Last night I shot Josh & Elaine's engagement photos. These two are getting married in September and they are really sweet together. The shoot was fun because we spent time in locations that mean something to Josh & Elaine. We started out in a Barnes & Noble because one of the things they enjoy doing together is hanging out at bookstores.
That was fun! I love shooting in unique locations and trying something different. Next we stopped by one of their favorite restaurants--The Greene House--which is also where Josh proposed.
Finally, we walked across the street to The Westin Kierland--a beautiful resort where they will be staying after their wedding.
Thanks for such a great shoot you guys! You two are naturals! Can't wait for the wedding!
So tonight was a first for me. I attended my friends Sarah and Reuben's wedding as a GUEST. Very strange. I am trying to remember....I think this may be the first time I've been a guest at a wedding since I started my business 4 years ago. I have a bad memory though so feel free to correct me. But I think it may be.
It was a beautiful wedding that brought together a lot of old friends. Pictured above from left to right: Natalie--my sister, Shauna--a friend, Sarah--the bride, me, Lindsay--a friend, and Ellen--a friend who came down from Portland. My friend Laura, from Portland was also here as well as my friend Flaco, up from Mexico. It was fun but I almost didn't know what to do with myself--I kept checking out the photographers to make sure they were doing their job :).
Congratulations Reuben & Sarah! I'm so glad I was able to come and celebrate!
I'm excited to announce that I am now offering $20 gift certificates that can be used toward the purchase of prints on Pictage, my online lab, for ALL GUESTS who pre-register on Pictage to view photos of an upcoming wedding. All you have to do is go to pictage.com and search for the upcoming wedding you will be attending, then log in using your email address and a password of your choice. Then, when the photos are posted on Pictage, you will receive an email letting you know that they are available and giving you a special code to redeem your gift certificate online. It's easy!
If you're a bride whose wedding is coming up, you can send an email out to all of your family and friends, encouraging them to pre-register. Also, at your reception, I always collect the names and email addresses of guests interested in viewing all of the photos online after the wedding. Then I send them an email with a link to see the slideshow and instructions for pre-registering. So either way, whether they hear it from you or me and take the time to pre-register, they will receive a complimentary gift of $20! Exicting, huh!?
We just finished another great custom guest book design. This one is for Julie and Rob. They are getting married in Sedona in June and I'm really looking forward to it. To see the full book, click here.
Josh & Molly got married Saturday at the Ocotillo Golf Club in Chandler. It was a beautiful day. We started off, of course, with the girls getting ready.
I love this shot of Molly putting her earrings on with her mom in the background:
Getting in the dress:
Super-cute flower girl:
Then on to some fun portraits. The girls:
The guys:
The sky was beautiful as the ceremony was about to begin:
The beautiful bride:
The handsome groom:
I love how Josh looked at Molly after the first kiss:
Man & wife:
A few of my favorite portraits of Josh & Molly:
The reception was a kickin' party with Ken, my favorite DJ at the helm. I also liked the candy bar they had set up. You could fill a bag with an assortment of your favorite sweets:
The first dance:
Molly and her dad have a special bond. I teared up during the father/daughter dance:
One more fun end-of-the-night portrait:
If you would like to see a slideshow of more images from the wedding, click here.
Thanks Josh & Molly for allowing me to be a part of your wedding! It was so fun!
So I guess I over-did-it this weekend. Thirteen hours of shooting and yesterday I got hit with a sore throat and all that a head cold brings with it. Not fun. I've had to cancel some of my plans in order to lay low. Tonight I was supposed to get together with my friend and wedding coordinator extraordinaire, Liene Stevens. But I had to reschedule. So Liene texts me and I open my front door to find this:
HOW SWEET IS THAT? I have to say, that's over and above the call of friend duty. I consider myself to be a pretty good friend. But I never leave goodie baskets on friends' doorsteps when they're sick.
Wow--thanks Liene!! You're awesome! I definitely feel better already :).
My friend Jared was trying out a Leica camera at WPPI last month so I did a little modeling for him. I guess watching "America's Next Top Model" is finally paying off.
I know all of you are going to want to hire me now that the cat is out of the bag. But this level of skill doesn't come cheap. Feel free to inquire and if the price is right--I'm all yours :).
This weekend has been packed full of shooting for me. I shot a great wedding on Saturday that I will blog on soon. And tonight I shot some portraits for Lindsey who is graduating from ASU this spring!
She's gorgeous and we got some great shots:
Lindsey also brought along her boyfriend, Robbie, and we got some fun shots of the two of them together:
Tonight I shot Katina & Robert's engagement photos. This couple clearly adores each other. I had a lot of fun getting to know them. It was easy since they are very genuine and transparent. And we laughed a lot too.
