Downtown engagement photos

I scoped out the location for these pictures a few weeks ahead of time and I'm so happy I did.  It was nice to know where the sun was going to be and at what time to plan the pics accordingly.  I even found a grassy knoll on my scouting mission on the side of a parking lot downtown.  This was a nice change of scenery and gave the pics an outdoor/country feel without all of the driving around. We started in the warehouse district and ended up on the Stone Arch bridge as the sun was setting.

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My first newborn photo shoot

I recently took some newborn photos of a friend and her family.  It was fun to capture the little guy in his first week.  These were taken in their bedroom where there was great lighting coming from a window that was next to the bed.   I realized you don't need a ton of props and that simple can be great, especially when you have big brother to help.  I read up on taking newborn photos and they say bring a few blankets as the babies tend to have accidents and they were right :)  Also, I have a lot of pictures with this little guy awake and we took these when he was 6 days old.  In the articles that I read they said that the first few days they sleep more so you might have better luck of being able to position them without them waking them in those first few days.  Make sure to keep the baby warm when doing naked shots as that will keep them sleeping too, space heaters can help with this.  Enjoy!

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Honky Tonk Wedding

The bride and groom at this wedding were wearing cowboy boots and the groomsmen were all adorned with cowboy hats also, I loved it!!!  These little details mixed with the stunning landscape at Panola Valley Gardens made this wedding so much fun to shoot....

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An early morning photo shoot

An early morning photo shoot with a dear friend and her family.  The morning proved to be a good time to shoot the little ones, they were both rested, full, and ready to play. But man it's hard to get them to look at you sometimes......the littlest prove to be the hardest because they don't understand bribes quite yet, ha :)

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A beautiful May wedding

A beautiful day for a wedding....the bride, groom, and their little ones were so fun to photograph! Below is a piece of their special day along with some Chinese fire lanterns to send them good luck.

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My first wedding shoot

It's been a little while since I've posted last.  February/March were crazy months for me.  My mom was in the hospital due to a life threatening emergency and during that time I also broke my leg.  Maybe God is trying to tell me to slow down? :)  I had already made plans to shoot my first wedding on March 11th and there was no way I was going to back out the week before so I said some prayers and off I went.   If you were a bystander I'm sure it was pretty comical to see me hobbling around on crutches trying to get the good shots 5 days post surgery.  A special thanks is in order to my dear friend Brittany and my husband, Jake.  Without your help there is no way I would have gotten through the day!

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Swaziland/South Africa

In December my husband and I had an amazing opportunity to travel with a Global Project team from our church, River Valley, to Swaziland Africa.    There was a team of 33 of us that went to help out the missionaries at Children's Cup put on their annual "Christmas at the CarePoints" celebration.  Between the team we went with, the children we helped care for, and the missionaries that are there helping these children every day, we met and bonded with some amazing people.  We even got to meet our sponsored child Zinhle which we sponsor through the organization Mission of Mercy.  It's amazing how $30 a month can help give another human being hope.  I think I tear up every time we get a letter from her.

If you ever have the opportunity to take a missions trip whether through a church or another organization you should definitely do it.  It will completely change your heart and the way you look at your life and the world.

****Some facts on Swaziland: it is a land locked country within South Africa, it is the last true monarchy, the country's life expectancy is age 29, and the HIV rate is reaching an astonishing 50%****

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Wedding Ring Shots

Just playing around with some ideas I found on Pinterest.....these I don't need human subjects for :)

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Day One, Part 2

This year was a big year for me with photography.   I learned how to shoot fully manual which I do most of the time now and I started learning a little bit more about light and how you can manipulate it with flash photography.  I still like using natural light the best but it's good to know how to use your flash when you need it for tricky situations.  I also started taking pictures of people....I know that sounds strange but I mostly took pictures of things or places so this was a big step for me.  It is definitely harder than it looks but it's been a fun challenge. I'm still trying to find the perfect photo editing software, I have Photoshop CS3 but I find it is very time consuming for minor editing and not the most efficient (could be user error).  If anyone has come across one they really love please let me know :)

Below are some pictures of the people that I took this year, a big thanks to my friends and family!

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Day One

I think I have thought of every reason to not do a blog....I'm not sure I have enough to say that would support an entire blog, I'm definitely not a natural born writer, and I'm not sure how thick my skin really is....but from the inspiration of some old friends and a few new ones I thought I would try and ignore my inner monologue.

This last year there have been a lot of new things for me; from rediscovering my faith to learning how to capture people with my camera (not just nature like I normally do) I have begun to realize that life really does start at the end of your comfort zone.  Yes, I know it sounds cliche but as I'm sitting here typing the first post on a new blog I've realized that I just took the first step........... :)

I purchased my SLR camera in August of 2008 and below are a few pictures from 2008, 2009, and 2010.

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