Triple threat!

You know the saying, 'too many chiefs, not enough indians'? Well, for those who know this family (seen HERE and HERE) know that they already have too many indians and not enough chiefs. I love these little guys and have loved watching them grow up so quickly, in addition to their twin sisters.

In order to mark the spectacular occasion of their 3rd birthday we set out to get some great, fun photos with the amazing tee-pee their Nana made for them... gotta love Nana's!! As you can see we really only had one who was willing to wear his feather headband, but hey in this family one is better than none!

Photo 101:MECHANICS class {part deux}

I getting ready to announce my 2nd photo 101 class so I wanted ya'll prepped and ready... if you're not on the mailing list yet - get on it TODAY.

My pre-registration announcement will go out to those on the mailing list first within the next week.

Also, I had quite a few people tell me they couldn't attend the last class for whatever reason but really, really, reallllllllly wanted to. So, I'm actually gonna give you readers a voice... tell me which day of the week you would prefer. Now, my last class was on a Tuesday so I'm not going to repeat that day and my Monday's are reserved for my family so, for now I'm leaning towards either a Thursday or Friday night. Leave a comment or message me separtely letting me know the day that works for you and I'll see what I can do.

After this next 101:MECHANICS class I will not be hosting another one for quite some time; I'm going to start focusing on building up the materials and content for my photo 102:CREATIVE class. So, if you want in then be sure to sign up ASAP when registration opens.

As a reminder, photo 101:MECHANICS will consist of reviewing gear, settings, terminology, lighting, composition, and most importantly just how to take better pictures (of your kids, pets, anything). If you now have one of those super fancy cameras and for some reason it's been stuck on Auto since you pulled it out of the box - or if you've attempted some of the other settings without the results you've wanted - then you should absolutely sign up for this class.

And don't let the name fool you, we will NOT be opening up our cameras to view the inner workings of the mechanisms, we will however learn the fundamentals of photography as well as different shooting styles, understanding lighting conditions and controlling the photography triangle (ummm yeah, you gotta take the class to find out what that is :-) Plus, of course what all those buttons, knobs, wheels and dials are for.

Also more info on the class can be found in previous posts HERE and HERE.

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And what's a photo blog without some photos, huh? These are from my recent test model shoot - I loved, loved, loved the B&W versions of these photos as I was editing them so that's what I'm sharing with you now... ENJOY!

Model Test Shoot :: SIM Agency

Earlier this week I had the opportunity to work with one of the 'new faces' of SIM Modeling Agency. Meet Miss Tori W! Gorgeous, fun, sweet and completely adorable! I also enlisted the help of make up artist Lakesha B for this shoot as well.

I was quite a bit nervous regarding the location I scouted - when we booked this session weeks ago the sun was setting a lot earlier in the day than it is right now. Well, simple fix... we just pushed the shoot time back by 2 hours and it actually ended up being absolutely perfect. And as you can see I was even able to bring out my lighting set up and got a few OFC shots. Note to self - buy a flashlight... shooting in pitch black presents a whole new set of issues... ;-)

Such talent...

I'm always struck by the amazing talent that runs through people. I love to be creative, to make things - whether with my own two hands or by way of a camera - but I can honestly say that I don't have nearly a fraction of a fraction (figure that one out you math wizards) of talent as this lovely lady... She is the brains and guts behind all of the amazing hair accessories and such that I have personally sported and photographed HERE and HERE.

So to help this lovely lady get a few more detailed shots for her newly unveiled etsy shop found HERE, we staged a very quick accessory shoot. Love the shots we got!

Just a few more of my favs...

To my darling Stacy... Thank you for lending me your beauty. Thank you for your sweet words of encouragement. Thank you for your eager anticipation.





Of course, this shoot would lack all things fantastic and whimsical without the gorgeous Christina (maker of all the hair accessories). Be on the look out for her upcoming Etsy shop - Madame Pumphrey - so you can get your hands on one of her handcrafted beauties.

More things I adore :: good friends, good location and of course good light

... have I mentioned the light thing before? I'm almost sure I have... and this is why it is so important.





A fellow photog, nay comrade, nay BFF had this fantastic idea for a fun shoot and I was more than honored to tag along and snag a few shots. So, to my darling Tami... I can't wait to do it again!

Things I adore :: light, tall grass and a good hair accessory

I feel like my motto is 'Have camera, will shoot'! OK, well maybe not a motto, but I at least need to put it on a t-shirt or something. You see, I have this friend and she's kind of an amazing artist/designer of all things hair accessories. This was our actual convo last Monday.

Her: You wanna take some photos.
Me: Always.
Her: How about Thursday?
Me: Done.

And that was it; it honestly was that down n' dirty quick. Before I knew it I had arrived at the most glorious location, soaked up every last bit of light from the day and got some of the most amazing shots.

Enjoy.

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!

A little secret...

I'm gonna let all ya folks in on a little secret of mine... yep, it's confession time! While some photographers need caffeine to stay up late to get them through the nights of photo editing (unfortunately I, however need caffeine to fall asleep - sad, but true - and no that's not my confession) I actually only need one thing... iTunes Radio set to the 80's Flashback channel called Big R Radio-The Wave. There, I said it... I'm a HUGE fan of all the alternative/retro/over-synthesized music of the 80's!! It's the one thing that keeps me going during my late-nighters. See, right now as I type this its the Bangels - Manic Monday... totally fitting!!

And because I just finished editing all these senior pics of my niece I'll leave you with one final photo...

Senior pics sneak peek... {part 2}

Quick wardrobe change and we were off to our 2nd location...

Senior pics sneak peek... {part 1}

Here is part one for the senior pics of my gorgeous niece & muse, Danielle. Love ya girl!



Channelling her inner punk-rocker...

More goodies from the last photo shoot...

PROJECT Prom

Attention all high school juniors & seniors (or parents of...)




This is the latest special offering from Jamie and me. We are super excited about this project and hope you'll help spread the word for us.

Go here for more info and details.

"Prom" fashion shoot

Here's my latest collaboration with Jamie from AMP.












Oh yeah, and that blondie is my niece... such a rock star!!

What to do in 30 degree weather...

...have a photo shoot, of course!

We got some stunning images and unbelievable shots as a reward for nearly loosing fingers and toes due to the extreme cold; who new it could be this cold in sunny Mesa, Arizona!! Go figure :-)

Thanks gals for being such troopers! ENJOY!

Model shoot with AMP

My latest collaboration with Jamie from AMP...