For A Moment Photography

It Isn't Easy Being Green.

One of our more dramtc photos, I love it.  

My dog Lenny was rying to sit on her lap.  He lovvved her!

Looks sort of beachy- but it's AZ.

I am so loving this session!  Ugh, it's killing me that my computer screen is green and blurry.  Yes, I'm having computer issues and can't have it worked on until next Wednesday (after a few scheduled photo sessions).  For a day this week my computer screen was working fine, granted I had to sit and turn it on and off a few times to get it to work- but it did (and I put my battery in the refrigerator).  

Today I sat down to work on a few sessions and the screen went green on my and has been green all day.  You don't want too know how many times I've turned this thing on and off trying to get it to work again...  I'm really trying to look on the bight side, and now when it works I'm so excited to edit photos!..  I am pretty bummed because I just realized (now) I would have my computer during Presley's birthday skiing trip...

Ok, focus!...  Good news is, I have great clients being very understanding!  My computer will be fixed and they are doing a whole overhaul so it will be like new!..  I'm also thinking maybe I should take the time (while my computer is being repaired) to disconnect from all things technical.  It could be a fun!...

Anyway, so here are the photos I worked on so far from this session.  I've been thinking about photographing at this location for awhile I just never got around to doing it until now!  We had so many ideas for this session we just ran out of time!  I love what we got and I can't wait to edit more and work with Holly again!

 

 

 

Our Best Books

Like most families we read books every night before bed.  I have a few books that I love and thought I would blog about a few of them.  Plus my computer is freaking out (screen is green), so I haven't been able to edit any photos.  I thought at least taking photos might help me from losing my mind!

This book, Someday by Alison McGee has been one of my favorites since Presley was just an itty bitty baby.  I remember walking into the book store and seeing this book on display.  I picked it up and a few pages later I was crying (I do that a lot now).  Since then I have bought the book for several of my girlfriends who have baby girls.

This book is from a Mom to her daughter about all the things she'll do.  About her growing from being her baby to being her daughter and one becoming a mother herself.  And someday, "your hair will glow silver in the sun.  And when that day comes Love you will remember me"...  I don't know why I'm so attached to this book.  Hmm, I think it's because I want her to have all the life experiences it talks about.  And it reminds me that someday, my little Bug will have a life all her own...  

The illustrations are lovely too.  Since having Presley my drawing skills have been put to the test.  This books illustrations have helped me grasp the concept that pictures are just lines, simple lines.  With that being said, my lines don't look like these!..

So you'll see our little guy Lenny in the photos.  I was setting up the book and he jumped up on the ottoman and posed.  He's such a big part of our life now I guess it is a good idea to start photographing him...    

 

 

Get the most out of your tiny makeup tubes!

Sometimes it's the simplest things that give me great pleasure and this is one of them.  I have to assume I am not alone when I say I spend way too much money on my beauty products.  But when I'm standing in the store feeling this product could make a difference in my skins aging process it's worth the $.  So now my concern becomes how can I get the most out of this product!

The last time I was stocking up on my facial products I asked what they used to squeeze their tester tubes and more importantly do they sell them.  I was in luck, they did sell them!  This product is called a, tube wringer it's the weird blue thing in the photo and it cost me $10.  Supposedly it will help you get 30% more out of your product tubes.  

I love it!  My eye cream is super expensive and I never could get that last little bit.  Or I'd squeeze too hard and I'd end up with my precious eye cream (or what ever) spilling out!  Since using this I have been super happy and slightly obsessed.  I've been wringing everything, toothpaste, eye cream, night cream, A&D ointment, and anything in a tube.

I loe it and I wanted to share!  You can find this product on Amazon and Whole Foods.  I hope this helps you too.

 

   

Baby Blue Valentine

He has the most incredible blue eyes.

I had a fun photo session this weekend with a lil' guy I've photographed several times before.  It's been so great to see him grow and change.  I have to say he is for sure all boy, he was running, jumping and climbing everything.  As nervous as it made me (Mom seemed use to it) it was great to see him so confident!

We decided to do a few photos with a Valentines theme in mind.  The "kisses" photo was the one I was most excited about and I love the results.  His smile is too adorable...  I think a future girlfriend or wife will love this photo...

