Weekly Photo Challenge - "Nighttime"

So I'm pretty sure I could do this challenge for a month, especially living in Las Vegas. There are SOO many things I wanted to photograph, and just never enough time! So here's my pic. This was photographed at the Red Rock Casino :)



Monica photographed her son's new night light. I love these things! It makes me want to go buy one for my girls now :)



And we have another photographer joining our weekly challenges! Grace is a professional photographer based out of St. George, UT. She captured this beautiful photograph of the St. George LDS temple last week.



Our challenge for this week is:

"Color"

Busy, busy, busy!

So Monica and I both agreed we should extend this week's photo challenge for at least another week, if not more! Neither one of us had taken any pictures for it yet. I know, I know... slackin' :)

We are both SO busy right now, and the funny thing is that we're both overwhelmed for the same reason. Monica just moved into her brand new house yesterday, and I will be moving into my new home in the next few days... if all goes well! We're both super excited, but definitely have WAY too much to do at the moment :)

But I promise... the photo challenge will return soon, in full force!

So although I don't have a picture for this week's challenge, I do have another fun waterfall picture from my trip to Havasupai that I haven't posted yet. So here you go. Enjoy :)

Ballet's rising star!

Today was so fun! I was able to photograph a beautiful young ballet dancer :) There are so many cute pics from this session, so I'll be adding more tomorrow. I just couldn't wait until I finished editing to put them all up. Here's your sneak preview!

Weekly Photo Challenge - "Patterns"

This was fun! The hardest part was sticking with one idea! In the end I decided to photograph my guitar, because of the cool pattern the strings create. The best part about this challenge was that I actually picked up my dusty guitar and played for awhile... after I FINALLY put my camera down, lol. I'm thinking I need to do that more often!



And here's Monica's pic, you can't go wrong with a basket!



Our challenge for this week is:

"Night time" (no flash!)

Finally ordered my promo cards!

Getting married in Las Vegas?! Need a professional wedding photographer? Call me soon for a complimentary consultation!

So I was determined to get these promo cards designed this week and I actually did. Yay for self imposed deadlines, lol! If you know any engaged couples, tell them about my $50 print credit special :)

Here's the front of the card:



And the back:

Weekly Photo Challenge - "Hands"

After TRYING to get my kids to cooperate on several ideas I had for this challenge (note to self... stop procrastinating!), I finally got my 18 month old to do some sign language for me, lol. Both of my kids love signing, and now so do I! I would recommend signing for anyone with young children. It really helps eliminate SOME of the terrible twos. Plus... now we have a secret language that daddy doesn't understand... heehee

Here's my pic ;)



And here is Monica's pic. She photographed her and her husband holding hands for this one :) Cute!



And our challenge for this week is:

"Patterns"

Sweet, sweet baby!

Today I was able to do newborn portraits of little baby M. He was the most precious little guy, I had so much fun! I'm convinced that right around 10 days old is the perfect time to do a newborn shoot... it's magical :) We were able to get all of the peaceful sleeping shots and a few with his eyes wide open. I couldn't ask for more!

Here are a few of the pics, enjoy!

Weekly Photo Challenge - "At Your Feet"

I love how these photo challenges have a way of getting me out to explore my surroundings. Today I took my girls on a bike ride around our neighborhood, looking for interesting stuff to photograph along the way. We spotted this perfect white fence along a horse path, so I decided to shoot it from the viewpoint of my feet :) And yes, I ended up lying face first in the dirt for this one, lol. Fun times!


And here is Monica's pic. Her kids helped her on this one...she told them to bring her the most colorful rocks they could find and they brought her these :) Too cute!

And our challenge for this week is:

"Hands"

More maternity!

Last weekend I drove up to my sister's place to do maternity portraits for her. We transformed her nursery into a little studio for the shoot :) I had so much fun and I think they turned out great. Isn't she super cute pregnant!? Now I can't wait for that baby to arrive in July! Here are a few of my favs:

Hospital Newborn Session :)

Can I just say I have the most rewarding job ever! Last week I was lucky enough to capture a few images of brand new baby M., at only one day old. He couldn't have been more adorable with his chubby little cheeks, weighing in at an amazing 9 pounds 6 ounces! Even so, he seemed so tiny and precious when I held the little guy :)

Here are a few of my favs... and it was so hard to choose! By the way, doesn't mom look gorgeous!? Yes, she really did give birth one day prior to these photos :) After my two kids were born, I swear I looked like I'd been through war for a few days!

Weekly Photo Challenge - "Out of Focus"

Here's my out of focus pic for this week's challenge. I had a hard time with this one! The idea of taking a picture purposely out of focus was so weird... but fun too :)


And here's Monica's pic. She found this flower while she was in California :)


And our challenge for this week is:

"At Your Feet"

Weekly Photo Challenge - "Water"

I took my water picture in Havasupai, how could I resist?! This is one of the thousands of little waterfalls along the trail.



