I am excited to kick off a creative new year with a group photography show at Toby’s Feed Barn in Point Reyes Station…

Each photographer was asked to pay “homage” to something and I chose to pay “homage” to the amazing women I have been lucky to photograph.

We would love for you to come celebrate with us this Sunday….

I want to send a special thank you to: Michael for bringing us all together, Jude for hanging my photographs while my family and I were crossing the country, Mary and Nicole Fassbinder for the amazing frames, Sean at Light Waves for facillitating the printing, Tyler for the awesome postcard, and Arann for everything else.

Thank you,

Not only were two books with my photography published this year…

(Harvesting Color by Rebecca Burgess.)

(Cooking My Way Back Home by Mitchell Rosenthall.)

But I also started work on my third book…

And I had two photographs published in The New York Times.

(Fibershed made it in the New York Times on July 7th, 2011.)

(A photo of my grandparents in The Lives They Loved)

I was hired for the first time by biggies like Nike…

and William Sonoma.

And by some cool local companies like Stemple Creek Ranch…

Nest Architecture Studio…

And Susan Hayes Handwovens…

I also met and photographed so many inspiring individuals (especially women) who are doing inspiring things…

…Jean Near.

…Leslie Santos.

…Elizabeth Boothby.

And then there was this guy called George Lucas.

And 12 amazing weddings…

And 14…

…very…

…cute…

…families.

But as I was running around documenting other people’s lives, I was also making a little life of my own…

And now 2.5 months later, this crazy little person I created is constantly reminding me how fast everything can change in just a matter of seconds let alone a whole year.

Which leads me to the one photo from 2011 that makes my heart swell like I never knew it could…

I love this photo of my grandfather and my son not because it was published in any magazine or because it is of anyone famous. I love this photo because it helps remind me that in the end none of that fancy stuff really matters. This one photo reminds me that life is too short, we never know what is going to happen next and there are some moments we just need to hold on to.

Happy New Year everyone. Thank you for helping make 2011 a wonderful year. I look forward to seeing what lessons life brings in 2012.

My present to my grandfather this Christmas is on page 50 of The New York Times magazine, for the feature The Lives They Loved.  It seems like the perfect tribute for a love story that started in high school newspaper class 71 years ago.

Merry Christmas, Grandpa, it’s not Parade Magazine, but hopefully it is a suitable substitute.

And that cute family showed their photos to this cute family…

And that cute family showed their photos to this cute family…

And to this cute family…

And because all of these cute families live on the same cute street in the East Bay, this year one of the mothers offered to help organize schedules so I could come back and photograph all of the cute families on the same day.

So that is what we did.

And here are some of my favorites from our marathon photography day on that sunny Saturday in November…

Thank you, Rachel, for suggesting the Clover Drive photography day. And thank you, Kim, for coordinating all of the schedules. I had lots of fun with each of your families and I really hope to see you all again next year.

Born at our home on October 14th at 12:20 am.

Named after my most favorite grandparents, who taught me the importance and value of family.

(photo taken by the talented Jude Mooney.)

He is only three weeks old and I am still completely blown away by it all…

By the fact that he was once inside of me.

By how absolutely amazing women are.

By seeing my son bundled in my husband’s arms.

By the love we have received from our incredible community.

By the multitude of faces…

…one creature can make…

…in a matter of seconds.

By my mom.

By my dog, who sat quietly with me during the whole (very long) birth.

And by this new person…

…who is making me fall in love…

…a little bit more…

….every day.

In high school my grandfather, Bob Harper, had a crush on my grandmother, Sally Lofgren, but because he was so terribly shy he couldn’t do a thing about it.

So my grandfather’s best friend, George McCoy, locked him in the basement and refused to let him out until my grandfather called and asked my grandmother out.

And that one phone call was the spark that created all of this…

I have always believed that my grandparents’ relationship was a good example of what a relationship should and could be, so before Arann and I got married in 2009 I asked my grandfather to share his thoughts on the secret to a good marriage. This is the message he sent to us:

I’m not an expert on marriage, but I’ve had a lot of experience. Sally and I have been married almost 65 years. So, what’s the answer:

Marry early.

Have good genes.

Take advantage of high-tech medical care.

Sleep in the same bed.

AND

Sexual attraction may be the starting point, but it’s not the name of the game.

“If’ it’s only sex,” as the words go in the song; Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend, “we all lose our charms in the end.” The hormones cease to rush.

The real game is a version of the Golden Rule: Do unto your spouse as you would have him or her do unto you.

When you say “I do,” you really become one; you are equal; you are no longer ‘me’, you’re us! You’re a team. 1 plus 1 = us.

In a marriage, no one’s the boss. You share the ups, the downs, family decisions, chores, what needs to be done.

You see Sally and me as old folks, but I can tell you, to me, Sally is more beautiful than when we married because I’ve learned who she really is – what a wonderful person she is.

She’s been my best friend for all these years.

She was my mysterious lover when we started; over the years I’ve learned to know what a lovely individual she is – and she’s my loyal roommate. I’m with her from morning to night and love it.

I’ve been blessed to spend most of my waking days for the past 65 years with my best friend – she’s my wife; I’m her husband. I can’t imagine life without her.

The secret of marriage is feeling that way about your spouse – and having her feel that way about you.

Today, September 26th 2011, my grandmother, Sally Ann Harper, passed away… just two days before their 67th wedding anniversary.

My grandfather’s last words to her, “You made my life.”

The search is over… let’s go.

