Bethany Carlson Photography

san francisco engagement | nick & genevieve

Bethany — Tue, 14 May 2013 01:52:28 +0000

genevieve and nick have been together for years. within a month of dating, they knew they would be together forever and have never looked back. this summer they are preparing to move from portland back down to san francisco and of course get married in june at the golden gate club in the presidio [finally get to photograph a bride there again!!!]. i was lucky to be able to meet them for a cloudy late afternoon engagement session at the legion of honor museum [um, incredible] during their quick trip down in california. and the rest is legion of honor history!

gen & nick, can’t wait for your june wedding!

for the woman, for the mom, for the little girl

Bethany — Sun, 12 May 2013 16:38:24 +0000

as i drove to san francisco, a blanket of fog swallowed the city. tears filled my eyes as i prayed for my client who lost her son to brain cancer this week. anguished by her loss, i thought about how she could possibly face days like tomorrow – mother’s day. my mind wandered to other women in my life – the woman who struggles with infertility, the woman who knows she has been called to adopt, the woman who is waiting for the phone call from the birth mom, the pregnant woman who is waiting to give birth, the woman who feels called to use her maternal love in her ministry to broken children, and the little girl who dreams of one day being a mom herself.

when i was a little girl, my church would give all women a rose and all the females would stand up to be recognized on mother’s day – no matter how old they were. i didn’t completely understand at the time, i just enjoyed the recognition that my brothers didn’t receive. years later, i look back and see how important that was for a little girl to understand that as a woman she was created differently with intentional purposes. now that i am 21 27 years old and still childless, i have learned that being a mother is not one dimensional. i grew up thinking that mother’s day was only for my mom who naturally-birthed and raised her six biological kids…it wasn’t for my grandma, friend’s mom, my aunt. It was for no one else but my mom. and although my respect for my mom and her hard work is immense, it still took me years to realize that motherhood comes in other forms of courage and self-sacrifice. it shows itself in the woman who cares for and takes on the responsibility to nurture, teach, love & protect someone outside of themselves. God created women with these innate maternal gifts to ultimately display His Glory and His purpose.

as you enjoy mother’s day sunday, look for God’s Glory in all the women in your life who are putting another being before themselves. celebrate His Perfect design in the artistry and complexity of motherhood.

celebrate the pregnant woman who is nurturing and caring for her unborn baby for nine months.

celebrate the woman who went through one of the most painful moments a woman could experience in order to give another human a life.

celebrate the woman who has tiredly yet joyfully made it through her first year of motherhood.

celebrate the little girl who raises money year-long for the children in africa in order to care for them…and who will one day be a mother to someone.

celebrate the woman who battles infertility and yet is a mother to so many others.

celebrate the mother of the bride.

celebrate the adopted mom who openly and lovingly gave a child a safe home. and celebrate the birth mom who “put the needs of her baby before the wants of her heart”. [ronnie.]

and forever celebrate the mom who will be there until the very end…

BCP photo booth

Bethany — Wed, 01 May 2013 23:23:49 +0000

- unlimited color photo strips (two strips of four images/per time)
- personalized branding for your wedding day
- delivery, setup, and removal of the photobooth
- photo booth attendant for the entire event
- disc of all the photos taken at the event
- online album
- multiple backdrop options
- all props provided
- available for california weddings/events only

please email bethany@bethanycarlson.com with questions or to book the photo booth for your event.

san francisco engagement | cory & dayna

Bethany — Wed, 01 May 2013 17:55:23 +0000

dayna inquired after seeing an old friend’s wedding photos. i was so happy that they extended me grace after giving them terrible directions initially to our first meeting. but once we met, i knew they would be the perfect couple to work with. both super laid back, outgoing, friendly, etc. dayna mentioned wanting to have an in-n-out food truck at their destination wedding in central california. it was then that i knew i liked her. =]

i am so blessed to work with couples who 1) are in love 2) appreciate free spirits and 3) like in n out.

