KJ Photoshoot

Katy and Jeremy were my first couple to photograph! When she called one evening and asked if I would get some pictures of them together, my response to her was... only if you promise to come with a lot of patience!!! :)

Katy and I both enjoy photography and had talked a few times about getting together and starting something on the side in the future. I was excited about practicing on them as my first couple, but I was pretty nervous as well.

I tend to put a lot of pressure on myself when completing a task. I want to deliver well to my "clients". They don't have to go talk about me to all of their friends or even tell them who took their pictures to begin with... I simply want them to enjoy their pictures.

Katy had a few requests that evening, but her main one was to capture them.

So we started out on the steps of the coffee house where Jeremy proposed a few years earlier!

I love how comfortable they look in each of these photos, and can you not just feel the love they have for one another?
We, then, went downtown to get a few more shots...

All in all I was very excited with how my first couple shoot turned out!!

Katy and Jeremy, thank you for keeping in mind my one request and coming with so much patience!!! You guys are truly an encouraging couple and I admire your commitment to each other!!

POP!!!

Jordan got down on his knee and popped the question this summer! My younger sister is officially engaged and I was there to witness/capture the moment!

I had quite a big task. Not only did I have to get it on video camera so that his family and the rest of our family could see the actual moment, I knew that she would want pictures as well.

We were in Mississippi when he proposed so it would be a while before I could get back to Texas and upload pictures for all her friends to see so that was another thought that came to mind.

So with all of those explanations... these pictures were actually taken with my iPhone. The pictures with a black box around them were edited with an app that I have on my phone. The others have no edit.

Can you feel the excitement?! :)

The Lord's Paint Brush

Like mentioned earlier, my family camps any chance that we are able to. One of our favorite things to do is take a boat ride at sunset. And, of course, my camera is with me almost everytime. You would think after you've seen one sunset you've seen them all, but let these pictures be proof that God paints a different scene each evening. No sunset is exactly like the day before... and how absolutely beautiful and amazing!

These first three pictures were taken on the same evening. One picture is zoomed out to capture more than just the sky. The next picture is simply of the sky; the rays are one of the many reasons why I enjoy the sunset.

The picture below is the exact same photo that you just saw, but with a big boost of color from the program I use to edit pictures. I wouldn't typically add that much of a color-boost, but I wanted to show you just how much you can do with a simple editing program. Pretty neat-oh!!
The next three photos are from a different night when we went out. The first is from the farthest distance and we get closer with each picture that you will see. It's crazy to me how each of them catch my attention in a completely different way.

mmmmmm...

There aren't enough words to express how much I like this next picture!!! I'll just let it speak for itself....

What's neat is that God does this sort of thing all the time. We just fail to see it. Don't miss something this beautiful (and free) simply because you are so busy rushing here and there that you don't notice it. I have even been late to work before because I stopped to get a picture of the beautiful sky that God had painted.

I challenge you to intentionally begin to notice the Lord's masterpiece that He paints each morning and evening! You will be blessed!

Sister Shoot

I love this sassy picture of my sister!! She is actually not the sassy one in the family, but I think this pic is so fun! She is the perfect person to take along when you are practicing ideas.

She let me tell her every little thing to do. Look here, look there. Bend this finger, relax this one. Turn this direction. Smile, don't smile. (The wind started to blow at just the right time for the picture above.)
She is absolutely gorgeous!

We found this bucket out by our dad's firewood so I decided to be a little different and try something random.

There are so many walls downtown that I like to use when i'm taking pictures. When I was downtown a few weeks ago they were painting this yummy one above and it makes me sooooo very sad. I love the rust line from the rain, the dirt, and how old it appears. Too bad, so sad.

This picture is one of my favorites, but it also makes me laugh because it's sooo something my senior photographer would have done. Same pose, New face.

All of these pictures were taken downtown, except for the bucket one in the field. That one was taken in our backyard.

Now days I look up a lot of poses and ideas on Pinterest or google, but back when I did this shoot I thought of all the poses myself. If you see some strange ones.... Yours Truly :)
Before we ended, I took my chair outside and got her to take a picture of me real quick. She did a good job!!! I was so pleased!!

The edit almost makes it look like snow in the back... the colored picture just wasn't cuttin' it so we went with the black-n-white!!

(Pictures taken with Nikon D3000)

The Carolina's

Summer of 2010 we took our family vacation to North and South Carolina. We took the camper instead of renting a hotel because we are more comfortable that way and it saves money in the long-run. This first picture was taken from our campsite at sunset over the mountains.

We toured the Biltmore Estate while we were in Ashville, NC. The following pictures were taken with my Nikon D3000 outside of the house; no cameras allowed inside!

Beautiful-Massive windows

Standing on one of the side porches of the Biltmore. Can you see the mountains off in the distance?

And now we walk down towards the gorgeous gardens...

And the "waterfall" as we leave the grounds.

We stayed (literally) on the beach in Myrtle Beach, SC. I just like that grannies floppy hat :)

aahhhh...

On the pier at night...

The next few pictures were taken with my sony cyber-shot. We went for a hike and I didn't want to carry around my big camera the entire time so I settled for the small one.

You can see the rocks because I sat my camera down on the ground and ledge to get the self-timer.

Snow

We were blessed the past two years to get some snow! That's a pretty big deal for us Texas folks! I took a walk and got some pictures since it doesn't happen often. Turns out.... it's pretty hard to be creative when taking pictures of snow. Maybe if we had it more often it'd be a little easier to think of ideas!
The picture above is our pasture... all covered in white.

This picture (above) was taken standing on my grandfather's driveway. He lives directly behind us. I just loooove how trees look covered in snow.

The next few pics are the extent of my creativity...

And then my precious dad sledding down the hill :) with the gorgeous tree beside him!!!

(not sure which camera this is...)