Allison is the BOMB...please vote for her!

Remember when I asked you to vote for my friend Allison the last time?



(photo taken from Allison's blog. Allison, need more photos of YOU.)

Well...you did...would you do it again?

Vote here

Third video down entitled:

inspire me mexico

I think she is totally rad. She deserves this.
and WE are all rad, and can do great things when we help each other.
Thanks mucho.

And have a kick-a V-day.

xoxo

Pray for Weston

Blatant thievery from Jon's Blog: Image by Jonathan Canlas

Our dear friends Jon and Callie
are up at PCMC in the PICU with their baby Weston.

Weston and Millz are the same age.
(I secretly have them betrothed.)

(You will recall his beautiful photography here.)

Weston was born with Tetrology of Fallot, and is now battling RSV.
RSV on freaking speed. It is bad.

You can read more about it here:

Our Life Right Now - Fuji FP-3000B

Will you please. Please. PLEASE...

Take the time to pray for this sweet, loving family.

Especially pray for Weston and a swift recovery.

It is not a question, but a begging from the bottom of my soul.

Love to Jon, Callie, and the kids.
Squishes and huggs from all of us.

Guys (and ladies) HELP!

Allison. I stole it from her bloggy blog.

See down there on my links of freaking inspiring photographers?

See Allison C. Photography?

She is the bomb dot com.

I met her last year in March when I went to Hawaii baybee...to attend the
Jonathan Canlas Workshop.

Allison is super cute and WICKED
(I do mean WICKED)
talented.

She needs OUR help.

She is trying to win a scholarship to ITALY.

Go HERE NOW!

Vote for her video.
It is the first one in line, entitled

Me+Italy.

Pretty Please?

In a posting mood apparently...

Shooting for oneself, and editing for oneself can be very therapeutic. That is a little of what I have done today.

I came across these from Miss BG's workshop. I, of course was not doing what I should be doing, instead I grabbed my co-attendee and new friend Shanna...and asked to photograph her. Seriously...isn't she STUNNING? I came across these today, and shed a little tear.









I have been thinking back to March when I attended the Film is Not Dead Workshop. I took SO many, many things away from that workshop, but it was there that I really think I gained an eye and a love for intimacy in a photograph. I love the way Jonathan captures people in headshots. I took what he taught us and ran with it...and dare I even say...took it a little overboard? I dunno...but either way I have learned to not fear close proximity to my client, that to get truly amazing art, we must get in close...see who someone really is, and capture that essence.

Anyway, just thought these shots of Shanna said so much. About her, about me as a photographer. How thankful I am to have grown so much this year. Thank you to my mentors!

Now, maybe someday you'll see all the work I did at these fabulous places...but then again you are...in each new session I post as I have been forever inspired. :)

I had a vacay...cuz I needed one.

We were gone for a WEEK. Well, at least my family was...I had this most amazing workshop...from THIS lady.

It was rad...when I have more time, I'll share with you what I learned...for now...our vacay...

We stayed in a condo up in Midway for the whole week. I had to commute for the three days of the workshop...so I missed out on a few days.

It was RELAXING...amazing...wonderful. We had so much fun. The kids went on the Heber Train...we had ice cream, ate hamburgers...watched cable TV until all hours of the night. We had no Internet access...no phones working...and it was BLISS!

Now, I just have to finish up all the work that piled while we were gone. We are good...we are happy.

Audrey Woulard Workshop

June 2008



It was neat to be able to meet one of photography's elite. Audrey was very down to earth, very open and very honest in her workshop. She is an incredibly talented woman. It was neat to hear about how she got into photography...and really great to see her in action.

She has a way of making anyone feel at ease.

It was totally awesome to see the famous 'loft' and to be where much of her stunning work is created.

This baby was delicious. I think she was five weeks old?! Seriously. Cute.

This image may not seem like much, we learned how to photograph a subject in full sun. Something not easily done.

