Last weekend I had another great family session.  Stacy owns the AMAZING event planning company, Bleu Print Events by Design and I’ll be working with her and her supa star partner Michelle on some events and weddings in the coming months and I am beyond excited about that.  I’m even more excited about these two amazing women and what they are doing in San Antonio.  If you are a bride looking for an event planner, get off of your computer right now..( but come back soon!) and call Stacy & Michelle. Seriously, spend about 10 minutes with them and I promise you will be begging them to help coordinate your wedding.

After I had met Michelle but before I actually had a chance to meet Stacy in person she contacted me about doing a family session for her husband’s birthday gift.  We ended up having two different sessions since, as many of you know, children sometimes have their own agenda that doesn’t always conincide with what we have in mind. I know *gasp* can you even imagine? I can’t even get my 7 and 6 year olds to dress before noon, I don’t dare ask them to cooperate when I whip out my camera. Two sessions only meant that I had twice as many favorites to choose from. Here’s a sampling of some of my very favorites.

Thanks Stacy! I am thrilled to have the chance to work w/ Bleu Print and it was a true pleasure to spend time with your beautiful little family!

super quick post tonight. i’m in the middle of throwing some stuff in a bag to head out for a few days of camping with my youth group. last year at this time i was freaking out that i had volunteered as a small group leader for this same camp with the youth. yea, i’m not a camping girl. my “camping” expereience is nil and the camping i do involves the carribean ocean, a hammock, a cababna boy, seafood, $5 coffee and some serious hard core shopping…um, otherwise find another chica. but, because i love the youth at my church so much and because the next best thing to the carribean ocean is Leaky, TX ;) I headed up last year. I was pleasantly surprised. Once i got over the centipede in the shower, the paralyzing fear of scorpions crawling into my bunk, the obvious lack of air conditioning and cabana boys and the HOT FREAKIN’ TX SUN….I was fine. So this year…..I’m going back. I know. I’m a rockstar. I’ll be gone until Sunday afternoon with no cell phone or internet service and my $5 heroine coffee will be downgraded to Folgers crack so I’ll be cranky but I should be over it by Wednesday so if you need me…wait until then.

In other unplifting news I was in Austin last night for the Free to Succeed Tour with David Jay & Jasmine Star. I feel like I’ve lived in Austin the past 3 weeks….not that I’m complaining…because let’s face it…Austin rocks. 

If I had time I would seriously talk about this in great length. I was SOOOO pleased that this was totally not an informercial plugging all of DJ’s fabulous (and completely above informercial-ism-nes-stuff-yea) but I really thought it was going to be alot of “buy my product and you’ll be rich beyond your wildest dreams and then will retire at the ripe age of 33 and get to go camping in the carribean all the time” 

Yea, so not like that. This 4 short hours was packed full of nothing short of inspirational goodness and just two genuine people that happen to be very successful at what they do. It was totally based on their enthusiasm to first and foremost, be good people…..and because of that it naturally overflows into their business and into their photography.  DJ was adorable and humble and happy and quite funny. Jasmine was a little photo fashionista who was fired up about her career and her life and where she’s been and where she’s going.  It was just good stuff. I was so happy when I left and even 24 hours later my mind is still reeling with ideas, inspirationan and techniques that I will be implementing into my life and projecting into my business.  The last couple months have been really transitional for me, there’s a new wedding website in the works and so much on the horizon and now I feel like I can dig in and get stuff done.  Things will be changing and baby…change is GOOD. K.I.R to my girl Jas.

Awesome.

I’m off to hunt for a cabana boy to pack in my bag.

A couple weeks ago before I left for vacation I got the wonderful pleasure of working with a family that was beyond phenomanal. I swear to you I’m not just saying that either. Truly and honestly photographing families is super hard. Much harder than you would imagine. When I first started doing this I thought I would looooove shooting families and that it would be just cake for me since I… 1) love kids 2) have a teaching background 3) have 3 kids of my own 4) really, how hard could it be?  I quickly realized that it’s hard to strike while everyone is in a decent mood and it’s not completely uncommon for at least 1/2 of the family to hate the idea of the family portrait and they’d rather have their eyes poked out or something as equally as fun. I don’t fret too much over “everyone look here and say cheese” since that’s not what I particularly love to shoot but I know that most families want at least ONE formal shot and sometimes you’ve got to fight for that one.

