I came across this poem the other day and found it worth reflection. Changing seasons make such beautiful subjects for the written word.

Autumn Movement

By Carl Sandburg

I CRIED over beautiful things knowing no beautiful thing lasts.
The field of cornflower yellow is a scarf at the neck of the copper sunburned woman, the mother of the year, the taker of seeds.
The northwest wind comes and the yellow is torn full of holes, new beautiful things come in the first spit of snow on the northwest wind, and the old things go, not one lasts.

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1) Johnny Flynn’s “Been Listening”: I have an obsession with up-and-coming British folk musicians and Johnny is one of my faves. His first album, A Larum, was such a find in ’08 and I’d been looking forward to his new release for some time now. Johnny’s got such a soulful voice and when I put his music on, I find myself getting lost in creative thoughts that the hustle and bustle of my day-to-day to-dos doesn’t often afford. Perfect kind of music to listen to in this season as we transition from fall to November’s shades of grey. One of my favorite tracks on the new album is “The Water,” in which he pairs up with Laura Marling, another one of my fave Brit songstresses that I’ve mentioned on the blog before here and here.

2) Pomegranates: Oh friends, IT IS THE SEASON OF THE POMEGRANATE! I look forward to this time of year because it means my favorite fruit is in stock on my grocer’s shelves and I can binge on ‘em to my heart’s content. My only issue with ‘em? How hard they can be to deseed! (anyone who’s spent 15 minutes over a cutting board, covered in their stain-inducing juice, feels my pain). I found the deseeding tips in this NPR article helpful in my quest :) Here’s to the next two months of getting my fill of this fruit. Bonus points that something so good for you can taste SO yummy!

3) “Nowhere Boy”: I love stories where you get to learn what makes one of your favorite artists tick, don’t you? John Lennon is such a genius that watching this film and learning about his troubled childhood/youth shed so much light on what I knew about him already in addition to growing my appreciation for the artist he’d go on to become. If you don’t know much about John (aside from his days singing alongside Paul, George and Ringo), then go in as uninformed as I did. The film’s ending packs one heck of a punch if you do. Pleasantly surprised overall at just how good this was. Another awesome flick seen in October? “The Social Network.” It’s a must-go if you haven’t already!

4) Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom: A Franzen novel is not for everyone, I’ll admit to that. But I’m totally in the camp of nerdy fangirls who fawn over his every sentence. I was mesmorized by his writing in The Corrections (family sagas are my favorite kinds of books to read) and so far, mid-way through Freedom, I’m equally enthralled with how Franzen has a way of crafting sentences and of capturing his characters—and capturing an era in time— in a way that’s so smart it’s almost smug. (PS – If you’ve heard about this book before, Queen Oprah has made it her last Book Club pick, so there’s always that endorsement to give reason to pick it up too!)

5) This American Life: Ooooohhhhh Ira Glass. I have such a crush on you. And your salt-and-pepper hair. And those nerdy little specs of yours. And that VOICE. By far one of my favorite things to listen to, This American Life is hands-down the greatest program on public radio today. I recognize that a lot of you who check out the blog are already familiar with the series, but if you’ve never given it a try, please do! Then you can join me in agreement that Ira’s is a voice you could listen to all day, any day. Including days spent in cars driving to Iowa. Just sayin’ :)

See more of Gail’s work at www.gailwernerphoto.com. Become a fan of Gail’s work on Facebook. Follow Gail on Twitter.

It was months ago when my Uncle Jack first mentioned to my dad (his brother) that he’d love for me to take some family photos of the Koch clan. (Bit of trivia for you— Koch is my maiden name and back home, we pronounce it K-o (long o)-ff. Basically, nobody outside of my immediate family pronounces it as such, which explains why, for 24 years, I got a lot of “Gail Kotch” and “Gail Koke” from teachers, waitresses and doctor’s offices.)

Back to my family: Months after being asked, I got together with my aunt, uncle and cousins to make that family portrait session happen on a gorgeous fall afternoon perfect for the occasion. It was great to see cousins I hadn’t seen in ages, family I used to spend far more time with when I was young and lived a few miles away. Nowadays, they all have their own busy lives too — new additions to the family, new homes being built, new jobs on the horizon — so taking the time to stop and document where they’re at right now in this crazy ride called life made the visit all the more precious. On that note, meet a few my cousins :)

My cousin Troy’s son TJ (at left) and my cousin Nathan’s oldest son, Evan (at right) SO CUTE!

Nathan and his wife, Andrea, had just welcomed their newest little addition to the family. This is baby Camden!

