Soon to be Miss Rodeo Utah

Meet Lacey, a very talented and charismatic young lady. She is the sweetest girl and will be competing in the Miss Rodeo Utah competition soon; she came to me for a great headshot for the photo competition. These 2 images were her favorites, but we went with photo 2. If she doesn't win then I will have to question the sanity of the judges! Wish her luck and leave her some encouragement here!

More Temple Square - Family Day

After conference, Jeremy and I  planned a day to take the kids up to Temple Square to show them all the sites and to take pictures of them. We want to print some of them with the temple in the background to hang in their rooms. I think this will mean more to them than just a picture sitting there.

When we got home we opened our wedding album and showed them that we had taken pictures in all the same spots mom and dad had pictures when we were married. They wondered why they weren't in the pictures, but we told them they were watching from heaven! It was such a fun day and brought up a lot of great discussions with the kids. It also really made me want another little one!

2nd Shooting Experience

I offered to come help my cousin Lindsey shoot a wedding and she graciously agreed. This couple had no experience with me, but I hope by the end of the evening I gained their confidence and friendship!

Meet Spencer & Natalie, a lovely couple with great taste in colors and style! : )

The sun opened up for these two; it was supposed to be cold and rainy, however, nothing but sunshine would do for their day!

Being a second shooter means not always getting the best angle; trying to think of creative ways to cover the action, and always being on guard for small moments around the main couple. Like this: Lindsey & Kale Fitch doing their thing! It also means that the day is complete bliss not being the one under pressure! haha 

This was the first time I had worked with Kale, he is pure genius! If you need a videographer for your wedding, hire him!

The reception was held at the beautiful Cactus & Tropical in Draper, such beautiful natural light and decor there.

Now I can't wait to get my film back, too!

Freedom

Even cold and rainy days are beautiful on film!

Love Letters

The flowers are in bloom and love is in the air! I want to hear your love stories, the laughs, even the tears, and the moment you knew you were made for each other. 

Send me a non-professional picture of your and your fiance along with your love story and wedding date (if you have it set) by June 25th to kidsfreckles@yahoo.com. I will be posting them here on the blog as I receive them. Then I, along with a panel of trusted photographers and judges will choose the couple with the story that melted our hearts!

What is the prize? 

My wedding package #3, normally $2,200, for only $1600! Plus, as a bonus, you get a FREE Bridal Session added to the package, and get Upgraded to hi-resolution digital DVD of all images for FREE!

Every one who enters is eligible for 15% off a wedding package of their choice. : )

That is a $3,300 value for only $1,600! More than 50% off!


Fine print: Wedding must be in July, August, or September on a date that I am available. Winner will be announced June 30th. Extra travel fees may apply to some destinations. Everyone that enters can book a wedding package at 15% off! To see wedding rates click this link, then click rates and wedding rates.

Clayton

This little boy has grown so much since I photographed him last! He is still just as cute and such a good model for me. This session literally took me 10 minutes! Mom is great too, she knows she can just come in, sit down and let me do my thing. Kari, if you get 15 fans on FB  and comments on FB or here, you'll get a special gift! ; )

Tortolla

This was another favorite island of ours, so beautiful and full of pirate history. To get to any of the beaches you had to drive up and over the mountains. This is a grab shot out the window on the way to a different beach.

Once we got to our destination: Cane Garden Bay, Jeremy and I took a walk to photograph the detailed and brightly colored  buildings. 

The sun was in and out of the clouds all afternoon, but it was still warm and peaceful there.

Later that night we caught a show, played a crazy game of spoons (I'm sure people thought we were drunk), went to the chocolate buffet, and went to another late show. That was our busiest day on the ship! Here we are on our floating home.

Brindley Sneak Peek

I have been having so much fun doing country sessions lately that I decided to build my own piece of countryside in the studio! This family was so much fun, I could have taken pictures of these cute redheads all day! Aren't they so adorable?! Mom did a fabulous job with their outfits, too!

