something i don't photograph often is senior photos, for no real reason other than the fact that i specialize in boudoir and wedding photography. but, i absolutely adore being able to put on the senior photographer hat every now and then. it's a great change of pace and the photos are always so much fun.

i got to take some senior portraits photography for amanda this summer, and we had a blast wandering aroundButler's Courtyard. the thing i love most is that her photos reflect her personality perfectly - sooooo much better than the days of the big white "class of '11" blocks... good lawd... who likes those?!





 

recently i had the opportunity to attend one of jeff jochum's wedding photographer workshops for the millenium bride in houston. he runs a website geared towards sales and marketing for wedding photographers, and the workshop really helped us all gain insight on exactly what the millenium bride is looking for. and really, isn't that what wedding photographers should be striving towards? we're there to serve our brides on their wedding day, make life less stressful, and ensure that everything runs smoothly. anything i can do to help myself meet those goals is a giant bonus.

i had no idea what to expect going into it, but i don't think i've had money better spent since we started our photography studio. and here's the thing i REALLY didn't expect - all of the concepts he pointed out were things i could start implementing right away. it's not like i needed to change my entire business process in order to take advantage of what i learned. i don't want to ruin the workshop for others by giving too much away, but let me give a quick example...

women are naturally nurturing. we have that maternal instinct that makes us want to take care of others. we're romantic, sensitive, and playful. for this very reason, i have always hired a female second photographer to help me better serve my brides on their wedding day. but until my most recent wedding consultation, i have never pointed this out to my brides. i have no idea why - between wedding photography and boudoir photography, it's such a huge part of my business to pamper and capture the beauty of women. and i owe it to jeff for pointing out something so obvious to me. further, i think it really helped the men in the workshop realize the advantage that female photographers have, and that it's important to get into the female mindset when capturing a wedding.

i could make a list several pages long of concepts like this that jeff helped me realize. and i feel like i'm ready to better serve my brides because of it. i'm happy to say that i'll be working with jeff more in the future, and taking some time to reevaluate how we can best serve our brides. he has several wedding photography workshops coming up, so if you're a wedding photographer in one of the cities he'll be visiting, you'll want to make time to go. trust me, you're not going to regret it.

alright, i'm going to come right out and say it. i'm a reality tv junkie. when we moved to houston a year and a half ago, we decided not to get cable. life was grand - reading, board games, and talking became our new past times. well, 3 weeks ago, our cable company messed up our package and suddenly we have like 50 channels. oh.my.goodness. we have bravo and E! again?!!? thank god for the "previous channel" button that allows me to surf back and forth between keeping up with the kardashians and real housewives of atlanta.

during a 5 hour marathon of america's next top model this weekend, i found the benefit in being drunk off of relaity tv. i was intrigued by the way the models handled themselves. confident, beautiful, moving gracefully. until one of their challenges required them to pose with a male model. suddenly the natural grace turned to confused akwardness. the guy looked bad, the models looked bad, everything was just bad.

it got me thinking - and it made me realize that women KNOW how to portray themselves in the best way possible. when i shoot boudoir photography, the direction i give is limited simply because it isn't neccessary. the ladies naturally fall into a graceful pose after some general direction and it's because we already know what makes us looks feminine. i will challenge any female who says she hasn't watched herself dance in a full length mirror. it's what we do - and it's normally paired with madonna's greatest hits and a brush to sing into. so when a guy is suddenly thrown into the photo with us, we're at a loss. where to put your arm.... where to put his.... stand in front of, or behind him?? maybe beside him? it's a mess of unknowns and it's not like we're honest enough to say "babe, will you dance in front of this mirror with me so i can make sure we look good together?"

i've always known that it's harder to get the look i want when i pose my wedding clients together, but i never realized why until tonight. and it isn't an easy barrier to overcome. i noticed early on that my engagement photography was never as interesting as my bridal photography. so i purchased posing guides, books about posing large groups of people, and read articles about what angles make someone look slimmer. i went as far as figuring out how to best photograph a person whose eyes are not the same identical size... and never once have i had to use this, btw. BUT, if your eyes are different sizes, i'm the photographer for you! ;)

it just enforces how important it is to hire a professional wedding photographer for your wedding... an artistic friend with a great camera hasn't studied posing guides, fashion photography, or the way light falls when you point your body in a particular direction. and you don't want to find yourself in a position to be judged by tyra banks!

check out kassidy from our trash the dress photography session. i love the feminine break of her wrist. she could have easily been tempted to balance herself by holding onto the utility pipe, but she didn't because a fist isn't a feminine trait that elongates the angles of the body. so beautiful, kassidy.

i recently wrote a blog post about my aunt cathy, who has been battling an advanced form of cancer for 7 months. i wrote about that voice that spoke through broken tears on the other end of the phone, and the effects, both positive AND negative, that it has had on our family.

on monday afternoon, i got another phone call. again, a voice spoke through tearful sobs. except this time, the tears were different... tears of happiness, relief, and joy. "today the doctor stood at the end of my hospital bed and told me that i am cancer free." just like that. as my mom said, the world has opened up again. in 7 months, Dr. DeBernardo operated, shrunk, and removed the cancer that was attacking her body. she will still be going through a few rounds of chemotherapy just to be sure that every last cancer cell is gone, but the future treatment is not nearly as extensive as we had expected. and we have the relief of knowing that she will survive this. 

when my aunt met kevin for the first time (only 2 months after *i* met him!), she made a toast at thanksgiving dinner - toasting kevin and promising "forever". my thought process went a little like this: "oh-my-goodnes. she did NOT just say that!!!" she has always been the aunt who went out of her way to try to embarass me - all in the name of love of course. embarass she did, and 4 years later, we still laugh at it. in fact, when she was diagnosed, kevin wrote me a poem titled "forever" where he spoke of my family, our love, and his comfortable place in it all. after many prayers, i'm happy to know that my aunt is keeping the promise of "forever".

xoxo.

so i've been trying to write 3 blogs a week. so far, so good. as long as i don't run out of things to say.... which doesn't happen often.

another personal change - cooking. well whaddaya know. 2 years into our marriage and we're finally starting to cook. problem is, kevin can't. i mean, he tries. he really does. it's not like one of those excuses where you pretend to not know how to do something so that you don't have to get stuck doing it.... like what i do with laundry. he really just doesn't know how to make much. mac & cheese.... from the blue box only. egg sandwiches. cereal.....

.....and baked salmon with cucumber radish salsa over paremsean rice. excuse me?!?! the man can't make spaghetti but he's an expert when it comes to salmon??? i don't get it, but it's amazing so i'm not going to complain.