[coming soon] New York New York

I've been saying for a while now how I am going to get around editing my New York vacation pictures from October 2009... and it's time. A couple of months behind is long enough, huh? So I will take a break from client previews for just a few posts to share with you all our favorites from our vacation. I'm sure I'll come up with stories of where we ate and what we did along the way too. This one here, we were walking around Brooklyn to get on the bridge through this awesome park and I spotted these two. Didn't want to make it obvious to stop and take a picture, so it was a almost without looking shot. I'm curious as to why they are here. Were they just casually walking around the park? Are they dating? Married? High school sweethearts that have met up for the first time in 10 years? Are they not supposed to be here? Ahh the fantastic thing about pictures... & just how many scenarios we can possibly pin them to. I was quite the paparazzi this trip (as you can tell by my previous description) - especially intrigued by lovers and people taking pictures. You'll see what I mean. Stay tuned - that's what's coming up next.

Oh and I have to say - "WHO DAT" for my great friends here that are so happy that the Saints won the Super Bowl... I just wish I would of been in Miami celebrating! It's Monday - let's start off this week with a positive attitude and HOPEFULLY lots of sunshine.

For fun: What is your take on the picture - What do you think their story is? Get creative and comment below. DON'T be shy... if you like you can leave it anonymously. :) I am still thinking about my response so you will have to check the comments to see what I came up with.

little miss Addison Montgomery

That's been my nickname for this little cutie during my editing process - little miss Addison Montgomery. If you don't know who I am talking about... then you probably aren't into watching Grey's Anatomy [which is by far my favorite show on tv]. Meet Addison. My first little newborn baby girl to break the boy streak I had for 5 months. Just as a head up... I am abusing the amount of pink in this post. I've missed it so much, little girls are too much fun. There is just so much more to do with girls than boys, not to mention all the girly accessories ( bows, ribbons, lace.. etc. ). Mom & Dad - here is your long awaited preview of your precious Addison.

I brought with me so many little hats, some that I had been saving for a long time because I hadn't worked with any girls. Addison is so small though that most of them were too big for her - [ note to mom: We need to make more tiny ones for the teeny-weeny ones like her ;) ]. She kept doing this lip press pout that I LOVE...

We tried to recreate a feet shot that I had done with baby Niles when he was a newborn. This was our take this time. Niles was a month old when we did his, so his feet were quite bigger than little Addy's. She kept curling her toes and wiggling them for me. Too cute.

He knows how much I enjoy taking pictures of him. When we got together for his 2 year shoot I kept entertaining him by showing pictures of Coco on my iPhone... and then I would tell him that Coco was hiding in the camera. Well he remembered... and we had some more Coco picture/video time. So funny how my little pooch can make quite the impression. I will have to bring him along one day so he can meet him in person. I bet he would get a kick out of that. :)

One last one of those pouty lips. Thank you Niles & Chasity for choosing me as your family photographer. I love capturing all the stages of these kiddos lives and always look forward to our next shoot together.

let's wed

That's quite a funny one to start off with. She was in the bathroom by herself when I sneaked in and caught her admiring the bra and looking at the mirror. I had to take snap of that. It's wedding time. This little munchkin's parents were tying the knot and Kaylynn & I were there to document their day of love. Just like before, it was lots of fun to come along to shoot with Kaylynn. The weather was going to hold up just long enough for them to have a wonderful wedding. We were off early morning to New Orleans to meet them at the hotel. I've chosen a couple to show you all my favorite moments of the day. [ thanks to Kaylynn & Tara for allowing me to post them :) ] Tara looked so calm and in control that morning. Kinda reminded me of how I was the day of my wedding. Looking back to that day so many things went wrong and I was as cool as cat. (Makes me laugh now, I even had to go to the florist because they had all the bridesmaids bouquets wrong. I wasn't a bridezilla, I just said "well now that you know its wrong, we have time to fix it". And so I left to go get my hair done...) I love these next ones of them two. One day the roles will switch and even though Tara may be putting on make up on her little girl it will be her day to celebrate. They grow up so fast!

