Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Engagement Pictures of Tara and Barry










My next entry in the "I love my job category" comes in the form of engaged couple Tara and Barry, the nicest people you could ever hope to meet, who both could be supermodels if they ever wanted to leave their fabulously successful lives to hang with the paparazzi. I have shot Tara's beautiful parents and beautiful daughter, so I already have a lot of love for their family, and I had a sneaking suspicion that the amazing bone structure of the family would be present in Tara, but Holy Apple Pie, look at this girl! Drop dead gorgeous and she even bought me lunch!

We shot this past Sunday, also known as day of the raging windstorm, and I was so afraid that we would have to cancel the shoot, since I'd sent in my lights for their annual tune up, but thank goodness for photog friends...Dana Kiely brought me her set and we were ready to roll. Tara and Barry were on the way to a wedding reception, so they looked fabulous already, but we had a little bit of a time restraint, and Tara had mentioned that Barry, like every man on the planet, might not be super into pictures, ( not to mention any names, but ahem, Buzz!), but Barry came in calm and cool and ready to take on the engagement picture world!

What's kind of interesting is that I kept seeing them in these kind of dramatic poses in black and white, and when I feel something I just have to shoot it that way, so that I can move forward, so I shot some straight, but then went with my gut and shot more dramatically, and...YAY!! They loved the dramatic ones! Woo Hoo!

Now, as you know, most men, after seeing photos once through, usually get very antsy and go out in the living room with my sweet little hubby and watch sports with him, but I am here to say that Barry got my vote for Greatest Guy when he not only stayed and was interested the whole time, but when they were ready to pick their engagement pictures, which traditionally are, um, more on the traditional side, Barry picked a very non-traditional one, (which happened to be my favorite!) I love it when I click this way with my couples because it means that we're right for each other...when I feel something from them, and they love it, and when I pick out one in my head and they pick it too, it just means that they picked the right photographer for them to capture memories that they will treasure for the rest of their lives. By the way, the next time you're fortunate enough to be kicking back in the dentist's chair watching Friends reruns on the television in the ceiling while getting your root canal instead of having to be mentally present for that fun event, thank Barry. He invented the technology for the ceiling tv!,

Oh, which one did they pick for their official engagement picture, you ask? Well, you won't hear it from me...they're keeping their plans under lock and key...you'll just have to hope that you get invited to what is sure to be an event filled with a lot of love, laughter and joy. Just like Barry and Tara.

Monday, May 24, 2010

The Triplets!




Ok, so what's not to love about shooting babies, right? Their sweet little rolly polly selves far outway the drool, the spitup, the incessant crying, and, of course the poop in rainbow colors that gets on all of our nice white backgrounds. I shot two sets of quadruplets for years, and they were wild children, cute, but wild, like tear my studio apart in 5 minutes kind of wild, so to say I was feeling a little trepidacious about shooting little six month triplets in the nether world of Gilbert was an understatement, but there I went. My sweet little hubby even packed me snacks for the trip, so long and far away is Gilbert.

But when I got there, I just fell head over heels in love with Makayla, Hanna, and especially little Shayne, pictured above with veterinarian dad Jamie. Aside from being an absolutely lovely person, Mom Staci is probably the most calm mom I've ever seen. Those kids felt so loved and cared for and cooed over, there wasn't even a possibility of a tantrum! While I was setting up, the babies were hanging out on this big overstuffed chair by the window, just smiling away at mom and dad. They just hung out and were soooo adorable and sweet and cuddly and cute. My youngest, T.T. is graduating from kindergarten this week, and being at the Schmidt's house made me want to have more babies!! Well, maybe not. Well, maybe...hmmm. I'll keep you posted on that one. I'd only be 107 by the time they reached high school.

Friday, May 7, 2010

Phoenix Wedding-Heather and Brian































Heather and Brian's April 24th wedding was everything a wedding should be; fun, crazy, chaotic, and filled with so much raw, unbridled love and emotion from everyone involved that you can just tell that these guys are going to be still laughing and holding hands when they're 80, with all of their friends and family around to witness the love and laughter. The wedding and reception were held outdoors at the eclectic Carefree Station Restaurant, on the tree filled patio, surrounded by thousands of wildly blossoming plants . The light bounced all around after the ceremony, heightening every moment into . It was one of those weddings that I felt grateful to be a part of...I just fell in love with my couple. The little moments that make each wedding totally special and different abounded. They wrote each other notes the morning of their wedding, and when I delivered Brian's note to Heather at the Carefree Salon, where she was getting her hair and makeup done, she cried. Their children, Spencer, Cody, Bree and Macy stood up for them, and that morning, Macy told her mom how thrilled she was that Brian was finally going to be her real dad. When they had their sisters sign their marriage certificate, they told them that they had decided on them as the witnesses, then walked out and got the mail and theirs were the first two RSVPS. The day was just perfect, just like Heather and Brian.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

My Shot on the Cover of Deva Lifewear Catalogue


My shot of local models and my friends, Alex and Mary Spence for the "Bolinas Chic" hemp clothing catalogue Deva Lifewear is going to be on the Cover! See it big here: http://www.devalifewear.com. We were out in the desert shooting with absolutely nothing around us, when these kind souls from Anthem Pets came by walking all of these dogs...it was serendipity!! They had to be in the shot!! They provided a very fun vibe for the whole rest of the shoot, but I knew in my heart that this was going to be the one!

Erica

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Erica and I had a real adventure while I was shooting her pictures! We started out at the Monte Lucia resort, where a wedding was going on ...giant wedding, small property, lots of security= yeah, you guessed it, we got tossed! Plus, my assistant for a day, Gina, who had broken her leg at the roller skating rink had to do a lot of walking on her walking cast...owie!! Well, luckily for us, Toni, Erica's mom, knew the area...we were back up and running at the Camelback Marriott within minutes...I love the Marriott. I really do. They're so cool there, the grounds are so beautiful, and they make a great steak. Anyway, Erica was so cool and totally laughed about the whole thing, so there was no recover period...she just went for it!! we relaxed over there and had a great time and took some great shots of a Very beautiful girl.