out with the old, in with the new!

I'm finally launching my new blog! Woo hoo! Don't fear...I'm pretty sure this is not a sign of the apocalypse. No need to seek shelter. I will no longer be posting here, so if you have this site bookmarked, please change it to the new site. Pretty please! All the previous posts from this blog have already been added to the new one. Yay!

You can access the new blog either through my website or by heading directly to it by clicking HERE.

Thanks so much for reading this blog, and I'll see you on the other side....

the carstens family!

How wonderful it was to finally meet Lena's family. They are so fun and easy-going, and I even got to have a battle with imaginary laser guns. I've decided that every photo session should have one of those, so be forewarned. Chloe, you win! What an enjoyable shoot, and this may sound corny, but you can tell there's a lot of love in their home. Well, love and Chloe's laser beams! Yay!

She's definitely got the adorable big sister thing figured out.

Precious doesn't even begin to describe little Gavin.

Two of the many things I love about this next image: 1 - a fabulous family, and 2 - doggie tongue!

Of course, we had to give Brodie his own close-up!

Can you tell I went crazy for the flowers in Chloe's room?

Many, many thanks to the incredible Carstens family!

8 month old fletch...video!

I wanted to post something on Fletch's actual 8 month birthday, but on that day, he made me cry.....and swear a lot. Let's just say that he needs some leash training about as much as our country needs health care reform.

Maybe that unfortunate incident happened for a reason. After a few days, not only did I stop calling my dog 4-letter words, but I also finally learned how to shoot video and put it on my blog. If I had known how easy this would be, I could have crossed it off my to-do list about 2 years ago. A little embarrassing, really.

I have another recent video that I can't wait to post. It's of an incredible day after shoot with Matt and Liz. I'm hoping to post that when I launch my new blog. NEW BLOG! It's that time of year where I frantically give my dusty to-do list the what-for.

For now, I give you Fletch...and his red clay elbows. By the way, Matt's disappointed grumble at the end is because during the whole video, we were trying to get Fletch to do this thing he ALWAYS does. He's just mocking us.

evita + michael's day after shoot

Woo hoo! I'm so glad my friends Evita and Michael were in town this weekend for D-Con! Not only did I get to hang with them, but we also finally got to do their wedding "day after" shoot. I guess a more appropriate phrase would be "four months and four days after " shoot. :) We got to take lots of photos of just the two of them in their wedding "gear". Both of their outfits were made by hand, and Evita made her dress! She's incredible.

We needed a fabulous location with a special mood and style. I've known Evita long enough to be comfortable suggesting a cemetery. Well, not just any cemetery. Oakland is both historical and beautiful, and I was confident that we could get photos that didn't appear to have been taken at grave sites. They were nice enough to trust me, and we had a blast. Then again, I could have fun with Evita locked in a gas station bathroom with rabid badgers.

Here are some shots from our photo-funtime-throwdown!


They wanted to do an American Gothic-type pic. I think they nailed it.

Okay, okay...I know this next one looks like a cemetery, but only because they wanted a shot of the little mushroom fairy ring.

One thing that's great about knowing the folks I photograph is that I can actually gear my editing to reflect who they are as well as the type of images we shot. I did some rather dramatic editing on a lot of these photos to accentuate Evita and Michael's style.

You gorgeous thing, you!

Oh, so dashing...

I don't think you can have too much romance in a photo, but this next one comes close. Sigh.

Some of you may know about my obsession with fake birds. Evita found these cuties, and she GAVE them to me after the shoot. She's the bestest.

She wanted a series of shots of Michael giving her their wedding invitation, her opening it, and her reacting to it. This one is my fav from those shots.

Evita + Michael, you are awesome. Please find more reasons to visit Atlanta, and I'll find ones to visit Charleston!

rio!

What a joy to finally meet Jenna and Florent's little fella, Rio. Before she knew the gender of the baby, she had nicknamed it "Sparkle", which is just about the best thing ever. However, the name Rio ranks really high on the coolness chart. He's named after the place, not the Duran Duran song. As awesome as the name is, he'll always be Sparkle to me. Just like baby Henry will always be Chauncey Rocket, little Max will always be Robot Zillionaire, and Alasdair will forever be Soul Crusher X.

There are several things that you'll have to bear hearing me repeat a million times. One is that I LOVE when people come to me with new and inventive ideas for their photos. I can always come up with something, but then there's the question of whether or not it will fit the people in the shoot. If folks bring their own ideas to the table, we'll definitely be working with a scenario that suits them. Win, win!

Some of you may recognize Jenna, who was looking fabulous in an earlier post of her maternity pics. She had worked on a film that played at the historic Plaza Theater, so she thought it would be cool to take some shots of her adorable new baby there. Man, was she right! The powers that be at the Plaza were kind enough to give us free reign of the space before movie time. At the moment, they have the front of the theater entirely decorated to promote Halloween II. Lots of devils, headstones, and even a tiny coffin. We looked at each other and were like, "NO!". Not quite family portrait material. Not a problem. There were plenty of other incredible places.

So here are some examples of what I shot with this rock star family. Note for other photographers: if you're ever in a low-light situation, it sure is nice to have a gigantic white movie screen for bouncing flash. Yay!

Jenna totally has a Catherine Zeta Jones thing goin' on here...

They brought these great old cameras that Florent has, and we set up this paparazzi shot. They were totally cracking me up.

Anton Corbijn is one of my favorite photographers. This next photo is a humble homage to his style.

After the movie theater, we headed to their lovely home for a few more pics. They have this interesting plant with heart-shaped leaves!

I love the look he's giving his dad.

Florent is a champion of homemade pasta, and has convinced me that this is the best way to do it. I have a feeling there will be lots of pasta in my future. I'm adding one of these contraptions to my wish list.

Hooray! So much thanks to the wonderful Jenna, Florent, and Rio!