Project Playlist {I Do}

It all started way way back with this silly game I've played with my mom ever since I can remember. It's when you're listening to the radio and you set up a scenario for the next song that comes on...for instance.."The next song is your song to your future husband" or "The next song that comes on explains what kind of year you're going to have". It's pretty fun actually...you should try it sometime! :)

Fast forward to February of this year. Ty Lamothe and I were on our way home from our WPPI Vegas trip and we were...you guessed it...playing the song game with my ipod on shuffle. Most of the things we were coming up with were hideously bad and completely hilarious (my first dance song at my wedding was a song by Eminem. lol!). But at one point we came to a song that was adorable and fit the scenario perfect...and that's when the magic happened. When that adorable, perfect, song came on...the first thought that came to our minds was "We should do a shoot of that!". After that, we continued going through all of the songs on my ipod, realizing how many would make super fun styled sessions! We could already see the images that perfectly represented each song. Some songs even gave posing cues, describing body language between two people. It was like we were seeing connections we had never seen before between these two worlds that we already adore: Music & Photography. We thought and thought about it, and...

Project Playlist was born :)

Overwhelmed with inspiration, Ty and I got our ideas together and created this project that we will be working on throughout the year and maybe longer :) What's going to happen is we will choose a song, find models who fit the part, style all of the elements of the session to tie in the song, shoot it, create a slide show that puts the final images to the song that inspired them...and then blog it for all of you to see :) I guess you can think of it as a still image music video! So...what do you think?! Will you come back to check out future Project Playlist posts? We need opinions here, people!

We have a pretty extensive list of songs we will be using, but one of my top priorities was Colbie Caillat's "I Do". I have been IN LOVE with this song ever since I heard her play it live at her concert last fall :) So the song was decided. I even had a super cute couple picked out. Nicole and Bobby...they are seriously the cutest (but you don't have to take my word for it...you'll see!). The song was picked and the couple was locked in. Now what? When Ty called me, bursting with excitement about doing the session at a carnival that just randomly happened to be in town...our problems were solved :)

So the funny thing about this session is everything was SUPER last minute and a bit stressful. Ty and I are pretty busy...so finding a date we could both do it was not easy. Getting together ahead of time to style the details was near impossible. Which left us frantically digging through Bobby and Nicole's clothing as well as bunch of stuff I had, just two hours before we were scheduled to shoot! Yeah, kinda stressful. BUT...we pulled it off :) Nicole ended up styled head-to-toe in random things I had lying around my house. Not too shabby though. (We were STOKED when the little white vintage dress fit her perfectly!).

Well it's about that time...the suspense is killing me.... here is the slide show (which is really what the project is all about...so be sure to watch it!), followed by my favorite images :) And I really mean it about the feedback guys...Ty and I really wanna know if this is something cool you would like to see more of...or something blahhh, no good, get it outta here. :P So take a minute or two and help a sister out! :)

Speaking of Ty, be sure to run by her blog and check out her awesome slide show too! :)

Okay now, HERE IT IS!!!!...

Omg....could they be any cuter?

xoxo

Karleigh: c/o 2011 Senior Session.

Last week was funny. When I say funny...I mean frustrating. I had sessions scheduled everyday for a week straight..and ended up having to reschedule all but 3 due to crazyyyyy weather that came out of nowhere. Thanks, mother nature, thaaaaaanks....

But it wasn't all bad. The stormy weather kept me inside and I got a TON done, by means of working on my website, ordering products, editing, etc. AND...the sessions I did end up doing brought a whole new set of challenges for me, that left me prepared for anything that hits me in the future.

For Karleigh's senior session, we had planned from the beginning to shoot at the beach. In my head, I had dreams of glorious sunsets and amazing sun-drenched images. Those dreams were shot down real quick when I saw the forecast for the day. Clear mornings, with rain developing around 3. Being pushed for time already with her graduation being only a couple of months away, we couldn't afford to reschedule. I had no choice but to switch the session to morning.

Now, if you're a photographer, I'm sure you can sympathize with me on why a 10am-12pm shoot is not ideal for lighting. But I was up for the challenge...and things went exceptionally well! In fact there were a lot of great location opportunities we had that wouldn't have been possible if the sun had been lower in the sky. Score!

Anyways...Karleigh is so stinkin' cute. We had so much fun shooting! Especially with her best friend whom she brought along. She was able to help me get lots of laughs out of Karleigh...although I'll really never know what it was she was doing while I was shooting that made Karleigh laugh so hard haha. The outfits Karleigh brought along for the session were to DIE for. I was tempted to offer her a bonus session in trade for the bag of clothes. Seriously.

Here's my favorites of the shots I got of Karleigh!...











BFF's!!! Seriously, who DOESN'T want fun pictures like this with their best friend?!?! I certainly do!

















xoxo

Christa: Head shots.

It's always interesting when I get a job out of my usual routine. My usual routine being couples, individual portraits, and the occasional family session...
It's not that heads shots are SO different from a regular portrait session, but it really depends on how you go about it. Head shots are meant to be completely about the person, with the background and surroundings being as minimal as possible.
This is where it gets different for me, because the surroundings typically play into my sessions greatly.

