"let's do 52" - wk 52

Here we are, at the end of another personal "goal" project. Last year it was the overwhelming 365 project, this year is was the one photo per week. Lucky for me, I survived both of them! Not sure if I will have a new project for 2012, but I guess that should be decided soon! With the Christmas holiday come and gone, and today being the FINAL day of 2011, I should mention that some things that I feel are pretty great are about to happen. 2012 is literally right around the corner now and 2011 will be a thing of the past at the blink of an eye. Some pretty great things have happened for me this year, and just for fun, here are some statistics of everything fabulous that I photographed this year:
Kids: 6
High School Seniors: 4
Ballerinas: 15
Families: 7
Couples: 12
Weddings: 8
I had a great year for 2011 being my first official year as a business, and I cannot wait to see where 2012 takes me! HUGE thanks to everyone that has supported me along the way and pushed me to be where I am. Without all of your support both in person and on the web, I could have potentially given up months ago!

2011 Photographer Favorites - Weddings

2011 was a very lucky year for me. Not only did I book 2 weddings as the lead photographer, doubling the number of weddings I photographed in 2010, but I was lucky enough to not just have one photographer take me along as an assistant for a few weddings of THEIR season, but TWO photographers. I had a great time working with Georgette & Doug this year, and feel that I learned a LOT about the ins and outs of weddings. With each wedding that I worked at, I was able to learn more about what to capture, paying attention to not just the actions of people, but other's reactions. I cannot WAIT to see what the 2012 year has in store for me. I feel as if these two seasoned photographers helped open the doors and help me get ready for the things that are in store for me and wedding photography under my own name. For that, I cannot give them enough thank yous!
Jamaica & Michael
Stephanie & Dan
Jenni & Jim
Hailee & John
Valerie & Blake
Emma & Adam
Michela & Tommaso

2011 Photographer Favorites - Engagement Sessions

This year was a great starting year for getting my business off the ground and a step down the right path of where I would like to see it going. Last year, I only photographed two engagement sessions throughout the entire year, and I can officially say I doubled that this year! Working with couples one on one during their engagement session is SO much fun for me. I love the ideas we come up with, and different ways to make their engagement sessions personal to them. Two of these couples came to me, having known them for years, while the other two were brand new faces I had never met before, but had a fantastic time working with them! Two shout outs for these couples. The first being to Laurel & Mike, who are getting married this Saturday in Oregon! Plus, another to the last couple featured here, Britt & Nathan, who became my first official booked wedding for 2012! Cannot wait for next year!
Laurel & MikeMonica & JamesAmy & LukeBritt & Nathan

2011 Photographer Favorites - Families

A big portion of what I love to do photography wise involved the family portrait side of things. When I'm not off working one wedding or another, I absolutely love spending one on one time with a family group creating portraits for them to display in their home for everyone to see. I often hear the statement "We haven't done portraits since my youngest was 6 months old, and she's 15 now!" Believe me, it happened with our own family too. There is no need for a special occasion for family photos, but instead should be used to celebrate and document where you were at that point in time with your kids. They'll be able to look back in years to come and see their WHOLE family in their portraits, not just mom or dad because the other was behind the camera taking the photo. My advice for 2012? If you haven't made time to have a family portrait done in the recent years, make a goal for it! I would LOVE to help document memories for each and every one of you :)
Desha Family Hoskins FamilyKrueger Family Myers Family Dickey & Molatore Family

"let's do 52" - wk51

Wow, week 51? Can this year REALLY be almost over? Hard to believe it, that's for sure! So many changes have happened in one year alone, but even with changes, the time of year full of traditions is currently upon us. Of course, the holiday traditions with family, but also the gathering of friends and close ones to spend time together. Thursday was the annual "mud football" game put on by my cousin, as well as hoards of people from my dance studio. Well, there was no mud, but it was apparently by far the largest turnout for a football game they have had yet! I spent my time taking pictures from the sidelines - might as well have caught the ball a time or two as well! Great group of people that are a family within itself, and couldn't ask for a better kick off for the holiday season.
Have a fantastic Christmas Eve & Christmas Day with friends, family and loved ones!

