New Blog

Hey everyone!

After many hours, I have finally completed a new look!

Check out my new blog click here!

Check out my new website click here!

This is the last post for this blog... catch you on the new site!

Special Olympics

I had the awesome opportunity to help shoot a triathalon that benefits the Special Olympics, and here are some of the details of the day.











They had unified teams where it was a 3 man

Free Chipotle Burritos!! Yummy!!

Free massages from the Cortiva Institute... this guy was a goof! Everyone at the event was very happy and feeling great! Such a fun morning in beautiful Scottsdale!

Dance Baby Dance!

I was so glad I caught this, little Miss Addie turned 7. She sings and she dances and she skips all the time... the happiest little girl. Sigh. Makes me just wonder about kids. Do you wonder? Maybe it's amazement. Or just memories. I guess it just puts me in her little self for a bit. So happy and carefree...

You've got to check into the dance studio that I love. Michelle Taylor is phenomenal!! She still dances professionally herself, and she creates the CUTEST dance routines and costumes! It's located in the area of Higley and Guadalupe, and she is offering HIP HOP this year... YEAH! Chase is signed up and anxious to go, unfortunately I am too old :( Anyway, Michelle told me yesterday she still has some openings in her classes, and so I thought I would share with everyone that has a little dancer at home.

You can contact Michelle and get the scoop at her email: taylorddance@gmail.com

Soon to be...

Check out this fantastic couple! They are getting married soon and we had a blast shooting together!

Boys will be boys

I must admit, that boys are hard to take pictures of. Not because they aren't cute, not because they are too wiggly, and not because they won't smile. Simply because they hate having their pictures taken. So, that gives me a very small window of time when they are behaving just like their mom had threatened or bribed them to in the car on the way to the shoot, and the time when they have had enough of me and my camera in their face. And depending on the boy that window of time is super small, my son's window is the smallest (erg)!

THESE boys, however were fantastic! It helped that we were in a junkyard, smart thinking on Mom's part! And they are just dang good boys. And of course the sweet 18 month old sister, which I will tell you about 18 month olds in another post. My favorite shot is the one of all the kids. You can see each of their personality even by the way they are hanging on to each other. Seriously cute boys...

Photography 101 and 102 - Fall Session

For those of you that have been waiting, my photography classes are back! I am excited to be offering Photography 101 and 102 on Tuesdays, September 14th and 21st from 9-12 in the morning. Please email me to get registered.

I love this class! It is one thing to read your manual and try to figure out your camera, but it is quite another thing to learn from a person. It's even better in a group setting, because others will ask questions you may not have, but would love to know. We will learn a concept, and then go and practice shooting for a few minutes using that concept, then come back to the classroom and learn another concept.

Here are the two classes...
Class 101 - $95
Composition
Lighting
Creativity
Toddler Tricks
Clarity and Focus
Using the Creative modes (not Auto)
Aperature Priority
Shutter Priortiy

Class 102 - $95
Lenses - why, which, when?
Depth of Field
White Balance
Focus Points - toggling
Exposure
ISO
Aperature
Shutter Speed
Manual Mode

Both classes combined: $190

Class will be held at my office suite in Gilbert (Cooper and Ray area)

As always, class size will be limited, so that I can be sure to provide attention to all the students, and your seat for the class will be held with your non refundable registration.

Hip Hop for Moms?

I could watch hip hop dancers all... day... long... That and surfers. But have you seen Step Up 3? Oh MY!! I've never really liked 3D movies, but this was insane!! Amazing creativity was used and the dancers... jeesh... they can do things I never knew were possible! We were watching So You Think You Can Dance last night, and were in complete awe of the Hip Hop routines, (and all of them for that matter). We were totally laughing at ourselves, cause as we were watching the routines, I would notice my muscles would do a little spasm and a twitch as if my body wanted to get up and get dancing right there... Mallory was having the same thing going on and we were just dying laughing. Truth be told though, if I could find a hip hop class for Mamas, I would be there! Is that an oxymoron? Hip Hop for Moms?

So, in honor of Hip Hop week at our house, thought I would showcase some more of this awesome crew that I got to shoot, (and they wouldn't teach me anything, dang it) they are a local group, but amazing! They battle all over the place!






This last shot is my favorite! Right after I shot it I was kicking and squeeling with delight!

A day in their life

Check out this darling family, this is a new type of session that I will be releasing soon... what do you think?



Little Ms. Z kept saying, "Daddy, your the prince..."

Country Wedding

It was the kind of wedding that people talked about for weeks. The reception was so much fun that people stayed and stayed and stayed. Both the Bride and the Grooms family brought fun and crazy traditions, that it made for a perfect day and a wonderful night. It was a lil' bit country, as she rides, boards, and does everything horses, and he is going to school to prepare for a career with horses as well. The dance floor was packed all night, and the bride led the way for all of the line dances, and made some quick cash with the "dollar dance". I loved that most of the guests wore jeans, and the food was cooked in either a dutch oven, or the "pit", and it was all delicious! So glad I could be here to capture this event!




The little cowboys at the top of the picture were all eyes on the mechanical bull, and the big cowboys at the bottom of the picture were all eyes on the cowgirls!

St. Lucia

We just got back from the most amazing experience in St. Lucia! My parents are serving an 18 month mission there, and so my hub and I decided to go out and stay a few days.... it was absolutely incredible!! Because my parents are "locals", we got to see what no tourist gets to see, and experience so much of the culture. My parents drove us all over the island meeting people, seeing different sites, and getting the St. Lucian experience. Here is what I tried to bring home with us...

My parents relaxing after the most incredible snorkeling afternoon near Soufriere. We were swimming with thousands of fish. We could see clearly 15 feet below, and I just kept thinking I was swimming in a giant aquarium. It was amazing! I can't believe I didn't have an underwater camera, but entertained the thought of wrapping my camera up in a few zip lock bags and taking it diving, ha ha!


The above 4 shots were taken in a little village called Anse La Raye. We stopped here for a quick break on a road trip, and it was one of my favorite things. The locals had just pulled in the catch of the week, and were happy to show us as they were getting ready for their Friday night fish fry. The little fish above are sardines, and I don't know what this blue fish is called, but look closely at his mouth. His mouth looks like it has red lips and bucky front teeth and bottom teeth. When I was snorkeling, a fish just like this was straight below me and looked right up at me with his bucky looking smile, so he looked like he was grinning right at me, it was so funny, so I started calling him the "bucky beaver" fish.

We snorkeled every day. My parents live just up the hill from an amazing beach that was practically private. My hub loved swimming. This is how I wanted to remember him from the trip, with his feet sticking out as he dove under, cause this is what he did all the time.

I loved going to the market, we'd buy our fresh fruits from here. So proud of my 70 year old Mom to go snorkeling with me... not many can say their Mom would do that!


It was so cool to see fishing boats like this come right up to the beach, and bring in their huge fish they had caught that day and sell them to the restaurants for that night's dinner. We don't get this fresh of fish in Arizona!

St. Lucia's landmarks, the breath taking Pitons.

I loved that we were introduced to fruits and plants we had never even heard of. I was happy to try everything, but didn't love it all. The above plate was a Tuna dish, we ate on the restaurant patio that was on a hill overlooking a fishing village, and it was raining a tropical hard, and misty rain, that lasted for only a few minutes. This Tuna was great!

My Dad is showing us how to eat the mangos. First you squish them to get them juicy, then you bite a hole in the skin and then suck out the juice. He also made us fresh mango smoothies... oh my gosh they were to die for!

I'll try to get some pictures of the neat people we met there. Their accents are so fun, and they are all so friendly. We loved our trip and kept wishing we would have brought our kids to be able to experience this other world that we did. Amazing...