The top photo was a fun surprise.  His sweater was knit for him by his "Mimi".  So Mom wanted to make sure to get a photo with him wearing it.  I decided to do a little side by side shot with the handmade label.  This is a style I've started to play around with.  I usually see this type of photography done in weddings and advertisement's.  But it works just as well with any photo session.  I've also had started to mess around with colors in my photos.  I still love bright and vibrant but I've played arouns with my muted dreamy tones.  Like photo number two...  We'll see how it developes!

 

 

  

 

Passion. Commitment. Gotta have it!

 

This is a commercial featuring Kevin Pearce, watch it before reading...  He suffered a traumatic brain injury in 2009 preparing for the Olympics.  He's healing has been faster than expected, but he still has a lot of work to do...  I've followed his story in the media and on Facebook...  The recent death of freestyle skier Sarah Burke had me wondering about Kevin's progress.  Burke crashed on the same pipe as Kevin and was in the same hospital as Kevin...  Looks like he is riding again, great news.

As a Mother I think about his Mom and how she is managing the fear I'm sure she has...  She was quoted as saying, "I'm just very proud of him for waiting as long as he has," said his mother Pia. "I don't fully understand the feeling he gets when he snowboards, but it must be a feeling of freedom and happiness and well-being."  He is lucky he to have parents that understand how this dangerous sport is so essential to his well being.

I admire them for their passion and commitment...  I've seen the pipes and jumps they ride in.  My knees get weak looking at the jumps, but the freedom they must feel I believe is immeasurable.  These two stories also reminds me how much I want to give Presley the freedom and confidence to follow her life's passion...  The best way to give her that is by example, the saying "reasons or results" comes to mind.

(Read more about Kevin Pearce's recovery: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/more/12/30/Kevin-Pearce-recovery/index.html#ixzz1kJj3NX15)

Core CrossFit: Best in Phoenix

One of our events

I was so excited ot hear my gym was voted, Best in Phoenix for the Fitness insane.  I think in anything I do it's great when people acknowledge and/or appreciate me/it.  This is why I had to write a post about my "box" (gym)...

So even though the award doesn't grant Core CrossFit anything other than recognition, it stands for much more.  Crossfit is becoming more mainstream, Reebok even has a CrossFit commercial out.  If you haven't heard of it I assume you must be hiding under a rock some where (and not reading this post).  My point being is there are a lot more CrossFit boxes popping up and many more people joining the community.  So for our box to receive this award is saying a lot.  

I love that I can walk into Core, knowing I'm going to be met with a intense workout, coaches to push me, and fellow members to encourage me.  And I can be in and out of the gym in an hour.  It's a bonus that I can grab a piece of fruit after, chat with other members about my diet or recovery techniques...  At this gym you won't see advertisements with "healthy" McDonald choices on the walls.  But you can find information about proper nutrition, how you can be most successful with your goals and people who will hold you accountable.

I'm so happy for Core to receive this award.  Thank you, Kim, Tom, Ali, Santana, D.J., Bryon, Adrian, Preston, Ray and Maya for all your dedication.  Your hard work is appreciated and the community is taking notice...  On a side note, damn you keep the gym clean (I totally appreciate that)!

 

Not Your Average Business Card

This week I've been working hard on several photography jobs.  Now that I'm starting to get caught up I thought I'd blog a little about them...  The photo/business card is a job I just finished.  I've posted before on a few of the cards I've done for MVP Realty Team and this is another one of their cards.

We had decided to step away from industry standard and not put a head shot on their cards.  With Heather's cards I thought of photographing her crystals and use that photo for the card.  The crystals are something important to her and it makes her card more of a conversation piece...  It is no doubt out of the norm for real estate and I love it!  I'm pretty sure if her card was in pile of real estate cards hers would stand out. 

 

 

Will there be any stars.

My beloved grandmother passed on January 3, 2012.  I went to visit her several days before she passed.  I got to spend some time at her bedside and speak to her about my time with her and how much I loved her...  When I left her house I knew it would be the last time I saw her.  It was a difficult time, but I did not like to see her as she was in her finally days.  Because of that I wanted the transition to come sooner rather than later...

My grandmother was very religious and read the bible often.  Before leaving I picked up her bible, my Mom pointed out she too wrote notes along the book edge as I do.  In her bible I found a photo of my Presley and this hymnal.  I decided to snap a photo of it so I could remember the words...

