one love photo

I am Heather the one behind the blog, while Jon is the dedicated editor. We have been married for five years, together for fifteen and have been friends since sixth grade. In school we both took art classes at the same time. While I was hiding out in the darkroom, Jon was bent over a pottery wheel. We always help each other critique our art and encourage one another to try new tools and techniques. One of the coolest things we have done is combine our talents together to photograph weddings all over the country as "One Love Photo". We both bring something different to the table, yet we share a similar aesthetic vision which gives our images a cohesive look.
We capture weddings using a combination of cameras and techniques. In addition to using digital gear, we also shoot with a Hasselblad medium format film camera, vintage 35mm lenses, homemade custom lenses and even a couple plastic toy cameras. Images shot with our film cameras and lenses have their own look and feel. Some produce beautiful vignettes, some are square, and some make things soft and dreamy.
We have a sweet little house in Tacoma, that we share with our giant kitty that adopted us. It's a nice place to be but we escape often because the rain gets us down. We love Hawaii and stay with our grandparents on Oahu every couple months. We enjoy paddle boarding and swimming in the ocean. Art walk is our favorite night of the month. Our house is a wonderful mess, full of guitars, junk store treasures, decorating books, origami paper, paintings in progress, clay projects, tiny pots, and cardboard sculptures. We love what we do and we adore our clients.
Please click on the heart and leave us some love if something catches your eye! Thanks for stopping by and come back again soon. xoxox

February 7, 2012

St. John, Virgin Islands Wedding

We had the incredible honor of capturing and celebrating Nikki and Po’s gorgeous St. John beach wedding. These two are some of the coolest cats we’ve ever met. Lucky for us they live up in our neck of the woods so we are hoping for some northwest adventures together. Nikki and Po rented a breathtaking villa overlooking Cinnamon Bay for a week, friends and family stayed with them and we were lucky enough to be invited along for the fun. They had the wedding right at the start of the week so they could kick back and be free to play for the rest of the trip. We couldn’t help but bust out our cameras after the wedding during poolside stunts and late night leftover cake eating sessions. On our last day together after paddling and playing at the beach all day we decided to do a sunset portrait session at the ruins we kept driving by all week. It was a perfect ending to a perfect week.

*Nikki & Po’s wedding is featured on “Delightfully Engaged” today! Check it out!

Read Close 13 comments

Stephanie - You’re photos are truly breathtaking. I always look forward to your updates. I’m not getting married anytime soon but when I do… expect a call

Lauren - Holy wow. These photos are jaw-dropping.

Carrie Hasson - I love the photo of the bride from above going down the stairs… and the groom holding her dress in the back as she dips her toes in the water. But I think what struck me the most in these photos is how beautifully the bride fits into her grooms arms, you can tell there’s no “posing” but a genuine safe place for her to land. Beautiful.

katie - amazing wedding, incredible photo’s xx

eye of the beholder - I think you guys get better and better with each wedding you photograph. Wow! These photos are gorgeous.

Julia Manchik - Love the palm reflections in the pool. Such a photo.

kati - you are magic!! xoxo

David Ferguson | Brisbane wedding photographer - Lovely work, just wanted to ask about the blur on some of the images it looks like the old vaseline on the filter look. In camera or post prod? Look forward to seeing more of your work.

Lauren - Ah, swoon! I felt like I was in St. John as I scrolled through these photos. So amazing, and an amazing day. You can just tell this is a special group of people and it makes me want to be their friends. Thanks for sharing : )

Kristina - love your photos, as i always do, the last one makes my heart skip a beat.

Joni Schrantz | Denver Wedding Photographer - That tilt shift looked paired with your editing is perfect. Really love your style! That shoe shot is stunning, Also love the one of them heading into the water!

Jonas Seaman - Good Golly!! Amazing!!

Karen - Breathtaking portraits- I especially adore the b/w close up of them laughing. Adorable.

January 23, 2012

Peek- Sharon & Daniel

My mom brought it to my attention the other day that certain spots in the world seem to be magical for us and our photography. These spots prove to be extra special in our photographs time and time again. Among the elite are Kauai, Castine, Maine and Bainbridge island. And now Union Hill Inn in Sonora California is officially on the list.

