megan finley photography blog

Cat and Jim's animal-filled backyard wedding

2011-04-23T11:00:00.000-07:00

Remember when I gave you a peak at Cat's amazing animal-themed brooch bouquet? Well here's the rest of the animaly colorful goodness...

Did you ever watch that show Tori and Dean Inn Love? Well the place where the bride Cat got ready and where they spent their first night as a married couple is the "Inn" in which Tori and Dean loved.

Cat getting ready.

The had bagpipers!

I love the ribbons hanging from the trees.

Their parrot Egbert was super excited about the wedding.

Dance party by the pool!

Pi Day wedding outtakes...

2011-03-22T18:23:00.000-07:00

So, I'm in the midst of editing our last wedding, the Pi Day wedding! But I stumbled upon this photo and couldn't resist sharing it...

Does it not look like there's a tiny person standing on the railing? Aaron and I started cracking up imagining these two GIANTS getting married by a tiny person standing on the railing.

Oh, and while I'm at it, this one would have been one of my favorites, if not for the last minute, celebratory air punch..

And just because I can't leave Melissa and James with just two outtakes from their wedding, here's one of my favorites so far. The wind totally took this from sweet to sexy...

Guys, I can't wait to share more details from this wedding, but there are just so many awesome pics that it's gonna take me a while to get through! So stay tuned.

Andrea & Juan Carlos' Sonoma wedding

2011-03-19T12:00:00.000-07:00

Andrea and Juan were the sweetest couple ever. I love that Andrea is a sustainable vegetable grower with a small farm (Quarter Acre Farm). She and Juan Carlos got married at the Sonoma Veterans Memorial on a beautiful day in July.

We had an awesome photo shoot at a nearby train station museum. I love the old-timey feel of these.

Then it was back to the venue to party!

The speeches were adorable, both in English and in Spanish.

Tequila shots!

And the night ended on the most adorable family group hug! :)

Sarah & Williams hot-as-hell wedding!

2011-02-07T09:43:00.000-08:00

Oh Sarah and William, how I love these guys! First of all, Sarah was a groom's girl at the very first wedding I was ever hired to shoot. I instantly fell in love with her and was SO stoked when she asked me to shoot her wedding. Of course I loved her a little less when she scheduled an outdoor portrait shoot on one of the hottest day sof the year and then she showed up late! ;) So, the boys and I improvised and almost attacked the ice cream man when he came nearby...

What!? It was hot! I was dying. And Coco took this, one of my favorite photos of me EVAR!

And the girls finally arrive! And catch us all eating ice cream. :)

Hot chicks and hot shoes. Seriously, this wedding was HOT!

Also, a hot -- okay OVERHEATING -- bride. :)

Heading off to the wedding ceremony...

I loved their bobble-head cake toppers.

Here's that awesome "I'm a bride!" moment. :)

The bride was walked down the aisle by her beautiful mother.

What!? ... Sometimes you get bored when waiting to be announced!

Then there was just lots and LOTS of dancing.

Danelle and Jason's amazing TIKI wedding!

2011-01-29T12:50:00.000-08:00

I'm SO behind on blogging! OMG, and I can't believe I haven't showed off Danelle and Jason's Tiki wedding! It's unbelievably cool...

I had been looking forward to shooting this wedding for MONTHS! Danelle was one of the first brides to book me as their photographer and when I met her and Jason for drink at Don the Beachcomber in Huntington Beach I was in awe at the idea that I would get to shoot one of the coolest weddings I'd ever heard about. It was to be a tiki themed wedding with so much style and a super fun couple. You've actually seen both the bride and the groom who were part of the wedding party in Rockabilly Dia de los Muertos wedding. Here they are on they're big day...

First of all, could anyone ask for a more beautiful day for their wedding? This was the view from their hotel room and I got to enjoy it while the bridal party was getting ready.

The dress!

The bridesmaids all had awesome custom fascinators and red retro lipstick.

The bride looking absolutely gorgeous.

Their favors were these custom-made tiki necklaces. Those are actually little tiki versions of themselves! Coolest favors EVAR.

The bride and her father.

How cool is this room!?

Their unity ceremony was a unity cocktail out of this amazing tiki mug. :)

Oh, and can we talk about how they had the coolest Tiki wedding cake in the history of wedding cakes!?

An adorable sugar hibiscus for an adorable jr. bridesmaid.

The garter toss.

The results of the bouquet toss. Check out how all their guests got so into the tiki theme!

This "bridesmaid" did double-duty as the DJ.

Love, bubbles and thanks

2010-11-24T19:11:00.001-08:00

I'm currently going through Christia and Eric's wedding photos and this one just popped up and made me SO happy. It also made me want to show it off and, at the same time, give me a chance to write about what I'm thankful for...

I'm thankful for my amazing clients. And I'm thankful that I've gotten to meet so many awesome people and check out so many interesting places this year. I'm thankful that both of my jobs let me surround myself with love constantly! And it's photos like the one above, with so much love and bubbles floating around, that make me happy that I get to do what I do.

So Happy Thanksgiving to all my MFP peeps -- you guys are the the best.

Thriller dance gif

2010-11-21T15:03:00.001-08:00

I just finished editing the photos from the popular iPad wedding and got kinda -- okay -- WAY too excited about making this animated gif out of three frames of their Thriller dance...

More, non animated pics to come! :)

The most delicious teaser you'll ever see...

2010-10-15T14:18:00.000-07:00

There are few times when you know that you've succeeded in your photography career...

Your first gushing email of thanks from a happy bride and groom.
When you get published in a magazine (*cough cough* Japanese Vogue)
When you see one of your photos enlarged, framed and matted, on someone else's wall.
And the first time you see one of your photos on a cake...

This is a photo from Gayle and Aaron's engagement shoot, which I haven't blogged yet (and they're already married BAD BLOGGER!), but consider this the teaser, I guess! The delicious, delicious teaser.

Djinnaya and Jason's wedding of WINNING!

2010-09-24T13:10:00.000-07:00

Was this my first bay area wedding? I think so! You might remember my adventures in San Francisco in this post, well I'm finally bringing you all the wedding porn from Djinnaya and Jason's wedding. And what a way to kick off my bay area wedding experience... We met them at their house which is basically UNDER the Golden Gate Bridge, then off to a ceremony at the Pulgas Water Temple and a reception at Golden Gate Park, I was in heaven.

This is by far one of my favorite photos EVAR.

Djinnaya waiting to walk down the aisle.

Their wedding party made their entrance singing The Rainbow Connection along with all the guests.

They totally did rock-paper-scissors to see who read their vows first. It didn't really matter though, because Jason totally forgot to bring his vows with him so Djin read first. Speaking of Djin, can we talk about how awesome her outfit was!? She had a sparkly veil to top it all off!

Just married!

We did a quick photo shoot and lunch at the beach. WOW!

Then it was time for the reception at the park...

Here's a fun, behind-the-scenes tidbit -- I took this photo as I was talking to my dad about how dangerous it would be to drive on my tire that went bad on the drive over to the reception.

The necklace says "Brides Pitbull" -- Djinnaya didn't have bridesmaids, just one badass "brides pitbull."

Congrats Djinnaya and Jason. I love you guys!

