Red Bat Photography
Folksonomy > flora and fauna
February 19th, 2011

This post is Part 2 of a 3-part series. Read Part 1 – Read Part 2 – Read Part 3

Brooke and Josh came all the way from Seattle to get married at Costanoa, at a time of year when it’s usually not raining around here (it was September). It’s logical to presume that they were hoping to escape the frequent rain of their current residence on their wedding day. Depending on how you define “rain” you could possibly argue that they did avoid official precipitation, but unofficially, it was in fact raining. Sort of.

What fell from the sky was that kind of mist you get in the middle of a fog, but it wasn’t cold that day and the not-quite-rain felt marvelous on bare skin. Nobody seemed the least bit upset about the moisture. Those who were concerned about getting wet held umbrellas, and the ceremony proceeded as planned.

Of course I found the foggy scene bewitching. I’m a fool for the magical potential of fog, and enjoy saying to myself that things are “shrouded” in the stuff. I was already halfway to being in love with that stretch of coastline where Costanoa sits. To see these two tall beautiful people reading e.e. cummings to each other on a coastal hillside, with everything around us clad in those shades of yellow and brown and purple and green that I’ve admired so greatly ever since moving to California, made me feel like I was floating on the romance of it all. Brooke later described that day as “effervescent,” a word that I thought fit just right. Effervescent, with fairies lurking in the bluffs. (That fruity bit about the fairies was mine, not Brooke’s.)

I know that probably sounds silly, but just look at the faces of these happy people, especially the children. We were far away from the rest of the world (that’s how Costanoa makes you feel) and it felt like time had stopped.

February 16th, 2011

This post is Part 1 of a 3-part series. Read Part 1 – Read Part 2Read Part 3

This morning the green fists of the peonies are getting ready
to break my heart
as the sun rises,
as the sun strokes them with his old, buttery fingers

and they open–
pools of lace,
white and pink–
and all day the black ants climb over them,

boring their deep and mysterious holes
into the curls,
craving the sweet sap,
taking it away

to their dark, underground cities–
and all day
under the shifty wind,
as in a dance to the great wedding,

the flowers bend their bright bodies,
and tip their fragrance to the air,
and rise,
their red stems holding

all that dampness and recklessness
gladly and lightly,
and there it is again–
beauty the brave, the exemplary,

blazing open.
Do you love this world?
Do you cherish your humble and silky life?
Do you adore the green grass, with its terror beneath?

Do you also hurry, half-dressed and barefoot, into the garden,
and softly,
and exclaiming of their dearness,
fill your arms with the white and pink flowers,

with their honeyed heaviness, their lush trembling,
their eagerness
to be wild and perfect for a moment, before they are
nothing, forever?

“Peonies” by Mary Oliver

Watching everyone prepare for the wedding of Brooke and Josh at Costanoa, I got a feeling like the one this poem describes, and cherished my “humble and silky life” once again. The place was so beautiful, all green in the mist, the love between all of these old friends and lovers and family members so true, and the imminent vows were like flowers about to open. This feeling of sweet anticipation is why I love photographing the getting ready process so much.

Enjoy these photos of the moments before Brooke started down the aisle…more photos from that day will follow in the next few posts.