Practice Makes Perfect!

Yesterday was a long and fabulous day! I had realized a few days ago that I desperately needed some practice in composing, posing, and exposure for portraits so I emailed my realtor, as I knew she had kids. Luckily they were up for a photoshoot, but I have to tell you I was not prepared for what I walked into! There were four people including a brother and sister, the sister's friend and the sister's boyfriend. That's three different relationships that I would be photographing before we ran out of light. I had to think quickly! I think I handled it pretty well, and here are my absolute favorites!

The one on the left is Mackenzie, my realtor's daughter. Her friend's name is Maddie and she had me laughing the entire time! Definitely a fun bunch.
They live in the middle of a cherry orchard with a wonderful old barn right outside. If you know me at all you know I love old barns and will stop (or at least want to stop) to take a picture of any that I see. This one was so broken that the sunlight would peek all the way through the barn to the other side and once I saw it I could totally imagine the picture I wanted to take! I actually took several and I ended up loving them all. Here's a really cute one :-)
Annnnnnd because I love music and am obsessed with cover art, I think this would ROCK as an album cover. These girls need to form a band QUICK.
This next one took a little bit of work. The window was a little difficult to get to and it was too high for even Maddie who is pretty tall. So we found a block and they did what they could. I absolutely love this shot, what do you think?? Well worth it girls!
Our next subject is Abel, Mackenzie's boyfriend. He was not too keen on having to wait for the girls to take their pictures, especially when he had to wait in a shirt and tie, but I got some great shots of these two together. The tie turned out to be especially fun :-)
As awkward as it was to pose, I LOVE this shot.

And last but not least! This is Mackenzie's younger brother Logan. These two remind me so much of me and my younger brother - lots of laughs!
I just had to do this one, I find it funny and so true at the same time.
Mackenzie and Maddie's one request was a picture of them just sort of wrapped into a hug so I grabbed the camera and just started shooting! This was as we were walking back to the house (can you believe all these pictures were taken less than 100 feet from their front door???) so it was completely impromptu but I think it's a great shot. These ladies are just finishing up their Sophomore year and I know they have a lot of fun waiting for them in the next few years. You girls were great and I can't wait to see you again!!

Laura - Bridal Shower

Laura has been one of my best friends since the 4th grade - Mrs. McKay's class. We were two of the few kids in class who got along with this particular teacher and somehow that bonded us. We both played the flute starting this year in Mr. Catrell's music class and that became a common factor in our lives for several years. I am so excited that she has met the man of her dreams and I can't wait to attend her wedding in two weeks! Here are some of the favorites from her shower, which my mom helped host.

The back porch (which I LOVE!) where we spent most of the day:

This is Mrs. Campion. She taught at Dublin High School (sex ed, HA!) and is great friends with Laura's mom. The shower was held at her house, as she was one of the hosts as well.
My mom made these favors for the shower, aren't they awesome? Seasoned almonds. We came home with lots and I imagine they won't last long.
The one laughing with the gift is Laura's future mother-in-law. She is SUPER nice and I really loved spending time with her, she is sweet and really easy to talk to. This picture occured during a game where Laura started with a gift, then Mrs. Campion said a poem that instructed us who the present should be passed to. It was in Laura's mom's hands for a few rounds then at the last second got passed to Laura's MIL. I love both mom's faces!
If you have never eaten at Nothing Bundt Cakes, you are missing out! They ordered the lemon cake (DELISH! must have it again!) and the Red Velvet cake (I didn't have it, but I hear it was delicious as well!).
Laura was super sweet about bought all three hosts beautiful pitchers with lemonade mix. I almost stole my mom's...
The group as Laura was about to open her gifts! The game here was to fill out a blank BINGO card with what you thought she would get in her gifts. I got the first BINGO!! Go me!
Laura and her Maid of Honor, Sandy. Sandy actually caught the bouquet at my wedding! She's really really nice, I wish I got to hang out with her more often.
These were the gifts that I got to chose from for my BINGO win!
Laura's future grandmother-in-law (is that a thing?) came to the shower, she was really sweet and I wanted to make sure to get a picture of them together.
Towards the end of the day Sandy was making Laura's bouquet with all the ribbons from her gifts (which i forgot about and didn't put a huge yellow ribbon on her gift - sorry Laura!). Laura held the bouquet while Sandy tied the bottom. It turned out great!
One of the ladies said that one of her favorite things was having pictures of the mother and bride from the shower, so the ladies agreed. This one was my favorite!
I have another photoshoot with some high schoolers this evening so I should have more pictures by tomorrow! I also have another shoot tomorrow. Lots of practice this weekend!