Ashley & Mike's sk8er portrait shoot

2010-09-22T15:51:00.000-07:00

I have to say so far, I think that Ashley and Mike's portrait shoot was my favorite to do. The lighting was fabulous and I love brick walls and, aside from the dumpsters and the crazy crack heads harassing us, everything went swimmingly. Ashley and Mike and their gang gave me a lot to work with. Here are some of my favorite shots...

This is Ashley and Mike, and they just got married.

They both rocked the Vans!

Here's Mike and his gang. We just had to do the "band photo" thingy where everyone is looking in a different direction... for some reason.

And Ashley and her gang are super hot.

Oh and they brought their skateboards to the shoot, which was awesome! Ashley's had freaking kitties on it!

This is my FAVORITE photo from the shoot. Aw, the romance.

Mike photo bombing the bridal portraits!

This is how many people it takes to bustle this dress!

So the bride can ride too!

I really like these ring shots too!

So yeah, that's Mike and Ashley and I'm thiiiiiiiiiiiiiis close to finishing their wedding photos! Yay! I just needed to show of their adorable portrait session.

My first iPad wedding!!!

2010-08-18T21:42:00.000-07:00

The day finally arrived! I finally had a couple fulfill my idea of running their ceremony completely from an iPad -- vows and all.

I have been so busy with work lately so I did this a little backwards, head over to my OTHER job at Offbeat Bride to see more photos from this wedding. And soon (after I edit 4 or so other weddings) I should have more details about this one for ya!

Luke and Suzanne's Muppet wedding at the Jim Henson Co.

2010-08-14T11:09:00.000-07:00

So I'm powering through editing Luke and Suzanne's wedding at the Jim Henson Co. in Los Angeles. But I not only had Coco my 2nd shooter on this baby, but I also brought in a THIRD shooter -- my husband, Aaron. So I've NEVER had so many photos to edit in my life. Plus the fact that I've never been busier in my life than in the months after shooting this wedding. (Wedding season is killer!) So here is a sneak peak of some of my favorite shots that I've edited so far...

Charlie Chaplin + wedding dress = amazing

Mom helping with the dress.

Oh and did I mention that they had matching bride and groom muppets? Yeah, what kind of muppet wedding would this be without muppets!? And Suzanne had the "health insurance heart" made as a surprise for Luke. So... SURPRISE LUKE! :)

I could do a post on their centerpieces alone. Each one had a different nerdy/movie/pop-culture reference with corresponding photos of the two of them in character.

The bridal party.

Oh yeah, I also rented this RIDICULOUS fisheye lens. So be looking forward to more funky fisheye photos, using it for the dancing was my favorite.

The ceremony begins...

The WE DID IT! moment alone.

Their favors were ring pops and customized dice.

The ring pops were a real hit.

They had an In & Out truck for their dinner!

Their wedding cake was based on the battle scene on Hoth in Star Wars with the biggest freaking AT-AT I've ever seen. And if you look closely, Luke modified the cake knife to have a light saber handle...

I also shot some of my favorite first dance photos EVAR.

The Jim Henson Co. in full swing.

Stay tuned for more photos! Until then, here's a video of the Luke and Suzanne muppets singing the Beatles...

Luke and Suzanne turned the screening room into a place for their guests to play Beatles Rock Band -- silliness ensued.

Oh and as an added bonus, here are some goofy photos of the Finleys...

Aaron fits right in amongst the company of Muppets.

Me at the wedding, always the professional.

Claudia & Eddie's Rockabilly, Dia de los Muertos wedding in Old World

2010-07-04T10:45:00.000-07:00

Claudia and Eddie had a Rockabilly Dia de los Muertos themed wedding at a German themed location in Huntington Beach called Old World. Sounds strange, but it totally worked! I had a blast hanging out with Claudia and her bridal party while they got their hair and makeup did, and of course the party was AWESOME! So much dancing I had to take an entire day to recover. :)

Danelle and her shoe malfunction!

I loved the random people who clapped for them as they left the church.

Sugar skulls and bride and groom skull favor boxes.

I love that the black and white (or aged) photos look like they are totally vintage. LOVE!

Their cake was INCREDIBLE!!!!

Eddie had a rockabilly costume change, which was awesome. And then there was dancing until they kicked us out...

Congrats to my darling Claudia and Eddie and their family -- we had a blast with you guys on your wedding day! But this won't be the last you see of them on the blog, a few weeks later I shot their friend's wedding, the wedding of the bridesmaid with the shoe malfunction. So stay tuned for Danelle and Jason's tiki wedding.

Victoria and Shawn's DIY Azusa wedding

2010-05-21T10:30:00.000-07:00

Victoria and Shawn were my very first "Megan Finley Photography" clients. Obviously I had done a few weddings before but only as a second shooter, never as the big "my ass is on the line" boss of it all. But I couldn't have asked for a better couple!

Victoria and Shawn and their family were all amazing. From the moment Vickie's aunt answered their door in her robe and welcomed us into her home, encouraging us to run around a shoot whatever we'd like, I knew that this was going to be a great wedding. Here are some shots from getting ready to the ceremony...

Victoria came right to her aunts house/the reception site from her hair appointment and immediately unveiled the dress.

The front is also just as beautiful.

I was excited that Vickie's jewelry came from one of my favorite jewelry stores (where I got my first engagement ring and Aaron got his wedding band). And you just gotta love those fancy shoes.

Did I mention that Vickie is a crafty bride? She made these magnet wedding favors by hand. And the little bag with the skull on it? She made two of those for the rings while she was getting her hair done!

Then we had to move the "getting ready party" into the exercise room.

The girls DIY'd their own bouquets from flowers bought from the flower mart.

The boutenniers

Think they turned out absolutely stunning.

Then it was time for her to head over to get married in this awesome ride!

I LOVED this red wall!

Sean waiting for his bride, looking badass in his glasses.

Victoria with her father.

The groomswomen wore corsages. So cute.

And can I just say that I feel in love with Shawn's smile?

They had a really interesting ceremony filled with Jewish traditions utilizing some of things you can see in the picture -- Shawn put Vickie's ring on her index finger first, the reason goes back to the time of the Talmud and the differences in beliefs at that time about which finger is closer or more direct to the heart. And they had a wine ceremony to sanctify the personal relationship of marriage over wine. The bride and groom each take a sip of the wine. But the rabbi also enjoyed a sip himself!

Then they did a sand ceremony too.

And they did this wonderful thing where both their dads wrapped them together in a single tallit (prayer shawl). I had never seen this done before and it was a really beautiful moment.

And then MAZEL TOV!

Hugs all around.

And a really dirty dress!

Okay, here's what I learned during THIS wedding:

Make sure to make sure that bride and groom both KEEP THEIR EYES OPEN!

Then it was photo shoot with the car time!

The whole wedding party!

Congratulations Victoria and Shawn! And thank you for trusting me to shoot your wedding!!! ;)

Teaser for Djinnaya and Jason's wedding

2010-05-05T20:52:00.000-07:00

Here's a teaser for Djinnaya and Jason's San Francisco wedding. And what a wedding it was! It was one of the most fun AND most difficult weddings I've shot so far. (I had a streak of bad luck that weekend that, now all said and done, is laughable. But more on that later.) For now, check out that location! Djin and Jason got married at the Pulgas Water Temple in Woodside, CA. It was beautiful and touching and WINNING!

