A Little Pricey :: Part Deux

My cousin is a pretty big guy.  He's somewhere between 6' 3'' and 6' 5'' tall... I don't know the exact height, but I know it is 6' BIG.  He uses this size to his advantage often - especially when bullying me.  Like I said in a previous post, he's like my brother... and he picks on me just as much as my brother!  So, when I'm out taking photos of his family all I hear is... Lemme see :: Lemme see :: Lemme see...  I try my best to keep him away from my view finder, but it's impossible!!  Did I mention how big he is?  And did I mention how much he picks on me?  So this might not be the first time that he sees some of these pictures, but at least I know it is a true sneak peek for his sweet wife, Tiffany.

There are SEVERAL great photos in this batch, but my way of getting my cousin back for all the teasing is for me to let him squirm a bit before he gets to see all of my jpeg candy.  I usually show off more photos than this on the blog, but not this time!!  Whaw... haw... haw.... (my evil laugh).

Yeah... take THAT Cory!!  :o)  Maybe I'll take an extra day or two to go through the editing process.  wink wink!

Tahoe Bound :: Craig & Sarah Engagement

Most people hate stalkers.  Personally, I've never had one, but I bet that would get pretty annoying, pretty fast!  I stalk Craig and Sarah.  Maybe they don't know it, but I do.  Every Facebook photo they post, every e-mail they send.... I clobber it like the pie table at Thanksgiving.  They have become good friends over the last few months, and I'm totally stoked to say I know them... and not embarrassed to say I stalk them!  :o)  

I did an engagement shoot of Craig and Sarah several months back, and ::at the time:: I loved how their photos came out.  Looking back at the photos now; I can see how much I have learned, and how much my style of photography has changed.  So I begged and pleaded with Sarah to let me have another go at it... a do-over.  Apparently, the begging and pleading was not necessary.  Craig and Sarah were totally game.  They reassured me that they loved their original photos, but were totally supportive of the fact that I wanted to do better.

I'm sure they don't mind that I'm getting more practice either.... seeing as how I'm shooting their wedding in Lake Tahoe in January!!  I'm so excited, and honored to be a part of their special day!

So... drumroll please...  These pictures better be at least a little bit better or I should just put the camera down and call it a day!!  

Enjoy!  (More to come on the website later!!)

Say Ruiz!!! :: Ruiz Family

It was 2007.  That was when I first got to meet Adam and Rose Ruiz.  We were all in the same wedding together.  We each got to witness, and be a part of the marriage of two fantastic people :: Cory and Tiffany.  It is through my cousin, Cory, that I have been introduced to several of the Ruiz family members.  They are all such wonderful, caring people.  They are all very genuine and have the ability to make anyone feel as though they are a part of their fantastic family.

The Ruiz family has made its way out to Las Vegas for a family reunion.  Their sweet girl has just turned one, and their son is four.  Soooo... it was time to document this time in their lives.  I was honored to photograph these little guys along with their super cute (and pose-tastic) cousin.  We had a crazy few hours running around the UNLV campus.  Here is one of each of the kids.... 

During our shoot, we found ourselves in the middle of a protest!!  Luckily, we were almost done, and we could leave the campus to our protesting friends....

Family Vacation -- Newport Beach

Usually there are Excel spreadsheets.  Spreadsheets about the spreadsheets.  Usually a family vacation would entail months of planning.  Physically planning on the Internet.  Mentally planning the logistics.  Financially planning the expenses.  This year was different.

The Hubs had a moment of spontaneity, and I capitalized on that moment.  It was one of those life's too short sort of moments.  I love it when he has these moments.  He loses the planner in him for a moment, and I feel as though we are on the same page for a brief moment.  We balance each other nicely that way.  He's a planner... a saver.  I'm a doer... and like to spend our money on things that will give us priceless memories in return.  We are both right, and we are both wrong, so we balance.

So, in this moment of spontaneity, we decided to head to the beach.  I couldn't think of anything I wanted more from this summer than a photo of my boys playing in the sand.  I got my wish.

We started our trip to Newport on Saturday, and we planned to head to the beach and Knott's Berry Farm.  We did that and more.  We visited Balboa Pier several times during our stay which has a fun kids' area with both a ferris wheel and a carousel (which went waaaay faster than the one at Knott's Berry).  We had some nice dinners, and also mauwed down on some fried goodness (read: corndogs!!).  We stayed at the beautiful Westin hotel in Costa Mesa.  It had a fantastic pool that we visited daily.  Here are just a few of the 187 photos that were taken over the weekend.  I'll try to get more up later.  

I hope your summers are going well!!

Dub - to - the - Aylon :: Sneak Peek

You just know.  It's almost like dating... you just know when you'll be friends with someone for life.  It's like looking through a rack of fabulous jeans, and seeing that they have your perfect size.  You slide them on, one leg at a time, and they just fit.  This is how it felt when we met Justin and Indu for the first time.  They fit with us.

It was under odd circumstances that we met.  Not that a friends' wedding is an odd circumstance, but that we had never met... and we were driving two hours from the airport together.  Talk about a disaster ready to happen.  Oh yeah, did I mention that I was 33 weeks pregnant and SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN TRAVELING!!??  Yeah, try to imagine what sort of mood I was in...

Anyway, the trip was a riot.  We had a long laugh about our Jetson-mobile (a Prius), and the fact that it might quickly turn into a Flinstone-mobile if our little solar powered machine couldn't get us up a hill.  I can't remember the place that we stopped to eat (I'm sure they do since they are from that area), but I just remember that everything was fried... and soooo good... did I mention I was pregnant?

So, from that point on... Justin and Indu were life-ers.  We don't get to hang out as much as we would like since we live on opposite ends of the Las Vegas spectrum, but when we do get together we have nothing but laughs.

I finally got to meet their little man yesterday, and witness the masterpiece that is his nursery.  Indu has FANTASTIC style, and his little nursery looks as though it is an upscale boutique.  It is to.die.for  -- I did my best at capturing the essence of his nursery, but there were just so many great details that I could have taken a hundred more pictures.  The feel in the room is that of exuberance... bright colors, fun books, modern furniture... this little guy is going to have a blast growing up in such a great room.

Oh... and did I mention he is adorable???!!!  Simply gorge.

Here are a couple of shots from the day...

Figuring Things Out

So, hi.  This is a very non-formal post in that I am just trying to figure out how to use Yervant Page Gallery.  This design below is not the actual software, but instead it is just a Photoshop Action that divides the page into 8 equal parts, and then I placed a photo in each space.... yaddy yaddy ya....  I don't think that this is the quickest way to go about doing this, but... like I said... I'M TRYING TO FIGURE THIS OUT!  I think that this method will work for now, but I MUST find a faster way.  I actually designed an album page using the software, but when I saved it... poof!!!... it disappears!!  If anybody reading this has some tips, puh-lease enlighten the fledgling.  :(

Until next time...