We started out in their Scottsdale home with the other members of their family -- Kaia, an American Eskimo dog, and Gazoo, a yellow lab. Totally sweet dogs.
Here's a cute shot I got of Kaia:
And the whole fam:
Then we shot at various places around Scottsdale. Here's a few of my faves:
It's cute how Katina & Robert are always making each other laugh:
Katina is super-photojenic:
A bold run through the fountain:
Finally we ended up at a fun wine bistro for some drinks and dinner:
Thanks for the fun night Robert & Katina! Looking forward to your wedding!
Last night we had our monthly Phoenix PUG meeting. This group of local photographers that I lead has been meeting for over a year now and I love it! It's such a great time each month getting together and networking and talking photography. We always go out to dinner afterwards too.
Last night we had around 35 photographers which is a new record. We've had over 100 photographers come through at our meetings but never all at once. So the meeting had a lot of energy. Leo Garcia, a training specialist from Pictage, flew out from California to train us on the Album Designer and Album Design Service that Pictage offers. We also debriefed WPPI and Mandy Hank, a local photographer, did a studio spotlight where she shared some of her work and a little about herself and her business. It was a great meeting!
Community is such an important element that blesses me and my business. Owning a small business can definitely make you feel isolated and like you're on your own under an immense amount of pressure to succeed. But getting together and building relationships with other people who are in the same boat and who want to support and help each other makes all the difference.
Yesterday I was in the One Light Workshop in San Diego from 9:30 am to after midnight. It was a very full day but I learned a ton that I am really jazzed about taking home with me and applying to my photography. Above is our talented professor, Zack Arias, who really has a great handle on how to use light. His work is amazing.
We basically learned how to turn a descent photo like this:
Into a more dramatic and powerful photo like this:
By using a set-up like this:
I love how Zack was willing to lie on the ground and in puddles to get the best shot. It makes me question my own dedication :).
We hit the streets of San Diego and ran into a cool local artist who let us use his rooftop to shoot on. I took some time to shoot some photos just for fun (no workshop application here--I already know this stuff :))
Then he sent us out on our own in groups to see if we cold figure this stuff out ourselves. This is what I came up with using the very modelesque, Sara France as my model:
Pretty cool huh!?
At midnight when we were all wiped out we decided we needed to take a group photo out on Sara's front lawn. It started out all cute and normal:
Then....the sprinklers came on:
The perfect ending to a great day.
Thanks so much to Zack and all the fun photographers who attended who made this workshop one of the best I've been to yet!
I'm out in San Diego for a few days. Tonight and tomorrow I have a photo seminar that I'm excited about. But I came out a bit early to hang out with my friends David & Becky. After I got my tickets I found out that they were going to be in Phoenix for the weekend so I ended up staying in their downtown condo and just relaxing for the past couple days. It's been great. I've been getting some reading done and yesterday I took a walk to the bay and shot a few photos. It was such a gorgeous day out. I really enjoyed being out and about. It was a great day for flying kites too. I saw some kids doing just that and got this fun shot:
Then I grabbed a late lunch at this place, looked out at the boats and did some more reading.
This seagull kept an eye on me from behind glass my entire meal. I'm not sure what he was thinking because even if I wanted to, I couldn't feed him anything. I don't think he got the concept of glass.
April is Autism Awareness month. These are my two nephews: Elijah (5) and Noah (6). They are the loves of my life. They are SO sweet and full of love and I couldn't adore anything more. They are both autistic. And it absolutely breaks my heart. I've been laying in bed unable to get to sleep the last two nights because I'm so angry about Autism. Let me fill you in on some of the basics about this disorder and hopefully it will help you to understand why.
Autism is a complex disorder that has no known cause or cure.
1 in 150 children are diagnosed with some form of autism. For boys, the number is 1 in 94. This makes it more common than pediatric cancer, diabetes and AIDS combined.
Symptoms can range from mild to severe and span 3 general areas: -Language development -Social development and behavior -Repetitive and odd behaviors
No two children with autism are alike. My nephew Elijah is more severe than his older brother, Noah. Elijah is 5 and is nonverbal, not yet potty trained and has difficulty being in new environments with people who are unfamiliar to him. He is very frustrated with his inability to communicate his needs. He loves to do certain activities over and over again such as watch the same videos endlessly, throw rocks, and jump in the pool over and over.
Noah is 6 and now has a large vocabulary of words. He is still unable to form spontaneous sentences and largely communicates through one or two word phrases. He is potty trained and loves to help his younger brother. Both he and Elijah are in special classes in the public schools with one on one attention from teachers. Noah loves to learn and enjoys practicing his flash cards of vocabulary words, shooting basketball hoops and lining up his toys in certain patterns.
