Ryan – Senior Portrait

Finally, a guy! I was beginning to think that only girls graduated! Ryan is a Stadium High School Senior and will be attending WSU next year.

His high school is a castle. Who can say that? This has to be the coolest looking school ever and it sits right on a cliff looking over the water! My son, Nick, attends the same one. What I really love is not only the historic value of this school, but because of what it is, there is very little vandalism. The kids respect it and know how fortunate they are.

I love this S in front of the school! This is my second favorite.

Ryan was great to photograph. So easy going and did everything I asked, only occasionally was there hesitation :).

He brought his little sister, Kylie along to watch, so I thought I would get a few of her too. She just donated her hair (11 inches) to Locks of Love, so she is sporting her new hair do.

We tried to stay close to home around the castle.

We found a cool field and wall right down the street. This is my third favorite.

Don’t you just love the colors!

And an alley, right next to it with tons of colors and textures. The next set of pictures were ALL from that alley within one block!

Can you tell Ryan likes to work out?

My favorite of the shoot.

More alley pictures…

Last alley one, then we will move on, even though I do still have more :).

We headed to the graffiti garages, since that is one of my staple locations!

And it’s a great place to show off your car.

Ryan loves listening to his music, even though he wouldn’t dance for me :(.

Had to get a classic shot too.

We had a great time and I even got Ryan to Let me get a picture with his sister… don’t these kids look alike!!!

Have a great day… I have another Stadium High School Senior coming on Thursday!

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Nate and Marianne – Wedding Day Portraits

Originally, Nate and Marianne were not going to have a photographer for their wedding, but just a week prior they changed their minds. They contacted me and I just had to help so I rearranged my schedule and cleared my day for them. I am SO GLAD I did! 😀

Even though there were no bridesmaids or groomsman…

No flower girls or big bouquets of colorful flowers, no formal wedding gown or veil… there was BEAUTY…

and LOVE…

and SMILES…

and COMMITMENT…

and SPECIAL MOMENTS.

There was a story to be told… a very special story and it deserved to be captured.

The wedding was at the church where Nate and Marianne met for the first time. They have dated for 4 years and are now committing to one another for a LIFETIME and even though there were only 21 guests, they were ALL very special and had the honor of witnessing this sweet couple’s love for one another.

During the ceremony Nate surprised Marianne with a song he had written just for her.

The tears, they came in abundance! I love this image with Marianne in the background completely sobbing and Nate walking away with a grin on his face. Priceless!

How fortunate to have a beautiful day for the wedding, when almost every other day has been rain!

The reception was at Pacific Grill in Tacoma.

It was cozy and warm.

There was no dancing, but there was laughter and good times.

The cake was small and elegant.

The rings, shiny and new :)!

And… they made US feel special too! We were surprised to find out that they had a special table for us too. As the wedding party ate a delicious meal from Pacific Grill, we had the same at a private table.

Then, we took it one step further and even ordered a YUMMY dessert. We felt like we were on a date!

What a wonderful day… we had so much fun capturing this day!

This was Joe’s FIRST time actually photographing with me (he is usually my gofer, support person, pack mule and my biggest cheerleader). Many of these images are his! I was overwhelmed with happiness seeing him do this with me. We are both so excited to see our new adventure grow! How great is it to work with your best friend!

Thank you Nate and Marianne for making us your wedding photographers. We are honored to have captured this day for you… forever!

xoxoxo… blog readers – just wait for the senior post on Thursday! LOVE, love, love the images!!! And… I might be a little biased, since it is my niece! 😀

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Hazards of Photography

Photography has it’s own set of hazards, like the field I used to use all the time… Now, since the apartment complex is completed across the street, it is full of dog poop and can’t use it any more. 😦

Then there’s the graffiti garage I use, well… I had to take out a few not so nice drawings and a words in my last shoot with Amanda.

I was so involved in taking the picture that I didn’t even notice the “bad” stuff until I got home and brought them up on the computer.

Last weekend, when taking Natalie’s pics we came across 3 syringes! 3!!!

Just saying… it’s not ALL fun and games out here… 🙂

xoxoxo

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Sneak Peak – 4 Beauties

I am working on 4 beauties right now and am so excited I just wanted to share a sneak peak with you… each shoot was done at one location and each while we dealt with the rain. You really can’t get away from it in the Pacific Northwest, so I am trying to embrace it and shoot regardless… unless it is just pouring! It’s amazing what you can find in just one location.

Melaina:
Melaina had her senior pictures done last year, but wanted to get some new pictures with her Little Mermaid hair and before her BFF went to California.

Heather:
Heather is Melaina’s BFF. I have never “shot” Heather before, but she is a natural in front of the camera.

Amanda:
As you probably know, Amanda is my daughter and I love doing shoots of her. We have several more planned out this year.