I say all of this to tell you that when I left after shooting Anne, Troy & their four amazing kiddos I really enjoyed doing family sessions again. It wasn’t so much that everyone was in a great mood and the kids were all well - behaved (though that did help tremendously) it was more that Anne & Troy really embraced each one of their children’s personalities and just let them BE! And I am all about just “being” Just living out loud and letting YOU BE YOU. So it was cool to see that.

I am super super sad to say that the wonderful Hatch family is being transferred to Dallas after just one short year here in San Antonio but I know this family is going to plant roots and grow regardless of where they may be.

Thank you Anne & Troy for letting me come into your home and BE with you & your family. I wish you all the best!

Here are a few of my supa dupa faves from their session!

watch for these next two to show up on the website. i just love these cuties! check out those personalities. they are twins. gotta love that!

Today I spent the entire day with the most amazingly creative and incredibly talent John Michael & Dalisa Cooper of AltF.  I’m pretty new to the workshop circuit and have come to realize that not all are created equal. However, I had high hopes since I’m such a fan of JMC and his work. Dalisa is a total sweetheart and flippin adorable and I couldn’t wait to spend the day soaking in some of their creative genius. Even with high hopes I still managed to be blown away. About 20 minutes into the workshop I thought, “they so didn’t charge enough for this”  It was a small intimate workshop of about 15 other photographers and so relaxed and laid back. I typically stay pretty quiet at these things and prefer to soak it in but I felt totally at ease with everyone and JMC answered every question that was thrown at him and more. Eric Doggett hosted at he and his wife were so gracious.  I can’t wait to share all of the details later tonight but for now, I must run and get the littles settled into bed and unpack, unload, upload and throw up a couple shots from the workshop.This is seriously good stuff people. John & Dalisa are on a 9 city tour and several locations are sold out but CHECK IT OUT and GET THERE if you can! I’m only sad I couldn’t stay ALLLL weekend!

Update:

so i got everyone tucked away to sleep and wanted to share a few more details. it was a great mix of shooting, q&a, workflow, lighting, posing, business philosophy and just john and dalisa sharing what has made them a household name in the photography industry.  so i had several small ephiphanies while i was sitting there. and there were moments when i felt like the doors flug open in my mind and the white doves were released and a choir of angels sang “halleluja” over me.  really, as i was leaving i felt bad that i had been armed with all this amazing information as well as totally buzzin’ with inspiration. i couldn’t believe i didn’t have to donate a kidney to get into this. i seriously was going to ask dalisa if she wanted a lung….maybe JMC could use my liver. it was that good.

We got to watch John in action as he shot a quick engagement session at the beginning of the workshop and then we ended with a bridal and work on one of his conceptual pieces which he’s doing at each workshop. in dallas he did his take on this infamous beauty of a bride.

You can see his take using the beautiful and wicked cool Kate Mefford of Juxtapose Photography. It’s incredible.

 Here he is getting ready to demo his video lights. i’m so in love with video lights so i was super excited to find out he uses them as well. good stuff! uh, the hat was a nice prop for a bit later.

this is tara marie rockin’ the model.

For the conceptual piece at this workshop he said he’d had this idea for a couple years. He’s actually been hinting for that long that he wanted to do this so today he finally got the chance. These are a couple of him doin’ his thing. I can’t wait to see his final edits of these.

Bonnie & Clyde

So i don’t flippin care what the price of gas is right now. Get your ass to the nearest veryaltf workshop….um, now people.

we survived. 3500 miles round trip from texas to michigan and back again. 10 days. oklahoma, missouri, illinois, indiana and back again. lots of fun was had. several colorful four letter words were mumbled under my breath. a couple…ok several drinks were shared with my favorite rockstar soul sisters and even more fun catching up with my family. my daddy. my grammy. my sweet lil’ niece…my brothers, sister, mom, in laws, and my sweet new baby nephew. i can’t wait to post all the fun photos!

trying to catch up on work, get kids to drs. and dentist appts. and all the fun stuff that comes along with returning from vacation.  sweet goodness.

stay tuned for photos!

