Lindsay + Richard: Married in Omaha, NE

I always say that one of the best things about being a photographer is that I have the opportunity to make new friends along the way. I typically spend quite a bit of time with my clients, especially my wedding couples, giving us the opportunity to develop a relationship which often goes beyond the day the prints are delivered.

Such is the case with Richard and Lindsay.

I first met them over a year ago, when Lindsay contacted me about doing their engagement photos in San Antonio. That session was one of the best I'd ever done and the reason was crystal clear-they allowed me free reign to do what I wished. They set aside plenty of time to go from location to location, brought several clothing changes, allowed me to choose their outfits, and followed direction like nobody's business.

By the end of the day I was dying to shoot their wedding, but didn't think it likely since it would take place in Omaha, NE. Little did I know, Lindsay wanted me to shoot it just as much. So we planned, emailed, lunched and schemed. I think it took some time to convince her dad of the necessity of flying someone in, but eventually he agreed and things were set.

So last weekend I, along with my friend and second-shooter Gina, flew to Nebraska to capture the moments, details and emotions of Lindsay and Richard's beautiful day. As is their modus operandi, I was given complete freedom to shoot exactly what I wanted. I arrived on Friday night to photograph their intimate rehearsal dinner with family and friends, then woke the next morning to capture the bride and her attendants getting their hair and make-up done, then continued shooting as Richard saw his bride for the first time during an emotional and beautiful First Look. Next, I carried my camera through the rain as we ran through the streets of downtown Omaha doing portraits (yes, this was ON their wedding day, BEFORE the wedding), then photographed the family pictures, the ceremony and finally the beautiful and detailed reception.

But we still weren't finished.

The next morning, just after dawn, Lindsay donned her gown once more, woke Richard and the three of us set out together, along with her father at the wheel, toward the rolling hills and picturesque barns of Iowa, to capture still more amazing images in a slammin' Rock the Frock session.

I am completly aware that by now you simply want to see the images of their day, so without any further delay, here they are:

The weekend began with the rehearsal and dinner, which Jerry, the father of the bride, hosted on the backyard patio of his fabulous home in Council Bluffs, IA. He incorporated the best of Iowa into the soiree, with a catered BBQ'd pork dinner, pumpkins and gourds in baskets, a warm fire pit and plenty of friends and family:



The highlight of the evening was when Jerry presented Lindsay and Richard with custom made cowboy boots for each of them, along with a story detailing the signifigance of each carefully chosen symbol; the date of their wedding in Roman Numerals, a pin-up girl to represent Lindsays days as a USO girl, a Harley Davidson mortorcycle because that is Richard's passion, plus countless others.





The ceremony and reception were held at the majestic Magnolia Hotel, near the historic district of Omaha.



The details and colors were exquisite:








Lindsay, you are beautiful.


Richard and Lindsay chose to do a First Look session, something I always recommend. It was a sweet moment, one that I believe they will cherish for the rest of their lives:






Because they chose to see each other before the ceremony, we had plenty of time to roam the streets of Omaha, with Lindsay and Richard looking fabulous every step of the way:







Almost as soon as we started shooting, it began to rain.

Lindsay, however, was undeterred. Directly across the street was Blue, her #1 sushi spot. Dashing across the cobblestone street, we ducked inside and took advantage of the colorful, contemporary decor:





Exploring every corner of the restaurant, we ventured upstairs, where we were delighted to find a Buda set against an amazing brick wall and next to a light-filled window.




As the hour for the ceremony approached, family and guests waited inside the hotel as the rain continued to fall:








With only a few minutes to go the rain stopped, allowing the hotel staff to quickly dry the seats.




Then, in a moment that only happens in movies, the sun began to shine moments before Lindsay made her appearance on the arm of her father:














The reception was stunning, every detail a testament to Lindsays exquisite taste:












And now my favorite part of the entire weekend--Lindsay's Rock the Frock session. Richard is an absolute doll for agreeing to this. I think they both rocked the hell out of these images:


Richard adores Lindsay, you can see it and feel it each time he looks at her:



Rawr:







I am so happy to know both of you, and honored to have been there to capture your day. Keep me posted on your new lives in Georgia!

