So Proud!

Well last weekend, Jeane went on a group photo shoot with Omi. Omi is a friend and fellow photographer who does some amazing work. Above and beyond that, she is an amazing person who is always willing to share her talents and wants to help everyone find their unique talents, and their own abilities with photography. She really is an inspiring person to be around.

Jeane has been looking forward to this group photo shoot for a few months now, and even though it was a little wet, and cold on the day of the shoot, nothing would keep her from going. Jeane doesn't like to drive to places she doesn't know, so she asked if I would drive her to the shoot. I originally planned to drop her off, and go looking at the stores somewhere else, because I knew there would be mostly women in the group. I also wanted this to be more of her own thing.

Well, she talked me in to sticking around and tagging along. She said the camera bag was too heavy, and since she's pregnant, I needed to help her ;)! Anyways, I was greatful that Sepa talked Kalani in to sticking around too. The whole time there, I just watched my wife go to town, and do her thing, but from time to time, I would make sure she was checking her light settings, and look at her photos. I was kind of like a protective parent watching their child's soccer game or something. It was fun to watch her and all these other ladies work!

It was so nice to meet some amazing people in the group! There is something about being around people who share the same passions and interests as you do! We had dinner at "Iggy's" after the shoot and it was so fun! A lot of great conversation, and more learning!

Well, thank you Omi for sharing your talents, and your wealth of knowledge. Thank you to the group for making it so fun, and letting me tag along! I'm looking forward to seeing the photos for the contest. I swear I did not help Jeane edit her photo entry. She spent the whole day working on it, and looking at it from every angle possible, and asking me a hundred times to look at it again, and again! LOL! I did tell her which one I liked, and she took it from there.

Please take a second to look at the photo contest and vote for your favorite!

Extended Family!

This is just a quick peek to share a few photos of this extended family photo shoot! It was Great-Grandma's 80th birthday and they threw a great birthday bash for her! How FUN!!

This family photo shoot had the makings for a hectic shoot! 9 different families, 15 kids under the age of 10, and 45 people in all! I can honestly say I was incredibly surprised by how smoothly it went. The kids were so ready for photos! They had the cutest clothes on with some awesome colors. And this whole family had it all together. Schedule was perfectly organized and each family was right on time for their turn!

I had a fantastic time with this family! I have so many more photos to post, but I wanted to get a few of these up so you can see some of these cute great grand kids, and the great grandmother!

Faafetai & Mandi!

An Island wedding, in Utah, in the Spring! Beautiful wedding with two young people who are so obviously in love!

What a fun wedding!! Blending of two individuals, two families, and two cultures! It was a great day, and there was more food than all the guests could eat!

Congratulations you two!

Sneak Peek for Jamie & Chad!

I am working on some great photos of this beautiful wedding, but I wanted to post a quick sneak peek! By the looks of this photo, you would never be able to tell that it was about 35 degrees outside. This bride and groom look so happy! I've got more coming so come back soon!

Trips to LA!

We're shooting a couple weddings this summer in LA, but we have some time to fit in a few extra sessions. We'll be in LA from June 4th-8th, and July 9th-13th! We already have a coupe sessions booked, but if you're interested in booking a session, please send me an email and we'll see what's available!

We're heading to Orlando at the end of this month, and we're all booked up! Sorry! We had to make sure we had some time to visit Mickey too!

I posted a lens I had for sale a little while back. Good news... I sold it, as well as another lens I had. I still have the D50 available so let me know.

Sorry

I've been so busy with life and everything else other than photography for the past week! I had my family in town, and other events, and the weather has been bad so we've had to postpone a couple photo shoots!

This week will be very busy, so I'll have a lot of work to catch up on and share. I'm sorry that I haven't been a good blogger lately, but I'll make up for it this week!!

I'm thinking about doing a drawing soon, but I'm trying to figure out what to give away. Stay tuned and find out!!

The Lovely Ladies of LB Hunt... oh and the one lucky guy!

Meet the lovely ladies (and guy) of LB Hunt Management Group. They contacted me a little while back about updating their photos for their website. We me in the Downtown Salt Lake area, and we had the best time. They found a fun little office building with some fun colors.

