wpja q3 contest!

just released their results & i had an image place, again! this has to be one of my favorite images of a groom getting ready -that i've ever taken. this was from allison & paul's wedding this past july in nashville, tn. i must thank melissa, bryan's sister, for this referral!

prescott camping!

julie & aurora's wedding gave us the great excuse to spend a long weekend in prescott. i'd never been to prescott before so we packed up the dogs & all of our stuff (which takes a surprisingly long time) & headed north for cooler weather & beautiful country. our good friends heather & brian met up with us on friday to join in on the fun.

here are a few of my favorite pictures:

it rained most of the weekend- which i loved!


it's very beautiful there.


my little snuggle bug.


friday before the wedding we got to spend some time by a lake- throwing the frisbee & relaxing.


another bug- it was very funky.


bryan brought his mountain bike... on one of the mornings he & the dogs went for some exercise. they were so worn out!


i love monsoon skies.


ode to the garbage bag. i absolutely hate it when i'm camping or hiking & see trash that was left behind -these people obviously enjoy being in beautiful scenery but have no respect for letting the next person see it as pristine. i usually end up filling at least one full bag of garbage. i think it's so sad.


az has some amazing sunsets!


we are leaving on thursday for another long weekend of camping with our friends carson & maria... you met them while we were in nyc! i think we are kayaking on lake powell for most of the trip- which will be awesome. it has more shoreline than california! but nothing is decided yet! who knows where we'll end up.

random catch-up no 2

while i was in pennsylvania shooting megan & marc's wedding my sister & her boyfriend, jeff, drove down from nyc to see me!!! jeff went to college at penn state so he was in heaven showing us his old stomping grounds. we hit up like 10,000 bars, the last one being my favorite -it was a sing along! the president of the university usually plays with the band on saturday nights (but not this night :( the next morning before we headed in different directions we had breakfast at the diner. yummy sticky buns & french toast!



you guys were awesome to make that long drive to hang out for less than 24 hours!

random catch-ups.

while i was in atlanta for richard & kristen's wedding (forever ago!) i was able to meet up with some awesome fellow photographers for lunch. i met these peops in vegas at the wppi convention, so it was great to catch-up with them!

i took a pretty poor hail mary shot & for that i ask forgiveness :) but here we are after our YUMMY mexican lunch.



sarah speert, katie & chris torres, me & jennifer odom.

thanks to chris for organizing & to katie, sarah & jennifer for taking time out of your busy lives to catch up! see you in january for the next conference :)

a nice day at the beach...

for us desert people that usually means california or rocky point, but my good friends cathi & tyler invited a few people out to butcher jones- it's a "beach" on saguaro lake. one of my favorite places to kayak because it's so close & beautiful. i didn't take many pictures but i did get the camera out to take some of my lil isabelle & nathan!





i can't believe what lil people they are now!

thanks cathi & tyler -because that was the longest i'd spent outside in phx this summer :)

i have finally found my kind of reality tv

first the olympics- which were amazing, but if every country could spend 40 BILLION dollars like china they'd all be that spectacular. i mean the athletes helped ;)

& now the democratic convention. wow.

all the speakers have blown me away- michelle, hillary, bill, biden... but i was surprised at how great kerry did. he was pretty fantastic.

i am soo proud to be a democrat.

dave & taryn

had a great idea for their engagement shoot... they love cooking so they thought it would be fun to take a couples cooking class at sweet basil in scottsdale. it would have been great if they weren't assigned jobs that required them to be on opposite sides of the room all night :)~ i think i was able to get a few cute shots of them & some cool details to tell a sweet lil story. we are going to do a part 2 where they can interact a little bit more! so stay tuned for that.

they made gorgeous salads with cucumber cups...


i love how they are making almost the exact same face!


it smelled so good!!!


a toast to us :)


are you noticing a trend in these pictures -taryn laughing? dave is a very funny guy & this, i think is one of the sweetest qualities about these two. dave is always being funny & they are always laughing.


he had everyone giggling all night long, actually.


i am very honored to be your photographer & i can't wait for your wedding at the botanical gardens!!

aurora & julie's slide show

is ready! enjoy :)

holiday portrait sessions

can you believe it's time to start thinking about this???

but it is & i'm excited to annouce that i'm going to be offering portrait sessions in three different cities!

ms. julie & ms. aurora.

were married on 8.8.08 at juniper ranch in prescott arizona!!! it was one of the more personal, sweet ceremonies i've ever been to. the rain that came during the reception only added to the fun!

here are some of my favorite images.

julie's boots. it was a cowgirl wedding ;)


jules getting ready.


they asked their mothers to walk them down the aisle...




jules stepfather had everyone in tears.


the rain held off so we could have the ceremony under this beautiful tree.


both sets of parents & 4 friends read vows & shared stories during the ceremony.
the reverend joanna white also gave a beautiful blessing:
we ask that joy surround you, that beauty go before you and may you leave peaceprints wherever you go...


and now for some cute portraits!


love this one.








aurora's sister, maia, gave a great toast.




cool detail of one of the beautiful vows their friend, meredith, wrote.


the ladies in their choice of rain wear.


the boots!


& then there was dancing.






the rain was coming in sideways so the drummer improvised. :)


it was a purty night.


thank you ladies, i had a magnificent time. your friends & family are awesome! & it was a pleasure to watch you both declare your love to the world, i am honored to have been there.

for the photographers.

i thought I'd give a lil shout out to photojunction...

within this past year i've started using this program to design my albums. it has turned album designing into a fun part of the process! it's very easy to grasp & it works with almost every album company to ensure the design you've been working so hard on will work with their guidelines. plus, their customer service is stellar. i totally recommend this product.

mike & tami

-you've met a few times before... they were married in january & then their beautiful, saucy photo won me an award in wpja. well, since their wedding i'm honored to say they've become good friends of mine. so when they called & said they were expecting i was so excited. then they tell me they have 3 sweet lil buns in the oven -i was speechless. 2 boys & a girl. how cute is that?

we were able to do a belly session last wed & here are a few of my favorites:

isn't tami gorgeous? i think this one is my favorite!


too cute!


& mike, mike is too funny!






one baby is here.


& another is here.


& the last lil tyke is here.


& of course we couldn't take pictures without zeta- their first baby.


stay tuned to meet these little babies. we're hoping i can be in there to document their birth!
& that could be within the next month :)

mike & tami, thank you for letting me such a big part of your lives.