Delores + Jeremy

Delores & Jeremy met on the picket line of the super market strikes (remember those??) Now, my husband told me not to blog this, but I can't help myself..."It was love at first strike." I truly am a sucker for all things cheesey!

But seriously, all joking aside, Delores & Jeremy fell in love & have been together ever since. The thing I love about these two is that they are such a great team. It's awesome to just sit and watch them making decisions together. They really care about what the other thinks & feels & I find it to be down right refreshing.


We went over to Balboa Park in San Diego to shoot these engagement portraits and it was a lot of fun! They were such great sports and allowed me to shoot for over 2 hours! They indulged me with every whim that I came up with, which included: sitting, standing, laying, climbing, squatting, turning, twisting, spinning and publicly dancing.



Balboa Park has the most amazing doors on their buildings. I especially liked the patterns and colors on this one because they were just perfect.






Here's a shot of the public dancing I was telling you earlier. The story behind this is, we were walking around this musician to go through this cafe that led to a grassy area that was gated off. As we were passing I was like, "That would be so cute for you guys to dance with the musician playing in the background." Now sometimes I "suggest" things to couples that never come to fruition. Which I thought was the case in this scenario but on the way out, to my surprise, Delores extended her hand to Jeremy and they started dancing! It was so special. My favorite thing about this shot is that Delores & Jeremy aren't the focal point. It gives that sense of spontaneity and makes your eye look at the musician first and then over to Delores & Jeremy.



What you can't see in this portrait is that they actually had an audience. There was a dad there with his son. And some people who were in the parking lot, stopped to watch. I was impressed that they were able to dance like that in the middle of the sidewalk. And I am glad that they did because these shots are priceless. Look at Delores' smile!


This shot was a ton of fun. I just had them lay on the ground facing each other and framed Delores' face through the opening that Jeremy's arm created. I can't take full credit for this shot though. I had seen it done a while ago by a very talented photographer (translation: I don't remember who it was) but I remember thinking it was a great idea. I had forgotten about it until I saw them laying there staring into each other's eyes and was like, "Hey! Let's try..."


The sky is so beautiful here. That was natural. I didn't do that in PS at all. I gave the colors a boost but there is no gradient filter usage...at all.


This shot is my FAVORITE in the entire session. It feels romantic and very "spanish villa-ish" I love the flowers and the intense moment before the kiss, look for this one on my WEBSITE for sure.


Well, congrats, Delores & Jeremy! I am so happy we met & I can't wait to share in your special wedding day!!!

These TWINERS turn -2-

These two adorable TWINS are turning -2-
Their Mom had a great idea of shooting their portraits at the park and using the images on their custom birthday party invitations. These two kids are so much fun and I had a great time playing with them while shooting their portraits.



She even brought some fun balloons for them to pose with. It was really sunny day and just love how the colors on the balloons "popped" out.


I have known these two kiddos since they were itty bitty babies and it has been a such a JOY to watch them grow!

Textures, Textures, and more TEXTURES

My newest addiction: TEXTURES! I love me some textures on my portraits. It just adds a little something to them that I like. The only thing is, you either LOVE them or you HATE them. And it is easy to get carried away.



Obviously, I L-O-V-E them (and lately I have been getting a little carried away) but what I love even more is Shadowhouse Creations. They have AWESOME sets of textures that are free to download and even include commercial usage rights (which is VERY cool of them).

Look at what it does to the picture below:


You can see all the grundge especially on the walls.

If you don't know how to use textures it's actually REALLY easy. First, make all of the creative color changes that you want to make to your picture.

In my example above, before I laid my texture down I ran the photoshop action "Grandma's Tap Shoes" by Totally RAD Actions.

Next open up your texture, I used one of the textures by Shadowhouse Creations,
and lay it over your portrait.

Lastly change your blending mode (I used Soft Light) in your layers palette and create a layer mask. The layer mask allows you to take a brush (be sure to change your forground color to black) to paint over the areas that you don't want the texture over (like skin tones: which I didn't do on the first above image- excitement got the best of me- but went back and did for final output).

That's it. Easy as 1-2-3.

I just recently downloaded these and so you can be sure to see much more TEXTURE love coming out your way! But if you want to see some more examples check out my album on my facebook FAN page.

Engagement Session: Tiffany + Aaron

A BIG congrats goes out to Tiffany and Aaron on their engagement! We had such a blast shooting these portraits in Laguna. The weather was perfect, the beach wasn't crowded and we both found parking spaces! Oh, it's always the little things that make me smile.


*NOTE: For the photographers out there, Lagana Beach by the Montage is by far THE best beach to shoot at. It has tons of rock formations, it's secluded and you never really run out of inspiration.



This portrait is one of my favs! I don't know why I am such a fan of headless bodies. I love to shoot perspectives of hands, feet, arms, legs...there is just something about the emotion of body language that inspires me (silly- huh??). I actually L-O-V-E-D this portrait SO much that I changed it to be the very first picture you see on my newly designed WEBSITE.



The thing I loved most about Tiffany & Aaron, is the way that they "looked" at each other. Aaron ADORES Tiffany and it radiates in the way he smiles at her, in the way that his eyes light up when she squints her nose, and the way that he holds her. These two are such a great couple and I can't wait to capture their wedding day!

New Webstie about to Launch

Oh, it has been way too long since I have blogged on here. I really just haven't had much to say. I have this obsession of needing to post portraits with my posts but then when I don't have any portraits to share, I don't get to blog. So, today- I'm saying...forget about my OCD. I want to BLOG!

I am so excited about all of the "behind the scenes" stuff that is happening with Cellabration Photography. Wedding season is almost here & I can't wait to share in the special days of some of the most amazing brides I have the pleasure of meeting.

I will be launching a new website that is completely re-disgned. Hopefully, it will express who I am a little better. I have tons of portraits to update and will be adding to the galleries EXTENSIVELY this year. My hope is to have the website ready in about a month.

Sweet, Sweet Portraits

I had such a "sweet" time at the Valentine's Day Fundraiser. Not only was it for a good cause but I got to hang out with some pretty sweet kids for the whole day! Here are some of my favorites...

Sweet Valentine Charity Fundraiser

I am thrilled to be apart of raising money for an amazing outreach ministry called MOPS. MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) is a ministry that is near and dear to my heart. So, to help them raise some money...I am hosting a special "Sweet Valentine Fundraiser". It's a 20 minute shoot with your kiddos with a portrait CD and 12 (5x7) Valentine's Day cards. For only $30!! The best part is that $25 of that is going straight to MOPS. Sessions are by appointment only....