Misadventures in travel wedding photography

2010-05-05T20:09:00.000-07:00

I was hired to shoot a wedding in San Francisco last weeked. The drive to the bay area went swimmingly. Before I left I swung by Samy's camera to pick up my Canon 50D that errored out on me during my first wedding and I was a happy camper with my camera back, my best friend and second shooter by my side and everything looking up.

Coco and I stayed the night at a friend's place in San Jose. We went out to dinner. I had two margaritas and got trashed. And when we got back from the restaurant my shoe broke! The sole of my black boots just came off completely. And then it was all downhill from there.

The next morning I awoke (a little hungover) and I took out my camera and turned it on to find that it was still broken! I was so screwed. This was my only camera, aside from my old Rebel that has difficulty keeping up with my pro lenses. So after a MAJOR panic attack, and a frantic call to Samy's, Coco and I worked out that I would just have to use her faster, newer Rebel (with a bigger screen) and she would use my older slower Rebel and we'd just have to make due.

So onwards and upwards! We headed to San Francisco to stop number two -- a friend of Coco's who was putting us up for the night. I dropped off all my stuff and then headed out to the door to do a maternity shoot at Golden Gate park with Ragani and Will. Wanna hear something wonderful about that shoot? The subject was the very first couple that asked me to do their engagement photos. Who then became the first couple who trusted me to shoot their wedding. (But I'll have more on that later.) The shoot went well, and I had a fun time with my buddies. But no lie, I was exhausted from travel and stress.

So then it was back to the apartment for an early bed time as the wedding was EARLY in the morning the next day.

We woke up and the first thing we did was get coffee, then headed to my wedding clients' home. They live in a really cool area that's practically under the Golden Gate Bridge. Of course I'm a total jackass and I missed their exit, thereby leaving me NO CHOICE but to go over the bridge and then come back. Of course I didn't have any cash on me so Coco had to fork over the $6. (Once again I thank my lucky stars for Coco.) So one useless trip and $6 later we finally arrive to our destination -- Djinnaya and Jason's house. Luckily we weren't late as they themselves were running late. ;)

So we take off to their wedding ceremony site, the Pulgass Water Temple. Of course the day I have a wedding to photograph at high noon is the one day that it's not overcast in the bay area. Just my luck, right? And there was NO SHADE at the spot where they were getting married. I cursed the lighting gods that day, let me tell you. At least I learned my lesson -- no weddings at high noon without telling my clients of the photo risks. Of course, the lack of clouds that made it impossible to get amazing shots of the ceremony did enable me to get this amazing shot as well. So, you know, give and take.

Anyway, on the drive over to the reception site my "flat tire" light one. FARK! So I got out at a gas station and checked them all out, none of them were flat, but I found this bubble on the side wall of one of my tires. So on the way to the reception I called my Dad to ask about just how dangerous that might be. I got my answer when he called me AS I WAS SHOOTING and told me that a bubble like that could cause my tire to explode. YIPES! So, what were we to do! I still had the entire reception to shoot and by the time it was over the tire place would be closed. We were going to have to spend another night in San Francisco and I'd have to pay for a hotel room. Of course my lovely and quick thinking Coco volunteered to take my car to the tire place while I stayed and shot the reception. Coco drove over an hour out of her way and in traffic to take my car in. $506 later (yup, there was another toll booth that Coco had to pay for) Coco arrived back at the reception just as it ended and we were ready to take off. (Seriously THANK YOU lucky stars for my Coco!!!)

Thankfully the drive home was totally uneventful and that was the end of my horrible luck. And Pulgass lighting issues aside, I do have some AWESOME shots from the wedding, so stay tuned for more wedding porn from me in the future.

Cat's animal themed brooch bouquet

2010-04-18T16:33:00.000-07:00

Guess who just shot a wedding this weekend where the bride carried a brooch bouquet!...

Me! I did! How amazing is this baby!?

The bride, Cat, didn't make this -- she went to Amanda for that -- but she found all the pieces herself, mostly from Goodwills (she admitted to me that her talents do not lie in the craftiness, but she does has that convenient knack of finding awesome stuff on the cheap). And most of the brooches have special significance to her, especially the animal ones...

Including a parrot in honor of their pet parrot, Eggbert.

the pink dog in honor of one of their pups, Honeypie (aka. Tikka, aka. Chunk).

...and this fox guy in honor of their other dog, Ollie, who resembles a fox.

I'll have more photos from Cat and Jim's animal filled backyard wedding soon. I just wanted to share my excitement over this bouquet in the meantime.

Sneak preview of Victoria and Shawn's wedding

2010-04-04T17:38:00.000-07:00

I just came off my first wedding as "Megan Finley Photography" and boy am I exhausted. But it was awesome and exciting and wonderful and beautiful and fun, oh my god was it fun! I will, of course, share with you the whole wedding story soon. But for now in the process of going through and editing the 4,000+ photos that Coco and I both took, and am super please with how many great photos we got. Until I get through culling and editing, I wanted to share with you my favorite picture of the day...

Classic car, good friends, gorgeous bride and groom... can a picture get any better than this!?

And keep checking in for the rest of Victoria and Shawn's backyard "getting weddinged" party.

Photos from the Offbeat Frontier exploration of the old LA Zoo

2010-04-01T12:00:00.000-07:00

So this last Sunday Coco and I explored the remains of the original site of the LA zoo. We went with a group called Offbeat Frontier and had a lot of fun documenting the experience.

Mike was a our fearless leader and Coco was fearlessly walking in her fancy flats.

And speaking of fancy shoes, this was me hiking in heels.

It was terrifying. This is me literally trying not to die while hiking down a steep slope. My cousin is behind me trying to help me and Coco was obviously so concerned that she kept snapping photos. ;)

After hiking through treacherous wilderness we came out the other side to find the ruins of the zoo! With... a child's birthday party going on in it. Apparently, the ruins weren't so hidden at all and, in fact, there was a paved sidewalk leading right to them the whole time. Awesome.

Thanks Mike.

The graffiti inside the enclosures was awesome! We loved the way it photographed.

Nathan & Drew in this crazy weird staircase that lead to a dead end.

This is Coco at the top of the stairs taking pictures through one of the tiny doorways.

This was literally the way out.

Most of the crew: Hillary, Drew, Mike, Nathan and Megan

This is my cousin Nathan behaving like an animal.

Ha ha. Just because!

Finally after hours of hiking and exploring we called it quits and went and got beer! Glorious beer!

And made it a point to get a group photo. From L to R: Ashley, Mike, Hillary, Nathan, Drew, Megan & Coco = The Zoo Crew!

teaser for another crazy LA activity...

2010-03-29T12:22:00.000-07:00

The other day my darling Coco and I spent a day doing an Offbeat Frontier tour that took us on the search for the ruins of the old LA Zoo at the Griffith Observatory. Stay tuned for more fun and interesting photos from that day!

Coco and me with our cameras. Yeah... I went hiking in those heals, but more to that story to come.

Charles Phoenix's Downtown LA Tour of Disneyland photos

2010-03-29T10:02:00.000-07:00

I recently went on a strange and wonderful tour led by a strange and wonderful man, Charles Phoenix. To explain this tour I'll just grab the text from his website...

Join Charles on this 6-hr walking & school bus tour beginning ending at Union Station - See Old Chinatown - Olvera Street - Clifton’s Cafeteria - The Bradbury Building - Carroll Avenue - Bob Baker Marionette Theater - Walt Disney Concert Hall and SO much more!

Experience the charm of MAIN STREET USA, exotica of ADVENTURELAND, wilderness of FRONTIERLAND, magic of FANTASYLAND, and future of TOMORROWLAND – all in the heart and soul of our city.

You will never see downtown LA the same way again! It’s just like a big theme park! The similarities between Downtown Los Angeles and Disneyland are staggering!”

And it was a ton of fun and it, in fact, made me fall in love with my city all over again.

We all met up at Union Station and started the tour there.

They opened up the "Ghost Restaurant of Union Station: Harvey House" for us so that we could see these cool parrot tiles and Charles likened to the Tiki Room.

I love Union Station!

Oh by the way, this lovely lady was my tour pal -- Debbie!

We took this bus all around downtown.

Then we headed to China Town.

Taken through the window of the office of the first Chinese lawyer in California.

Then he took us to Olvera St where we saw the first firehouse, the oldest house in LA and Charles bought us all taquitos.

Then it was lunch at Clifton's Cafeteria. I actually put my camera down to eat so these pics are all taken with my iphone.

This guy was there. This guy was awesome.

Btw, if you ever go to Clifton's, check out the sidewalk, it's seriously the best sidewalk in LA.

Wandering around downtown drawing weird looks wherever we went.

Cool theatre.

Bradbury Building. Did you know that this was the one and only building that this guy designed? I was unawares.

The group in the building.

And WHOAMYGOD! Angels Flight is up and running again!

And I got to ride it before it officially opened!!!

Look how excited I am!

Then we went and checked out this crazy old marionette theatre. It was both creepy and adorable.

Carroll Ave.

Charles said from design to color scheme, this is CLASSIC Disneyland.

We concluded the tour at the Walt Disney Concert Hall.

And there ya go, that was our fabulous tour of wonderful LA landmarks led by an awesome guy in a Mickey Mouse ears.

Who is Charles Phoenix?

2010-03-25T12:00:00.000-07:00

Oh boy, oh boy, do I have photos to share! But I've been swamped with Offbeat Bride work. But here are a few teasers from the "Downtown LA Tour of Disneyland" with Charles Phoenix. Who's Charles Phoenix? He's this guy...

And he is awesome.

He dragged our crazy asses all over downton LA showing us stuff that kinda resembled Disneyland.

Wearing Mickey Mouse ears all the way.

And it was one of the best days of my life!

The business so far...

2010-02-23T10:32:00.000-08:00

Oh man, we're getting closer and closer to the launch of my "wedding season!" My first wedding is scheduled for April and then it's madness from then on. I know this because lately I've been turning down more wedding than taking them on. June is completely booked!

So far I'm going to be shooting all over California: San Fransisco, Oakland, San Diego, Fallbrook, Los Angeles, Huntington Beach, Oceanside and Sonoma.

I also have the COOLEST weddings on schedule:

A wedding at the Jim Henson Co. with life size Skesis and Muppets galore.
A Tiki wedding at Don the Beachcomber.
A Dia de los Muertos wedding.
A 1960s swanky cocktail party themed wedding.
A wedding in an old fashion theater.
And I even have a wedding booked on our five year anniversary (two years married)!

And those are just the ones that made their deposits! I have tons more lined up that are all equally amaze-balls. I love my clients!!!

My 2nd shooter, best gal pal and all around amazing human being, Courtney (aka. Coco, aka. Cha-cha) has decided, out of the kindness of her heart, that she's now also going to take on the roll of assistant and general get-your-shit-together-er. Which means, the photo biz should start to run a LOT more smoothly. Look folks, I can shoot a pretty picture, but I can't remember who's paid and who hasn't. Not so much good for business. And since Coco is attached to this ship, apparently she'd like to take part in keeping it afloat. She's a shrewd business woman, that one.

Oh! And I found a ridiculously awesome place for engagement shoots. It's an antique store in, what used to be, a church. Here's a teaser...

Unfortunately, it costs to shoot there, but if I ever get to, the pics would be INCREDIBLE! Any engaged couples wanna pay the location fee and I'll do the shoot for free?

Let's see... what else, what else... I'm absolutely scared shitless to be starting wedding season! But more on that later. Now I have to run and make all the reservations for Seattle next weekend. I'm going for the Offbeat Bride book re-release party on March 6th.

Seattle iPhotography

2010-02-14T12:31:00.000-08:00

We took our first trip to Seattle a couple of months ago. (I know, I know, I'm just getting to posting it now, I've been ~~busy~~ lazy.) The day before we left Aaron and I got ourselves iPhones! So instead of taking photos with my big 'ol nice camera, Aaron and I had fun documenting the trip with our brand new iToys!

So here is our Seattle trip documented on our iPhones...

Coco and Aaron walking down a pretty creepy hallway in LAX.

Aaron and I had never been on a Virgin Airline's flight before. It's like being in a club. Also, we love Reese's.

Based on a recommendation from my boss, Aaron and I stayed at the Ace Hotel in Belltown.

This is what I looked like when we first arrived.

This is what I looked like after we got back from going out to a bar. A bar I fell asleep in.
(Notice my new iPhone in my lap.)

One of my favorite things to do was drink coffee in bed and watch the rain falling on the city below.

The view to the left.

View to the right.

Coco coming to meet us at our hotel to take us around the city.

Coco took us to Pike Place for coffee and shopping for our first whole day in Seattle. Have I mentioned that I'm no fun pre-coffee?

Pretty coffee.

Wandering through Pike Place.

Disgusting as it is, this is one of my favorite photos from the trip.

It wasn't too long before we realized that we'd have to throw down for some beanies. It was COLD for us Los Angelinos.

Shooting with the 'ol iPhone.

The picture I was taking.

We went to the mall to shop and have lunch.

Coco and her outrageously large veggie plate!

The signs (front and back) on the store next door to our hotel.

The next morning we woke up before dawn for The Glitter Sale!!!

Coco and me freezing our asses off.

Aaron can't stop making music. He's recording a video of us and providing a crazy soundtrack with his Kaosilator.

waiting for the glitter sale from megan finley on Vimeo.

I love this picture that Aaron got of me.

Coco met a cute boy who drew a picture of her!

This is our very cold crew right before going into the Glitter Sale.

Shopping! This is actually a still from a video that Aaron shot.

And these are some of our Glitter Sale purchases

My most favoritist purchase... my fabulous vintage strapless dress!

Aaron found a full on suit that fit him perfectly. How cute is this man!???

Look what we found!

This is us under the Space Needle.

Found in some random elevator in a book store.

We took this for my sister who was complaining that it was cold in California. HA!

The next day we went to meet up with a friend who was competing in a pinball competition at some cool bar. The tables were made out of pinball machines!

Then it was time to leave. :(

We had an amazing time in Seattle, it was my first time there and I can't wait to get back in March. I will be there for the release of the 2nd addition of the Offbeat Bride book. So if any of you are in the Seattle area, come hang with me at the re-release party!

Leyendecker Holiday '09 collection

2010-02-13T12:35:00.000-08:00

Yay! I haven't checked Leyendecker Los Angeles' site in a while, but I did today and was thrilled to see that the last shoot I did for them was available to see on the website. I really liked this shoot a LOT and, of course, Jessica was an amazing model as usual...

FUN @ LACMA

2010-02-06T15:07:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite parts about where we live in LA is our close proximity to LACMA and the new BCAM. The gang and I have a lot of fun hanging out and taking pictures in their outdoor installations. It's such a big part of our lives in LA that Aaron and I had our engagement photos taken at LACMA.

Anyway, here are a few photos from our most recent trips...

LACMA & BCAM

From inside the URBAN LIGHT installation.

Me and the hubs.

Coco! My most fabulous (and adorable) second shooter.

Choi Jeong Hwa's Happy Happy installation

Coco inside the exhibit.

Raki inside the exhibit.

I think this was one of the most awesome LA sunsets.

And then it was dark.

My friends also play jazz at LACMA.

Kathleen Grace is such a bad ass singer.

My best friend Erik playing bass, Perry playing guitar and Matt on the drums.

Marriane's headshots

2010-01-18T05:13:00.000-08:00

I've gotta hand it to Marrianne, she was a total trooper. We spent the day running around some of my favorite nasty LA locations... I had her leaning up against dumpsters, vacuuming someone's front lawn and at one point she even posed with a thrown out toilet. But I'm pretty sure that's pretty much all in a day's work for a comedienne, I guess.

Here are some of my favorite shots from the day:

A happy smiling shot.

Serious, "CSI Miami" shot.

I call this the "Sitcom Mom" shot.

This was the moment that Marianne discovered that the vacuum we found on the side of the road had a "shag" setting!
That vacuum now lives with me. :)

You seriously can't ask for a better client than Marianne, she was fun, funny and open to everything I suggested and I hope she has a lot of luck with these shots.

2010 here we go!

2010-01-17T17:36:00.000-08:00

So 2010 begins! And with it begins the most important year of my life. The year I officially start my wedding photography business. And if this month is any indication of the things to come -- it's gonna be a GREAT year...

We kicked off New Years Eve by celebrating my husband Aaron's 35th birthday...

Me and my darling Jackson giving me a my New Year's kiss!
Photos by my 2nd shooter: Courtney

By the way, this is my 2nd shooter, Courtney on NYE...

Courtney and I have been booked for TONS of weddings this year! So far I have one a month from March to August, with the exception of June which has one a week so far! And interestingly enough, most of my weddings are taking place in the bay area. I'm going to be doing a LOT of traveling this year.

And speaking of traveling... we're looking into planning a trip to Mexico before all the wedding madness starts. I can not WAIT!

I took this photo of the statues along the Melecon in Puerto Vallarta the last time I was in Mexico. My mother, sister and I took a cruise. It was AWFUL. This time -- NO CRUISE and instead just lounging on the beach all day!

So here's to 2010 and the beginning of the success of my new wedding photography business! Can't wait to start capturing those incredible times.

my photos on RevolveClothing.com

2009-12-08T10:00:00.000-08:00

Click on the picture above to be taken to the article that features the photos I took for Leyendecker's Fall '09 collection.

My first mommy/daughter photo shoot

2009-11-28T09:07:00.000-08:00

So, it's true, I've never done done a photo shoot with a baby before. I mean, I've taken some photos of babies, my favorite being this one. But this was the first "professional" photo shoot where the pressure was on to capture this little baby and her beautiful mother, who both happen to be my cousins. I teased this post earlier, and now here's the rest of my favorites from the shoot...

First of all, Abby's adorable. She's my cousin's first kid and I adore her. And I DON'T make a habit of adoring kids.

Secondly, her mom, my wonderful cousin, is one of the most stunningly beautiful women in the world!

So this should be an easy shoot right? Well, that's what I thought... but shooting babies is super hard. It's not like the, "Hey guys, let's do this shot. Cool, got it. Now let's do this!" It's more of a, "What if we do this shot? Abby? Abby! Hey where's Abby going? Okay, smile! Wait, don't cry! Okay, she doesn't like it. Why don't we just put her down and see what SHE wants to do" kinda thing.

Which meant there was a lot of throwing the kid around to get smiles. And that totally worked.

Then we went to the playground...

But Abby got distracted and the playground was obviously more entertaining than the photos.

Off to a new location.

I love this one because you can see Katie's adorable belly.

Kisses for the unborn sister.

Katie and Abby, thank you ladies for letting me have the opportunity to sharpen my family photo chops with you guys! And have fun living in Hawaii!

Las Vegas SEMA Convention (day 1)

2009-11-06T08:33:00.000-08:00

My dad and I are in Las Vegas for the SEMA Convention. (The above shot is the view from our room.) I brought my camera along to get back to my first love of photography... photographing pretty cars!!!

Swinder II Willys -- it's kind of a big deal.

A very 'Merikan paint job.

I don't know what the hell these are, but I loved the presentation.

Obviously, I fell madly in love with this bike's paint job.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priapism

This is my dream car!!! A 32 Ford 3-window coupe with a flathead, blower, big and littles and a SWEEEET orange paint job!

And this is how my 3-window coupe will look after a couple years of driving it!

Close on some cool 3-window details.

Speaking of sweet paint jobs, i loved the cherry blossoms on this car.

A for effort on this display.

I'm just gonna let this amazing paisley interior sink into your brain for a minute.

The pic on the right is for scale. :)

I had these sparkly pink handle bar grips on my bike when I was 4! But it wasn't called the "Pink Taco."

This paint job could cause seizures.

I want this tiki trash can!

I think these are gear shifters.

Speaking of gear shifters... meet what I call "the Hipster Shifter!"

I love it when the car's interior matches it's exterior. Btw, this car used to be owned by baseball legend, Reggie Jackson.

"Spray on chrome" display.

Urkle's car!

Pixel Camo! For nerds who want to blend in? I don't know, but it's pretty cool!

Stay tuned for pictures from today's visit!

Meet Katie & Abby

2009-10-22T10:22:00.000-07:00

I had my first family/maternity shoot the other day with my cousin Katie, her daughter Abby and Abby's unborn sibling...

Meet Katie & Abby!
And, honestly, I was super thankful that it was a stress-free shoot with family because photographing babies is HARD! They are super difficult to shoot and since I have about ZERO baby skillz I felt quite out of my element. I found myself resorting to my dog photography techniques and, well, none of that worked either.

So, I'm currently editing the photos from that shoot and since my fans are clamoring for more photos (Hi Ashley) I thought I'd post a few of my favorites...

Stay tuned for more adorable mommy & baby goodness.

What I'm learning...

2009-10-16T10:00:00.000-07:00

So here's what I'm learning about starting a photography business...

It takes a year to actually make a living! I've already booked more weddings for 2010 than I've done (or apparently will do) in 2009. I'm excited.