dayna & cory, i cannot wait to capture your romantic cayucos wedding!

central valley portrait | mr. & mrs. duncan

Bethany — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 21:32:47 +0000

jake & cori successfully made it through their maternity session without putting hands on the bump or taking off any shirts. it was quite an accomplishment. in my opinion, maternity sessions are best captured when you focus on the love between the mother & father. the bump, like i have said many times, is only an important prop =]

i photographed jake & cori before so it was quite easy to get them back into the swing of being models. and they rocked it.

jake & cori – like your sister said at your shower, God has chosen you specifically to minister to this little girl and to love her like He loves us. what a beautiful journey to be on. i am so excited to meet talia this june!

central valley engagement | dane & linda

Bethany — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 18:54:33 +0000

dane & linda met at church community group. although i did not know them too well at the time, it was exciting to see love blossom in front of us. i was bummed that i was booked on dane & linda’s wedding day. but i was excited when linda asked me to do their engagement session anyways! we carpooled out to arnold, california to the big trees park where they originally wanted to tie-the-knot. but since that did not work out, it made sense for us to trample out there to photograph the engagement session!

dane & linda, congrats on your engagement and thanks for letting me capture this engagement for you! xoxo
oh, and thanks for the yummy italian meal afterwards!

central valley engagement | jared & hannah

Bethany — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 18:07:36 +0000

jared & hannah.
i cannot wait to shoot your september wedding.
cannot wait.
side note:
i was inspired by a quote i read: “When the world turns upside down, it’s nice to have someone upside down with you.”
irony played out when the next day, the world proved that it was upside down.

santa cruz engagement | brendan & rachel [oh, and tucker]

Bethany — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 21:12:18 +0000

i finally met with rachel & brendan for their long-time-coming engagement session. after the winter rains and busy work schedules kept us from finally shooting their engagement session, we were able to meet on an unusually warm day in ~~summer~~ april in santa cruz, california. it had been a year since i first met rachel & brendan at our first client meeting and i was really excited to get to know them more and get a better sense of their relationship. its always so easy when you have a couple who are in love and just ready to get married. it felt effortless to photograph them. you can tell that they just weren’t in love, but they were best friends. they even brought their first baby, tucker [a vivacious golden retriever], to complete their little family unit for their session.

i cannot wait to photograph their mid-september wedding in lodi this year!

fresno wedding | mr. & mrs. walter

Bethany — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 04:44:15 +0000

the first wedding of the year took place in reedley, california. dylan & jessica wanted a coca cola themed backyard bbq wedding with an early send-off so they could kick-off their honeymoon four hours south at disneyland. the wedding took place at noon under the warm march sun. surrounded by a hilarious and quite good-looking bridal party, jessica & dylan made their vows, broke their glass & enjoyed their first kiss! the morning was so relaxing as the bakery delivered the pies & coke bottles, the florist delivered the baby’s breath & cotton boutonnieres and the backyard picnic games were brought in. this wedding was the perfect (and most of all relaxing) way to kick-off a fabulous wedding season!

congrats mr. & mrs. walter!

fresno engagement | andrew + sarah

Bethany — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 00:06:46 +0000

i was so excited when i got an email from sarah asking me to shoot her wedding in houston, texas. i didn’t even care if it will be a bajillion degrees. a southern wedding in august was going to happen. now for the engagement session. andrew lives in southern california and sarah lives in houston and i live in northern california. so naturally an engagement session would make sense for the three of us to meet in the armpit of california during sarah’s trip to visit andrew. yep, you guessed it. fresno.

i have always wanted to do a hitchhiker’s themed session. so what better way than trying to get a bride-and-groom-to-be from california to texas in time for their wedding. fortunately, andrew and sarah are antique-lovers like myself so we had a lot of fun messing around with the props. i mean, i brought lanterns and they brought an accordian for crying out loud. only rad people do that.

andrew + sarah, i am stoked to be able to capture your beautiful ~~hot~~ wedding this august!