(click on the photo for a closer look)

A year ago in May, I received this email from Abby:

Paige – we love your work! It would be awesome to have you document lil’ Margaux.

We were thinking of doing three short photo sessions spaced out through the year. We want to get some nice shots of her as she grows. (Everyday is something new!). I’d like to do the first session after she can hold her head up (3 mos or so) as she’ll be a more sensational model at that point. And we’d like to do this outside, earth baby style.

Thanks!
Abby

I was excited about the opportunity to document a little one’s first year of life, and so over the next 16 months I was able to photograph Margaux at…

…3 months…

…7 months…

…and 19 months.

Each time I arrived at their house, it was fun to see (and experience) the differences a few months can have on a little person. And I learned a lot from Margaux about how to be better prepared to photograph the very different stages. These are the valuable lessons that lil’ Margaux taught me about photographing a child’s first year:

At three months you have to work really fast before your model falls asleep… again.

Seven months is so dreamy… a few funny noises and a mirror is all it takes to get a good smile.

And 19 months… watch out. You better have eaten a good lunch, done some stretching and have a bunny up your sleeve, because not only do you have to move fast to keep up with your model, but you also have to have some tricks to keep her entertained. Ladders, chairs, agile parents, and using your body as a blockade works too…

But as I looked back to compare the photos from each of our photo shoots, I was pleased to discover some similarities as well…

Thank you, Abby, Nate and Margaux, for letting me document your first year together and for teaching me how to be a better photographer for all ages.

And I can’t wait to see what lessons Margaux has to share after lil’ Margaux becomes big sister Margaux.

Today we celebrated this new community with a SF Surf Mama Launch Party in Bolinas. The party included a welcome gift package, a yummy lunch, surf lessons, and of course a dynamic community of women. We didn’t find the sun, but we did find lots of laughter and waves perfect for all ages.

Here is a quick sneak peek of what you can expect when you join this brand new Surf Mama community…

If you are a girl, woman, mother or child, and you want to be a part of a fun surfing community then visit the SF Surf Mama facebook page to learn more.

Sorry fellas, I know these ladies are irresistible, but no guys allowed in this club.

The Upper Peninsula of Michigan was a very important part of Arann’s (pre-Paige) life and yet in the eight years we have been together I still had never been there… so we decided to make a trip out of it. We decided to actually take a vacation.

That statement is misleading because we do take lots of wonderful vacations, but usually the trips we take are with my family because I live thousands of miles away from them, so we happily spend our free time with them. But every once and awhile it is nice to get away alone, just the two of us, so we decided July 2011 it was Michigan or bust.

The plan for our 10 days in Michigan… was not to plan. Or so I thought.

As far as I knew, the only thing on our schedule was that we had to be in Cross Village by Thursday for pre-wedding prep. Other than that we had no reservations, no route marked on a map, and no prearranged accommodations… except for two nights with friends of friends in Detroit… because I definitely wanted to go to Detroit.

From all of the media hype over the last few years, it sounded to me like Detroit was becoming the renewed frontier. It is the place to be for artists and farmers because old industry is gone and land is once again cheap, so if you can make your own job and grow your own food then you can have a pretty good life in Detroit.

Unfortunately we weren’t there long enough to say if all that is really true, but in the 48 hours we were there we did see lots of big beautiful houses for sale and lots of wide open vacant lots, we met lots of very friendly people and we went to the largest and most crowded farmers’ market that I have ever been to.

So I can say that Detroit made a good first impression on me and I would love to go back and spend more time getting to know the communities and the people who are making it work in this new version of an old city.

After Detroit, we headed north-east along Lake Huron, at what I thought was going to be a leisurely pace… but this is when Arann started to get antsy. I soon discovered that while I was thinking we had all the time in the world to wander and explore this big beautiful state… the only thing Arann could think about was getting to The UP.

So we hurriedly passed through several very random small American towns…

Stopping only to succumb to basic needs, but happy to discover that the Cheese Capitol of Michigan was one of those stops…

…and we had a cheese picnic, of course.

When we finally made it to The (one-and-only) UP, Arann immediately ate his first pasty and slowly started to breathe normally again.

And when we arrived in Marquette, I finally understood the reason for Arann’s anxious behavior. It turns out that Arann knows a wonderful community of people from when he lived there 10 years ago. Word spread quickly that “Arann Harris was back in town,” so we spent the next 24 hours reminiscing with his long-lost friends.

On our memory lane tour, I finally saw the log cabin that Arann “helped” build.

We met Russel, the crow.

We reunited with more friends, and their children who really loved Russel…

…although I can’t say that Russel really loved meeting them.

And then finally… we made it to the place of many legends, The Huron Mountain Club…

aka: the place where Arann Harris found his calling in life…

Arann likes to tell people that he is a professional camp counselor, and now I can happily say that I got to see The Bridge where it all began so many years ago… and now the new generation of campers can say that the original Pizza Man really does exist.

We were only there for 48 hours but we managed to do a little bit of everything… including donate a significant amount of blood to the local mosquito population.

And after serious exploring and serious relaxing, we were on the move again…

This time we headed south-west to meet our California friends who had descended upon Cross Village, on Lake Michigan, my third Great Lake of the trip, where we…

Skipped rocks.

Tasted the local cuisine.

Helped our dear friends get married and celebrated by playing a whole lot of very cut-throat lawn games.

It was the perfect ending to a well-balanced and carefully planned trip.

And just the kind of recharging we needed before we start our next big adventure…

…as just the three of us.