Hoop it up...

Just another day at the farm... love you guys!







Ummm, yeah this is an absolute fav... for sure! Gorgeous!

Oh yeah, it really is that gorgeous here...

Sometimes us Arizonians have a hard time seeing the true beauty of this vast desert we live in... until... we get nights like this...



And ummm, those are the REAL colors! No crazy photoshop done here... just a bit of a curves adjustment and that's all!

Gorgeous, right?!

Mark my words, I will get married... again!

OK, before the rumors start I do intend to marry my one and only sweetheart - Scott - again someday. Only when I do, we will of course be already married with a brood of our own so maybe it's more of a renewing of vows or something along those lines... what ever we do end up doing it will be followed by one spectacular party.

Ever since we were married some 10+ years ago I have been plotting and thinking and dreaming and wishing for the day when I would get to do it all over again, but only this time it will be the way WE want, where WE want and only surrounded by the most awesome best friends and family EVER. Now of course this is not happening anytime soon - I'm actually thinking closer to our 20 year - 'cause hey, I'm gonna need some time to plan this monumental occasion and to do it right.

Now it's known that I am not a wedding photographer but I can sure appreciate the real art of wedding photography and the true professionals that do it. So, I'll let you know right here and now that if one, Mrs. J* is still in the biz 10 years from now that it will be her that I stalk, oh I mean hire to be my photog. I lurve her...

Notice Mrs. J* is an Orange County, CA photog... why would I hire and OC photog, you ask? Because I'm totally getting {re}married on the beach. May sound cliche, but for this true, native California girl it reflects me and it's probably the one place in this world that our family would rather be at any given time, in any given season. I miss the beach!

So for now, I've got the place, I've got the photographer, hmmmm what else am I missing...?? Honestly, nothing because I would do this all tomorrow with just those two things if I knew all my friends and family could make it. However, since I know that alone will take 10 years to work out I might as well coordinate some other details that were completely overlooked the first time around.

So, when I do start all the fun planning I'm lov-ing these inspirational style boards... using pantone colors as a guide is pure genius and it speaks to my soul! This is what I'm loving... today...




{above style boards from snippet and ink}

I love before and afters...

I just love it when photographers are bold enough to show their before and after shots; it can be a scary sort of thing to show people your straight out of camera (sooc) images, but it has help me immensely so I thought I do the same.

But, to start I do want to preface this show 'n' tell post with a few comments regarding post processing. If you are a photographer or even just an avid photoshop user then you are familiar enough with actions. That word - actions - for some reason has become this dirty, taboo word in the world of photography. I say... GET OVER IT! Actions are great; use them. It's NOT cheating if you know how to properly use actions to suit your own personal style and vision for the image(s).

Here's my argument... Sure, knowing how to accurately adjust and correct an image in Photoshop doing each step, one-by-one by yourself is great and all photographers should have that sort of knowledge as a resource. However, if an action can complete all those tedious steps for you and does exactly what you want it to do for an image and it gets you from point A to point B at just the click of a button then why wouldn't that be a good thing?! It just seems natural to me to utilize actions as a way to speed up your workflow - it's all about time management and efficiency for me.

Just remember there are always two sides to each coin and by that I mean there is no action in this world that will make up for a bad picture due to lack of camera know how, creative composition or photoshop knowledge. In my humble opinion it all starts with a good, correct exposure and proper white balance; just like in construction if you start with a solid foundation then what you build on top of it will stand strong.

Without further a do, here's a little glimpse into my post processing photo work...



For this photo as soon as Tanya laid on the blanket I knew exactly what my vision was for this photo. So much of creating your own style and knowing what to do with an image comes from having a vision of what you want it to look like... which, believe me only comes from experience, creativity and shooting who ever and what ever as much as possible. In the photo above you can see that the SOOC isn't bad at all, but what I really wanted to create was a dreamy, ethereal image with a bit of a vintage feel. I just love the way it turned out.

Oh yeah, and for any other photographers be sure to check out this Savvy blog, you won't be disappointed!

My celebrity BFF

I was thinking this morning about BFF's and how I love to surround myself with them. It's no lie (and you can confirm this with my hubby) that EVERY thing in my life is my favorite... I have about 25 pairs of my favorite shoes, every song I hear on the radio is my favorite, every thing I eat is my favorite, so it's no surprise that I consider all my friends my favorites. Literally.

So then I wondered, who would be my celebrity BFF. Maybe it was because of the time of day, maybe because I could hear her voice in the other room as I prepared for my lunch date with my newest BFF, but I think if I had to pick my true celebrity besty it would be one, Ms. Kelly Ripa. Some love her, some hate her (namely my mother) but I finding her completely hilarious with my kind of humor and wit. Mu-wha Ms. Ripa... I know we could totally be friends!


[fanpix.net]

Who is your celebrity BFF?