okay so vegas.

i have a few free hours before i leave for the rehearsal dinner & then right
after that some of my work from my honduras trip is being displayed tonight
at "last friday" at cartel coffee house. if you're in phx you need to check this
place out. i love it. small, locally owned & unique. come on by if you're in the
mood for coffee & art.

so... here is some more of vegas.

the trade show was overwhelming- people handing you pamplets & showing
you their product... goodness i'm proud of myself for not going over board!
i did very well resisting & everything i couldn't resist is already paid off :)

i've decided on three album companies:
fin.a.o & cotoure &
cypress, i loved the pages in this album... it showed off the images really well!




i spent some time at the canon counter slobbering over some lens & the 5d.
i'm predicting that by mid-summer i'll have one of those puppies. i'm actually
getting a delivery from b&h my favorite camera equipment supplier today!!!
some new lighting equipment that i'm really excited to play with at tomorrow's
wedding!

yeah monika & josiah, it's finally here!!!

so back to vegas, monday night i went to the giveaway gala in hopes of meeting
up with kim jarman & jennifer bowen, but they were on their way out to another
party... so i decided to be brave & stay for awhile longer... solo. it was awkward at
first & then my knight in shining armor appeared: lisa on the far right!

she struck up a conversation with me & we hit if off right away. she's way up
in the northeast otherwise i think we'd hang out all the time. you can check out her
work here.

the infamous anne ruthmann is being sandwiched, who is also fabulous.
she was at the leavin-las-vegas shoot too.

anyways, lisa and i ended up staying out with some of her friends until
4:30am, finishing the lovely evening with some french toast!

because of that one conversation with lisa, i ran into one of the guys, regis, from the
night before & he invited me to dinner with another whole slew of really cool people.


sometimes it's worthwhile to put yourself in situations that aren't comfy.
i would never have met:
regis from regisphotography
nate & amanda reynolds from turtlepondphotography
chris & katie torres from 6 of four creations
jennifer odom of dove wedding photography
garrett nudd of garrett nudd photography
sticky of brandyj
sara speert of saraphotography.com
melody of carpenter photography
jason from jasonaromond
shelly from shellyvalentinephoto

shuweee! so many talented young artists in one place was amazing.

okay. now i need to start getting ready. so i'm leaving this post a little
earlier than planned. i have one more section to go up & then vegas will
be behind me :)~

check back soon for the pics from the last night in vegas, the wedding i
was able to second shoot for kim jarman & moni & josiah's wedding
tomorrow!

hope you have a great weekend!

earth hour

tomorrow night from 8-9pm there is a movement around the world to
turn out the lights! how cool is that? it started in australia last year &
now it's spreading fast -everywhere. i'll be shooting at a wedding but,
our house will be pitch black (poor dogs!) if you're interested in
participating please go here & sign up so they can track the amount of
people participating.

we can be so cool sometimes.

wppi...

was an amazing experience. i learned a lot from a few of the speakers. i'm now
officially in love with jerry ghionis. he is australian so that doesn't help
(darn accents) & he makes some amazing photographs. he actually got me
excited about lighting- i'm an au natural' kinda girl & use the flash only when
absolutely necessary... but he has me thinking maybe, sometimes it's okay to
play with the light.

i also met some fantastic people but, more on that later.

i got to be a part of leavin-las-vegas -a photo shoot at red rock the day after
wppi ended. there were over 40 photographers & i think 8 models. it was a
trash the dress shoot & sooo much fun. here are some of my favorites.


when i saw this awesome green tractor i was about in heaven. i tried to
figure out how i could put it in my luggage and bring it home with me. our lovely
model climbed on up & let us shoot away.


isn't she beautiful?


& a little angry :)


thought this was kinda cool...


big fan of shooting with things in the foreground out of focus...


here we are crowding just bit :)


so purty.




we played with some reflectors that nearly blind you but do some nice things
with the light.


and here is my new friend, shawna. we sat together on the way to red rock & talked
the entire way. she's so much fun & very talented. check out her site.


& then there's bobbi. she is a hoot. i loved her hair & orange matching
shootsac :0 you can see her work here!


there's more to come. tomorrow is my first free day since being back & i think
i'll be able to tackle the last few posts & be all caught up!

moni's bachelorette party.

vegas isn't really my thing so it's a big deal for me that i survived a week there.
i know a whole week! i was there last weekend for moni's bachelorette party &
then the sunday they all left was the first day of the wedding & portrait
photographer international conference. which was awesome- but check back for
that post.

there were 9 of us total & we had such a great time.


friday night we saw ka, which is a-m-a-z-i-n-g. i cried & laughed & was in complete
aw. people are so incredible. my favorite part is the finger puppet scene. then we
clubbed it. we woke up the next day & scratched the idea of the hike i'd prepared,
because, well we were pooped. so we spent the whole day lounging by the pool &
talking. that night- we surprised moni with the wigs from the above picture.
which was hillarious & got us a lot of attention.

