Rain or shine...perfect.

The only thing that is perfect about these photos is the sunset. They're not cropped, they're not photoshopped to increase the color saturation, they're not altered in any crazy way (except for a bit of sharpening -is that crazy?), they're just straight out of the camera.

I wasn't going for the best image here. Just trying to portray how perfect a sunset is.

Although rain is perfect, too. And today was a perfect day for me,weather-wise. It rained. Sort of poured, depending on how you look at it. But it was perfect!

See, I L-O-V-E the rain... not just at-home-all-comfy rain, but have-to-drive-to-work-in-the-rain too. I love looking out the window and seeing the sky all gloomy and dark and watching water pour down from the sky. I might be getting off on an tangent here, but I am a Christian and I don't believe the rain, or the sun for that matter, is just an act of nature. They remind me, the rain especially, that there is something (or Someone) bigger than me and bigger than this world.

Tonight when Al and I were walking into the gym, I started covering my head from the rain. And then I said out loud, "You know, I should EMBRACE the rain!" and I threw my arms out and lifted my face towards the sky. He laughed and I'm sure I looked funny to others, but we don't see the rain nearly enough in Southern California and I felt like FEELING it come down on me. NOTICING each cold, wet drop that touched my skin. But then I got crazy-silly and started singing lyrics from Natasha Bedingfields "Unwritten": "Feel the rain on your skin, no one else can feel it for you...". Al shook his head but I felt like I was IN the moment. That's how I like to live my life. :)

Tonight when we were working on the animal care center newsletter, I heard the rain outside. Al asked, "Do you want to open the window?" I opened it and as I sat down to work on some photos, I remembered the sunset shots that I took last weekend after Emily and Jameel's session.

Maybe I love the rain because I'm so used to great weather. And beautiful sunsets. Both happen regularly. When I took these photos, I told Al how lucky we are to live in Southern California. People pay to vacation here. We were standing on one of the most popular beaches and it's just miles from our apartment. It's crazy how much we take it for granted. Especially a native Californian like me. I try not to do that. Especially when I see these sunset photos. And especially when I feel the hardly-ever-present rain on my skin. If you live in Southern California, embrace the rain. We'll probably get back to our regularly scheduled sunsets tomorrow or the next day...







An excerpt from Natasha Bedingfields "Unwritten". It's a repeat play on my iPod. If you haven't heard it, you should definitely check it out on iTunes:

Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your innovations
Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten

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Wow...

My boss' son... he's gonna be a heartbreaker.

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Emily and Jameel - Part Two

A few more images of our time spent with Emily and Jameel...



I love this shot. It makes me laugh a little every time I see it. :):

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Seal Beach Photo Shoot - Family - Part 3 (and final!)

Al and I are finally done working on *A* and *S*'s images! Whoo hoo! Here are the last ones from their session that I'll be posting. On to a few others now...

(CLICK ON PHOTO TO ENLARGE)

I was almost tearing up looking at these on the computer - this was such a special moment between the two of them:




I love these next two shots... Al was photographing them from the front so I decided to get the images from the back. I think they came out kinda cute. :):




I'm a sucker for shots of people walking towards me or walking away. There's just something about those images that 'speak' to me. They are so simple but yet can be moving at the same time:

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Xtina - Venice Beach

Oh my gosh - what an amazing morning! We met with my friend/co-worker/make-up for my wedding girl :) Christina to shoot in Venice. She lives so close to the beach that we walked there and there are just so many amazing backgrounds and textures. The graffiti was SICK! My friend Wendy's husband Paul is a PHENOMENONAL artist (so much that I want him to design my next tattoo!) and I would love to see him take a wall or park bench there and see what he could do to it.

Anyway, Christina is BEAUTIFUL - not just on the outside but on the inside as well. I'm so lucky to know her - she is kind, generous, smart, funny - and was willing to do anything and everything today! These are just a few of the shots I took. I am soooo excited to go through all of them - Venice is amazing, and adding Christina into the mix was the icing on the cake!