This means that I can start raising my prices in 2011 with all the experience I will be getting. And that means, I'll probably start to actually MAKE money at some point. :)

photo of my first wedding -- Ragani & Will

the many sides of Andree

2009-10-02T07:30:00.000-07:00

Here are two of my favorite, VERY DIFFERENT photos from my photo shoot with Andree Belle in Oceanside the last week...

Gorgeous ain't she?

We're working on the rest of the photos from that shoot. They're all pretty amazing! It's been hard to choose our favorites.

Keep checking in with the blog to see more pics from that shoot. And to check out more from Andree you can now find her album on iTunes!

San Fran Sneak Peak

2009-09-24T02:14:00.000-07:00

Hey! So, we just got back from a super quick trip to San Francisco. And I am so super busy with a big photography shoot early tomorrow, so I don't have time to upload and edit all the photos just yet. But just for fun, here's the very first shot from the trip...

Recording session @ Paramount Recording Studios

2009-09-23T09:06:00.000-07:00

My incredibly talented piano playing, song writing, friend, Alan Chang, asked me to come photograph his recording session for what will (hopefully) become his solo album. I mean, the guy writes all these amazing songs for other people (like Buble's "Home" and "Everything") that it's great to see him performing his own amazing songs! And what's even greater is that I got to hang around and experience it!

Studio C in Paramount Recording Studios.

These are my amazingly adorable friends, Alan, Erik (you may remember him as my Man of Honor) & Matt
Wasn't it nice of them to dress alike?

They are also still cute in black and white! ;)

Alan playing piano.

Erik playing bass.

And Matt on drums.

Listening back.

Alan's piano playing is so dreamy. :)

I love this shot with Matt setting up in the background.

And this is Matt's setup.

Alan coaching Erik through a song. And by coaching I mean, yelling the notes at him!

I love this shot.

To see the rest of this photo shoot, click on over to the flickr set, here.

The Airborne Toxic Event

2009-09-21T07:07:00.000-07:00

The Airborne Toxic Event’s fall tour started at the Fox Theater in Pomona last Thursday with the Henry Clay People and Red Cortez. I came in at the end of the Henry Clay People, unfortunately, but at least I got to see a couple songs. The Henry Clay People is one of my most favorite bands out there right now. Seriously, this band will rock your ASS off, I love them so. It also doesn't hurt that my friend/old band mate Jonathan is playing with them too...

Henry Clay People rocking out. The photo on the right is they new keyboardist celebrating the fact that he just quit his job and my buddy Jonathan clapping for him. Love that photo.

Then i was time for Airborne Toxic Event. I can't even tell you how amazed I am by the crowds they bring. I was there for their very first show when it was just me, Aaron and a few others at the Tiki Lounge in LA. Let me just tell you, I never suspected that this was in their future. Daren (their drummer and one of our closest friends) hooked me up with a press pass and here is some of the magic that I captured...

The Airborne Toxic Event

Anna Bulbrook | Steven Chen

Mikel Jollett

Noah Harmon

My darling, Daren Taylor

Mikel and Noah -- I love this shot.

I also love these shots of Anna and Steven

I forgot how much I love concert lights.

Anna on keys and Anna on violin.

My favorite part about the night is the t-shirt that one of the fans had made for Daren...

"It's all about the 'stache" indeed. And I can't wait till he shaves it off!!! :)

For more photos from the concert, click here.

phases of photography

2009-09-20T16:40:00.001-07:00

It seems like my photo shoots go in phases. When I first started I was doing a lot of music shoots, like concerts and recording sessions. Then I did headshots all the time. From there it was on to weddings. But recently, it's been back to music again! Which I love.

I just posted photos friend Andree's show & my first album photography gig, and next I'll have posts from amazing song writer Alan Chang's personal recording session, and shots from the recent Airborne Toxic Event show in Pasadena.

In the mean time I'll leave you with a picture of my wonderful friend Darren Taylor at the Airborne Toxic Event show...

gotta love that smile! :)

But there's also good news on the wedding photography front... just met with my newest wedding client, Ashley, and she's freaking adorable. I can't wait to shoot her wedding! And speaking of offbeat brides... my boss, Ariel, is going to be running my first ever banner ad on Offbeat Bride soon, so hopefully that'll bring in even more amazing wedding clients!

Andree Belle LIVE

2009-09-12T12:55:00.000-07:00

Got a chance to photograph another live Andree Belle show. Here are some of my favsies:

To see more photos from this show head on over to the flickr set here.

My first album photography...

2009-09-04T19:15:00.000-07:00

Cleaning out my office desk today, I found an album that is really special to me... Jazz pianist, and friend, Josh Nelson's album "Let It Go" is the close to my heart because it is the first album ever published with my photos in it!

pictured from top: Seamus Blake, Anthony Wilson, Matt Wilson, Josh Nelson, Erik Kertes, Sara Gazarek and Darek "Oles" Oleszkiewicz

To see more photos from this shoot click here.

On a side note (pun intended), if you want to hear some amazing music from some of the best musicians the jazz world has to offer then seriously, do yourself a favor and get Josh's album.

Shreveport, LA

2009-09-01T17:07:00.001-07:00

So we went to my dad's hometown of Shreveport, LA., this May, to attend the funeral of a family member who turned out not to have died! She actually held on until today. So in honor of Aunt Birdie Lee, I am posting the photos from "the other LA" today...

Fairfield Place, the bed and breakfast where we stayed. It's the oldest house on Fairfield Ave, built in the 1870s!

This picture is so my idea of the "the South."

The porch was by FAR my favorite place to hang.

This was my room, it was called "Rebecca" and it had a claw foot tub!

My dad told me that Community Coffee is where it's at in the South. Apparently, to this day, it's all my grandma, from Mississippi will drink.

My beautiful cousin Danielle and a self-portrait of me "porch settin'."

This is how we spent most of our time. Laughing and sitting on the porch.

At night though, we went out to some crazy restaurants. And even though I don't eat seafood, the "Crawfish Palace" was one of my favorites.

The family chowing down on some crawfish.

We got personally introduced to these guys.

My cousin with a crawfish.

The Tharpe men. My dad & his brother John (matching) and my Uncle William (he didn't get the white polo shirt memo).

My Uncle John and his beautiful daughter.

Strawn's was one of my grandpa's favorite places to eat.

Seriously, amazing pie.

My dad took us on a tour of where he grew up...

My dad's childhood home. Apparently my grandpa helped build this entire block!
And how gorgeous are these trees!?

I finally got to visit my grandpa's grave.

All of grandpa's kids together at his gravesite. I love that everyone is laughing in this picture, just like they would've been if he was actually there.

oh and also... do I have the cutest second cousins, or what?

So there we go, those are most of the pics from my time in Shreveport. I loved spending time with family members that I rarely get to see and it was all because Aunt Birdie Lee brought us together. Thanks for the memories Birdie Lee!

You take the good, you take the bad...

2009-08-22T19:54:00.000-07:00

I have to remember that I started this blog not only to show off my photography skillz, but also to document the plight of a struggling photographer in Los Angeles. So here is a post about the lame side of this business I've gotten myself into...

