Happy Thanksgiving!

To all my Seniors. Thank you to all 41 of you- Cathy, Diane, Bret, Kyle, Jude, Carly, Andrew, Andra, Jocelyn, Danielle, Dan, Dixon, Kaitlyn, Anna, Alex, Danny, Gabriella, Veronica, Thanh, Michelle, Ellie, Megan, Han, Nghia, Bailey, Cole, Cody, Liz, Meg, Sarah, Julie, Yun, Rachel, Jessica, Kenzi, Zoe, Felisha, Kristina, Kamron, and Sydney.

Thank you for trusting me with your Senior portraits and choosing me as your photographer! It means so much and my business has grown because of it. You guys have made me believe that I can do this! :) Congrats on your Senior years!

**pictures are in alphabetical order :)

I'm grateful for my family! They are all strong people and I'm blessed to have parents who support my ambitions, brothers who encourage me and just family who understand my weirdness.

My youth group! So I'm past the stage of actually being in the youth group but I still consider myself a kid even though I'm now considered a leader... ha! Our group has gone through a bunch of ups and downs this last year, but I believe that we're stronger than ever. I've grown up with most of these kids most of my life and each one of them are such incredible blessings in my life.

My Escondido family in California... I've known them for exactly a year now. A year ago, I went on a weekend missions trip with them to Mexico. They honestly are the most fun and loving people I've ever met and their love for God is obvious... in everything they do, I can see that they are motivated by God. I can't wait to see them in 2 weeks!

Lastly, I will forever be indebted to Jesus and what he did for me. He's given me a beautiful life and the opportunity to be at such a beautiful school. He's given me photography as an artistic outlet. He's given me all of the things I've listed above! He's given me every breath I've ever breathed. He is good. And I thank Him.

Melissa | Just Portraits

I've known Melissa for about 4-5 years now. We met through a mutual friend at the annual AWANA Scholarship Camp (a week of church camp essentially-- it's more fun than it sounds!) We only attended camp together that first summer, but we've kept in touch ever since. She was one of the few people I already knew when I started school at Seattle Pacific this Fall. Melissa is a brilliant writer and is the assistant news editor for our school's newspaper. She is always insanely busy (I guess I am too) so it was nice to catch her yesterday morning. We went for a walk just to the Fremont bridge and back and had a quick portrait session. Isn't Melissa drop dead gorgeous? Makes my job so much easier.

Dark Cloudy Days

The end of November is drawing nearer. I've got about three more weeks of school left and then I'm flyin' outta here down to California. My least favorite part of Fall would probably be the fact that it gets so dark around 3 or 4 in the afternoon. Compare that to 8 or 9 in the evening during the summer days, it's kind of a drag. I'm trying to focus on school right now, but I'm at the point where I just want to be done. It's hard to stay motivated when it regards school. I've got to get through three more days of class this week! This is also my last week in which I can refer to myself as a teenager. I really want to do something fun each day this week in celebration- any ideas?? (Black Friday is already covered haha!)

One of my favorite cousins, Dan, is here visiting from California. He's originally from Canada, moved to Massachusetts a couple years back and now attends Stanford University. He's graduating this upcoming Spring- so excited for him! I haven't seen this kid in 2 years, but his mannerisms hasn't changed a bit! It makes me miss the good old days. He gives hands down the best hugs ever and never fails to make me laugh. Here's a photo we took after church this afternoon!

Okay, so I lied. Sydney wasn't my last Senior. A couple days after I blogged her, I got a phone call for one more and if you know me at all, I have a really hard time saying no. Plus I know how difficult it is to find a photographer to do things for you last minute without charging a ridiculous amount more. Here's one of my favorite shots from today's session. It was pouring on and off, but the sun came out at the end. I won't be blogging this Senior due to the family's request but isn't this location sweet??

Have a lovely week and enjoy your Thanksgiving friends.

