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