So today I'm kinda bummed out. Felt a bit like a loser. I got a call the other day for a photo gig. I was recommended by the people who hired me to shoot the behind the scenes footage of a Marshall's commercial. I was super excited because this meant another corporate gig, which meant an actual paycheck! (I've been taking low to no-paying gigs a LOT lately in order to build my wedding portfolio.) So when I called this new possible client back and gave her my rate (the same rate that Marshall's had gladly paid me) she balked and asked me to do it for half the money. Her reasoning -- 'well, we only need you for 4 hours and that's half a full day of work.' Maybe for HER it was! But for me? Let's see -- I'll show up early, then more than likely stay late by at least an hour if not two, then I got home and upload the photos and then spend the next day editing them, then burn them onto several discs that I've paid for and then pop them in the mail with postage I've paid for. That all takes a LOT more than your 4 hours. So while your work day is done, mine won't be for another day or two. Thanks but, my rate is my rate for a reason!

Now I've done, and continue to do, my fair share of freebies and cheap shoots, but I refuse to do that for a corporate gig! I know they have money behind them, I won't mention the name of the company she was hired by, but it's big. And she was trying to low-ball me!? When I told her that I would not budge on my rate, she told me that she'd have to check with her boss and then get back to me.

Well... today's the day of the shoot and I haven't heard anything.

I know I shouldn't let it get to me. My husband is proud of me for sticking to my guns and that's what matters most. But it's a hard pill to swallow when I finally get the balls to stand up for my price and my worth as a photographer and I get rejected.

Danielle & Andrew -- Aug. 1st, 2009

2009-08-16T10:15:00.000-07:00

Dani and Andy (aka. "Dandy") were married at the Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks on August 1st. And WOW was it a feast for the eyes. Every inch of this event was elegant -- from the gorgeous red roses everywhere and the blinged-out table cloths to Dani's the dreamy Pronovias wedding gown -- everywhere you looked this wedding was breathtakingly beautiful.

I was just a guest at this particular event, but this was an interesting experience for me because it was at this wedding that I realized I can NOT enjoy a wedding anymore unless I'm taking picture of it. I seriously will sit there the entire time thinking about 'what a great shot this would be' and 'oh I hope someone's capturing that' and 'what would that look like from this angle?' Seriously, it's pathetic. So during this wedding I surrendered to my obsession, got up from my seat (luckily I was on the end of a row) and started shooting, making sure not to get in the way of the hired photographers of course.

And here's some of what I got for your visual pleasure...

The ceremony site. Sparkles hanging down from the ceiling, lush white feathers adorning the chuppa and that awesome red ball of roses as an accent. It was heavenly.

Loved these sparkly silver cala lillies & red rose petals that lined the aisle!

Love this picture of the groom and his beautiful mother.

The groom's daughter with his father (I think). And his sons looked amazing in their full on tuxes with tails, tophats and gloves.

The beautiful ladies of the wedding party!

The bride emerges! She was walked down the aisle by both her mother & father.
this is my favorite photo of the day

How gorgeous is she!? I've known Dani since high school.

Breaking the glass!

Two girls on each arm!

Cocktail hour! I loved these centerpieces.

My dates for the evening... my best friend Oliver and champagne!

The groom's son/groomsman being adorable.

The two spent some private time driving around the grounds in this car.

Then it was party time!

The bride's new name!!!

The bride's bouquet.

The boys got roses to pin on their lapels and the girls got feathers.

First dance -- notice her silver shoes! love those!

The cake was "jewel" encrusted with cala lillies and adorned with pretty demask patterns.

Congratulations Dani & Andy! The wedding was beautiful and full of love! I wish the best for the two of you and your family in the years to come.

sneak peak of Danielle's wedding!

2009-08-03T11:59:00.000-07:00

My friend from high school, Danielle, got married this weekend. I went to the wedding with another close friend of mine from high school. It was the first traditional wedding I had attended in a long time and it was beautiful.

The bride's first look at the groom. I love her face in this! Also have to give a shout out to my friend Ragani (who's wedding I'll be posting soon) for photo shopping a random head out of the background

I fell in love with the floral arrangements on the cocktail tables. How cool are these!?

My fabulous date for the evening, Oliver.

Stay tuned for more photos from this beautiful wedding.

another birthday lens!

2009-08-03T10:40:00.000-07:00

I have the best men in my life! Apparently my husband and my dad were in cahouts and they EACH bought me a new lens for my birthday! Check out this second beauty...

Thanks boys!!!

I'm the happiest birthday girl!

2009-08-02T00:51:00.000-07:00

Knowing that I'd be shooting a wedding tonight, my husband snuck my birthday present -- a brand new 50mm 1.8F lens -- into my camera bag. So right before I left, I opened my camera bag to find a my lovely birthday present waiting for me! :)

Of course it caused some confusion as my birthday isn't until Tuesday and sometimes the hubs can be a bit clueless. So I wasn't sure if he had chosen either the WORST hiding spot, or the BEST hiding spot. Either way, I opened it right up and took it with me to the wedding... I can't NOT use my new camera gear!!! Fortunately he meant to surprise me with it today! And I am the happiest earliest birthday girl.

Andree Belle's CD release show

2009-07-31T18:51:00.000-07:00

Andree's musical intention:

"to inspire adventure, creativity, and the inner artist- to give praise, to heal, to manifest love, to allow you to feel your own truth and power through my voice, to make music that evokes emotion, thought, mood, and passion, to connect with others on levels they didn't even know existed within themselves, or simply to create something that you can shake your ass to."

M.U.S.I.C. teaser

2009-07-25T21:20:00.000-07:00

Last night I took photos of my friend's cd release show. My girl Andree Belle has created an amazing album and put on quite the show to match. I've been editing all day, but here are a few of my favorites from the evening...

This is the incredible Andree Belle. You can see how much she feels the music in these pics. Love this girl.

Andree with her band.

and a friend of hers joined her for a few songs.

Also, does she not have the most amazing body!? That's her man, Andre De Sant’anna, playing bass in the background. (Yes, they have the same name.)

And here's a Dre. I caught these as I was testing the light.
And I just need to share an awesome picture of another friend that joined the band that opened for Andree...

Aneesah with Pangea Collective

Until I get the rest of the pictures up and ready, you can check out Andree's blog for more musical (and spiritual) inspiration.

Alex & Mark's wedding!

2009-07-15T13:24:00.000-07:00

Our buddies Alex and Mark married each other on June 25th at Nestldown in Santa Cruz, California. The location was amazing, a photographers dream! Unfortunately I wasn't the main photographer so I wasn't the one that got to run around the property for a special bride and groom photo shoot. But what I did get was beautiful and fun and funky, thanks to their festive Day of the Dead theme. And I had a wonderful time shooting and enjoying the wedding of two of our favorite people...

the programs

sugar skulls

The incredible ceremony site amongst the beautiful redwood trees.

our friend Nicole was a bridesmaid. Love that she got to wear her Converse!

adorable father/daughter moment. One of my favorites of the day.By the way, Alex got her dress just a month before her wedding!

The bride walking down the aisle. Angel wing tattoo plus a sparkly veil make me all swoon-y.

gettin' hitched.

My husband said this picture made him feel like he was looking at a fairy wedding.

Just married! This is my favorite shot of the day.

The reception hall.

