admin | February 9, 2011
Cody & Emily are engaged! Here a few shots from our afternoon in Seattle together. I love these two and am looking forward to the wedding this fall.
The ‘Gum Wall’ at Pikes Place Market
admin | January 26, 2011
Nathan and Coni had a beautiful Destination wedding in La Serena, Chile. Following these two, and their families around Chile, was truly an epic experience and led many great memories and images (more of the trip will be sure to appear on here later). The wedding was gorgeous, located just up the Elqui Valley, about 30 km From Chile’s oldest city, La Serena, in a small town called “El Molle.” Great food, delicious Chilean Wine, Picso Sours (a local drink), the sun, amazing people, dancing, and great conversation all made this two week wedding adventure unforgettable for all involved.
Here are a few of Nathan & Coni that came from our days together before the wedding as we explored La Serena, enjoying the sun, wine, and awesomeness.
we spent a few days in Santiago, the country’s capital, before taking the 8 hour bus ride to La Serena. This was taken in the subway, that we used plenty to get around the city.
a moment alone
Nathan and Coni with Family at his parents hotel days before the wedding.
Here’s Coni moments before she walked down the isle.
Nathan, finishing up his vows.
Cocktail hour/toasts began right after the kiss, when champagne was brought out to everyone. Nathan looks pleased to be married here.
love this
Talking about photos before wedding as we walked around the city, we knew we wanted something with cactus. This is what we got.
El Molle
Congratulations guys! It was an honor to be a part or this wedding. I’ll put up more photos of pre wedding stuff, and the family soon.
admin | January 25, 2011
Stacie and Marcus are engaged! Here is just a sneak peak at some of their images. More coming to the blog soon. Congratulations guys, I’m very excited to be a part of the wedding.
admin | January 20, 2011
Cub & Sarah had a beautiful winter wedding near Lancaster, PA. It was a great day full of family and friends, fun wedding day build up, and a beautiful evening celebration with great food and lots of dancing. Here are a few from their day. Special props to Sarah who braved the 20 degree weather in her beautiful dress for some of these images, I think it was worth it.
admin | January 15, 2011
Nathan and Coni were married on Jan. 8th in La Serena, Chile. It was beautiful event. Here are just a few images to wet your appetite until the rest are sorted and live. Congrats Nate and Coni!
I arrived home this afternoon after what was a wonderful South American wedding adventure, so keep your eyes open for the full story and many more images here on the blog over the next few weeks.
admin | January 15, 2011
Cub and Sarah were married just outside of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It was a white wedding with all of that East Coast snow trying to get in. We showed that snow who was boss and took ourselves to it, got cold and got some great images. Here’s just a sneak peak. Congratulations Cub and Sarah! More to come soon!
admin | December 20, 2010
Jonny & Suzie are getting married this summer! We set out to give them some practice time in front of the camera, and to take some engagement photos. Their wedding will be in Iowa, where Suzie is from, it should be a fun time with family, and we will see if we can get some corn and hay bails in the photos! I had a fun time with them at Discovery Park in Seattle, here are just a few from what we got there. Enjoy!
admin | November 13, 2010
Noah and Grace are engaged! We headed out to take some photos, the sun never came out but we still managed to find some color on Guemes Island and in Anacortes. Noah and Grace are an awesome couple and I am very excited for their upcoming wedding.
admin | November 8, 2010
After a few months of the the galleries and portfolio being taken offline. They are now back up, reorganized, and redesigned. Much thanks to Nathan Getzin @ www.nathangetzin.com.
I am very excited to have a portfolio up and running. Currently there are galleries for:
Wedding photos,
Travel/life photos &
“Featured” – which will change periodically with new work
I love the simple design that Nathan implemented, taking on the current look of the blog and showcasing the photos in a nicely designed flash slideshow.
You can find the other galleries in the hidden menu behind my name, on the left hand side of the site. A new feature that I love about this site, is the auto resizing that allows it to be seen full screen on any computer. (sorry ipad & iphone… we will try and accommodate you shortly, until then, enjoy the blog)
I’ll keep you all posted as a few new pages are added to the site.
It was fun to go through some older photos and fit them into the site. I hope you will enjoy them.
Thanks again Nathan.
-Matt Land
admin | October 14, 2010
A trip with Agros and a lot of photos (above – seated on the right is David, our guide for the week)
I’ve worked with Camano Island Coffee Roasters for the last two years, and am a huge advocate of their coffee. Sorting photos with a french press on the coffee table can make for a wonderful day, and I do this consistently with CICR’s coffee.
What I love about Camano Island Coffee Roasters is that they partner with non-profit organization Agros International. Agros works with poor rural farmers in Central America, providing land loans to them along with training on the land in sustainable practices. They are helping farmers to own their own land, provide for themselves and even make profit (breaking out of poverty!). Many of these villages end up growing coffee and Camano Island Coffee Roasters becomes the middle man bringing delicious fairly traded coffees to its customers.
I had the privilege of going on a “vision trip” with Agros and was able get a first hand glimpse of what partnering with them really means and what their version of community development looked like. It was a short trip, and we by no means saw everything, but what we did see confirmed to me why supporting them is such a worthy cause.
(Dan and a fresh grape fruit, just thrown out of the tree to him.)
I was overwhelmingly impressed with both the Seattle based Agros staff who served as our travel guides, and their staff on the ground in Nicaragua. The work they are doing is much more than a job to them. It was very clear to me how much Agros cares about the people they have set out to help. Both the look in their eyes and and depth of detail they have put into their plan for empowering poor rural families is heart touching. I had heard that Agros was, “not just another charity,” and from what I saw this holds true. They are so much more.
The questions I had about Agros and the work done in Nicaragua were not questions that the staff could answer. I knew who they were before going but just wanted to see it first hand. I wanted to hear from those that they were helping what was going on and to see if lives were really being changed. The villagers I encountered were proud of their farms and homes and getting them to share about their lives was natural; those I talked to were eager to do so.
a group stands in front of the coffee processing building at Nueva Esperanza
Nathan (Agros) and Jeff (CICR) get shown corn. We were told this amount would feed a family for 6 months.
I was so impressed to hear from one man in particular as he told me a bit about his life. How he had been working on coffee farms since he was 15 and about his old job was in a nearby small town. As he told me about his life I was curious why he would have left his job. From the poverty I had seen in the surrounding area I could only imagine that many people would have longed to have held any job at all, even with the low wages payed.
The answer this man gave to my question could not have been closer to the the mission statement of Agros if they had said it themselves. As we walked between coffee plants, and through the scattered shade of banana trees he told me how his life had changed. How his old life, while he had held a job, really offered no escape from poverty. That while he was surviving, there was no hope. On his new land his life was different, and there was room to grow. This man knew what was going on and seemed to have gotten from Agros exactly what they had intended, and it was a powerful thing to hear from him.
As Agros works to get farmers owning their own land the farmers are empowered and can take responsibility for their futures and and that of their families.
coffee processing building, on our tour of the San Jose village.
(Kelsey in the community building)
While Camano Island Coffee sells coffee grown by Agros villages and supports them directly in that sense, Agros as an organization is doing much more than just teaching the poor how to grow coffee. They are pushing for holistic sustainable practices and releasing these farmers to endless possibilities. Agros villages become self sustaining, filled with live stock and a number of different crops.
There are Agros villages around Central America in various stages of development. One of the many special moments we had there was when we were able to see new land yet to be lived on, and later a truck load of families heading off to start a new life there. In the back of the truck was every possession they owned… and it hardly made a pile. After seeing the change made in the more developed Agros villages we had visited, I felt real hope watching that truck drive off to the new land where these people would make a home.
they helped cook us lunch
a kitchen in one of the houses
the scenery continues to blow my mind, so beautiful
coffee at a coffee exporter building
we were greeted with beautiful music at San Jose
the community building
cocoa
too cute
coffee mid process
i love the colors here
we got to meet a lot of beautiful people
i think this is one of my favorites
rainy season
cows in the street, we saw this a lot
taking turns removing the cherry from the coffee beans
watching farmers hand pick each bean adds a new appreciation to drinking coffee for me
banana trees
what a cutie, and love the little cat at the lower left
showing off his home to us
this guys was throwing us all grape fruits
musical welcome – I love the faces in this one
i like that he has a big stick
this was our send off as we left, photo taken through the window of our car
a little tromp in the jungle, looking for the monkeys
a few houses
evening light
Melody works with Agros
a truck load of families headed to a new Agros supported village. I’m excited for the change that awaits.
Agros Staff
Frog.
on tour of their beautiful land
horses along the side of the road
coffee being processed
the view from the top of San Jose
proud home owners
on tour
Paul, Kristen, and Erin, monkey hunting
volcano
It was great trip and amazing to see the good work that is going on in an area that needs it so greatly. I think this is the longest post of all time, but I hope you enjoyed it, and I encourage you to check out the links below for more info and ways to get involved.
Get involved : www.agros.org
Get Coffee that supports this : www.camanoislandcoffee.com
