i can’t believe that it has been 10 years since i have been out of high school! it was fun attending the lamar high school reunion! we went out to eat at ibiza to eat before hand and had a great time catching up. i have not seen some of these girls for 10 years! i attended preschool with sara m., went to middle school with kristen and sara m., high school with kelli (shot her wedding), elizabeth and sara s. lots of years with these girls! it was fun catching up and laughing. i know that i have changed a lot since high school and it was fun seeing how we all have changed. it was really fun seeing so many faces on friday. i saw people from elementary school, middle school, high school and college. i can say that it was fun seeing how people have changed and see how some have not. i can’t wait to attend my 20th! here is a photo that stephanie took of all the girls. i have flats on….so i am not this short!

a lot of people have asked me what i do to my images….some times i don’t even know what i do! i don’t want this to sound like i don’t know what i am doing. i just have more of a free style about my editing and how i want the picture to feel at that moment. usually i will do one of two things when editing photos:

1) i will import to light room and do a rough edit of my photos and then export to jpgs and after that i will edit from bridge to photoshop. i usually choose my top favorites when editing (10 or so). i will run some fun actions that i have created or purchased.

2) edit right out of photoshop. this is normal for me to do. i will play with the exposure some and add fill light and whatever else to it if needed!!!

the following image really did not need much work. i shot the photo at 1/2500 at f 7.1 at 50 iso. i had my 24-70 mm lense on too. this photo was shot in raw and processed in photoshop raw. here is what i did: i just brought up the exposure slightly to see the clouds more, i pushed the fill light up to 100 to see the red in the boys shirt, added some black (10%), a pinch of brightness, contrast (100%), and clarity was brought to 100%. that was that!

original raw image

edited image.

we had a wonderful time on our trips…..ending in seattle was wonderful! i was able to catch up with a friend, have pictures of my family taken by sarah rhoads (pics to come), see nicole atkins in concert, and just take in the wonderful seattle city! oh, i forgot to mention that i drank maybe 2 latte’s a day! it is such a neat city and full of activity and life and coffee on every corner! you never get bored looking at the view. we are glad to be home after our 10 days away….seems like a long time away from your bed. the city of houston is really flat and hot!

no idea what this face means!

love this image!

seattle sky!

this was amusing to me. all crabs???? no extra charge?

the produce was amazing! i wanted to take it all home with me!

no excuse not to have flowers! they were cheap and beautiful!

this is for my friend molly! gorilla yoga and miguel? i could not pass this picture up!

we went to see nicole atkins and the sea play at the triple door in seattle. it was by far one of the better shows i have ever seen! i love music but i rarely have idols. nicole is at the top of my list! i think she is full of talent and beauty. i was up one night watching david letterman and i happened to hear her play that night. i could not believe how wonderful she was and was certain that she was different than the ordinary bands playing every night on the show. there is something about her…she has a sweet sense to her that makes me feel like she is my friend. i am one of those weird stalkers now! check out her stuff on you tube or itunes. oh, i forgot to bring my camera to the show!!! but meisha saved me!

ever since i have been taking pictures of people, places and things i find that i sometimes forget to take a mental picture of life. i have vivid memories as a child without many pictures…and as an adult i have far too many vague memories and lots of pictures. does this ever happen to anyone else? my brain may be on overload so i feel that it is unable to process all of the amazement and all of life. it has been five days since we have had tv, crazy traffic, work, and things to distract me… and that has taken some getting used to. island time should be defined as this: driving 25 miles an hour, going to the grocery store to say hi to friends, long days, early lunch, and little worries. i want to try really hard to remember little pictures in life with out my camera in my face. i will try really hard! last night josh went down to the beach to take photos of the beautiful sunset. after the sun set he had both of my cameras strapped to his body and decided to call it quits. he walked back up the road as i was driving down to find him. his hands were cold from being out for the past hour and a half and it looked like he was glad to see me come get him. i asked him if he enjoyed taking pictures of the sunset and he replied, ” i think from now on i will stick to taking mental pictures. i enjoy that more than taking the photos”. i know for sure that i love taking photos…but he had a great point. enjoy the sunset and take a mental picture with your head, not your camera. i think that is something that may be more powerful than a photo. there is a time and place for photos…i have no doubt that they are important. i just want to challenge myself a bit. here are a few memories that i have made apart from the photo…oh and you have to see the photo of my family and my new BANGS! peace!

