Workshop: Free To Succeed

I drove up to Austin yesterday to attend a photography workshop called Free To Succeed, and today my head is spinning from all the information. As a matter of fact, I drove the whole way home last night so absorbed in my thoughts that I was in my neighborhood before I realized that I didn't have the radio playing. Man, thats deep.

So today the thinking and mulling continues as I try to put it all together. I think I could figure it all out if I could escape to a mountain and focus on myself, but that ain't gonna happen. So I'll do laundry as I ask myself who I am, and take the kids swimming as I ask myself what I want from my life, from my photography, from the world. Like I said, it was deep stuff.

And here is the most earth-shattering part of the evening-I met David Jay and Jasmine Star!!!! Heck, we even hugged, took pictures, talked a while, and at the end of the evening guess who Jasmine walked out of the hotel with? Me. She swooshed a little of her star-dust my way, and I'm already feeling more successful.

I have the pictures on my Blackberry, but I've never figured out how to get them onto my computer. Sometimes this camera stuff stumps even me! As soon as I get them uploaded I'll post them, and if anyone knows how to do it, I'd appreciate a call!

Things you can do to ensure beautiful wedding pictures.

During the past few weeks, I've been amazed at how many times a small change could have made a huge impact on the look of the wedding photographs. Although some brides have coordinators who already know these things are important, most weddings in our area are coordinated by the bride or her mother, and there is really no way that they would know to do them.

So these are my suggestions. You can implement them yourself, usually at no additional cost, and watch as your photographs go from ho-hum to fabulous.

1. No wire hangers! If your wedding gown is still on the ugly piece of metal from the dry cleaners, please switch it out for something more photogenic. I always try to get a picture of the gown hanging in the dressing room, and I cringe each time I see a wire or plastic hanger because it completly ruins the artisic look of the image. There are padded, cloth covered beauties you can use, or perhaps a conservative but elegant wooden one. I bet you even have one in your closet. Your photographer will thank you.

(This image was taken from a low angle to downplay the appearance of the hanger.)

2. Put some thought into your "getting ready" room. The hour before the ceremony is usually an emotion packed time as the bride makes her final preparations. Friends usually stop in for a quick hug, the parents of the bride get their first look through teary eyes, and flower girls turn cirlces in their newly donned gowns. This is not the time to settle for a blah room. I've taken countless images of the bride in locations such as church nurseries, bathrooms and windowless classrooms with stack of chairs against the wall.

I would recommend scoping out the room where the groom is expected to dress, and switch if his is better. You could also dress at home and have the photographer present. The ideal spot would be a nicely decorated room with window light. It doesn't have to be huge, but you'll get much better images if the background doesn't detract.

(This bride chose a gorgeous hotel room to get ready in, and though it was crowded, I really loved the warm ambient glow and the spotlight from the mirror.)

3. Move the cake away from the wall, and for pete's sake get it out of the corner! I think this is my number one pet peeve. If the cake table is against the wall, I can't circle it to find the best shot. And even worse, I can't get a shot of the cake as it looks in the room, only how it looks against the wall.

At the Enlisted Club on Randolph Air Force Base, I've noticed several times that the staff always places the cake directly in front of the bride and groom's table, in the middle of the floor. Imagine all the photo possibilities this gives me, and then when it is time to design your album I have many angles and views to choose from. Freedom of choice is good. Cake against the wall, bad.

(I love how you can just barely glimpse the guest's table behind the cake. If the cake were in front of the wall, it would look like an image from a cake brochure. By the way, I ADORE the monogram detail.)

4. Schedule some time during the day for portraits of just the two of you. It can be before the ceremony (more about that later), between the ceremony and reception, or during the reception, but the day is all about the two of you and your relationship, why not put a priority on capturing that?

Admittedly, it is dificult to carve out an hour from an already jam-packed day, but I guarantee you won't regret it.


