At Least Half

He didn't often raise his voice when we were kids. And when he did, we sat up straight. No questions. And while I have always admired this man I am proud to call my dad, I've never admired him more than I do today. We've had recent changes come into our family and I silently watch this man. He assembles and disassembles furniture without complaint. Helps to straighten out rooms. He rises early in the mornings to work and even on the bad days doesn't come home and grumble. He prepares for sermons twice a week. Works hard on his business ventures. He willingly gives and gives, all without hesitation. In my quest to become a better photographer I soak in the wisdom that he unconsciously manifests. Hoping that I learn all that I can from him.

My words are inadequate. Pitiful even, in describing the admiration I have for this man. The man who loves his iPhone almost as much as he loves his Mac. The man who can sit for hours mindlessly strumming an unstructured tune on his guitar. And the one who will search for weird things on the internet--like headphones for his iPhone. {WHY can't he just go to the store?!?!} And while its not Father's Day or his birthday I wanted to let everyone know, I have the best hero of a dad. And while I aim to be as great as he is, my on hope in life is to be at least half the person he is. I would settle for that. At least half.

What? You Want Me to Dance for You? Why, Certainly!

And don't tell me that I'm not down with the moves. I'm the best dancer I know. Soooooooo good in fact that I have created my own genre (?) or style of dancing. It's called the Energizer.

**crickets**

Yeah.

Anyhow, enjoy because apparently I have NO shame!!



Happy Wednesday!!

To the left, to the left, now S-L-I-D-E

Okay my title has nothing to do with what I'm posting about other than some word similarities. But I think I seriously love this. Check out the slide/video I created! Rather than setting the photos to the tunes of Mat's odious voice (as that might cause people to quickly turn the video off) I set it to their wedding song. Perfecto! This truly is a beautiful couple.

And don't worry M~you'll always have an audience with me. And your mom.



Happy rest of the Tuesday!

Veronica & Lannie::Married!

They adore each other. You can tell in the way they look into the others eyes and the cherished feeling of holding hands. They were very aware of the vows they took and the lifetime promises that they made to each other. I knew. And I'd only met them that day.

This past weekend I got the chance to second shoot a wedding with the fabulous Charity of La Bella Vie Photography. I'll post a link to her work as soon as she gets one up. *hint, hint*. ;) I had such a good time hanging with Charity. The sneaking to Starbucks on our way to the church, the 118 degree weather--okay that's a bit of exaggeration it was only 117. Whatever, it was hot. Back to my list, the running around making sure we had secured the pictures we needed, sharing exposure info (I threw Charity into sink or swim manual waters and she did pretty good!!) and sharing the pictures that we got. How anyone does a wedding without a second shooter is beyond me. I'm sure you could do without one but the bonus pictures are soooo worth it. Listen to me talking as though I was the primary.

Veronica made a beautiful bride and given their time contraints had a beautiful ceremony! With only about a half an hour to do pictures in between the ceremony and reception we were running around like chickens with our heads cut off. We probably sounded like chickens too. Anywho...without further adieu: The Mr. and Mrs.



















Charity's poor computer is at the doctor and she's out of state for the week so I have her photos. These are just a few that stuck out to me. She is amazing with capturing details. I love details!

Hope you don't mind Charity I cropped (just for this post) the flower photo on the left. It's such a cool picture! =)




Lannie's memorial seat for his mother. He lost her when he was young.




The handsome and oh so suave crooner Kris Seibold. He and Heidi King sang in the wedding.

Congratulations to the new couple. Thank you so much for letting me tag along with Charity. I had a blast!

Engaged!~Denice & Phil::Gilroy Wedding Photographer

They met when they were still teenagers. He asked her to go to his church Christmas banquet to which she politely agreed. When he came for her however, he did one tiny little huge thing wrong--he FORGOT to open her door...right in front of the parents. Well ever since then her sisters never forgave him. That would be me. And Stef. And we vowed from that day on to never like him. Even though we never saw the perpetrator commit the crime. And even when he showed up again in 2005 and started dating Denice while she was at UC Davis. Try as we might we couldn't break them up. I even went so far as to send fake break up text messages. To no avail. The poor dummy just loved her that much more. So I concede. He wins. He loves my sister and he has to take care of her or my greater influence with the family will forever keep him at odds. =)

It's been such a ride watching the two of them. Denice got her Master's Degree in Linguistics this past June and he started him own MMA Business, Fight of Your Life Communications. And the name of the business is so long because he talks a lot. And I am not their photographer, they were just good enough to let me get some shots and volunteered to look fabulous. Check out their fabuphotographer, Jared Alvarez, here!!

I love you both. Well, I love Denice.






The man himself--seriously, if you want to be famous one day then this is the guy that'll make it happen for you. And that's as nice as I'll be. ;)