friday night & saturday morning with the pups

Pups and pups oh my.

This past weekend I had a puppy sleep over!  While my roomie was away for work I was in charge of taking precious care of her wieny Steve and I also had my wonderful dog Diva over.  I decided to have a puppy sleep over!  The pups hung out while I cooked up a mean batch of 49 cent macaroni and cheese (not so yummy) and then we all snuggled up on the couch and watched some Sex and the City: Season 6, part 1. 

I had to put some ear muffs on the wieny at times because he is too young to hear some of the things they talk about on that show. (just kidding)

Once we wrapped up a few episodes we headed off to relax in my room, more like the pups relaxed while I played around with my new 50mm lens.  Diva didn't mind the camera in her face at all. She was proud to show off her new collar that my love got her.  He said she looked very "Dior" in it. Steve also would get jealous when I would only photograph Diva so he started posing on his own and of course I had to take some photos so he'd be satisfied.

 

 

The pups and I retired to bed and for the first time in months I slept until 10am. Whoo hoo!!

It felt so nice not to feel rushed in the morning.  The pups and I were able to wake up with no alarm and just hang out in bed for a bit.  Of course Diva could sleep through the entire day.  As you can see even sleeping until 10am wasn't enough for her.

She begged for me to come back to bed.  But when I mentioned food she quickly changed her mind.

Makenzie turns 1

Just thought I'd post a little sneak peek of a recent shoot I did.  It involved a sweet little girl, a boa, 4 adults...and sprinklers.

The story behind the first half of our shoot is beyond entertaining, but guess what...you're just going to have to wait to hear the entire story after I have my second half of my shoot with little miss Mak aka: Makenzie.

(I tend to come up with little nicknames for each child I photograph...it's how I connect with the youngins, for example my good friend Jessica has a son named Dallas who I've posted a previous blog on, and I call him "Dal," you should check out my post about him...it's beyond entertaining.)

Any who, here are a few images of little Mak to hold you over until I wrap up my second session with her.

Bon Appétit 

(even though it's not a meal)

♥

Slacker Status

Hola, Bonjour, Hoi, Guten Tag, Aloha, ciào, Yah-soo...Hello. 

      I decided to say hello in multiple languages :)

Just felt like posting a quick teeny tiny blog.  It's March already. I'm still always amazed at how quick time truly goes by.  The older I get the quicker the days come to a close.  But anyway back to my main point in this short post.  

    I have been slacking majorly in the blogging department.  I've been trying to keep up with work, my photography, editing, and having a some what life of sorts. So here is my post to let everyone know I am aware of my slacker status.  I have a few posts that will soon be up from a few shoots I've done and finally finished editing. Yippee!! 

Also I thought I'd share an image I came across that I absolutely love.  I love looking at all different photographers work because I always find inspiration in their work and it makes me want to continue to learn and better myself as a photographer. So today's inspiration is Shannon Nicole Smith, her work is timeless.

 

Well that's all I have to say today, until my next post I'll wear my slacker status proudly. 

Peace & Love

justin + lacie: engaged - nelson's landing

 Justin + Lacie sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G. first comes l♥ve then comes marriage....haha Okay enough with my elementary school antics.  First of all Hello February!  February has been a great month and it's almost over.  This month I had the opportunity to photograph the future Mr. & Mrs. Toranzo.  My good friend Lacie, whom I am have known since I was in 6th grade asked me if I would do her engagements back in October.  I obviously said yes...or else I wouldn't be writing this blog. Anyway Lacie and I had been brain storming for the next few months while we waited for the new year to come and for the weather to not be so chilly. 

We e-mailed back and forth about ideas and locations and we finally settled on the location being at this little place called Nelson's Landing.  Neither of us had ever been there before but I've seen many images from sessions by other photographers that I know and Lacie had seen some photos of her friends that have been photographed there.  Nelson's was a perfect location for this couple.  It has that old ruggish vibe that is yet timeless.  It is probably one of the best locations I have yet to photograph at.  The people there were very friendly and welcoming. 

We were a bit spooked when they showed us pictures of what happened to one guy who got bit by a rattle snake down there and another guy who fell into a cactus, so we definitely steered clear of any of that.  We also had a very entertaining beginning before the shoot.  Lacie, Justin & I all walked around Nelson's to get an idea of where we wanted to shoot and just to see all that they had to offer.  As we were walking around we started walking up to this old "abandoned" house, (keyword abandoned) and as we got closer this guy, who looked like he belonged in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie, came walking out towards us and yelled, "Ya'll can't be up here, there is No Trespassing past that gate."  I didn't hear him clearly so I asked him to repeat himself and he then replied, "I said No Trespassing."  All three of us turned and looked at each other and apologized to the man and walked back down away from his house.  We all laughed as we discussed how we felt like it was a scene out of a horror movie and that all the man needed was a shotgun cocked and in his hands while he was yelling at us.  So we definitely did not go back up in that direction again.  After we toured the place a bit we went back to our cars and I got all of my equipment and we walked towards the first spot we chose to photograph at.  We snapped a few shots on an empty porch...and yes it was empty, then we walked over to this other old house and we decided to go shoot inside because there was a cool balcony we wanted to photograph on.  I was the first up the porch along with Tyson (Lacie & Justin's dog) and as I

opened the door, Tyson went right in and as Lacie & Justin followed  something caught my eye on the couch...it was a Direct TV Remote.  I immediately looked at Lacie & Justin and said, "Ummm I don't think this one is abandoned either...I think someone lives here."  So we quickly called Tyson and hurried out of the house.  At this point I was hysterically laughing because every house looked abandoned and I couldn't believe we had just walked right in to someone's actual house, then literally 5 minutes later while we had finally found actual buildings we could use, a little Toyota truck pulled up to the house we had just walked in.  From there on out we no longer walked in to places that people actually lived in and we wrapped up out shoot at Nelson's.  