here's moni & her two sisters. tanja & iris, so cute!


before hitting the clubs we stuffed ourselves at a sushi buffet, those buffets
could really kill you!


after dinner we headed to the mix lounge on top of mandalay bay to have
some cocktails & watch the sunset, which was awesome. the guy in the fore
ground is eric lust. while i was taking this picture he & his wife, jennifer, of
jlustphotography striked up a conversation & it somehow came up that we
were all wedding photographers here for the convention. they bought me a
drink & we chatted for awhile. i new that was a good sign of how the rest of
the week was to go...

i loved how this picture came out- the ladies hanging out inside, the reflection
of las vegas-


this next picture is crazy. i didn't touch it in photoshop- it happened in my camera
like this. our soon-to-be-bride!


this one might be too much of a good thing :) tehee.
kinda scary, though with that big eye in the middle.


& of course some dancing.


at the end of the night we had guys begging us for the wigs.


what a great weekend moni & ladies! i'm still recovering.

ashley

is one of my favorite oklahomans! is that even what they're called? anyways, she
played frisbee with bryan in undergrad at ou. she's now in north carolina working
on degree number 2; she's decided to be a nurse & she will be the best nurse ever!

she was only in town for a few days, but it was so much fun. we picked her up at
the airport & grabbed some in & out -yummy! & then headed home to pack up the boats.
it took us much longer than i'd hoped to get everything together so we didn't make
it to saguaro lake until 6 & on the water until 6:30 right about when the sun was
setting. we paddled our 4 miles mostly in dusk or pitch black since it was only a sliver
of a moon. we're strong women so we weren't afraid (well a little, but we did just fine!)
we finally reached the campsite after miles & miles of really tall reeds that we were
afraid we'd have to push ourselves through & sleep in our boats if we never found it, but
luckily didn't have to & the campground appeared out of nowhere.

we had the place to ourselves which was perfect until we heard a gunshot from a boat
out on the lake. we were in our tent drinking hot chocolate when we heard it & froze,
even though they couldn't see us! we heard the boat drive off & had the place to ourselves again.
we stayed up late into the night talking & shivering because it was a bit chilly.
the next morning we jumped in the 55 degree water! & got out as fast as we could reach
the shore. those polar bear club people are nuts!

we made some oatmeal & then took our time paddling back. it was so beautiful & the
perfect break for ashley, who left a cold north carolina, for our warm early spring.

(lil' disclaimor -all of these pictures were taken with my point n shoot!)

this was my first overnight kayaking trip, where you have to pack only what will fit in the
boat: sleeping bags, tent, food, water, clothes, camp towels, etc. it was quite a task, but so
worth it if you all ever get a chance.

i've been on this lake in the afternoon & at midnight, but this was my first sunset!


our view from within our tent.


a closer view of four peaks.


our boats awaiting us.


the weather was perfect, probably mid 80's with a nice breeze.


the mountains were covered in wild flowers. see the yellow patches?


miss ashley.




we stayed on land for the rest of the trip & visited some locally owned shops
in downtown phx. i got 3 tickets for us to see the color purple at gammage, asu's
famous auditorium, which was fabulous once we sneaked into better seats after
intermission. word of advice- pay the extra money for lower seats- the sound
is horrible on the third level. & then ashley had to leave & i was sad. hopefully it
won't be long until we go another adventure, ash!

jessica and sean

met me in old town scottsdale yesterday for their engagement session. we had a lot of fun walking around the civic center. we of course had to visit the famous love sculpture, but we found some unique spots & i think we made some awesome pictures.

here are some fun pics from the day:


these two were so cute & playful.






as the sun set the light was beautiful!
while they were smooching i chased some shadows. i love this one.














more shadows!


congratulations you two! i wish you a very happy life full of laughter :)

101 update.

i have decided to alter a few things on my 101 list that i'd like to accomplish. this very well may be cheating but they are now concrete things that can be accomplished & by no means easier, so i'm not wussing out, promise! here is a link to my 101 original post, but now updated with the few alterations :)

things i've decided to include:

visit my sister, jeff, carson & maria in nyc.
visit ted & sarah in boulder colorado.
visit theresa & jeff before they leave for their around the world trip in sept.
visit john, deshawn & qwyn.
order 3 new canvas wraps for studio.
order 4 new albums for studio.
second shoot with 3 new photographers.

kay. i'm off to check some things off my list. i hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

baby soul.

i met this wonderful family a few months ago & we have tried to set up a session several times now, but weather or something has deterred us from accomplishing our goal. i am so glad we persevered though, because i love what we were able to get this morning!

joronda & mateo have a sweet, happy little boy named soul.



soul is fascinated by water so we tried to incorporate it.. kinda geometric & cool.


happy baby.


such a cute family!

too cute!


mama & her baby.




serious soul...


gigglin' soul...


so sweet & happy & lovin' his thumb.


& a nice moment between all of them.


& this one might be my favorite.


i had such a good time. i can't wait for when he starts walking & we can do take 2!