justin + lana • engagement part 2 • houston, tx

Now for the second half of Justin + Lana's Engagement photoshoot in Houston. We went for a stroll through the Rice University area. I just loved all of the old homes and bowing trees...and of course the shopping! The image on the right is in front of my favorite place- Urban Outfitters!

Of course we had to stop by Candylicious- what a wonderful, sugary place! Justin's favorite = grape Laffy Taffy.

Quite possibly my favorite-

Then we headed over to catch some of that golden sunlight at Hermann Park.

The end! It was a great time, and we had some DELICIOUS Mexican food after the shoot. Thanks so much you two- congratulations! 

justin + lana • engagement • houston, tx

Shanna and I traveled to Houston a couple weeks ago to shoot Justin and Lana's Engagement Session. It rained on our way in and fogged on our way out, but the day of the shoot was absolutely beautiful!

A few years back I remember working with Lana at a Bible study weekend for middle and high school students. We were having a discussion with some middle school girls (about boys, of course!) and I can still hear Lana say, "I just know that God has the perfect man out there for me. And I just have to believe that it will happen in His time". Faith like that is simple, and not always easy. To me, Lana has always been a reminder of God's promises for His daughters, specifically. She has been such an example of patient, prayerful faith to me and many others. I just couldn't wait to see who God had for her!

Enter Justin! What a perfect compliment. I say often that I love shooting weddings because I love watching God take two completely different people and put them together to create something totally new. Having known Lana for so long, I think I was in amazement over how God did just that.

I love so many of the images from their session, I'm going to share it in parts. Here's the first set from the Williams Water Wall. 

I love the spray of the water in this image. Just in case you were wondering, we were all a little damp after this!

I saw LOTS of hilarious faces...mostly because Justin had us laughing the ENTIRE time.

more to come...

coffee, lighting, and flying ice

A bright spot in the cold, dreary weather of last week was hanging out with Caitlin and D'Anna. These two girls came down from Plainview to talk a little shop with me. We sipped some coffee and then went out into the cold to experiment a bit. 

Caitlin has such drive and passion that I know great things are in store for her future! Here she is shooting D'Anna:

D'Anna's fun, up-for-anything personality was totally refreshing. P.S. I'm still playing with my new Lightroom presets, so no Photoshop on any of these images, either.

We talked a lot about lighting, and busted out my super-fancy reflector (purchased in the auto department at Wal-Mart) for these images. Ten points if you can guess what it was- and no cheating if you already know!

About five seconds after this image was shot we realized that ice (left over from the terrible weather) was being hurled in our direction. Seriously-- it was coming at a 90 degree angle from somewhere to our right! I thought it was kind of funny and bizarre (albeit a bit creepy too)...but we were never able to track down the culprit. They must have been watching us because when we went to the other side of the building it stopped, and once we came back around, the ice started to fly! Thank goodness we never got hit! 

They're still cute when they're cold!

I look a bit Mad-Hatter-ish in this one...maybe I should ditch the green scarf. Regardless, I'm excited about this.

Thanks, girls! It was fun!

brides: organize your guest list with google docs

I just saw this short video of how a bride and groom are organizing their guest list of 200 with Google Docs. It's definitely 2010, people!

When I was getting married in 2005, the guest list was my worst enemy. I HATED trying to gather addresses, keep up with names and spelling of names, and then finally remembering if I'd actually sent them an invitation. If there was a point of breakdown, the guest list was it. 

So Lacey, Taylor, Trudy, Hillary, Courtney, Lana, Lindsey M., Lindsey Y., Becca, Melissa, Stephanie, Heather, Rhonda and Blair...check this out!

scott + martha • engagement • lubbock, texas

Scott and Martha are so much fun. Really. I totally enjoyed getting to hang out and talk with them while we shot their Engagement Session. Scott lives in Maryland and Martha is in Plainview, so they have really tackled the long-distance relationship and have made it work. Getting to see how they love and respect each other was so refreshing. 

I got ridiculously excited to use my new Totally Rad presets for Lightroom yesterday, so these images were processed using some of those and some of my own. No Photoshop whatsoever, though! 

save the date cards + magnets from a bride's perspective

I received this message from a former bride yesterday:

OK. So my sisters bridal shower was this weekend which meant I got to see a lot of people I never get to see now that I live in Pampa....

No joke, probably 10 different people said to me "I still have your magnet, you know, the one with the roller coaster, on my fridge. It reminds me every day to pray for you and Clay and your marriage." 

I don't know that we knew at the time what a blessing these little magnets would turn into! Friends, and family still have them up and use them to remember to pray for us?!? I'm blessed by your photography still daily and I didn't even realize it. 

Thanks Lissa!

When I asked her if I could post this for you guys, she added:

I want other brides to know what a blessing your photography is too! Just knowing I have all those wonderful people praying for my marriage and my new life in Pampa brought such peace to my heart. Crazy how my Big God works in the littlest ways! 

Here is her Save the Date card from 2009:

I was so blessed by her note I just had to share it with you all. She was right when she said "Crazy how my Big God works in the littlest ways!". I love that somehow God had used that to bless them and give them personal prayer warriors. Wow! Thank you Bandi- I am so blessed to know you!

• A little on Save the Date Cards + Magnets •

I get to collaborate with most of my brides on the creation of their Save the Date cards. It's a fun design process, usually incorporating their Engagement images. Since Save the Dates have one very simple purpose (to announce your wedding date)- the possibilities are endless! 

Now, Save the Date cards are not necessarily a must-have. Depending on your wedding and your date, they may or may not be relevant. I would suggest doing a Save the Date if you are planning a wedding more than 6 months away, or on a date such as a holiday (I was married on New Year's Eve) or a popular wedding date (any Saturday in May, June, or July). Of course, there are no real rules- if you want to do them, go for it!

The cards are all press printed, which means that the ink actually sits in the paper, not on top of it. This allows for a richer, higher-quality look. You can select from watercolor, linen, pearl, or gloss paper. Magnets are created using a photographic print. 

Each one is custom made to fit your personalities and style. This one was also a magnet.

Recently, I worked with my friend Heather on a completely new concept for Save the Date cards. Her cards feature 4 2x3 magnets mounted on a 5x7 card. Each magnet pictures the bride and groom with a different cardboard sign.

When you take the magnets off, you get to see the message below! Super fun!

I do also make Thank You Notes. These are typically folded 4x5.5 cards. This was printed on watercolor paper. Front:

Inside (writing goes on the right side):

Hope you all are having a great week so far! I will be trying to stay warm today while knocking out exciting tasks like filing, organizing, and file management. :)

post processing

First of all, how are you guys liking the new look? I've been having lots of fun playing with my website (which I'm sure you're aware of if you've visited my site within the past few days). One of the things I'm MOST excited about is my new wedding and senior portfolio pages. You've got to check them out!

Today I thought it would be helpful to give a run-down of the post processing I give my images. Work isn't finished for me when the photoshoot is over! I've had many people ask what software/editing I use, and this should answer those questions and more.

After a session is finished, I upload the images to my computer and backup sources, and then it's time to get to processing.

I'll first cull the images down to the best of the best. Then it's time to work on the individual images. Let's start with an image straight out of the camera:

To prep the images for proofing in an online gallery, I'll make a few quick adjustments within Adobe Lightroom. Typically I am tweaking exposure, white balance, toning, sharpening and clarity. The wonderful thing about Lightroom is the ability to use presets. I've made a few of my own, but you can also purchase some- I would recommend these from Presetopia. After batch processing the images in Lightroom, I'll upload them to the online proofing gallery. So, here is the image after Lightroom tweaks.

Before an image gets to print form, I'll do a full edit on it. During this process, I'm using Adobe Photoshop with various actions- here, I used Totally Rad Actions.

First, I'll take out any blemishes/stray hairs with the clone tool or healing brush. With this image I also took out the distracting sun spot/shadow in the foreground.

Then I'll make local adjustments on the exposure (Yin/Yang), sharpness (Select-O-Sharp), and contrast (Select-O-Pop). 

Here I also used the Shadow Separator since it fit the mood of the image. 

That's pretty much it! Here's the finished image:

 

So, was that helpful? Want me to post more like this? Let me know what YOU would like to see here!

blogging, business, and believing

I just finished reading fellow photographer Casey's blog about well, blogging. It really hit a place in my heart that I have definitely struggled with, so instead of leaving a ridiculously long comment on her blog, I thought I'd spell out my thoughts here. It is my blog, after all. :)

Casey was discussing the fact that 1) Her blog (as did mine) began as a means to share her personal self in pictures and writing, but 2) is also a great means to share her photography, which happens to be how she and her husband, Aric, put food on the table.

It's a tough place to be- when you want to be able to share what's going on when you're not behind the camera, but also need to make sure you are professional and keep your business flourishing. 

I love the conclusion that Casey came to as a fellow Jesus-lover. I have to keep reminding myself of my own conclusion from time to time, so I thought it worth the effort to write it here. 

I am not in the photography business. I am in the people business. And above that, I believe that I'm a part of something much, much bigger than myself and my world. I know that my business is not really my own.

There have been many times where I've worried myself out of sleep over the survival of my little business, only to be reminded the next day that the opportunities I've been given through photography are straight from the Lord. Regardless of my abilities or talents, God's gonna do what He wants to do, so I'd better be ready and willing. 

I enjoy writing and sharing my images with the people who read this blog, and although many days I care too much about the number of visitors/comments, I have the need (and the calling) to connect with people. God has promised me that He has a special purpose for my life, and I don't want to miss out on something that has eternal value because I'm afraid of losing something that will only last here on Earth.

Thank you to all the people who take the time to visit my little internet home. I would love to hear your perspective on this topic!

testing 1,2,3...

Just got the new Squarespace app for my iPhone. If this works, my life just got a whole lot more bloggable. :)

Here are some cute hair accessories I bought today.

snow day!

Lubbock got dumped on yesterday. With the crazy amount of snow and pretty much everything closed or cancelled, I couldn't see why we would NOT get out in it! My sister corralled some friends and we went out for a little photoshoot. It was absolutely freezing but totally worth it! We had a lot of fun- as you can see in the images!