Baptisms in Malawi-------------

I'm going to be posting little moments that were meaningful to me from my trip to Malawi. Here, we all walked down the hill to this river to baptize 13 people.

So meaningful-------so good

Eva-Karin and Garry in Chinatown!

Eva-Karin and Garry were friends long before they started dating..... which became so clear after watching them have fun together as we hung out in Chinatown. We experimented with the nighttime light, and I love the photos we came up with. We get to do part two of their session later this week, so there are more to come!

this first one rocks my world! love it!

you guys are the best!
see you in a few days for more...!
shannon

i REALLY, really love la mirada

My sister, Heather, came over last weekend to hang out.

We went to Disneyland with Donny, had a fun SLEEPOVER!, ate a slow breakfast together and went grocery shopping at Trader Joes (i think i equate traders with.... the fair? a party? I LOVE IT THERE!).

In addition--------- we went on a meandering walk around La Mirada, and came across these wonderful wonderful amazing incredible homes (or did we come across wonderful wonderful amazing incred. shadows?):

here's heather's-------------
(isn't she good?)

and, mine.

i love you heathie,
shans

this is Marlene

Marlene is an actress---- an incredible one.
She knows how to act, she knows how to perform on stage, but in addition she is this lovely, authentic beauty. Here are some headshots we did of her the other day, just outside of her new house. I love staying local--- finding the perfect light right where you are.

This is where we did some of the photos, and i just HAD to pull back for a few to capture the entire scene

in the kitchen,

and, absolutely adorably gorgeous

if I could take photos of Marlene every day, I would.
so much love to you all,
Shannon Leith

Africa

My trip to Malawi, Africa happened during the month of July. I've been back for about six weeks, and have let my thousands and thousands of photos sit by themselves for a while---untouched. Thank you to everyone who has expressed interest in these-- I'm grateful for your graciousness as I've let them ruminate a little bit.

The purpose of the trip was to share the story of Jesus Christ with the people of Malawi. We went to 15 different villages to show them a film about the life of Jesus, and shared our own stories of faith with the people we met. We sang and danced, participated in lots of 4 hour church services, ate goat and rice twice a day, slept under mosquito nets each night, played with millions of kids and experienced life in a completely different culture. I went with a group of 8 other students from my school, Biola, and it was incredible to see God use a group of ordinary college students to impact people in the middle of a village halfway around the world.

the black and white photo at the top and this one below are 2 of the 15 times we showed the film. sometimes we would have 30 people show up, and sometimes there would be more than 500-----

one of my favorite things about Malawians was their reactions to seeing their photograph on the back of my digital camera. they had never really experienced getting their photo taken or seeing digital photos come up on the camera screen. Here is a woman posing for me, and the next photo is her reaction to seeing it-------------------

!!this little girl has been on my mind ever since we arrived home from our trip. she was so curious and sweetly sweet

aww here we are. :) i love her!!!!!!!!!!!!

as we ate breakfast one morning, i looked outside through a hole in the wall of our hut and saw these little kids

this is Felistar Bwana,
a woman I hung out with a lot-----

this is a scene we arrived to at one of the villages

one man was so sweet and let us sleep in his housemy polaroid camera came to Africa with me///////////

i let each person keep their polaroid because they hardly had any photos of their families. they treated them with such delicacy. this woman wrapped hers in a piece of cloth and put it in her bag to take back home.

inside of a restaurant where we ate lunch one day,a family inside their home-a pregnant woman cooking-

and one of her friends,babies tended to be really scared of the camera since they'd never seen one before, or perhaps they were scared of ME and my whiteness which they'd also never seen before,

i love how these ones look like paintings
in a grocery store aisle,

on a doorstep,

our bus arriving to a village late at night

i love this one because he's being lit by our bus' headlights.

whew.
it feels good to get some of these UP! I'll continue to post little stories, show photos of my team, and let you in on fun little times like the day our translator bought a skewer of ten grilled mice from a Mouse Vendor and stored them on the dashboard of our van for two days straight--eating them as snacks--just like we'd eat a twix bar.

and then there was the time that our generator burst into 4 feet of flames and our bus driver, frank, miraculously put it out within minutes and our generator still worked afterward.

things like this.
-----------------shan!

Danielle and Timothy at the Huntington Gardens

Tim and Danielle's engagement session was mainly filled with two things: exploring and dancing. I can't dance, so I was impressed at their ability to spontaneously bust out at every stop. I'd turn my back for 2.5 seconds and they'd just...dance! We went to the Huntington Gardens in Pasadena, a place where they've had a few dates together, and they examined everything that crossed their path: leaves, berries, flowers, spiders, broken-down storage sheds and bamboo carvings. Here are a few photos of our time together:

Tim has better fashion sense than most people in the world

danielle, you look so lovely in this photo-----------this one is very, them.

I really like these two. Whimsical, brilliant, and the most non-stressed wedding planners ever.

Sarah and Jason at the Grove in LA

We can let the fact that I put 26 photos on here speak for how much fun I had with Sarah and Jason. We hung out at the Grove in LA, one of their favorite spots, and we had the best time.

..................................................we took a million polaroids

Sarah and I went on a school trip to Europe together 4 years ago, and it was so fun to see her in love and getting MARRIED! i love what can happen in the span of a few years. look at how happy they are,

these are their favorite hats. i totally loved that they brought these--

this photo has high ranking as one of my
top top top all-time favorites

love it love it lovve it

so perfect------------ !

oh myyy oh my i love this one too--

we went up on top of the parking garage right before sunset, and WOW!

and i decided to shoot a ton of polaroids, which was fun

i feel like they're in Greece here. Which is ironic to me because Sarah and I were IN Mykonos, Greece together on our trip.

to the lovely Sarah and Jason,
thanks for being so authentic and fun. i loved getting to learn more about your story, and i'm SO EXCITED for your wedding! yes!!

-------- shannon

les Mis + John Williams at the Hollywood Bowl

One of my favorite favorite FAVORITE! things to do in LA is go to the Hollywood Bowl. Donny and I have gone twice in the past month: once to see Les Mis (so good!) and once to see John Williams (loved it!).

I think the picnic beforehand is one of my favorite parts, because I love food, but I also love beauty and people and creativity and walking up big hills and sitting on a bench under the stars.... so the Hollywood Bowl is an absolutely perfect place to spend an evening.

our subversive way of getting a non-creepy
picture of that cute dad with the baby.

our friend matt with intense binoculars

parents!

i was inspired to post these photos because right now I'm listening to byzantine chats, which reminded me of John Williams for some reason, which reminded me of these 2 lovely nights. the hollywood bowl is TRULY, truly, incredible.

love it!
shan