Ninh and Rosemarie | Engagement

Ninhzie is what their closest friends refer to them as. They're two silly kids. I met Ninh almost five years ago and have known Rosie for about a year and a half now. Both Ninh and Rosie were in the wedding party of this wedding I helped photograph (if you've been following my blog for that long). I was able to become really good friends with them when I accompanied them on a short missions trip back during the time I was still living in California. Since then, I've visited on several occasions (including these past few days) and each time, I've been blessed by the friendship of these two.

The weather was perfect for this shoot. I did, however, totally forget that it gets darker here in SoCal than it does in Washington during the summer. That was kind of a bummer (rhyme not intended), but nonetheless, we got some fun frames! :)

Vanessa Joy | Senior Portraits

Before I begin this post, I'll tell you that this was probably the most fun I've ever had shooting senior portraits... only because not did I have a privilege of photographing a dear friend and fellow photographer, but I went along with many of my other San Diegan photographers here. Yesterday I went on a little photo excursion with several of my friends. We had a bunch of photographers and some friends come along... and we all rotated being models and what not. These were taken at Lake Hodges. If you aren't familiar with this place, it's where Phil Wickham shot his cover picture for his album Cannons. I am having an unbelievable time here in California. It's definitely exhausting me... in a good way. A more detailed post with even more photos of everyone else will come soon. For now, here is Vanessa.

I also met Vanessa last November when I went on the missions trip. Before I even met her, I was impressed by the way she held herself and looked up to her because she truly is a daughter of Christ. Also, she is extremely talented... you've got to check out some of her work here and her musical talentness on her YouTube.

What I love most about these portraits are probably the fact that they are so unique from my other Seniors. They're a little bit more on the artsy side only 'cause Vanessa is also a photographer and I wanted to get more of a 'bio' shoot going on. :) We also used a Polaroid camera, which I've been wanting to do forever! I'm privileged to say that I was able to photograph her while I'm down in San Diego. Love you girl!

Had some fun with a Polaroid camera...

Lam & Tonya / June 6, 2009

The last two weeks have been insane and I've just finally had the chance to breathe and take a moment to just relax. It seems as if when things happen in my life, it all happens at once and then I get super busy... I've just been running on a bit of 'crazy' as my friend likes to say. About a week and a half ago, I had the opportunity to shoot another wedding. Lam and Tonya flew me down for a week and I had the chance to spend time with my San Diego friends. It was so much fun/super stressful. 

Before I left Brooks, I had mentioned to my friends that I would be in California again in June to shoot a wedding. I jokingly asked my good friend Stephanie (who also has the amazing gift of photography) if she'd second shoot for me and surprisingly she said yes. It was great- I had the chance to see her again and we caught up for a bit. The wedding day was INSANE. I was up at 5 (thanks to Stephanie) and didn't go to bed until 2 the next morning. We shot from 6 AM to 4 PM and I resumed shooting the reception by myself from 7 PM to 11 PM. Stephanie had to head back to SB. By the time the afternoon rolled around, I was really tired and slightly agitated. (I need to work on this) But the reception was a great time and I had a lot of fun shooting it. My friend's uncle had lent me another body so it was quite useful to have two cameras on me.

Things I've learned from this wedding: BREATHE and RELAX. I would most definitely say that I've grown a lot since I shot my 'first' wedding back in May. Most importantly, have fun. I let a lot of things get to me that day and it honestly didn't help. Having a second shooter is also a great idea... I cannot thank Steph enough. Together we shot over 3000 photos... but I have yet to go through them all and sort them all out. I have a lot of editing left to do, but here are some of my favorites. 

Enjoy :) I'll continue posting some more here at my flickr.