Kelly & Sal: Las Vegas Engagement Session

Oh how long I have excitedly awaited this session :)

If I had to describe Kelly as one thing, it would be: easy going. (Even though Sal doesn't seem to agree with this opinion). She completely trusted me when it came to locations, times, helping her pick her outfits, without worrying one bit. She did the same with Celeste, who came along to style her hair and makeup(and will also be styling the wedding!!! Yay!). Kelly is just very laid back and tons of fun. Basically, she'd gonna be the perfect wife!

If I had to describe Sal as one thing, it would be: a crack up. Since he wasn't at the contract signing & consultation, my first time meeting him was in lobby of their hotel. As he showed us up to the room where Kelly was, Celeste asked him "So, are you excited for today?" and his response was "Hell no!". Hahahha you know men and how they loooove taking pictures. I assured him that getting his picture taken for 3+ hours surely wouldn't be half as bad as he expected! However I'm sure he didn't really believe me until the end, when he admitted that I was right...it wasn't THAT bad. He had me laughing all night though with his funny remarks, like when he saw Kelly all styled and made up and said "Wow, you look better". Or when he asked me "So for these pictures I'm gonna have to like hold her and stare into her eyes and stuff?!?!". It's all a humorous front. He loves her like crazy.

I love couples I can joke with. This, being a reason why I think these two are loads of fun! :) I suggested Vegas for their session because I wanted a location that would showcase and bring out their fun side. It was the perfect choice :) SO much to shoot with! It was definitely a photographer's playground.

Kelly and Sal are so perfect for each other. Kelly puts up with Sal, and Sal adores her! ;) Hahaha. But mostly, they know how to have fun! And what's better than that?

I can't wait until the wedding, to surely have even more laughs with these two. Oh...and maybe get some awesome photos while we're at it! :)

Here's some highlights of their session!

We started our day portion off at the Bellagio and the areas surrounding it...

Ohhh my goodness. Kelly, you're gorgeous!!!!

For the night portion, we started off at the Cosmopolitan hotel. I LOVED what Celeste did with Kelly's hair and makeup. It was perfect!!

Well Hello super model....

Back out to the Bellagio, JUST in time for the water show :)

And the off to Caesars Palace :)

xoxo

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

Erika & Trevor: Engagement Session.

This is Erika and Trevor. They're so fly...like a G6! Hahahha...no really though they are! But what I'm really getting at is that Trevor is a pilot! Not your commercial, "Thanks for flying with Southwest today", pilot. Trevor flies private jets, catering only to the mega rich and famous.(now cue the "oooooooh"s and "ahhhhhh"s!). I knew from the beginning that I would want to incorporate the planes somehow in their engagement session and Erika and Trevor were so down for the idea!!! Now, I was thinking...shooting at the airport, around a plane...I had no idea we would actually get to go inside a jet! I was stoked, to say the least. Before that day, I had never been in a small private plane...so cool! I was amazed that something with an inside capacity barely larger than you're average van can get you all the way across the country in just a few hours! Now don't judge it on it's size...I'm here to tell you that the small size of it is NO indication of a small price tag...AT ALL. This little beauty costs more than most of us would be able make in multiple lifetimes. But hey, we can dream! ;)

I really enjoyed working with this gorgeous couple and I am so looking forward to their wedding in May!

Take a look at some of my favorites!









I am so thankful for the awesome opportunity I got to shoot inside of the jet! These next 3 shots are some of my faves of all time! So simple..yet so unique :)







After the airport, we headed over to a second location for a more classic/nature-y setting with some great lighting!



Erika, you're stunning! I can't wait to see what a beautiful bride you're going to be!!











xoxo

Snow Day: Couples sessions.

So if you've never been to Southern California...you're probably one of those people who seriously believes we all walk around in daisy dukes with bikinis on top 24/7. Well I'm here to tell you that's not true! While we do have pretty fair weather, we get the occasional snow here where I live. (However I'm pretty angry that those occasional snows never seem to conveniently fall on Christmas!!! No white Christmas for me yet, booohoooo). A few weeks ago, we got a surprise few inches of snow that seemed to be just what the doctor prescribed for this town. Even though it was gone after one day, that one day was one of the best. Everyone was out walking in it, playing in it, and just ENJOYING it. (I know all of you people from cold places are probably laughing at the thought of us SoCal dwellers getting giddy over a few inches of snow, but remember, It's rare for us!!!). I was no exception to the "stay outside till your toes freeze off" rule. I spent my day....can you guess....?.....SHOOTING! Oh yes. The second I saw that fluffy white powder outside of my window I was itching to take some photos. So I got the pleasure of doing 2 mini-sessions with two adorable couples that day, and ohhhh boy did I enjoy it. Part of me is contemplating moving somewhere that I can shoot in the snow all winter....Kidding! But I enjoyed it while it lasted :)

Here's a few images from my session with Jordan and Kylie! :)









And some from my session with Lauren and Nick!
P.S. It was Lauren's birthday, that day! How cool is that? Happy Birthday, Lauren! :)

Ryan&Cassie: Chino Hills/Riverside Engagement.

Ryan and Cassie got engaged on Christmas Eve. Dinner had just finished up at Ryan's mother's house and the whole family was around. Ryan came up to Cassie and asked her if she remembered how he told her a few days ago that the ring she liked was sold. Cassie replied, "yes", she remembered him telling her this but didn't know what relevance it had at the moment. Ryan then got down on one knee and said "They sold it to me".

I LOVE this story...just like I loved hearing other snippets of their history as Cassie shared stories with me during our consultation. It was all straight out of a movie...how they met when they sat next to eachother in Biology class in high school, fell in love...and the rest is history.

After 12 years, these two will be tying the knot in October 2011 and I am so honored and excited to be a part of it. For their engagement session, I couldn't think of a better place to shoot than the place where it all began, their high school. Check out the fun shots we got there, followed by some scenic ones in Riverside :)





May look like just another door, but this door is special. It's the door to the classroom where they first met! :)






And now for the shots we got in Riverside...


My favorite of the day :)












WORK IT GIRLLLLLLLLLLLLL.........


Don't be mistaken...this next one was not a pose. I was walking ahead, scouting out the next location, while Cassie and Ryan followed behind. I turned around and quickly snapped this. Ryan was carrying her so she didn't have to hike the paths in her heeled boots. TOO sweet, right? :)






And that's a wrap for this post! But that's enough cuteness to last you for the whole day!!! Lots more blogposts coming this week, stay posted! :)