Friday I shot Jim & Julie's Engagement Shoot up at Desert Mountain near where they live and where they will be getting married in November. They have a great story of how they met and began doing business together, developing a friendship before their relationship blossomed into a romance. They're a great couple and we had a fun shoot. Here's some of my favorites:
Jim has a two-year-old daughter named Bella who came along as well--super cute!
It's so beautiful up at Desert Mountain. I can't wait for the wedding!
Thanks for the great shoot and for dinner you guys!
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).
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 :))
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:
These are my dear friends I am visiting here in Charlotte this week. Michelle has been my friend since 4th grade -- for 20 years now! We only went to school together the one year in Minnesota. I remember riding the bus with her to school and singing songs. Then she moved away and we were pen-pals. I have over 50 letters from her from that time. We both moved numerous times and then when we were in high school she flew out to visit me each year because her dad is a pilot. Then I was in her wedding nine years ago. And since then she has had 4 kids. I've been doing the visiting the last few years and it's been nice because I have shot 4 weddings in the Carolinas now so each one is a good excuse to visit her. God has really blessed me with her friendship and used us in each other's lives over the years. We always have the best deep conversations about life. Anyhow... now that you know my life story :)
Today the kids were playing in the backyard--the weather is GORGEOUS here. And so I did some shooting and got some great shots of their cute family.
This is Gavin, the oldest:
Logan is next:
Rhiannon is the only girl:
And Aiden is the baby:
I love his chipmunk teeth:
Here's Brian and Michelle:
And a cute shot of the three boys:
I love this family. The kids are each so special and have their own unique personalities. My friend Michelle is an absolutely amazing mom. She blows me away. It's crazy to think about where we are now and how far we've come from the little girls who rode the bus together in 4th grade. Life is one amazing, unpredictable journey.
My friends Michelle & Haines, whose maternity shoot I did a few months ago, just had their little boy, Tate, on Saturday morning! He is 6 lbs and some change and 19 inches long. I got to stop by the hospital yesterday to meet him and shot a few photos while there. Oftentimes I don't find newborns super-cute but Tate is a cutie and I'm always so amazed at how tiny and soft newborns are.
So today I was supposed to have an engagement shoot but the couple had to postpone last minute so I took my whole Saturday off to spend time with my good friend Jessica which just so happened to be on my list. Now you may wonder why spending time with a friend would be considered a legitimate goal. Jessica has been my friend for a long time. She has two kids--Sydney is 8 and Grant is 5. I've been friends with Jess long before she had Sydney and we've been through a lot together. Last year she got remarried and she now lives out in the boonies beyond the limits of Queen Creek -- about a 45 minute drive from me. And our relationship has changed a bit this year. I don't get to see her nearly as much and have only made the trip out to her house once. Isn't that sad? So I decided I needed some quality time with her and would make the effort to go her way.
But we didn't spend the whole day out at her house. We started the day at Grant's little league game. Which was a lot of fun. Here's a great shot I got of one of the little leaguers at bat:
Here's Sydney playing with her most cherished toy--an American Girl Doll. I haven't seen Sydney in months and she is getting so big and seriously talks like a grown up.
This little guy is playing the outfield and is totally prepared for any fly ball that may come his way:
I love this shot of the team as they wait their turn up to bat:
After the game and lunch we made the trek back to Jess & Daniel's house. They live off a dirt road and burn their own trash and they don't even really have a city name to call their own. Right now they're "borrowing" "Queen Creek" for their address even though their house is 10 miles beyond the edge of town. I give them a hard time for living so far out. Here's their house:
We went next door to my friend Lindsay's house. Lindsay is also Jessica's sister-in-law. She is pregnant and I got this great shot of her:
She was watching some cute dogs. Check out these ears:
We hung out for awhile working on a school project with Syndey. Here's Sydney--I can't believe how gorgeous she is!
To wrap up the fun-filled day, we went ice skating! Sydney made the honor roll so this was her reward. It was the first time ever skating for both Sydney & Grant!
Getting laced up:
The whole fam:
Now mind you, all of the following shots were taken while I myself was on skates on the ice. Pretty impressive, I know :).
Grant was really tentative at first and either held onto mom or the side:
But then he got this walker-looking-thing that helped him not fall and gain confidence. It was really cute:
I caught this action shot of him wiping it even with the walker:
But then he got rid of the walker and was wizzing around the rink on his own. He had a blast!
I got some cute shots of Jess & Daniel as well--still newlyweds :).
What a fun day! Thanks guys for hanging out! I hope it's not too long before we do it again :).
