Katie + Larry {Avila Beach Wedding Photographer}

As a wedding photographer, I get to meet a lot of people. I get to see the most intimate moments of the most intimate day of their lives. I still find myself in awe of the fact that someone chose me to document their Wedding day, because after the filet mignon has been eaten, the flowers wilted, and the decorations put away, what will be left are the photographs I take. So in addition to the details and the events taking place, I do my best to capture a key element of the day: The emotion. And with Katie and Larry's wedding day I definitely felt a lot of it. You'd think that after doing so many weddings I'd almost be immune to the cake being cut and the first kiss after the I do's, but during this beautiful beach front wedding I still found myself choking back tears as I saw two wonderful people committing themselves to one another. It was so beautiful and something I will never forget, and I am still in awe that they allowed me to share it with them.

Congratulations Katie and Larry, I'm so thrilled that you two are so happy and in love and I got to witness that.

{Mesa Wedding Photographer: The Wright House} Karen + Lloyd

This lovely couple was married on May the Fourth. Except to me it was just May 4th and the Star Wars poster in the front lobby was just a token of what hard core Star Wars fans they were. It wasn't until the next day when I was perusing Facebook that I saw everybody wishing everyone else "May the Fourth be with you." How this holiday has eluded me, I don't know, but now whenever I hear the phrase I will absolutely be thinking of Karen & Lloyd.

This is the first sneak peek I'll be doing of this lovely couple.You'll see more of these beautiful faces soon enough :)

{Photography} Picking a location

 Remember these pictures?

 

When I set out to do these pictures I had no idea where I wanted to do them. Eventually I headed to my favorite location where I did most of my 2012 Holiday Season photoshoots. Unfortunately all the leaves had fallen off the trees and it wasn't nearly as colorful as I would've wanted my pictures to be. I settled for a stretch of well manicured green grass across the street because the light was fading and I was desperate.

That's when I saw it.

The smallest patch of grass you could have imagined, but I loved it and told my husband that's where I wanted the pictures taken. He seriously doubted me. Here is a pull back of the location I loved (straight out of camera shots):

 Pretty pathetic right? There was even trash that we had to kick away.

But all I was looking at was a small piece of this picture. I didn't see the trash, the little orange flags, or the busy-ness of the farm behind it. I've learned to see life through a lens, and through my lens what I saw from this was great texture, small yellow flowers, and beautiful golden hues. And the pictures I got were exactly what I wanted. The overgrown grass made for great bokeh (blurred background) and there was a lot of light and color.

After that my husband told me to explain to all my clients what I'm looking for in a location because if he were my client and I had taken him there he would've thought I was crazy.

Noted. 

{Life} Happy Birthday Momma

As I've spent what would have been my mother's 56th birthday, I've looked through a lot of old photographs of my mom. Photos of her childhood, her marriage to my dad, and with all her children. I've looked through many that really surprise me. My mom was a cancer patient for many years of my life, so many of the pictures she doesn't have any hair. I wouldn't say my mother was a vain person but I do know that she never went a day without showering, never went out without make up on, and always felt that her hair was one of her best qualities. You understand, then, what I mean when I say I was shocked to see so many pictures of her during chemo because she was the type of person who never wanted to look anything but her best, and certainly wouldn't want to be captured in a state without hair.

I'm glad we do have those pictures though.

Because even though she didn't look her best, it still documents the mother that I had during most of my teenage years. I love the photos of her as a young woman with long, flowing hair down to her "rear", but I also love seeing the mother that I sat in a hospital bed with, whose too frail hand I held, whose head was beautifully bald. I wish we had more pictures. I wish we had every moment of our time cut short together documented in photographs. I'm forever grateful to her for allowing us to have these memories captured in photographs.

If you're wondering about the one with my mom getting frisky with Santa, don't worry, it was my dad.

And if you're curious what the white shirts my mom and dad are wearing, they say, "Who needs hair with a body like this?"

Ain't that the truth.

{Photography} A Change in Perspective

I recently had a change in perspective.

Just like every woman in the world I'm sure, I've always been slightly self conscious of my body. I've always seen my imperfections through a magnifying glass.

Then I got pregnant.

And gained a whole bunch of weight.

And while my sweet husband would tell me while not quite making full eye contact with me that I looked great, I felt that the proof was in the mirror. After I had the baby, however, I lost a whole bunch of weight fast. I went from hardly being able to get off the couch to once again being able to see my toes.

And I felt great.

This new body of mine felt amazing and my self confidence was soaring.

Then weeks went by and as my mind adjusted to the person I saw in the mirror I started seeing my imperfections again. Did I always have such a pooch above my waist line? How long had those stretch marks been there? Well, now I know why they call it a muffin top. My self confidence was so short lived I was already complaining about the skin that I was feeling so great about just weeks before. Why was I gaining weight when I had just lost so much right after having the baby??

Then I realized that my body wasn't changing, my perspective was.

As a photographer I often see people who are so not comfortable in their own skin. Its easy for me to look through a lens and say "give me a natural smile" to someone who's skin is literally crawling at the thought of their current body being captured in a photo. But I also have the perspective of someone who sees a person for everything they are. There hasn't been one client of mine who I haven't been envious of something of their's. Whether it be their flawless skin, their beautiful blue eyes, or even their long flowing hair, there's beauty in everyone. So if you're afraid of being captured in your current "imperfect" state, just realize that there is always something that you have that somebody else wants.

And as my mom would always say,

"Why didn't I take more pictures when I was younger? I've only gotten uglier, fatter, and older."

Not that she was ever ugly, fat, or old, but that's just my perspective :)

6 months pregnant

2 weeks postpartum

{Life} A beautiful evening...

Saturday evening we went to our favorite park. The sun was just setting so it would've made for beautiful sunflare as it just peeked through the trees. As I sat in the car feeding my 2 month old, I watched as my husband ran up and down a hill over and over and over again with my 2 year old. My husband, the former Homecoming King, football stud, and, dare I say it, ladies man. Now the most wonderful husband and loving father, running up and down the same hill for 30 minutes straight just to please our little boy. You have no idea the happiness I felt as I watched this, and the urge to have my camera out and ready to capture this beauty overwhelmed me. Then I realized, no amount of megapixels, no amount of editing, could have captured exactly the way I felt at that moment. How it felt to see where my life has taken me and just how beautiful that life is. So instead of beating myself up over leaving my camera at home, I just laid back and watched my son smile and wave at me as he once again ran down that hill.