5. Consider a First Look session. So, what's a First Look? It is when (gasp) the bride and groom get together before the ceremony for a very private and intimate moment. The photographer is stationed a good distance away, shooting with a long lens capturing every nuance, every smile and tear. The bride and groom can exchange gifts, talk about the day so far, and savor the moment together. The resulting photographs are phenomenal.

I have suggested this meeting at every consultation I've done, and it's usually the groom that has a problem with it. Tradition dictates that the bride and groom see each other for the first time as she walks down the aisle, and many guys still hold tightly to that idea. I respect that, but this could be the start of a new tradition.

I promise that it won't take anything away from the real moment, when she makes that long walk toward you to become your wife. You will still catch your breath, possibly tear up (I've seen a couple of grooms completly break down) and so will everyone else in the room. I'd even venture to say that meeting each other beforehand will lend a new gravity to the service, because you have already connected in a powerful way with each other.

So there you have it, my top five suggestions for fabulous wedding pictures. I'm looking forward to the wedding where they are all implemented at once. Ah, that would be heaven.

This is what summer looks like to me:

When I met Chip, it was easy to fall in love with him-he was a bad-a$$ race car driver. I spent almost every Saturday night that summer watching him win races at San Antonio Raceway on Highway 16. It was nerve-wracking and thrilling and totally cool, and I was hooked-both on him and on watching him race (racing in general-not so much).

By the second year, I had convinced myself that he was going to propose to me on the track after a win. I was bitterly disappointed when he lost, thinking to myself "Great, now I have to wait yet another week for the ring." I think he lost a few in a row for different reasons, and I was getting more and more impatient.

Finally, he won. The number 44 car pulled up to the front straightaway and I was running like crazy to make sure that when Chip got out of the car he wouldn't have to look for me. The entire set-up was perfect: our friends were all there (even the track announcer was Chip's good friend Milton)and the track photographer was in place to capture my shock and surprise.

He climbed out of the car, I ran up to him and gave him a huge hug. We posed with the trophy girl for the camera, laughing and smiling. And then Chip got back into his car and drove off.

No proposal.

No ring.

No nothing.

And to my surprise, I think the photographer succeeded in capturing my shock.

Knowing him as well as I now do, I can't believe I ever thought he'd propose in front of other people. It's not his style, he is way too introverted and doesn't want to draw attention to himself. He did eventually propose (about 6 months later) during a very romantic cruise to the Carribbean.

So, after we got married and started having kids his racing days seemed numbered. That is, until this year. He is at it again, and I'm finding myself at the track yelling and screaming "Go Chip Go!" along with the kids.

They watched him win last week and got to run out to the track for the trophy and a picture. Talk about a flashback for me! My youngest daughter, M, refused to go through the gate, so we stayed near the stands. I got a couple of images of the back of the car, as Chip accepted his trophy with the boys.


This is Chips car speeding by (note the number of the car!):

Here is the checkered flag as Chip went by, with an enormous gap between him and the second place car:

You can't see them, but the boys are in front with Chip as they get the trophy:

Click here for the view from the front.

Ah, here they come:

Here are the boys with their cousin T, Uncle Matt and the trophy in the stands:

Chip races almost every Friday night at the track in Pleasanton. I'd love to have someone come along with me!

Daisy: Portraits at the Southwest School of Art and Craft

I think I have 5 minutes before I have to leave for an appointment, so I'm going to attempt a blog post in that amount of time...Mark, get set, GO!

This young lady is about to turn 15, and her amazing mom is throwing her a huge party for the occasion. I shot the formal portraits for her Quinceanera last week, here are some of my favorites:



Love, love, love the regalness of this one. There was pollen falling all around us from the tree above, and I think it looks almost magical:


We took dozens of versions of this image, and I like all of them, but this one really grabs your attention.


