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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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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A Wii-bit of an addiction.

I love the fact that we have a Wii – it’s fun for helping get fit, entertainment, and especially family time. Unfortunately, my youngest has become slightly addicted to the console (and pretty much any other electronic game out there). There have been days that she has thrown temper tantrums over not being able to play “her Wii”, and the first punishment that comes to mind in any disciplinary situation with her generally leads to Wii restriction. We even went as far as moving the Wii from the “Wii room” to our bedroom. She has been doing better lately though – probably because Luke and I often work to divert her attention to other activities. However, some evenings it’s even downright cute to see her play the games. Here are the two girls chillin’ on my bed (you can see Tariah stretched across the pillows in the background):

I’m really working on spending some time with my new toy (the 50mm 1.2), so low-light situations like the ones above are awesome for pulling it out. I have more shots coming from all my practice this week, and I have to say that this lens is a completely different animal than any I have ever worked with. I look forward to mastering it!

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Happy Holidays everyone!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and that you all have a very safe new year. Now that things have begun to slow down a bit, I am hoping to get a chance to post some of the work that kept me so busy in the weeks before Christmas. In addition to all the family sessions, I was fortunate to have another chance to shoot a wedding with the lovely Calvina. I am SUPER excited to post shots from that session!

I very rarely post about my personal life on this blog, but I feel very close to many of my clients, and I would like to share some happy news. On the Friday before Christmas, my sweet (gorgeous, generous, thoughtful, talented, AMAZING) boyfriend Luke proposed to me.

OF COURSE I SAID YES!

I am so proud of him because he paid attention to the ideas I had for my *perfect* ring, took the time to do the research, and came up with this beautiful creation:

Luke designed my ring himself with lots of help from Michael at Dan T’s Custom Jewelers in Woodland, Ca. If you are planning to have any jewelry designed, I definitely recommend checking them out! My ring turned out to be PERFECT. I love it.

So, as a newly engaged photographer, I always get the question, “So who’s going to be YOUR photographer?” I have even had a couple people ask, “Are you going to set the camera up on a tripod and do it yourself?” Of course, I have had someone in mind for wedding photography for quite some time, and I am working on booking the HIGHLY talented Susan Yee for our November-ish wedding.

I’m so excited! Let the planning begin!

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Yippee!

I am always excited when I am able to obtain awesome tools and equipment that help my business, but my latest acquisition has almost put me over the edge with giddiness. I have been looking into purchasing some new actions for the past year – they are TOTALLY RAD, and now they are mine!

New actions are like candy for the photographer in me. Here are a few samples from Shayna and Mike’s engagement session:

Yeah, I am TOTALLY diggin’ the Super Old Skool action.

Can you guess where we are?

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This is what I love about my life.

This week, my daughter turned six. She had a wonderful birthday, and it reminded me about the difference between her childhood and mine. Although I feel that I was very happy growing up, Tariah’s father and I have definitely been able to provide more for her (and little sister Thayana) than our parents were able to for us. I am certainly thankful for that fact.

Welcome to being six, baby girl. I hope every year is better than the last.

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