Several weeks prior to all of this, I had been making a move to have a crown be on my logo.  I had also been eyeing a crown I wanted to photograph.  But it ws the holidays and I didn't think it was kosher to buy myself a gift...  The crown I had been looking at is a santos crown.  Santos is a type of religious art of saints carved out of wood.  This crown would be placed on the head of one of the sculpture.  The dolls would be placed on an altar or mantle...

When I saw this hymnal in my grandmothers bible I was reminded of the crown.  I went back to see if the crown had stars, I couldn't remember.  As you see, it does.  I ordered it Jan. 3rd.  ♛

 

 

 

Because we all were kids...

Yoga

This post is purely for me to talk about the great work Core CrossFit and it's nonprofit work in the community.  I don't have a lot of details but I think it is a great story.  With the parents and the gym's consent I stopped in on a class to take some photos for this post.  

At Core we have a kids program several days a week for kids at risk.  The gym had a desire to do something within the community and had done several projects benefiting kids in the area.  This particular program started pretty organically, after school a few kids in the neighborhood would hang around and peek in the windows trying to figure out what was going on in our gym.  

The coaches decided to invite them in, and as the saying goes, the rest is history...  The class is free for the kids that live in the Garfield neighborhood.  It's a neighborhood that can be a bit rough.  The kids come to the gym after school and are given a snack and then do yoga or some other kid friendly workout.  

While I was visiting (photographing) they were doing a yoga class.  As the instructor lead the class she did a nice job of talking to the students about meditation.  She let them know if things around them are too much with school, family or friends they can sit quietly and find the calmness (strength) within...  I guess it sounds pretty basic, I hear that a lot (and I use meditation a lot).  But I have had several teachers, professors that have crossed my path in my youth that made quite an impression on me.  This leads me to believe that maybe it's happening now with at least one of them.  This experience reminded me of being a kid and how good it felt when I found a place to belong to...

If you'd like to hear more about the gym go to www.corecrossfit.com.  If you'd like to contribute to the kids program go to kids@core on Facebook.  Nothing is expected and everything is appreciated.  

 

The Family Dog

Lenny wearing her dolls shirt.  Presley will tell you it's his pj's.

Clip from a 1987 sitcom, The Family Dog.  It's blurry but the little girl is dressing the family dog.

Presley has been asking for a doog (she drags out the "o" sound) for a while now.  I've been thinking about dogs since giving the little lost dog we found to our friends (where we visit him often).  It was only a few short months ago but it just felt like now we were ready for a doog.

 I was telling my Mom I missed, Hadley (the doggie we found) and was thinking of rescuing a new one.  She mentioned that we could have her miniature doberman pinscher, Lenny (named after John Lennon).  I said we would give it a try, I wasn't sure I wanted a small dog.  Our dogs before were 100 plus pounds, I bought my dog Bailey because I wanted a running partner- not a lap dog.  He hated to run and was pretty much a 115 pound lap dog!..  The dogs on my short list, another wiemaraner, golden or lab.  I figured one would call to us from a rescue shelter.  

I decided (I didn't really mention it to Mark) the way I explained this to Presley was we were going to babysit Lenny.  So if we did need to give the dog back, for whatever reason she would not be upset.  Presley was great, she told my Mom we could only watch him for this many days , holding up her two hands...  Well once he got here, he's been a dream.  I have to admit it was nice to have the unconditional love/joy of a dog in the house again.  Mark enjoys him to and lets him lay with him. 

Lenny is so patient with Presley, she dresses him up in the doll clothes and wants him next to her side at all times.  We even took him to "show and tell" and he let all her classmates pet him.  He learned to use the doggie door the first and hasn't had an accident since the first day.  He was mostly an outside dog so I wasn't sure how he would do.

Lenny sleeps on his bed in Presley's bed.  This arrangement has helped us keep Presley in bed at night.  We may move him to the floor next to her bed, this was the original plan.  But the first night he kept coming to our room.  We put him on her bed and Presley held his collar to keep him in her room.  As long as he stays in his bed I think I'm ok with it...  

I wasn't sold on a small dog before Lenny but he's pretty much as easy as a cat.  The great news is my parents and sister-in-law have already offered to watch him when we leave town.  That is something that never happened with our weimaraners!..

Oh since having Lenny he reminded me of this cartoon I saw as a child.  I don't think there are very many episodes.  But I found a few on YouTube.  And the episode I saw showed the little girl torturing, I mean dressing the family dog.  How fitting...