One thing I want to make clear. I love taking photos, I love being at weddings and celebrating with everyone, I love capturing little moments during family photos, or milestones like senior photos - but the thing I love to do more than any of those things, is spend time with my family. I love spending time with my two boys and my incredible wife. They bring color to my life. Beyond that though, I love even more doing it in creation - where I see God declare his workmanship and creativity in all the little things.

Personal - Family trip to Rainier National Park

This particular trip was something I had been looking forward to for a while. My wife and I had set aside the time months and months in advance, and I was so excited to take her and my youngest son to Rainier for the first time. As we got closer and closer to the date, however, the weather started to look more and more sketchy - and sketchy it was. The day we arrived it was pouring rain. So we setup our tent (From DOD Outdoors) in the rain, then got all our bedding setup inside. It was about 37 degrees - in August.

Personal - Hiking on the Pacific Crest Trail and Rainier

it doesn’t take too long when looking at my personal blogs to realize that I love being outdoors and hiking. Every summer I try and find a time where I can get out and get some nature time. I love doing it with my family a lot, but I also really enjoy doing it with friends. In this case, I had the chance to go hiking with my friend Zach Nichols, who is also a very talented photographer. Any of the photos of me, for example, were taken by him. This particular trip didn’t go quite the way we planned, with a couple of changes as we drove to the trail head, but man, what a beautiful trip. The Pacific Crest Trail is one of the worlds best, going from Mexico all the way up to the Canadian border, and while we only spent a single day on the trail, we ran into some people that had spent over 150 days hiking the trail. Very cool.

Personal - Hiking in the Pacific Northwest

This hike, with my friend Jason, was quite the adventure. I should have known this the second I saw some snow on our approach to this peak (which is just over 7000 feet above sea level). We set out in good spirits, dodging the beautiful streams from the melting snow, and started climbing. It wasn’t long, however, that in order to keep going we had to cross on top of snow - lots of snow. By the top we were going across spots of 10 feet or more, but we made it to the top and it was beautiful. I love being able to get out, explore, and spend time in nature. Now if only I could get a couple up here in these mountains for some engagement or elopement photos! Huge shout out to Outdoor Vitals who helped make this hike happen.

Personal: Looyenga Family Goes to North Cascades National Park

One of my goals coming into this summer wasn’t just to capture incredible wedding images or family photos (although that certainly was a goal) it was also to spend more time outside, doing things that I love, with the people that I love. That of course, means being with my family. So when we found a small gap of time in July, we decided to head out and camp for two nights in the North Cascades National Park, which was a park none of us had been to. The trip was much shorter than I had hoped, but absolutely beautiful in so many ways.

Personal: Hiking in the Mountains of North Idaho at Sunrise

Most people don’t do sunrise hikes - or have ever done them. I’m telling you, you’re missing out. While I absolutely love sunset, and I love being at weddings, and getting to know people, and capturing the emotions of people in some of the best parts of their lives, I also love this. Nature. The warm glow of the sun just before it crests the horizon. There are moments up in the mountains that can feel surreal, and you can spend the whole time just looking out going “wow”. It’s not really something that can be put into words, just as emotion always seems to be lacking a word that truly fits it.

The Blog

Brent Looyenga is a Spokane wedding photographer based IN SPOKANE WASHINGTON and Coeur d’Alene Idaho area. He loves people and specializes in wedding, engagement, family and senior photography. You can like Looyenga Photography on Facebook or follow them on Instagram.