There are some theories about the potential causes of autism. It is generally agreed that there is a genetic predisposition in children with autism that causes them to be susceptible to environmental triggers. A controversial theory that has been refuted by the medical community but is strongly held by a group of parents and a few scientists is that immunization shots given at a young age trigger autism. This is a lengthy discussion that I'm not going to go into here, but if you're interested, here are a few videos to check out on the subject:
I help my sister take the boys to a doctors appointment every week where they get chelation treatment. They are injected with a medication that helps rid their body of the poisonous toxins such as mercury and lead that their bodies are unable to process on their own. Their urine is collected and tested and we get reports of the amount and types of metals that are coming out of their bodies. This is somewhat of an experimental treatment but seems to be helping many children with autism.
One last thing I wanted to share on autism--and if you're still reading at this point, you are awesome!--are some early signs of Autism. These are important to know so that you can watch your own children and possibly help other parents out who you know. The earlier Autism is detected the more successful treatment can be. Here are some "red flags" to be on the watch for:
No big smiles or other warm, joyful expressions by six months or thereafter
No back-and-forth sharing of sounds, smiles, or other facial expressions by nine months or thereafter
No babbling by 12 months
No back-and-forth gestures, such as pointing, showing, reaching, or waving by 12 months
No words by 16 months
No two-word meaningful phrases (without imitating or repeating) by 24 months
Any loss of speech or babbling or social skills at any age
Remember that Autism is very complex and mysterious at this time so no two children will display the exact same behaviors or symptoms. But these are some general things to look for.
One of the most frustrating things to me is that this epidemic is largely ignored by the medical community. Doctors are not taught about it in medical school. Parents take their children in to their pediatrician with concerns about their child's development and they are told that they are over-reacting and not to worry about it. And there is very little being done to find a cure. The effort is definitely out of proportion to the size and extremity of the epidemic. It breaks my heart to think of what we, as a society, may be unknowingly doing to an entire generation of children. We've got to put an end to this disorder.
If you are interested in finding out more about what you can do to be involved, check out these sites:
I just got my Toyota washed on Tuesday for the first time in over a month and last night it rains. Not only does it rain, but there's a huge dust storm. So this is what my car looks like now:
I swear I have special powers.
On a totally unrelated note, I took my friend Teri out to lunch today and I think she forgave me for being a loser friend and forgetting her 30th birthday last week. So that's good. Her 2 year old, Kailey, was with us and she just totally brightens my day every time I see her. She is total preciousness.
She sang "Jesus Loves Me" during lunch and I got it on video. SO CUTE! I think she was a little distracted by the Mexican food (understandably).
In the business world, you hear a lot about "outsourcing." I definitely have embraced this idea of paying other people or companies to do some of the stuff I don't have to do or don't want to do in order to free me up to focus on the things I have to do or want to do. As business grows, there's no way I can do it all. So in order to continue to grow and provide quality service, I need to outsource some parts of my business and life.
Some of the things I outsource are:
Pictage --- Back-end print and order fullfillment and shipping Jamie --- Color correction and editing Fox Peterson --- Accounting Sarah Marsh --- Web design and implementation
And my personal favorite thing to outsource --- housecleaning! I just started outsourcing this about 6 months ago. And just this week I found some great new ladies to clean my house. They do a great job and only charge $50 per time. I have them coming every 2 weeks. What a steal! This is a no-brainer for me. There's no way I could clean my house myself for that value. I make way more focusing on my business for those few hours every other week. And I love when my house is all clean at once.
I encourage you to think about your business and life and what you can outsource in order to free you up to grow and expand. It's definitely the way to go!
I am such a loser friend. In the past month I've totally spaced on two close friends' birthdays. Saturday was my friend Teri's birthday. We've been friends since high school and I was in her wedding and she is always so sweet and thoughtful to me. I think I even talked to her on the phone on or around her birthday! We're doing lunch Friday so I'll have to figure out a way to make it up to her.
I have all my birthdays on my iCal calendar right in front of me everyday yet I'm often so wrapped up in my own world that it's like they're invisible.
Sorry Teri!!! I love you and can't wait to see you!!! Happy belated 30th!!!
Tonight I finally had my friends Matt, Angie & Maddux over. We've been trying to set up a time to hang out for what seems like forever and finally we gott'er done. Matt and Angie are local wedding photographers as well, who I met through the Phoenix PUG (Pictage User Group) and we hit it off right away. Together they make up Sloan Photographers.
Their son, Maddux, is the most angelic child I think I've met to date. I don't think I heard a peep out of him all night and there were no toys in sight. He even sat quietly watching "American Idol" with us. We had chocolate for desert and he got his hands on two mini Twix bars and just hung on all night. Too bad he doesn't know the yumminess hidden underneath the cool, shiny wrappers :).