The cupcake tree. The top tier of the "wedding cake" was a giant Rice Krispie treat!

My husband and his old Largo work buddies Sammi & Ellen.

Exploring the awesome property.

The wedding party makes their grand entrance by train!

Muy romantica. How beautiful is that bouquet?

This was an awesome moment. Their "first shot as husband and wife!"

A bridesmaid and Jr. bridesmaid.

The groom! Check out his rad tie!

The "Best Woman" got to wear one of those rad ties as well.

The dinner location & the amazing centerpieces.

Our centerpiece and wedding favors. We got to keep all the luchadors and Alex & Mark picked out this special favor for us since we just got married. It was really sweet.

The bride & groom at their sweetheart table.

Our table mates.

The first dance.

This is one of the bride's favorite photos.

Congratulations Alex & Mark. Your wedding was incredible and I felt honored to be a part of it in all the strange ways that I helped. :) You guys are an amazing couple and the love you have for each other is inspiring and beautiful.

We sent to San Jose for a wedding...

2009-07-13T05:08:00.000-07:00

Aaron and I took off to Santa Fe for a few days for our friend's wedding. It was an incredible weekend and we'll have tons of pics soon to come. But for now here's a sneak peak...

starting a business

2009-07-12T12:16:00.000-07:00

So after, what?, six years of being a photographer, I'm finally taking myself seriously. I'm really trying to become a professional photographer. This is a HUGE undertaking for me, as I have never been "professional" in my life. But we'll see where this goes.

I realize that I haven't been blogging much on here, and that needs to change. I'd like to document this whole experience -- from fantasy to reality -- my journey to become a professional photographer.

It's time to take life and myself seriously.

And since most posts are boring without a photo here's one I took yesterday when we took my in-laws to the Griffith Observatory...

Disneyland Engagement Pictures

2008-12-18T14:22:00.000-08:00

Right before the skies opened up and rained down upon us with freezing cold wetness, I headed over to Disneyland to take engagement pictures of Ragani and Will. They are having an "Old Hollywood" themed wedding so we took a lot of pictures in the "Hollywood" section of California Adventure.

If you can't tell from the photos, these guys were a fun and silly couple and I had a good time running all over the park with them.

The Californian

2008-08-24T11:00:00.000-07:00

Photos from my band's recording session for our EP. These photos were taken by me and edited by my band mate John...

check out my hot husband!!! ;)

John likes to smash things.

To check out music from The Californian go to our myspace page: www.myspace.com/thecaliforniansound

Delaware

2008-06-06T00:16:00.000-07:00

Like I mentioned in my last post, I went to Delaware with my folks to see my little sister graduate from the University of Delaware. Delaware is an interesting place, there's a lot of beauty and history surrounded by a lot of ghetto. It's a weird little place that our possible future VP is from. :)

my little sister the graduate and our family self portrait.

my little sister's cat

I kinda fell in love with Rex's, especially with this lighting.

lots of really pretty and really old churches in Delaware.

abandoned building #1

abandoned building #2

seriously yummy burgers.

After 3 days of moving we got Morgan all packed up and she and I embarked on our cross country road trip. But that's for another blog...

The University of Delaware

2008-06-03T23:51:00.000-07:00

I went to Delaware to watch my little sister graduate from the University of Delaware. (Congrats Morgan!) I'd visited the campus four years earlier to check it out with my sister and it blew me away with it's beauty. I took tons of pictures and then lost the film!!! Arg. So this year, armed with several cameras, I went back to take more photos of the campus...

Fairmont Kea Lani

2008-05-09T16:19:00.000-07:00

Wedding location scouting on Maui brought me to a lot of pretty locations. Based on a tip from someone we went to check out the Fairmont Kea Lani. Pretty location, just not right for our wedding...

2008 Winter Nationals

2008-02-08T16:09:00.000-08:00

Went to the 2008 NHRA Winter Nationals with my dad & boyfriend this weekend...

Nate's proposal

2008-02-02T16:53:00.000-08:00

The following photos are from the most nerve wracking photo shoots of my life!

My friend Nate asked me to take photos of his proposal to his girlfriend, Jenny. But I had to look like I wasn't taking pictures of them so as to not alert her to the fact that anything was up. I was nervous and shaking the whole time because I was so worried that I'd mess it up! And after it was over, I felt like I had been through a war! But even with all that, I'm really really happy with how they turned out...

Nate & Jenny at a beautiful spot in Laguna Beach.

my favorite photo of the shoot!

this was after she found out I was taking pictures, we went to the beach for a quick photo shoot

I stuck around after they left to take pics of the sunset

Let Me Borrow that Top!

2007-09-23T11:42:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the photos I took for the new "Kelly" merchandise, including the "whore" top featured in the video...

oliver and courtney model the girls and guys "whore" tops.

courtney lookin sexy

oliver in the boys "whore" shirt

Muffins!!!

Veronica and Courtney modeling both versions of the Muffins! shirt.

Veronica models the "no booty calls" undies.

And for fun, here's the new "Kelly" video. I'm in it for even less time than I was in the last one. If you find me I'll give you a cookie. Here's a hint: I'm wearing yellow and i'm yelling at a football player.

UPDATE!

Oh, this keeps getting better...

My friend drew has one of the only blogs that i read on a consistant basis bc it is so fucking hilarious and often times educational. Check it out some time: back of the cereal box

Anyway, he wrote a blog about me being in a Kelly video. I fucking love it.

It also appears that I owe one Drew Mackie a cookie...

she's not the one with the trumpet, in case you're confused

"Kelly" merch III

2007-09-16T15:41:00.000-07:00

Once again with the "Kelly" merchandise shoots. This time I brought in a few of my closest friends to be the models. Sister- Veronica & Courtney and my best friend Oliver.

Margaret Cho merchandise

2007-07-11T14:13:00.000-07:00

I was asked to do a photo shoot for some new merchandise that Margaret Cho had designed. Needless to say I was over the moon about doing this shoot!!! Unfortunately Margaret wasn't there but I was thrilled none-the-less to have anything to do with her...

Marianne's headshots

2007-02-27T17:29:00.000-08:00

Marianne was the first person to ask me to do headshots. She's an up and coming comedian so we did a couple different types of shoots...

"sitcom Mom"

LA comedian

serious drama actress

wacky comedian

Kelly merch II

2007-02-24T15:19:00.000-08:00

More merch for my friend Liam, a.k.a. "Kelly."

Kelly "Betch" merchandise

2006-09-10T14:47:00.000-07:00

My friend Liam Sullivan has a hit video on YouTube called "Shoes." Since the video's taken off he's made merchandise that play off his catch phrases and he asked me to do the merch shoot for his website. There are sooooo many good photos that I'm going to break up the blog posts.

Here are the photos of his "Betch" merchandise:

my favorite shot of the day!

My 1st fashion photography shoot.

2006-04-27T13:37:00.000-07:00

Melrose Graffiti

2002-03-24T23:28:00.000-08:00

I LOVE graffiti art. That's something you have to know about me. And some of my favorite walls are found behind Melrose Blvd. Here are some of my favorite pics from recent shoots...

one of my all-time favorite shots. graffiti EVERYWHERE!

I love this girl. I think it's the graffiti version of ME.