Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Just one, but more to come

I sure do enjoy photographing a couple who love each other. Just one of Lydia and Michael's early morning shoot, but more to come soon...

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Monday, April 27, 2009

Marvelous Monday :: My birthday boy

So let's face it: I love photos. I love taking them. I love editing them. I love talking about them. I love giving them to people.

But maybe most of all, I love looking at them. Which is a good thing, of course, because that is, after all, the reason photos were created. To be viewed. To be enjoyed. To be treasured.

I have a ton of photos loaded on my phone so I can have them with me at all times. Several times a day, I catch myself flipping through the photos on my phone, reliving the moments they contain. And I'm not ashamed to admit that this is always, 100% of the time, without fail the photo I always see first:

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It's not surprising that this guy always gets my attention first because (other than Jesus) he's just my favorite thing in the whole wide world. And today, my favorite thing in the whole world is turing 29. I"m going to celebrate him today because the day he came into world was a pretty great day. Pretty great indeed.

There are so many things about Jon that make me love him... I could probably fill up more than a few pages just listing all the great things about him, but today when I was thinking about how much I love him, I was struck by the fact that he shoots weddings with me just about every Saturday. Yeah, he trades a lazy day of sleeping in for a long day of work with me. He loves me so greatly and wants me to succeed so much that he saw my passion for photography, took the time to learn all about it, and devoted his weekends to helping me make a career out of something I only dreamed was ever possible. And, he's pretty dang good at it too.

In addition to that, he's the best daddy our little baby could ever hope to have. It's not surprising that watching the two of them together makes me love Jon even more.
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I think he's pretty marvelous, but that's no secret.

Happy birthday, babe.

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Headshots :: Nick

I did some headshots the other day for a group of actors who will be headed to NYC very soon. I've know these actors for quite a while and have shots head shots for them several times before, but this was by far my favorite session with them. I have so many favorites to post, but for now, here's a look at the shots I took for Nick. I think I've photo'd him maybe, oh, a gazillion times for various things, and every time I do, he has a different hairstyle.

Here are my fav Nick pics:

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Favorite of the favorites.
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and a shot of the entire group
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To see more of this smokin hot group, visit my Facebook page.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Baby Tegan

All newborns sessions are just wonderful. Those little fingers, tiny toes, chubby cheeks... I love it all. This session was especially marvelous, though, because little Tegan is my nephew! Before too long, I know my Kaden and baby Tegan will be BFFs ;). Here are some favorites from a session I shot for them the other day:

Smiling at dad to get us started
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Photos of a sleeping newborn are just precious, in my opinion, and since newborns sleep so often, those photos aren't usually hard to come by. Usually...
When I saw Tegan yawning, I knew a nap was coming soon
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but he decided to stay awake for a while longer
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And when his eyelids got so heavy, I thought for sure it was off to dreamland for Tegan
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But he was just faking me out ;)
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So we rolled with it :). He's awfully cute when he's awake anyway, so I just shot away
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Gotta love those baby bottoms
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And so after almost two hours, Tegan finall gave in, after some rocking from mom, and fell asleep in his basinet. He smirked just a bit, and I thought he might be faking me out again...
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But he was asleep for real this time (Jon grabbed this shot because I was just too short to get high enough, even when standing on a chair. I love it that my assistant/husband is such a great man :) ).
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The new little family
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Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Christine and Billy :: Married on the first day of spring

I was about to explode with excitement when we drove up to Christine's apartment on her wedding day. Not only was it my first wedding of 2009, but it absolutely gorgeous outside on the first day of spring. And, to top it off, I got to photograph my beautiful friend Christine on the happiest day of her life! What a treat!

After a long night of final wedding prep, the ladies started getting ready early. So reinforcements were brought in :)
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Christine's lovely mermaid dress and flowers
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Christine and Billy wanted to see each other before the wedding (which is always a fab idea in my book), so they met up at Forest Park in front of the World's Fair Pavillion. I usually shoot this moment with a long lens so I can give the couple as much privacy as possible. But, even though I was quite a bit away from the couple, I could feel the excitement as they were about to meet for the first time.
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Jon's view of the first meeting
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Because they met a few hours before the ceremony, we had plenty of time to take photos of the lovely couple. We sersiously could not have asked for a better day.
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Jon grabbed this shot while I was shooting from another perspective. Definitely a favorite.
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Billy and Christine showed off some of their dancing moves under the canopy of the pavillion. With the way Billy's looking at his bride and the drama of Christine's motion blur, I may just have to order a big print or canvas of this one for my office.
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She's such a beauty
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The ladies at the archgrounds
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Every time I go to the arch, I always laugh to myself at how many people are taking photos of the arch right underneath it and expecting to get the entire thing in the shot. I saw a guy fall over once while trying to get low enough to the ground. Most lenses just aren't wide enough to fit the entire arch into the frame unless you're quite a bit away from the structure. That is, unless, you have a supercool fisheye :)
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the reception! This was a fun reception because of all the details Christine had planned for the evening. It was especially fun for Jon and I, though, because this was the same place we had our reception almost five years ago :).
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the bling
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Instead of cake, the couple had bananas foster.
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Hey, Macarena
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Thanks Billy and Christine for making my first wedding of 2009 such a great day!

Friday, April 10, 2009

Just one....

Just one pic of Amber and Keith I shot at the City Museum. It was a totally gloomy day outside, but inside... well, it rocked.
More to come soon....

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Monday, April 6, 2009

Marvelous Monday :: Go Cards

Even though it snowed this morning, we're still excited for the home opener later today. What a marvelous way to start the week.

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Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Spring Family Sessions

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Goodness, it got green all of a sudden! Everything is starting to look rather lovely as the trees begin to bloom and the foliage announces the return of spring. I LOVE LOVE LOVE shooting weddings during this time of year, and in years past, I've only had time to shoot weddings, even though I got requests to do family sessions on a pretty regular basis. Well, this year, I'm carved out some time in my schedule to shoot a limited number of family sessions, and I couldn't be more excited about it!

Family sessions are normally $250 and include a one hour session at the location of your choice. I am, however, holding 3 family session marathons in 2009, which includes a 45 minute session at a location I've selected and A DISK OF ALL YOUR HIGH RESOLUTION PHOTOS from the session, all for $150!

My first family session will be held on SATURDAY, APRIL 25 at Lafayette Square Park. As of now, I only have FOUR spots remaining for this date, so if you're interested EMAIL ME soon to schedule your session! My next family session marathon won't be until the fall, so if you're interested in spring family photos, this is the time to do it :).

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