Irvine Engagement Session: Rosa + Jesse

Jesse & Rosa are one of the most amazing couples that I have ever worked with. They are fun and sophisticated, soft spoken and elegant, easy going and kind and most importantly- madly in love with each other. When they first met, Rosa was unaware of the fact that Jesse was "courting" her. Yes, Jesse used the word courting- who said chivalry was dead?? In the end, Jesse told Rosa how he felt about her and here they are planning a wedding together.






Part of being a photographer is being able to see beauty in places that would otherwise be dicounted as "ugly" or "unusable". I am so blessed to work with couples who trust my instincts and allow me to be creative. At first glance these weeds that we shot in looked dead & ugly. But through my lens, I saw romance and beauty. I saw a secret getaway in the middle of nowhere where these two could run off to and steal some quiet moments together.





Another thing amoung my list of many things that I loved about these two was their creativity. They decided to bring a change of clothes and shoot some portraits inside of the estate that they are getting married in. I was literally bubbling over with excitement when I saw them all dressed up. They looked GREAT and matched with the setting it was like all of the stars were lining up in my favor.














Hands down this is my favorite shot of the day. The way Rosa looks at Jesse with adoring eyes, full of trust and admiration is special. And the way Jesse looks at Rosa screams...this woman is priceless and she's mine. He treasures her. I always say, I love capturing LOVE it warms me up inside. It's selfish in a way. Yes, these portraits are for my couples but out of serving them in the way GOD gave me talent- I get BLESSED. I dare to even say MORE than the couples that I serve because it happens over and over again.


Jesse...Rosa...THANK YOU so much for allowing me to be a part of your wedding day and for blessing me in ways that I can't even begin to explain. You two are such a beautiful couple and I am SO happy for you. Congrats!

The Windy City...of Temecula

When I arrived at Harveston Park in Temecula to shoot the Kelley family, it was WINDY and COLD. Not that romantic type of wind that makes your hair whispy and beautiful. Or that chilly type of cold that is bearable and gives you a desire for soup. No, it was an angry wind that knipped at you with it's ice cold fangs.

But through it all, the Kelley family were TROPPERS! I mean, one of kind, real life troppers. They didn't complain or rush or reschedule. All things I would have entertained if I were there them. Instead, they made the best of the sitution and wrapped up the baby in between shots with cozy blankets and in the end it was totally worth enduring the weather. We had such a great time that even though I made the mistake of wearing sandals, I didn't remember that my toes were numb until I got back into my car to go home.

I have to say, this family is the most loving, kind and gentle people that I have had the pleasure of getting to know. Every time I see them I love hearing their son tell me about his hockey team and I have got watch their little girl grow in what seems like overnight. I got to watch their playful banter and hear their bells of laughter. I got to see them coo over their daughter and loving embrace their son. That afternoon, I got to be there and perserve each of those little moments for them and it was awesome.














Thank you guys for a great time at Harveston!

Choo-Choo!!

As I was driving down Newport Rd. to meet up with my friend and her two beautiful kiddos, I got nervous. My stomach began to twist and turn and I could feel the anxiety begin to creep up on me like I was about to take the SAT's again.

You see four months prior, I had photographed these two and my friend's youngest boy didn't like to have some stranger with her camera pointing at him, making silly sounds and jumping around like a crazy lady. Which- I don't blame him. I mean if I had someone singing- correction, I have a horrible voice- if I had someone screetching row, row row your boat at me while shoving some big yellow feather duster in my face as some odd attempt to tickle me, I would be scared too. That sort of thing just doesn't usually happen in a less than one year old baby's life.

Unfortunetly, that session was part of a charity event that I did for my church so, with back to back 20 minute sessions I didn't have the time to just sit and play with him like I would have on a normal session. We did get some really cute artsy type portraits on that session that my friend loved but we didn't get any smiles out of him. To me it was like taking a test that you studied for, knew all the answers for and just ran out time and couldn't finish. Pencils down...

So, my friend asked me to try again on his first birthday and see what we could do. This was my make up test. This was my chance to really connect with him. And I pulled out all the stops. I brought chocolate chips, lollipops, my "tickle" stick, horrible singing voice, and the most valuable thing of all...time.



I love his little face in this shot. He has the cutest scrunchy nose, I'm not sure about this expression that I have ever seen!!




