Enjoy these flowers. From my home to yours.

Fuji Pro400h. No push or pull in the development. Just regular, good ol’ well exposed film.

OMG. I love Sephora. I rarely go. And when I do go, I usually buy smaller items.

So here are my favorites for RIGHT NOW…

Supergoop. The whole sunblock line is wonderful. It feels super thick and greasy going on and then it soaks into your skin and voila…protected. The item that we use heavily around here is Carol’s Daughter Hair Milk. The girls and I wear our hair naturally. (No not nappy, natural). Mine is a little thick and coarse and Olivia’s is thick with tight curls that are manageable and Ella has loose silky curls that flyaway. We use the whole Carol’s Daughter Hair Milk line and love the Curl Booster (recently repackaged). It is fantastic for adding moisture and keeping it manageable. I bought a small bottle of the Lite version to see if it’s as good as the original. So far not loving it but not hating it either. 

My next favorite thing I just discovered is the CLEAN line of perfumed products…Seriously, this is the freshest smelling perfume line I have ever whiffed. I bought the petitie roll-on perfumes but will be returning soon to indulge in more of their goodies! And lastly, I cannot afford regular manicures so I maintain my nails myself and about once a week use Carol’s Daughter I use the Lemon Ginger Mint Manicure in a jar to soften my hands before filing and polishing my nails. I feel so grown up when I do this!

And those were a few of my favorite things! What are some of your favorites right now?

I also mentioned that I attended a Smug Mug meeting where I heard Tanja Lippert speak. While I was talking to her she noticed that the camera I brought with me was indeed a Nikon 35mm SLR. She asked if I was shooting in B&W or color, I told her color and she reached into her bag filled with film and pulled out a roll of discontinued Kodak BW400cn. Oooh, it looks so old, I thought.

Burned through my first roll of Fuji film and popped in the B&W. Love these images. They are so dreamy.

Sigh.

Wait, first here’s Tanja (in color) Love her for being so real. And funny. She’s so funny my hand was shaky taking this. (Ha.)

On to the B&W…

At the playground, ya know?

Out of the passenger side of the car. Through Central California via I-5.

The Monkey came down to play.

Really, you have to meet her. She is a clown.

More later, gators. I am off to bed-e-bye.

She was young, hip, and had everything going on. I mean she drove a freaking VW Jetta to work and had her own townhouse. AHA.  And every day that I went to work, I thought, “I wanna be like Ms. Maggie.” She was the youngest college administrator on campus and director of a successful grant funded non-profit program. We attended a conference in Washington, DC and extended the trip into New York City (my first time ever). I hung out in some cool spots (the Def Jam Records office); met some cool people; and went to the Phat Farm Store on 129 Prince Street BEFORE the non-hip hop world knew who Russell Simmons was. The end of that weekend we drove to Dulles International Airport with a bag of free gear from the Phat Farm store while listening to a new single by a rapper only known on the East Coast as DMX that we snagged from the Def Jam office. I HEARD HIM FIRST WEST COAST (where is he now, though?). But sigh, that was a former life.

The next year, Marguerite resigned and moved. She is originally from Oakland and felt that home was calling her back. So Marguerite was back in her home town. We lost touch. E-mailed each other about once a year. Almost nine years later and thanks to Facebook, we discover  that we are only an hour away each other! And she has a family! And a newborn baby girl! She e-mailed me to find out about getting her family photos updated and I didn’t even blink, just asked, “What day and what time?”

That led me to the Morcom Rose Garden in Oakland. A hidden gem. If you live in the are and haven’t walked around on a sunny afternoon you are truly missing out. I was introduced to her partner, Boze (pronounced bow-zee). And he is so serious and appears very stoic, but there was this one moment where he slipped and semi smiled and I was all, “Gotcha.” Good times. Boze’s oldest daughter is Yah Yah. Um, she is a handful. But in a purely childish way. She was running and exploring from the moment her feet hit the pavement. And I love that in kids. Her eyes were darting from here to there, looking at all the colors and the wildlife. Loved it. Marguerite and Boze have Layla Love. I saw her and wanted to smuggle her home. She is six months old. HER FACE IS GORGEOUS. Her eyes so curious. Sometimes a little serious like her dad.

And let me tell you, Ms. Marguerite has not changed one bit. She came with hugs, stories, memories, suggestions for better living. It was like old times. Minus New York City!

Thank you, Ms. Marguerite! Thank you for letting me meet your family and capture them so perfectly in this moment!

Below are images from the ceremony. Nicole and Eric chose to have a trumpet plater and violinist play their ceremony music. The trumpet player is actually a friend of Nicole’s when she worked in North Dakota. And the cutest ringless, ring bearer is Nicole’s best friend’s son.

Nicole walked out to the traditional bridal fanfare with a little bit of “You are my Sunshine” mixed in. I smiled.

Nicole’s Dad, Nick, is an absolute riot and he has no intention to be at all. He was a proud father that day.

Nicole’s something borrowed and blue was an vintage brooch from her mother’s jewelry box. I won’t tell you what her new was but everyone she told laughed out loud.

Gorgeous bouquets from Jon Canas, a Santa Barbara florist; a special reading from a family member.

Special reading from a close friend; Nicole’s maid of Honor, Kristin.

Marcus, Eric’s brother and best man; Pastor Hilary blessing the rings.

And their first kiss as Mr. and Mrs. Eric Oldendick. Perfect!

Hugh and Brittany are high school sweethearts. Hugh is headed off to the Marine Corps later this summer so the two felt a sense of urgency to say, ‘I do.’ This wedding was so simple and sweet, with bits and pieces of what both of the couple’s love. They also played homage to our great country, the United States of America, with the use of the colors, red, white and blue. Brittany and Hugh’s family and friends came together to set up the ceremony and reception site, with Hugh’s uncle officiating and Brittany’s cousin playing DJ. It was wonderful to be included with their closely knit group.

Here are some of my images from the day.

I am still available for July weddings. Please call me to set up a wedding photography consultation (209.834.7048)!

I know that I will have to dab and wipe away a few tears on Saturday because seeing a happy couple say, ‘I do’, never gets old.

And with that, I leave you a quote from Shakespeare:

‘Now join your hands, and with your hands your hearts.’

This gal might look familiar to you! (look above in the header, wait for it, wait for it, there she is!) It’s one of my senior reps from Tracy High School, Audrey.

She is headed to San Jose State in the Fall. Graduation will be here before these seniors know it!

OK, and are you loving all the locations I’ve been finding? Because I love them. Again, I am falling in love with Tracy, CA and “thinking inside the triangle“. I love to see the look on a clients face when I pull up to a location and they’re like, “mmm okay?” And then the final image turns out to be fantastically AMAZING (mainly because I’m amazing, hee hee) but still.

High school seniors, give me a call! I’m booking two weeks in advance! 209.834.7048.

Driving and texting at the same time.

Driving and searching Mapquest.

Driving with one hand on the steering wheel while the other hand is taking out my contact lenses.

Driving with one eye closed because I couldn’t get a grasp on the second contact lens in order to take it out.

Driving and typing in the one audible line of a song I really like into google because I have the free version of Shazam and I can’t tag the song since my five freebies are gone. I think it’s called Tumbling Down, or something?

Driving and making a mini music video using my iPhone to the song that I just discovered was by Keane.

Listening to that Keane song, called Spiraling (even though I still think it should be called Tumbling) on repeat for like 45 minutes cause the lead singer kinda sounds like a young David Bowie with a softer accent. And the bass drum in this song kinda rocks.

So, if you got anything from this personal share, it is to watch out for me on the road because you might see me making a turkey sandwich next time.

And, just because I will be humming this song for the next 24 hours, here is Keane’s, “Spiraling.” Enjoy it and have a good week! (Don’t let the metallic body suit alarm you, it’s a kid friendly video).

I LOVE THESE three shots. Behold the golden light off of Brittany’s chocolate skin! Gorgeous! This shot was taken at about 5:30 PM. The sun was setting to the left of the model and all that golden light on her is actually intensified from my trusty little reflector. Love it. Love that I was able to use it and get that glow.

Also, if you’ve been noticing the awesome collages that have been going up with my images, those are the super awesome and easy to use MCP Magic Blog It Boards Actions Sets 1 & 2! I bought set one last year, and won set two from a contest hosted by, wedding photographer, Scarlett Lillian! Yay for me! And the Magic Blog It Boards are super versatile, you can change the colors of the borders, add text to the bottom, top, sides, if you want. It’s fantastic! And Jodi shares a lot on her blog with photographers and has freebies all the time, so stop by and check it out!