Rylee & Tiff {Family}

This is my fourth session with Rylee and her mommy, Tiffany. I always look forward to my sessions with these two, because I know they will be dressed up in something adorable and Rylee will have something ridiculously funny and intelligent to say...
And this session was no exception.
Rylee always picks out her own outfits for the sessions and I think it's adorable! She has such good taste :) Fashionista in the making!
I also find it amazing that at the age of 4 she has her own preference to who her favorite baseball team is....and it's NOT her mom's favorite team! Quite the opposite actually...but you'll read more about that in a little bit.

For this session, I brought along my new baby....a.k.a. my EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM Lens. I purchased it a little over a week ago and haven't had the chance to use it. I brought it along for the session to give it a test run. I ended up shooting 90% of the session with it and it definitely lived up to it's expectation! I can't wait to shoot with it more! (Even though my wrists are STILL aching. Ha!)

Anyways...lets get on to my favorites of the day!

Ummmm HELLO CUTENESS!!!!

Little Miss Personality :)

Okay so let's get one thing straight. Rylee is a DODGERS fan. Even though mama is a hardcore Angels fan and I've been taking pictures of them in their matching Angels gear since Rylee was 2, she's moved on to her own team! Here's a conversation I had with Rylee about her team:

Me: So why don't you like the Angels anymore?
Rylee: Because they always lose!!
Me: Oh I see, so the Dodgers are good?
Rylee: Yeah they're good...that's why I like them!

Here's Rylee rocking her Dodgers cap...

As you can see...she was NOT happy about Mom making her get into ANGELS gear. These shots make me laugh!! :)

xoxo

"Have you ever worked with Justin Bieber?"-{My middle school career fair experience}

A few months ago, a staff member at the middle school I attended back in the day, asked me if I would like to be a guest at the career day they were having(The event was on Friday).

My Response: "Yes!"

This type of thing is so up my alley. First of all...I love to talk. And it's even cooler when I can talk about something I'm passionate about, like my business. Second...I love pushing people to follow their dreams. Too many people push away their true desires and settle into something "comfortable" and spend too much time regretting it. It makes me sad.

I knew that this whole career day experience would be SO worth it, If I could put the belief in even just one student that they can do what they want to. School doesn't tell them that, Society doesn't tell them that. I wanted to tell them.

Because let's be real....I started with NOTHING. Nada, zip, zero. No experience, No camera, No connections, No clue. This is not to say I am ANYWHERE near where I hope to be in the future, but I'm definitely miles ahead of the place I started. I wanted to tell them what I tell everyone..."If I can do it, you certainly can". Seriously.

After hearing about Celeste and her styling, the staff invited her along to have a booth of her own too. And the day wouldn't be complete without me bringing along Ty to help me answer all of the questions coming our way.

And oh boy did we get questions....

It was truly an eventful day and a one of a kind experience. I got to talk one-on-one with some of the students already showing a huge interest in photography who could very well be the prodigies of the industry for their generation. I also met many future vets, actresses, marine biologists, and surgeons!

I got a lot of serious questions, "What does it take to become a photographer?", "How much money do you make?", "How did you get started?"....

But we also got some questions that were totally unexpected and made us giggle, like these:

"Have you ever worked with Justin Bieber?"

"Can you take my picture? Right now?"

"Are you still gonna be in business when I get married?"

"Is that a real wedding? Are you sure, it looks fake"

Here is Ty and I at our table. I love the sign they made me and definitely kept it!

The lovely Celeste and I.

xoxo

Shelby {Senior Session}

Stacey....Sydney....Sandy....SHELBY! Yes, Shelby.

I don't know what it was about this girl's name that had me sitting in my car right before the session, staring at my phone forcing my brain to memorize it. I'm usually great with names. It's birthdays that I'm bad at. I have to ask my best friend EVERY year what the date of hers is....we've been friends for going on 16 years...yeah, it's that bad :P

Anyways....once I got the name down....(SHELBY!!!)....I got to learn more about this awesome girl and all that she has going for her. I feel like a proud mother as I sit here and brag about her and all of her achievements. But she really is amazing!!

Let's put it this way....

She's a web designer and a race car driver. Cool, huh?

She discovered her passion for graphic design her junior year in a class she took for it at her high school. She decided to take it a step further than the class by joining a club on campus called SkillsUSA, in which students in career and technical training courses can compete in their division regional and state levels. Shelby of course competed in web design and placed gold at the regionals and bronze at the state level. Then went on to place the same rankings her senior year! She mentioned that the web competition involves a 2 person team, creating an entire site for a company in 6.5 hours...from scratch! Talk about intense!!

As for racing, Shelby has been behind the wheel for 5 years. She races 1/4 mile oval tracks and has moved on from smaller cars to full size stock cars(basically what you would see on NASCAR). Not only does she now race against grown men (her youngest opponent is in his late 20's), but she also has made some other triumphs for the ladies, by being the first female to race at either of her hometracks AND by being the first and only female to race there in the full-size stock car division. But don't let this racing business fool ya...she's a total girly girl!

Okay enough talking and onto the photos! Here's some of my favorites of the day :)

Her SkillsUSA medals! :)

She brought her boyfriend along, so I was able to get some fun shots of them together too! :)

She wanted to get some shots that break the Female Racer = Tomboy, stereotype. Like this one!

Shelby's dad came along for the session, in his VW bug, without ever having the intention of use using it for anyshots. However...when I saw it there parked gloriously on the dry lakebed and how well her outfit matched it, I could NOT resist the opportunity...

And last but not least...one for dad!

xoxo

The Krohn's - {Family Session}

Ohhhh my. This family is seriously too cute to be true. I could say it a million times. Too cute. Too cute. Too cute. TOO CUTE! Their basically the all-american family everyone dreams about(or at least I do!). A perfect and even four. Mommy, Daddy, Daughter, and Son. Perfect. With my full emphasis being on weddings now and the time I have been devoting to my website/branding lately, I don't take a whole lot of family bookings anymore. Their session makes me wish I did! So perfect in every way. My camera couldn't have loved them more.

Here's a little selection of the many adorable photos captured that day! :)

I just love everything about this shot!!! Isn't Little Miss Jade a cutie pie?!

I was AMAZED at the body language between these two. On the very first pose I put them in, they fell into it so naturally that I had to question "Have you done this before?!?!"

And last but not least....

xoxo

Gianna: Senior Session

I really like this girl! She's beautiful, fun, has a great smile....and she's my cousin. So maybe I'm a little biased, but I think she's great! :) I was soooo excited to shoot her senior portraits, knowing it would be a breeze with how incredibly photogrenic she is.

I love her laugh in all of these photos...how it makes the image so fun and instantly adds life to it. So for future clients: Don't be afraid to laugh in front of my camera!! When I try to get a giggle out of you, let it out!! :)

So here we go, with my favorites from the session....Ahh I love them all!!!

These next two are my absolute FAVORITES of the day!! Can you say Rock Star?!?!

This is about as close as we get to "lush fields" in the desert I live in. However. my clients are surprisingly easy-going when I suggest they lay down in the weeds ;)

xoxo