I got to see my friends The Roth's again recently for some recent images of the kids, who are growing so fast! We all joke that Henry (the oldest) is actually Jordan's future husband as he is just 9 months older and so funny and outgoing. Little Leo came a year and a half or so later and is soooo sweet and docile and loving. They are such cute brothers - and we love their parents! After getting a few images of the family and boys on dry land, Heather, Henry and Leo all jumped in the pool!
I've had to opportunity to meet several new families lately and the Murray's were one of them. They had a big group with lots of kids and wanted to do at least one formal portrait of the entire clan for their Mom. Of course I had to snap some shots of the beautiful children too! I loved the colors they choose and how they mixed it up a bit. Thank you Murray family for a fun shoot :)
All the cousins - Sabrina, Isaiah, Isabella, Mia and Gianna
Brother and sister Isabella and Isaiah
Sisters Mia and Gianna
Beautiful Auvy, who hired me and whose home we shot at, with her kiddos
I got to meet sweet little Brody and his Mom & Dad recently. He gave me a few mushy smiles after some coaxing and we moved around a bit in their beautiful home up in DC Ranch to get some different shots and capture his beautiful baby blues.
Eyes that go from blue to green and back again - they have both shades in there to the point I had to put the camera down, come very close and just look into her gorgeous eyes. Are those green or blue I asked? I saw both colors, and the camera picked up both as well. Unreal. Simply stunning.
Meet gorgeous 2 year old Ariel and her beautiful parents. Her Mom is Roshelle (Shauna's sister) who I spent my young years looking up to (being 4 years older was a big difference when I was 11!) and she is even more kind and loving on the inside than she is beautiful on the outside. Jon too. They are such a wonderful family and I was so thrilled they wanted to do some family photos when I was out in CA last month, because look at them!
For you photographers out there, despite what some might assume, I don't overly post-process my images. If I do apply actions to images after general Lightroom color correcting (and certainly not all have actions applied), the actions are always pulled back to somewhere between 15-40% depending on the image. (Actions work by way of adding layers in Photoshop and then adjusting the opacity of those layers.) I like a subtle pop, nothing overly dramatic or too overdone. But these are her real eyes!
If you follow my blog fairly consistently, you likely know these faces by now. These are my dear friends Shauna, Steve and baby Ella. I wanted to give them a thank you gift for allowing Jordan and I (and Chris for part of the time) to stay in their home during our week in Hermosa Beach last month, so we decided to head down to the beach one evening to take some family photos. Jordan and Chris tagged along and both had Ella laughing so hysterically in some parts that I told them both they were hired for all my shoots!
These were just taken when we were sitting outside one afternoon enjoying that fantastic California breeze. I can't wait to late October when we see our nice weather return here in AZ!
We tried to snap a few pictures of our family afterwards, but not having prepared my own toddler for that fact ahead of time, and given that she was a mess (and frankly, so was I), nothing came out too great of the 3 of us. Speaking of preparing toddlers for shoots, I'll be posting a few tips soon, since along with what to wear to portrait shoots, that is one of my biggest questions or concerns from parents.
Holiday Sessions are now booking for October and November.
We still have some select dates available (current and past clients received first word on available dates and have booked many already). They sold out quickly last year, so please reserve your date early. We will not be doing any shoots in December this year - November 30 is the last available date.
There is a $150 non-refundable retainer deposit required to hold your spot, which is applied toward the total session cost of $300. All sessions include 1 hour at the location of your choice.
(Recommended public locations include: Scottsdale Civic Center Park in Old Town, The Farm at South Mountain, Kryene Park or Freestone Park). Im sorry, but we won't be doing any "mini-sessions" this year.
***All new designs for 2008 Holiday Cards***
Click below to view the cards and pricing. All cards are customizable with text, lettering styles and in some cases the colors. You pick your favorite image(s), place your order and we design and ship to you within 10 days. All cards come with white matching envelopes.
The following slideshow will show you a "gallery" view at the end of the show, so that you click on the individual images again for longer viewing (such as the pricing page). The first set shows the new folded cards that we have worked with a design firm to create, followed by the pricing, and the second set shows the flat 5x7 style cards that we offered last year, as well as a couple new designs for this year. Click play on the image below to view.
You can also view the show in an alternative web browser by clicking here.
I mentioned I had four shoots out in California prior to the San Diego wedding and wanted to start posting some images. We have been unbelievably busy since returning back in town, so my blog posts have been a bit sparse, but my goal is to have that change for the next several weeks. There is just so much to share and get up, so I'll start with the Lammots!
You may remember this beautiful family from last year. The Lammot's are friends from here in AZ, but they make it out to California every summer, so we were able to hook up again this year for some time under the Manhattan Beach pier. I love photographing this family because they are so laid back and just want to go out there, have fun, get wet, play and have me there to capture it. It was so great to see little Taylor and Luke again too - they are growing like weeds at almost 4 and 2.
Adorable little Luke - sooooo mushy! Sweet Taylor giving her little brother a hug.
Chris used to do this with Jordan all the time too - I wish I had a shot of it!
Luke bailed out for this one, but the rest of the family looks great!
At two, he would much rather be playing in the sand than posing for pictures - understandably
But we did manage to get at least one of the four of them
The kids hated it when Dad kissed Mom! It was actually quite funny. Tears and screams started to ensure so we made sure not to do that again :)
Love this! Luke went to "kiss" Mommy and decided to take a bit out of her nose instead.
Thank you again Tom, Stacey, Taylor and Luke. You guys are the best and I can't wait to see you again next summer, if not before!
I've started receiving emails about holiday photography sessions this fall, and I wanted to let you know that I will be offering some special packages again this year. I should have the schedule up in the next couple weeks, along with the package info. Current and past clients will also receive an advance email with more details and a little something else. :) Stay tuned for more info soon! The majority of sessions will be available in October and November, in time for the holidays.
I forgot to add Baby Spencer to the recent post of kids-galore! I have been seeing him every few months for his Year in the Life Shoots and love seeing him grow. Here are a few from his 6 month batch!
Buckle your seat belts, this is going to be a long one! I've been behind on posting images to this blog from various portrait sessions, so I'm making up for lost time and putting all sorts of cute faces up that I have photographed over the past several weeks::
Lets start with Gracie. You may remember her back from last year. She is already 2 and oh so sweet!
And then there is adorable Jack. What else can I say? Happy, happy boy. It shows. I have to say, this is a much more difficult shot than it appears. When there are little people under the age of 3 in a photo, its very difficult to get even 2 people both smiling and looking great, but we got one here
And here is Chad...some sweet little shots in here that I love.
I met Lucas most recently. Another adorable little guy and cute family!
Oh my gosh, I love this face! Little Lucy Jane just keeps getting cuter.
I don't do hand coloring to my photos very often, but this one just called for it. Let's not forget about big brother Teddy... I think this might be one of my all time favs now. Oh, Daddy is in love.
Suzanne is a friend of mine and fellow photographer who shot with me a lot last year. She and her husband just had their little guy Ryan, so she asked if I would come snap some shots of them.
Every loving parent knows that this below is one the best feelings in the world. If I could have someone take photographs of me with my infant, this is one of the first shots I would want. It sums up the complete feeling of peace and pure love you feel when you sit alone with your new baby in their bedroom and they fall asleep on you.
And finally the Stuckey brothers. I first photographed Dash, the oldest, a few years back, and recently got to meet Thatcher as well. They have another sibling on the way, so hopefully I'll get to meet this one too in the future. Adorable boys!
*** Danielle gave me permission to post any image(s) I wanted from her shoot***
I don't do boudoir shoots often at all, but I did want to share at least one image from this session I had with Danielle several weeks ago. She is getting married next week in Laguna Beach, and while I'm not shooting her wedding, she did ask that I take some images of her in cute lingerie for her husband-to-be as a surprise. We put together a little book for her to give him, and I think he will be happy.