As soon as we got there I knew we would have a great time. It must be a lot of fun to work in their office, because in the short amount of time I spent with them, I had a blast! I really enjoyed working with them. It's really nice to work with cooperative models, that do exactly what you tell them to do, and hold absolutely still! Makes for easy work, and a great time!

Thanks for the wonderful shoot ladies. Sorry Clay, I keep leaving you out. It was easy and great to work with you too. I may be using your location again in the near future!

Go Cougars!

Brooke and Kahili are engaged to be married in July! She's a BYU volleyball player from Cali, and he's a BYU student, who likes to play volleyball, from Hawaii. Needless to say, they're both great looking, and I had a great time taking their photos!

We went to the BYU campus (how appropriate!), and had a blast! It's so fun to watch "young love" in action. Look forward to their wedding photos in July!!

Strength and Wisdom Part II

I didn't share this in my original post about Lisa and Todd. I wanted to respect her wishes and her privacy, but she just gave me permission to share her story, and I think it's a very important one at that.

A few weeks ago when Lisa originally contacted me about taking their photos, I was so excited to hear from her. As a I read a little further down the email, she shared with me that the pictures would have even more special meaning because she had just been diagnosed with breast cancer. After my initial shock and sadness for my friend, I realized that there is always hope, and as long as I have known Lisa, she has been a strong willed individual. If anyone could beat cancer, it would be Lisa! It also made me think of my own father, who has been a cancer survivor for about 20 years now. The typical life expectancy with the type of bone cancer my dad has is about 3 years. I have plenty of reason to believe that with the right treatments, attitude, and courage, Lisa has her whole life ahead of her!

A day before the photo shoot, I contacted Lisa again to finalize the plans. We were gonna play it by ear, just wanting to make sure that the weather was going to cooperate. Lisa had another examination since our first contact, and she told me that they also found out that she has Bone Cancer, and she is Stage 4 at this point. That sounded really bad to me, but Lisa still sounded upbeat and positive about the whole situation. I thought that was amazing.

I sat at the computer for a little while and cried as I thought about it. I couldn't help but think of my wife, and family. What would I do if we faced the same circumstances. Would we be able to be as brave and strong. After those thoughts, I started to feel a little pressure about the photo shoot. These photos would have a lot of meaning to Lisa and Todd. Will I be able to capture the spirit of hope and love that Lisa was looking for. I then started to feel very honored that Lisa trusted me, and asked me to do such an important photo shoot for her.

Well, I had such a great time with Lisa and Todd. We were able to talk a little about everything, and I can say that they have such a great attitude towards it. Todd said there's no reason to lay down and cry about it. You have to do everything you can and fight. Keep smiling, and try to be as positive as possible. I know Lisa can beat this.

Thanks Lisa and Todd for your great examples. Our family prays for you and we're here for whatever you need! You two are awesome!

Strength and Wisdom

I've known Lisa for quite a long time now, and ever since I've known her her, she's been an example of strength and wisdom! I just met her new husband Todd, and he seems like such a great guy. I know he treats her very well, and they seem so happy together.

Lisa called me about taking photos for their 1 year anniversary coming up, and I was excited to do it! We had some good luck with the weather and and it was a really fun time. You can't ask for more than that!

Individual Worth!

What a great idea! Tini, one of the YW leaders in our ward over the beehive age (12-13 yr olds) girls, asked my wife and I for some help. The theme for her young women this month is "Individual Worth". She wanted her girls to have some nice headshots done for their own little portfolios that their putting together.

I thought it was such a fun idea, and we were happy to help! It was a simple photoshoot. We just met at the park. It was a little chilly so thanks for the Hot Chocolate girls. It really helped! We spent just a little time with each individual girl, and had a great time! It was really neat to see how each of these girls have their own personalities, and things they like. My wife loves the YW program, and is looking forward to one day being able to work with them.

I am happy that we were able to help with such a fun project. Thanks for asking us Tini. We love your young women, and we appreciate all you do for the youth in our ward!