Candace & Brian: The Wedding Album

Beauty

Sometimes I feel so overwhelmed at how much beauty is in my world. My wife, my kids, my parents, all our wonderful friends, the world in general is stuffed with so much beauty that everywhere I look I see it, it's in the music that I have playing all the time (currently Amy Seeley's Indigo Sky), I smell it when I snuggle my children close to me. I wish I could soak it all in, but I know that that's impossible, so I try and enjoy as much as I can in any way I can. I hope that you try and do the same :)


These pictures of my kids below are just a sample of the beauty in my life this evening...

Paige D. 1 Year Portraits

Paige is 1. No way. Not already. This is our 5th session with Paige already? Anyway, we showed up to see a full head of curly hair (so cute) and those same bright blue eyes from the first session a year ago. Ok, enough writing, bring on the cuteness which started in a park and ended in a birthday cake all over a baby in a blue tutu :)

Check out that cute curly hair!

Favorite, love the smiles :)

Another favorite.

Mommy always makes it better.

Paige sure loves her daddy's tricks.

We can't be finished yet...

We still have cake to eat :)

yep, that's your cake :)

I think it's safe to say that Paige likes the icing.

I love the mess! Thanks, Paige, for sticking it out for a few more minutes. Mommy and Daddy thank you :)

Jenny & Jim: Kansas City Wedding

Cake: Cakes by Combs (woo-hoo...2 weeks in a row!)
Ceremony: First Presbyterian Church of Liberty
Reception: Shoal Creek Golf Club

Emotion - that's what Jenny and I love so much about shooting weddings. It's one of the happiest days of a couple's lives, when (to be a little cliche) two become one. Jenny & Jim's day was filled with SO much genuine emotion! In fact, it takes me both hands and most of my toes to count how many different times I saw tears of pure joy on Jenny and/or Jim's face. Thank you both so much for letting us spend the day with you...plus, you two and all your friends sure know how to get down on the dance floor...or in a limo :)

Still hasn't "officially" sunk in for me, the King of Pop is gone.

Twins!

Jim's note brought Jenny to tears...

Jim loved his so much he read it twice :)

A very emotional first meeting.

Note: We had fun shooting the portraits, so there are quite a few :)

I am thankful for the heat. If only because the limo was so stinkin' H-O-T that Jenny rolled down her window and allowed me to capture this shot :)

We decided to cool off and shoot some more portraits in this old school diner.

This might be one of my favorite bridal portraits ever.

Jenny informed me that her mom would love this shot of her on the milk crates :)

Jim just had to show Jenny up :)

So sweet :)

Back to the limo...here I think they were getting down to some Biggie Smalls.

Yep, it's about to happen.

Yep, it's happening.

Yep, it happened.

The ring shot. 1. I haven't shared one of these in a while. 2. I promised Sam I would put a shot of her cake on the blog. 3. She made cupcakes, and they were AMAZING!!

Have I mentioned yet that Jim & Jenny can flat out DANCE?

Jim called this one, "The Freeze"

Thanks to Trish for capturing this wonderful moment between Jenny & I. I never got to smash cake in Jenny's face on our wedding day, so it felt good to get this out of my system over 6 years later. Note to Sam: No cupcakes were wasted in the making of this image :)

Please Take Me Home: June 25

By now, you should know the drill. If you see a cute little guy/gal that you would love to bring home to your loving family, head up to Wayside Waifs and pick 'em up!

And, something about kitties, that I think they look so much better in black & white.

This dude was so tired he fell asleep standing up.

Sometimes it's hard to be a shelter kitty. First, they get my camera up in their grill, then they get smacked from above :)

Taking me back...

Ok, so if you know me at all, you know I love music. I have music playing at all times, and at times when I can't play music, I am singing in my head. Anyway, I've been going to concerts for over 13 years now. Ask Jenny about my high school/college years and she'll tell you I was at a concert at least 2 nights a week. Anyway, my very first concert all the way back in 1996, was 311. A lot of my favorite memories from high school involve 311. So, when I got the opportunity to shoot their concert at City Market a few weeks ago, I was pretty stoked. I will say that I don't listen to them as much as I used to, but that doesn't take away the impact they've had on my life. I hope you enjoy the photos!

The Crawfords: Family Pictures in Kansas City

My good buddy Brad, his wife, and their cute little baby boy, Luke, all made it out here last week to spend some time in the country. When they asked if I could do some updated family portraits, of course we headed straight into the middle of nowhere. Enjoy their beautiful family having an extremely good time in a wide open field. This session has everything that I look for in a family shoot. Smiles and good light :)

Luke has some beautiful eyes.

I don't think he liked to be thrown in the air :)

One of my favorites for sure.

Another favorite. It's funny to look at pictures of Brad having fun with his son. I've know Brad since I was 4. Crazy.

Another favorite.

You guys are missed already. The Solars can't wait to make it back to Southern Cali for a visit this winter.