Melissa McClure Blog

My parents stood barefoot in my Grandparents backyard and committed to spend the rest of their life exploring the world together.  They had no idea where they would be in even one years time but they knew they wanted to be there together.  My mom and dad mean the world to me and I want them to know how much I appreciate them and am so fortunate to be their daughter.

And explore the world they did (and still are doing!)  They split their time between Portland, OR and San Miguel De Allende, Mexico.   They have lived in and traveled most of the world.  My mom keeps a blog and right now is transcribing her journal from the 1970′s (including many drawings and slides) as they traveled across Africa, India and Asia (just to name a few places).  If you are curious, you can see her blog here.

In a strange case of irony (you know, since their only child is a wedding photographer), my parents do not have more than a few candid photos from their wedding day 40 years ago.  But here is one that I grew up looking at.  I love the joy in my moms face and my dad’s nerdy glasses!

August 23, 1970 – Torrance, CA

January 2010 – Guanajuato, Mexico

Fun Fact: My dad still wears the same gold wedding band from their wedding day – purchased at KMart for under $20!

And just because I think these are fun to share, my grandparents on their wedding days!  Check out that bouquet and that headpiece!

Left: Paternal Grandparents, Charlotte and Del McClure.  Right: Maternal Grandparents, Barbara and Jim Harlan

I love you guys!

xoxo, M

I decided to sneak away for the weekend to spend some time with my best friend Nichole and her boyfriend Mitch who were visiting Napa all the way from Chicago. I flew up late Friday night and got back Sunday night. I had never been to Napa before and it was so beautiful there! I even came home with a few bottles of new wine.

Me and my bestie Nichole at one of the wineries…and I forgot the name!

DVX Champagne and Mumm’s…mmmmmmmm

hehehe

Love this shot…we were silly after a full day of tasting!

This is Gordy, who was our tour guide.  Ignore his Oregon gear, I already gave him a hard time for that (Go Beavers!)  If you are heading to Napa, stop what you are doing and call him NOW!  He rocks, he gave an awesome tour and had so much knowledge of Napa and all the wine made there. You will not regret it!

Eye on Wine Yelp Reviews

Back to work…double header this weekend and a ton of new shoots to blog!

xo, M

Wishing all the moms and moms-to-be (even those of you with fur-babies!) a very happy and special Mother’s Day!

My mom recently came to town for a visit and we had a really fun time!

Photo by Allie

Thank you for being my support and my best friend. So grateful to have you as a mom, I got lucky!

xoxo, M

Still playing catch up with my blog…about a month behind

Last month I took a trip to Washington DC, my birth place!  I have zero memories of my hometown since we moved to San Diego when I was 5, but I have been back a few times since.  This was my first time as an adult though!  My best friend, Ann Marie moved to Maryland six months ago so I took the opportunity (and free board!) to spend some time with her and see the East Coast for a few days!  I planned my trip around the Cherry Blossom Festival held every Spring.  In the weeks leading up to my trip it looked like I was going to just miss the cherry blossom trees blooming. They decided to start blooming the week I got there, thanks goodness!  What a beautiful sight!

Since I was pretty much on vacation, I only took my camera out twice, so there aren’t a ton of photos!  But I hope you enjoy the ones I did take!

Meet Ann Marie. This girl makes me laugh like no other. This photo fills my heart.

We spent a day in Baltimore as well!  I went here on an 8th grade trip but don’t remember much of it!

I really wanted to see Edgar Allen Poe’s gravesite, thankfully it was open on a Sunday!  It was super eerie and overcast when we got there…perfect cemetery weather!  As soon as we got back in the car it started pouring rain!

I want to plan a yearly trip to the East Coast to get my Ann Marie fix!  So if there is anyone out there interested in booking a wedding or portrait session with me near the DC area, please let me know and I can inform you of my future travel plans!

xoxo, M

Not my image – from this website

Right now, the hubby and I are on an airplane to Maui for Tami and Adam’s wedding!  I have been talking to Tami since last July and am soooooo looking forward to meeting her!  We are taking a vacation as well, the wedding isn’t until Wednesday!  We are also doing their trash the dress on Sunday (yes, BEFORE the wedding! She has two dresses).

