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.

Ever After Contest!

I love a good contest, so its time to host one for my new Arizona friends. The prize-a FREE Ever After Lifestyle Family Session! To enter, put your session suggestion in the comment section of this post. I'm looking for the most interesting session-for example:

"We want pictures of our family while we fish together from our backyard" (if you happen to live on a lake).

or

"We would like you to photograph us during the Halloween season while the kids pick out pumpkins at the Pumpkin patch."

or

"I'd love to have photographs of my daughter at one of her soccer games."

The key to a successful Lifestyle shoot is that your family needs to be engaged in an activity together, it can be something exciting and fun, or relaxed, but the thing I'm not looking for is posed pictures at a park or in your home (although of course we'll get some of those, too). The activity needs to take place within 25 miles of Gilbert ,and can occur anytime within the next six weeks. You will get a free session and a CD of all final images, to print anywhere that you choose. This is a $300 value!

But wait, there's more...everyone who enters qualifies for an automatic 50% discount if you book the session that you describe.

This contest was super popular last year-I recieved dozens of entries and had an incredibly difficult time choosing the winner. Check out last years winning entry:

"We love Gruene, Texas. Prior to having kids, Jonah and I spent many weekends there listenting to live music and staying at the Gruene Mansion Inn for a mini-getaway. It is still a place we love to take the boys on Friday afternoons to listen to the sound checks at Gruene Hall or have a frosty beverage at the Grist Mill while the boys play in the open field. The kids love to get a scoop of ice cream or a candy stick from the General Store. So, I thought it would be fun to have a "Tour of Gruene" session, with pictures doing our favorite things there: dipping our toes in the river, eating ice cream on the stools at the General Store, playing pool with the boys and listening/dancing to music at the Gruene Hall, spinning under the stars in the open field by the Grist Mill, etc. I think it would be fun to celebrate our Texas roots with pictures with the boys in Gruene. "

And here is the slideshow from Marilyn's ultra-fab shoot:




The contest will run for one week, so get your Lifestyle Session suggestion to me by Monday, Sept. 27, 2009.

Good luck!

How to find what you want on Craigslist

I've been asked four times now how I find things on Craigslist. I admit, it was a bit intimidating at first because of how many items there are and how often things get posted, but now I've kinda got it down to a science. Keep reading if you are interested in scoring some fabulous finds for next-to-nothin'.

First, it helps to know exactly what you are looking for, otherwise you will be completly overwhelmed by the amount of items that are listed each day. One of my best purchases in recent months was the dining table and chairs that I am in the process of recovering and painting. When I logged onto the Craigslist site to begin my search, I already knew that I was looking for a sturdy dining set with at least 6 chairs for $200 or less. Here is how I did it:

Once on the site, I go straight to "Furniture" and then enter my parameters in the seach box at the top of the page. I make sure to look under "Furniture-by owner" and not "by dealer", because the dealer items are usually just put there to get you into their store, where they will typically tell you the item has been sold, but they have others for just a bit more $$. I don't have time to weed through all that foolishness, so "by owner" works for me. Next, under "search for" I enter "dining set," then I put $200 in the max price field, and finally check the "has image" box.

Now every post with "dining set" in the title or body of the post will be listed, and they will all have a picture (some better than others!) and all will be less than $200. I don't usually find what I'm looking for the first time or two, so I check back every day (or several times a day, LOL) until I see something that will work.

I then call the person who listed the item, and arrange a time to see it. Many times it has been sold by the time I call, in which case I go back and start again.

I've used Craigslist to buy a coffee table, an end table, a dryer, a dining set and a rug. I've sold a dining table, a dryer and given away boxes and paper after our move. I think it is the ultimate recycling venue and most certainly worth the time it takes to use. If you enjoy garage sales and flea-markets, you will love Craigslist. Try it and let me know how it goes.

Tutu Cute-Part Two

This morning, as I waited for my daughter M to finish up her pre-school class at the community center here in Gilbert, I saw a few adorable little girlie-girls skip out of their ballet class, pink slippers in hand. My heart squeezed at the sight of them-I adore ballerinas.

My first thought was that I wished I had my camera. I'd capture them walking hand-in-hand with their mommies, a little "slice-of-life" shot in black and white. But even if I had it with me, I couldn't get away with photographing the children of strangers.

So my second thought was a good one-it's time for another TuTu Cute Mini Session! It was a huge hit back in San Antonio, and now that the weather is starting to cool off I think Phoenix is ready.





Each Tutu Cute Mini-Session will last about one hour, giving us plenty of time to get a full range of fun, touching, and creative images.




The cost is $200, which includes the session fee and a CD of approximately 50 images which you can use to print, email, digitally enhance and share online with friends and family. As a mini-session client, you will also get a 10% discount off of the items in your personally designed Artisan Collection.




The session date has not yet been set, but I will only have four slots available so please don't hesitate to contact me for more information. Beacuse I am still new to the area, I'd love to hear from anyone who has a location suggestion! I can be reached at 210-602-1490 or email Leah@EverAfterbyLeah.com. Hope to hear from you soon!

White Painted Table-Part One

Oh my-its been a looong time since my last blog post. I don't know if its because I have too much to say, or not enough.

So far, I am loving everything about Arizona. I never thought I'd find another city with people as friendly as those in my hometown of San Antonio, but Gilbert seems to be the winner. We've made friends so quickly! I've gone to lunch twice with new friends, started walking every morning at 6 AM with one of them, and Heather, the mom of one of the cutest boys I've ever met, took M for the entire day on Friday so that I could have a day to myself. Is that awesome or WHAT!!!

So, what did I do all day long? I painted a dining table! I bought it just before we left Texas, along with 6 chairs that I plan to recover. The table was just the right size for our family, the chairs were sturdy and gorgeous, and the entire set was a steal at $200.

I have wanted a white dining set for ages. Check out some of my inspiration photos:

The chairs are pretty similar to these, except mine have a rattan back instead of fabric:

I love the detailing on this table, but it's a little too fussy for how we live:

This Pottery Barn table is fabulous:

Can you tell that I love pedestal based tables?

This table is the one I am trying to copy. It's a closeup of the Pottery Barn table above, but without the leaf. Note the creamy finish and the darker colored detailing. I really hope I can pull this off:

Here is my table:

You can't tell, but it has a double pedestal base:


A close look reveals the water damage:


And the stained fabric on the chairs:


I really believe I can fix those problems, and get the dining set of my dreams for under $300.

My first step was to sand the bad spots, then prime.


It wasn't necessary to sand the entire table, because the primer that I used, Zinnser's BullsEye 1-2-3, covers glossy surfaces. I did two thin coats, applied with a foam roller on the table top and a brush on the sides and legs.



So far, so good! Now that the table is primed, I'll let it cure for a week before painting with my color of choice-Valspar's Off White in a satin finish. Its a creamy and dreamy white, the color of melted vanilla ice-cream. When that's done, I'll post part two. Until then, we'll be eating our meals outside. Hopefully it doesn't rain at dinner time this week!