One note about these sessions: I shoot these in a sophisticated manner. I don't do full nudity for these, nor shoot them in the cliche manner that one might conjure up about boudoir shoots in general... the lady laying on the glossy corvette with the string of pearls in her mouth. I guess some people might find that attractive, but that just is not my personal style to shoot that way.
I also plan to keep this blog fairly PG-13 since I know some folks can be put off by images that show too much skin, so this image has been cropped a bit more and it's the only one I will show. I just wanted brides-to-be who are interested in these (since these sessions are becoming more and more popular) to know that I do these from time to time.
You may remember sweet little Ella from her 5-week old pictures, and here she is again, at 6 months! One of my bestest-friends Shauna came out and visited recently with little Ella, so of course I just had to take pictures of her adorable face! Ella is one of the most content, happy babies I've ever met. I think I heard her "kind-of" cry one time the whole weekend they were here. Blessed Mommy and Daddy!
Here is a series I love:
M-U-S-H-Y!!!!
So, Shauna and I met in the 4th grade in Redlands, CA. I was the new kid at school (Air Force brat) and showed up with the same backpack as Shauna, so I can't remember if we had that "Huh, you have the same backpack, we can't be friends" look or the "Hi, we must have other things in common too if we like the same backpack!" look. At any rate, we eventually became fast friends and were pretty much inseparable for the next two years while we lived there. Here are a few very scary images from that time:
I think these are from 4th grade, or maybe the summer before 5th. Check out that SWEET jacket I have on. I think it had shoulder pads too. And those sweatpants are a real beauty. Shauna and I had matching everything during this time. We even had/have the same mouth/teeth/general smile, which I think is the reason that for all these years and still today, whenever we are walking together, someone comments that we must be sisters because we look so much alike.
I can't believe I'm actually posting this image. We went through a big "Madonna" phase back then. We had florescent everything, including MATCHING SOCKS AND HEADBANDS and used to make up dances to Lucky Star and Borderline. Wearing the florescent of course. And sometimes with a white, fishnet top over the bright yellow tank tops. Ughhh. Mom, why in the world did you let me out of the house looking like this?!
We moved away after 5th grade - my dad was transferred to Ramstein, Germany, so we packed up and moved around the world, which of course was devastating at the time, but not too long after, my sister and I acclimated and loved living there as well. Shauna and I stayed in touch through middle school and high school, and visited as much as we could, and then sort of lost touch for a little while in college. But we found each other again when the internet became so big as a way of finding people in your past (and when everyone had AOL) and picked right back up where we left off, as if no time had escaped us.
Our lives kind of followed that same trajectory as so many friends lives too... we both met our future husbands around the same time, and I got married a few months after her. Now we have our kids together and it's just cool to be a part of someone's life that long - to share all the different chapters with.
This was about a year-and-a-half ago. Jordan took a cute shot of Shauna and I when she was just here, but for some reason that one image got corrupted on the point-and-shoot card! Rats.
So here is one of Shauna and Jordan a few weeks ago instead.
A few of you may have already seen some of these image on Kim Jarman's blog. Kim is a fellow wedding and portrait photographer here in Phoenix and we have become good friends over the years. I was very flattered that she asked me to shoot her pregnancy pictures, as it is always a bit daunting to do work for another photographer (and an awesome one at that). She was also pretty nervous because she kept telling me how much she hates being in front of the camera, but I think she worked it like a natural, and we all got our groove on pretty quickly. Jamie was a total pro as well, as you can see. These two are going to make extremely loving parents. Little Baby "K" (I'm not sure if Kim is publically sharing the name) is going to be one lucky little girl.
Initially we were going to go to Lake Saguaro, but it was that day several weeks ago when it was crazy hot, so we moved it last minute to The Farm at South Mountain, and I was so glad that we did. I was immediately in a backlighting frame of mind there.
I think they just discovered Kim is pregnant I told Jamie, you are supposed to KISS the baby, not BITE the baby :) They surprised me with this one. I thought they were being all sweet and loving talking face to face and then BAM! Love it.
