What happens when I can work in a studio...

My sister needed headshots done before she started her first semester at Texas State (eeeeee!!!!). Marlene Rostami of Standing Ovation Studios allowed us to work in her studio for an afternoon. This was amazing because I had access to an indoor location with lights. I was able to control how the light looked on my sister and didn't need to worry about any outside elements. I love how these turned out to have a nice "glowy" feel and her eyes stand out.

Red Lipstick Steps Up Any Outfit

Emily wanted to do some "glam" shots just because. She put on a white lace dress, brown booties, and of course red lipstick. I have hardly ever seen my sister wear lipstick. Of course she's worn lip gloss or lip stains, but lipstick? I didn't even know she had a good shade (she normally steals my mom's make up). After attempting to curl her hair and pin it up -which ended in disaster- we decided to just pin back part with bobby pins and flowers.

Apparently it was supposed to rain last night - it never did - so I kept driving away from the dark clouds overhead in hopes of finding refuge. Originally I wanted to go by this nice lake in this neighborhood, but since the storm was in that direction I had to just drive east. We didn't know exactly where to go, but as I was heading down Spring Creek I passed a church on my right. I quickly turned into the parking lot and decided that is where we would shoot. The clouds were moving east and Emily swore she saw lightning in the west so we had to work fast. It was getting humid and nasty, but Emily pulled off the look.

After we got home, she threw on her PJs but still had on her lipstick. I then told her to throw on her PINK hoodie and we took some more pictures outside (the rain never came even though the clouds looked ominous). Just because of her red lips, she looked like she was posing for Victoria's Secret. So lesson learned, wear red lipstick to make a statement.

July 4th with Megan

This is my best friend, Megan. I met her right before we started our freshman year. I was in Girl Scouts since I was a daisy, and I was part of the same troop all the way up to middle school. Before starting high school though, the troop decided to disband and quit the whole Girl Scout thing. My mom didn't want me quitting, mostly because she wanted me to get my Gold Award eventually (and I did). So she started looking around for a troop for me to join. This was easy for her cause my mom was a Girl Scout leader for my sister's troop. There were two troops in the area with girls my age. One of the troops was with girls that I already knew. Personally I didn't want to join that one because I didn't really like those girls. They were a little superficial to me, but in general a 14 year old girl can be like that.

That left the other troop with girls that I did not know at all. One girl, Megan went to the same middle school as me and we were band together. We played different instruments though, so we didn't really have any contact at all. So, that summer before starting freshman year, I went over to their swim party just to get to know them. Immediately I was accepted. We stayed together for four years, but since then we've all gone our own ways. Megan and I have stayed best friends since I joined her troop back in 2007 (or was it 2006?). Much has changed since back then, but I have a good idea that Megan and I will be friends for a very long time.

Shannon's Seniors

After doing her Senior Prom photos, Shannon asked me to do her Senior Portraits. It made my heart swell cause I knew this girl back when she was a little baby. Shannon has an older sister, Ashley, that is my age and Shannon is my sister's age. We all grew up in the same church so the four of us kind of hung out a bunch.  Doing her seniors was a little challenging. Earlier during the week, the weather guys predicted it would be just slightly breezy with lots of sun. Well a slight breeze turned into 20 miles an hour winds. We weren't prepared for this, but we made do! She was such a good sport about ti too. We were able to get some good shots out of it. Shannon will be attending Oklahoma University to pursue a major in Theater Tech and Costume Design.

Senior Sunday 2012

My home church is called Nor'Kirk Presbyterian Church. It is small, but comforting. Every year we celebrate the graduating class in the church. This is called Senior Sunday. The seniors walk down the church with an adult that impacted their life at the church. They are also presented with Moses Sticks. Moses sticks are long pieces of rounded wood (looks like a walking stick) with the 10 Commandments carved into them. Then after the service and presenting the seniors, a reception of cake and punch is held in their honor. Also a video with pictures and about the seniors is shown. The pictures are provided by the seniors and the video says what they plan to major in, school they want to go to, their family members names, high school, and other little things like that. It's just a sweet thing that is done for them. This year was special because my little sister was part of that class, also some other girls that I've watched grow up. I was asked to shoot the entire ceremony and give the photos to the church to be posted on the bulletin board. Of course I said yes because this was the only church I ever really knew and it was like another home that I could always return to.

Sam and Melissa

I knew Sam from back in high school. We had some of the same friends and we played volleyball together during the summer. During the summer of 2009, right before our Senior year, some friends and I started playing volleyball almost everyday. It was a wonderful summer before we all had to get jobs and start having real responsibilities. Sam attends UTD and that is where he met his girlfriend, Melissa. I asked them to do a shoot with me because I wanted to do couple photos in the bluebonnets. Sadly, when we got to the field, most of the bluebonnets were gone and in their place were wildflowers and grass. Oh well. When things don't go as planned, you just have to get over it and move on. The two were still adorable to photograph!

Ben and Lizzie

I met Ben and Lizzie at North Texas Celebration #2. Ben was a participant and Lizzie was a staff member. They went to the same church, and I started to get to know them as I went to their church for youth group. Ben became a little crush and Lizzie became my best friend. The crush on Ben eventually turned into nothing more than feelings toward a good friend. Ben is part of the coast guard and he came home on leave for a week. The three of us got back together to hang out like the old days. We went to the Shops at Legacy and just walked around (and of course took pictures ;)). We ended up eating at this little restaurant that acted as a night club at night. It was decent. When we went to eat dinner, it was pretty much dead. There were only a few other people eating. For some reason the water tasted like watered down alcohol. It was extremely watered down and it tasted horrible! So after like 15 minutes of trying to get past the taste I finally asked the waitress to get me another glass. She looked at me like I was one of those people. The second glass was at least a little better. Even though dinner was just decent, it was wonderful that the three of us all got to talk and hang out.

When they were younger, they took a photo like this and wanted
the recreate it.