Kayla

One thing that I adore about...ummm, me, is that I am always right about how people will photograph, and I pegged Kayla, who was our first babysitter when we moved to Anthem, as a 1940's film star type when she was only 15 years old. Well, of course, my Zoe is 11 now, and shudders at the thought of anyone watching over her baby sister except her majesty herself, so we haven't seen Kayla for a while, and when we did, last fall, and she told me that she wanted me to take her senior pictures, I was so excited! Have I mentioned that Senior Pictures are my first love? I just love teenagers, and their perspective on absolutely everything. There's no "I can't's". They just do it, and when they go for it with as much aplomb as Kayla has, it's magical. We didn't get to shoot until this past week, so I had plenty of time to think about what I wanted to do with her, which was to bring out her natural pinup tendancies. I just LOVE Kayla's look. She's so fabulous!! I love her mom and dad, too. When they saw the pictures, her mom, Michelle, cried, and her dad kept telling her over and over how beautiful she is. Which makes me just love my job even more, of course.

Lisa and Travis

One thing I love about donating to auctions is that I get to meet people that I wouldn't necessarily meet otherwise. Lisa won me through an auction at the Florence Crittenton Foundation Gala, a great charitiy which helps single mothers and their children with care and medical services.

Travis told me right away that he doesn't smile...but my secret weapon was Lisa...every single time I had him look at Lisa, he got the sweetest, most tender look on his face, and yes, sometimes a smile...it made me cry, because that's the way my sweet little hubby looks at me, and that's what makes me know that they're going to be so happy together and made me want to shoot their wedding, ( I simply won't shoot a wedding if I don't feel the love between the couple...and I have a 100% record over the past 17 years...NONE of my couples have separated or divorced...is that crazy?!) but I tried to laugh and joke through it so that they wouldn't think I was a complete lunatic. I mean, what photographer cries at every wedding they shoot, because she's so honored to be in such a unique position to witness that kind of unbridled, no holds barred love pouring out of the couple? Oh, right, me.

They will be married at the Millenium Hotel in September, and I'm very excited to say that I'll be there, taking pictures...and crying.

Bridget and Nick

You know, I'm kind of funny about shooting pictures of engaged couples...If I don't feel like they're truly in this thing together, if I don't see true love in the man's eyes, I don't want to shoot it...maybe it's because I dated a boy for ten years, then called off the wedding three days before, because I looked in his eyes and didn't see the true, undying love, and the difference, now with my sweet little hubby, seeing the love through my bleary, allergy puffed slits of eyes, even though I cry at coca cola commercials, even though I simply refuse to clean my own house, even though I once pinked an entire load of his clothes when trying to wash them for him, makes me want everyone to be as gloriously happy as I am. I guess that's it.

But I digress. Because Bridget and Nick are one of those couples that Everyone envies. They are so different as people, but so "one" as a couple. Nick is one of those guys that you could see hanging out, drinking beer and laughing and joking while watching the game with the guys, then going home and writing a love poem and hiding it for Bridget to find. Bridget is so beautiful and glamourous, you would think she's a model, not a pharmacist! Amazing. They are totally in love, and blissful, and very fun to be around. They'll be married in their home state of Iowa this summer, with 350 guests witnessing their union under that blue, blue sky. I know that this beautiful couple is going to make it, and I look forward to shooting all of their gloriously beautiful babies.

The Venugopal Family

The Venugopal family is one of the nicest, most genuine and down to earth families I've ever met. Anu is so soothing and kind, taking her children all over to different schools that are the best fit for them, and offering them a trip to a restaurant that serves their favorite foods when the girls feel hungry during our photo shoot. Venu is a ridiculously successful businessman, having offices all over the world, yet he was totally willing to roll around on the grass at the JW Marriott and have a great time with his family, which was really cool. Both the girls are just so beautiful! I have known them since Pooja was 5 and Aarti was 11, and now at 11 and 16, the Venugopal girls have just blossomed and were so much fun and amazing...you might recognize Aarti from my website, wearing traditional Indian dress...I know that the shot was taken a long time ago, but I can't help it...I have to keep it!
This shoot, we had a goal in mind: a project to go with the Feng Shui influence that Anu is decorating in. She told me that they could only have pictures of the two of them in their room, so we got to take a LOT of pictures of just the two of them, which is so rare these days. They are so obviously in love...the tender way Venu looked at Anu made me want to go have my pictures taken with my hubby to see if he looks that way at me! Not to mention Anu's mile long legs! So beautiful, all of them! It was a great day!

Dylan

Meet Dylan. She is the quintessential Junior Ambassador . I shoot high school Juniors every year to help me out with modeling and promotions throughout the next year's Senior season, and this year Dylan totally ruled her shoot! I loved this girl, she's totally beautiful inside and out, and her mom, Deanna, who is exactly my age and grew up in LA and was in the business, just like me was totally great! (And no, I will not tell you how old we are!) We started at City North, and Dylan Rocked the Plaza with her mile long legs and amazing attitude. Look at her jawline!!! Are you kidding me?! It's so defined you could use it as a tightrope and walk on that sucker! Well, after about three clicks, it became totally apparent that Dylan was going to be a super star...she had so many great shots, it was almost embarrassing. Every single thing she did was right. Fascinating. What a great day. By the way, if you know Dylan and would like to have pictures taken similar to these, ask her for a discount card!

Skyla

Ooh, I LOVE little babies! Darling Skyla was only 4 months old...her mom and she had little matching robes that they wanted to wear for the session, and Skyla was growing out of hers! So cute!! It makes me want to have another baby...well, maybe I'm not quite going to go THAT extreme! It definitely made me want to photograph more babies, so I'm going to have a Baby Crazy sale!

Bring your baby in for a FREE sitting from March 15 until April 15 ($225 value!) and receive a FREE 8x10. What can be better than FREE!!

Heather and Brian

Weddings are so important and personal to me that I simply won't take a wedding unless I fall in love with my bride and groom. I mean, what you shoot will be with them for the rest of your life, right, so I make sure that I'm entirely present for the wedding and that I take each and every wedding and make them VERY personal. The very minute that Heather and Brian walked in, I just knew that they were each other's soul mates and they'll be together for ever and that we're going to be friends forever...Oh, I can just wax poetic over these guys for hours! They giggled together, they stopped their entire shoot to watch the "Pink" Grammy performance simply because I mentioned that I was mesmerized by it. They are just so comfortable together that it is a joy to see. Their wedding will be at a very intimate establishment in Carefree in April, with a wild and crazy rockin' crowd. I'm really excited to be a part of it! By the way, if you know these guys and want to see more pictures, I'd be willing to bet that they'd show you some...they all came out great, of course!