At the very end, we played around with off camera flash and this was the very first shot, almost an accident with the settings, but it was my favorite.
I had so much fun with you guys! Thanks for putting your trust in me. Maybe someday I'll be calling on you to take some of me :)
...And now the follow up to Ava's post below: Rachel's belly shots.
I love this girl! And she has the cutest baby belly in the whole world. She delivered little Adeline like maybe 1 week after this shoot. Gosh, I felt like I was her size when I was something like 5 months pregnant 3+ years ago, so I was a tad envious of her super cute belly ;-) In all seriousness, Rachel is a wonderful Mom and has been such a joy to work with.
I mentioned below that she has been helping me with album designs the past several months and does a great job.
So we thought it might be cute to break out Kevin's firefighter gear and have some fun. Kevin holds the title of one of the cutest pregnant wives ever, because how many of us could pull this off?!
And now back the more sweet, tender side of pregnancy... especially when there is a big sister involved.
And my favorite...I fell in love with this door when I saw it about 2 weeks early and immediately envisioned this shot.
Thank you for the very fun shoot Janssen family. You guys are awesome!
I have had about ten portrait sessions over the past several weeks and wanted to start sharing them... I'll start with beautiful little Ava. You may remember that I followed her first year of life (in pictures) as she was one of my Year in the Life clients. She will be 2 this fall, and we met up again recently to take some new pictures. Mom Rachel was pregnant with Ava's little sister Adeline (who has since made her way into the world!), so she wanted to do some belly pictures with Ava (and hubby Kevin of course too). You may recognize Rachel; she helps me with some of my wedding albums, and is great! Her pregnancy photos are forthcoming, but I wanted to start with these we captured of Ava. I was pretty happy with how they turned out...
Ava's Dad is a fireman so they brought his gear for Rachel to use for some fun pregnancy shots, but then Rachel thought it would be cute to put Ava in his boots and they came out adorable! Next we moved to a pretty tutu, which Ava also loved posing in. Jordan does not know that she let Ava borrow this tutu and I am wondering why I have not done pictures of Jordan in this! It's not like I never take pictures of her ;) I love these! Pure sweetness.
Then we finished up with this adorable polka-dot dress and some family portraits
And here is a sneak peek of Rachel's belly pictures to come soon...
Olivia is the almost-6 year old daughter of our friends Christine and Eric Hoffmann. I first met the Hoffmann's through mutual friends about 5 years ago, when Olivia was a perfectly healthy one-year-old little girl. A few months after her 2nd birthday, she was diagnosed with a very rare and terminal illness called Metachromatic Leukodystrophy (MLD). In less than one years time, this disorder caused Olivia to go from a healthy, smiling, bright-eyed toddler to a little girl who could no longer control any movement, talk, eat, see, or even smile.
MLD is caused by a genetic defect that prevents cells from producing an enzyme the body needs in order to break down a fatty substance called sulfatide. Lacking this enzyme, sulfatide builds up in the brain and spinal cord, destroying the white matter, called myelin, which surrounds and protects the nerves. Without the myelin insulation, the nerves gradually quit working. This “demyelination” causes all of the problems of MLD, which include loss of mental, motor, and organ functions, and eventual death. Children like Olivia, with the late-infantile form of MLD (there are also juvenile and adult forms), may live 5 years, but so far the disease is always fatal. (Source: http://www.caringbridge.org/az/olivia/). The doctors told Christine and Eric Olivia would likely not live past 5, but still is still fighting at 6.
Olivia and her two brothers, twins Carter and William
As Olivia celebrates her 6th birthday this Saturday, and her family celebrates every moment they have with her, the Hoffmann's and the foundation set up her name, are gearing up for the Second Annual Olivia's Walk.
The walk will raise funds for the MLD Foundation, a non-profit 501(c)(3) charity serving MLD affected families and researchers throughout the world, and bring more awareness to this rare and fatal illness.
When and Where: Saturday, May 17th at Tempe Town Lake
Registration begins at 7:30 AM and the walk starts at 8:00 AM.