This amazing blog is incredibly excited to announce their new project, The EAD Library. After months of development and research, they are launching a new resource for brides tomorrow, Tuesday July 22nd. The Library is filled with hundreds of useful links, from photographers (me) to shops to stationers. Their goal is a simple, comprehensive list of vendors. The Library will help every bride, no matter her location, find the vendors and inspiration she needs for a beautiful event. Just a wonderful resource for all of you brides out there. And maybe you might even see your wedding up on this wonderful blog sometime! I love these girls!

i think i have done it again….taken too many photos :0 the weather is perfect and continues to get better. we are having fun relaxing together and have managed to drink some wine with dinner, sit in the hot tub with an ocean view, drive up into the mountains for a spectacular view of the islands….AMAZING VIEW. it is warming up day by day and the sun is bright. we visited the farmers market and had some great food there. today i also took pictures of the cottages and in a bit i am going to take pictures of the family who owns them. that will be fun! i will have more pictures soon….i think i have taken 1,000 already.

our drive up to the national park on orcas island.

enjoying the “hot bath” a.k.a hot tub.

farmers market in east sound.

story time with the local library.

fresh fish, oysters and veggies.

We are here!!! It was a beautiful journey over to the San Juan Islands and now we are nested in Orcas Island. I can’t believe the beauty of this part of the country. We can see Canada from our window and it does not get dark until 10:30 or 11:00. We have had a blast hanging out today and are going to relax most of the time. I am going to be working on an assignment while I am here so I will shoot some. Stella is loving it….we had fun with her in the airport and on the ferry ride over here. On our way out on the ferry we heard about this amazing festival called Wood Song. There was a talented band from Canada heading over to the festival. They played a few songs for all of us and brought in a crowd. I was amazed by their gift. More to come later from our time here! Heading to the Cottages Hot Tub with a bottle of wine. I need to post a picture of my new hair cut soon!

stella made a new friend while waiting for josh and the rental car. i thought this was funny.

big bird on the ferry.

beautiful view from the ferry.

the guys playing us a song.

having a blast.

the north shore of orcas.

the best blue berries every! i ate a container already.

i love getting to capture personalities and real life. i met george + amaris at a clients wedding this year and i was in love with their body art! it was vibrant and beautiful and i could only dream up a session with the two of them in my head. i got to talk with them during the reception and george was so passionate about his body art. there was a story behind it all. he told me about his certain tattoos and got to telling me that he had a yellow vw bug. we decided that it would be fun to take photos of the two of them together with his vintage car. we drove around snapping photos of them one lazy afternoon and had a great time. i was happy to capture them and their art work. i wish i were brave enough to get a tattoo. i love them so…but i would not know if i could ever do it. i got bangs cut today and that was hard enough for me…and hair grows. i am a baby! i might do a session this fall and if anyone has something fun and unique that they think would make a great photo…shoot me a comment. i am always up for doing these sessions. who wants one?

walk with line with johnny cash. love this photo!

summer is in full swing and i am sure that you are all feeling the heat! i am shooting lots of summer sessions during the week and those have been fun. they last 45 minutes and are a great way to capture your child in their summer element. i had a chance to take photos of two sisters and they were so sweet. the oldest is stella’s age so it makes me think about what it would be like if she was a big sister. the baby was round 7 months old and she is full of smiles. it is fun to see them grow. i took pictures of “E” when she was in her mom’s belly and now she has a sister! can’t believe it! i think that stella was also in my belly at the time. crazy. kids are so cute and grow so fast. summer mini sessions are a great way to capture those moments. think of what these pictures will mean next summer. they will be even bigger.