And here is Monica's water pic. I think it turned out awesome :) I love how the drop and ripples are razor sharp!



And our challenge for this week is:

"Out of Focus"

Trip to Paradise

My husband and I just returned from the most epic adventure of our lives! Even though the many miles of constant hiking made us so sore we're STILL limping, our trip to Havasupai was more amazing than we could have ever imagined possible. I only wish we would have stayed longer!

Of course I took millions of pictures... all while climbing over, under and through the most amazing waterfalls I've ever seen. And surprisingly, my equipment survived the journey too!

Here are some pictures I had to share. There are four main waterfalls, and I was lucky enough to photograph them all :) I'll probably post more pics in the future, because I haven't even finished editing yet. This place is a photographer's dream!

My first picture is of Beaver Falls. They're located the furthest from the hilltop trail head, but are definitely worth the 14 mile trek! We swam an entire afternoon here, and even jumped off one of the cliffs :)

This picture is of Mooney Falls, but could never do it justice. These falls are more than 200 feet high, and more majestic than words or photography could ever convey.

Here is Havasu Falls, which plunges about 100 feet into beautiful blue green water. Havasu is probably the most popular because of it's spectacular beauty and it's ease of accessibility.

And last but not least is Navajo Falls which are over 75 feet high. The pools around these falls make some of the greatest swimming holes!

Here I am playing on a rope swing in one of the thousands of pools. This place is breathtaking, and will totally bring out your inner child!

Here we are at the base of Mooney Falls. How romantic, lol!

This trip was fantastic, and I would recommend it to anyone. Even if you're not into backpacking, you can still get there by horse or even helicopter. Everyone should see this place! Needless to say, we plan to return regularly :)

Weekly Photo Challenge - "Texture"

I spotted this flower a few days ago while my toddler was riding her bike, and I immediately wanted to photograph it for our texture challenge. Luckily I had my camera around my neck :)

I love the texture of flower petals!


Here's Monica's pic, can you figure out what it is? Very cool :)


And our challenge for this week is:

"Water"

By the way... anyone is still welcome to join in on the fun! It's a great way to challenge yourself to keep taking pictures, and learn more about photography :)

Havasupai Waterfalls... here we come!

Tomorrow my husband and I leave for our Grand Canyon backpacking trip! I am SO excited, I can't even contain myself!! We start hiking first thing Tuesday morning into what looks like one of the most beautiful places on earth. I can't wait to see it for myself. And yes I am bringing a camera... my little Rebel XTi :) So hopefully I'll get some amazing shots like the one I found on the National Park Society website. Take a peek... it's amazing!

And just to make you all jealous, here's something I recently read at www.pygmyguides.com:

"Havasu Falls is without question one of the most amazing places on earth. “Havasupai” means “people of the blue green water”, and this natural wonder is the sacred home of many of the Havasupai people. This hike begins at Hualapai Hilltop, making a 10 mile descent through Hualapai Canyon and Havasu Canyon, pass Supai Village to the campground. From here, we access world renown Mooney and Havasu Falls. These spectacular turquoise waterfalls drop into cool travertine pools making some of the world’s best swimming holes."

Weekly Photo Challenge - "Reflection"

So I HAD a plan...

You see, I've heard there are some really neat waterfalls and ponds up in Red Rock Canyon. My "plan" was to get some reflection pictures off the water, and do some exploring while I was at it :) Well... I procrastinated so today was my last chance!

After nap time was over, I packed up my girls and we headed for the hills. Daddy was at work so unfortunately he couldn't join us on this adventure :( With a baby in my front pack, water and goodies in my back pack, my enormous camera around my neck and my toddler at my side... I must have been quite the sight! People probably figured I must be crazy, and about halfway up I knew they were right.

Taking into consideration my precious cargo, I realized the hike was too treacherous for today and therefore not worth the pictures, "BUST!" (as my friend Kate would say, lol). Eventually my brain turned on and we headed back to safety :) Thank goodness for moments of sanity, right!

Luckily I got back to my car before the sun disappeared and scrambled to get a handful of pictures of the mountains reflecting through my driver's side mirror, lol! Here's my fav:



And here's Monica's pic! The colors from the bubbles are pretty sweet! It really is a fun picture to look at :)



So I'm totally loving this photo challenge thing! Without it I wouldn't have any motivation to attempt these ridiculous ideas in my head :)

On that note I'd like to announce our new challenge for this week:

"Texture"

More Families!

It's been so great to photograph more families lately! Yesterday this beautiful family let me capture their little moments of joy while they played together at the park. It was truly adorable :) What a fun job I have!

Weekly Photo Challenge "Silhouette"

Here's my pic from one of our Red Rock climbing trips this week.



And Monica got this awesome shot of her brother. Makes me want to buy an ATV!



And our challenge for this week is:

"Reflections"

Can I just say it... this is so much fun!