Saturday, December 26, 2009

Ready to POP!

If only we all could look this good almost 10 months pregnant. The first image here is actually the last one I took. The flare off of her necklace made my heart leap with joy. I LOVE IT and think it really shows in an image the whimsical mysteriousness that is pregnancy.
Mother to be and friend since I first arrived in Utah, Haley ended up with a phenomenal shoot. She was willing to let me wrap her in Christmas lights and holiday ribbon too. The fun we were having in this 3 1/2 shoot really came through in the fun and amazing shots I was able to get.
Look at this body! Va va voom. A few months from now, I am going to go back and take some photos to make a bedroom book for her husband ;)
My favorite shot is this one with her legs up. I planned it out in my head then drew it out on paper to show her how to lay. She of course made it amazingly beautiful.
Haley has a great style that is unique to her. It is a pretty combination, hard to describe, but makes me think of good music and roses.
This little angel is Taygen. She has been in love with her baby sister before she was even born. Not a very willing model, she only let me get a few shots, but you know how angels can be. I think it is because there are so many people always trying to capture their image.
Cambria Rose was born a healthy 6 lbs 4 oz just before Christmas. Congrats to her beautiful mother, wonderful father, and great big sister.

Monday, December 21, 2009

Indian Wedding

A little while ago I was lucky enough to get to shoot an amazing wedding. The bride and groom were Indian and had a somewhat modified traditional ceremony. The thing about the Indian culture that I love the most is the colors.
The bride was beautiful.Traditions in the ceremony are mostly about respect to those people who helped the bride and groom to get to where they are on the glorious wedding day. Love is everywhere. These woman began to sing in praise of the great day.
Around and around to symbolize eternity and year after year.My favorite thing a groom is always caught doing to his bride.The colors, can you believe the amazingly beautiful colors.Shadows made this a shot I couldn't resist.White is so classic, so timeless.Outfit change to another amazing sari.The Indian people definitely know how to have a good time.
And love to dance!

I was obsessed with this grand mother. She was so little and sweet. She didn't speak any english so she was always wanting to see the photos I was taking of her.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Secrets

Some secrets are meant to be shared. Like the really juicy ones you just can't help telling at least one other person so you both can share in the fun of it. My greatest secret is having an amazing album company redgarterweddingbooks.com. Red Garter offers the best albums with truly wonderful customer service and has made me a customer for life. As if Red Garter Wedding Books isn't enough of a juicy secret, I have another one for you. This one is aimed at photographers just starting up there business and really need some freebies to help move things along.

First, you got to have training. I know a few self taught photographers that are amazing and can turn out a photo that is pure brilliance. I also know more often than not, photographers need training. There is just so much to learn. Technology and equipment changes so often that it is a great idea to stay on top of your game with a little training. Any great artist is a well trained artist. A trained artist knows all the rules and when and how to break them, creating a drop dead gorgeous piece.

Here's my secret:
http://creativetechs.com/training/category/6-month-photoshop-course/

Creativetechs are a group based in Seattle starting a revolution as far as I am concerned. They are offering FREE training on Photography, History of Photography (Coming soon), almost all Adobe applications:

Flash
Dreamweaver
Photoshop
InDesign
Lightroom
Illustrator

They also offer free weekly retouch demonstrations and have truly talented guest speakers. They do it all for FREE (as long as you can get to the webinar on time.) After that they do have to make some money for all their wonderful hard work, but at their prices, it's still a steal of a deal.

I can't believe I just gave blogged one of my best kept secrets. I might as well keep spilling the beans...

Next, marketing is one of those things I though just kind of came as I began my adventure from Amateur to Advanced Amateur. In my mind, you figure everything out along the way, right? WRONG! Marketing and branding yourself can be done at anytime, but is most beneficial if well thought out before you doing anything else. Here's my secret to a FREE starting point. Sarah Petty has specific to photographers marketing strategies and wonderful advice. Sign up for her 10 days of free emails and get some great ideas and information to springboard your marketing. Of course if you want to go all out and set yourself up for marketing greatness, she has a few things for sale to help with that too.

http://www.thejoyofmarketing.com/free

I loved my ten days of emails. It really got my creative juices flowing!

Lastly, as scrap booking takes over the world and this is a album company website, I feel l should let everyone know about Jessica Spargue. She is a very talented woman who I found when she offered a FREE course on Photo Editing: Frame-ups and Special Effects. I was feeling a little bored with my images and decided it would be fun to see what she was teaching other to do with theirs. I easily could build 10 albums that all would be fun and unique from the things I learned in her FREE course.

http://www.jessicasprague.com

Looking for more? This site has a ton of great things being offered for really reasonable prices. The things you learn there can definitely help the albums you build here be a real work of art.

Now it's your turn. I told you some of my secrets, I want to know some of yours :)

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Sky

This little angel is Sky.






She is the newest member to one of my favorite families. Congrats on the new addition.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Beauty and the Boy

Just because I have a beautiful model that lives with me, doesn't mean I always get the best images of her. But on occasion I get something like this and I fear the future. LOOK AT HER! I know I am her mother so I am bias, but honestly, we have been told she is a "rare beauty." Most of the time she is stringy hair, covered in food, and mis-matched clothes. I wish she would stay that way so I wouldn't worry so much about her dating. I really plan to instill in her to have HIGH expectations and never to settle. It will be one of the few ways to weed out all the boys that are chasing her.

Dark as night eyes that shine green in the sun light, rose kissed cheeks, pink lips, perfect little nose and dirty blonde hair.
Fun Fall Pics


Cute and fun! These kids are my everything.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Wheeler Farm Tease

Even though I have lived in Utah for over 8 years now, I still discover beautiful places. Nicole introduced me to Wheeler Farm in Salt Lake. But beware, the tractors there are warned to be very speedy and may run you over. Not really, but that's what we were told in an attempt to get some shots on the bridge.
click me, I get bigger
This shoot was a lot of fun. The rain made us have some interesting skies to play with. And as with most children, little man was the boss and dictated when we moved on from each site. He did a great job and has a sweet sweet smile. Nicole and Andrew are very loving parents. Watching them with their babe, I was all too happy to catch some of that on "film."

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Farmington Park

Seriously cute family. With three little boys I was expecting this to be a little difficult. I was pleasantly surprised. They were all well mannered and listened very respectfully to both their mother and father. A little shy at first, the boys were loving having their picture being taken by end. They discovered early on, I am not a typical photographer. I am just like them, I like to have fun doing this stuff.

Smile while kissing? Yep, these two were having a good ol time. He is grabbing her butt!
The little guy was way more into trying to pull his brothers hair than anything I was doing.
Kati is getting a painting done from one of my shots. I hope she chooses this one.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Bridals for Shaylee


Shaylee had these adorable boots that she wanted to wear in her shoot, and she ROCKED them!