Alma & Stevan in the Park

You may recognize Alma & Stevan from their wedding that was blogged about back in April. The following session was a post-wedding shoot, which they opted for when time constraints kept them from scheduling engagement portraits before the wedding.

It was a beautiful cool evening downtown. With the wedding planning over and the two of them having settled back into the everyday grind, this was a welcome outing for some silly fun-- in wedding garb! They were so happy and relaxed as they toured the park hand in hand, smiling, giggling, maybe even a little bit of dancing and prancing here and there : )

These are the kinds of shots that are often difficult to get on the actual wedding day, since there's such a tight schedule to keep and so many of your family members and friends are demanding your attention... not to mention brides and grooms are in "my head is spinning!" mode. Planning more relaxed session afterward is an excellent way to grab those shots you wish you'd had time to take on the wedding day!

Gloria & James

Gloria and James met me at Rice University on a perfectly cloudy evening for some engagement portraits-- they had hired me sight-unseen, so this was actually our first time to meet in person. There was a crew taking down bleachers from an event that day on the lawn, so we weren't able to utilize the full potential of what Rice has to offer (but I think we managed to do a great job anyway!). We captured lots of sweet, loving glances and serene embraces... lots of tender togetherness. Both Gloria and James have eyes that speak volumes, see for yourself!

I can't wait for their wedding to arrive; they're getting married at the church I attended during my childhood (in which I've never shot a wedding), in the brand new sanctuary. It should be gorgeous!

Ode to Lori Nordstrom

One last Drew portrait-- this is my "Ode to Lori Nordstrom", one of my instructors at Texas School of Professional Photography a couple of weeks ago. Lori's niche is the beautiful, timeless hand-colored black and white children's portrait.

If you're a fellow photographer and ever have the chance to hear Lori speak or take a class with her, do it! She's a great mentor and a wonderful all-around person.

She's also got this cool little company called Pepper, if you need a little spice for your camera!

Drew!

It's crazy baby birthday season! I met Drew and his mom at a recent playgroup portrait party, and she decided she'd like for Drew to have some one on one time with me for his very own session. He'll be two years old in a couple of weeks.

This silly little guy showed up at my place ready to rumble! He was all over the place with his infectious smile and laughter, making friends with Beau the cat, throwing Freddy his ball (which he enjoyed so much that his mom had to drag him away when it was time to leave).

During his 30-seconds-of-shy, he was happy to hide behind Mommy's sunglasses (which, after all, make one invisible, right?).

Thanks for all the fun, Drew! I've included a lovely portrait of his "woobie", Eeyore. Check out that last picture-- showbiz, anyone?

Sammy... a furry little bundle of joy.

My super-friend Emily and I share a birthday-- this is actually how me met. In a college math class our freshman year, I dropped my driver's license on the ground and she picked it up, announcing that we had the same birthdate, so it was destined that we should be friends. That was in 1993... clearly she was right, we've remained best buds ever since!

Emily married her dear Daniel last year, so it was no surprise that the two of them were thinking about adding a baby to the family. Daniel surprised Emily on the Thursday before our birthday with a gift-- asking if she'd like it early, because "I think you might be able to use it now."

The gift was... a puppy (aren't we glad she decided to accept the gift early?). HOORAY FOR PUPPIES! I had the opportunity to stop by and meet her one night when an engagement session got rained out. Love, LOVE! I can't wait for Sammy to meet my Fred.

Marcie's Bridals... umbrella and all.

It just wasn't enough that it rained the whole day of Marcie & Ed's engagement session-- it had to pour on the day of her bridals as well. We had planned for splitting our session time between The Gallery (Marcie's wedding venue) and Rice University, but decided to skip Rice since we were having a torrential downpour.

Since she had already scheduled her hair and makeup with Hues by Heather (beautiful job, Heather!), we opted not to reschedule and instead make the best of it... I couldn't have been more pleased with the way our session turned out! While we were shooting indoors, the rain subsided (but of course that wonderful cloudcover stayed and gave us beautiful diffused light)and we were able to utilize some of the great outdoor spaces at The Gallery. Marcie was absolutely stunning in a vintage-inspired beaded lace gown, adorned with some fabulous handmade jewelry and a simple fingertip veil.

