Four Times The Fun

HELLO?

Anyone out there??? 

Hello???

I'm so mean to leave my bloggie friends with a sad post! I'm sorry. Forgive me. 

I can't wait to show you the lovely people that donated to Andrews trust! We have all given to a family that deserves it more then you know. And to say they are appreciative is an understatement! They feel blessed beyond measure. Thank you to all that donated and also BIG thanks for the love and prayers that went out to the Davis family!

More on that later...

I'm going to do my best to jump back on this blog! And to start this off I'm going to ask your opinion. Which picture do you like better and why? All three are the same, I know. But, I want you to really look at these pictures. What do you think about when you look at this image? Color or Black & White? Does one have more of an emotional impact the another? How about the funky colored one? Tell me what you think...

P.S. Jeramy added pictures to the website! Check it out! Maybe you'll see you!

Friendships and Heartbreak

I've tried to write this blog post for a week now... Still right now, my palms are sweaty, my heart is beating violently against my chest and I feel the tears start to burn my eyes... I will be brave. I will be brave, because they have to and he was...

I went to school with the Davis family... Russ, Heather and Holly. Holly and I were freshmen together. We had band and cheerleading together and hit it off right away.  We'd give Mr. Clay such a hard time!! OH! The memories that flood back when I remember Holly! Before Mr. Clay we had Mr. Sanchez... My goodness! The things we got away with! Somehow, we made our way to the practice rooms daily so we could talk about boys and all the things little 14 year old girls talked about! Read...BOYS! And every so often we play our clarinets so we wouldn't get caught goofing off! We were such goof balls! Holly was ALWAYS there for me. She was always there to listen to me talk about my boy problems! Problems! That makes me giggle!!! I was a mess! 

Holly? How did you and Beth deal with me? I was a complete dork!!!! ;-D And Do you remember how Mr.Clay would roll his eyes at us!!! ;-)

I recently re connected with my Holly through Facebook. To see Holly's face was wonderful. Seeing her and her family was comforting to me. To know that Holly was happy and well, made things somehow feel right in the world. It's hard to explain... It just felt right.

Hearing about Russ, and Heather and their families was icing on the cake. Looking through Holly's photos and seeing her whole family happy and together... seeing that Russ Davis  has a SON made me giggle. Seeing Heather and Holly with their sons made my heart happy. And Mr. and Mrs. Davis looking EXACTLY the same, was heartwarming.

But, things were not all perfect. Holly's son has major medical issues and in hearing her struggles broke my heart for her. I was having a hard time not driving over there and learning all I could about taking care of Matty, so I could stay up with him and let her and her hubby get much needed sleep!

Matty and Holly are the reason I joined The Littlest Heros Project. I needed to somehow make a difference... 

They were my heros.

(Uncle Russ with Matty)

This next part is hard...

On August 13th Russ was badly injured in an accident at work. He was a lineman for PG&E... After serious injuries, difficult surgeries and a strong fight, Russ passed away on August 18th.

My heart breaks for his family. My need to hug Holly becomes so hard at times... Memories of Russ flood my mind and make me want to laugh and cry at the same time. Thinking about his families heartbreak gets overwhelming....

I need to do something.

Russ was an organ donor. His life lives on... in his son, in the people who's lives he has touched, and with the gift he has given so many people with the donation of his organs.

I want to help. I need to help.

Heres what we're going to do...

I will be doing 10 sessions at $100 (regular priced sessions are $450) and all proceeds will go into Andrews trust. AND if you have a donor card or that sticker on your drivers license, we will give you 10% off a regular portrait session. I'm not sure what else we will be doing, but getting the word out about organ donation is going to be a big thing. Stay tuned to hear what we come up with...

( Russ with his son Andrew)

You can purchase a session and give it away as a gift... You can purchase a session and save it for Christmas... I'll make you a cute little gift certificate. You can purchase 4 sessions at once at the $100 price, and that would 4 sessions for less then the price of one.

I'm asking you to help. Russ was a thoughtful person with a great big heart... to say the least. I'm asking you to help me give back. 