This kid was stunning. Some back alley work.

And this one...nice.

And one of my BFF's.

Chicago was totally rawkin'. Stay tuned for the next while and I will show you just how rawkin' I thought it was. This seems like SO long ago...and yet it wasn't. Wow...I need to get back on track.

The best things about the workshop were learning some of Audrey's business savvy, and learning to trust myself shooting many people at a very wide open aperture. It can be done. Hello low light, you are no longer my demon friend...I welcome you.

To blog...or not to blog?

Ever feel like your life is full of so much STUFF that you don't know what to write about for fear you will confuse the living daylights out of anyone that comes here? This is going to be one of those random posts...because, afterall this is my journal, and I have been slacking it up lately.

So, I mentioned before we are making some changes over here. I made this HUGE old schedule for our little family. I outlined each and every day and the things that should get done that day. Training for this run has almost killed me, but it has made me NEED to schedule my life, and for that I am thankful. I feel like I am more organized (albeit tired), but we are eating better, getting more sleep, and spending copious amounts of time together that we never have before. That puts a smile on my face.

One of the bigger changes I am making with my life is my business. I haven't wanted to make this official, as I am still trying to get my website up and working....but I won't be photographing weddings anymore. (Holly, don't worry, I still want very much to be a second shooter, quite often as time permits...) Just for myself, in my own business, I don't want to do them anymore. Why? Well, because they just STRESS me out too much, I am not happy doing them. (Don't worry if you have already booked me...I love doing them...but the stress of them ruins me.) Basically, it is hard to explain...but that is why I am selling all of my "wedding" equipment. I just want to invest the money in a different camera body (in the future) and another portrait lens. My specialty will be babies and kids. I still would like to do families, but definitely in a more laid back fashion than I have been doing. I want to photograph the simplicity of life...the moments and smiles that people remember about their family, not the posed perfection...which never really is.

So...I made myself this awesome work schedule. M-F, each night of the week after the kids go to bed, I have something different to do. Mondays are my "blogging" days...Tuesdays and Thursdays are my editing days, Wednesday is my scrapbook day (ooo I am looking SO forward to this one.) Fridays are my work on my website and session days...and Saturday is another session day. It feels SO super good to have this down...and not deviate from it. I have been all over the place for so long, I was feeling overwhelmed. It is nice to say, "This is the night I do this...the work will be done by this day...and our sessions are held on this day." Having a balance has really made me happy. This is one of the best things I took away from the workshop in Chicago. I love that it is stretching into all aspects of our lives.

I'm feeling so happy guys. Even with all the crap that was thrown at us, I will never let anyone else get me down, control me, control my happiness, the way I feel about me, or my life EVER again.

Hope you guys can do the same.

Pictures?

Ya...I wish I knew where they were too. You want a post or you want pictures...'cause we can have neither if you'd like.

Seriously...my kids were both SICK when I left for Chicago...they are both still sick. I am having some TERRIBLE allergy issues myself.

I'll leave you with some more Chicago funny. Just proof that I still got it.

The setting: Rosebud Restaurant

Me, Leisha, and our new friend Heather.

I go to the restroom to wash my yucky humidity groddy hands.

Leisha and Heather talk.

I come back and the little waiter (with a hott accent) brings our drinks etc.

We order.

Heather goes to wash her hands.

Cute waiter comes back with meals.

Me: "Cute waiter, where on earth did you get your accent? It is BEAUTIFUL."

Cute waiter: "It's from Switzerland."

Me: "Switzerland, really? I would have guessed Italy...or Spain."

Cute waiter: "Indeed, Switzerland."

Me: "Well, it is nice."

Cute waiter: "I give private accent lessons on Friday nights."

Me: Blushing.


I want the world to know I am HAPPILY married to THE most wonderful man on the planet. But I will allow a cute bald waiter with an amazing accent to flirt with me. The spring was back in my step for a night at least.

Thank you cute waiter.

I promised funny.

