Fathers Day Gifts

Mothers day is almost here and Fathers day is just around the corner so moms you have another two weeks to get your sessions completed if you want to get your prints back before dad's big day. If you haven't emailed to book your session do it now, I have a couple of openings that just became available.

Here are a couple of the fathers day gifts I gave to myself!




UPDATED: Here are a couple more self gifts!!

win.32GB iPod Touch

For those of you who know me you know that I quit photographing weddings about 2 years ago. Well, after attending WPPI this past March and meeting some amazing photographers and seeing how the wedding industry has changed over the past couple of years my wedding fire has been reignited!

To kick of my renewed love for wedding photography, I am giving away a shiny new 32GB iPod Touch containing all of your bridal, engagement and wedding day images together valued at over $800. How do I enter you ask... well the only way to enter is to book a wedding with me between now and June 2nd, 2008 and if I did my math correctly, that's 40 days! So ladies... if you want to impress your new husband-to-be this could be a great chance. If you book a wedding during this time, your names will automatically be entered into the drawing... it's that simple.

Deciding who wins will be left up to you... my loyal blog readers. Sometime in early June, I will post images of each couple along with a short story about them at which time you will be able to vote for the couple you would like to see win.

You can find out more by emailing me today.

blog.FaceLift

Well I figured it was time to give the blog a small face lift. I have had a black color scheme since my blog debuted and I thought it was time for some change. Hope you like the new look... I am in the process of creating a new site and I will probably revamp the blog when the new site rolls out so at this point I've decided to keep it simple.

Thanks to all of you who visit or have RSS'd me.

If you've been here before, you know that I always include images with every post however this time I am running late and I don't have time to. I promise I will make up for it later.

Care to join me in California?

Since I will be in California in early May I thought I would invite you to come with me. I have beach sessions available for $200 each for the first two people who email me with the words "Beach Me" in the subject line of the email. This is a great opportunity to replace those old family portraits with a beautiful new canvas gallery wrap wall portrait... or maybe you want your senior portrait done on the beach instead of the same places everyone else is doing theirs... or perhaps you are recently engaged and would like to have a a romantic engagement session as the sun sets behind you. You may need some new images of your children playing in the sand. What ever the reason, I will be there and ready to photograph you in all your glory!

I only have two session available so if you are interested let me know quick before the sessions fill up. I hope to see you there!

dear.BRIDES

Are you planing a wedding... are you looking for some wedding inspiration? I came across a site while blog stalking Jessica Strickland's blog and I thought I would share it with you!

Snippet & Ink offers daily wedding inspiration and they have ideas and photos for pretty much any color scheme you can think of. Check them out and let me know what you think.

The images below are just a sneak peak of what you will find on their website. Be sure to add them to your rss feed because they add new stuff every day.

Retro/Vintage theme

Water front theme

Backyard theme

I was going to put this one first but I didn't want to scare anyone away. This one is for all you wild and crazy brides who aren't afraid to be different!

Sneak Peak... Belly Session

As I have mentioned before, I love maternity sessions! Here is a sneak peak at a maternity session I completed recently with the wonderful Mrs "K" and her beautiful daughter. We had a lot of fun... at the end of the session, big sis colored on mom's belly with markers(don't worry, they were washables)... and then she decorated herself.




These next two are my favorites from the shoot.

Dear Music Lovers... check this out!

I had the honor to photograph the concert of an extremely talented singer-songwriter named Alison Sudol better known as A Fine Frenzy. She is currently on tour for the release of her debut CD One Cell In the Sea. If you haven't heard her music you are missing out on something very special. She has only been playing the piano for 4 years and the guitar seriously for about 2 months. I was introduced to her music about 6 months ago and I have been a huge fan ever since.

Here is the video for her most popular song... Almost Lover!


Here are some images I took at the show.








Here I am with Alison before the show.

This is Buddy... one of the opening acts.

Bellies and babies

I have been getting some requests to show some of my maternity and infant images so I figured I would post some here. I really love doing maternity sessions and working with new parents because they are always so happy during this stage of their lives... preparing for a new addition can be very exciting. It can be even more fun when there are siblings who want to participate in the session especially if they are toddlers... it's fun to see the interaction between the toddler, the mom and the belly!

Hope you enjoy these!

WOW... I can't contain my excitement!!!!!

All my fellow photographers will understand what I'm talking about but for those of you who are not photographers let me explain. I just found out yesterday morning about a photography work shop being hosted by two of the most talented photographers in the world... the wonderful Nate and Jaclyn Kaiser from This Image Is Found based in sunny San Diego. As I scrambled to print the registration form and fill it out, I realized that I was no where near a fax machine or a scanner so I drove 25 minutes to the nearest scanner (that I knew of) so that I could get my registration in to ensure my front row seat. Anyway, I'm happy to say that my registration made it in time and I am so excited to be a part of this experience.