Please keep the Davis family in your prayers. 

Davis family, if you are reading this...

I am so sorry for your loss. I have always been amazed by your family. You are part of the reason I wanted a big family! Now that I'm a mother I know first hand how challenging raising a family is. And Mr. And Mrs. Davis... you did an amazing job. 

 I can't begin to imagine how difficult this time is... please know my love and prayers are going up for you...

I'm going to stop rereading this post... I'm just going to post it! 

I'm SO Behind!

I have end of the school year... camping... funny kids pictures... day trips and a wedding to blog about! 

Yes, you read right! Wedding! I shot a wedding with the wonderful and talented Wendy Z. of Wendy Zipwald Photography! Yeah! 

Wendy is wonderful and I'm so blessed to have her in my life! We met a year ago at a  Me Ra Koh Workshop! I can't believe I haven't know her for forever! Only just over a year?? It seems strange... 

Anyhow! She asked me to shoot a wedding with her and being the "Go for it girl" I am I said, "Sure!"

Who's laughing??

The wedding was charming! My goodness! The Bride was so giggly and sweet! And her joy was infectious! I left Wendy and the Bride to shoot some shots of the little details, thinking that maybe nerves would have set in by the time I got back! I was 

W-R-O-N-G! Veronica was just so excited! Dancing and giggling! OH! She was just too sweet!

The Groom arrives, and from the little room up high in the chapel, you could see his BIG smile! From so far away you could see the joy on his face as well... 

I was so thrilled to be apart of their day!

Ask Wendy! I went a bit overboard with the shoe shots! I could do a whole blog post about them! I put them in the doorway, on the door, on the steps, on a table in front of a mirror... and I'm sure somewhere else I'm forgetting. I've been wanting to do the fancy shoe shots for a long time! 

I LOVE this image! It makes me happy! Random... I know. It just makes me smile. She about to get married!!! Whoo hoo!

Look! Veronica is being hugged by her new hubby!! 

 

Congratulations Veronica and Joel! 

One last one....

Pure joy.

Sneak Peek... or More of a Tease! ~Suisun Family Photographer

I'm so mean! And it can be so FUN!!

I had the honor of spending time with yet another wonderful family today! I know! How blessed am I ?? 

OH! Just you wait! You have know idea! 

And yes... I got more father daughter moments!

Like this...

And yummy fun family moments!

I had so much fun tonight! And I have to tear myself away from the computer to put the kids to bed 

and it's killing me! 

Tim and Jody, Thank you so much for allowing me to capture your family! I hope I was able to capture the love and warmth that radiates from you guys!

Father's and Daughter's EVERYWHERE! ~ Suisun Family Photographer

Here a father! There a daughter! Everywhere a father/daughter! ;-)

I love it!!! I can't get enough of it! I see a father with his daughter and it just reminds me of how much my Heavenly Father loves me. He delights in me and wants to love me! Fathers and daughters make me happy! They just do.

And I captured another duo today! Actually, mom was there too, but father and daughter stole the show! I'm sure mom didn't mind! ;-)

Jen! Here is your sneak peek in lightning fast time!

This image really caught my eye... Miss. S. will always know that she can lean on her fathers strength.

Something about this just made me smile... 

Can you say "Sweetness!"

Boy! Do I love this kid! She is spunky and sassy wrapped in sweetness!

Jen and Brett... thanks for getting up early for me! And thank you so much for letting me capture your family! 

Discovery Workshop Day 3

Are you so over my workshop posts? Then if you are, you are in luck!

Day three was our last day together and it was jam packed! Not only were Brian and Me Ra going to talk to us about their photo coaching techniques for families and weddings, but we were also given the opportunity to pick from smaller focus groups! AND that was all before lunch! 

Brian and Me Ra were awesome! They are great communicators and super funny to boot! They shared tons of tips along with great examples! And however many different ways you can use to teach me, the better! 

Because of time we could only pick two focus groups. Now that was a hard choice! 