Yesterday I went to LA for the day to attend Joe Buissink & Marcus Bell's Photo Conference. It was awesome! These two are amazing photographers and I was so inspired. Joe is a celebrity wedding photographer but is very genuine and down to earth. I found out that he has a 13 year-old son who has autism so I definitely felt a connection to him in that since I have two nephews with autism. Marcus is from Australia and so I enjoyed listening to his accent all day. I wanted to get a photo with the two of them to share with you. Here's Joe saying, "do we need a reflector?" as he acts like his bald head would work well for that:
So then I'm cracking up and look like a total goofball for the photo:
I went to this conference on my own but ran into two friends (top photo). Michell Jonas is a Phoenix photographer who showed up and it's funny cause we're running into each other EVERYWHERE lately. And then Jen Disney (on right) is a girl I went to college with back in the day. We didn't know each other too well then but were in a girls' choir together and I ran into her in the bathroom at the conference and we immediately recognized each other. So the three of us girls went to a little hole in the wall Mexican Restaraunt for lunch and it was delicious.
The conference was inpiring mostly because of Joe and Marcus' images which just made me want to be a better photographer and get out there and shoot. Marcus also shared about his workflow using Lightroom, a new software that is out there that I will be buying and incorporating in our workflow soon (one of my 101 goals!). So it was good to learn a little more about that. I was also inspired to get some fine art canvas prints made and enter a print competition. So those goals will be going on my list.
At the LAX airport as I was waiting for my plane, I saw these adorable boys playing and had fun taking some photos of them. Check out these mugs:
I nearly missed my plane because I was having so much fun shooting them and didn't hear the boarding call. But I made it and had fun taking a few pics on the plane. LA by night:
My adorable nephew Elijah turned 5 on January 5th but the poor guy didn't get to celebrate his birthday until just last week. He was sick for awhile and then the family just couldn't all get together until now. But I don't think he noticed. He's autistic, non-verbal and still hasn't caught on to the birthday thing. But I was excited because he seemed to enjoy his party for the first time in his life! He usually goes in the back room to watch videos when a lot of people are in the house because it just overwhelms him. But he hung out with all of us the whole time!
My sister is such a great mom - Elijah is on a VERY strict diet and can't have like 30 major ingredients so she found a way to make a special cake just using nuts, egg whites and powdered sugar! And it was good.
Here's some more fun pics from the party. I just had my point and shoot so they're not too fancy but I still wanted to document the event.
Me and my cute dad:
Elijah playing with his favorite gift - large legos:
My brother-in-law, Josh, giving his best pose for the camera:
Last Friday I had the opportunity to shoot a high-energy event at Bethany Community Church in Tempe. It was put on by an organization called KidzBlitz that travels around to churches entertaining kids and their families while sharing the message of Christ. The worship center was packed with families and everyone had a blast. Here's a few photos of kids before the event getting excited:
Throughout the night there were shouting contests between the two teams and it was CRAZY loud.
The teams competed in various games. First, two kids got oversized clothing stuffed with balloons. It was pretty entertaining :).
Next someone from both teams had to jump rope with swimming fins and a top hat on. I don't think I could have done this myself:
Check out the air this girl got when she found out she won:
Next kids had to try to eat a donut off a hook without it falling to the ground:
This cute little girl really got into the shouting contest:
THIS was impressive. This little boy had to stand on a stool and constantly hoola hoop while blowing up a balloon blindfolded.
I can't believe how well he did:
More screaming:
This little girl looked a little nervous when placed in a cage and told that things were going to drop on her. Don't worry--it was just plastic balls and such.
The parents even got involved. Here a dad had to sit on a bean bag with a water balloon on his head covered in shaving cream. His little girl had to shave the cream off using a razor.
The little girl did a great job and never broke the balloon but the guys running the event had to pop it afterwards anyway :)
For entertainment value, all the adults involved in running the show got "poofed" at various times:
And this is what a bag of grits getting smashed by an oversized hammer looks like:
For the last game, a large group of kids got covered in toilet paper.
TOTAL CRAZINESS. And my ear drums are still recovering...
So I know Christmas is long gone for this year but I was taking down some of my cards and decided I wanted to share with you some of my favorites I received this year. Every year I receive cards from people with their family picture on them and it's fun because I shot them! I love to see the creative cards that people come up with using my photos. So if you have a card with one of my photos on it--make sure to include me on your mailing list--I would love to receive one and add it to my collection!
Here's the four I received this year (all very poorly scanned in):
I have to say this is my favorite family I've ever done family photos for. Definitely NOT the easiest. But my favorite. This is my sister, brother-in-law and two adorable nephews. We've attempted family photos numerous times throughout the years and it's always more work than usual because Noah (6) and Elijah (5) are both autistic. Noah's gotten a lot better and will hold still and try to smile at the camera. But he's easily distracted and Elijah is usually the distraction. The boy won't sit still and won't look at the camera no matter what a loud fool I make of myself :). But I love them to death so we always do our best. Even though it takes a lot of energy, we always end up with some cute photos in the end. The best thing to do is keep moving. So we do things that are fun for the boys. Noah loves swinging:
And recently he's taken up basketball:
It's pretty amazing. The basket towers over him but he ends up making his under-handed shots a good percentage of the time. Here's some more cute shots of him playing:
And a cute one of Josh and Noah. Josh is so good with the boys.
Here's my sister taking Elijah down the slide:
After some fun on the playground equipment we went on the merry-go-round. Elijah lit up.
And finally we ended our outing with a ride around Freestone park on the train.