Laguna Beach at sunset.

Where do you find your inspirataion?

It amazes me all of the places that inspiration can be found if we are just open our eyes and our senses. A lot of my inspiration comes from books, other photographers and entrepreneurs as well as my family and friends. If you watch the news regularly you can easily be blinded by darkness but if you choose to fill your life with uplifting thoughts and surround yourself with positive successful people you will be amazed at the potential you have hidden within you. Don't let fear hold you back from inspiring others and reaching your full potential.

Most people spend their entire lives worrying about what they don't want to happen and then when the thing that they have been worrying about finally happens, they say "I just knew this was going to happen to me... ". Have you ever heard the saying that your thoughts become your reality? I firmly believe that this is true... I know many worrier's and most of them are miserable. If only they would use their minds for more productive things. I went to a self help seminar once and one of the points that the speaker made was that "life was for laughing, loving and living... not whining, worrying and working." This is what drove me to name my blog Laugh... Love... Live!

As Jesh De Rox says... "If you are not meeting your full potential, you are more than likely not inspiring as many people as you could be and the rest of us in this world are suffering because of it."


Please leave your comments to this post and let me know how you find your inspiration and how you keep fear from running your life.


Live Life... Love Many... Laugh Often!

Since it's not polite to post without including images...

Thought this image was only fitting considering the text on her shirt.



I had to post this image because the expression on his face reflects I believe how we've all felt when the fear of failure creeps up on us... that's to far, I don't think I can make it... I can't quit my job to start my own business, what happens if I fail?... <insert your fear here>.

But just like him... if you aim high and shoot you can make it... and the next time you face a big challenge it wont be as scary! (the ball did go through the net, not under it. LOL)

Here is my beautiful wife at Cold Stone with a little German Chocolate something or other stuck in her teeth... at least that what she told me it was.

Need some organization in your life?

Starting with April, I will be posting a monthly calendar. You can download it and print it if you would like or you can use it as a digital background for you desktop. Feel free to send this link to your friends and family so they can have one too. Each month will be different so keep checking back to see if someone you know makes it onto the calendar.

Here is the first one. Feel free to let me know what you think of it... you can post a comment or email me.

After listening to all of the wonderful photographers at WPPI, I brought a lot of great ideas home with me and I am going to be implementing as many as I can. I have some that are in the works right now so stay tuned to see what else is coming. I should have a big announcement sometime within the next two or three weeks!

What happens when 20,000 photographers converg on Las Vegas?

Wow... I was so blessed to be in the presence of some of the most talented photographers in the world this week in Las Vegas. The annual WPPI convention brings in about 20,000 photographers world wide each year to Bally's and Paris for one of the best photographers conferences in the world! I met some amazing people and made many new friends.

My favorite presentation from the show was given by the wonderful Jesh De Rox. Jesh is extremely gifted and is one of the neatest people you will ever meet! He spoke about why building relationships is so important. He also spoke a lot about fear and what he called misplaced fear. As he describes it, this is the fear that holds us back and keeps us from doing amazing things.

Listening to Jesh was just what I needed, his words hit me with so much sincerity and inspiration causing me to reevaluate what is important in life. Thank you Jesh for sharing your soul with all of us who were fortunate enough to share two and a half hours with you. You are truly an inspiration and I'm sure your "Spiral Upward" project will be a huge success!

Here are some images from my time in Vegas and some of the friends that I met.

It's only fitting that I start out with some images of Jesh.

Here I am with Rhett Olson, Megan Reeder, Shellee, Kellee Smith, Stacey Young, Jesh, Amy Seely, Michelle Andersen and Joshua Gene.


This is the amazingly talented and funny [b]ecker!


Me and Kenny

There are many many extremely talented female photographers around the world... here are two that have inspired me and had a huge impact on my photography.

The SUPER SWEET Jasmine Star

and the SUPER SWEET Lori Nordstrom

This is me with the beautiful Barbara... she took good care of us at the Le Village Buffet inside of the Paris hotel.

Here I am with Lauren... I don't know who that is growing out of my right shoulder. Hahaha

Here are some images that we took at night just outside of the Bally's hotel. I must have thought I was pretty cool wearing sunglasses at night. Hahaha

Here are a couple of shots of me taken by my good friend Michael Lloyd.


Here is an image that I took of Mike.

Here is the very cool Rhett.