I almost deleted this image because it wasn't centered well, but the more I look at it, the more I like the placement:


This image would be my choice for an enlargement:


Daisy came up with this pose. I love it because it's strong and soft at the same time:


Have you been to the SA Library lately? The enormous purple pillars that accent the enchilada orange walls of the building serve as the backdrop for this image. I thought the yellow of her dress would look striking against purple, but it turns out that my favorite image from the series doesn't include the dress:


Another royalty-inspired picture. What I love about this one is that if you look closely at the top right, you can see what looks like the top of a castle in the distance:


Thanks for a great evening of shooting, Daisy. I hope you enjoyed it!

(P.S., this obviously took more than 5 minutes. In fact, I think it's been a couple of hours!)

~Five Day Sale~

I am super excited to announce the first-ever print sale for Ever After. The pro lab that I use is having a "Free Second Set" promotion, and I am passing the savings on to you!

Any order placed on or before July 29th will get a duplicate set of prints at no charge, including package orders. The print sizes which qualify are 4x6, 5x7, 8x10 and 11x14, and this only applies to those orders placed directly through me, not online.

Payment in full is due at the time of the order, so if you have an idea of the package you want it would be fine to go ahead and send in a check now and then take a couple of days to choose your images.

This is a fantastic opportunity to get a few prints to share with grandma, so don't miss it!

Hands on Knees

It seems to me that we've had more birthdays to celebrate this summer than usual, but I'm sure that can't be true. Actually more is better, it means more friends and more partying and definately more stuff to keep us busy.

My best friend Gina celebrated her 21st birthday last week(that's my story and I'm sticking to it). We had an old-school, bonafide, girls-night-out; the kind that starts with a day at the spa and ends with breakfast at Denny's at 4 AM. And I'm tellin you, "What happens at Denny's, stays at Dennys."

OK, about the above title, I was excited about our plans while getting ready at home, dancing around the house. My 14 year old daughter just about DIED at how I dance, and told me not to do that in public. So I said, "Well then how am I supposed to dance?" (Little does she know that I was and AM a great dancer)

She just rolled her eyes and said, "Hands on knees, mom. Duh."

So guess what I did? Yeah, baby. Hands on knees. Dirty.

OK, well that is all I can tell you about that night, but I can share some pics.



This is the whole group of us at the beginning of the night. Left to right, Donna, Christina, Maria, Gina the Birthday Girl, Me, Lisa.

Me and Lisa. Good Lord I need a new hair style:

If you only knew how many pictures I have of the two of us just like this one starting from 1983. But we used to have really big hair-and hats.

Maria brought along confetti poppers to surprise Gina with. We are really retarded and don't get out much.
This is me and Donna, another friend of mine since we were kids:
So yesterday I went to a different kind of birthday party, the kind that I go to most often: a kids pool party. Still lots of fun, any time I can socialize with other grownups for a few hours is fun for me.

Here is the the birthday boy. I think his momma's in for a heap of trouble in about 8 years. April, you better get a big stick to beat off the girls.

And this cutie was one of my all-time favorite babysitters, until she aged out of the program. I hate it when that happens.

This is L, another fav of mine to photograph.

This scary thing belongs to me:

Group photo! I love looking back at the group photos from when I was young, so I always try to remember to get one. I did take one where all the kids are looking forward and smiling, but this one makes me smile.

To see the rest of the images, click here. You will have to type in W's sisters name, but if you don't know how to spell it, it ends with ey, not ie.

Happy Birthday G and W! I love you!

Wendy and Johnpaul: Wedding

Lately we've been having summer storms that seem to creep up from nowhere and then seem to dump buckets of water. This was exactly what happened on the wedding day of Wendy and Johnpaul. It was an absolutely gorgeous day before the ceremony, and sometime shortly after they said "I do," the sky just opened up.

Somehow, though, I don't think they even noticed. The party was a huge success, and I never saw Wendy drop her smile the entire day.

I love doing shoe portraits:

The two flower girls were all sweetness. In fact, they kinda remind me of cotton candy:

I am happy to say that this cake tasted as wonderful as it looked:
And here, Wendy, is what you've been waiting for: