Doll Faces

Well, here are a couple teasers to make you go check out the whole shoot on the featured section of my site. I want to thank Kirsten (at MAC make-up, Couv mall) for her amazing talent and look forward to many more projects with her. Thank you Shannon and Em for being such great sports in the rain (who could have seen that coming...the weather man?) The first series is perfect because the girls get no less than 100 directions from us and we can't figure out why they can't stay focused:)

No more selective coloring...that's better:)
I know that this shot kind of makes Shannon scared, but Emmy truly nailed this shoot for me. I kept wanting them to do those empty stares that makes them look like a doll. She had the perfect glossy eyes for this. She was the Cupie doll and Jalena was angry doll:) Go check out the rest.

Ragdoll Inspired

So I am surfing the web one day and I run into this girl's avatar. I get many concept shoots in my head, but most of them just sit in there until they fade. Others, stay in there and scream for attention and will not rest until the shoot comes to life. I don't know why I decided that I needed to do a rag doll shoot with the girls, but these are the pictures that inspired me and wait until you see what Shannon, Kirsten (the amazing make-up artist) and I came up with! I know that it is a bit goth (maybe too weird for some) but it's my interpretation, and my artform. So don't give me crazy comments that ask me what the heck I am doing these days:) There are some photographers that feed off the business side of things...You all know that I feed off the passion, and these are the types of shoots that I need every once in a while to keep the candle lit. I was on cloud nine yesterday after the shoot because it was different, fresh, and inspiring. Not to mention we got to shoot in a graveyard (again, not for everyone). The images below are not mine. I will post my vision later.

I Never....

When will I ever learn to not say "I never"? I have a running list of things that I say I will never do because I previously judged someone else upon observation of their life on their own path. I will never give my child a pacifier was my most ridiculous one....all 3 of mine enjoyed the plastic plug. Well, I thought I would do a selective color on a crazy, ridiculous shoot I enjoyed today with Shannon and the girls. I am tired of eating my words. I am really tired of feeling like I judge. And as a result I have a mean case of TMJ from foot always being in my mouth. I get it...I am aware...and I am becoming a better person:) So here is the selective coloring that I never do, just so that I can judge myself...that looks so 1980 and silly. And then Jamie is laughing in my face just to prove a point of how it feels when something gets slapped back in your face. Let's all try to walk a mile in someone else's shoes if we feel ourselves judging. Can I say, "I will never say I never"?

Reflection

"My role in society, or any artist's or poet's role, it to try and express what we all feel. Not to tell people how to feel. Not as a preacher, not as a leader, but as a reflection of all of us." John Lennon


Just wanted to put up a quote about reflections and this was the most fitting. Isn't it funny how many times we look out a window try to find something in life, and we never even notice the only person getting in our way...ourselves?

So long old friend...

I am SO happy...I am SO sad! Here, I'll let you on the roller coaster with me. My dear friend, Kenz finally sold her house here that they have been trying to unload for well over a year. That was the good news because I am relieved for them. The bad news is that it is my favorite 'go-to' location for shoots. You know the location well..205 bridge, the pool, the river, all the amazingness.....and now it is time to move on:( Before we said good-bye though, we went in for one last hoorah! Kenz brought up her good friend Jamie, with her wedding dress. Well, I'll give you one guess who was behind the scenes telling Kenz that they should go do the shoot, and do it tomorrow! That would be the one and only do'er we all know and love....WILLOW. You have to be careful telling this girl your dreams, or shoots you want to happen 'cause she'll say "well, what the heck is holding you back, let's just go do it right now!" Have you ever heard of a little thing called procrastination, Willow? You should try it some time:) Well, I just happened to have a Jamie with me as well and so we combined them for a little photo inspiration. You have to go check out the whole shoot over on my site in the featured section!
This is what you get when you combine the Jamie's
Willow in action!
Kenz in action! She has a 2 month old so she isn't exactly in the get-up-and-go stage. She was a trooper though and I'll bet she got some amazing images (I don't think we are going to be able to see them until her kids are out of diapers though. It will go by so fast, Kenz and pretty soon you will be able to go crazy, shooting again. Thank you for including me in this day, and wipe away those tears....you're just hormonal!

Jump

He's 6'7" and he has size 16 shoes....that is a little girl's jump rope! He's never afraid to jump into to anything in life and so I think this is so fitting. Most people would look at the rope and thing...there's no way, right. Well, Jake has to actually give it a try to see if it can be done. that's what I love about him! So go jump into your weekend...and I'm going to figure out a way to not upload my photos onto to blogger because all my pictures look like the people are dying or at least losing their color:)

Budding Photographer

This was part of the conversation that Jalena and I had yesterday as I was making her conserve pictures with her Polaroid shots to people and not every plant and flower she walked by. Watch, she will probably be a big macro/flower photographer and I will see how I stifled her one day:) She really just wanted to know how early you could become a photographer. I told her that she could start whenever she wanted and she could start caller herself one as soon as she felt comfortable with the name. Watch out world...I can only imagine what the world is going to look like from Jalena's view!

Reality Check

I know that most, if not all, photographers are going to be able to relate to this post. To my own degree.....I have gotten caught up in the hamster wheel of the photography world. I call it this because once you get on, it's really hard to jump off. Let me explain....you start looking at everyone else's work without shooting your own. You start doubting your own skills. Now your confidence is going down, you feel uninspired, you feel like you are getting left in the dust while all the other photographers pass you by. Ask me how much anyone else, especially my clients, friends and family care about any of this. Well, that is when I slap myself with a reality check. I picked up my camera, got rid of the concepts in my head and just lived. I captured the things that mattered to me the most and guess what...I am smiling again, and "I am" living in the moment. It is so easy to get caught up in the rat race in any career I am sure, but what if you don't have 3 adorable faces begging for attention and a plethora of self-help books sitting in front of you. I know I am lucky to have moments like this because I always feel like I have grown when I get beyond them, but my ego just gets in the way all the time. But my EGO knows that I am conscious of it now, and it's going down! The pictures below are my therapy....they put an instant smile on my face and they make my heart go beep, beep (as the kids would say)!
Perfection all wrapped up in a couple smiles:)
Innocence...perfectly kissable lips...and my grown little man looking like a baby.
Silliness is the best therapy, thanks Lu
My little Man
My big man giving me "the look"

They melt my heart into a huge puddle!

Living Beyond the Monkey Suit

Sure enough...we moved on from the Monkey suit...it is true! Jamie picked these out at Target the other day and has been wearing them non-stop. We were at Sip and Kranz the other day and he had to take them off to play in the area...we had about 5 kids come up and try to take the little froggies. They are in high demand, I tell ya. At least he is more in the norm now, seeing how, not every kid is wearing a monkey suit with a banana attached:)
Just when we thought we had gotten into the norm....here we go again! Today is Power Ranger Day. And there is a persona and attitude that goes with this get-up. He is deep into character with this one. (P.S. why do the colors suck so bad on my blog...these are so dull:( With Power Ranger costumes and powers, you are also subject to wedgies!
He calls this "Blue Power" and he sprays it at you.
Power Rangers can still get hurt though, don't you know. O.K. he really isn't hurt here...he is crying because he fell and got his suit dirty (before you all get made at me for taking the picture before caring for him:)
The perfect Ranger bubble. I love today.

I don't necessarily remember the very first time that my Dad let me drive a car as a kid....but watching each of my kids sit on their Dad's lap as they drove up and down the culdesac with HUGE smiles on their faces struck a memory cord. All of the sudden, the smell of summer, my Dad's aftershave, and a new car smell came rushing into my memory slate. The picture wasn't quite complete, but it was a fun memory nonetheless. It was so fun to watch each one take their turn. Tré clearly has the upper hand with video game experience and age, and Jalena and Jamie are in a close race for the worst drivers ever!

No Fear!

Jake came out retirement this year to play in the IBL. He has played in this league in the past but has taken a break for a few years. Well, he is in shape again and rockin' it on the court. He now has a place to exert his energy and get out his frustrations instead of city league. The kids are having a blast going to his games....getting their faces painted, cheering, and best of all, getting autographs. I think they have each players autograph 10 times over. Last week they went to a camp held by the YMCA and Tré played B-ball, and Jalena learned a routine with the cheerleaders. I asked her if she got nervous at all, and she looked at me like I was crazy. The girl has no fear and she was great at the halftime show.



Check out her skills. They taught the 3 girls that showed up this routine in about an hour. The girls were on cloud 9 hanging out with the dancers and they were a great influence. Go Volcanoes! I know this is small but you get the idea. She is the one in the pink tank top, gre skirt in the front. Braided pig-tails.

Artists=Inspiration!

A couple weeks ago, Shannon and I went to visit Amy at the recording studio and I can't tell you how jazzed I was when I left there. My Grandma had just passed...then Willie...Dad in the hospital...needless to say I was a blubbering mess after seeing Amy. She always brings out the emotional side of things (in a good way). We had an absolute blast with her and her new band members...Brandon and Walker (I will put up some links when I get them). They are all amazing together and they are DANG funny. There is something about hanging out with artists of all types that I feed off of. I am throwing a guess out there that it is all the passion that they have and doing something in their life that they LOVE. Here are some of the emotions that I wrote down after hearing one of Amy's new songs....It's just brainstorming, but they are strong words. thanks Amy!
Passion, talent, proud, live, living, emotions, "pull me out". "I see you for all you are." Intensity, new, forever, relationship, friendship, Pounding heart, strength, power. I feel. I love. I am! These are the kind of words that only can be sparked when you are living in the moment and you take a moment to FEEL.
Here is our rendition of Jesh's picture of Amy on her website. (www.amyseeley.com)
Then in the same week, I worked on a project with Keegan Smith and I had the most hysterical night with him and his crew as well. He will be having a CD release in May that you're not going to want to miss(check out his myspace for details). These are a couple of the outtakes of the midnight shoot. I shot Keegan and his beautiful wife Angie a long time ago and she is expecting now!
This is the treat that you get for running into a talented musician at Starbucks. My kids think that I know rockstars....I tell them that they are right:)

Boys Turn

I know I just wrote to Jalena the other day, and it just so happens that I recently got video footage the other day that inspired me to write a note about the boys and their Dad as well. My Dad comes from an generation and a career that didn't leave a lot of time to sit and play with us kids...not to mention there was 7 of us!!!! We understood my Dad and savored every moment that we did get with him. Jake is a new generation Dad! I am not saying he is better than my Dad, he is just different. The videos below are a prime example of what he does with the kids everyday on some level. Thank you Jake, for being so hands on and for making parenting fun and fantastic! Jamison and Tré, I know that when you read this and see the videos, you will have memories of your Dad as probably being nothing less then your hero. I also know that you already feel and know how much he loves you and how proud he is of all of you. You both have your Dad's giving spirit and amazing personality and I hope you learn how to be a great Dad from him. I love you both! Love, Mom

The video above is one of my favorite catches of video ever. I am pretty sure that Jake holds the record for getting stuck in the most children's tunnels and apparatuses in the NW. 6'7" 2 hundo-something doesn't mix well with small spaces and playgrounds.

Monkey-Man

The difference between the first child and the third child is that I let Jamie wear a monkey suit for a week straight no matter where we went and Tré was only allowed to wear it on Halloween. He seriously has worn this thing day and night for about 5 days and I am not sure if we are ever going to get it off of him. When he takes on a character, he really gets into the role! You know what I find amazing....walking through Fred Meyer, the bank, and all the other public places....watching peoples reactions, or should I say lack there of. I mean, has our society become so numb and fast pace that we don't even react to the cutest kid in a MONKEY suit walking by them! He put a little smirk on some people's faces, and others stopped us to say how cute he was, but for the most part people just didn't react. Maybe we should try out his new boots frog boots with nothing else:)

More Twins!

Can I just say that I love this client! When my Grandma passed away and I had to go up to Alaska immediately, it would have been handy to have an assistant keeping things straight and calling any clients that I may have on the books. Especially a mother of twins that went to have her hair and make-up done at Dosha, drove all the way up to my house from deep Portland, only to find out that I was out of town. I felt so horrible and I was so nervous to do this shoot. Not only did I start things off on the wrong foot, but they were 8 month old twins...that is stress in itself. Well, needless to say, things went off without a hitch and I am blessed to know this gorgeous family. The twins stole my heart within minutes and here is a note that their Mom gave me that warms my heart...
"It was great meeting you, too. We truly had a blast at the photo shoot. You were completely right on with what you said at the beginning--that everyone has dreadful memories of childhood portrait sessions, but that you aim to make it a more positive, laid back, and natural experience. Well, you delivered! I was feeling really stressed out driving up to the studio with being late and nothing having gone to plan up to that point. Within 15 minutes of getting started with the shoot, I forgot my troubles and just enjoyed the spirit of watching my little cuties hamming it up for the camera." You know I have to keep it real here, so here are a couple of those not so perfect, perfect shots.

You should see this Mom with her babies. She is so soft spoken, patient and so in love. Her is a tender moment when her little girl was crying and you can just see it tear at her heart.
I can't tell you how many times hearts (in some form) show up in my pics. I love this one.
The last time in our life when cheese is a good thing:)

Spring Break

,"Shannon, let's take a roadtrip over Spring Break with the kids. Let's go somewhere amazing and fill their heads with blissful memories. We'll just get in the car all together and just start driving. YAY!"
Well, we figured the next best thing to our ambitious plan was Mr. Taco and the Zoo. Don't ask what happened to the roadtrip, I guess lack of motivation, and a plan. Nonetheless, we didn't tell the kids that Spring Break is suppose to be great. It was a break but it didn't even look like Spring, so that's exactly how we treated it. We don't get to hang out as a big group like this very often so it was fun no matter where we were going to end up.

What would Spring Break be without hanging with Kristy! Spring is in her hair:)
We used to call new adult teeth on kids squirrel teeth...but when Tré's came in we changed it to beaver. I kid you not...the beaver was all the way over chomping on a tree when Tré tried to call him in by showing him his front teeth and telling him that they were brothers....this is what happened. We were dying!!!