P.S. I'll be posting more shots of the previous sessions that have been posted on here today, tomorrow, and this week (just in case you're one of the couples that are looking for your pics!).

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Emily and Jameel - Huntington Beach (Dog Beach, to be exact!) Portraits

Al and I met up with a nice, young couple today. They are hoping to get some good shots for holiday photos and what-not and we decided to help them while they help us continue to build our portfolio.

One thing that I really loved about this: Emily asked me what she should wear and she was told that red doesn't really look good for beach photos. I told her that I want all my friends/family/clients to wear whatever they are COMFORTABLE in and whatever expresses their personality. I don't want someone to conform to the 'norm' when they are preserving memories. I want people to look at the photo and really see the person for who she/he is. And I'm so thankful that Emily decided to go ahead and wear red. For one, it looks GREAT on her and two, I think it was a great contrast on the beach, against the sand and rocks, and with Jameel.

(CLICK ON PHOTO TO ENLARGE)

A "Kymberli" shot - I love fun, crazy textures/colors. Notice their cute little doggies they brought with them :) :


I love this shot of Jameel being in focus and Emily slightly out of focus.


Love the holding of hands:

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Family Portraits - Seal Beach Home

Today Al and I took photos of my boss and his family. I'm grateful to have someone who has been not only my boss, but also a mentor and friend. I've worked with him for 10 years and have had many fun times with him and his wife. When going through the photos, I didn't realize JUST how beautiful his wife was. I mean, I always KNEW she was beautiful, but the way she came across in the images when I was working on them was just unreal. I started to think that maybe I see her as even more beautiful in these images is because she is THAT beautiful inside. She is not only a wonderful wife and mom, but she has also been a friend when I needed one.

But what I remember about her most is the way she would always welcome anyone that worked for her husband into her home. She and he would hold parties and such and she never made it feel like it was a burden or chore to have his employees over. She always enjoyed herself and when holiday's came around, she always made sure that the employees left with a little "gift". We knew it was 'technically' supposed to come from my boss, but we all knew that she went out and bought them for us. So today was a gift when photographing this family... not only did we gain even more experience from it, but when working on the images, it made me appreciate "A" that much more - I realized she is even more beautiful on the outside because of the way she has always made me feel on the inside.

(CLICK ON PHOTOS TO ENLARGE)

My boss. This is how I usually think of him - always smiling (from usually cracking jokes!):


Their daugher, "L". Not only is she beautiful, but she's smart and was one of the best (if not THE best) outstanding water polo players during high school:


Beautiful "A":


How gorgeous are they together?!:


Their son, "K". This kid is so handsome! He's also into motorcross and I was so thankful he was up for taking some shots of him in his jersey and on his bike. I'm going to play with this photo, but I wanted to do something fun and crazy with it first:

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Thankful

I'm thankful for lots of things, but today I'm especially thankful for Otis. Thankful that he helped me realize how "rich" I truly am.

My husband asked if we could spend Thanksgiving volunteering to serve those less fortunate. I jumped at the opportunity as this is something we wanted to do in the past but never got around to it. We spent our Thanksgiving at a local church serving those who had no family, not much to share with others, or for some, no home.

Volunteering this year at our wonderful no-kill shelter has changed my life. Today we volunteered in a different way and it also affected me. Most of the (older) people that we served were so thankful to have a place to come and enjoy a nice meal. And in my opinion, it seemed like the homeless appreciated it most. When I offered a wrapped plate to a homeless man to take with him, HE told me that he wanted to cry. I wanted to cry because, I take so many things for granted. I try not to - I try to give back and I always try to be thankful, but I know I'm not perfect. I'm thankful for my two bedroom apartment. No, it's not a house, but I can afford it and I have a roof over my head. I felt guilty that people were leaving today and that didn't have this same "luxury" that I had.