How pretty is she?! The next one below was one of those other funny moments. When I saw them picking up their dresses and trying not get muddy as they walked through the park... click. Tara, you have got such pretty legs! I am jealous... my limbs are so thin. Haha - I'm not complaining :)

The ceremony/reception was at Champagne Palace in New Orleans. I'll let Kaylynn blog about the more formal stuff and I will skip right to walking down the aisle as husband and wife part. I liked this one so much because of the smile that Jason has on his face as he is walking with Tara. It's such a happy, loving and caring expression. I love the look of love... and these two were all wrapped in it.

We had a little time to spare to take some of just them two away from the party. Justin was making silly faces at me. It was perfect to get them to genuinely laugh and have that joyful glow. This is one of my favorite parts of the wedding day - bride/groom interaction. Whether it's before or after the ceremony, there's something about the wedding day that's so special.

The above picture makes me smile. Those girls were having so much fun! There was lots of dancing and partying. Everything was smooth and the wedding turned out perfect. I wish you both the best - lots of love & happiness. Thank you for allowing me be a part of your day. :)

sparkling blue & amazing

Meet Aless. We had been trying to shoot her senior session since the beginning of December and 'every time' something came up. The weather was always against us. If you are a photographer, you understand how important it is to be friends with Mr.dear 'ol sunshine. I was looking at the weather forecast and saw that the day we had rescheduled to (again) looked like it was going to be raining (again) but that a couple days before it was going to be beautiful. We made it happen, switched our schedules around and voila. It was such a perfect day. These are my favorites of our day together. Enjoy your sneak preview!

I've said it on here countless of times how I am a sucker for blue eyes... but these were like WHOA in your face sparkling gorgeous. I kept finding myself zooming in and taking pictures of only one eye... looking at it in my viewfinder and smiling. LOL I kept telling her too, "wow your eyes look amazing in this shot"... I should of said it in Spanish - 'que ojos mas bellos'... [which I promise that next time I will only talk to you if you do so in Spanish].

My main reason for loving senior sessions is all the teen talk going on. School stuff, friends, boyfriends, shopping, music... I feel like I am in high school again. The best part is when they teach me something. As if I was you know, from a different generation or something... it makes me feel old. Aless couldn't hold the serious look very long... we laughed most of the time and it was probably at all the romantic relaxing music that kept coming up on my playlist. There is no room for Michael Buble on my senior sessions - he isn't cool enough for them yet. Sorry Michael... we will keep it only between us in my late editing nights. Here is a couple of her laughing at me... :)

We had to wrap up the session because Aless is a cheerleader and they had a game that afternoon. little miss warrior. I had such a great time - can't wait to show them all. :) It's Monday... and already February. I am looking forward to all the promising movies coming up this month. Dear John is out on Friday... we've got girls night already planned. I am reading the book and hopefully I will finish before then. Channing Tatum. um yeah. Have a great week everyone!

baby on the way

Back in April I had an incredibly lovey-dovey session with these two. Soon after I heard the news that there was a little one on the way. During our planning meet I was pleasantly surprised that she wanted to have a very at-home-feel to the session. It seems that most times its hard to get my mommies to go for the "real" look... and that's exactly what Cherie wanted.
It was so easy to make this pretty mom-to-be look good, there is this beautiful glow about her. When I was editing their pictures I could tell how much she is enjoying being pregnant. It's those moms that are so excited to have a little one of their own that it's a joy to work with. This is their first baby, and guess what? It's a girl. Yay - I have officially broken my boy streak. :)

I've seen spin offs of this pose so many times... and never really had tried it. During our planning meets I always like to know more about each mom's pregnancy. Were there any crazy cravings or things that just came out of the blue? ... and for this momma it's been Fruit Loops. Not so random but I thought that it would be fun nonetheless to have James hold a double-pack cereal box. :)
We will be seeing more of that little hat on Ava later on. I had such a great time shooting/editing this session. Looking forward to the little misses arrival. To everyone else.. the weekend is almost here... Enjoy!