…..on a side note….i’m in mourning. my lil’est dude got his curls cut off today. i’m bitter. i specifically said, “leave the curls….lose the mullet” apparently that can’t be done. they nearly  had to pull me off the cold floor as they swept away the last shred of his baby-hood. say a little prayer.

we’re out. vacation. family. friends. small town carnivals. big ol’ lakes. sand. nieces. nephews. laughing. crying. maid-rite. meijers. hugs. home cooking. eating out. piers. waves. sun. cool lake breezes. alex’s pizza.

we’re on our way out to visit friends & family in missouri. we’re stoked about seeing our family and we get to meet our new nephew, tristin whose only 3 months old and so stinkin’ cute. we get to eat maid rite. (notice that i prioritized and didn’t mention the food first) we’re lucky because mark’s family and my family live in the same town so we get to make our rounds and see everyone. and my aunt, uncle and my cousin’s family are coming in from georgia. brenda’s driving in from springfield and amy’s coming home from lake of the ozarks and we all get to hang. i can’t wait. i haven’ seen the girls since novemeber at carrie’s wedding so i can’t wait. amy’s husband russ is coming home and he & mark get along fabulously since they can talk politics and not hate each other by the end of the night. plus i get to see my little brady man. brady just turned two so i get to catch a glimpse of what my life will look like next year at this time w/ p-diddy parker man. who by the way is sick. poor dude. let’s hope he stays out of crank-ville while we spend 15 hours in the car tomorrow.

mark is smoking crack because he totally thinks we can make this trip in one day. did i mention 15 hours? last time we made this trip parker was only 3 months old and all he required was a boob and an occassional burp and diaper change. these days he’s got me wondering if 11am is too early for vodka. and that’s in our wide open spacious home with all of his toys and lots of places to crawl in and out of. imagine the joy of being restricted to a car seat for 15 hours. i can’t imagine how he wouldn’t like that.

regardless, i’m still excited. after 4 days in missouri we’re heading to grand haven, michigan to see my dad, sister and brother and all my nieces & nephews there. i’ll get to go home to oakley to see my grandma and aunts and uncles too. the kids are super excited about this part of the trip too….they not only get to play with their cousins but we get to spend some serious time on the beach at lake michigan.

i’ll be working a bit while i’m on vacation….i plan to do newborn shots of tristin while i’m home as well as my sister’s belly pics. she’s about 7 months pregnant now and i already told to prep herself for some rolling on the beach fun. she was appalled at the idea but she’ll be fine. i can totally take her so i doubt she’s going to put up a fight. i kicked her a&@ when we were kids so I have no doubt i can still take her down.

happy 4th everyone! enjoy!

For anyone out there that is at all familiar with wedding photography or this industry you’ve probably at some point heard of Mike Colón. Mike has made a name for himself in this business catering to the ultimate-high-end bride and clientele. He’s photographed some top notch celebrities like Usher and most recently Timberland. I’m not going to go into the phenomenon he actually is….it’s apparent in his work….you can check that out on your own. However, what I find incredibly admirable is that this man, who literally is “big time” (per his own wife, Julie, in his most recent post on his blog) is what was reeling through his head the next night as he lie in a hotel room plagued by jet lag after she had pegged him, indeed, “big time”

“Something Julie said to me last night before we went to bed is still
ringing in my head. It was something she has never said to me before
and it kinda felt weird hearing her say it. She said “You’re big
time.” She’s always told me how proud she is of me but has never
straight up told me I am “big time” before. I have to admit that for
a second it gave me a big head, but I quickly realized that everything
we have accomplished in our business and in life has been 100% by the
awesome and undeserved grace of God. Although we have worked extremely
hard, I simply can’t forget about the dozens of times God bailed us
out of sure financial disaster! “

Take the time to read his entire post here…. it will surely humble you.