Marcie and Ed were married this weekend. As luck would have it, for the large display at the reception Marcie chose one of the images where she's holding an umbrella-- quite appropriate since it was very windy and sprinkling as the outdoor ceremony began. Many guests in their seats had already opened umbrellas! The ceremony stayed dry, but just as they were pronounced husband and wife the sky let loose with a giant clap of thunder. It'll be a great story ; )

Little Lady Larkin

Larkin and her mommy met me on a beautiful afternoon at Mercer Arboretum, where the little one was fresh from a nap and feeling fine! Larkin was commemorating her first birthday with some in-the-park portraits.

Happy birthday, sweet little cherub-faced lady!

LIttle Man Reese

To mark the one-year milestone, Reese's mom and dad met me out at Challenger Park. Reese was cute as can be in his shirt that matched his eyes, sitting in my little chair like such a big boy and giving us lots of precious smiles and giggles.

Happy Birthday Reese! It seems like just yesterday I met him as a brand new baby.

">

Lindsay's Bridals

I'm so glad Lindsay is finally married off so I can post her bridal portraits! We shot them a couple of months ago, but I didn't want to ruin the big wedding-day reveal. Lindsay's backside will be featured in my latest marketing piece (scroll down a couple of entries to see)-- one shot from her session just instantly struck me as angelic, with her veil catching the wind just right, mimicking the shape of wings.

Lindsay is cute as a button and more fun than a barrel of monkeys; a sweet little sassy thing. She brought three pair of shoes-- regular bridal shoes, sexy red heels, and a great pair of broken-in-cowgirl boots. We headed over to Hermann Park and Rice University to shoot her portraits. After we got "the usual" pretty daylight shots, we waited for the sun to set and played around a little with some off-camera lighting to produce a few dramatic images (wheee!) and Lindsay did not disappoint!

Look for Lindsay & Kenny's wedding images to appear on the blog soon : )

Katie's Senior Portraits

I don't shoot senior sessions very often but Katie, who lives in a far off land in deep East Texas, traveled all the way to Galveston for her senior portraits last week. Her little sister Ashley came along, so we couldn't resist snapping a couple of sister shots while we were on the beach.

If you notice a resemblance to me, it's no coincidence-- she's my cousin and we both look like our dads : )

Congratulations, Katie, Class of 2009!

Happy Birthday Kendall!

If you follow my work regularly, you'll know that I've been photographing my sweet little friend Kendall since birth... I can hardly believe she is THREE already! She is a hustling, bustling, bright little lady who evidently believes that "Taytee" (that's me) lives at a local Mexican restaurant called Lupe Tortilla (whenever Kendall's mom and I want to go out for lunch, this is our no-fail restaurant since they have a sandpit playground where the kids can amuse themselves while the parents chat).

Her mommy was nice enough to hire me for the day of Kendall's playdate-party, and I had the opportunity to photograph the birthday girl and several of her closest friends-- some friends more on the shy side than others. The Moms provided fun hats, glasses, and feathers for dress-up and the kids had a blast! Gideon was quite the ham with his sombrero, and I made a new little friend who had lots of fun playing with pretty red butterfly wings.

Kendall is the pretty little lady in the first and last photographs...

The June Ad... and a little about what I'm up to these days.

Woo hoo! Here's my latest ad that will be in the June issue of Modern Luxury's Houston Brides magazine.  I haven't blogged the rest of her bridals yet, but rest assured, you won't be disappointed!

Now that we're mentioning it, there are quite a few brides whose portraits I can't wait to blog, but I have to wait for them to get married so I don't ruin the "reveal" on the wedding day.

It's been quite a whirlwind few weeks or me... just lots going on and lots of sessions since the weather is not-so-chilly.  I did have a bit of excitement when it rained a couple of weeks ago-- we had some pretty severe flooding in my neck of the woods, and one of my weddings had to be moved at the last minute due to venue flooding and power loss-- YIKES!  The adorable couple rolled with the punches and they were able to quickly move to a new locale (the ceremony was pushed back an hour).  It certainly wasn't the wedding they had planned, but I bet it will be talked about for years to come!  I'll talk more about that one when I have the images processed and can share.

This whole week, I am out of the office at a spectacular seminar put on by the Texas Professional Photographer's Association.  In a small-ratio class, I am learning from three industry leaders-- Lori Nordstrom, Gene Higa, and Catherine Hall (be sure to check out Catherine's editorial work- it's pretty amazing)...  It's only day one, but so far I am just pleased as punch to be hanging out with these people!  They're kind of my version of rockstars, ya know?  I can't wait to dive in tomorrow morning and see what's next.  If even just a tiny bit of their awesomeness rubs off on me, I'll be ecsatic!