This is my cousin Neil and his wife Kara (who just happened to have the wind catch her hair at THE epitome of perfect timing for this photo!)

My Uncle Jack and my Aunt Mary. I know my aunt had been looking forward to getting these photos taken for a long time and it warmed my heart to do something like this for her and my uncle — both of whom have done so much for our family over the years

My cousin Troy and TJ (somewhere at my parent’s there is an awesome shot of Troy and I at 6 and 7 as Prince and Princess at Harlan Days, the summer festival our town would throw every year – haha)

I had this crazy idea of using a couch on this shoot and bless her heart, Mary said, “We can do that!” So Neil, Nathan and Troy lugged the couch from the den so I could have the fun of capturing them all together like this in front of the big family barn. I think it was totally worth it!

Do I even have to comment on how much I adore this series? :)

I love this one. I feel like I’ve captured my cousins’ personalities perfectly here.

I saw this little hill behind the barn and was all, “HEY YOU GUYS … I HAVE AN IDEA!!!!!”

My Grandma Koch came down for part of the shoot. She’s my dad and Uncle Jack’s mom (my only remaining grandparent). She’s 93! And, well, I’m biased here, but one of my favorite people on the planet. Thanks for being such good sports about all the ideas I had for the shoot you guys! Love you bunches!!!

See more of Gail’s work at www.gailwernerphoto.com. Become a fan of Gail’s work on Facebook. Follow Gail on Twitter.

I woke up Monday morning thinking to myself, “Did I really drive to Iowa on Thursday, photograph a gorgeous wedding Friday, then drive back home to Indiana on Saturday?” To answer that question, all I need to do is pull Allison and Grant’s images up on my computer for proof.

These two had such a lovely day from start to finish and it was such a privilege to get to capture it. Having a fellow wedding photographer as talented as Allison choose you to document your day is about as big an honor as you can get. Even better was shooting this side by side with one of my photo besties, Tina.

Allison, thank you SO much for the opportunity to photograph you and Grant, so in love, on the biggest day of your lives together so far. I know God has big plans in store for the both of you and I can’t wait to see what comes next. For now, back to editing–I’ve got a wedding to share and I’m *pretty* sure it’s gotta be done in two parts. There’s just too much goodness for one blog post only! :) Hope you’re enjoying California!!

See more of Gail’s work at www.gailwernerphoto.com. Become a fan of Gail’s work on Facebook. Follow Gail on Twitter.

If all goes as planned, today I’ll be photographing the beautiful wedding of Allison and Grant. Allison is a fantastic wedding photographer I first met back when we attended Melissa Jill’s MJ2Day Workshop together. Also at that MJ 2Day?  Tina, who I now consider one of my dearest friends. (I visited Tina in Philly earlier this year so that’s a fun blast-from-the-past post).

I learned so much from Melissa’s workshop but I never imagined the connections I’d make with the people I met there. While Nick and I were in Europe, Allison emailed me to share that she was engaged and well, how much fun would it be if I could photograph her wedding and have Tina come along as my second shooter? I JUMPED at the opportunity. I cannot wait to see Allison looking all gorgeous on her wedding day and to see Tina again too.

Which brings me to this self-portrait. See, Allison lives in Iowa, making this a destination wedding. And well, I won’t lie….I’m a little “over” flying at the moment. Strange to say because I’m usually the type of girl who LOVES traveling by plane. But Nick and I’s Europe trip did me in. I didn’t blog much about this at the time, but we actually MISSED our flight to Europe because our connection from Indianapolis to New York City was grounded because of mechanical issues with the plane. Talk about your worst nightmare realized. I never want to go through an experience like that again. Lots of panicked calls to Travelocity to reschedule our flights, trying to see if Delta would help us (they wouldn’t since our international flight was with a different carrier), crying on my husband’s shoulder as he tried to help me see the bright side. We had more flight woes along the way—lost baggage, delayed routes back, and well, I’m just FED UP with the airline industry (though, on a happy note, thanks to traveler’s insurance, we did recover the money we had to fork over for booking the new flights—getting that check was a HAPPY day in the Werner household!)

All this to say that I told myself I didn’t want to see another airport in 2010. And so I’m packing up the Subaru and heading to Iowa road-trip style. Yep, just me, my iPod, LOTS of episodes of This American Life and what I hope are brilliant blue skies meeting the horizon of the highway in front of me. Every now and then, a long drive can do your soul good. Don’tcha agree?

See more of Gail’s work at www.gailwernerphoto.com. Become a fan of Gail’s work on Facebook. Follow Gail on Twitter.