Headed to Chicago next week...

So, I'm headed to Chicago next week. If you're in the area, and would like to schedule a portrait session (gee, would that be a coincidence or what?) Shoot me an e-mail! Arriving Monday afternoon, leaving Friday night... but that's all very flexible.

MODEL UPDATE: Please raise your paw if interested...

DOGS: In 2010, I will be unveiling a new "pet project"!

Thanks so much to everyone-- my pet-model cup runneth over! I have received plenty of offers, and currently do not have a need for additional pets to volunteer for the project.

Three precious sisters...

Courtney, Lindsey, and Chelsie are from Mississippi, but invited me out for a portrait session between a visit to their Grandma's home in West University and a San Antonio Sea World trip! We piled in the car and headed over to the majestic oak-lined path at North Boulevard on a sunny morning that turned into a super-sweaty hot mid-morning... but the girls were great sports about the heat (we tried to keep them in the shade as much as possible, and the fact that they were promised a trip to Target if they were good didn't hurt).

I absolutely LOVE that their mom, Audrey, found these sweet, simple dresses and chose to have them photographed barefoot-- it plays to the innocence of childhood and whimsical nature of the three girls. These images are absolutely timeless! Nothing about them will appear dated or out of style in 20, 40, 50 years, and it wouldn't be a far stretch to imagine they were taken 100 years ago (well, except for maybe the fact that they're in color).

After North Boulevard we shot a few in front of their grandma's house, and a few with their faithful and patient dalmatian, Muddy. They were getting hot and tired, but it made for some really funny shots of who they "really" are-- I like smiles, but sometimes when you get those few pics where the attention has shifted and boredom has set in... they're good as gold and will make you laugh for years to come.

Enjoy the sweet girls... and if you're ever in Hattiesburg, be sure to stop by the Keg & Barrel. It's their dad's place, and I hear the food and microbrew is fantastic!!!

Testing, 123...

I'm out!

Hey everybody! The blog has been a-buzzin' lately and it makes me happy : ) I just wanted to drop a quick note that I will be out of the office (in the country, with unpredictable cell phone/e-mail service) until Tuesday.

Have a grrrrrreat weekend, I hope to bring you more beautiful images next week as I work on Jennifer & Robbie's wedding, Tracey & Ed's wedding, Heather's gorgeous yet experimental artsy maternity portraits... and maybe even baby Hailey!

Thank you all for the wonderful comments, and for supporting me in the work that I absolutely adore.

Wheeeee! New business cards!

It always feels great to have something new! Here are the Summer 2009 editions of the Monkey Tree Business cards (one for weddings, one for the other stuff).

The wedding card features Alma & Stevan on the front, with a great dancing image from their morning-after session at Discovery Green. Marcie's beautiful silhouette with umbrella graces the back of the card.

The infant/child/maternity card features handsome and bright-eyed Drew from a recent session... and on the reverse side is one of my all-time favorite infant shots: Baby Kendall with an orchid. It's so hard to believe I have been photographing her for three years. She's such a little lady these days... talking and going to the nail spa with her mommy for pedicures!

It's like... making cookies from scratch... smelling them cooking... but not being able to take a bite.

So last week, my Mac flatlined (as my lovely friend Ren described it). The Mac is my editing computer-- it's where the magic happens. It's where the beauty, joy, and laughter emerges and is culled down to the best of the best.

I opened it up, waited for the chime and happy screen... but nothing. Just a little noise that sounded like it was trying to play a CD or something. Oh, river of tears. I took a trip up to the Mac store where I was informed that my sweet little computer had to go away for a week.

I needed a coke and some pretzel sticks to help me deal with the trauma. Auntie Anne's was there to oblige. Sweet and salty deliciousness were my only consolation. Gotta love the mall, man.

It's not that I'm missing data, or files or anything... all my images are backed up and safe. It's that my schedule has been thrown off because I'm left unable to proof/edit all of this beautiful work I've done for my clients, knowing how anxious they are to see their beautiful weddings, their beautiful babies, their sweet smiling children. Erasing all those blocks of editing from my calendar was a heart-wrenching process.

I have this stack of memory cards that's burning a hole in my pocket!!!!

It's like when you make a big batch of delicious chocolate chip cookies from scratch. Not slice-and-bake, people, the real deal. Artisan cookies, beautiful lumpy mounds of dough with Ghirardelli dark chips, organic flour, cage-free-chicken eggs. You've spent this time thinking about them, creating them, you just want to be able to TASTE them. You pull them out of the oven, smell that sweet aroma, pour yourself a giant glass of ice cold milk... sit down to a plate of them and your mouth is watering...

and then find that your cookies have to be away from you for a week or so.

I thrive on seeing my work take shape. I love shooting, I love manipulating the images on my screen, and I love LOVE love revealing them to my clients!

I'm going a little crazy with my post-processing powers having been taken away from me. On the bright side, my Mac should be back in my arms later this week, good as new! If you don't hear much out of me next week, it's because I'm on some sort of turbo-editing marathon session and can't stop to see the light of day ; )

I can't wait to show you Marcie & Ed's beautiful outdoor wedding and night of dancing... LaTrice & Dan's military sabre arch and Cinderella formals... Tyler, Zofia, and Aidan's sweet baby portraits... and more. I even did some "just get out and shoot what your lens finds" stuff last week. I shot some of my own textures! I want to play with them so badly!

At any rate, that's why you haven't heard much from me. I'm sure I'll be blogging like a crazywoman in a couple of weeks and you'll have plenty of eye candy. Patience, my dear grasshoppers.

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!

OhMyGosh! It's Lance Berkman!

That's right folks, THE BIG PUMA himself!!!

So a giant mega-thanks to our architect, Peter Foxley, for throwing my name into the hat when he heard there was a need for a photographer to donate their services to shoot Lance Berkman of the Houston Astros (if you know me, you know that baseball season is my favorite season of the year... I was born during baseball season and regularly celebrate the day by going to an Astros game.. I gave my whole family personalized Astros shirts this Christmas).

Houston's First Presbyterian Church invited Lance to speak at a fundraiser for The Forge For Families (an organization that provides mentoring and promotes spiritual growth for families in Houston's Third Ward)... not only was there a silent auction with lots of goodies, but after Lance spoke there was a live auction for a few items-- the first of which was a family portrait with Lance Berkman himself! The winning family bid a pretty penny and were whisked away to the greenroom for a meet & greet, and of course a portrait session.

Lance was a genuine and entertaining speaker, touching on many personal experiences involving faith, spirituality, and personal growth. Once the family came through the doors backstage, he was very sweet-- greeting each of them with a handshake and introduction. After the portrait session was over, he was gracious enough to stay and sign shoes, shirts, and papers (whatever the kids could get their hands on).

I'd also like to thank the lovely Kristin Foxley for showing us around, and helping me get where I needed to be for the evening. The Presbyterian Women and Women's Ministry sure throw quite the party! My family and I enjoyed ourselves and were very happy to be a part of the event.

Here are the generous and lucky winners! (But first, a shot of the big screen during the auction)...

Vote for Monkey Tree!

Please stop by KPRC Channel 2's City Voter Site and cast your vote for Monkey Tree Photography as one of Houston's Best!

The New Website is up and running!

E-mail, well now... that's another story that I hope to remedy in the morning. Should you need to contact me in the near future, please use the contact form on the website.

BY ALL MEANS... do not pass "Go", do not collect $200, go directly to and take a good look at what I've been working so hard to finish over the holiday break. ENJOY!

One of these days you may even see the blog get a face-lift to match the website : )

Goodbye Old Website... Hello New Website!

Out with the old and in with the new! Our website may be down temporarily as we migrate to a new server-- this may also effect any e-mails you send between now and Monday morning.

Taking some time off...

Well, weddings have wound down for the year (though I do have one more Christmas-time wedding) so I'm taking the week off for a little private time. Enjoy your Christmas shopping and year-end-wrapping-up, everyone!

I leave you with a couple of recent favorites...

Become a fan on Facebook!

I've recently added Monkey Tree Photography to Facebook, and you can "become a fan" if you'd like! Look for upcoming Facebook-Fans-Only offers : )

It's another great way for me to network, and for you to see what I've been up to. I will post picutres regularly, "tag" you if you're in an album, and you'll receive notifications of any events or specials!

It's what all the cool kids are doing these days.

AND... WE'RE BACK!

Ooooh it feels good to be up and running again!

We're Safe... but still Evacuated.

If you're reading this, you've got some sort of electricity... hopefully you're working off grid power and not a generator (if you're in the Houston area). Hurricane Ike certainly did not spare us-- I've spent the past couple of days at my mom's house (our evacuation destination) cleaning up and hauling debris from the yard out to the curb for pickup, and evenings in the living room huddled around the tv and one lamp that were running off the generator. Thankfully, our dear friends Marc and Stacy were able to help us out with gasoline from their ranch's reserve tank; otherwise we aren't sure where we'd have gotten it.

Cell phones have been sporadically available for making/receiving calls, and even text messaging has been unpredictable. If you've tried to contact us and haven't been able to get through, we apologize. Things seem to be getting better each day.

I'm happy to report that no serious damage occurred to our home or to the home we've evacuated to-- most everyone we know is safe and that's the best news we could hope for. Our thoughts and prayers continue to go out to those who are still missing family members, or who have suffered great loss as a result of this storm... even to those who are still without electricity and/or water or are unable to return home. Power was restored to my mom's home late this afternoon. I have never jumped for joy at the sight of a ceiling fan beginning to turn, but I definitely did today!

Our home/my office in the Clear Lake area is still without power, and nearby municipalities are still under "boil water before consumption" warnings, so I'll continue to work out of the Cypress area for the time being. For those of you waiting on edited photos, I'm working as much as I can and will contact you by phone when I've got something for you. Now that we are back on grid power and not relying on the generator, I'm more able to get things done. I am unsure as to how frequently I'll have internet access (and/or be able to check e-mail).

Before I go, I'd like to also send out some thank-you's...

Our local governments have really done a stellar job of keeping us all informed (I suppose some praise should also go out to our local media and their outstanding coverage before, during, and after the storm). I can't even begin to imagine how difficult a job this must be-- coordinating efforts of all sorts of government agencies to assist the millions of people in need.

At the end of the day whether you are a mayor, a rescue worker, a police officer, a volunteer at a "POD", or simply the person who made it a priority to get yourself into work this morning at McDonald's so that others could have a little something hot and fresh to start our day with, thank you.

Thank you to Danny Goodale for being a kind neighbor and bringing your resources to our front yard, lighting a fire under all of us to stop wondering what on earth we were going to do, and start cleaning up the mess. Thank you to Connor and Andrew for putting down the XBOX controllers, stepping up to the plate, circling their wagons (literally-- kids' wagons really make great brush-haulers in a pinch), and moving thousands of tree branches and logs to the curb. Thank you, Jack, for all of the millions of little things (and dozens of big things) you have done to make this week so much more bearable... I wish everyone could have a husband like you.

We'll be closed for a few days...

We will be closed until Hurrican Ike has made its way to land and decided where to go. Our home is in a mandatory evacuation zone, so we'll return as soon as it's deemed safe to do so.

The March of Dimes

If you have a little time, or a few spare buckaroos, you might think about helping out the March of Dimes. It's a not-for-profit organization that is widely known for its efforts to prevent premature birth, birth defects, and infant mortality.

One of my sweet little baby portrait subjects, Sarah, was born very early (at 33 weeks!), and her mom's hoping to reach a $500 goal. We have a neighbor down the street whose son was born very early this past year (at 32 weeks), and an acquaintance who recently lost her son well into her second trimester.

I have worked and volunteered in Neonatal Infant Care Units and seen the preemies, the babies born with birth defects, and the families affected by the circumstances. Please give, if you can. By clicking below, you can give directly on Sarah's behalf!

Digital SLR Bootcamp... err, Flip Flop Camp!

Interested in learning about the capabilities of your Digital SLR camera? I am thinking about having a little field trip/seminar for dSLR beginners, probably sometime during the month of March.

This will not be a "techniques of photography" type class, where you learn how to compose an award-winning photograph-- this will be a time for you to really get to know the capabilities of that piece of machinery you've just plunked down a large chunk-o-change for. Hands-on, questions-asked, etc. Like boot camp, only I won't bark any orders at you.

It will hopefully leave you NOT wanting to throw the dSLR out the window and go back to your little point-and-shoot... because after all, you bought that dSLR hoping for some much better shooting and the ability to have more control over your camera.

I've got to delve a little deeper into meeting places/cost and try to guage interest... so please leave a "comment" to this blog entry or fill out the contact form on my website if you are interested.

Also, let me know which of these dates might work best for you, and what type of camera you have.

March 16
March 29
March 30

Thanks!

Website Update 2008!

Well, my webmaster Scott and I rang in the Chinese New Year by going live with a huge update to www.monkey-tree.com!

We have both been working so hard-- me, working hard to provide Scott with the images in the right formats and sizes and orders... not to mention all that text and the new pricing structures-- and Scott has been working hard at trying not to faint every time Kasey asks him to do something new to the site. The man has the patience of a saint. He did an amazing job putting together the galleries and making all of the neat little slideshows, and catering to all of my needs where corrections were concerned.

It's nice to be able to showcase my work from the past year and a half (seriously, we neeeeeded an update!), and to be able to highlight some of my wonderful clients.

Here's a screenshot of the homepage, I am so very happy with the way it turned out.