Reminiscing.

I'm not crazy about most of my pre-raw photo days, but I will always love this shot. He's just my favorite subject, let's be honest.

Since I've started school [and correspondingly gotten every second of free time stripped from me quicker than I even half expected], this man has all but taken over kitchen-clean-up-duty, talked through math problems with me, gotten excited over every good grade, been my own personal picker-upper, patiently listened to my complaints of exhaustion and has been willing and ready to work around my schedule to make things easier on me. It's something special to be so connected with someone that when one of you needs help the other can step in without even being asked. He gets me completely inside and out and good GRIEF am I thankful he does.

I literally don't know what I would do without him at this point. I love him to the moon and back.

A breath of fresh air.

Sometimes in this life, things get way busier than you expected. Sometimes you spend an entire week just going and by the time Saturday rolls around you don't even know what just happened. Sometimes you feel like you literally don't even have a single second to yourself for peace or quiet. Sometimes you start to really miss those days before work, and school of sleeping in every morning with the boy and lounging the day away with him. Sometimes even sleep starts to feel like work.

You know how people say to take time to stop and smell the roses? Well, I've decided that pictures like this one, are my roses. After a week like I just had, I pull up a shot like this, and I suddenly feel refreshed. I feel like I can handle it all, because sometimes in the midst of all the exhaustion, certain shots just work out. You pull them up and the colors are bright and the subject is centered and you realize it's going to be okay. It's going to be okay because this shot, came out exactly like you pictured it in your head. Hey, maybe life isn't quite as hard as you're making it out to be.

What's your breath of fresh air?

Straight out of the studio.

Just kidding. I don't have a studio. But seriously how perfect is this light??

I've been holding all my free shoots in downtown Chandler because it seems to be pretty central and there is just so many photo ops in such a tiny square area. It's worked out really well. These two, because of a minor scheduling conflict I ended up shooting in almost mid-day sun. As it turns out, that's not always a bad thing! It was actually kind of fun being able to get all up in their stuff and shoot with some studio-esque lighting.

Their gorgeous eyes and flawless skin and perfect teeth [I could keep going!] sure didn't hurt either. I mean, let's be real.



By the way, remember how my keys almost [did] got [get] stolen the other day [until I stole them back]? Well apparently I didn't learn my lesson, and on this shoot some kids snatched $30 out of poor Taylor's purse [the hot brunette].

After chasing the thieves up and down four plus levels of a parking garage and hopping railings and filing police reports, you better believe those flushed cheeks are for real!

Noblushwasreappliedinthemakingofthisphotoshoot.





Anyways. I really need a fanny pack.

I've been having a love affair with black and white.

Maybe you've noticed... I've been posting a lot of black and white as of late. Do you want to know why? It's not because I don't like color. In fact lately, I've finally been getting the kind of color in my photography that I've been looking for and I've been pretty happy with the results! It's just that I finish brightening up favorite shots like this one...


...and I'm happy! His skin is perfect baby pink, the whites are bright, but contrast well with his and his mama's dark hair...I'm just happy, in general. I'm perfectly content with the outcome.

And then I turn it black and white.

BAM. All the sudden little Ronan is a child model from the fifties, he can play outside after dark and walk to the grocery store for his mama from five years old because the world is just that safe and every picture taken turns out flawless in its flat contrast and perfect imperfections.

Maybe I'm just a photographer stuck in the wrong era.

Anyway. Remember this kid and his gorgeous mama? Those eyes.

Guys. This girls laugh is infectious.

Hi! Meet Brooke and Cory. AKA: The Cutest Couple In The World.

I'm not kidding when I say these two just never stop laughing.  They obviously adore each other.  And I adore them. It's like some weird laughing love triangle when we're together. (Right now they're probably cringing in their computer chairs and making a mental note to never be within five square miles of me again.) It's cool.

Do you want a side story with today's post?

So this morning, I'm busy taking pictures of these two. This picture, in fact.
(Bonus preview! You're welcome.)

As I'm shooting, I set my keys and my lens cap down on the ground just a few yards away. And I snap snap snap away. We're setting up the perfect shot when these two boys walk by, young, no more than 10 years old. We laugh a little because apparently posing in front of an audience is not Cory's thing, but we don't think much of it and carry on our merry ways. Snap snap snap. Snap snap snap.  I finally get the perfect angle and am satisfied, so I walk on a bit and reach down to grab my keys and my lens cap. There's the lens cap - but no keys. We search high and low. Did I set them on the wall? Did I leave them at the last location? My mind was reeling wondering what I would've done with them, but inside I KNOW I wouldn't have put them anywhere but right next to my lens cap. It's just what I do. Finally, Brooke wonders out loud about those two boys who had walked by earlier. Since that seems to be the only possibility left, we look up the street to see if we can find them. For whatever reason, they seem to be walking back this way, lingering up toward the parking lot a ways off. We told Cory to puff up his chest and we all walk towards them. Once we reach them, we asked if they had seen some keys laying on the ground when they walked by earlier. I think they were trying to pretend like they didn't understand, but sure enough, I look down and one of them has his fist balled up around a keychain and there's my teale Sharpie sticking out between his fingers. He didn't put up much of a fuss, really. I grabbed them straight out of his hands and he nervously explained he "had a keychain that looked just like that one..." Right.

Moral of the story? When I show up to your photoshoot wearing a fanny pack, don't laugh too hard. It's for good reason!

Rocklyn.

Does anyone else feel like a complete bad-ass if they end up with anything more than this on first birthday shoots??  Sometimes I just want to grab these little people by the shoulders and tell them to slow down!  Life gets busy enough all on it's own.

I think I've narrowed it down.

I've decided that mostly, what I need to learn is that not everything works out.  I am the most extreme self critic to ever walk the face of this earth.  Anything less than perfect is hard for me to be proud of.  Maybe sometimes - just sometimes - I need to put down the finger of judgement and just be okay with that imperfection.

Three cheers for muted colors and filthy hair!