~You had Matt with Post Production help... man I needed that one! I didn't pick it because I'm just so far behind in that area I was afraid I would hold the class up! I need a post production intervention. At least I'm not in denial!

~ Then Laura with a Vision/Mood Board exercise. She's an amazing designer and with her vision boards she was helping ladies learn to effectively communicate their branding ideas, weather it be to a designer or a client. Shes awesome! 

But, I did a board not too long ago, and I decided that Laura and I were going to be best friends and I could get together with her another day... I was gracious and let other ladies spend time with her that day. I know... I'm a sweet girl.

~ Then Garrett, Brian and Jason were talking about lighting issues. Like backing lighting and other issues photographers come across, but the sun wasn't out so they switched gears and talked about flashes. I needed that one. But, I don't have a flash yet, so I skipped it.

~ Rick talked about textures and depth of field. I took that one. Where Rick reminded us to go slowly! Look for great light. Really LOOK for it. He talked to us about using our camera and using the environment to create textures and add interest to our images.

I'm sure you don't want to read all this... MAN! But, It took so much time to type!

Okay last one!

~Me Ra walked through our blogs/sites and not only encouraged us, but gave us tips and suggestions on what we could be doing different to make more of an impact. Me Ra isn't just an awesome photographer, but a great communicator and I know everyone in my group learned tons!

Ready for the good stuff???

Garrett arranges for tons of people to come and model for us! We were paired in groups of two and set free to use what we learned! I got paired up with Carlye! Yippee! 

We got one of the sweetest families! This little boy reminded me of Brady at that age, and I was looking forward to seeing what he was going to give us! 

I was so excited to spend an hour with them!

Our next victims... I mean models! 

How did I get so lucky??? 

My hope was that I gave the families images that made their time worthwhile. I was so thankful that they came out to let us practice and I was so thankful to Garrett for organizing everything that I stressed myself out a bit... But, after some feedback I feel much better. ;-)

We are at the end of the day... I did do lots of discovering at this workshop. I did discover who I am as an artist (SEE! I'm even calling myself an artist!) And I discovered what's holding me back... me. 

So here I am... on a journey. Daily pushing my fears back, pushing froward and letting myself become the woman and the artist I was created to be!

A BIG Thank You to our instructors!

And to all the lovely women that made the weekend so special!!

AND a BIG BIG THANK YOU  to Jeramy...

I love you so much. You've know this all along. Thank you for making this weekend happen for me. Thank you for loving me the way you do, and for not giving up on me. I love you.

Discovery Workshop Day 2.5

Okay...

So, we eat lunch and I decide that I wasn't going to let the doubt take over! I was going into this shoot with confidence! I wasn't gonna let Dana intimidate me! 

(That was for Dana! Hee hee! I can see the sparkly grin on her face right now!)

So, Dana and I got Tim. When Rick told us about him he said, "He's a nice guy with a great face." Cool. I'm confident. I can take pictures of anyone! Anywhere! I got skillz! I've been taught by the BEST!!! 

I about peed my pants.

I once again pushed aside the doubts... threw a smile on my face and went for it! And when I heard Tim ask Ricks wife Lesley to stop by, I was so thankful! I felt like her being there would calm me down... I started to breath and we headed it out.

Tim was a nice man with a great face! And I really think I scared him. I can be too much at times. I was so thankful for Dana being there. We all sat and talked for a bit and Dana asked some lovely questions. He said his mother would love a good picture of him and I clinged onto that. I made that my goal. Mom was going to get a picture of her son that she was going to want to share with all her friends.

We did some photos indoors and some outdoors... Lesley and Jason stopped by and I was so happy for the distraction. Both of them gave me bits of encouragement and I was able to keep my game face on! 

We get back to the community center and everyone is looking at what they got. Some were talking and smiling and some ladies looked a bit freaked out! I walked in and put my camera away. I told Rick and Jason that I don't shoot adults I shoot kids! They aren't scared of my goofiness! 

I couldn't even look at what I got. 

Later Rick asked if he could look at my images. I think my jaw hit the floor. On the camera? Unedited? All of them? Just take my camera and go through them all? You Rick Chapman? Really????

Deep breath....

Okay....

So he tells me he's not going to say anything till he's done looking, but he keeps stopping to tell me really nice things about my images! I wasn't breathing. Then he says the very words Jeramy tells me... I think you are overly critical of your work.

I realize I looked like a dork with my jaw on the floor and pick it up.

Freak out!

I think I got so many great images of Tim! And more then enough for mom! AND I don't feel like I can only shoot kids anymore! I don't think I'm half bad at shooting adults!

Later that evening we walked down to the beach...

It was magical...

And on a side note... I think I showed Dana a side of me she didn't know was there... I'm no sissy and...You can't fool me!!! 

I love you BIG Dana!!!

Hopefully I can do day three in one post!! 

Yeah... don't bet on it!

The Discovery Workshop

I'm just going to dive right in! 

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

This workshop was exactly what I needed. Discovery. I struggle... don't we all? I struggle with feelings of not ever being good enough. Just weeks before the announcement of this workshop I was struggling over weather I was even an artist. I always felt crafty, but artsy? I always wanted to be... Maybe I felt too happy to be one of the artsy kids in school... they always seemed depressed to me. I just chalked myself up as a happy crafty girl and left it.

So, when I heard the title of the first day Discovering the Artist Within, I couldn't believe it! I was just wondering if I was even an artist! I was ready to jump in and find that inner artist!

So, imagine my shock when we all get an e-mail from Rick with our homework! A SELF PORTRAIT! WHAAAATTT??? 

"This is not a self portrait collage/overview of your life. Its supposed to be a representation of how you feel/see yourself right now, at this specific point in your life timeline, April 2009. I know with photography, "self" implies pointing the camera at yourself. And this can be extremely powerful as you spend time facing your own camera lens. But I will also offer that it does not have to be that literal." 

I pulled my hair out! Kicked and screamed! I was going to the workshop to find out who I was!!! What?? What is this about?

Then I remembered who told me to do a self portrait. I calmed down and relaxed... If Rick asked me to do a self-portrait then I would do the best I can. 

Don't ask...

So I thought about it... Who am I right now? Not a picture of what others think of me. Not who I want to be. Not what my grandmother thinks of me. Who I am right NOW. I pushed aside all the nonsense that has been shoved in my head. Who I am right now. I struggled with not having my family in the photo. It wasn't a family portrait, but they are so much a part of me right now! How do I do this? So, I decided to pick the where and work around that! 

The front door. 

I love my home. Yes, it's often messy, but I still love it! I love being home. And I really like my front door! Its huge and the lighting is great! 

Then it hit me! And after a few attempts and a broken tripod... I got this.

So, I get to the workshop and we dove right in! We were asked to pull out our photos and answer some questions. Then...

FREAK OUT!!! Jeramy had been trying to call me! I had left my self portrait at home!

Jeramy and Lisa to my rescue! 

Lisa watched the little girls while Jeramy drove in the rain to Sausalito to bring me my portrait!

My family behind me...

The exercise was to share your image with the group, and the others were to tell you what they saw, felt and imagined when they looked at your self portrait. Before we broke off into groups the leaders, Me Ra, Brian Garrett, Rick and his wife Lesley modeled for us how it worked. 

Their openness was incredible. The tears started right away! 

I loved my group!  Brian, Genie, Carley and Elizabeth! They were sweet and open and gracious! I loved 'em! I loved that they were willing to hear others feeling and how accepting and open they were... Not to mention they said such sweet things about me! ;-)

We had a YUMMY lunch and jumped back in with a relaxing exercise that led into an exercise in creativity involving movement.

THEN we were given paper and crayons and told to draw a self portrait. I didn't even let my self freak out about that! I don't draw! I just followed my Carrie... we found a place, and I took a moment... Prayed for her and prayed for me and then just started coloring. 

We were then asked to make lists simular to what we did with our first self portrait and from that, we created a couple of statements.

Mine were...

I am movement, lighthearted in the spring.

and 

I'm a light, colorful dance.

Next Lesley took her statements and preformed a dance/movement... It was AMAZING! Or "Very San Franscisco." as one lady put it! ;-) Lesley truly gave us a gift and we were all in awe. It was beautiful.

And from THAT we were told to go out and create an image that reflected our statements.

This is what I got...

and

And that was just day one!

I'm tired all over again!

After a great day we all went out to dinner! I got to sit with my girl Wendy T and my bud Garrett! Plus a few new friends! Katie, Annie and Suzanne! It was a great evening to top off a wonderful day!

Jeramy hates long posts, but I'll leave you with some pics I got of day one!

These chairs call to me in my sleep...

 

The Workshop

I'm going to cheat... Click here to watch a wonderful slideshow of the weekend put together by GB Photographers! Its awesome!

And Me Ra has been blogging about it too! Over here!

I will be blogging about it! I will!  

And you will see one of my pictures on Ma Ra's blog! How cool it that???

I'll put it up here too! But, go look!! And if you have a sec and check out the photographers who have taught me everything I know! How blessed am I???

Me Ra Koh Photography

GB Photographers

And 

Rick Chapman

Kimmi ~ Suisun Photographer

I got to shoot Kimmi! Man I love this girl! Honest. Sweet. Respectful. Dependable. Loyal. Smart. Funny. Sassy. AND... she doesn't fall for my tricksters tricks! MAN!! I love Miss Kimmi!

I was so thrilled that Kimmi asked me to do her Senior portraits! I listened to her favorite music in the weeks leading up to the shoot... I looked at all the web sites of her favorite musicians, movies and TV shows. Now... I couldn't re-create much of what I saw ;-) but I did try to make sure that the images I took were so completely Kimmi! I knew without a doubt that the images would reflect my love for this girl, but it was important to me that they were just so HER!

Have I mentioned I love this girl???

Man I love her!

Kimmi, I love and adore you. I could never thank you enough for loving my children the way you do... you are the best and I am so excited to see what this new phase of life brings to you! 

Eva, Charlie, Adam and the rest of Kimmi'sFamily, I don't have to tell you how awesome your Kimmi is. I know you already know that! But, I do want to thank you for shaping her into the woman she is becoming.

Heres a sneak peek...

I have so many more, but I have plans and I want them to be a surprise! You will have to hold your horses!

So, I wasn't going to share this, but I changed my mind...

It was a warm morning and the orchard behind Wooden Valley was calling to me. Rows and rows of trees, pretty sparkly grass and two sweethearts... it was a must! I tuck them by a pretty tree and tell them to just talk while I work out my settings. I squat down, and I'm not liking the angle so I do what any photographer does... I lay down in the grass! I get this shot and I love it right from the start!

I'll finish the rest of the story later...

Here's Tyler! I'm sure Kimmi likes his dreamy blue eyes.... she told me so.

Man! I love this girl!

( I think Tyler does too! Shhh)

This is me and my MAD reflector skillz! I'm so just kidding about the "skillz"!

Kimmi and Disneyland...

I'm sure the chick that walks around the park as Ariel, knows Kimmi! She might even feel stalked by Kimmi. And I'm sure if we were ever to ask Kimmi to be our nanny and come to Disneyland with us... wait! I'm sure if we ever took someone else to Disneyland with us to help with the kids, she would have a major problem, and we would live to regret it... if we lived.

Kimmi loves Disney!

And I LOVE KIMMI!!!

I love Kimmi so much that it was worth the tick I found in my scalp!! 

Yes! A TICK!! Yesterday morning, as I sat down to edit the images, I ran my hand through my hair and felt something on my head! Not thinking... I pulled. And FREAKED out when I saw a live bug between my fingers! I had a melt down! I do not like bugs! The Dr. said it was a Dear Tick and nothing to worry about and he thought it was so cool that I blindly pulled it out and it was alive! What we came up with is that the tick must have been on my sweatshirt and crawled on me when I put it on the next morning. Yuck!

I'll share more of Kimmi's pictures later!

Kimmi! You are going to die!! I have ideas!!!