I'm so thankful for my friendship with Matt & Angie. Not only is it great to have photographers who are friends as we can talk shop and help each other out, but they are just darn good people who make me happy whenever they're around.
Tonight I shot portraits of the definition of cuteness. This little 19 month old is the son of my friends, Carrie and Dorian, who are a part of my church community. Every time I see him at Portico, my heart melts. So I insisted on taking photos of him.
Now, when I say I "shot portraits of him," what I really mean is that I chased him tirelessly around Freestone Park for about 45 minutes. I think he was purposefully trying to lose me :).
Braeden is quite the little package. He is full of energy, knows what he wants, and I can tell he's got a lot going on upstairs. He is a man of many expressions. Here are a few of my faves:
This is the look I like to call, "'Whatchu talkin about Willis?"
So scrumptious!
Thanks, Carrie, for helping me keep him alive during the shoot! (Mom rescued Braeden numerous times from going into the lake after the ducks he was chasing :))
Tonight I shot Shane and Tatum's engagment photos. They are getting married in September at Trilogy at Vistancia out in Peoria and we actually did there engagement shoot there as well. Usually I don't do that since we will be shooting there for the wedding, but it was a great opportunity to get out there and scope out the place before the wedding. Plus there are so many beautiful spots to shoot.
Shane and Tatum have an amazing story of how they met when they were in high school, dated for awhile and then went their separate way for years before connecting again. While they were disconnected, they actually both watched the movie, "The Notebook" --which I love--and thought of each other. I guess it was meant to be!
This was another fun shoot--Shane and Tatum are naturals with each other and in front of the camera. We got some great shots. Here are a few of my favorites:
I guess there's a bit of a theme with flowers. But there were so many beautiful ones and everywhere we would turn there was color.
These next three were all in the same spot but I couldn't narrow them down to the one I like best. Feel free to let me know which one you prefer:
#1 #2 #3 The ring:
Thanks Tatum & Shane! I had a blast hanging out with you guys and can't wait for the wedding!
I just want to give a shout out to Jesus and thank you SO much for suffering so much pain, disgrace and rejection -- even from God the Father -- for my sake. Your love literally blows my mind. I am humbled and grateful and SO SO thankful.
Today I took a day trip up north to Jerome and Prescott with my friends Shannon & Greg. Shannon has been a close friend for over 10 years and a roommate for part of that time. And she and Greg are getting married in August! I'm really excited for them. They are perfect for each other and kept me entertained all day with their plethera of "Friends" quotes that they rattle off whenever appropriate.
It was really fun shooting in the town of Jerome. There's SO many cool places there--everything is old and quaint and the town is built into the side of a mountain.
First we started out having lunch in this cute cafe:
Then we just walked around the town and had fun shooting:
Greg has some interesting poses he tried out for me. I guess he felt free to be his goofy self:
Shannon is gorgeous. Not sure how Greg scored her. But well done Greg :). She has beautiful hair and coloring and I love her smile and cheek bones. She looked great in every photo but I thought these next two were amazing:
Jerome was full of color. I love this orange VW van:
Then we moved on to Prescott and ended up just shooting a little there before finding this great Pizza place where we ate dinner. Here's a few of my faves from our time in Prescott:
Our custom designed guest books are a hot product this season. Everyone seems to love the idea of using their engagement photos to create a unique guest book that their wedding guests can write notes to them in at the wedding. We just finished another design for Eric and Melanie who are getting married in Sedona in May. They are a gorgeous couple and I'm really looking forward to their wedding. We shot their engagement photos in the Papago Park area which made for a unique look. Check out their guest book design by clicking here.
My sister brought my nephews over to my pool today for a little swim. The pool is heated part of the year but it's getting really warm out so it won't be long until the heating is unnecessary.
It's always so fun to watch them swim because they love it SO much. They can just jump in over and over for hours.
I had fun taking some photos of Noah (6) and Elijah (5) which is always challenging because they're both autistic. I watched a "Larry King Live" recently and found out that more kids are being diagnosed with autism than AIDS, cancer and diabetes COMBINED. The number is 1 in 150 kids now. With the rate for boys being 1 in 94. Autism has really reached the level of an epidemic and is getting very little attention for how prevelant it is. The cause and a possible cure are still unknown.
Anyhow, my nephews are super-cute. Here's a few shots of Elijah. I love his floaties :)
And Noah hit a mile-marker today. He lost his first tooth! Unfortunately it was in the pool somewhere. Notice in the photo on the top of this post, he has a whole set of teeth and on this one, he's missing the top middle one on the left:
