No crying over spilt milk...

It has been quite the week around here. I need to post some images from the shoots we did this week, and I am sure I will get around to it sooner than later. We have had a few and have also been doing final edits on several events. One of them was a 7 hour wedding where the groom, a very good friend of mine who knows he is guilty for not putting on sunscreen, had a terrible sunburn... Now, sunburns I can normally handle, but he keeps his head shaved so it was a very pronounced sunburn on his entire head! That has been a fun one. But - we have conquered! Matt is finishing up the techniquing and it will be done this weekend! That one definitely took longer than expected on the editing end... thank heaven for LightRoom! Next time that happens I am forcing the groom to wear base... In the end the images turned out amazing. I will post some soon...

In all of our craziness it is always good, I think, to take a break for our sanity. Kylan usually plays on the floor while we work but is getting a little more mobile, so that may have to change soon... Today Matt and I were at our computers and Ky was just having one of those days. I got down on the floor and played with him for a while, which he thought was pretty fun. He has learned that his bottle is not just for eating but is, apparently, a very cool toy. He started shaking it and throwing it around and got formula EVERYWHERE! And what did we do? I laughed hysterically while Matt got the camera. I am not sure how well the blog will show the image, but if you look close you can see he his new little teeth and the formula all over his head and the floor... We got a sequence of about 30 shots that are just hysterical. I can't wait to finally sit down and design his baby album. He is just so funny, and so dang cute...

Leno

Matt and I are night-owls and Jay Leno is our favorite late-night talk show host. We hate commercials (doesn't everyone?) so we just record it and watch it later. Around midnight last night Kylan woke up. I tried to calm him but he just felt like being held so I brought him out to sit on the couch with us for a few minutes. Normally my son goes to bed without a hint of a tear. He is a wonderful sleeper and loves bed-time. Well, half way through Leno I tried to put him back to bed. He was NOT having it. So, he stayed with me on the couch until Leno was over and then went right to bed without any problems!

Easter

For Easter for our families we ended up doing something "fitting". I think the holiday is entirely too commercialized, as are most of them, but that didn't stop Matt and I from buying a huge bag  of egg-shaped Reeses peanut butter cups for ourselves. I am sure that as Ky gets older I will enjoy the commercialism more and more, my mom is already planning next year's easter egg hunt and I have to admit I think it will be fun. But for one last year we can do something a little more meaningful, spending a fortune on prints instead of candy and plastic eggs. :)

Matt took this picture of Land's End in Cabo San Lucas. I love how the light from the lighthouse illuminates the waves. It was a brilliant shot, and the setup was more difficult than you would think. It was taken in near darkness from the side of the boat as we were quickly moving away. But Matt used that to his advantage, as he somehow always does, and was able to get the shot. 

The words on the side are the words to one of my favorite songs of all time. I heard it done as a male quartet and it has been a favorite ever since. Considering the shot composition that was taken at the End of Land as the baja fades into Pacific and the Sea of Cortez... I just thought it was fitting. 

In case you can't read it here are the words:

Brightly Beams our Father's Mercy

From his lighthouse evermore,

But to us he gives the keeping 

Of the lights upon the shore.

Dark the night of sin has settled;

Loud the angry billows roar.

Eager eyes are watching, longing,

For the lights along the shore. 

Trim your feeble lamp, my brother;

Some poor sailor, tempest tossed,

Trying now to make the harbor,

In the darkness may be lost.

Let the lower lights be burning,

Send a gleam across the wave.

Some poor fainting, struggling seaman

You May Rescue, You May Save.

Happy belated Easter to all. It has been a CRAZY week, I will try to post some of our latest shoots soon.

Milestones

Kylan is at the age where he is hitting some very important milestones. At least I think they are a pretty big deal...He is getting his two bottom teeth! The tops are completely cut through the gums, now we are just waiting for them to actually grow in so we can take some cute pictures! I just love babies and their "toothy" smiles. When he is on his tummy he can get himself up on his knees, and he can lift himself up on his arms, but not both at the same time. He is learning how to scoot, but he only goes backwards or in circles. He can't ever go forward, but I am sure I will be chasing him around the house sooner than later. Ky sits up very well and loves to sit on the couch or floor and play with his toys. He won't sit in his swing, but he has a jumper thing that we hang in the doorway. He absolutely loves that thing and can actually get some pretty good air in it. If you stand him up and hold his hands to keep him steady he will stand up and hold his own body weight. The funny thing is when he tries to jump while he is standing. He's not quite strong enough to get himself back up yet without the help of his jumper or you. I have a feeling that eventually we may have to give in and get a trampoline. But that is still VERY far off... Ky is learning to hold his bottle and getting pretty good at it. Sometimes I will have to take his bottle out of his mouth and shake it to mix in any formula that didn't mix right the first time. This morning he took his bottle out of his mouth, shook it, then looked at me and smiled. I could tell he was so proud of himself. It was just cute. He loves to laugh, giggle, gurgle, coo and blow spit bubbles. He screams every time I get on the computer in the office but doesn't mind so much in the family room. He loves to sit on the counter while we cook or do dishes and has the sweetest and most mellow temperment. He is the best thing that ever happened to us and I wouldn't trade him for the world.

