Eliza and Bill’s Wedding – April 10, 2010

It was SO NICE for my first wedding of the season to be as Calvina’s second shooter. I felt like I was able to ease into my wedding season this way, using the day as a chance to practice capturing candid shots. Grabbing those unposed, unscripted moments hasen’t been my forte in the past, but I feel that I did well. I’m getting better at anticipating those moments and watching for them to happen. I am also working on shooting different angles, so if you have any feedback about how I did, give it to me! And thanks for an awesome day, Calvina!

I do receive a lot of inquiries (especially from prospective clients) about the pictures I choose for my blog posts. Just to clear things up for everyone – all of the shots are based on what I find most pleasing to the eye. Anything that is an interesting, eye-catching composition showing emotion or helping tell the day’s story… It’s likely going to make it on the blog. Any portraits I post are ones that I am proud to put my name on, and are the ones I consider the best out of the group. With wedding portraits, however, it is SUCH a hard choice to make. I literally take thousands of pictures on the wedding day, and only a few can make it onto the blog. I try to put a nice variety and some shots from the most important parts of the day, but not everything can be covered in a post. So if you have inquiries about what the other shots look like… Ask me! If you are interested in wedding photography, we could always sit down for a consultation and take a look at a full wedding.

The official snack of bridesmaids.

Eliza’s dress was so much fun!

And this is why this couple rocks:

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Clarissa and Shelbie – friends session

So my title is only partially true. Yes, Clarissa and Shelbie have been friends for a looooong time. But the other reason for the session is because they intend to enter some of their pictures into a local modeling contest. Good luck to them! And hey – if they don’t win, they still have some awesome pictures together, right?

Seriously, though – the colorful alleys PLUS the playful personalities PLUS the beautiful smiles all added up to me being one very happy photographer. At one point, was pleasantly surprised to enter an alley and find this colorful Jones Soda machine sitting there waiting for us:

And we kept finding more and more…

Doesn’t Shelbie have a beautiful smile?

Of course, we had to grab a shot of the girls’ fabulous shoes:

These two are WAY too good at keeping each other entertained!

I won’t even go into what was going on in this picture…

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A small teaser…

Just had to post a picture from one of my recent sessions – I had a blast with a couple of awesome girls one evening this week. Can I tell you how happy colorful alleys make me? I can’t wait to post more!

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Update on my shooting schedule

As many of you have probably noticed by the traffic on my blog lately, things are beginning to get very busy for me. I anticipated this wedding season being a killer, but today I just received a phone call that my youngest sister will be getting married next month. And since this brings me to four weddings in May along with several other small sessions, I am hoping to preserve my sanity by locking my calendar for that month.

I will continue to book sessions through April, the first half of June, last half of July, and well into August. If you have an inquiry about a certain date this summer, please don’t hesitate to contact me right away. Because I have such a busy wedding season and I am taking time off for personal reasons in June and July, I will likely be booking up any available dates very quickly.

Thanks for your patience and for your loyalty in keeping up with my blog! My readers rock!

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Elise’s Newborn Session

A couple of months ago, I had the pleasure of spending an afternoon with Karen and Nick for a maternity session. Remember their family? Even Bear was impatiently awaiting Elise’s arrival!

Since their session, I have been SUPER excited for Elise to be born. And just look at her! A full head of dark hair and perfect little features… I’m so lucky! And so are the new parents. Congratulations Karen and Nick!

That’s got to be one of the cutest noses I have ever seen!

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Kati and Chad – engagement session

In a time where nothing seems permanent, it’s comforting to see couples defeat the odds and conquer “forever”. It gives us hope, makes us believe that even with the divorce rate in this country, finding your perfect mate is possible. This is what comes to mind when I think of a couple who recently booked their wedding with me for May. Upon meeting with Kati and Chad for the first time, I was amazed to learn that the two had been friends – and more – since second grade. These days, it’s rare to hear of people even keeping in touch with the friends they went to elementary school with. But Kati and Chad have had a special bond from the moment they met, and they intend to spend the rest of their lives together.

Kati recounted to me that she had thought Chad was “the cutest boy [her] eight-year-old eyes had ever seen” and the two became friends quickly. After years of having classes together throughout elementary school and junior high, they finally became a couple in the fall of 1996. Here is a little snippet of their story, from Kati’s point of view (since I could never say it better than she could!):

“…I had already been head over heels in love with him all these years, you can imagine my excitement knowing he actually liked me. Chad Ensey liked ME! WOW! He would walk 2 miles out of his way every day to walk me to and from school.

We became inseparable. and by the time high school got there we were in L.O.V.E. Most would describe it as puppy love and tell us it wouldn’t last. We knew what we felt and knew it seemed different than most our age. Our parents we very supportive (as long as school and home responsibilities are taken care of first, they would say). There was the occasional ‘you’re grounded from Chad’ to whip me right into shape if I was slacking. Our friends have always been super supportive also. Most we have known since we met in second grade.

Throughout High School we did everything together, we went to our first dances, got our first jobs, our first cars, [went] on first dates (without parents dropping and picking up), [went] out of town with our friends… We have spent the last year officially planning something I have been planning (with him in my mind) since I was 8 years old… On that very first day that I met the cutest boy I still have ever seen.”

Since Kati and Chad met in elementary school, they decided they would like to capture their engagement session on the school grounds and in some of the other areas they hung out at when they were younger. Here are a few shots from our session.

Kati, thanks so much for sharing with me and my readers. The two of you have a magical bond, and I feel honored to be a part of your special day.

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Kim and Russell, April 6, 2010

I am hoping that this post will be the kickoff of a huge blogging spree. I apologize to my clients who have been waiting so patiently – I am currently behind on an engagement session, a newborn session, and I have another wedding to post. I promise that these sessions will be up in the next couple of days.

I had the pleasure of traveling to Maui this past week for an amazing vacation and a beautiful wedding. My best friend Melissa and I traveled to the islands to see a gorgeous couple begin their lives together in a fun ceremony on the beach, and I told the bride that I would snap a few shots for her while we were there. Fortunately for her, I got carried away. It was good practice before the official beginning of wedding season, and there was so much to see!

Kim was such a radiant bride!

And after such a long day, here is my family – they were pooped.

Kim and Russell, your wedding was beautiful! Thank you for the warm invitation to join you in Maui on your special day.

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