Sometimes, when I’m booked for a wedding, I’m excited because of the chance to document an incredible love story. Sometimes it’s a venue I’m dying to get to capture through my lens. Occasionally, it’s the details and the vendors I’ll get to work with. But rarely is it because I can’t WAIT to get the chance to document the joining of two incredible families. But that is definitely the case with Mandy & Bryan.

I may not have known Bryan much before this particular session. And I may not have met much of his family yet. BUT I can tell already exactly how epic this will be. Because I do know Mandy. And I do know the Branam family. I spent much of my teenage years wanting to BE a Branam. So knowing that a) Mandy totally digs this guy, b) the rest of the Branams like him too, and c) Mandy says things like “His family might actually be as cool as mine” and I know I’m in for one heck of an epic party. This might just be the greatest coalition since the joining of the words “shoes” and “sale”. Nay, since the world-changing combo of chocolate and peanut butter. It’s going to be that good people. Needless to say, I was beyond excited when Mandy & Bryan booked with me. Beeeeeeeyooooooooond.

So when Mandy & Bryan said something along the lines of “Oh hey, we want to do our engagement session at Dodger Stadium”, two things came to mind: 1) That’s like, oh, I don’t know, the PERFECT place for Mandy (she’s a sports journalist and a crazy Dodgers fan) and 2) How in the world are they going to manage that? Because, last time I checked, Dodger Stadium was one of those places in LA that gets used a lot. Cue Bryan’s crazy-awesome connections. Like knowing the head electrician for the entire stadium (who has keys to EVERYTHING). Cha-ching! We literally had the entire stadium to ourselves. That just might be the definition of awesome-sauce.

Gorg.eous. Whether or not she knows it…

Look at Bryan rockin’ his inner stud-muffin.

And just to finish off the start of this chocolate+peanut butter+shoe+sale+epicness union, we headed over to the Griffith Observatory too. Ahhhh yeeeeaaaahhhh….

I don’t know what made Mandy laugh (as much as I would like to pretend it was me, it was probably Bryan…), but I am forever grateful to whatever it was. Because it makes for some super adorableness.

We had to break rules and go under the off-limits rope for this one, but I think it was worth it. There’s just something charming about it for me. Of course, I stayed safely on the non-rule-breaker side of the rope….

Ahhhh sunset goodness…. No post of mine is complete without a little sun-flare now is it?

Mandy, Bryan, I simply CAN’T WAIT. Bring on the epic. I’m ready!

Remember all the way back to, oh, I don’t know, MAY when I promised more coming from this engagement shoot? Well, I’m finally posting some of the images. I can’t believe this one slipped through the crack, but I’m making it right now!

I met up with John & Kristin at Vasquez Rocks just before they closed to get some red rock magic before we headed out to Lancaster to the Poppy Preserve. Unfortunately, though the poppy preserve area itself was sadly lacking in California poppies, we did find some off the side of the road. And, even more awesomely (it’s a word in my language, don’t judge), we ended up pulling off the road right by an awesome little ranch/farm. Not only were there like 10 broke down trucks and tractors, but some beat up old semi-abandoned grain silos too. Photographer heaven.

John & Kristin didn’t even batt an eyelash when I got all artsy-fartsy on them.

Goodness gracious, they’re cute together.

See what I mean? Photographer.Heaven.

I love sunset light….

John & Kristin – I can’t wait for your Tuesday wedding this August! You guys already rocked it once, I can’t wait to see what the wedding holds!

:: b ::

J’adore balloons.

You know what I don’t adore? Lame excuses for not blogging more regularly. So I’ll spare you. Suffice it to say, there have been a lot of strange happenings around here and we’re still re-adjusting. New responsibilities piled on, old responsibilities shifted around and even a few have been (regretfully) let go. In a word? Craziness.

But as I promised all those weeks ago, I wanted to share a few images from the 2nd half of Michelle & Dannie’s engagement session. They were such sports when the clouds rolled in right at the end of their super cute session before and graciously allowed me to reschedule so we could catch some beautiful sunset light at another time when the weather cooperated. Of course, when we got to the agreed upon session, our beautiful field of wildflowers had been completely and utterly wiped out via tractor and turned into a parking lot. Kid. You. Not.

So they were super gracious again and let me suggest a totally new location. I think they rocked it personally.

Oh trombone love….

Did I mention how much I am in love with balloons?!?

I love the moodiness of this one.

Boxing gloves = long story.

One reason Michelle and I connect (as if I needed another reason after her being a photographer and a trombone player…) is her love of shoes. Oh my gracious, the SHOESSSSS!!!!

Thanks for your patience you two! November is going to ROCK!

:: b ::

Can’t wait to share more from this engagement shoot from Saturday! Vasquez rocks, poppies, and a rather unexpected (and COMPLETELY AWESOME) location complete with broke down trucks and abandoned grain silos. Oh, and sun-flare.

Boo. yah.

What’s this? A blog post with PICTURES?!? Why yes, my friends. I’m finally (finally) catching up. Well, starting to anyway.

You’ve seen sneak peeks from time to time, but Michelle & Dannie have been incredibly patient waiting for these images to make their debut. And it takes an EXTRA dose of patience when you’re a photographer. Which Michelle is. Us photographers get all used to things like INSTANT FEEDBACK with our lovely DSLR cameras. Plus we go home and download all of the images right away anyway. Having to actually wait for pictures – especially pictures that we’re in – is downright torturous. Fortunately for me, Michelle has been incredibly kind, having refrained from bugging me entirely for the past two weeks. In photographer-land, that practically deserves a standing ovation. F’reals.