To see a slideshow of images, click here.

Sneak Peak

I spent an amazing weekend with my best friend/second shooter Gina, shooting a fabulous wedding in Omaha, NE. I am busy editing the files, but I have two ready that I can share. I'll post the entire gallery along with the story of their day as soon as I can.

Herrera Lifestyle Photography Session-San Antonio, TX

I did a handful of shoots last week while in San Antonio. Here is one of them:



More to come!

Ben Stein's Final Column

My husband sent this to me today in an email, and I want to share it with you.




For many years Ben Stein has written a biweekly column called 'Monday Night At Morton's.' (Morton's is a famous chain of Steakhouses known to be frequented by movie stars and famous people from around the globe.) Now, Ben is terminating the column to move on to other things in his life. Reading his final column is worth a few minutes of your time.

Ben Stein's Last Column...

How Can Someone Who Lives in Insane Luxury Be a Star in Today's World?

As I begin to write this, I 'slug' it, as we writers say, which means I put a heading on top of the document to identify it. This heading is 'eonline FINAL,' and it gives me a shiver to write it. I have been doing this column for so long that I cannot even recall when I started... I loved writing this column so much for so long I came to believe it would never end.

It worked well for a long time, but gradually, my changing as a person and the world's change have overtaken it... On a small scale, Morton's, while better than ever, no longer attracts as many stars as it used to. It still brings in the rich people in droves and definitely some stars. I saw Samuel L. Jackson there a few days ago, and we had a nice visit, and right before that, I saw and had a splendid talk with Warren Beatty in an elevator, in which we agreed that Splendor in the Grass was a super movie. But Morton's is not the star galaxy it once was, though it probably will be again.

Beyond that, a bigger change has happened..? I no longer think Hollywood stars are terribly important. They are uniformly pleasant, friendly people, and they treat me better than I deserve to be treated. But a man or woman who makes a huge wage for memorizing lines and reciting them in front of a camera is no longer my idea of a shining star we should all look up to.

How can a man or woman who makes an eight-figure wage and lives in insane luxury really be a star in today's world, if by a 'star' we mean someone bright and powerful and attractive as a role model? Real stars are not riding around in the backs of limousines or in Porsches or getting trained in yoga or Pilates and eating only raw fruit while they have Vietnamese girls do their nails..

They can be interesting, nice people, but they are not heroes to me any longer. A real star is the soldier of the 4th Infantry Division who poked his head into a hole on a farm near Tikrit , Iraq He could have been met by a bomb or a hail of AK-47 bullets. Instead, he faced an abject Saddam Hussein and the gratitude of all of the decent people of the world.

A real star is the U.S. soldier who was sent to disarm a bomb next to a road north of Baghdad . He approached it, and the bomb went off and killed him..

A real star, the kind who haunts my memory night and day, is the U.S. soldier in Baghdad who saw a little girl playing with a piece of unexploded ordnance on a street near where he was guarding a station. He pushed her aside and threw himself on it just as it exploded. He left a family desolate in California and a little girl alive in Baghdad

The stars who deserve media attention are not the ones who have lavish weddings on TV but the ones who patrol the streets of Mosul even after two of their buddies were murdered and their bodies battered and stripped for the sin of trying to protect Iraqis from terrorists.

We put couples with incomes of $100 million a year on the covers of our magazines... The noncoms and officers who barely scrape by on military pay but stand on guard in Afghanistan and Iraq and on ships and in submarines and near the Arctic Circle are anonymous as they live and die.

I am no longer comfortable being a part of the system that has such poor values, and I do not want to perpetuate those values by pretending that who is eating at Morton's is a big subject.

There are plenty of other stars in the American firmament...the policemen and women who go off on patrol in South Central and have no idea if they will return alive; the orderlies and paramedics who bring in people who have been in terrible accidents and prepare them for surgery; the teachers and nurses who throw their whole spirits into caring for autistic children; the kind men and women who work in hospices and in cancer wards.