After Nelson's we drove about 5 miles down to where the Colorado River was and we did our last couple of shots there.  I must say Justin & Lacie were absolutely amazing.  They both were willing and up for anything that I asked.  When we got down to the river I kept trying to figure out exactly what I wanted and then I came up with the perfect idea for our last shot.  I told Lacie that I thought it would be cute if they both got barefoot and were standing in the river holding their save the date sign that Lacie hand-made, and she was totally down for it. All that was left was convincing Justin and let me tell you even though I thought he'd say no since it was the beginning of February and I wanted them to get in barefoot when the water was freezing, he simply said, "If this is the last shot then okay." Lacie & I were both very excited, and as you can see it was totally worth it.  

This session was full of entertaining moments and simple fun. The best part about it though was seeing how in love Justin & Lacie are with one another.  That for me is the best part of my job.  When I photograph a couple I get to witness the slightest gestures of love between them. I will sit back and observe how a couple interacts with one another and that is a part of how I am able to get the most natural and touching images.  It can be the slightest gesture that normally no one would pay great attention to and yet I am constantly watching for those moments.  Those images to me are more touching and meaningful then simply smiling at the camera.

Last but not least I simply just want to thank you again Justin & Lacie for picking me to be apart of the beginning of your soon to be new life together.  It was an absolute pleasure and you two are made for one another.  <3

*This is by far my favorite photo of Justin from that day.

Sneak Peak of the Durkin Wedding

Earlier today I had the privilege of photographing Andrew & Lisa Durkin's Wedding.  It was absolutely stunning.  I just had to post a sneak peak of what is to come with in the next month.  Hope you all enjoy!

Revelations Series

Here are some of the images from my Revelations series I talked about in my last post.

Location:  Las Vegas, NV @ the Dry Lake Beds

Model(s):  Gabby McGhie (sister) & Diva (my Weimaraner) 

Revelations: Angel vs Adulteress

 

Time is on my side....only on Wednesdays

I have been absolutely positively slammed these past few weeks, hence why I haven't updated my blog. I tend to always be falling behind, luckily that will be changing and I will be nurturing this blog with posts here and there of the awesome projects I have with in the next few weeks. :) I am very excited for the upcoming wedding I have on the 29th and then following that I have a fun & sexy shoot with my lovely doll Taylor. I'm excited to see what we come up with for Taylor's shoot. Taylor's shoot will be broken up in to 2 different sessions. One session, which will be this coming Sunday on the 30th, will be a studio environment and possibly some shots in her new home. Then her second session which is in February, will be out at the dry lake beds.

I can not even begin to describe how much I love doing shoots based on fashion out there. The last shoot I did out at the dry lake beds was for my High Fashion class and I used my sister and my dog as the models. The concept that I was assigned to capture was "End of the World."

Yea...I know what you're thinking. When I first heard that concept I was a little stressed because I had NO idea on what I was going to shoot or how I'd symbolize the end of the world in a High Fashion sort of manner. So I thought about it for the few weeks I had before it was due and I was not able to conceptualize anything so I decided to give up and just not turn anything in. I e-mailed my teacher to give him a heads up that I wasn't able to come up with anything and in return he e-mailed me back telling me how disappointed he was and I am not one who likes to disappoint people so when I read that I felt like a failure.
Well no joke the night before my assignment was due I was up hanging out with my sister and I was telling her about my assignment and how I was really bummed that I was not able to come up with anything and she started talking to me about this long white "Cinderella" type dress that she had and then we started going through my closet and I had found the dress my sisters and I had worn for my dads wedding and we both agreed those would work for high fashion, then we decided on a location and I suggested the dry lake beds, then we had to figure out how to incorporate the "End of the World" theme. So after a few minutes of talking my sister mentioned Revelations and how it's about the end of the world and we decided that we could do one shot of her in the white dress symbolizing and Angel, and then in the black and white dress from the wedding we'd symbolize Evil. So literally 4 hours after coming up with my assignment we woke up at 5am, got everything together, drove out to the dry lake beds, did all the shots, and wrapped up at about 7:30ish/8am, drove all the way back home and I had to compile 5 images in 1 image, print it, crop it to size, rush to campus, mount it, and turn it in at 2pm. Let me tell you, it was a SUCCESS! My teacher was beyond impressed and I honestly think I had the best image out of the entire class because I truly followed the theme but I also made it high fashion.

I will post the series of images I got out of that session in my next post since I am typing this post from my phone.

Anyway after I rambled for forever about my last dry lake bed shoot I am excited to see what we are able to pull out of my up and coming dry lake bed session with the gorgeous Taylor.

So keep a look out, my next few posts will revolve around a couple joining as one and saying I do, some studio/location portraits from Taylor's session, and a fun Engagement session @ Nelson's Landing!

Happy Blogging Loves<3