Read Close 14 comments

Sonya - awesome pics! and so lovely couple

Lauren - Wow. This is just the peek? wow. What a gorgeous couple, and incredably gorgeous pictures. Can’t wait to see the rest.

Lauren — a different one : ) - Gorgeous! I love when you share your photos with us — my Bloglovin’ feed and I always get so excited : )

Joyce Alexander - This is scrumptious. The lighting and styling is so dang pretty, left me wanting to see more

Kelly Davie - Wow!!! Gorgeous. Those colors are out of control.

Karen - Magical. Dreamy. Incredibly special, unique, and sweet. I actually fell in love with your photography when you posted your first wedding from this venue- one of the first blog posts I looked at! You guys inspire me to be a better photographer, to slow down and wrap myself into the moments happening around me so I can capture them in the most beautiful way- you do this with every wedding, but your mom is right, there is definitely some magic that happens in Sonora.

Corinne Krogh - Oh, that last one is amazing. You guys killed it.

Katie - You covered Erin/Jeremy’s wedding here & since then I’ve always wanted to have my wedding there. These pictures confirm that.

http://onelovephoto.typepad.com/heathergilson/2010/06/union-hill-inn-jeremy-erin.html

Chloe - It seems as if you have the happiest, sweetest, most loveliest brides or perhaps it is a reflection of how you make them feel in front of your camera? Utterly lovely images Heather-just divine.

Heather Perera - Guys, these are amazing! These totally capture the genuine love between them, which after all is what a wedding is all about . xx

Jonas Seaman - This post absolutely floors me! My heart just exploded… but in a good way.

Bean Benson - Stunning!!! Love every photo! Amazing work, as always!

Marcin B - so difrent so nice

David Ferguson | Brisbane wedding photographer - Such a cinematic feel to all these. Outstanding!

January 15, 2012

Sodo Park, Seattle Wedding

Danielle and Chris are completely magnetic. They had a pretty small wedding yet their lively little bunch filled the huge space at Sodo Park with a crazy amount of love and laughter. It felt like a 300 + wedding near the end, like their guests were Gremlins (the cute kind) multiplying with every dance, sweet toast, silly photo and tasty bite of cake. Their wedding was beautifully planned and styled by Heather Perera of Paprika Events. The always amazing Herban Feast Catering did a fantastic job keeping the Gremlins fed and happy. That amazing paper cut wedding arch installation was created by artist Celeste Cooning. Vintage rentals provided by Vintage Ambiance and floral design by TJ at Garden Party Flowers.

Read Close 7 comments

January 10, 2012

Busy Bees

We were buzzing around all over the place last week preparing for the Seattle Wedding Show this past weekend. We signed up for a larger booth this year and then had to hustle to fill it up. This year I printed our photographs on a lovely cotton rag photo paper and poured a layer of encaustic medium over the top of each image. I made several new sets of beeswax clusters, including a cluster from Farrah and Michael’s Bainbridge Island dock wedding. I also created two pieces with patterned paper and ribbon details from this golden wedding. Jon was busy working on a handmade cardboard “One Love Photo” sign for our display. Having a guy that knows his way around a cardboard box is a very awesome thing! The sign was my favorite item in our booth this year. We also made a couple little photo books using old vintage books as the covers. Now the hunt is on for more perfectly worn books.

We want to thank our friends Karen Obrist and Catherine Abegg for helping us out this weekend, our booth was full of friendly faces! Now it’s time to unload the boxes, scrape the wax off the floor and move forward with projects that were temporarily set aside. We have a few more amazing fall weddings to finish editing which I can’t wait to share. Jon has been busy in his pottery studio this winter. A collection of his pottery is available for purchase at the Tacoma Art Museum Store and is also available in his newly updated Etsy store. We have been making lots of visits to the Bead Factory which is conveniently right down the street from us. We’ve been testing and buying all sorts of hooks and chains for a line of jewelry that Jon is working on. The jewelry is called Reef Porcelain and is inspired from our second Home- Hawaii! The pieces look like coral and lava but are handmade using porcelain clay. You can see photos of the earrings and admire my fabulous modeling skills over at the Reef Porcelion Shop on etsy.