Think of each and every fireman who was running up the stairs at the World Trade Center as the towers began to collapse. Now you have my idea of a real hero.

I came to realize that life lived to help others is the only one that matters This is my highest and best use as a human. I can put it another way. Years ago, I realized I could never be as great an actor as Olivier or as good a comic as Steve Martin or Martin Mull or Fred Willard--or as good an economist as Samuelson or Friedman or as good a writer as Fitzgerald. Or even remotely close to any of them.

But, I could be a devoted father to my son, husband to my wife and, above all, a good son to the parents who had done so much for me. This came to be my main task in life. I did it moderately well with my son, pretty well with my wife and well indeed with my parents (with my sister's help). I cared for and paid attention to them in their declining years. I stayed with my father as he got sick, went into extremis and then into a coma and then entered immortality with my sister and me reading him the Psalms.

This was the only point at which my life touched the lives of the soldiers in Iraq or the firefighters in New York I came to realize that life lived to help others is the only one that matters and that it is my duty, in return for the lavish life God has devolved upon me, to help others He has placed in my path. This is my highest and best use as a human

Faith is not believing that God can. It is knowing that God will.


By Ben Stein




We truly take a lot for granted.

Forget the Hollywood 'stars' and the sports 'heroes' ......and pass this on=

Phoenix Lifestyle Photography Contest Winner!

Or should I say...WINNERS!!!

I apologize from the bottom of my heart for taking so long to announce the outcome of the contest. The thing is, I was stumped for days. Two of the submissions were very similar, but the first one was submitted by "anonymous" so I got hung up on that. Then, I had a late submission that I LOVED, but since it was late I couldn't decide if it should count or not. I mean after all, there might have been others who didn't enter at all because the deadline had passed. But on the other hand, that person (the late submitter) had submitted one on time, she just didn't really read the rules and so decided to edit it. So what to do, what to do...

Shoot all three, thats what!!! Yes, I'm going to do all of them. Well, if I ever find out who "anonymous" is, I will.

I loved all three ideas. So, if you are one of the three people who sent in a contest entry, congratulations! Just call or email me so that we can set up a date for your Lifestyle Shoot.

See you soon!!

Mesquite High School Homecoming '09

My daughter, D, went to her first dance at her new high school here in AZ tonight, in fact she is there now as I sit here waiting for her to get home. She looked fabulous, I must say, even though I'm her mom and obviously a bit partial. Ah, but I have proof-

Is this not a gorgeous girl?



Her date, RJ, was gorgeous as well. But more about him later, here are a few more of my girl:




OK, back to RJ. I thought he looked fantastic:


How can you NOT return that smile? I bet his mother just melts when he flashes it at her:






Here are all the girls:




And the boys:


And the paparazzi parents:





And here is the whole group:


My youngest daughter M wanted a picture with her Sissy:


I couldn't let her go without getting a picture of the two of us, and as you can see G snuck into the shot:


Only 30 minutes until she gets home, and then we'll stay up for an hour as I listen to the details and dramas of the evening. I hope she is having fun, and I hope she is staying safe.

To see the entire gallery of images, click here, then on Mesquite Homecoming.

One Week Only-Fall Sessions in San Antonio!

I am thrilled to announce that I'll be in San Antonio for one week to do as many fall sessions as I can for my dear clients back home.

When: Oct. 11-16, morning and afternoon sessions are available.
Where: You chose the place-the park, your home, a pumpkin patch. As long as I can drive there within an hour from San Antonio, its all good.
What you get: A family lifestyle session and a CD of your final images. Plus your images are posted online to share with friends and family.
How much? This is the best part! I am offering a discount of $100 off my usual fee of $300. So not only am I coming halfway across the country for you, I'm doing it for less than ever before.

Lets get some images of your family in time to get those Christmas cards out this year. We can do it!

For more information or to secure your slot, call me at 210-602-1490 or email Leah@EverAfterbyLeah.com I am hoping to see as many San Antonio faces as I can during my short week home.