And there it was, the smile that I had been waiting for. The smile that I passed me by the first time around that I wasn't going to let get away again.





Thank you guys so much for letting me be apart of your lives and capture these milestones with you. Words can't even express how precious your kids' smiles are to me and how they warm up my heart.

Anybody out there???

Hello? Hello? Is anybody out there? Can anybody hear me? Just wondering. It's 3am. Yes, 3:01 to be exact and I am taking a break from sorting out some wedding portraits that I took a couple of weeks ago. And I just wanted to blog. I wanted to just put it all out there for no one really. I know I don't have a following of sorts and I know I will probably be the only one reading this blog post. But something WONDERFUL happened today.

You see, I stumbled upon something truly fascinating. Truly life altering. I found Jasmine Star's old blog. What old blog you say? You mean she didn't always have that AMAZING blog that looks like a fashion magazine with editorial shots of fab weddings that makes you feel inferior every time you look at them?? No, she didn't. And the fact that I was able to go back and look at where she came from and see a part of that journey is something that will stick with me FOREVER. I know, totally cheesy right?? But seriously...

I mean, I am in this place...this frustrating place where I am kicking myself every time I sit at my computer. I'm struggling. I'm frustrated. I'm not perfect. You see I have this nagging voice in my head that pokes fun at me. It laughs at me. And it tells me that my work, my photography, my "portraits" they all have to be perfect or they aren't good enough. And I am just not where I want to be artistically...YET.

And after reading Jasmine's old blog...the one where she is kind of in the same place that I am in, I am so HAPPY. Because today, I can tell that nagging voice in my head I don't have to be perfect, I just have to be better than yesterday. And the rest will come in time. And today, I can say THANK YOU to that nagging voice inside me because it is what drives me to get better. To give 150% when I don't want to or when others tell me I don't have to. It is what sets me apart from others, what reminds me that I am in the right place doing the right thing. It's what makes my clients feel like they are important to me and most of all, its what keeps me being true to myself.

So, thank you to my nagging, annoying, frustrating, insanely critical voice inside my head and thank you to Jasmine for showing me that it's okay to be new & frustrated and not perfect. And for saying, it's okay to make mistakes.

So, for anybody out there...that may or may not be listening...THANK YOU!

Senior Session

Took a walk down memory lane the other day when I shot some senior portraits at my old high school. I hadn't been to Murrieta Valley since I graduated in 2001. It was like having an out of body experience. Or more like a scene from the "Twilight Zone"...things looked the same but everything was different. It was cool to see how the campus has changed and how it was still the same all the same time. And then after all that....it made me old.












This shot ROCKS! I love how the scoreboard is in the background with Tyler in his jersey doin' his thing. After editing all these, it made me wish I had listened to my parents and taken senior portraits. But hey, at least now I get to take them just behind the lens!




So, I was messin around with Tyler and telling him that if the whole football thing doesn't work out he could always call up Abercrombie. He was such a natural in front of camera and a trooper! All of those weeds that he is sitting in had these stickers (fox tails) that were poking him and making it uncomfortable. Even I had them all in my socks and every where on my jeans. But Tyler totally pushed through and humored me with all of my "ideas" for these shots.






I have to admit that I had some help on this shot from Tyler's mom and his girlfriend. I don't know what they did behind me that made him laugh like this but I am sure glad they did.



Thanks guys for having me shoot your portraits! And a big congrats to the senior class of 2010!

Taryn + Tim

A few weeks ago (I know...isn't that bad, weeks not days!), I went out to Huntington Beach to shoot some engagement portraits for a really cool couple. They wanted to do some fun "rockabilly" type portraits in their backyard and then we headed on over to the beach to finish up. I had a LOT of fun with these two.


I'm lovin' those heels!! And the look on Taryn's face is PRICELESS! These two really played it up when we were shooting and just had fun with the whole thing. Another plus, they had a really cool neighbor that let us borrow his paper so we could complete the look in this portrait.












As I was editing these I totally noticed that Taryn has some "Drew Barrymore" type features. Don't you think??






My favorite part about this hand shot is that they AREN'T holding hands. They were walking towards me and Tim reached his hand back to grab Taryn's but their hands didn't quite meet before I took the shot.



Thanks Taryn & Tim for such a great session, I can't wait for your wedding!!