The Brooks Family

The more I photograph families the more I love it. We always get to do family pictures at weddings, obviously that is a big part of it, but to just do a family and that is it - well, it's a little different for me. And I LOVE it! I have always done family shoots here and there, but now that we are back in Las Vegas we are getting a lot more opportunities to do a lot more things, and I am loving my job more and more.  

This is the Brooks Family. We went to a local park and just took pictures as the kids played. I'm not the biggest fan of shooting in-studio if I can help it. Kids especially are just so much more fun when they are "in their element." The only thing I would have done differently would be to do the family picture before we set them loose on the playground. We took it right as we were leaving the park, but they were having so much fun they didn't want to go! 

Bat Mitzvah

We photographed a Bat Mitzvah with our sister company this weekend at the Red Rock Casino. GORGEOUS. The theme was a Masquerade Ball and the decor was nothing short of breathtaking. By the end we had shot 8 hours of non-stop partying. I didn't get home from shooting until 2 am. It made for a very tired Sunday morning... Unfortunately, since the event wasn't booked under me, I can't post any images from the event. Suffice it to say that it was amazing, and I really wish I could. But, the Red Rock Casino in and of itself was just beautiful, so I have a couple of details I can post instead. Still bummed I can't show anything from the event itself, but these will have to do. 

Impromptu Photo Shoot

Ky was chewing on my phone tonight which was SO cute we couldn't resist breaking out the cameras. Well, I wanted more even lighting so I got out a soft box light. Matt wanted a prettier background than our carpet so he got out the backdrops. I wanted him in something cuter than his onesie, so I got him dressed... at 8:30 at night. Most good parents would be getting their baby ready for bed, while we were doing an impromptu photo shoot. I think it all worked out - Ky got to stay up late, we got his 7 month pictures done, and we all had a good time... until I blew a breaker because we were in the office and had too many things plugged in. 

Chewing

Kylan is now into chewing. Here he is gnawing on my old cell phone, he got ahold of the one I use one too many times so I finally dug this one out for him. Out of all of the toys that he has why is it that my phone is the one thing he would rather play with than anything else?

Yes, this is my son chewing on a stick of butter... I am not that terrible of a parent - I promise! We were making cookies, once again, (we do that a lot around here) and he was "helping" Matt. Thank heaven for wrappers, he didn't even get grease on his hands let alone any butter out of it. 

4 Seasons

We had the chance to photograph a wedding at the 4 seasons last weekend while shooting with my wonderful sister Candace Simpson. We parked just as the sun was going down and behind us was this gorgeous sky... I loved the way it reflected off the Mandalay Bay. I think it pretty much speaks for itself.

Sisters

One of the best things about weddings is FAMILY. They are the ones that hang in there the entire wedding day. Closer family members have to tough it out through the entire dating and engagement process, which for us girls can be quite the roller-coaster. These are two of my favorite sisters in the world because they might as well be mine. The bride and I are exactly 1 month and 3 days apart and we all grew up together as favorite cousins and best friends. Their mom is one of my closest confidants and was practically my mother after mine died when I was 5. She took us swimming almost daily in the summers and drove us to Mt. Charlston to go sledding in winter. She took us to brownie scouts and one year even made us all matching easter dresses out of pink taffeta.

Even when the wedding isn't our family it is still one of our favorite things to capture all of the chemistry and inside jokes going on when they are getting ready or hanging out before the ceremony. Those are the most fun moments when everyone forgets the photographers are there. We get to hide behind the camera lens and capture them while they are just being themselves. 

Cookies

Tonight Kylan "helped" Matt make cookies. Matt made the cookies and Ky tried to eat the bag. It looks like he loves chocolate as much as his mom. I think these really show off how smart Ky is - I mean, look at that noggin! 

Whitney

Whitney was so fun because at first she seemed very shy, but once we got started she was nothing short of a Blonde Bombshell! She was in a beautiful white dress and mentioned that she wished she could climb a tree. So, we got her in a tree and took some pictures! She was so worried her mom would be mad, but with a little help we got her into and out of the tree without any damage to the dress. Her cousin was with her and they both had hair that went all the way down their backs. I had them skipping down the sidewalks and spinning in circles, I even had them stand on a vent that blew up air. I have never seen that much hair blowing around at one time before, it made for some very playful shots!

Purcell Family

We had so much fun photographing The Purcell's. They had adopted a baby and were sealed to him in the LDS temple just minutes before we took these pictures. What a privilege to be able to capture these moments for them. The baby was darling, and ended up falling asleep half way through the shoot. That doesn't happen very often - but it made for some amazing images!

www.collages.net Username: Purcell Family Password: 11377

Juliet

Every once in a while we get what Matt and I like to call a "Million Dollar Shot," the one image that makes us just stand back and say wow. It is so fun to capture the images that have so much emotion and feeling in them... Something I would have no problem getting made into a 36 inch canvas print and hanging in my gallery. It's shots like that that make the thousands upon thousands of images we take completely worthwhile. This shoot in particular had ton of them. If you want to see the entire shoot just go to www.collages.net. Username: Juliet Bridals Password:11377

Juliet is actually the wedding coordinator at Green Orchid Events. She is an absolute blast to work with and is a great sport. We hauled her all over the desert - under an overpass, to an old ghost town and then to the dry lake beds - in three inch stilettos! The shoe shot in particular is a personal favorite. I am sure passersby would have laughed at me laying on the ground in the middle of the desert in front of a pair of shoes - but I have done much more interesting things than that to "get the shot." This one was well worth the effort.