Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Falling for Your Sweetheart Over and Over Again - Albuquerque Photography



This young couple has been married for 3 years, but together for many more.  When I first met them, I thought I'd be shooting an engagement session for their announcements, and was surprised to learn they were already hitched.  The trees behind the waterfall and the pond were just starting to turn and made a romantic background for this gorgeous couple.  They made the photoshoot fun and easy, but narrowing down the photos was very hard!






Thursday, December 16, 2010

My Best Friend's Wedding - Wedding Photography

Labor day is a VERY popular weekend for weddings!  My two best friends got married on the same weekend, one on Saturday and one on Sunday.  Two days, two states, and two best friends taking the next step into the rest of their lives.  I impromptu photographed both of them, here are some of my favorites of Jaynie's wedding (James' still to come).

Chief, Jaynie's pup was their ring bearer at the Corvallis Rose Garden.  They had their reception at Strega.  It's unfortunate that the restaurant closed down, but still awesome that you can rent it out!!!  They had their first dance just as the sun set over the mountains.






Dancing in the Land of Enchantment - Albuquerque Dance Photography

As much as I miss dancing in San Diego, Albuquerque is bursting at the seams with latin flavor and plenty of ballrooms.  Ynette invited me to photograph her and her husband/dance partner down at Enchantment Dance Studio.  Their instructor Nick was with us every step of the way to help them stike a pose.  It was  quite a challenging photoshoot as the main ballroom was being remodeled, so we used the smaller ballroom that was surrounded in mirrors.  There were only a few angles to avoid reflections of the lights (or worse me!) in the photos.  We started with some traditional poses, then some lifts. At the end, they just danced and I chased them around.    Here are some of my favorites.





Thursday, December 9, 2010

Step Parents in ABQ have really Stepped Up! - Albuquerque Family Photography

I have been blown away by the step parents in this town.  I have photographed several family portraits in Albuquerque with step parents and step children recently. Each of these families just blows me away.  We've all seen Cinderella and other fairy tales where step children don't get along and step parents favor their own children.  But let me tell you, both of these families are more like the Brady Bunch, integrated with love and camaraderie.  To be honest, I couldn't tell who was the biological and who was the step parent.

I met Katy through Groupon, and as soon as she suggested the Copper Street Trails for her family photo session location, I knew we'd get along well.  Dayne, her husband, blazed the trail for us and we ended up at the kids favorite picnic spot, the dried up waterfall at the top of the Copper Street Trail.  Fresh air, sunshine, and three children that didn't complain once hiking up to the top.  It was my first little hike up at a mile high, and it was perfect.  The only thing missing was the family pup (whom I met after the shoot).

Here are some of my favorites.







I met up with the Daltons at the Uptown Shopping Mall in Central Albuquerque.  We dodged the early Christmas Shoppers and found some cool little places to snap some shots.  There was even a HUGE Christmas tree in the middle of the plaza to get some holiday themed portraits.  Their little boy was adorable.  He was only in town for a few days over Thanksgiving, so we had a tight schedule.  It was quite the blustery day, so I couldn't bring my normal lighting setup or I would have gone the way of Marry Poppins. After some creative setups, we got some awesome shots.







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