The photo above is of my husband and Otis. A man we met with no home. I'm thankful for Otis showing me that a great attitude goes a long way and that you should be thankful for the smallest blessings that come your way.

Thank you, Lord, for the blessings you've given me. And may God Bless You, Otis. Happy Thanksgiving.

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(Photoshop) Action!

OK, so tonight I'm playing around with different actions trying to figure out what I like and what I don't. I've saved just about every possible version for the family. LOL Feel free to comment and let me know - I know there are readers out there. ;)

(Click on photo to enlarge)

Dad and R:


Not a shot to write home about, but I still love the close-knit family feel to it:


Candid moments... Do I love this semi canvas/semi paint type of action:


Or this one?


Do I love this little guy in color?:


Or do I love it more this way?


Hmmmm...

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Seal Beach Photo Shoot - Family - Part 2

Some more images from the family session on Saturday. Looking through these photos makes me smile again. The family is truly a FAMILY. The love was just present everywhere and looking through all these photos just brings back a warm feeling of the day.

(Click on the image to enlarge it)

Z-man:


Brave little R. I obviously am not a "Mom" yet because everytime the boys did something semi-dangerous (to me anyway! LOL), I cringed. Mom didn't worry at all! At least she didn't show it!


This image is nothing to write home about, but this was how little R was the whole time. His smile is infectious and you just want to gobble him up! I just love how he's running toward his big bro with Dad in the background:


True family (I'll change this first color later):






Al's not a big fan of 'grainy' images, but I am. I absolutely love the final texture of this image and I LOVE the expression on R:

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Seal Beach Photo Shoot - Family

What a wonderful family! I'm going to be a little vague on the names because I want them to have some sort of privacy online. :) Mom started out as a co-worker of mine, but she is also a friend. I trust her and admire her. She probably doesn't know it, but she has taught me, by her example, how to handle certain situations. She's smart, level headed, generous, and extremely forgiving. She's a wonderful woman.

She also has a wonderful husband. He is also generous, kind and funny. :) They have two beautiful boys who were so relaxed and accommodating today. The oldest of the two said he wasn't too excited about the shoot :) (I asked him), but he sure loved to pose when the camera was on him! LOL The younger one is full of energy and has a smile that melts your heart. Both boys are going to be heartbreakers!

I 'assisted' Al on this shoot as it was originally set up for him. We really liked working together and think that is how we will work from now on. He has some great images of the family, but won't be able to upload them until early this week. Here are a few of mine that I liked...

Heartbreaker #1:


Mom and Heartbreaker #2:


Dad and R:


Dad and Z:


I love this one of little R trying to catch up:

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Digitally Enhanced

The photography class assignment this week was to shoot digitally (we've been using film the entire semester). Two rules though - you had to shoot something on campus and it had to describe one of five words our instructor gave us. We had to adjust one of the photos and we had to either turn the other photo black and white, or use a filter on it. I chose the filter. The result of what I turned in tonight is below. I really like how the phone image turned out. Al said it has a "comic book feel to it" and I think he's right. We will see what happens...

Four of the five words were: beauty, power, chaos, terror. I can't remember the other one. You decide which word you would have used for my two images...

Before:




After:

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San Diego Photo Expo West

Al and I got up very early this morning to head on down to Photo Expo West in San Diego. We are trying to learn everything we can about the world of photography, and nothing beats a free show with free seminars from professionals in the industry!

The show was nice – lots of great products and some informative speakers. I listened to presentations given by Tony Corbell, Jane Conner-ziser, Don Gale, and Mark Dimalanta (from Huntington Beach!). Al joined me in a couple and then attended a couple of Nikon ones on his own.

There wasn’t much to shoot around the fairgrounds, so we made do with what we had. All in all, it was a nice, relaxing day. :)











I call this "Ode to JC". Probably only Al and JC will understand. :)

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