Having fun.

What's that you say? Jennifer you have work to do, didn't you say you were behind?! Yes, yes I am. But, when my computer crashed it put me in a real time crunch and I'm feeling the pressure from paid jobs and unpaid jobs. Everything is just about caught up, thank the Lord. I was working so hard at it that I forgot how much I love it. I do this because I love photography, I love working on something I've created, I love seeing reactions to well-presented portraits. So, I decided to take some time today and remind myself that I DO love this and I went out and had some fun shooting portraits of my daughters.



They say that I pick the creepiest places to shoot portraits.





Dakota

What a difference a year makes.

Yesterday I spent some time shooting my nephew's football portrait. He's quite the little stud. I did the same thing last year and it's amazing to see how much he's grown. And, not just physically either. Last year he really struggled to understand what it was we were asking him to do and, while I still love the portrait, it does lack that "toughness" I was looking for. This year he was on point, had no trouble understanding what I wanted and worked hard for me. He is a great kid and I look forward to more portraits as he and my other nephew and nieces grow. The first one is last years portait.

Selective color

In all honesty, I'm not generally a fan of selective color, funky filters, weird photoshopping, things of that nature. Too many photographers use them to hide bad photography and I never want to be classed in that way. That being said, there are times where I think it may work. I have a friend, Scott Halford of Scott Halford Photography (www.scott-halford.com) who has created some fantastic selective color images with his beautiful twin girls, Amber and Leslie. I'm not sure mine works as well as his, it's a work in progress.

Looking to the future

Richard and Randa are getting married next month and I'm honored that the chose me to photograph such an important day in their lives. I did their engagement pics, just shot their beautiful daughter Aubry (who, by the way, got to take her brace off today!! Yay Aubry!!), and soon I'll be shooting their wedding. They are a great young couple who are looking to their future. Whatever it is, I'm sure they'll work together.

Weddings

Shooting weddings is hard work, it's not something that I always enjoy. I've been fortunate with my last couple of weddings to A)have great, willing, happy couples and B)have the opportunity to second shoot for an amazing photographer Jaime Kesler of Artizona Photography. She happens to be a member of our family and she is a fantastic photographer with an amazing personal skill. Since my computer was down for some time I have to take a break from editing jobs that are behind and pick an image to play with once in awhile. Here are a couple from a wedding in Ajo with an amazing couple who met in Nigeria. The dress was designed by a friend of the bride, it was stunningly beautiful and she was understandably nervous about allowing us to hang it. Jaime was exceedingly patient and we were able to get these great shots.

Template attempt numero dos

So, working on templates some more. Really, just playing when I should be working. Don't feel like working right now. Gonna keep playing. Richard and Randa are a great, young couple. I've been looking and looking for a cool Save the Date template, something that will complement the couple they are, and so far haven't found what I like. I keep working on stuff here on my own and I know what I can see in my head, I just can't force it out into photoshop. As you can see, Richard is into tattoos, I really wanted to play that up but don't really like what I have so far. We'll see, we'll see. Keep working and looking.

Templates

I've spent some time playing around in photoshop. Trying to stretch my boundaries and learn new things. I've recently been working on some templates. These are really rough and I'll still be buying templates for awhile but, I like them anyway.