I’ve not been in the industry long enough to remember what it was like before this new breed came along. I’m not old school. I’m VERY new school…..I don’t know what it was like once upon a time when pro guys & gals alike were so uber competitive that everyone held onto their deep dark little secrets and certain claims to fame, never sharing or taking the time to network with other industry pros. I’ve heard about this…..and I will say that occassionally and unfortunately I think it probably does still exist on some level…or maybe it’s a raging out of control problem that i’m just too naive to realize. But I’ve expereineced so very little of that….an occassional snub or someone not bothering to return an email when I’ve tried to reach out but overall I’ve been super lucky to connect with some amazingly talented photographers who have been more than willing to share their insights, mishaps and dreams when it comes to their photography business.

I just think it’s so refreshing to see people, regardless of how “big time” they really are, completely and utterly be humbled by what it’s really all about. Giving praise and glory to He who is really at the root of that success. Guys like Dane Sanders, Becker and David Jay are all in that “big time” circle but who continually humble themselves and show without mistake, what it truly means to be a success. And when you’re getting paid 20k for your mad photography skillz I think it says alot when you can sit back and really be at peace with what that actually means….and Who is actually responsible for it. And find time to share that with other professionals, openly and without this pretentious, selfish idealism that it’s all because of something you did or you’ve controlled.

Pretty cool stuff.

Remember Lindsay & Logan?  Their beautiful wedding was last week at Los Encinos here in San Antonio. I’ve known Lindsay and her family for almost 7 years now. We first met at church where Lindsay worked in the nursery and our lil’ Hudson dude was younger than lil’ p-diddy is now. He was probably about 4 months old. He got VERY attached to Lindsay. So much so that when it was time for him to “graduate” up to the next room when he started walking Lindsay had to ease him into the whole transition by staying with him for a little bit. He loved her. And now, she takes care of lil’ p-diddy Parker man on Sundays (when we actually make it these days).

I then started working with her mom, Traci at church and we became super good friends. Traci is the kind of woman that is a role model not only for her daughters but for other women. She loves to share her wisdom…um, with everyone. She has made me a better woman, a better wife, a better friend, a better Christian and a better mom and I was honored when they asked me to shoot both Tara & Lindsay’s weddings this Spring and Summer.

Like I mentioned before in the engagement post Lindsay is …very….very…organized. She made my job very easy. So I had to defiantely get a shot of the schedule she posted in all of the dressing rooms at the venue. No one was ever wondering what time we needed to start the next task.

We were pretty good in keeping with the time too. I wish I would’ve gotten a photo of Lindsay’s watch that she wore until the last possible second. I made her take it off once when we went out to shoot a few of her but she put that sucker back on so fast.

Here are a couple getting ready shots. Her cute little ballet slippers. Gotta love a girl that goes for comfort.

And a lovely shot of her mother tying up her ribbons.

She’s a pink girl. So naturally her colors were celdon and pink. The bridesmaid dresses were so cute. I loved that they were short and sassy…a little flair for the girls.

And here are a couple of my favorite shots of Lindsay. We did a full out bridal last month and I’m excited that I’ll finally get to share those too. We’ll get to those later though.

I always love doing detail shots and this time was no exception. The cake was so beautiful. Lindsay has impeccable taste when it comes to the flowers. They were gorgeous.

Logan’s father had passed away several years before but I was so glad to see him there. It was so touching to look over and see this photo of his father looking on and blessing this amazing day for them.

And Hudson’s best buddy Cole made another outstanding appearance as the ring bearer. Totally cute lil’ dude. Loved this sweet detail shot of him prepping for the big walk.

and here he is again after the ceremony flirtin’ with the girls.

And obvioulsy we can’t leave out the bride and groom.

I loved this group family shot of Lindsay, her two sisters, Niki & Tara and her parents. This was after the father daughter dance and they all cut in and danced as a group.

and i love this shot of the single guys participating in the tossing of the garter. i’m guessing that there were women involved in the cohersing them up there to begin with. Take a look at how they are all just standing there looking at the lonely garter on the floor in front of them. Even Cole didn’t want to pick the darn thing up!

