Rylee&Tiffany: Family(Halloween)

Oh Goodness...I was so excited to see little Miss Rylee again, I have done her photos several times over the last year and it is always so much fun to see the little thoughts and ideas she comes up with because she is WAY too smart for her age. Her mommy, Tiffany, told me that for last few months Rylee has been asking non-stop when they would be seeing "The Picture Lady" again. Hahahahaha, she LOVES the camera. Little model in the making! For this session, we got some shots in Rylee's fancy new dress and of course in her Halloween costume. Rylee and Tiffany dressed up in matching costumes, as butterflies, even though Rylee's original idea was for her mom to be a stink bug! She's got quite an imagination!

There was sooo many to choose from with this little cutie, but here's a few favorites I was able to narrow it down to ;)









Little Miss Attitude ;)

Birthday Fun.

Yesterday was my birthday. It came around so much sooner than expected(are we REALLY almost halfway through OCTOBER???) and passed just as quickly. I had plans to do nothing more than relax and do NO work. But as the day progressed, I changed my mind and decided to pull together a little last minute bbq/get together with just a few close friends. It turned out to be SO much fun. We ate, talked, laughed and took a million hilarious pictures with the last minute "photobooth" that I was so happy I decided to set up. These pictures make me laugh till my stomach hurts and I am so glad to have all of the hilarity documented. Thank you so much to everyone who made my day special...all of the texts, calls, facebook posts, messages, cards, and good wishes! You guys are the best!!!

Now here's a little glimpse of the fun...

Becca: Senior Portraits

It's that time.....School is back in and the senior class of 2011 is already a couple of months into their LAST year of high school. So now's the time to start booking those sessions for senior pictures!!!

My first senior for this year is Becca. And did I mention that she's pretty much, basically, kind of my sister?? Well actually she's my boyfriend's little sister. (but we've been together for 3 years and I've known Becca since she was a freshman, so that's close enough right???!!) Anyway, luckily the crazy weather gave us a break long enough to do her session, we had already had to reschedule once because of rain. As the new date approached, I was doing my sun dance(opposite of a rain dance!!! duh) all weekend, making SURE the weather would allow us to shoot. The session was super fun and relaxed and my favorite part was at the end when she brought out her guitar for some edgy shots with her leather jacket, so fun!

Here's a preview of some of my faves!! :)

Meet Rocko.

This is Rocko, the newest addition. However not as new as you would think, my announcement of him is just a little delayed! I've actually had him a few months but he just fit into my daily routine so quickly that I kind of forgot to tell everyone about him! He is quite an interesting little thing. We like to call him "ugly cute". Either he's so ugly that he's cute or so cute that he's ugly, can't figure out which. He's a YorkiePoo and he has a LOAD of personality. You would just have to meet Rocko to know what he's really like. Anyway, I just wanted to share these pictures with you that I took of him the other day. They were all taken in a time frame of less than 2 minutes and I still got quite a bit of expression. Yeah, he's a character.

Different Perspectives.

A few weeks ago, I came across an inevitable bump in the road. I'm finding that running a business independently is all about risks, gains, losses, failures, successes and a million other complete opposites. But really, no matter HOW MANY times you hear about life lessons and dealing with hard situations you can never fully understand until you deal with it first hand....
Several weeks ago, I found myself at a consultation with a bride and her mother. The bride was very young and her mom was there to oversee the booking and make the payment. Everything was going well, your average consultation....we talked about the wedding, life, the photography itself, and even had a few laughs. Nothing out of the ordinary. By the time I left, I had a signed contract and a $500 check for the retainer fee in hand, to reserve their day. The bride even followed up a few hours after, letting me know that she was so excited to have me locked in as her photographer. Things were lookin good!
So it's safe to say I was pretty surprised when I checked my phone later that night and found a missed call from an unfamiliar number and a pretty angry voicemail. It turned out to be from the bride's father, saying that himself and the groom were both "furious" about the cost of my services and that they weren't even getting an album. He said they wanted a refund, and we would need to get this "taken care of" within 24 hours. I sat in a daze, wondering if I had really just heard what I thought I had...how could something great turn bad in just mere hours??? I had no idea how to handle this situation.
The first thing I decided is that I would not call her father back. I would not discuss terms of the contract with someone who had no part in the booking. But the big question was how was I going to deal with their demand for a refund when the contract clearly stated that the retainer is NON-REFUNDABLE. Obviously I would keep it right? Cause I'm fully entitled to the money of course....I'll just tell them "Sorry, you already signed...either pay the rest or lose the money you already put down". Because it is MY money isn't it??? That's the obvious answer right????
Much to all of your surprise....and still to my own...I went the other route.... That money didn't feel like mine. That check sat heavy in my wallet, un-cashed. A name signed on it that already felt like it was no longer part of my plan. Just an ugly reminder of a fit that wasn't right....
I contacted the bride the next morning asking her to have her mother give me a call. Upon talking to her mother I let her know that I would return the money only because it was such quick notice and out of the kindness of my heart. I made sure she understood that I was giving her a refund she was not entitled to merely because I am a kind person and at this time, I felt it was the right thing to do.
We had a very brief meeting at the same place we had booked just the day before. I had her sign a cancellation form that I typed up specifically for this case, she returned the contract, and I returned the check. We drove away and it was done.
As soon as I put my car in drive, I already felt a huge weight lifted off of my shoulders. The slate was wiped clean....I had nothing left to attach me to this bad experience. But I certainly would not forget it. I knew something had to come from it....a learning experience.(and this super lengthy blogpost. ha!) But truthfully, I HATED the whole situation. I hated the roller coaster of emotions...excitement, fear, anger, rationality, remorse...I REALLY hated the insult I felt, listening to the voicemail from her father, making me question my worth...I also hated losing the bride, I really liked her and I know she had NOTHING to do with this whole situation, I feel bad that she got caught up in all of it(unnamed bride, if you are reading this...I hope you have a beautiful wedding day and please know I hold nothing against you!!!).
But from it all I learned a major unexpected lesson, something to do completely with being reasonable and open to diversity. That lesson is that we all look at the world from different angles and we must recognize that everyone has a different perspective. So maybe it was wrong of her parents to break the contract...and I certainly didn't appreciate the way they went about it, but I realized that her dad is certainly not WRONG for thinking my services weren't worth that amount of money. He just puts value on different things. And wouldn't it be more WRONG to expect every person in the world to value the same things? That would be no fun. I dealt with one bad situation...someone who would not spend what I charge. But in the 2 weeks prior to that, I booked 3 brides who were more than happy to pay those prices and see the worth in what I will give them. I also returned weddings discs to 2 previous brides who loved their images and I'm sure would spend the money all over again if they had the chance...
So I guess the lesson here is, don't take it personal. When you're so committed and closely tied in with your business....it's hard to separate it from yourself sometimes. But you've got to realize that things will happen and you've just gotta roll with the punches. If someone cuts down your prices or something of the sort, it doesn't say anything about YOUR worth, but rather, it speaks of THEIR own perspective. In short, clients are like boyfriends...you can't fully appreciate the right one until you've dealt with a couple of the wrong ones hahahaha.

"You don't get harmony when everybody sings the same note"-Doug Floyd

P.S. SOOOOOOOOOO excited that my awesome sister snagged me a copy of this little gem below, for my birthday. (which is October 11th in case you didn't know, but i'm sure you've had it on your calendar all year right?!?! hahaha). I've heard amazing things about this book from other photographers and I'm already loving it after one chapter!

Paulina&Juan: Married.

Mother Nature was most definitely in favor of Paulina and Juan's marriage. And why wouldn't she be, when they have been dating for 10 YEARS??? I still can't get over it. Well, Mother Nature lined it up just perfect for this day...the sun was beaming gloriously but there was just enough breeze to keep it tolerable. And the weather stayed lovely all the way through to their adorable backyard reception that started right as the sun was about to set. Ahhh...perfection. One of my favorite parts of the day was watching Paulina as she took deep breaths and tried to steady her trembling hands, as she was spending her final moments as an un-married woman. I smiled to myself thinking this is probably the same way she might have looked back in high school when she first started dating Juan. The feelings were all still there...butterflies in the tummy, anxiousness, and love. But now in a completely new form..the same feelings she felt before, but intensified by a bond of 10 years together.

Here's a few favorites...

I LOVED how their son stood beside his parents and hept his arm around them as they were up at the altar for their ceremony. So sweet :)








I think she's checkin' him out ;)


DANG. Get it girrrrrl...




There truly was not a dry eye to be found during Paulina's very emotional dance with her grand father.





Congratulations Mr & Mrs Merlos, I am so happy for you!

Absence.

WHERE HAVE I BEEN?????? Geeze. I feel like I have jumped on a space shuttle and left Planet Blog. And I am NOT proud of it. In the whirlwind that has been my life these past few weeks, blogging has somehow managed to slip through the cracks. And believe me....I have tons of awesome blog posts planned for you all, including the last 2 weddings I shot and some other personal things/projects. And they are coming SOON, my good people :)
So if you're wondering where on earth I've been the answer is simple: I'm vending at a bridal expo on the 26th. And being my first one, it is taking just about EVERY ounce of me to be ready for it in time! For those of you who are getting married and are local to the Laguna Hills area, you should definitely come check out the show and stop by to visit with me! I would love it! CLICK HERE for more info :) I have a few free VIP passes left if you want to get in for free!! Email me at kristen@kristenbooth.net.
Other than the expo, I have been meeting with my 2011 brides and booking tons of fabulous weddings for next year. I really CANNOT. CONTAIN. MY. EXCITEMENT. I love each of these new couples so dearly and 2011 is shaping up to be amazing!!
Alsoooo....I have been working on some exciting stuff behind the scenes involving some new things with my brand and top secret business...and maybe just, MAYBE, something to do with oh...i don't know...a new website and blog? Hmmmm...I guess only time will tell ;) Keep posted to see everything come together.
And that concludes this ultra-exciting Kristen Booth news report(definitely kidding). If you took the time to read all of this gibberish, well...you're pretty special. We should be best friends. No, but seriously if you took the time to read this, you're pretty dedicated. Let me know and I'll bake you some cookies! ;)

Here's a little teaser from Paulina&Juan's wedding a couple of weekends ago...