We are staying in Lahaina and I am beyond ecstatic! I have never been to Maui before and Tim has never been to Hawaii at all!   We will be gone through the 8th of April so please allow a little extra time for email and phone responses. I will be checking my emails daily, but not as often as I normally do!  And of course I will be tweeting my whereabouts while there, if you want to follow me on Twitter!

Aloha!

xoxo, M

Just wanted to give you a sneak peek of a session I will be blogging next week and wish you all a Happy Valentine’s Day. No big plans at the McClure-Selenak household, but I do have an engagement shoot today with two lovebirds!

Enjoy your day!

xo, M

In January, I took a 10 day vacation to visit my parent’s home in San Miguel de Allende, GTO, Mexico.  The point of the trip was to spend time with my family, so I didn’t pull my camera out much.  But I did make an effort to shoot a little every day.  I will spare you the photo of the scorpion that stung me though!

Below, my breakfast at a cafe one morning! Yum!

This wall is on my parent’s street.  We were walking in to town and I stopped to photograph it!  My mom claims she has lived in the house for four years and never noticed the rad wall!

I was on vacation, so each meal was accompanied by a margarita!

One of the days we went to a bull fight.  To be honest, I had no idea what I was getting myself in to.  We ended up leaving 20 minutes in to the “fight”  I posted two photos below this one, but they are a little graphic, just to warn you.  Not as graphic as some other shots I took, but it was really hard to shoot through all my tears!

These guys were supposed to taunt the bull, but the bull fought back and speared one of them!  They just pulled the guy off at this point!

Since we left the bull fight early, we got to see this bride and groom walk out of the church after getting married!  There was no professional photographer in sight!

My last full day in Mexico, we drove to the city of Guanajuato since I had never been there.  You take this Funicular to the top of the hill and this is the view you get!

Isn’t this light amazing? I couldn’t pass it up!  And my parents are pretty adorable (married 40 years in August!)

This is back in San Miguel, a view of the Parroquia on the way in to town

And a close up of the same taken from the Jardin!

This was my second time down there, can’t wait to go again!  Next up…learn more Spanish!

xoxo, M

Last night, Cathy, Helena and I attended the Spread the Love tour by Justin and Mary Marantz.  I laughed, I cried, I rolled my eyes (in a good way)!  It was definitely a fun night.  They only have a handful a cities left in their tour, but if there are seats, sign up!  It’s worth the money!

Spread the Love LA: February 5th
Spread the Love San Fran: February 8th
Spread the Love Seattle: February 11th
Spread the Love Salt Lake City: February 15th
Spread the Love Denver: February 17th
Spread the Love Kansas City: February 19th
Spread the Love Chicago: February 22nd
Spread the Love Maine: March 24th

The tour helped give my business a little kick in the butt and I am excited to be developing some new ideas for 2010!  One of the first things I will be doing is dedicating myself to blogging more.  Everyone in favor of this?  This means I will have a few more personal posts, but I hope you enjoy them (and leaving a comment to let me know helps too!)

I’ll leave you with two photo booth photos from past Saturdays wedding (coming to the blog soon!)

If you know me in real life, I’m pretty goofy. I love to laugh. And I love to be laughed at…I mean with.  Mandi and I always have fun on wedding days!

And here we are with the wonderful Courtney Tibetts, wedding coordinator from After the Engagement!  She likes to laugh too

Photobooth by Red Cheese

*My blog was hacked on 1/6/2010 and I lost my three latest blogs. This is a repost of the original blog. Unfortunately I lost all my comments in the process. Feel free to leave another one!*

2009 has been an amazing year in business and my personal life!  I had my most successful year business-wise. I owe it all to the support of my family, friends and clients!

I shot some amazing weddings this year as well as a large amount of other type of sessions. I feel like I continue to grow in photography and life with each day. I am so grateful to everyone in my life, you all add a little something and I am a better person knowing you!

Here’s to an even more amazing 2010!!

My fabulous 2009 brides and grooms below!!

Love you all!

xoxo, M