Beautiful Ellie

So, beauty is definitely a family trait here! This is my friend Cindy's daughter Ellie who, although tired from a long day, was nice enough to be our model for a few hours during my visit to Georgia a few weeks ago. I've seen pictures of Ellie forever and I have to say - I was SO hoping she'd model for us! As you can see, the camera loves her! Thanks Ellie!
ps - what I wouldn't do for a little slice of town like this around here! Just look at all the textures and colors...so cool! I can't wait to go back - there wasn't enough time (and Cindy has four more gorgeous children who I hope to rope into modeling for us next time (hehe - that's a warning :)) and seriously, can you believe this lady carried FIVE children and still looks like this?! Wowzers!

Who's Your Celebrity Face?

This is hilarious! My friend Megan finds some of the coolest things - for a good laugh, check out who you resemble HERE. A few of mine where Jessica Simpson, Lucy Lawless (right on - total kick-butt chick!), Daniela Pestova (that's just hysterical and soooo off - when this came up, I was convinced it was luck of the draw - this chick redefines beauty IMO - I've worshipped her since she first made the fashion scene years ago), Veronica Varekova (feeling like I should know who this is but have no idea) and Valeria Mazza. Try different pictures for different matches - fun!

Just a little blue...

It's funny, years ago my spouse and I were talking to a friend and she mentioned how she had just returned from vacation - by herself. We thought it was so odd. She is married with two kids and in our minds, back then, before kids, we were like - who would go on vacation without their family or at least their spouse?

Flash forward to 2008 - here we are, three kids under four years of age and we're finally in the know - you know, the KNOW - as in, you don't KNOW something until you experience it. So, this is the KNOW - getting away for a relaxing vacation with young kiddos is hard. And getting away without them is virtually impossible unless you're Brad and Angelina and have a dozen nannies and an airplane at your disposal. Rock on - how cool would that be? Hold on, let's take a moment of silence to pretend and daydream....ahhhh......it's lookin nice, isn't it? :)

Okay, so this is why I'm Just a Little Blue...my spouse is on vacation - without me. Yep, we are our friend. We get it. The last time we got away together it took three shifts of different people to cover different days....and it was nuts. I worried the whole time. And the last time we took the whole family somewhere....welllllllllll, let's just say it wasn't exactly the definition of a vacation. I'm thinkin - give the kiddos another year or so and then we can talk fun vacation but as it was, it was more a labor of love with the emphasis being on labor.

But in the spirit of vacation and wishing my spouse the best time ever, here is a pic from that family vacation we did take a few years ago....

Happy Friday everyone!

Jeannie: SKD

Last week I met up with Jeannie for some updated pics for her portfolio. Our original plan was to meet at the Capitol, check out a favorite alley of mine (truly odd statement, right? I mean, who other than a photographer could say they have a favorite alley?! :)) and follow up with some pics in the park. But if you're a local Sacatomatoian then you know we've had some seriously warm weather - like 95 plus clouds and humidity that day. When we met up, we were both sweating just from the walk from our cars (of course, it didn't help that we both had a ton of stuff with us - her with a suitcase full of clothes and gear, me with my photo stuff which I always overpack) - within minutes we quickly determined this wasn't happin. Lucky for us, Jeannie had the hookup and called her friend Eric of IMAGE in downtown to see if we might stop in and use his space for some pics which ended up being awesome - thank you Eric! Not only did we get a reprieve from the sun, but it was a fun challenge for me considering I didn't come with studio gear and only had one off camera flash. But Jeannie was game and we gave it a go and got some great images. IMAGE provided the perfect backdrop - lots of color, as you can see, fun textures and they just so happened to have some huge fans which we loved!!
And I can't end this post without giving props where they are due - something people may not know about Jeannie besides the fact that she's obviously gorgeous - she's an absolute sweety! Although I met her earlier this year for this project, this was the first time I worked with her one-on-one and it was a blast!

Special Shout-Out Request

I have a special request, well, two actually: one, a client of mine who's family I had the pleasure of photographing last month just had one of their family members pass away this past Sunday. It all happened rather quickly and I know this family is going through a lot.
Two, a member of my own family is at the hospital today having tests done for a spot that was found in his lung a few weeks ago. Several of our family members are there as he will be there most of the day for testing.
So, this is my special shout-out request - I strongly believe, no matter what your personal belief system is (God, Buddha, etc) that positive community thinking (praying, etc) can have an extremely powerful effect. If you know me or even if you don't but stumbled upon this blog by accident, please take a moment to do your own form of a shout out for these two people and their families.
It's very appreciated! Thank you! :)

New Monarchs Player!

I'm so excited to finally share these! We photographed DeMya when it was still "top secret" that she was joining the Monarchs team. It was especially fun because she showed up with her two honeys and since we were just photographing her, we had a little extra time for some fun shots. :)
Things are busier than ever here - lots of cool things in the works, details to follow shortly. I'm on my way to SF today for a workshop with the extremely talented and cool David Jay and Jasmine Star. Now call me a weenie, but I'm a bit nervous because I have to navigate getting to the Wharf all by my little self. It's been some time since I've done the city drive, so wish me luck (and safe driving especially since the workshop doesn't end until 10pm which means I'll be doing the midnight drive!).

Back from Georgia!

You know that old saying, time flies when you're having fun? That was most definitely my weekend! Friday I boarded a plane and met up in with my friend Cindy of Cindy Harter Photography in Georgia (see post below for link to her website and amazing work!). Besides lots of girl chat (which was so great since it's been a long time since I've had girl chat!:)), it was a blast to be able to live, eat and breathe photography with another person who also lives, eats and breathes photography. A typical thing that we both laughed over...we drove to Atlanta for a day of shooting, parked the car, walked less than a block, saw this building and the gorgeous light and ended up spending the next few hours there. By the time we were done, most of our day was gone, we were drenched (wowzers, is it hot and humid there!!!! my knees were leaving prints on the floor just from kneeling while doing pictures) and it was time to head back to Cartersville.
And check out my hot mama friend!!! Isn't she stunning? She told me she was awkward in front of the camera - yeah, whatever! I don't know about you but I don't see anything awkward about these.


I love these last images...we were driving around with Cindy showing me some of her favorite shoot spots plus ones she has looked at and never explored. This was one of those. As we drove up, she said "you can see it, can't you?" I will probably never forget that because I remember looking at the field of grass and dirt and long buildings with no color or any particular character and saying "uh, well, I trust whatever you see." But we hopped out and began to play and before long, I was seeing all kinds of cool things. It reminded me how fun it is to just go for it sometimes - not to overanalyze, but just jump in and see what happens. Cindy is awesome at this - she told me she often takes her seniors and says 'lets just drive and see what we see.' I took her attitude to heart and brought it home with me. Thanks for the great reminder Cindy!