Friday Five

Thanks to Donna Boucher and her Quiet Life:

What kind of out-of-school lessons did you take as a kid?
What valuable lesson did you learn this past week?
Who in your life really needs to be taught a lesson?
What kinds of lessons would you love to have a private teacher for right now?
What steps have you taken to lessen the impact of these rough economic times?

My answers:
1. I did lots of lessons as a kid, my favorite were probably my art lessons. Funny enough they weren't for photography!
2. This past week I learned that I won't be good at everything, and sometimes it doesn't matter how much I try.
3. The only thing I can think of is that a certain someone needs to learn when to let go.
4. I would love to have a private teacher for photography - mostly with posing. On the other hand I don't, because although I want to work with people, I don't really want direct lessons on how to do something because then I feel like I'm copying.
5. Matt and I have done a great job at trying to save money. We still enjoy our luxuries but we don't go crazy like we used to. We're actually in a good financial place right now, full of Michaels Pizza and new computers :-) We forget how really lucky we are...

Everyone have a fabulous Friday and if you work at Pacific have fun with your half day! Then it's a 3 day weekend, I'm so excited!

So You Think You Can Dance?!

Ok, who else is addicted?! I have to move past Adam's loss last night on American Idol, SYTYCD is on finally back! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Tamara

This is one of my greatest friends, Tamara. We met like two years ago at good ol' UOP and somehow I think we've gotten to know each other better after she left than when we actually worked together! She's a great friend, my Idol date every week, and yesterday (for the final performance night to vote for our American Idol - ADAM!!!!) she came up to take a few pictures, eat some pizza and scream every time Adam came onto the TV screen. I love you girl! We must do this again!


I think she looks like such a starlett in this next one:
Girl you have no idea how beautiful you are!
We had a lot of fun, if you couldn't tell. We only actually took pictures for about 20 minutes in two locations but it was a blast and I can't wait to get more practice!
A beautiful headshot!

I love you girl! You rock!

To all the mothers out there!

So, for Mother's Day I decided to order my mom some flowers and send them to her work. I searched for flowers online and found this beautiful bouquets of white and pale pink lillies which I thought would be perfect because the flowers will get super big and impressive. What's funny is my mom texted me when the guy delivered the flowers, and it turns out they sent two of the same bouquets (in different vases, which I still think it's weird) with the same tracking number! Long story short, mom ended up with two bouquets :-) While at her house today (we took her out for an early lunch at McCovey's) I whipped out my new Nikon and took a few shots. I'm quite proud of these three in particular:

Payton Turns 4!

It's hard to believe this little man turned 4 this week! He has a special birthday too, 05.05.2005 cool huh? He is the oldest of Matt's newphews and it was fun hanging out with that side of the family today. Here are some of my favorites:

I don't know why I couldn't resist getting pictures of the grill - isn't it huge?! Yummmmmmy food.

All the boys cooking. All the way to the left is Matt's uncle Adolph, then his step brother Robert, then Matt's grandpa Louis Sr. and then the handsome Matt :-)
I can't tell you how much I love my wide angle lens!!! I was practically on top of this scene and look how much I got in the shot!
I honestly can't tell you the names of most of the kids who attended the party, but they were all completely adorable!
I wish I had been in on whatever this joke was. The kid who had just come from a ball game was apparently the hit of the party.
Ok, this is probably my favorite photo from the entire day. This is Hayden, Payton's younger brother. He was in the jumphouse watching the older boys bounce all over the place and I took a chance at getting a picture of him through the netting in the "window" of the house. I absolutely love it!
Hayden, birthday boy Payton, and Matt's stepdad Louie right before they cut the cake. Can you see the look on Hayden's face?!
Very last shot taken of the day, the dear Hayden. This little boy is so adorable, I can't get enough of him. After the pinata was broken open, his mom gave him two pieces of candy and asked if he wanted to give it to me. He ran over, bowed his head, grabbed my hand and put the candy in it. Then ran away. LOVE LOVE this boy.
Mother's Day is tomorrow and I hope to have some pictures from that too. Be sure to call your mom!

Inspiring

Talk about a dream job, this guy (Pete Souza) has been President Obama's official photographer and has made an amazing slideshow of his first 100 days in office. He posts pictures daily to show us the life of the President. I only found it yesterday, but I can't look away. These photos are just way too powerful.

Convert

I have converted. It arrives on Friday!

Ok ok, I haven't actually converted. Although I did buy a Mac computer I will still rely on my PC for many things. I'm just excited to have a computer dedicated to all my photos and photoshop :-) YAY!

It completely overwhelms me that this whole thing is moving forward. I go back and forth between being super excited to do what I love everyday to being very worried that I'll fall flat on my face. We'll have to see which way it goes!

Bored

It's raining outside, so I haven't really been able to get out and play with my camera again. After doing a few errands this morning I realized I hadn't posted in a while but I didn't have much to report on. New blog and website are still coming soon, and I'm going to be getting a new computer (switching to Mac, lots of changes for me!) soon, but until then I just got a survey to share some things with you. A photographer that I like posts a "Friday Five" so I grabbed some of the "set of 5" questions from her blog and walaah! Instant survey.

List your 5 favorite words:
1. Awesome
2. Photo
3. Cheese
4. Chocolate
5. Vacation!

1. What's something you know how to draw? A goofy face that Laura and I learned when we were little kids
2. Who can you impersonate? Absolutely no one, I'm bad like that
3. Where's the stapler? It's on the desk in the office upstairs
4. Why will this be a great weekend? The weekend is almost over, but I got to spend almost all day with Natalie yesterday just talking girl talk - YAY!
5. What is your favorite really messy food? Matt's burgers are pretty messy and soooo good. The enchiladas that Glen made before he left were also fabulous, I've wanted more of those ever since.

1. Did you fight over special food when you were children? Probably, but I don't remember.
2. Do your children fight over something now? Don't have any, but Charlie will fight over anything
3. Did you sit in the front seat with your parents? Once I was old enough...
4. Did your parents drive a Ford or a Chevy? Ford, but now they both drive Acuras
5. What age can children sit in the front seat now? I have no idea...

1. What kinds of blogs do you read? Mostly photography blogs, but I have a few personal ones from friends, and then a few on creativity/design
2. What products do you usually buy when you shop online? Usually clothes, but I also buy stamps
3. What kinds of online videos do you watch? Usually music videos/dancing
4. Where do you like to go for streaming online music? Uhhhhhhh don't really do that. iTunes and my cds are pretty much it

1. Have you ever worn hand-me-downs? Where did you get them? Of course! Mrs. Martinez's daughter used to give me all her skorts, I LOVED them!
2. Have you ever given hand-me-downs? Who did you give them to? I give away my gently used stuff to the Salvation army, but I usually wear my clothes until they basically fall apart or have huge stains.
3. How do you feel about hand-me-downs in general? I think it's a great way to share and recycle, most hand-me-downs were hardly ever used and someone can definitely get use out of them
4. Do you ever visit yard/garage sales? I do, but not often. I'm a bargain shopper but I'm picky
5. If given $25,000 to redecorate your home, do you buy new or antique furniture? Why? I'd get new furniture at this point only because I've only ever had hand-me-downs/used items. But I love antiques too!

1. Name one thing you do everyday (besides basic hygiene). Read all my blogs and attempt to respond to all emails
2. Name two things you wish you could learn. I've always wanted to learn sign language. Laura and I tried to teach ourselves and we got decent, but I want to actually be fluent. I still want to learn how to play the guitar too. I've tried a few times and figured I just wasn't good at it so I stopped.
3. Name three things that remind you of your childhood. Grilled cheese, pizza, and nerf footballs
4. Name four things that you love to eat but rarely do. Pistacios, rice, McDonalds fries, Girl Scout Cookies
5. Name five things that make you feel good. Photography, Matt, Charlie, warm blankets, massages

1. What are you looking for? The remote
2. What are you waiting for? For Matt to get off the phone
3. What is someone else waiting on from you? The recruit evals on my desk at work
4. You know you have a long wait at the doctor in front of you, what do you bring? A magazine
5. Where can you always expect to stand in a ridiculously long line? Other than the DMV, the movie theatre

1. Do you feel like you're a lucky person? Yes, but I work hard also
2. Have you ever won a contest, sweepstakes or raffle? Yes
3. In your opinion, what constitutes a good prize? Something that had a lot of thought put into it
4. What is the best thing you have ever won? The DVD player from 103.3
5. How often do you enter your name in contests, sweepstakes or raffles? Sometimes, but not often

1. What situations make you the most bored? Waiting when I have nothing to entertain me
2. What do you to do alleviate boredom? Create my own puzzle or start a to-do list
3. On long car trips, what do you do to keep things fun? listen to my iPod, talk to Matt
4. On airplanes, what do you bring in your carry-on to keep yourself entertained? iPod and a book that I know I'll have a hard time putting down
5. Are you the sort of person who complains when you're bored? Yes, I know that sucks but I do.