Joely:
Joely is my niece and has been featured on my site before with her friend, Steph.

Stay Tuned for upcoming posts that will feature each one… I LOVE how 2010 is already kicking off!

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Warren Family – Family Portrait

One of my photography goals for 2010 is to think out of the box, explore the settings of my camera a little more and do the untraditional since that is what catches my eye. I started early with this photo shoot! It was incredibly fun and comfortable… I thought hard about why it was so comfortable for me besides the warmth of this wonderful family… it was because I captured the untraditional, the real interaction between them… it was fulfilling that need to make photography fun and stress free for everyone. Dana told me several days later that they all had so much fun… such good words to hear!

It’s funny, almost every family shoot I do I get “that” email, the one the warns me that they are not the type to be comfortable in front of the camera, the one that says my husband won’t smile, or my son will be hard to work with… it is all from our past experience of getting the family picture taken and so we allow years to go by without one… then we give in and feel the stress of that. I so understand!! I am very much like that myself and maybe it’s because I haven’t found that right photographer to help us through that and get us all relaxed and ourselves in front of the camera.

I usually “pick” on the youngest one to get everyone relaxed… and Bailey was perfect for that! She was easy to make laugh and everything just fell in to place with her help!

This one was Amanda’s idea… I love that she came along with me and helped with the creative process… already talented at 12!

We only hit 2 locations (very close to each other) in this session, but really I could shoot in 1 city block and you would never know it was inches away from the last shot. I love that and it helps me to be more creative in short periods of time. I love this image of Rusty and Colby.

Dad and his boys…

The wind picked up and made for a fun shot of Bailey and her mom, Dana. Bailey takes ballet with Amanda and through that have become very close friends… so glad since I adore her family!

Dana and Howie have been together since 9th grade!!! So cool!

What a fun family… Bailey cracks me up!

Amazing that you can find this setting in the city, but you can!

We had to get a few more traditional shots for the grandparents :).

I love how they turned out since at the time we were being chased out by the parking police since we parked on the “sidewalk.” Joe would argue that it wasn’t a sidewalk, but that is another story :).

Love to you all!! Merry Christmas!

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Amanda and Friends at the 2009 Nutcracker Ballet

I know that I am a couple days behind in posting this, but come on, it’s the week of Christmas and there is just so much still to do! This is a special month for Amanda and I… it has been for the last 7 years. On the weekends leading up to Christmas we get to the Pantages theater in the morning hours and leave when it’s dark, we eat subway for lunch and sometimes dinner, we laugh, take pictures, play on our computers, read, listen to music and just enjoy the ballet family surrounding us. There are always a few new ones, but many of the familiar faces that we enjoy every year. The Tacoma City Ballet used to be called The Jan Collum School of Classical Ballet when my sister, Wendy and I took it many years ago. I can still remember the outfits we wore, the performances we had and practicing at the ballet bar in our living room. When I signed Amanda up for it I had no idea that she would fall in love with it… just as I hoped… maybe I had some influence or maybe she would have loved it anyway.

Amanda on her computer… it’s the glow of the computer screen so cool!

I love the long lashes they wear… there are days I put them on just because!

I love watching her put all the makeup on…

but she doesn’t like me in the dressing room… so I just ignore her comments and come in anyway…

I have always been impressed that most of the girls do their own makeup and have been doing it for years. Although, this year they had some help from another mom… made things easier for sure!

Amanda has been almost every part you can be, as a child, in the Nutcracker… most kids enter in as Bon Bons… it’s a very cherished part by many. Erin made an adorable one…

and her sister, Taylor a very cute soldier.

Taylor has a hearing aid in each ear allowing her to hear some of the music. I love watching her talk to the other girls… she is always full of joy and much loved by all the ballerinas…

There is a ton of waiting on these weekends, since the kids have 2 performances in a day… for me, it’s relaxing… I think Kacey likes it too…

Kacey let me take as many pictures as I wanted of her! Amanda processed this photo. Loved showing her how to use Photoshop.

She processed this one too… she calls it the “scary clowns”…

Hannah (Gingerbread Soldier) and Amanda (Bugle Soldier) struck up a friendship again after not seeing each other for a few years… glad to see her back!

Fun to see all the costumes… there are many… many… many different ones, but here are just a few…

Party mom… she is beautiful!!! So vintage!

Colleen as Chinese.

Her brother Alex as Fritz with attitude and everything.

Morgan as snow… even though her costume is undone… they are so hot after performances that they are half off my the time they hit the basement where we hang out…

Lauren as Fairy… It’s so fun to watch these kids grow up and take pictures of them along the way.

Natalie as a Gingerbread Soldier.

Another Party mom and her Party Girl daughter (really is her daughter :))

Amanda as a Bugle Soldier and Bailey as the Captain. Bailey is one of Amanda’s close friends. We did a shoot of her family on Monday and will be posting those soon. I also took a few with in this post.