It is a perfect place to bring the whole family to get some exercise, help a good cause, and meet beautiful Olivia and her family.
For full details on the event, and more information about Olivia, please visit her website: www.oliviaswalk.org
You can click here to watch a tribute video to Olivia, with clips from last years walk.
I visited them recently and we were able to take a few pictures. There are not enough words in my vocabulary to express to you what a remarkable mother and woman Christine is. Her devotion to her family is unwavering and she has handled this incredibly tough hand they have been dealt with an inordinate amount of grace and strength. I respect and admire her more than words can express.
If you are able to attend this Saturday, please register first on Olivia's site. Your donation includes a t-shirt and helps to support this important and personal cause.
We are now offering beautiful canvas gallery wraps! Actually, I have been offering these for awhile, but lately I have had so much interest in them I wanted to post an example of what they look like. I love these!
The come either 3/4 inch deep or 1-1/2 inch deep on the wrap (as pictured) The canvas is spray protected, durable and comes already assembled with the wall hanging kit (if you opt for that).
Where to hang them or need some ideas?
Go big! These gallery wraps work really well as stand alone large prints for your wall and also work well in a series. Think 3 in a row (horizontal or vertical), or if you have a large open wall, you can fill the space with 9 smaller wraps (8x8 or 10x10 in size), stacked 3 over 3 over 3. Sizes are available from 8x8 (or 8x10) to 30x30, or even larger if you need a custom size for your specific space. If you want something 40 or 50 feet tall, it is doable.
Since we live in such a digital, e-mail world now, I hear more and more people saying all their images are on their computer. Get your great images on your walls! The beauty of a wonderful, timeless image is that even if your kids grow, that image need not ever come down or out of the frame.
Here are a few other ideas I've stumbled across over the years for placing art, be it gallery wraps, large framed prints, or smaller images:
4 canvas wraps, grouped together - photo from Pottery Barn
Love this room! I really, really enjoy walking through model homes, not only for the dream factor of what I want someday, but to get good ideas from professional designers on everything from colors, fabrics, flooring, art work, furniture and ideas on hanging artwork. (This has been my goal for our bedroom, but I'm not quite there.)
Love this too. In the right space, this could also work with panoramic pictures or gallery wraps. Or turn them the other way, and you have three long verticals - perfect also for canvas wraps.
Okay, this one is really more for the sunburst - I LOVE THIS! Does anyone know where I can find a piece like this? But also, small pictures above the toilet in the bathroom. Not a bad way to liven up the space :)
And last idea for the day, I know this isn't a print, but it's such a great size for right over your kids' bed(s). Children love looking at pictures of themselves, so why not put a big 20x20 or 30x30 canvas wrap above their bed. Another advantage is that its so light weight that if for some odd reason it fell down (or got pulled down), it wouldn't do much damage to their noggin!
Summer is almost here (at least in Arizona, where it's already 95 degrees)! That means it's time to head back to the beach and cool down a little.
I will be in Manhattan/Hermosa Beach, California August 10-17 and am now scheduling a few beach (or off-the-beach) portrait sessions for that week. If you are interested, please send me an email and we'll get a session scheduled. Click here if you would like to view a slideshow from a family session last summer.
I will also be in San Diego the weekend of August 22-24 for a wedding and possibly available for a session or two down there on Aug. 25 or 26. If interested in a slot for those dates, just let me know and we can schedule! Here is another slideshow in case you like beach photos :)
On a related note, I will also be in beautiful Santa Barbara the week of August 18th for a super exciting retreat with my sister... more details coming very soon! We have something pretty unique planned for people seeking balance (literally and figuratively), creative expression, and goal realization. I won't be doing any family sessions there, but I will share a good deal more about this in the weeks to come...
I have been receiving a lot of emails from aspiring photographers in the recent months and have decided to start offering one-on-one training and/or small, group workshops depending on the number of people interested.
Aspiring Wedding or Portrait Photographers: One on one training will include hands on experience with your camera, detailed Q&A sessions, the fundamentals of f-stop, composition, lighting and posing techniques. One on one training will also provide the opportunity to attend a portrait session or wedding with me, as well as tailored discussions on your branding, marketing and pricing strategies. It is highly recommended you have a digital SLR for this training.
Parents Looking to Take Better Pictures of Their Kids: I also receive a lot of questions from Moms & Dads who are looking to take better pictures of their children. Many have already purchased a digital SLR camera and want to learn how to use it more effectively and get those great shots where you turn off the flash, get more of the background blur, and how to use light effectively. These workshops are open to parents or hobbyists looking to take their photography to the next level. Digital SLR cameras recommended, but point and shoots okay as well.
If you are interested in either one-on-one training or a group workshop, please contact me for more info.
I got to meet up with the Sehnal family again recently to photograph Tyler as he turns 1. He was walking all about and exploring and is as just as cute (or cuter) than the last time I saw him!
You may remember several weeks ago I hosted a contest for those who had terrible wedding photos when they were married. Cristi and Curt won the contest (here is their story and original pictures) and this past Sunday, we met up to take some new, fun pictures of them! This August will be their 5th wedding anniversary and no doubt their love has continued to grow over that time, which I think we were able to capture a little. While we certainly couldn't recreate many of the moments from their wedding, we did have a blast spending a couple hours getting these pictures. I cannot say enough about Cristi and Curt. They are such a genuine, caring, nice couple and I honestly had a great time hanging out with them. Cristi is that rare mix of being a stunning beauty, coupled with an absolutely adorable personality and sweet soul -- and a total pro in front of the camera! And Curtis is just an absolute class act and quite the pro too :) I'm getting all mushy here, but I just loved these two!
I have almost 100 favorites from our session! But since I cant post all of those, here are a bunch that I love with the slideshow to follow very soon. Thank you for sharing so much of yourselves with me guys and I hope you enjoy these :-)
Thank you again you two! You both are amazing people.
I photographed adorable little Baby Alexandra a couple weeks ago...she is the daughter of Elizabeth and Dan, whose wedding I photographed last year, and little sister to sweet Charlie. So smushy!
Hello blog readers! I wanted to take a quick poll to see who is out there reading my blog. Will you vote below just to let me know a little more about you? I can't see any other info about you than how you vote. Thank you!
I've lost the past several days to that nasty flu bug going around -- boy is it a tough one! It has really wiped me out. I think I'm finally starting to get better though. Good thing it hit me now; just two weeks before my busy spring wedding season kicks in.
But on to much more fun news: It has been about 10 months since I updated my portraits website, so if you click here, you'll see lots of new images and perhaps some familiar faces from the past year or so. :)
I just checked Open Source Contest and saw that one of my family shots from a few years ago placed 5th! Yippee!
The cool thing about the highly addictive website is that is a photo contest for photographers and voted on by photographers -- not a panel of judges. Photographers can often be a hard group to please photographically speaking, so this is very flattering! Be sure to check out this site and see how addictive the voting is. :)
Incidentally, this candid shot of Mark and Andrea Hiland (and their daughter Ava) was used by a local developer on their website last year because they are such a beautiful family!
Here is another contest that just came to me.... and it's open to any bride, groom or portrait client of mine.
Send me a quick note and tell me which image from your wedding day or portrait session (that I took) is your absolute #1 favorite and why? If you had to rescue just one single image from your wedding day or a particular shoot because it just represents YOU or something important to you, which one is it and why did it mean so much? The one who moves me the most with their short story will WIN a FREE PHOTO SESSION in 2008. (I'm in a pay-it-forward mood this year.)
The Jist:Describe or email a copy of the photo (or send image number from your proofs) and tell me why it meant so much to you. Did it make you cry? Did it capture the pure essence of a particular relationship? Did it make you see yourself (or someone else) in a whole new positive light? It doesn't have to be a long story and can even be one sentence... I'm just curious about which one moved you so much and why it moved you.
If it's from a wedding and both the bride and groom have different favorites for different reasons, both can enter. Same with families if mom and dad had different favs.
