nineteen pieces of flare :: the contest

If you've ever read my blog, you know I love me some sun flare. So, as the year draws to a close, I took a look back and compiled some of my favorite sun flare shots for a little contest with a big prize. Here are the rules: take a good look at the photos below and vote for your favorite by leaving a comment with the number of your favorite photo. Whichever couple or person is featured in the photo with the most votes will receive a 12x18 gallery canvas print (a $150 value) of their photo, which is a pretty stinkin awesome deal... because those gallery canvas prints are pretty stinkin awesome. The contest will end and the results will be tallied at the end of the day on Wednesday, January 2. Please, only one vote per person ;).

Now it's time to bring on the flare!

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Full

Usually during Christmastime, I get a little nostalgic as I ponder the events of the year. 2007 has been so full. Full of changes. Full of pain. Full of happiness. Full of struggle and success and failing and prioritizing and streamlining and learning and teaching and realizing truly for the first time in my life that I've found a risk worth taking and I'm actually going to go for it. It's been a great year - really really hard in every way - but great nonetheless.

I spent some time looking through some photos today and I think I'm going to have myself a little contest. Starting tomorrow. So be sure to check back ;). As I was looking through those photos, though, I was really struck by how blessed I am to have such great clients. You've inspired my passion and I thank you all for that. Really, you've all been more than I could have wished for.

During the year, I've also had the chance to work with some really great photographers who are also some of my best friends. Here are just a few shots of us on the job:

This is Kristen. She's quite the photog :).


This is us at the end of a very very very hot wedding. Ok, maybe we were being a little dramatic :)


And you all know this guy. This is from our wedding we shot in Jamaica. Yeah, that was rough :).

Brian '08

A while back, Brian met my husband and I at Lafayette Square Park for his senior photos. We've know Brian for years through church... when he was just starting high school, he was helping run the sound for the youth band, which I was helping out with at the time. He used to make fun of my shoes :). I have to agree though, ugh, I went through a spell of bad choices in foot attire.
And now on to the photos!




Gotta love a guy who sports a tie for his senior pics. Yeah, he pretty much rocked it.






I seem to be posting a lot of pics lately of clients sitting in the middle of the road. I love love love how the shots turn out, but while I'm shooting, my trusty assistant always has his eye on the road, making sure no cars are coming. Safety first ;).







And there's a smile :)






Thanks for hanging out with us Brian! Best of luck to you as you finish up your senior year!

Micah and Meg :: Day After Shoot

Megan and Micah got married in October and it was unseasonably warm. I take that back... it was freakishly hot. Because they had an early ceremony, Micah and Megan had planned to head downtown with me after the reception to do some fun urban portaits. The heat, however, made us change our plans a little. We all got together a few weeks after the wedding for those urban portaits, and the weather was much more conducive to beautiful photos this time :). Doing a session like this is a really cool way to get some unique portaits on a more relaxed day, and I just LOVE doing them :). If you're interested in a session like this, shoot me an email and we can chat :).

And now onto my favorites from their session!

We started off at a parking garage near busch stadium



Love this shot of Megan with the umbrella.


....umbrella ella ella eh eh eh


I dig the colors in this pic.


Favorite!



Whenever I"m downtown, strangers walking past us always seem to want to get in on the action. I think these guys were cops from out of town, so, of course, I was happy to oblige :).







Even downtown, i gotta get some sunflare.





Coffee update: I'll admit that I've been weak on several occasions (Starbucks made me do it!), but I started my caffeine strike over again and I'm doing much better this time. Five days strong and counting...

New-ish stuff

So did you notice the difference? I know it's not a huge deal, but in case you didn't catch it, the blog is a lookin a little different today. There's a new header up at the top and the size is pretty different. It no longer looks like it's just plain black template. And it only took me about 7 hours :). I'm not quite as web-savvy as I would like, but I've been tinkering all day long and wow, I think I may be starting to get the hang of this. Oh gosh, does that make me a nerd?

Quite fittingly, my mother-in-law sent me a Christmas ornament today. And this is what it said:

(taken with my iPhone)

She said she looked all over for an ornament with a camera or something photography related, but this was the closest she could find :). How perfect for my day of web-discovery :).

So let me know whatcha think ;).

Tyler and Robyn, take two

It rained so hard the first time I was scheduled to take photos of Tyler and his girlfriend Robyn. And I mean HARD. It was a nasty summer rain that didn't show signs of letting up anytime soon, so Tyler's idea of going to a park had to be modified. We moved the shoot inside because Tyler wasn't going to let a little rain stop him. He told Robyn that his mom wanted some photos of them for the mantel, but he let me know his intentions were a little different. He had a box in his pocket. And in the box was a ring he had been wanting to give Robyn for quite some time. So, even though the rain kept us inside, everything went off without a hitch. She was totally shocked when she turned around to see Tyler with a ring. (check it out here) I even cried a little.

We got some really fun studio shots that day, but sincec it rained, we decided to schedule another engagement photo sessions at Tower Grove Park in St. Louis for some fall photos. They're so cute together, I really didn't have to give much direction :).



favorite!






sunflare!




I love it when my trusty assistant can come with me on engagement shoots. He's my bouncer, which means he carries around a giant gold card that reflects sunlight back onto my subjects, which really came in handy on this shoot, since the sun set so quickly. He also toted around Robyn's purse during this shoot, which worked out well for me because I LOVE it and I'm hoping maybe, perhaps, someone special may buy one for me ;)