Diana & Carlos

Diana and Carlos were married at the UH Chapel and held their reception at the beautiful Petroleum Club, on the 43rd floor of the Exxon-Mobil building downtown. Diana and the girls got ready at the funky-posh Hotel Zaza, where we headed down to the lounge for some WOW pre-wedding-bridals in Diana's delicate and perfect Melissa Sweet gown. Deep reds being a theme for the day (in the vibrant florals), we happened upon a plush red couch that worked very well with the color scheme.

After the ceremony, we were able to get some nice shots among the rows of arches down the sides of the chapel (three cheers for sunlight!), and then the bride and groom headed to the limo through a festive tunnel of periwinkle-blue streamers waved by the wedding guests.

For the reception, guests arrived to find their place-cards mounted atop wine corks, and "oooh'd and awww'd" when they saw Diana & Carlos' new monogram displayed prominently on the dance floor, via spotlight and gobo. The view from all around the room was of the Houston skyline-- through floor-to-ceiling windows. Luckily, the guests were treated to a dinner of several courses, and I had plenty of time to take some long-exposure shots of the beautiful scenery!

Many thanks to Kelly of Eventology Weddings, who coordinated the wedding.

Austin!

We're back!

I took a short spring break trip with my son and nephew to Austin. We saw the sights, visited the Capitol Building (thanks to Monica for the VIP tour!), saw "Horton Hears a Who", visited The Oasis on Lake Travis and the AWESOME 80,000 square foot Whole Foods on 6th Street with Auntie Gale, and closed out our visit with a walk up to the Visitor's Center where we boarded an interesting vehicle for an "Austin Duck Tour". Soooo many kids quacking their little duck-caller-quacker things... FUN!

The weather was icky Monday and Tuesday, but turned out to be absolutely beautiful and cool on our last day. I'll post more pics later, but here's my favorite... it just goes to show that you don't need clear blue skies to get yourself a nice pretty picture of the Capitol Building... and it will always remind me of the boys skipping around town with those big, bright umbrellas-- just being the silly little guys that they are.

My Ode to Fred...

This is my sweet little dog, Freddy. We don't really know what breed he is, and for the most part, we really don't care... because he is THE best doggie in the whole world.

I just wanted to take a moment to give Fred some screen-time on the blog and remind everybody (in Betty White/Bob Barker fashion) that there are sweet dogs in shelters and foster homes all over the place. Kitties too! Maybe if you have a little extra tax refund left over, you could donate a few bucks or some much-needed pet supplies to your local ASPCA or shelter. You can find out about more rescue organizations and available pets for adoption on Petfinder too!

Fred was a "rescued" dog... my sweet neighbor Margaret took him in one day and took care of him... took him to the vet to have him checked out... but couldn't keep him (she had reached the dog threshold in her house, was about to have surgery, and about to move). She tried (without success) to find his owners by hanging up signs all over the neighborhood, posting them at nearby veterinarian offices and Petsmart, consulting FidoFinder, and checking the dog himself to see if he had a microchip bearing his owner's information. After 2 weeks, she still couldn't find the owners and was going to have to take him to a shelter... so we took him in and made him a member of our family.

He is the perfect little missing puzzle piece we never knew we were looking for. Freddy is absolutely wonderful with the kids, and despite his stubborn terrier nature he's learned a few tricks and has successfully become crate-trained (with lots of love and patience). He only imtermittently bothers the cats, but they are never afraid to let him know who's boss. They can jump higher than him, and are much more agile... so they definitely have the upper paw.

Oh, those sweet puppy eyes.

Just After Sunset

I took the kids to the beach this afternoon and on the way home, I timed it perfectly so that we could stop at my favorite tree for some just-after-sunset pictures.

The first two are unprocessed except for the resizing, border, and removal of a few dust spots that showed up on my lens with the longer exposures. Those were the actual colors of the sky tonight.

Then I decided to have a little fun with color (same image, just color manipulation). I love color, especially bright and unreal color. I threw a black & white in there just for comparison (and my friend Michelle who loves black and white almost as much as I love color).

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!

Baby Jack, 3 months

Jack and his parents invited me to their home for a mostly-baby-but-also-some-family kind of portrait session. I had no idea the utter wide-eyed cuteness I was in store for. He's got the deepest, most inquisitive eyes and sweet little rosy red lips! He spent a lot of time eating during our session, but that's okay... it's hard work being that cute and keeping your soft little baby belly nice and round. Once he'd had his fill, he even struck a little GQ pose for me with his hand up on top of his head!

A living doll, I tell you.

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.

Ashley at The Parador

Ashley's bridal portrait session took place at a great historic venue in Houston, The Parador (many thanks to Shelia for allowing us to shoot there). We had an absolute blast shooting these portraits, and I really had some fun in the editing process. One of the great things about shooting at an indoor venue (aside from the roof over our heads and the nice clean bathroom to change in) is the flexibility-- the availability of gorgeous natural light and shadows. We've got cool windows, lovely architectural features, and clean dry places to sit.

She showed up with an absolutely stunning bouquet of flowers (arranged by Wedding Flowers by Lisa) that added a fun pop of color to many of the images!

While Ashley's wedding images aren't quite ready yet, I would like to reference her maid of honor-- her sister-- who said during the toast that people often refer to the two sisters as "each other's catnip". I can't think of a more perfect way to describe Ashley! She's as happy, fun, and sweet as a kitten on catnip (and I mean that in a good way). Her mother is a doll as well. I received a very sweet e-mail from Mom a couple of days after the wedding:

We just wanted to say thank you for the wonderful pictures you took of Ashley at her bridal sitting. They are just beautiful. And also for all you did at the wedding. You were so patient with us calling on your for family pictures! We can't wait to see the wedding pictures! You are most talented at what you do. May God continue to bless you in all you do!

Needless to say, they were an absolutely wonderful group to work with. Ashley, if you're reading this... your wedding pics are next in the queue :)

Another huge THANK YOU to Kelly the Great-- Kelly Balfour of Eventology Weddings. She not only coordinated the wedding but accompanied us on the bridal shoot. She ever-so-professionally negotiated a little extra time for us at the Parador, helping Ashley to be more relaxed and allowing me to shoot until I was satisfied.

"Did you mean to buy the Spanish ones?"

I did not even know that they made Spanish conversation hearts, but how cute is this? I accidentally picked them up on our grocery shopping trip Sunday. I saw the Spanish label, but I thought maybe it had English on the other side or something. "Beso" and "Guapo" were my favorites!

Regina & Jheri

Regina and Jheri were married at Bella Terrazza in a beautiful Sunday-afternoon ceremony. Both are New Orleans transplants, and the details showed it! Now I am all about bright color, but I'd never have been able to envision maroon and lime green going so very well together. Perhaps it's the Aggie in me, maroon goes with white, and white only, right? It was actually very nice. Sort of Christmassy, yet not. Very cool and contemporary.

At any rate, the details of this wedding were so much fun! They had hand-painted Mardi-Gras beads made with their names and dates... custom Chuck Taylor Converse All-Stars in their wedding colors and with their wedding date along the back of the shoe (one "formal" pair for ceremony, and a more colorful pair for reception)... personalized M&M's in tins with personalized stickers on the bottom... and a delicious assortment of treats to eat like potato-tini's and white Russian milkshakes. MMMMM!

Aside from all of the fun details, I think the most memorable thing about this wedding was the vows. They were so beautiful, and I felt as though they were words I might have written (or thoughts I have felt) with my own husband in mind. Regina & Jheri were nice enough to allow me to photograph their rings with the papers on which their vows were written, and as I was editing the images afterwards, my eyes teared up again when I read over them.

I also got to work, once again, with the fabulous Kelly Balfour of Eventology Weddings, who coordinated the event.