2011 Photographer Favorites - The Ballerinas

It has been a while since I revisited this personal project of mine, and what better time than now? The Ballerina Project was the most fun I could have with my senior portfolio project, and looking back on it now makes me really glad for all the time and work I put in to it. Now I'm not going to fill this post with all 18 images, so I went and picked my 5 all time favorites for you to revisit with me :) The entiretly of the original ballerina blog posts can be viewed by clicking here. Megan
Rachael
Katie & Kristin
Karen

Aria

Lyman Holiday Portrait Session - Sacramento, CA

This past Monday - yes, I mean two days ago Monday. I'm a speedy little editing elf these days - I met up with a Daddy/Daughter Duo at the State Capitol Christmas Tree for a Holiday portrait shoot for a Christmas gift. Ed wanted some photos with his daughter Chrissy to give his mom for Christmas (no worries, I checked with Ed and she won't see this post!) so we picked the biggest decorated tree that I could think of for their session. The morning started off with some super thick fog, but cleared up just enough for us to get some great portraits of the two of them!Love this one! Such a great portrait of the two of them, happy smiles and all!Chrissy is SUCH a cutie in this one! She's also one of my dancers that performed Friday night, and she just KNOWS how to work a cute pose. Right off the bat, she crossed her feet just like that!

2011 Photographer Favorites - The Wedding Details

One element of a wedding that tends to get overlooked by many people afterwards are the details that went in to it. These are the little bits and pieces that the bride and groom spent so much time coordinating in order to turn their dream wedding in to a reality. Everything from flowers to favors turn a simple room in to a brand new place, unique to the couple and their special day. I decided to dedicate a favorites post just to wedding details. Enjoy!
Michael & JamaicaStephanie & DanJenni & JimHailee & JohnValerie & BlakeEmma & AdamMichela & Tommaso

"let's do 52" - wk50

Last night was the yearly Christmas dance show for our studio. The second year that we have done it at the community center in North Highlands, and the turn out was great! My kids have been working hard on their dances since October, and the work paid off! They all did such an amazing job, especially my littlest kiddos. I'm one who has a hard time with Christmas music playing in stores before Thanksgiving, so before Halloween even was pushing it for me! But the music playing and practicing paid off, and I cannot wait to see where they are ability wise for next June's recital!

2011 Photographer Favorites - The Lovebirds

When making my list of sessions, I found that I had photographed a lot more couples than I thought I did. Of course, when I saw them all I did remember each and every session but putting them all on a blog post would have taken forever! So I split all my couples in half and picked some of my all time favorite images from the year to feature. This first half included the "non-engaged" couples, the love birds :)

Savannah & ShawnJessica & AdamAriana & RobEmily & JoeDallis & Will

2011 Photographer Favorites - High School Seniors

Somehow, all my High School Seniors this year ended up to be boys. Why? Not totally sure, but these sessions were just as fun regardless. Everything from exploring train tracks in the rain to working with a very enthusiastic dog, we did what we could to make these sessions personalized for each Senior. WHICH is what is most important, right? Nobody wants stuffy portraits anymore, and even if you do, I won't give them to you! Without further delay, here are the Seniors photographed in 2011!

JoshJacobDevinJoshua

2011 Photographer Favorites - Children

In my skype conversation with Raven, the fact of my blog being super slow came up. What she suggested was the idea of posting "photographer favorites" through the end of the year. I thought it was a great idea, so for the next couple weeks, while getting ready for Christmas and gearing up for 2012, you'll get to see some of my favorite photos I took throughout the year with links back to the original session. Starting us off are those cute little kiddos!
Lorelai KaelynnCaileyDesmondAlazeKent

Keep coming back this week, there is much more to share from my favorites collection!