Cole ended up with it in the end but we all know John is next on the list!

And this next shot is quite possibly one of my favorite shots ever. Lindsay had arranged for a special dance for her mom & dad. They will be celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary in September and she wanted to make sure they were recognized for such an amazing accomplishment. This was am amazing moment for me to witness. As I looked on and watched Traci & Jess dance I got so emotional at one point I couldn’t even see out of my viewfinder. I watched as their 3 amaingly beautiful daughters and their newly extended family watched them from the sidelines. Each of them admiring the love they witnessed before them. I wondered what they each thought. Each of them so young, so in love and so ready to live their lives together. I thought about my own marriage and how one day I hoped and dreamed of such a moment in my own life. A moment where I would stand dancing with my husband as our 3 children and their spouses stood on and watched.

Celebrating and rejoicing in LOVE.

Congratulations Lindsay & Logan! Thank you both so much for allowing me to be a small part of your great big love!

it’s your best friend after an emergency root canal. i’ll spare you the details but here’s a basic break down of the past week.

*wednesday-school’s out for summer-woot! mommy is sleeping in people
*thursday-prep for friday and saturday weddings and rock out the first day of summer
*Friday-wake up, shower, ready to get out the door for last minute errands and preparation for the 2 weddings only to discover i’ve locked my keys in the car. yea, i rock like that.  wait around for 2 hours waiting for pop-a-lock dude to get here and then spend the a.m. frantically trying to shop for a couple new outfits for the weekend, pick up a couple lenses i needed, pick up a cake for brooklyn’s end of the year brownie party and pack my entire family for the weekend getaway to houston.
*get everything done with 1 hour to spare….enough time to shower for lindsay and logan’s wedding and head out to start the festivities.
*wedding was awesome. so fun. so emotional. promise to post pictures when i’m not high on vicodin…..getting to that in a minute.
*make it home sometime after 1am.
*sleep for a few hours.

*Saturday-wake up, finsih packing, dress 3 kids and one husband…ok he dressed himself but barely. piled in the car headed for houston. stop and grab breakfast, eat…..and FREAK OUT! my toothe suddenly feels like someone is grinding an icepick into it. 2 hours into the trip we stop for tylonal at a gas station where i almost beg a trucker to cut every one of my teeth out of my head so i never experience this pain again. instead, i pop the tylonal and grab some water. make it to houston w/ 2 hours until i have to be ready to shoot another wedding. check into the hotel, curl up into a ball on the bed and groan. that lasts 15 minutes until i have to shower and get ready to leave. kiss my family goodbye and directing mark to do nothing else before he goes and finds me something to take for this pain…..go downtown houston and find some crack for all i care. i want it to go away.
*put on a happy face, triple up on extra strength tylonal and meet david and ashley from barron and barron and get ready to shoot the sensational wedding of Chad Hedrick and Lynsey Adams.
*manage to make it through the day/night….the only thing that got me through was sweet ashley and a room full of beautiful people, one of the most touching and emotional ceremonies i’ve ever witnessed and one rockin’ party afterwards.
*stumble into the hotel room sometime after 1am.
*sleep for a few hours.

*Sunday-wake up feeling as if i’ve been hit by a truck. every inch of my body aches….and oh, yea that toothe. by this time i’ve not eaten since breakfast on saturday morning and i’m starving. i force my family out of bed so we can get to the nearest place that serves anything remotely ediable. i eat. and i regret it almost instantly. we quickly realize our nice family trip to the beach, nasa and the boardwalk are going to have to be postponed as we head back to san antonio so i can get into my rockstar dentist.

*Monday-1:30- root canal. nothing else matters at this point.

*Tuesday-vicodin, antibiotics, a trip to the pediatrician for hudson who is having problems w/ his asthma AGAIN, more vicodin, a nice leisurely couple hours by the pool, a nap, a husband that comes home and cooks and takes care of me while i groan some more. between him and the vicodin i’m lovin’ life…..

even with a root canal.

promise to post pictures tomorrow……hoping to make it through the day w/out meds and pain free!