Brooke and Nick - Wedding

I mentioned that Brooke and Nick have known each other for ages (from their engagement session). I got a chance to know them even better at their wedding! The videographer did this cute interview of each about how they met, how he proposed, etc. It turns out that Brooke turned Nick down in 8th grade, and decided to date his friend instead. Luckily, that 8th grade relationship didn't turn out to be too serious, and they started dating in high school. At the reception, they had an adorable table of memories, including a giant picture of them from prom. Too cute!


Some of my favorite images from the day:

Apparently Brooke insisted that she was going to wear flip flops under her dress from day 1

Right before heading to the ceremony location (I love how you can see that nervous anticipation on her face):


Brooke stopped to talk parents on her way back down the aisle
My favorite part of every wedding is right after the ceremony - the congratulations, the tears, the happiness. I have tons of pictures of people hugging and congratulating each!
The grooms nephew - the ringbearer. Adorable!

Congratulations to both, best wishes for a happy life together!

Brooke and Nick - Engagement

I met Brooke and Nick at La Jolla cove last week for engagement pics. Nick is in the army, and flew in the day before for a whirlwind of his birthday (which was the same day as the engagement session), Christmas activities, and then his wedding tomorrow! I have felt like my holiday period has been crazy - I can't imagine what his has been like.

This shoot was also the first using my beautiful new Canon camera! I only had a 50 1.8 and a 70-200 2.8 (rented) for the day, so I had to be creative. I can't wait to acquire a couple more primes for my new baby - the shots out of the 50 were gorgeous!

Some of my favorites from the shoot:










After the engagement session, I did family portraits - the last time as a family before their little girl got married. Pictures to follow!

Merry Christmas!

First, I have to let everyone know - I made the switch! Last Friday, after I received my bonus, I went out and bought a beautiful new Canon 5d. And then my wonderful husband gave me a new speedlite and 50mm lens for Christmas! So now i've got a nice set up. I'll have to rent lenses for a while for events, but not such a biggie, because now I have a gorgeous camera.

Christmas eve is a tradition that has (thankfully) mellowed as we have gotten older. My husband has two brothers and three stepbrothers, 3 older, 2 younger. The old Xmas eve ALWAYS involved a keg and Pass Out. And gift opening, but this was all secondary pre-children. Now two of his stepbrothers have kids, so gifts have become the center of things. And while we brought the keg back this year, there was more screaming children and less alcohol (for which my body thanks me today). Different, but nice. Because I just can't drink up the way I used to when I was 19.





Some pictures of the chillens last night (taken with my new setup:

Did anyone see the pictures from the photographer, Jill Greenberg, that took away kids lollipops and then photoshopped the kids faces to be all red and contorted from crying? This kid wouldn't need any of that photoshopping - he makes the weirdest faces. (if you haven't seen the pics, you can check them out at her site, http://www.manipulator.com/, under "End Times")

Family Portraits - The Lass Family

I'm all about getting anyone to let me photograph them - it improves my skills, lets me try out new things. So I was thrilled when my sister in law asked me and my husband to take family pictures! The kids (my nephews through marriage and more marriage), Gavin and Spencer, are absolutely adorable camera hams. I had so much fun working with them, even though it was impossible to keep them still or in one place for more than twenty seconds at a time. While Steve, my husband's stepbrother, doesn't really like the camera much (an understatement, trust me), it was so cute to see him and Elicia interacting. They dated since high school, and have been married for years, and they just have this level of comfort around them.

The kids ran out to get their dad (who was searching for a parking space), and then ran back to get to us. I think they just like running.

Spencer:

Gavin, who is a little more shy:

A shot of my hubby in action.


Elicia:
When you see Gavin and Spencer's parents, you can see how the kids look so different. Its a running joke in the family that they each have one kid.








I've done some other family sessions like this and have attended a few kids birthdays, but i'm SO behind in blogging. Oh yeah, and I have a bunch more weddings to blog too. So hopefully I will be able to catch up over the slower (yeah right) holiday season.

Hope all are well, and that you have a merry Christmas!

Decision Time

I've been seriously debating whether I want to stay with Nikon or switch over to Canon over the last month. I need to upgrade my body regardless, and it will cost about the same either way. All I have for my Nikon in terms of lenses that I would like to keep are the 18-200 (which, while awesome with versitility, isn't entirely giving me what I need) and a 50 1.8. The 50 1.8 was only $100 - and the corresponding Canon lens is only $70. And generally, good Canon lenses are slightly cheaper than good Nikon lenses. Since I have so little invested in the way of high end lenses, it really won't add up to much (if anything) extra over time.

Pros of Canon: better color, cheaper lenses, better performance at high ISOs.

Pros of Nikon: sharper lenses, I know the system and have always used them.

I rented a 5D and 70-200, which is what I am thinking of upgrading to, just to try it out. I think that I might need to do so again - I freaked out because a bunch of my family portrait session pictures today were out of focus, but later found out its because someone screwed with the diopter and I never thought to check that when I started shooting with the rental (luckily, I brought my other camera too, so I have plenty of pictures that are good). So i'm not sold on Canon... just yet.

Its hard to break away from what you know (Nikon - or being a lawyer) and enter a new world (Canon - or being a photographer). But change seems to be the underlying theme of my blog - change is what I am going for in my life. So I think it might time to change my camera system too. We'll see...

The Nerve!

Finally, for the first time ever... wedding pictures! I finally have worked up enough courage to show my work to the viewing public.

This is from the third wedding that I second shot (I swear I will catch the others up). Susanna and Ben knew each other since elementary school - and were even on the same page of their elementary yearbook! (which they had framed at the reception entrance) Lifelong friends, they decided to give dating a chance just a year ago. Apparently they knew it was right from the beginning. I can't believe that they planned the wedding in just two months - it was beautiful!

On the Road Again...

Finally back from vacation and have had time to breathe (but not download all of my pics from the Carribean yet).
Today I went to a workshop at the local Calumet photo entitled The Art and Business of Wedding Photography. For all those new to the business, I highly recommend it. The speaker (who was an awesome photog, by the way) went over tons of general business and pricing stuff - stuff that you can figure out on your own (I mean, hello, i'd like to believe my $120k law degree bought me some common sense), but its nice to have it all laid out. There were only 3 people there, so we got some one on one assistance and critique on work, got to share personal stories, discussed photography and ways to branch both into and out of weddings. I learned so much helpful stuff that I intend to implement. And the instructor told me that she thought I had enough good stuff to make a great album from one of my weddings! So... thats my next project. Time to step into the album world and explore. Leather Craftsman... here I come!