Yay for photoshoots with little fairy girls.

As the mom of two boys who have very cranky and dubious opinions about my camera, I couldn't have been more thrilled when Susanna contacted me to take pictures of her girls. I think the little one has to be at least half pixie, and the older one is a fairy princess.

A Different Sort Of Spring

Ever wonder what it would be like to arrive in Southern California for the first time? Not in these days, with national geographic and google maps. But as some sort of sturdy Irish immigrant who pioneered their way across the country in a covered wagon. They arrived to the promise land of milk and honey and while the sun does always shine, it also looks like this.





Quite the culture shock I'd imagine if you're used to heather covered hills and bagpipes. Or something.

Then they probably got closer to the coast and thought "oh whew, it really is paradise after all"... plus man eating sharks, scalp hungry Indians and no Hollywood sign gracing the valley. (just kidding... cept about the sign)

But despite the fact that most of us crowd in as close to the beach as financially possible. The desert is beautiful. A study in contrasts. And only a short drive away (well, reasonably short-ish).

This people, is as green as it gets. The advantages of hiking through the desert with two small children?
The flowers and succulents are absolutely stunning. Has anyone ever seen a wedding done with cactus flowers? For coming out of a dull colored and prickly plant, they sure are whimsical and fairyish looking.








Happy Spring.

Serenity

Sometimes, if you squint your eyes just right, you can imagine all the woes of pregnancy don't exist.

There are no such things as swollen ankles, or hips that require you to roll out of bed and land on your hands and knees. You haven't really gained four pounds in one week, and you didn't actually eat an entire family sized bag of Lay's BBQ potato chips.

Instead you are serene. You are beautiful. And you realize pregnancy is both a full time job and a work of art.
If you've ever been pregnant, or been close to someone who's been pregnant, then you are quite familiar with the full-time-job part. The maternity photoshoot I did over the weekend proves the latter-- Knitting a life together is a beautiful thing.












I'm thinking I should a) shoot more photos on the weekend, and b) take a giant chill pill more often. Rachelle and I shot all these in my backyard, side yard... and front yard. We ate lunch in the middle of them and just generally had a blast.






You'd never guess these shots were also taken in my yard, but despite the fact I live in the country (obviously), I like the urban feel of these photos.





Amazing.

Tutorials- My Camera The Cyborg

Whether you have a Powershot Point&Shoot, or a Canon 5D DSLR, there is always that moment of frustration, (or in my case...abject terror). For some of us, it's because the lighting isn't behaving, our lenses aren't right, or we pick up the prints from the store and what looked amazing on our computer looks dull or even green when we get the actual prints.

Sometimes my camera acts more like a rebelling cyborg than it does an extension of myself... Like right now.
I look at other peoples photos, and they look so dreamy and easy. Mine on the other hand feel like a ton of hard work for sometimes good (sometimes mediocre) results.

My current cure is to go back over what I've learned in the last 6 years of professional (ish) shooting, and figure out what I did right, what I did wrong, and what I can do better. Feel free to join me, pipe in occasionally, or correct me.

Here's to a more creative year... *clinking glasses* ...and watch your back, you never know when your camera might be plotting your demise.