Thanks for stopping by and if I don’t post before Christmas… Merry Christmas from our house to yours!
Much Love…

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Just for Fun – Random Photography

I used this black ice cream chair in Karly’s shoot. It used to be in my room growing up, but it was white back then. My sister has the matching one.  We shared  a room growing up, her side always clean, mine messy… it used to drive her nuts!  She would be proud of how clean I keep my room now :).

When I am on a portrait shoot there is no guessing on what else I might take a picture of.  Sometimes it is only the subject, but many times there are other things that catch my eye and I have to get a quick shot.  I have used many past images for cards and others, like these just sit on my computer and no one ever gets to see, so I thought I would share with you (and maybe make some more cards with some).

Beware, I take pictures of things that strike me as funny, even if it is on you! Hee hee

I love the look of rusted iron.

I know it’s just a traffic light, but I like it.

Joe doesn’t even know when I sneak a pic of him.  I captured this during the shoot of Joely and Steph.

And sometimes he does… I love the Canon 70-200 2.8L lens for these types of shots. I always use that lens when shooting railroad shots too.  I think Joe must be the only guy from high school that has MORE hair than he did back then!

Things like this just jump out at me.

I make anniversary cards from images like this one… the gum wall in Seattle’s Pike Place Market.

Amanda comes along occasionally… sometimes she lets me take a picture and sometimes not!

Abby had these great red shoes, so we had to get creative with them.

I thought this was funny while on a senior shoot with Kayla.

Sometimes it’s of people I don’t even know… just because… shhhh, we will just keep that between us, K?

I LOVE animals, so I have lots of images of dogs, cats, birds and squirrels.

Hope you have a great day!!
{{Hugs}}

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Todd Family – Family Portrait

Time for family pictures again! Do you have yours yet? This is the second time I have taken the Todd’s family pics, but this time they have a new little one… baby Autumn Joy.. what a little darlin’!

Big brother Benjamin is an active one, but the sweetest thing! I chased him around the yard trying to capture what I could before he ran to the next interest.

We did manage to get him standing still long enough for a few pics with his little sister.

Then off again, playing… kids are so much fun at this age… I definitely get my exercise during these shoots. It was such a cold day that we didn’t venture off too far… jut stayed in the backyard…

Click on this one to enlarge it so you can see the art fun… love making artistic images. I will be doing a post soon featuring some favorite art images. What do you think for something different?

Then Benjamin found out that we had a drum set! Inside we go! Joe says he’s a natural… come on parents… time to get this guy a set of his own (Benjamin told me to tell you that :)).

We exhausted poor little Autumn… nothing sweeter than a baby sleeping…

Thanks for a great morning you guys! Such a cool family!

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Amanda and Bailey – Child Portraits

Bailey is my daughter’s friend. She is a kind, loving child and is always laughing. Her and Amanda love hanging out together. Even though it was pouring rain all day we took advantage of a few minutes when it wasn’t raining and took some pictures of them.

They are both ballerinas and I thought it would be fun to get some shots away from the studio.

Love this one!

Before the rain hit, we also managed to get a few other images captured.

We had a great time together. I love that Amanda begs to go on photo shoots! It wasn’t that long ago that she dreaded me dragging her out, so I stopped. Now, she is begging ME. Nice change of events! Now to get that to happen with my son, I don’t think so!

I will end with a typical Bailey… happy and laughing! The movement in this image helps tell the story, don’t you think!

Thanks girls! xoxoxo

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Karly E. – Senior Portrait

Funny how many Karly’s I have photographed in the last year :). Meet my newest Karly… she is a Bonny Lake High School senior; beautiful, talented and fun to hang out with.

Karly brought along her boyfriend, Aaron to watch the fun and help us make her laugh. It is always a good idea to bring someone along on the shoot. They wanted one of the two of them… but I wanted one of just Aaron too… so…

I talked him into giving me a shot… it was a hard sell… but worth it! 🙂 I know his mom will thank me!

Karly has these incredible eye lashes!

I love the richness of the colors in this one and Karly looks so beautiful and natural.

Love the reflection…

Karly just jumps out of this image… scarves make all the difference in an image, this one is my daughter’s, she is a scarf girl like her mom!

Fields can be found along any rural road. This is one of my newest favorite spots and it’s different every time I visit it.

Karly is a volleyball player and brought her letterman’s jacket with her. Love all the blue in these shots…

The many faces of Karly…

I feel so fortunate to finally be pursuing a love I have had for many, many years. Photography is more than just using the camera technically correct. It is capturing someones spirit and soul. It is having fun with people and creating art. Thanks for sharing my love with me.

I will leave you with one of my favorites… xoxoxo

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