I'm delivering funny. Here is some Chicago funny.

It pains me to be delivering funny. I must warn you, that you may need to run to the bathroom if you laugh even a tenth as hysterically as I did when this all happened. Here goes nothing. Please don't think less of me.

So, for some STRANGE reason, when I travel, I have massive problems with my digestive track, like, it stops...STOPS. I'm not exactly sure if it is the plane ride, the altitude shift or whatnot...but this happened to me in Chicago. (I thought I was alone in this...but Leisha admitted that she was having the same problem. I'm sorry to have admitted that FOR you Leish...but you know how this all ends...and it is TOO funny NOT to share.)

So, needless to say, my body decided to stop digesting food. I was in Chicago for almost 5 days. If you calculate the number of meals spewing in my body and being held in my intestines on day 5...you can only imagine what must have been brewing. One of the first meals going in was a very spicy...chicken enchiladas...they were still in there.

On the last night of our trip...I talked Leisha into going out and getting some "old lady medicine" as Leish likes to call it. I like to call it Dulcolax (that is a stool SOFTENER not to be confused with a laxative...I was desperate, but not THAT desperate.) So, we took them right before bed...and luckily for Leisha it helpled her. Me? Nada.

Leisha and I decided to go out to lunch before we caught our plane on Monday evening. So, we had a nice meal at P.F. Chang's and did some QUICK shopping at the Nordstrom's across the street from the restaurant. We got a little carried away and we were ten minutes from our "late check out" time at the hotel...so we literally ran into the hotel to throw our bags together to check out before they charged us for another day. As we literally ran into the elevator...we push the button for the seventh floor...the elevator starts going up and out of no where (literally who would EVER "fluff" on an elevator? NOT ME! NEVER...would NEVER! It just came out of no where...!) I farted on the elevator. I farted...enchiladas...p.f. chang's, breakfast from four days, pizza...steak and mashed potatoes, chips ahoy...anything else you can THINK of...was in THAT fart. I thought..."Oh my heck...we are going to die if that elevator door does not open!" So, I warned Leisha that I had let it rip...when we see "floor six" pop up on the little sign. The elevator STOPPED. It was STUCK. It never made it to floor 7. Leisha in her quick minded self, (she was in survival mode at this point, as was I) smartly hit the Lobby. We get back down the the lobby...(miracle of all miracles)and we literally RUN out of the elevator.

You're probably thinking, "Wow! LUCKY!" Right? Well, it gets better. So upon running from said elevator and full of laughter we see this guy...who happened to have been waiting for the elevator start walking in...we are like, "Dude that elevator is BROKEN!" (Trying to spare him from what was inevitably disgusting inside.) We push the button for another elevator and to our surprise one comes rather quickly...Leisha and I are DYING at this point...and in walks the little man who walked into the other elevator. This is what he says:

Me: "Ya, that other elevator was seriously broken, we got stuck...and it wouldn't go up to the floor we needed."

Man: "I don't know about that elevator being broken but something was sure broke in there."

Leisha: "Um, ya..."

Man: "Someone broke wind maybe."

Leisha and I: Straight faces.

Leisha: "Dude, you smelled it too? That it totally why we ran out of there!"

Man: "I was thinking, if I follow these girls and the smell follows them in there...I am in trouble."

Us: Straight face until elevator reaches seventh floor.

We turn the corner and bust up laughing and farting all the way to our room.

We got checked out on time.

Lucky us. Unlucky Man.

I'm back!

...will have a nice post for ya'll later tonight. It feels SO good to be home.

I went to bed early for two nights in a row. I'm thinking of making a habit out of that.

Hope everyone is well!

Holla! Chicag-a!

I'm in Chicago right now...with Leisha.

We are rawkin' it out...going to meet the LOVERLY Miss Audrey Woulard tomorrow. We are stoked.

That is it from us. We are going to go get a pedicure now. Have a nice day...see you on Monday.