• hello, hello!

    you have stumbled upon the Woodnote Photography Blog!

    we are caroline + jayden : an american + an australian, a wife + a husband, a photographer + a photographer.

    we like to post the highlights from the various shoots that we do here on our blog ... so if you like what you see, leave us some lovin'! it'll make our day. :]

    also, we welcome you to have a look-see at this lil video of us 'in action'!

    cheers! xo

7 countries in 7 months : the italy chapter

Ahhhh, Venice.  Well actually, ahhhh anywhere in Italy!

Earlier this year Caroline and I jumped on a plane and headed to Italy … sometimes when you gotta go, you gotta go!  But the truth is, we had an incredible opportunity to take some time out and just photograph like mad-folk, and so we took it … our arms weren’t twisted hard, and we got to see some of the most incredible sites, eat the most amazing food, and meet loads of new friends on the way [in front of the lens and behind the lens!].

As a basic road map, we started in Rome and then trekked our way over to Florence, made a quick 1 hour trip to Pisa on our way to Riomaggiore [one of the 5 towns in Cinque Terre], and then up to Venice before heading to London to see more friends on our way home.  Rule number one: buy excellent backpack.  Rule number two: have camera in hand at all times.  Rule number three: take the train anywhere and everywhere in Italy!

Do yourselves a favour and get to Italy!  Probably our favourite places were by far Florence and Riomaggiore – just stunning and so hard to leave!  We had a blast and can’t wait to go back!

We hope you have fun looking over some of the glimpses we managed to capture!

 

Rome //

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Florence //

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our mini train-stop in Pisa (where we carried all of our possessions on our backs) //

 

 

Cinque Terre // Riomaggiore

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Venice //

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunrise in Venice on the morning we left //

 

 

 

 

 

January 24, 2012 - 7:23 pm

Colleen / Inspired to Share - STUNNING is exactly the right word! These are gorgeous! I loved Florence so much; it’s fun to see photos. You guys were born to travel! : )

December 29, 2011 - 4:44 pm

Kerrie Lee - Absolutely stunning. So creative. I can taste Italy through your pictorial.

kelly + brian are married!

Kelly + Brian were the first blog post of 2011, and they’re very close to being the last post of the year, too!

These two happened to get married on quite possibly the most gorgeous day in September.  Beautiful fall colors, a gorgeous ceremony in South Milwaukee, and then a stunning ballroom reception at the Milwaukee Marriott West.  Kelly + her bridesmaids definitely won the Most Hilarious Group of Girls award for the year!  They brought the sass, and kept quoting everything from Clueless to SNL, which kept everyone laughing all day long.  And Brian and the guys?  Well, they were far from boring!

K + B : T H A N K Y O U for asking us to capture your matrimonial moments!  You guys are lovely, and hot.  And now we’re going to let other people see what we mean;)  xo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Flowers: Jess Fluer Fun

Photographers: Caroline + Jayden Lee

Ceremony: Divine Mercy, South Milwaukee

Reception: Milwaukee Marriott West

alissa + isaac + hudson + lydia are the loveliest little fam!

Imagine yourself: a four year old boy, your mom dresses you up in ‘fancy’ clothes, and instructs you not to get dirty because you’re getting your photo taken later.  Sure enough, a little while later, you’re instructed to smile (Chandler Bing style), its uncomfortable for a few minutes, but then its over.  You run off to eat the candy that you were bribed with, you drip ice cream on your nice photo clothes, and forget the whole thing ever happened.

But there’s so much more to a four year old boy!

Jayden + I love photojournalism in our photography, especially when people allow us to come into their homes, and capture them doing life.  Sure, we totally take the posed portraits, because those aren’t irrelevant, and grandmas really like them.. but we L O V E to capture people in their element.

The Miller family recently invited us into their home for an afternoon, and this is what we captured.  (Then we put our cameras down, ate amazing pastries, drank coffee, and chatted ’til the sun went down … but that’s just a side note.)  After Alissa got these photos, she texted me about how cool it was to review a normal day with her family and see it as something magical; even the instances where the kids weren’t smiling or looking directly at the camera are precious little glimpses of their personality.  Her text made our week!

Guys, we absolutely loved being able to share the day with you observing, interacting, shooting, and most of all – becoming new buds!  Thank you for inviting us into your space, we hope you enjoy these moments for years to come!  xx

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

wedding albums: the way you aren’t used to seeing wedding albums!

We don’t often blog about our wedding albums that we design for our couples, but its time to go public with them!

From our perspective, once you’ve had an incredible wedding day, and paid money to have the event photographed, why let the images sit on a computer or on a disk?  They should be accessible, so that you can show them off, but they should also be presented with elegance!  (The word scrap book makes me cringe…)

Jayden + I design custom albums, and then work along with the insanely fabulous Renaissance Albums, who do the printing for us.  Our layouts resemble fine art books, and allow the images to speak for themselves with plenty of open space (no clutter).  We allow our couples to choose their images, and the number of pages/”spreads” that they’d like, and then we design the layouts and allow them to make changes and tweaks until they’re thrilled with how it looks!  The folks at Renaissance allow you to choose the cover materials and even whether the pages have square or rounded edges, and deliver each album in a super sexy box and a lifetime guarantee..!!

Albums are included in many of our wedding coverage collections, and some of our couples who couldn’t squeeze one into their wedding budget choose to get an album as a one year anniversary present to each other …  sometimes parents buy them as the wedding present to the couple (and even buy a copy for themselves!).  People get creative with when and how they buy them, but they’re always so happy that they have their images to show others and enjoy!

During our trip to Australia last month, we delivered one of our albums to the lovely Liz + Tim.  Remember when we photographed their wedding in Australia nearly a year ago?  Here are a few snaps of the actual album itself, as well as a few of my favorite “spread” (two pages across) designs.  Enjoy — and Happy Week-end!  xo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

December 10, 2011 - 3:47 pm

Colleen / Inspired to Share - Gorgeous! I love all of the white space so that the focus is on the photos. : )

December 9, 2011 - 10:21 pm

Molly - Oh dear.. I’m in love, as always. Just gorg.

December 9, 2011 - 9:32 pm

Kerrie Lee - Absolutely stunning. Soo creative. Heirloom!

kendra + colin are married!

Remember Kendra + Colin from their adorable engagement shoot in Milwaukee?

Their August wedding in Chicago was no less fabulous.. big Italian families, lots of laughter, tons of sun, a stunning forest of trees, and the groom’s little sister who is most likely a real live cherub.

Kendra + Colin, we’re so happy that you had us capture your day, and we’re excited to share some of our favorite moments here!  xo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

December 10, 2011 - 3:52 pm

Colleen / Inspired to Share - Stunning! I love the shots with the confetti – they turned out beautifully! And I know one of the bridesmaids – too funny.