So without further ado, let me introduce you to these two awesome-sauce people. (I know, I said “awesome-sauce” – I haven’t said that in a while. Time for a comeback, no? Maybe that’s just me…. but I digress…). Michelle and I go pretty far back. I met her just before my senior year of college when she was checking out APU as a senior in high school. She came down from NorCal to check out the music program and, being a music major myself, I had a standing open invitation with the School of Music that any instrumental kids who needed a place to stay could crash at our place. Which is how Michelle ended up living on my couch for the first several days of our acquaintance.

Dannie is also a music guy. And not only just another music guy, he’s another Trombone Player. How could I not like that? And more to the point, how could Michelle not? She, afterall is a low brass player too. And so their several-year love story began. In band. Where all the really great love stories do.

And then Michelle started taking up photography too. Needless to say, we’ve got a lot in common. When she told me the good news of their engagement AND that she wanted me to be the lucky photographer, I was THRILLED.

FAVORITE.

Can’t wait to show you part 2!

:: b ::

“Laughter is the closest distance between two people.” :: Victor Borge ::

I know starting a blog off with a quote is sort of like starting off a graduation speech with Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” (aka “The Road Less Traveled”) or something, but stay with me here for a minute people. I came across that image above while editing away for an upcoming blog post chock full of images (well, 1 of 2 posts cuz there’s too many images to narrow it down to a reasonable number…) and it struck me.

Sometimes I’m drawn to the unique, the technically accurate, the magical moment, the perfect lighting, the different, the edgy, the breath-taking when I look at photos. I’m constantly trying to improve what I do and I try to spend a decent amount of time looking at the work of people I consider my Betters. But sometimes I am struck by the simplicity of pure connection.

Because let’s face it. Connection, true and real connection, is hard to do. I don’t mean “connect” on facebook. Or “connect” through email. Or even “connect” through Match.com. I mean that moment when you realize that something deeper just happened.

I’ll be honest – it’s a struggle for me. Because connection takes vulnerability that I’m just not willing to give sometimes. Vulnerability doesn’t always pay off in a positive way. Sometimes it’s ugly and it means getting hurt. But I’ve learned something about connection lately – especially about really connecting with my clients – it’s worth it. Worth the work. Worth the discomfort. Worth the sometimes pain. Because then something beautiful happens. My clients become more than clients. They become people I love and share laughter with.

Let me give you an example. I had a client a few years back who approached me about shooting her wedding. She was struggling to come up with the money to hire me, but she knew she wanted ME to shoot her wedding and told me so. I was flattered, but mostly because it felt good to know that she had somewhere decided to reach out and try to connect. I decided to take that chance too. It meant fudging the budget a bit, re-orienting a few things and getting a little uncomfortable, but now she’s a beautiful married woman with a fabulous family (ALL of whom I have now worked with separately and together) and I’m excited to for the upcoming arrival of their first child. Not “excited because they’ll probably hire me to take baby photos” excited. I mean genuinely THRILLED. Because somewhere in the past few years, we let our walls down a little and connected. By the time I even got to her wedding day, we had developed a friendship that allowed for more than just easy conversation, it allowed for – nay, INSISTED on – laughter. Like, belly laughter too. Not that weeny polite stuff.

Today I spent a good 20 minutes straight laughing-so-hard-I-was-wheezing-in-a-singularly-UNattractive-manner with my husband. Something I DEFINITELY don’t do enough. Somewhere in those 20 minutes, all of the irritations, the pain, the frustrations, the busy-ness, the day-to-day LIFE of the past few days and weeks (and maybe months) melted away. I honestly can’t think of a better way to have spent my morning. Sure, I had things to do. Important things too, like take a shower, but I have zero regrets. I want to have 20 minutes like that every day of the rest of my life. Really.

And really, when it comes down to it, laughter is more than just good medicine. It’s the fruit of the connection that I crave and don’t take the risk to pursue often enough. I don’t know about you, but I would really love to connect to more people and have more people to share a good laugh with.

So here it is internet. I’m throwing it out as a challenge to you (and to me). I check my google stats and I know how many of you are visiting this blog (if you’re reading this on facebook, count yourself lucky that I can’t check stats there…yet….) so no weenies out there, ya hear me? I’m asking for your help. Help to violently shove gently push me out of my comfort zone. I’m asking you to help me CONNECT. With you.

Reach out. I’m starting the conversation, will you continue it? I triple-dog-dare you. So reach back. And let’s see where this thing goes.

:: b ::

But just to let you know that I really have still been getting work done, check out my favorites from today’s late night editing session. More coming your way soon – promise!

:: b ::

Suffice it to say – I can’t WAIT to show you more. And we didn’t even finish the session….

So there I sat with my sweaty palms and my nervous laugh and my constant stuttering and overuse of the non-word “um” (some combination of over-excitedness & potential-for-epicness ends with me = junior high girl all over again). And yet, somehow, despite my lameness, Casey & Johnny got it.

True confession – I did the happy dance in the parking lot after they booked me.

So needless to say I was way excited to shoot their engagement session at Hart Park and Bouquet Falls last weekend. The rocked it OUT, yo! (PS – double bonus for them for also introducing me to the 2nd location which was brand new and practically in my backyard!).

And what’s an engagement session without a little bling?

Casey & Johnny – thank you SO MUCH for overlooking my lameness and giving me the opportunity to work with the two of you! I’m honored and excited and giddy all over! Can’t wait for July!

:: b ::