I love this one of Elijah. Poor guy was SO cold by this point.
Well, I made it home. It was tough to leave. I love this family so much. Thursday we did some family photos. They were troopers because the temperature was in the 30s!
This is Shannon & Andy's cute house that I got to stay in for the past week:
My room was on the 3rd floor and had slanted low ceilings that mirrored the roof line. It's very homey and charming.
Anyhow, all of the portraits we did were in the front and back yard and we defrosted inside between groupings.
Shannon & Andy mainly wanted photos of the kids but I made them take some just the two of them. They make such a cute couple. They've been married for 13 years and together for 20!
Here's Madeline (8) and Grace (3) together on the front porch swing:
And I love this shot of Grace looking up to Maddy:
Here's dad with his girls:
And finally, individual shots of the three kids:
I miss them already! Thanks so much for a great week you guys!! Love you!
Today the weather cleared up and Shannon, Grace, Marshall and I took a little road trip. We stopped at the beach and got out for a few minutes. It was a nice day but the harsh wind made it SO cold out on the coast. Here's a few fun shots I got at the beach:
Grace looked so cute in her red coat and stylin' sun glasses:
And Marshall was adorable with his hood up:
Here's the whole cute gang:
And Shannon made a sweet note in the sand for me:
After the beach we drove to this great little town named Exeter. I love all the history in New Hampshire. This little sign talks about how Exeter was one of the four original towns in the colony starting in 1638 and became the capital of the state during the American Revolution.
I also really like all the architecture and old buildings on the east coast. They have so much more character than a lot of our cookie-cutter houses and stucco bulidings in Arizona. Here's some other fun shots from our time in Exeter.
A cool red barn:
A fun old mailbox:
A piece of art on a shed alongside the road:
An old window on the side of a barn:
A rusty latch on an abandoned buliding (pictured at the top of this post):
And some tall marsh grass growing out of the wetlands:
After exploring a bit we had worked up an appetite for lunch and stopped and this cute cafe. Outside was this fun old bike:
Here's a cute shot of Shannon and Grace during lunch. Shannon is such a great mom! Even though I don't have kids of my own, I feel like I have learned so much from her example.
After lunch Grace wrapped herself up in the cafe curtains. It made for some cute shots:
And finally, on the way back to the car, Marshall and Grace did a little window shopping:
SO CUTE! I love these kids. It's going to be hard to leave in a few days.
I'm in New Hampshire visiting some good friends of mine and taking a week partially off to relax a little. It's partially because I have my laptop and am still checking emails and blogging a little. But it has been such a relaxing really blessed time so far. I was hoping for some snow but the weather here is unseasonably warm and pretty much feels like it does in Phoenix right now. Although it has been raining pretty much non-stop since I've been here. So unfortunately I haven't been able to get outside with my camera to do some exploring. But I'm hoping to do so later this week.
Shannon and Andy have been married for 13 years and have 3 unbelievably adorable kids. I'm going to hopefully shoot some family portraits later this week but I shot a few photos of the kids around the house as we've been hanging out.
Madeline is in 3rd grade and super-smart. She's a great big-sister:
Grace is 3 and is very sweet and cuddly:
And Marshall is 1 and a little mischevious. But also SO cute:
Here's Marshall trying on his big sis's boots:
Anyhow, I hope to be able to shoot more in the next couple days so stay tuned for more NH fun!
Last night my family celebrated Christmas. I think it was my favorite one so far. Mostly because my 6 year old nephew, Noah, was finally at the age where he really got into it. He was so cute and excited and helped everyone else open their presents. When he got a present open we would ask him what it was and he would often screech, "ANOTHER BOX!" It was SO cute. Of course there was an actual present IN the box but it was cute that he was so excited about the box itself.
Here's Noah before we sat down for dinner looking all cute and adult-ish with the freezer door open. All he kept asking for all through dinner was ice cream:
Here's my cute family sitting down for dinner at my parent's house:
From left to right - my dad, Noah, my mom, my brother-in-law Josh, my sister Natalie. The little diapered kid in the background is my youngest nephew Elijah. He still doesn't get what all the fuss is about so spent the majority of the evening watching Family Feud and playing in the back room.
Here's a close-up of one of the many highlights of the night--the honey-baked ham. SO yummy.
My mom admitted to going a little over the top with the gifts this year. They practially blocked our view of the trees at the beginning of the night:
Father & son ready to open presents:
We got Elijah to sit down and help open one gift. Hopefully next year he'll be more into it.
A couple of Noah's favorite gifts--a train set from Grandma & Grandpa and flash cards also from Grandma & Grandpa.
Noah is autistic and LOVES his flash cards. He is quite the wiz at learning his words from them. He must know hundreds by now and it is so cute how much he enjoys learning.
How many people does it take to assemble a toy?
Some of the other favorites of the night - my sister with her new steak knives:
Mom with some new earrings:
My dad with a tiny version of what my mom is going to allow him to buy for himself--a new motorcycle.
And the best reaction of the night caught on "film" - Josh opening a new wedding ring from my sis:
