One of the things I love when I get to shoot someone more than once is getting them out of their normal comfort zone. Alicia is so use to giving us sexy glamour faces it’s just fun to get very candid natural image of her. I truly love these smiling pictures of her. I think the great thing about boudoir is that sexy can be interpreted several different ways. It can be sultry or light-hearted and it can still can be sensual. It’s all about being you and not trying to be something you are not. Which is the way we should view all things in life anyway….

One of the things I’m really bad at is doing detail shots during my boudoir sessions. I get really inspired by photographers that do this very well. So I tried to incorporate more of this into this shoot. My fave is the butt shot of Alicia in the window.

Enjoy these images of Alicia from her session. Tune in tomorrow for a special behind the scenes video from this shoot.

If you enjoy these candid pictures of Alicia make sure you like, comment and share below.

I know it’s cheesy to say that the reason I love shooting boudoir is how it makes women feel after they see themselves on camera. I love their reactions and seeing their faces when they laugh and say, “Wow, is that really me?” Of course there are other reasons. I’m generally am open person and I like bold statement pieces. The truth is I just like sexy people, but nothing is more rewarding then this little moment when people tell me how great their experience was and how confident I made them. I remember NC coming to the shoot and several times she told me how self conscience she felt about her tummy. “You are beautiful,” I said, “Don’t worry, it will look great.” Afterwards when she saw her photos she excitedly emailed me and said, “Omg, they’re amazing!” I look forward to this reaction every time. It doesn’t matter how many sessions I do. It never fails that this is the best part. NC, you ARE amazing! Thank you for such a wonderful session!

Thank you Ashley Grinnell – Hair Stylist and Ingrid Butron – Make-up Artist. Make sure you check these ladies out for your hair and make-up needs.

A few nights ago I came home from a 12 hour shoot, dead tired, but too addicted to facebook to just go to bed, and I got this picture on my notification.

This pictures of my bride and groom eating cookies I sent them. It took two minutes out of their day, but it made me so thrilled to see them happy and enjoying their treats. It made my whole night because when I come home feeling like I got ran over by a truck something like this reminds me why I love my job.

It made me think about all the little things in our life that in essence seems small, but in reality make us much happier than big grand gestures.

The other day I was listening to Trevor Dayley on showitlive and he was talking about how he brings a speaker system to each shoot. He hooks his iphone into it and plays jams to loosen his grooms….and I thought wow, what a really simple idea that makes a huge statement to who you are.

A couple of weekends ago one of my 2nd shooters helped my bride out by helping her knot a tie and I remember the bride saying, “WOW, you really saved the day.” Who would of thought something as simple as knowing how to knot a tie made such a difference? That day, it was one less thing she had to worry about it and I was so grateful that he could be there for her.

My husband is out of town for the weekend and as I am sitting here at my computer editing into the wee hours of the night I get a text from him, two words, “pretty woman”. Sorta like an “I love you”, but so much more. He’s thinking about me and in his mind I’m still pretty even though I’m sitting here in sweats with raccoon eyes from wearing black eye shadow all day. Then this made me think about how he took out the trash today before he left because he knows I hate to do it or when he did the dishes for 3 nights in a row because my eyes and hands were too glued to my computer. I mean, he could buy me all the diamond rings in the world, but it’s when he does these little things that makes me really feel like he’s taking care of me.

I guess what I’m saying is don’t discount how the little things you do effect others. These small gestures become a significant way to build friendships. Not everything you do has to be big, grand and perfect. Sometimes a two word text and a batch of cookies makes smiles all the same.

They met through mutual friends when Katy was having some car trouble. Soon after Charles found himself making excuses to fix all her car parts just so he could see her. Fun loving bombshell meet harley riding cowboy = Katy + Charles. They both are a little rebellious and a lot adventurous. Charles isn’t great at taking pictures, in fact, he pretty much hated it, but everytime he got in front of the camera with Katy his face sort of lit up and that’s how I know he truly loves her. He would give her anything. Their wedding day was full of small accents of both their personalities: Cowboy boots, hats, robe and wooden boxes. It had the perfect little details just for them. During formal pictures Katy said, “I just want to have a little fun.” and no doubt this wedding was just that. There was lots of laughter and lots of tears. It was an amazing day. Congrats Charles + Katy.

I absolutely adore these two black and whites of Katy.

Ahh!! First look! I adore those!

Gorgeous!

Handsome couple!

The game room at the Forest House is ridiculously cool. I want one for my house.

Cutest flower girl and ring bearer EVER!

Love this double sided cake! Classy in the front and rebel in the back.

Ceremony and Reception: Forest House Lodge
Flowers: Cheryl Porter
Cake: Forest House Lodge
Hair: Lea Buehler
Make-up Traci Bucher

If you like cowboys and California girls, make sure you like this post and comment below.

A couple of days ago I was watching showitlive and one of the guest photographers on the show mentioned something that made me think outloud, “Hey, that would make a really good blog post.” I told myself to write it down, but assured myself it would be something I could remember. Five minutes later I tried to recall what the idea was and guess what? I forgot! Of course! How I could think, me….someone who loses her keys every morning could go without writing it down…after all 5 minutes was like 300 seconds ago and apparently in brain cell time, that is too much. In my own defense, I swear to you, I don’t know if it’s because I’m older or spend too many hours on facebook, but I am finding that I’m becoming much more forgetful.

Which is why, I got this stupid notebook. Well, I shouldn’t call her stupid. She will probably become my best friend (in fact, I like her a lot already), but for a long time I couldn’t get myself to carry around a notebook because I felt like it was such a ball and chain kind of deal…but since facebook is killing my brain cells I decided to invest in her and look how pretty and small she is. You can snuggle up to her too….if you want to blackmail me in the future.

….but anyhoo, say hello to my best friend, Genette.