I recently started a new benefit to my clients: Leave some comment love here or on FB and become a fan on FB, once they get 15 comments and fans, they win a prize with their order!! : )

Katelyn Test Shoot ~ Teen and Modeling Photography, Utah~

I am anxiously awaiting the film back from this shoot, but until then here is a sneak at a few digital images I took at the end of our session.
p.s. leave some love here and on FB and she will get a free gift (see FB page for details).

St. Thomas - below the water

So these aren't my pictures, we bought the professional pictures and videos taken by the diver. Normally I would have taken my own, but we forgot our underwater cameras in our room that morning. Of all the days to forget. haha Our options were to pay $25 for a cheap camera or buy their picture package. I'm glad we did, all the images are HDR and so clear. Plus, we got to just enjoy the experience knowing someone else was documenting it. I have to be honest, we didn't even see half of the creatures the diver did, but we did see quite a few and we got to hold a lot of little sea creatures, too which was awesome.

This was a unique experience, a once in lifetime. You do a short training about the helmets and what to expect, but both Jeremy and I were still terrified before going in the water. The helmets weigh 75 lbs to keep you on the ocean floor, and they place it on your head on a ladder when you are neck deep in and help you down the ladder. Once down, there is a chain fence along the path to hold on to; without it we would have been swept away in the current. It took a while to get used to walking with the helmet on and figuring out how to look out of it. If you wanted to see something you had to turn your whole body and look straight out the front or everything was really distorted. A few times I reached out to touch a fish only to find I was way off.

You also can't look down, so I tripped a few times at first. Along the way Jeremy and I both had something cross our ankles, whatever it was left a big scratch on my ankle. It was pretty creepy, maybe it was this friendly looking fellow below??! : )

It was a really cool adventure, we were so glad we did it. The kids loved looking at the pictures of us in our helmets, and watching video of it, so I guess the extra cost was worth it in the end. If you're ever in St. Thomas, go check it out!

Also, if you'd like to see another view of St. Tomas or more cruise pictures, check out our friend's site too!

St. Thomas - above the water

St. Thomas was our second port of call on the cruise, the day after Samana. We were delivered right into a tourist trap in St. Thomas and I wasn't thrilled. Nothing authentic to photograph in any direction, but I did get a few nice shots of the harbor from our ship. These are all digital pictures since we had an under water excursion planned that afternnon.

Image descriptions from top left to right going down the rows:

*Coral World at Coki Beach. Debbie and Steve went snorkeling at the beach while we did a helmet dive in that hut. *Before our dive we got to tour the park for a while, meet mr. shark. * Me petting mr. shark, he felt like sandpaper! * Me petting the friendly starfish. * Me getting attacked by a nasty bird. Yeah, I like animal life, but sometimes, they don't like me! haha * The crew station. This little place caters to the asian workers on the ships, they can use the internet, make phone calls, and buy food they eat at home. Our waitress at breakfast was so excited to get off the ship and spend her day here. * This picture makes me laugh! This is supposed to be a postcard set up where you zoom in and take your picture, well, you never know what you'll get handing your camera off to a stranger! *Aboard the ship after our day on the island, ready for dinner. *Dinner at the mexican restaurant on board (thanks guys). We had a very messy meal, Jeremy dropped a rib right into his glass, Steve spilled salsa on the table. We special ordered dessert and when the head waiter saw the state of our table he wouldn't even lay down silver ware until someone came to clean it. I could get used to that level of service, we were so spoiled on the ship!

Speaking of spoiled...I guess that is a good time to add that Jeremy and I bought a week pass to the spa. It was heaven!! There were jacuzzis, saunas, a therapy pool, and hot stone lounge chairs.  Worth every penny for relaxation!!

 At Coral world. There were iguanas everywhere!! They were like seagulls here, they would sneak up to people and try to steal and beg for food. We saw one eating a napkin.

Some cute sea turtles hanging out eating their lettuce lunch.

This was a grab shot on the way back to the tourist trap. Some glimpse of real life here. I loved the school uniforms.

Another grab shot, some guy slicing a fish for sale on the side of the road. St. Thomas ended up being my least favorite stop. From the parts we saw, it was just like being here in the US, only dirtier and more run down.  Good thing we had an awesome dive experience!

Back on board and ready for dinner.

The beautiful sunset harbor