Project 52: Week 3

I am so loving the Project 52! Week 3 just flew by and now we're almost done with week 4. My post for week 3 is a tad behind, but it is okay, like I said before I am just rolling with it because it's all good :)

So the theme for last week was "Abandoned and Doors," and I knew exactly where I could go for inspiration: grandma's house. Now that might sound really strange, but it really is a starting place for my inspiration. I absolutely enjoy visiting my grandma and I love her to pieces! Out at her house there is such character, from the antique decor outside, the little gardens, to the big red barn and its surroundings outside.

Here is my vision for Abandoned, enjoy!

Project 52

To start the new year off differently, I decided to partake in Project 52. To keep up on my skills, learn more about my style, technique and to be more proactive in my work, I joined a couple of Project 52 forums to share my work and gather inspiration. Each week, for the entire year, we are to submit one image or small collection of images based on a theme or idea.

Though I still haven't decided what I will be focusing on for the year, I am rolling with it because that has been a new year's resolution, to just take things one day at a time and focus on the the matters at hand instead what will be happening months down the road.

Here are my first two images for the first two weeks of the new year in order. I am looking forward to seeing where this takes me and what will be in store for me and my craft at this time next year as a result of this project!

Wish me luck and enjoy the weekly postings!

Week 1: Fashion and texture

Week 2: Nature and details

Mini-winter session: Nathan

I absolutely adore little Nathan, he is growing so fast and has the cutest smile ever! I may be a little biased when I say how cute he is, but we are related so it's absolutely okay! Hahaha!

I had a surprise visit from my dear cousin Cristina and her little guy, Nathan, this past weekend and I told her she wasn't leaving until I snapped a few pictures of him. Which was totally fine with Cristina, she knows how I love to document his growth. As you may remember we have been photographing Nathan since right before he was born!

Nathan is almost 1 1/2, wow, time has flown by! Enjoy this little cutie and be on the lookout for more pictures of him in a few months!

Andy + James

Andy has been featured so many different times on my blog, modeling, showing off her awesome fashion and great smile and now she is here with her wonderful boyfriend, James! We had a quick session a couple of evenings ago, it was a chilly evening but we pretended to be warm (though my hands felt frozen to the camera by the end of our session, hahaha!)

They both were nervous in the beginning (as most people are in the beginning of a session) but they quickly warmed up and laughed off their nervousness, as I cracked some jokes and laughed along with them!

Here are some of my faves from the day, enjoy!

The Guevara Family

I loved getting together with the Guevara family in December! They were so much fun to photograph and had the cutest dog, Charlie, she was so feisty and curious-a total puppy!

We had a great afternoon together, they were all so easy going and willing to have a blast for their portraits. Towards the end of the session we let the kids run and play through the leaves and even mom, Vanessa, got in on the leaf-throwing action! Definitely some of my favorites from that day!

Enjoy!

The Oliver Family

I had the pleasure of photographing the Oliver Family during the Thanksgiving break at the local university. What luck we had with the weather (sounds like a recurring theme for me, hahahaha!), it was so stormy and rainy that we weren't sure if we would have time to get the family together, but as my awesome luck would have it, the rain stopped for the duration of our session and we had a blast!

I met the Oliver's this past summer/fall because my lovely assistant Andy is dating James, the oldest Oliver. Renee Oliver, their mom, asked me to update their family pictures because it had been quite sometime since they had any pictures done and I was so honored they asked me to do this for them. They are all such wonderful people to spend time with. I got to know James brother, Chad and sister Morgan more during this session and they are such fun to be around.

Here are my favorites, enjoy!

Newborn Session: Baby Matthew

During the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, in between family time and enjoying all the great goodies, I got together with my friend Amanda Lowe to photograph her son Matthew. The Lowe's were featured on my blog during the summer time when Amanda was just starting to show! If you have been a regular on my blog you may remember the adorable little blond cutie-pie Samantha! She is a big sister now and adores her little brother, it is so sweet to see them together.

Matthew is so adorable and so snuggly, he wanted mom to hold him the entire time during our session and cried if he was set down. We had a great session and by the end he was napping so that made my job easier!

Enjoy a handful of my favorites!







Amanda had a few of the hospital mementos to share, very cute!


Some peeks into his room, adorable!

Band Session featuring: Until We Wake Up

In October I had a great opportunity to photograph my first rock band, Until We Wake Up. This band is comprised of 4 guys, Jonathan, Raymond, Andrew and Steve, they have been working together on music for many years and asked me to photograph them so they can use the images to promote their local shows.

My fingers were crossed the day of our shoot, hoping that we would be able to get together because it had been raining the day before and the entire morning and early afternoon of our shoot. Luckily, about an hour before we got together, the rain and clouds cleared and we were able to have a rockin' session!

Doing band photography was quite out of my comfort zone, but it was so exciting to work outside of my usual realm of senior portraits, family sessions and weddings. I felt my passion for what I do reignited again, which is very awesome because I never thought of stepping into the world of band photography and now I have a new genre of work to add to my growing list!

We did our shoot around Turlock's industrial neighborhood, which provided a fantastic backdrop for the rock vibe we were going for--not to mention the puddles of water that were left over from the earlier rain.

Here are a handful of my favorite images, enjoy!