Another thing, is that I think a lot of people typically associate head shots with studios, off-camera lighting, and lots of retouching. Which as you may know, is definitely NOT for me. But I do love the challenge...Using 100% natural light and minimal retouching to create head shots for my client that will compete in a world of more artificial images. And that's where I enjoy it. Because even though the posing and composition for head shot sessions is a lot more traditional and un-changing than a portrait session...there's still an art to it. Head shots are more or less meant to be "posed" and carefully composed...but I just can't handle the stiffness of "tilt your chin this way"..."now a little more to the left"..."HOLD THAT!"...."Now put your hand like this"..."A little higher".... And of course direction IS important, but in my opinion..genuine laughter and body language will always win :)(Especially for photos that are being used to judge them for future jobs!)

And that's what we went for with Christa. Christa wanted her head shots to be lively and vibrant...to go hand-in-hand with the type of roles she would like to target in her acting career. SO....of course we got that like by conducting a session that was...you guessed it...lively and vibrant :)

As you're about to see...this girl, Christa, is ridiculously gorgeous. It's pretty...ridiculous. It's funny too...because she looks exactly like Mary Poppins at Disneyland...no really, I mean EXACTLY. Almost like they could be the SAME person...so crazy. Take a better look next time you're at D-Land. You'll see! But you didn't hear it from me ;)

This day we did the session on, was most definitely NOT ideal. But after already rescheduling once, we refused to do it again. So despite the insane wind and chilly temperatures...we made it happen....

And finally, here are my faves that we snapped in between tornado gusts!....









At one point, the wind got SO intense that all we could do was laugh about it. And I said "Forget this, let's embrace it for a second". I love these "fierce" images of her with her hair whipping at my camera that we got when we gave into mother nature ;)







Isn't she just stunning?!











xoxo

Ryan & Maria: Wedding.

A couple of weekends ago, I had the opportunity to tag along with my awesome friend, Desiree Shuey, and help her shoot one of the cutest weddings ever!!!

Okay, Brides....if any of you were to ask me "How can I make my wedding look different from all the others I see and make it match my personality?"
I would have a one word answer.....DETAIL.

Or if you were to say "I'm paying an arm and a leg for my photographer, how can I get the most out of them on the wedding day?"
My answer would be quite simple....Give them a lot of time to shoot you!!

Maria and Ryan completely nailed both of these. It was pretty ridiculous, Desiree and I were in heaven! We just about passed out when we walked into the reception site and saw LOADS and LOADS of gorgeous detail. Maria really went all out with her theme...and she did it on her own! This girl's got creativity. No need for a designer, Maria simply brought out their personalities with handmade elements and some super cute Etsy finds. I was in love with it all!


As for the timeline... they started off by getting ready super early...about 4 hours before they had to be at the church for the ceremony(which was only 10 minutes away). This eased a lot of stress for them because they didn't have to rush and for us, because we got a full hour just to do bridal party shots!! Which was so awesome!!! Since they had a morning wedding, Ryan and Maria optimized their time for bride and groom portraits with us, by doing them AFTER the reception. Pretty uncommon, but worked out great since we had unlimited time with them and got to go to a couple of different locations!! So much fun.

I am so thankful that Desiree invited me along for this amazing wedding! Ryan and Maria were such a pleasure to work with and too cute to be true!! Be sure to stop by Desiree's blog to see all of the shots she got! :)

And now, on to the cuteness...



Oh hello favorite shoe shot ever....



Being the second photographer is always an adventure. You go into the day ready to roll with the punches and be where the main photog needs you. Sometimes it means being right along side them for the whole day...other times it means going off and documenting the guys while the main photog sticks with the bride. That was the case for this day. And it gave me such a new perspective! When I'm the main photographer..I rarely spend a lot of time shooting the groom and groomsmen getting ready. I either send my second shooter over, while I'm glued to the bride...or just stop in to grab a few shots then go. This day was different because I not only documented their preparations, but also was given a whole hour to get some fun shots of them, while Desiree's was off shooting the Bride and her girls.





With a whole hour to do nothing but shoot groom/groomsmen photos, we got some pretty fun shots!!











I loved the guy's polka-dot bow ties and felt boutonnieres!



And now for some of that detail I was telling you about...













Maria's face lit up when she spotted Ryan as she made her way down the aisle...



And Ryan was beaming when he heard the words, "You may now kiss your bride"...





Maria's bouquet was UNREAL. Just the right mix of real flowers for tradition, jewel-embellished felt flowers to pull in their theme, and ostrich feathers for some added glamour...it was enough to make me swoon.





And the bridesmaid's bouquets also fit the "adorable" standard for the day...



Twilight, anyone?? ;)



For their portraits, we headed off to Victoria Gardens and Claremont Colleges...







Maria has quite the stunning smile!



Best not even get me started on that gorgeous hair piece....ohhhh man....







I just had to grab a shot of Desiree chillin on the ground, grabbing some shoe shots, in the middle of Victoria Gardens(an outdoor shopping mall)...we definitely got some stares! lol









xoxo