Las Vegas Children Photographer :: Hayden

You know... if I weighed like, 100 lbs less... I could totally be a model, right? ha ha ha...

I don't know about that, but I do know that this little guy gives the Gerber baby a run for its money. Little Hayden was in town to meet his new cousin, so his mama took the opportunity to go out for a quick shoot to update his modeling/commercial portfolio.

Seriously, Hayden... don't forget the little people.

Homework Assignment

I always did my homework. Always. This doesn't mean that there wasn't an occasional... 'pssst... what's the answer to #4???' ...but I always did my homework. So recently when Jasmine Star asked us during her workshop to define our brand in three words, I discovered that I had... a loss for words. I know, I know... me? a loss for words??? riiiiight.....

The workshop was in May; therefore, I've been thinking about this assignment for a little over two months now. It has been one of those nagging thoughts at the back of my mind, so I finally decided to figure out my answer... to do my homework. Because I always do my homework.

I rifled through some of my recent shoots, and I pulled together some images that I really think exude the j. anne brand... here's what I came up with...

So... after looking through some of these favorite images, and really defining what I love about photography that I look to for inspiration... I have finally done my homework.

j. anne photography is clean... crisp... and contemporary.

Homework done. .... do I get an A+??? Lemme know what you think!!

Las Vegas Photographer :: Canvas Gallery Wraps

Mom and Grandma both walked into my room. I was in 7th grade, maybe 8th. They giggled as they said... ‘Jo, do you think that maybe you put those up too high?’ How could they be too high, I thought. All I did was stand up on my bed, and then hang my Berrendo Middle School athletic team photos on the wall... right at eye level. And I loved them. Who wouldn’t love a picture of pre-teen girls all jammed together and smiling so big that you could count the brace brackets on each of their teeth. Not to mention the bangs that we were all rockin. What was not to love?

I make this mistake every time that I start to hang things in my house. I hang things at eye level... (which is about 4 inches higher than every one else’s eye level)... and every time I say to myself ‘Jo, do you think that maybe you put those up too high?’ Thank you Mom... and Grandma for permanently scarring my interior design prowess. Or maybe fostering it....

My favorite thing to hang on the walls these days... canvas gallery wraps!! Sleek... modern.... and just plain yummy. These little gems hang directly onto your wall without any need for a frame, and they make me swoon!!

These canvas prints were wrapped by iprint canvas, and they did a fantastic job! The featured photos were taken by Gabriel at gabriel.ryan.photographers... I love the look of the canvas and how it floats off my wall, but I love the photos even more!! I am just stoked to have found the purr-fect way to display them in my home!

Las Vegas Photographer -- Alison Paige :: Everyday

When Fraser first met her she kicked him in his shins. It was 2001, and Fraser and I had been dating a month... maybe two. My parents and my niece came to Las Vegas to watch me play in a volleyball tournament, and that is when the shin kicking commenced. Alison was maybe five years old at the time, and she acted every bit of her five year maturity level.

Oddly enough, she won Fraser's heart that weekend. Eventually, Fraser turned into Uncle Fraser, and while I can gladly say that Alison has stopped kicking his shins... she still has his heart.

Ali, please come back and see us soon. Fraser talks about you daily, and just as I was posting this blog entry Hudson was screaming at the screen... Wi Wiiiiii, Wi Wiiiiii!!!! Love you sweet girl.

Gift Wrapping Room, Please?

You know that episode of Will & Grace when Grace actually moved outta Will's place, and he turned her room into a gift wrapping room? What, you don't watch Will & Grace??!!... shameful!!

Anyway, I want a gift wrapping room. I love to wrap gifts. I love to make them look pretty. You can only imagine my headache when it comes to packaging my photos. I want them to look pretty, but I still want them to convey the essence of the j. anne brand. Yes, the j. anne brand is pretty in my mind, but how to get the idea out of my mind... find the appropriate products... and be able to afford said products... is a different story!!

When packaging a client's cd of images I used to put a label of my favorite photograph from the shoot on the cd, slap it in a plastic cd case and call it a day. It wasn't perfect, but at least it had a label, right?

Here's what my cd case looks like now...

This will get packaged up with pretty tissue, a nice note, and a little bit of j. anne goodness. Will would be so proud.

Las Vegas Children & Family Photographer :: Waylon 1 Year

Never before have I witnessed a kid as cool and laid back as Waylon. Yes, I am including my Hudson in this observation as well. Never - before Waylon - had I seen a kid in a restaurant sitting in his high chair not even require a single toy to play with...a sliced up banana to mash in his hands...a piece of bread to crumble all over the table, or (as it happens in our world) a dvd player in order to watch a movie. Yes, we do that... in restaurants... don't hate.

In fact, Waylon has even breezed through the teething process without ever donning a shirt covered in saliva, nor have I ever seen his fist in his mouth. I have yet to ever see him cry, and he has finally decided that it is time to become mobile and just saunters around his house in a methodical crawl. In fact, he had just started crawling the day before our shoot, and he often stopped crawling and laid down on the ground right where he was... you know... to take a break.

Before I begin to make all of you turn into Swamp Thing with your jealousy... here are a few photos from our day.

Happy 1st birthday Waylon!!

Enjoy!

Las Vegas Photographer :: 4th of July

It is probably because we are from Roswell, New Mexico. You see in 1947 UFO's "allegedly" landed in Roswell. Don't you dare argue this with anybody from Roswell. You might get hurt. Really bad.

Anyway, it is probably because we are from Roswell, New Mexico that we have begun to all meet up on the 4th of July... because in 1997, the 50th anniversary of the UFO's (as you can see I dropped the "allegedly" -- don't hate) crash.

So for the 50th anniversary a gigantic anniversary party was planned in Roswell. Roswell houses about 50,000 people. When the first convention of sorts was held, the town size nearly tripled over 4th of July weekend. Now, when I say tripled means that the original Roswell-ites were out numbered by twice as many "aliens." The aliens that invaded this time were clothed in foil hats, plastic antennae covered in glitter, tutu's, striped stokings, black cloaks, green body paint, and anything else you could imagine an alien wannabe to be wearing.

So, since this invasion took place on the 50th anniversary was such a huge success -- success in Roswell means that there were actually visitors of any type -- they (the city folk) decided to hold this convention every year.

So, we non-alien donned humans got smart and decided to never again stay in Roswell for the 4th of July. This year the escape was made to Vegas, and I couldn't be happier!! Mom, Dad and Alison all made the 12 hour drive to come see us and spend a few days - as Dad would say - chillin' and grillin'!!

A special shout out to my nephew who was born to have fireworks on his birthday every year... love you Becks, Happy Birthday!!