Some Inspiration

This past Wednesday, I got the incredible opportunity to meet with the infamous but not in a bad way ;) Jamie Delaine. So. Get this: This girl is just nineteen. Yes. Nineteen. Is that not insane? She's blowing this wedding photography business out of the water! Already booked 18 weddings for the year of 2010. Jamie: get. outta. here.

In all honestly though, Jamie is the sweetest girl. Meeting and learning from her from the 1-on-1 Learning Sessions she offers was so comfortable and relatable. It so wasn't intimidating at all, because she's literally around the same age I am.

Talking to her made me realize that this goal of having a legitimate photography business is possible and achievable. And Jamie definitely gave me some great advice and inspiration. I am so excited to see where I'll be in the next year. I have some ideas as to what I want to do.

Oh also, she took some raddddd photos of me. Here's one here. Check out the whole post and more images on her blog here.

So once again, I'd just like to give a shout out to my lovely sister in Christ, Jamie, you're awesome. Thank you for driving 2 1/2 hours to see me, treating me to lunch, teaching me and photographing me. :) Keep rockin' it!

PS: I just did some minor changes to the face of this blog. Check it out if you'd like!

Jamie at her best? Ha, just kidding. ;)

Sydney | Senior Portraits

... and here is my last, but definitely not least, 2010 Senior this Fall! Sydney was referred to me by Jocelyn. The both of them are Seniors at Capital High School this year. We totally lucked out with the weather. The whole past week it had been raining and I had been mentally preparing myself for the very high chance of showers. Lo and behold! I woke up on Wednesday to gorgeous sunshine peaking through my windows! (Actually I woke up to my dad telling me wake up to go to the doctors' for a shot, but you get my drift.)

I met Sydney and her brother at Starbucks by Sylvester Park and we went from there. I've shot soo many times in downtown Olympia and it was so refreshing to get some new ideas going on in this shoot. I got some great shots and I'm very happy with them. I hate odd- end numbers so I was so glad that Sydney's mom, Lucy, called me a couple weeks back for a very last minute session (Sydney's yearbook submission is due next Tuesday) Sydney is my 40th Senior! There! A nice even number-- I'm definitely pleased.

Take a look at these photos- I am absolutely taken away by Sydney's outrageously blue eyes! So good!

What did I tell you?

Oh, the power of a reflector!

So about this shot... we were hoping that they wouldn't be working on this construction site since it was Veterans' Day. They were. BUT, Sydney was definitely game to sneak on for a few shots anyway. I think she was less worried than I am and usually I don't mind trespassing! Kudos to you Sydney!

Look at this piece of new artwork Olympia just finished! It is amazing. If you want to see the whole thing, click here. It is soo neat! Glad I was able to use it as a backdrop.

A few shots with her brother, Jake, who is a Freshman this year!

Kamron | Senior Portraits

Kamron is another Senior at Black Hills. I met him a few weeks ago along with his girlfriend, Kenzi. Kamron was totally laid back and was down for whatever. (After all, guys are usually not into the senior portrait thing) Good thing I had Kenzi, whom I had taken photos for the weekend before. She was there to encourage him and pretty much make him be 'serious'. He was so silly and half of the photos I took are of him making ridiculous poses and faces. These two took some couple pictures during the session and they're absolutely adorable!

(He totally looks like Zac Efron huh? He gets that alot.)

Bailey | Senior Portraits

I owe Bailey a bunch- she probably has been how I've received over a third of my business this past few months. She wanted to do a quick part two of her senior portraits so I took these a few weekends back near the Capitol. You can view her first session here. I loved how bright and bold her outfit is- she's a character and I love her for it! Isaiah came along so we of course got some shots with him as well!

Tried something new... just put them in Polaroid frames :)

Some shots with Isaiah

Andra | Senior Portraits

This is part two of Andra's senior session. I took her first session back in September. You can view those here. She really wanted to incorporate the beautiful fall weather and the leaves that came with into some of her senior portraits so we took these up at Tumwater Falls. There were several family portrait sessions going on and I was definitely intimidated by those huge bodies and lenses some of those photographers had... but! no matter, it's the photographer that makes the difference.

Andra and her mom, Mishelle!