive on. You’re all the places I wish to travel to, and the renewal of every dream I had resigned before I met you.

You know I have a lot to learn about life and living, but in my twenty-three years I’ve learned one important truth: True love is eternal because it proceeds from God. Dearest Whitney, I look forward (with the greatest faith, hope, and love) to sharing in eternity with you.

Andrew

(And if all this has been too wordy and I’ve somewhere missed the mark then let me simply say: I want to get a house with you, and have kids with you, and love you no matter what our future holds.)”

another love.love. love.

couldn’t choose a favorite. any way you flip it she is a muse:

a love letter written by franz kafka:

“i belong to you; there is really no other way of expressing it, and that is not strong enough.

how could i, fool that i am, go on sitting in my office, or here at home, instead of leaping onto a train with my eyes shut and opening them only when i am with you.”

and we’ll let james joyce take us out:

“You are my only love.

You have me completely in your power.

I know and feel that if I am to write anything fine and noble in the future I shall do so only by listening at the doors of your heart.

I would like to go through life side by side with you, telling you more and more until we grew to be one being together until the hour should come for us to die.”

whit and drew, so happy for you. may your hearts always be filled with each other. much love, kam

i can do a lot of things with 22 minutes: take a cat nap, homework with gun, make a quick phone call, schedule a hair appointment, catch up on the day’s texts, pay my bills online, load the dishwasher, roll through the drive-thru for a coke, answer a few emails, play transformers, make beds, play my little pony, close my eyes and try to go to a quiet and restful place, call my man and check in on him, decide on what to have for dinner, flip through us weekly or read a quick chapter in my book, check facebook, and i can also shoot an engagement session in 22 minutes!!!

i finally got my chance to get my lens on bryce and lora. i had been waiting for this meeting for a long time and was thrilled to finally connect meet them, see them together, and spend time hearing about their story. i knew we were on a schedule, but when bryce dropped the 22 minute bomb, i realized it was a tight one.

each time i shoot an engagement session or a wedding for that matter it has a really interesting effect on me: i fall more in love with my husband. he is never present when i shoot (someone has to be home with the littles) but the chemistry and newness of fresh love is so contagious it makes me fall in love even more with him because i remember, almost inexplicably, us.

that’s something else i can do in 22 minutes: be reminded that love is constant, true, enduring, and present -and that you can be reminded of those feelings you have for others, through others.

i was grateful for our 22 minutes.

i like bryce and lora so much. they are both so interesting in personality; they are the perfect combination.

love this one; for sure my fav from the 22 minutes:

this one a close second:

their wedding is going to be out of this world incredible! they are working with heather of amorology weddings. beside myself to be working with her as well. just thinking about them, their day, and all the details, shoots me straight to the moon. it will be off- the- hook- cool!! can’t wait!!

i also can’t wait to shoot more of this beauty:

this chemistry:

and this emotion:

bryce and lora, thank you for the 22 minutes. can’t wait to have more time together. may the next few weeks go swiftly. so looking forward to being a part of your day!!

here’s to enjoying all of life’s minutes! cheers, kamee

ps a big thank you hug to ash colman for introducing us; thank you for being such an incredible voice for me; i am so grateful for you!!!

just a few of whit and drew, and their official engagement session:

and a poem for them, because i know they like them, and because i am sorry we couldn’t get in to our first shoot spot filled with poems:

the ragged wood by william butler yeats

“O hurry where by water among the trees

The delicate-stepping stag and his lady sigh,

When they have but looked upon their images -

Would none had ever loved but you and I!

Or have you heard that sliding silver-shoed

Pale silver-proud queen-woman of the sky,

When the sun looked out of his golden hood? -

O that none ever loved but you and I!

O hurty to the ragged wood, for there

I will drive all those lovers out and cry -

O my share of the world, O yellow hair!

No one has ever loved but you and I.”

much love to you whit and drew, xoxo kam

is getting married?

isn’t she going to make the most resplendent bride?

andrew proposed.

whit accepted.

and it’s going to be official november 27th, 2010.

and that’s ultra good and nice.

their day is going to be so sweet and wonderful.

and very romantic:

guess who’s shooting their wedding?

excited to be a part of it. ;)

their engagement is going to be off the hook; the wedding, unbelievable.

“Love is always bestowed as a gift – freely, willingly, and without expectation – We don’t love to be loved; we love to love.” – Leo F. Buscaglia (1924-1998) American Psychologist, Author, Educator

whit loves to love and she lives to love andrew.

and he lives to love her, and will for the rest of his days.

and their life together will be poetic.

just wait for their engagement session; you won’t believe what’s in store.

we shoot tomorrow and i am beside myself…

my heart is happy for these two. congrats whit and drew; here’s to you!

it’s interesting to me how paths cross at a certain time for a certain reason. it’s also interesting how time takes a teacher/student relationship to a friend/friend with so much in common relationship.

i first met katie when she was a junior in high school; she was in my honors english class.

she’s not in high school anymore. she’s graduated, is an accomplished teacher herself, is married to a way, way cool guy, and is a mother to one very sweet, and smart baby boy. during our visit, dave asked me is it was “weird” at all having both she and dave in our home and seeing her after all this time. it was only weird that i  knew her when she was still in braces, ogling over hot guys, and deciding on phloofy pink prom dresses. now we are practically the same person living two different lives with so, so, so much in common!! ;)

i loved reconnecting with katie and meeting her man, dave. it was fun to considering my first year of teaching and all of those students i loved so much. it made me want to throw myself back into the classroom; nostalgia has a tendency of doing that to me: it makes me long for a time in my life i loved so much and want to recreate it all again.

i loved katie and dave’s visit.

like all smart parents do they took a break from their babe for a little bit of time to be alone. they vacationed this summer on a cruise ship and docked in san pedro, where i was, coincidentally enough shooting with my friend julie. they found me and we started their weekend of shooting. (dave was such a good sport; wherever i went to shoot they came with me and after i was finished shooting my scheduled shoot i shot them. how’s the for employing the root “shoot” katie? ;))

i loved shooting here; it was just something new for me and that always inspires. not to mention these two were fun and up for anything!!

we caught up, like old friends do.

the next day i took them to work with me in old orange. while i shot my appointment, they mulled around and then met up with me later for the second portion of their shoot.

these were some of my favorites:

and we ended our weekend  together with a third shoot with at the beach, because how can you come to california and not shoot at the beach? you can’t. it’s kind of a rule. i guess.

katie and dave, thanks for coming and for spending some time with us! katie, may you continue to reach for all of your dreams like you always have! ;) dave, may you get me that wedding in chicago! ;) thanks again for coming you two; we loved it!!! next time bring baby!!!! xoxo kam and fam