The photo shoot will need to happen in Phoenix metro area, however, you can still enter if you are out of state because we can always schedule something if I am in your area or if you travel to and from Phoenix from time to time. Winner will have one year to schedule their session.
What can the 1 hour session be used for? Anything: new baby, family, engagement, pets, you name it. You can even give the session away to someone in Phoenix metro area who possibly can't afford a professional photographer if you want to keep paying it forward.
Deadline:Please send me your entry by Tuesday, March 11, 2008 at midnight PST. I'll select the person who moves me so much with their email and announce the winner by Friday, March 15th on my blog.
Good luck!
Here is a random image just cause I felt like adding in some BW to this post :-) One of my favs from 2007.
Here are some more images from my time out in California last week with Shauna, Steve and Ella. See Round 1 below...
Ella with her Daddy
And snuggled between her Mommy and Daddy...
The beautiful new family
Here is gorgeous little Ariel with her beautiful Mom Roshelle (Shauna's sister). Growing up, we ADORED Roshelle. She is one of the nicest people you could ever meet with an absolute heart of gold.
A couple last mushy ones... I love Shauna's face above and how Ella is all snuggled into her Daddy below.
Love you guys!! Thank you for such a great weekend!
Here is the first batch of images from my time in California this past weekend with my dearest friend Shauna and new baby Ella. There is obviously a tremendous amount of trust between us, so that helped in getting some of these images, but mainly because Shauna was so trusting and open to the ideas with Ella. Hope you like this set so far Bon! :-) Even more coming soon...
Happy New Year to everyone! I've taken a little time off this past week to recharge, hence the no blogging. Its been nice to have a little much need hiatus.
I always appreciate the coming of a new year because it is a time of renewal, hope and inspiration to me. I enjoy the holidays and spending time with family, friends and being busy in general, but there is something so cleansing about starting a new year with fresh perspective and goals. Slimming down from the excess of the previous season. Decluttering. Emerging a little wiser.
Each year my husband I set our goals for the coming year (I prefer not to call them resolutions because it's more likely I won't keep them), and for the past four years we have achivied roughly 80% of what was on our list. Maybe it's because we are both driven to succeed or maybe we just like crossing things off our list, but I'm proud of all that we have accomplished personally, professionally, spiritually and wholeistically. We also know we are very blessed to have our health, our families, our friends and each other to keep one another grounded and the compass pointed in the right direction. It really is about the journey, and we strive to remember that each day.
2007 was an amazing year. A busy year; a year of great growth and learning. I shot 20 weddings (the max I shoot per year) and roughly 60+portrait sessions. I met so many wonderful people and made new friends. I launched a new website, a new custom blog, new marketing materials, attended some great seminars and tradeshows, and learned so much. I look back and wonder how I ever did anything else besides this. It fulfills me in ways that isn't always easy to express. I love being a mother and a wife, but I also love being a photographer, and the pure joy that comes from doing what I love. I believe that discovering your passion and your purpose is one of the greatest gifts that God and this life can give you. I am thankful for this every single day.
Im in a reflective mood, so I wanted to share some of my favorite images from the past year. This is mostly weddings with a few portraits shots thrown in and in no particular order. Just shots I love for some reason or another. (Im planning a seperate slideshow version of my favorite portraits since there are just way to many to include here. Stay tuned....)
I just noticed for the first time how every person in this shot is looking at someone different. I love that! They are all watching each others faces :) This one might be a top contender for me for that reason ... there is so much emotion in this shot.
Whew! That was tough since there are so many I love, but my arms are tingling from sitting too long. Which one is your favorite?
Now, for 2008... What a year ahead: so many things in the pipeline, on the books, and up my sleeve...
New contests! (one announcement coming very soon...) A trip to Hawaii! (Do you know anyone getting married there in late May/early June??) Cool workshops and seminars to attend! Another 20 weddings! More great photo shoots! An updated website (maybe even a whole new look)! Fun mini getaways!
And so much more, but you'll see lots of new blogs posts soon.... Happy New Year!
