Cynthia and the boys

If the word crazy was looked up in the dictionary, my cousin's Cynthia's face would be smack down beside it. Because that's who she is. Crazy. With a capital C in a hilarious I-can't-believe-she-did-that kind of way. A few weeks ago she asked if I could photograph her and her boys and of course I jumped to the opportunity to do so. In 104 weather, we cracked up, yelled at the kids and complained every second of the heat. We family. We cool. And I had a blast capturing some awesome memories. Big ups to Ally from glitz and glam for dolling up Cynthia and making her like a hot momma. Ally is also our cousin so basically we all use each other for our services. haha Love you two!

    The boys!

      Victor, you little heartbreaker you.

Hot momma!

Happy Tuesday! :)

Becky & Daniel: 1 year anniversary shoot

One year ago, an anticipated bride waited in her wedding dress to be walked to down to the isle to lock eyes with the man of her dreams. The man that for over a year she secretly had feelings for but never had the guts to express how she felt. Now, a year later, she steps out of the passenger seat of her car at Fairmount Park rockin' heels in her summer dress and holding hands with the same man that stole her heart. A  few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of photographing my good friends Becky and Daniel as they celebrated their one year anniversary. I don't normally shoot couples but when Becky asked if I could shoot a session of them I couldn't say no. I had the honor of singing at their wedding ceremony and I couldn't pass being part of another special time in their lives. Congrats again you two! Ya'll rocked the camera!!

Becky and Daniel decided to have their pictures taken at Fairmount Park, which was super neat because that's where Daniel asked Becky to be his wifey.

WORK-IT

And this right here? This bench is where Daniel popped the question. So cute!

Fierce!

Tip Tuesday: How to capture movement shots

It's time to get back to Tip Tuesday! Yayyyyy!!!! Today's tip is how to capture a movement shot. Believe me, there is a trick to it. In the picture below, I wanted to get a jumping shot of Alex, however, I was shooting at an ISO of 400 with an aperture of f/3.2. One thing to remember is that the lower your ISO is the slower your shutter speed is and the higher your aperture is the smaller your lens becomes which allows less light to come into your camera. If your shutter speed is slow you will get a very blurry and out of focus shot. The trick is to raise your ISO and lessen your aperture. That's exactly what I did in the image below, and doing so allowed me to get a clear and focused shot of Alex and it's one of my favorite shots of the day. Here, I bumped up my ISO to 1300 and lowered my aperture to f/2.5. Voila!!!

Happy Tuesday!

Audrey Hepburn inspired shoot

It's here! Finally! Can I get an Amen! I have been anxiously waiting to showcase this shoot but a few weeks ago my laptop had to go into surgery, but the Geek Squad geniuses managed to perform a  miracle and brought it back to life. Now, I can finally blog about all the fabulousness in this shoot. Ally from Glitz and Glam did an absolute flawless job once again with hair and makeup and we were spoiled enough to have our model Alex jump on board and be our mini Audrey Hepburn for the day. And the location? Sweet Lawwwd! I was obsessed with the architecture at UCR's Performing Arts Center. I could shoot there everyday. I also absolutely loved the outfits that were put together for this shoot. They truly depicted the style of Audrey Hepburn in a classy and fun way. A shot out to Alex's momma who helped put these outfits together. I may just have her be my personal stylist. :)

Thank you so so much to Ally and Alex for being so amazing. Really, my heart gets happy just thinking of our awesome teamwork. Saying I had fun would be short of how this shoot truly went. You guys rock!

And without further adieu, I introduce to you Alex, making Audrey Hepburn proud! :)

      Textured walls! Gahhhhh!

    Love!

      There's something about this picture I love.

   After a quick outfit change we headed back for some more pics!

      Fierce I say, fierce!!

Tip Tuesday: A fabulous announcement

Today I'm substituting Tip Tuesday with a fabulous new announcement! Ally from glitz and glam and I are at it again with a new styled shoot inspired by none other than the elegant style of the ever fabulous Audry Hepburn. Oh yes, it's all about the classy and briging back Hollywood's golden age in this shoot.  Ally came to me with the idea of an Audrey Hepburn inspired shoot a while ago and I was ecstatic about the idea. The last shoot we did was inspired by Fida Kahlo (check out the shoot here) and it was an absolute blast putting the look and style together. After the Frida shoot, we thought it would be a great idea to organize and plan shoots inspired by women in history who have made an imapct in the world of fashion and well, fabulousness. I am so pumped to team up once more with this awesome little lady and put our crazy heads together once again for a 50's throwback shoot inspired by the fashion icon herself. Let the glitz and the glam planning begin!! :)

Tip Tuesday: natural light diffusers

I am a natural light photographer, which means I don't normally use flash in my images. I love to be able to shoot natural images that have raw light in them. However, there have been instances where the light I've had to work with wasn't all that pleasant. Today's tip has to do with finding and using natural light diffusers. Normally, a light diffuser is a device that diffuses or in other words spreads light in some manner to give soft light versus having harsh light. If you've seen photo shoots on TV, you will sometimes see a person holding a white surface that is aimed at the sun or some form of light. That diffuser is responsible for reflecting soft light to the subject. However, you can sometimes find natural light diffusers around you.

I took the image below at a park where there were several trees and let me tell you, trees serve as a great natural diffuser. They filter and spread natural sun light in a beautiful and soft way. Here, the light was hitting from behind, and the huge trees served as a light diffuser that allowed for the light to spread between the trees. I was able to capture this image with the fabulous light in the background and I absolutely loved it. Natural light diffusers also help when shooting in harsh light and they give your images a soft flare. :)

Happy Tuesday!! :)

Tip Tuesday on a Wednesday: Studying poses

I know I know, today isn't Tuesday but I still wanted to keep this tip thing going. Yesterday I posted a new shoot of a fabulous family because I just couldn't help myself. Ain't nothing wrong with that! So today, tip Tuesday is a little late so don't hate. And that sentence right there totally rhymed.

Today's tip is in regards to studying poses. Why is this important? When shooting, it is very important to be on top of time. You want to make the best use of the time you have to shoot, whether it's shooting for an hour or shooting an event that will last you the whole day. Studying poses and mentally preparing yourself before you arrive to a shoot is crucial and it will save you time. I'm a lifestyle photographer so the shoots I normally do last about an hour so before I even arrive to a shoot I'm already thinking of what poses I'm going to ask my client to try. That way, I'm more focused on getting the shot that I want versus trying to figure out how I'm going to position my client during the shoot. One of the ways I do this is by browsing through various poses in fashion magazines. My personal favorites are Vogue, and Nylon because they have awesome fashion spreads that are fresh and modern. One thing to keep in mind is that everyday people are not professional models, so we as photographers need to direct them and guide them into a pose in a way that is comfortable for them. If I'm shooting a family, I think before hand, of how I'm going to place each individual and where, if I'm shooting a senior or a portrait session I do the same thing. So when you have the time, go to a Barnes and Noble or your nearest book store, grab some magazines, study away and find ways on how to incorporate some of those poses in your next shoot. :) And because posts are better with pictures check out this pose I found online. I decided to use it in the Frida Kahlo inspired shoot and I think Shiany owned it!

Happy Wednesday!