He is everything I could have wanted in a firstborn and a son. What an awesome little boy he has become and what a great man he is becoming.

He loves to create with watercolors, pencils and legos.

He wants to learn to play the keyboard and violin as well as learn karate and boxing.

He loves superheros,  Michael Jackson and hip-hop. He can belt out Reliant K’s “Celebrate the Day” and “Glory to God” like no one’s business.

He loves to dance; especially breakdancin’, dubsteppin’, and doing the robot.

He is not quick with his affections but once you have gained his trust he is fiercely loyal.

He is a protective and responsible big brother. He adores Leighton and asks constantly to hold her and loves to make her smile.

He gets upset when people are rude to each other and hates to see animals get hurt.

He loves to help-out and detests being the center of attention

His relationship with Adalay is a constant see-saw of torment and devotion.

He is beginning to read and so proud of each word he sounds out.

He can go from this…. to this in seconds…

I treasure each hug, smirk, and laugh. I love his frequent use of the words “however” and “although”.  I cherish his seemingly endless stories and made up games with ten thousand rules.

He is worth the stretch marks and baby weight.

He is worth all the time I “lose” by answering his questions and exclaiming over his triumphs.

He is worth putting my business on hold.

He is worth putting my sanity on hold.

He is worth it all to me.

Happy 5th Birthday Gavin. You are worth far more than  I could have ever imagined.

I can’t wait to show them the rest!

Caitlyn was perfectly sweet and beautiful.

Thanks to a recommendation from May (thanks May, you rock!), we found a cluster of bamboo that was the perfect ending to Caitlyn’s session. These are now some of my favorite bridal images ever. I mean look at her!

Caitlyn and Zacj! Thank you so much for being available last minute and for giving us SO much of your time.  Zacj, you were a perfect reflector and light-holder.  All your work and help was so appreciated.  Caitlyn, thanks for being so excited and enthusiastic.  You made it way too easy.  You were both so much fun to work with and  I hope you love the images.

So until I have made up my mind, here is one of my favorites from Caitlyn’s After-the-Wedding-Bridal-Session.

I allays begin the session with more traditional poses. This is usually when everyone is at their best and the kids are OK with sitting for a bit and the adults may still be feeling awkward in front of the camera and appreciating a bit more guidance then I give toward the end of the session.

I am a big time sucker for a grassy field (although I could have done without the deer carcass but what can you do?).

Ben and Melissa, thank you so much for asking me to take you’re families portraits. I don’t think you know just how much it meant to me! I had such a great time with your family and I love the way your session turned out despite the last-minute change of locations. I hope you give me the honor of working with you all again!

I first photographed Luke when he was around three weeks old  and again when he was close to a year. It is amazing to see how much he has changed and watch his personality develop from mellow baby to an exuberant and friendly young boy. I feel so privileged to photograph his whole family once again.

I have not posted a new blog post in three months. My reason: in that space of time we have moved from our home into temporary (a hotel room for 10 days and now a furnished apartment for a bit longer) homes while we wait for our biggest and final move in October to San Antonio. We will move soon after our new baby’s arrival in the next couple days (or hours). Things have been slightly stressful to say the least and blogging has fallen off my to do list. Completely.

Now that I am in a week or two of hurry-up-and-wait downtime, I thought I would try to catch up on sessions and posts that I have wanted to share.

Several months ago, I was finally able to attend Zach Arias’s One Light workshop. I wanted to attend this workshop for a couple years and had read tons of reviews about it. I had very high expectations for it and it did not disappoint.

There are definitely some workshops I have attended that I seriously wish I had saved my money on but I was 100% satisfied with the One Light Workshop.

The workshop is an intensive “One-day” event that focuses on getting you comfortable with using one off camera light.  Zach has a wealth of info to deliver in and is adept at making it easy to understand.  His main focus was on getting us unafraid of our lights and he also delved into post-production, working with clients, equipment, exposure, modifiers, location scouting, and work flow. I think the format of his workshop was the best I have been to yet. He kept the class small enough to break us down into groups that were not “paparazzi like” when it came to shooting the provided models. There was plenty of time to cover material in lecture and then he would take us out and show us how to do it. He would then follow-up by making each and every one of us do it. He used that same format through out the day and by 10pm we were exhausted but educated and confident to go out in small groups and try our newly learned techniqueson our own.

Other things I loved about this workshop, First off he referenced “Star Wars” and “Star Trek”, so he had me at “May the Force be with you”. He is a very humble and down to earth guy. There was not one-ounce of pretension or smugness to him. That was such a breath of fresh air in this somewhat “Look at me! Look at me!” industry. It was also nice to hear his philosophy and thoughts about buying what you can afford with the money you earn, buying only what you need, and not relying on credit cards. Amen to that.

Another plus was that he provided all the lighting equipment and gear needed for the class, which saved me the hassle of getting light stands and umbrellas on a flight.

Unlike other workshops where the food is extravagant and the meals are long, Zach feed us pizza and sandwiches and gave us xeroxed copies of his power point presentation. I appreciated this because it made the workshop affordable. Although the expensive food is nice, I would rather eat food for mere mortals and save some cash. He also maximized our time by keeping the breaks short and teaching until close to 2am the following morning. He calls this a one-day workshop but technically it was closer to 17 hours of instruction. This was more instruction than I have received in two-day workshops I have attended (but half the price). He answered each and every question I asked (and yes, I had a long list), and didn’t stop until all questions were exhausted.

Every attendee had a chance to work with three different light modifiers. Umbrellas…

Soft boxes (ok, honestly I don’t remember what if this was an umbrella or a soft box)…

And my new favorite, Gridspots…

Here is Zach getting down and dirty while using a grid spot. I have to admit the gridspot is now one of my favorite lighting 

If you have any interest in off-camera lighting or want to broaden your skills as a photographer then save up your pennies and go to this workshop. I don’t think you will be disappointed.

Several weeks after the course, I was able to watch Zach once again through Creative Live, an on-line learning site for photographers and creative types. His course is focused on  ”what you need to know to be a professional working photographer”. He covers business, natural light, strobe + ambient, client interaction and posing guidelines. You can check out and purchase the course here.

I’m just hoping that he’ll come out with a “Two Light workshop”.

I met the family last October for big sister Ellie’s first birthday portraits. She is such a funny little girl and was quite gentle with her new little brother.

Christine and Rob, we are so happy for you and your new family of four! Now that the baby is here, let’s set up another “Just Dance” dance-off so I can laugh at the guy’s “Beyonce” moves. We are so happy to count you as friends and look forward to watching your sweet children grow.

We had a great time with Taryn and she was such a fun and happy Senior to work with. I think she has the best smile!

Thanks Jen and Taryn!

I normally encourage people to schedule their newborn session within the first two weeks of their baby’s life. Newborns at that age tend to sleep deeper and are easier to maneuver. Rowan was closer to 8 weeks but by the end of her session she decided to go ahead and sleep hard for us. She was perfectly perfect.

Introducing Rowan…

Her chubby little cheeks were amazing.

Rowan is very lucky too have Ryan as her older sister. Sometimes three year olds like to give me a challenge but Ryan was just as good natured and lovely as could be, plus she likes to dig in the dirt-a girl after my own heart.

The face on the right met me at the door, his name is Puck and he is Ryan’s good buddy. I could have spent a good hour just photographing him.

I mean seriously, look at those faces!

Kristin and Dave, what a beautiful family you have! Thank you for making me feel so welcome into your home and for being such a great help during the session (and please thank Fran too). You each were such a pleasure to work with and I look forward to seeing you all again!