Yesterday I had fun working with my State Farm agent’s {Jessica Mickens–check her out, she will take good care of you! By the way, State Farm is not limited to car insurance only, they are quite diverse: investments, banking, home owner insurance, business insurance… I think the only things they won’t do for you is cook your dinner or watch your kids… but then again, I haven’t tried asking }.

We shot a few group images and then did individual shots for Jessica’s new team members: Malorie and Tiffany.  They were a hoot!  I could not help but snap a shot of Malorie getting her “your friendly neighborhood agent” face on {Malorie, please forgive me }.

And then she turned glam…

Tiffany was all smiles.  I don’t think she knows how NOT to smile.  I worked HARD to get her smiling with her eyes only… but it worked! [even if for a second ]

…and… va-va-va-voom!  Check out her gorgeous eyes.

So, maybe they won’t pick out the glam shots to go on their business cards [although they really should--HOT STATE FARM AGENTS COMING THROUGH!] or the ones with crazy faces [ahem, Malorie], but I sure had fun sneaking them in.

Thanks, ladies!

Why wait for a special occasion?  Our life is filled with spectacular moments worth celebrating.  Celebrate life!  Celebrate your family!  Celebrate your talents and passions!  Celebrate being you!  These reasons are good enough for me!

This passed weekend I had a very special shoot with a young lady who holds the same view on this–she wanted to get out, have fun, and celebrate her!  I am all up for that.

After having photographed an amazing maternity session in Longview and Woodland WA, I took a few hour break, reloaded, prayed for the rain to stop and headed out to my evening session with Alla.  The rain was coming on and off, but we were able to steal a few gorgeous moments that otherwise would not be possible to create because of it. It made me remember again that behind every cloud there is sunshine

[the little white specks are actually rain falling while the sun is out]

A rainbow in the bluest sky because the sun came out after a momentary mad rainfall.

Gorgeous young woman in front of a plain but amazing background…

Superstar!

A true doll-face!

A lovely rebel!

Breathtaking muse!

…with the loveliest smile.

Well, there you have it–don’t wait to celebrate life!  Alla didn’t and she was happy for it [and so was I].  Now she is planning on deciding which picture she will print life-size to put on her wall.  Which one do you think?

Alla, you are a doll, and a lovely one at that.  There is so much you can do in life, you just have to take a pick and then stick with it.  I am sure you will be successful as long you keep the same smile on your face and sunshine in your your heart.

To the models from this shoot: Ladies, I know I am a bit late with the delivery of your images, but I AM working on it and it will be worth your wait… I promise.

Meanwhile, when I got back home after the session, I chit-chatted with a young friend of mine, Courtney, about the session.  She told me: “I cannot wait to hire you to do my session also.”  I was in a super good mood, and it was my day off, so I looked at her, with a twinkle in my eye, and said: “Come with me!”  Before she knew it, I teased her hair and formed into a gorgeous up-do, splashed some gorgeous make up on her, forced her to change into a dress and promised to wow her with her own beauty.  I promised to deliver her at least one amazing image in about a minute.  What I did not count on is A LOT of gorgeous images in less than 5 minutes.  I was forced to choose between awesome and amazing images, so I would not be stuck behind my PC for a long time.  The girl is simply too gorgeous… But check it out for yourself.

There is a super model inside of every girl, begging to come out.  At times she just needs a little nudge from the outside, a bit of make up (not always) and an amazing photographer (i.e. ME ) to make her feel as special as she is.  Courtney quickly found out for herself how little it takes to feel amazing.

So, here is my advice to you-DON’T wait!  While the days of summer are still nice, get in touch with me and schedule a personal, one-on-one session (check out the Specials section to take advantage of the special deal I am offering for the next few weeks).  Let’s rock it out and let the super-model emerge [that goes for you, men, as well!  Minus the make up ]

Jenica and Derrick are high school sweethearts.  They married almost right after graduating from school, Derrick enlisted in the military (Thank you for keeping us save, Derrick!), and they were off to explore the world.  They had lived in several places, but a couple of years ago (or maybe a bit more), Longview called  their name, and they abandoned their beautiful life in Hawaii to move closer to their family.  I am glad that they did–otherwise I would not have met them.

Jenica & Derrick, you guys were amazing.  Thank you for letting me record such a special time in your life for you.

If you live near or in Longview/Kelso, WA area and are looking to celebrate a special time in your life there is still time to do it while days are sunny and beautiful.  Don’t procrastinate and postpone it until “some other time”–life is to precious for that!  Go ahead and shoot me an e-mail or call to schedule your session.

I love you both, Nina and Carson!  May God be your Guide.  I promise that I will follow up TOMORROW (actually today ) with more images, so you have something to look at while you are so far away from us.  But here is a little bit of everything for you.

Carson’s emotions were so raw and beautiful.

I love the look on my brother’s face.  It does not happen but once in a lifetime that a man gets to walk down his firstborn down the isle.

I don’t know if anyone else noticed, but I watched through the viewfinder as throughout the ceremony these two lovebirds were whispering ” I love you” to each other non-stop.  It set off a bunch of butterflies in my stomach every single time.  Aren’t they beautiful?!

Nina was all beauty and glam.  (For photogs out there wondering what I did to get this shot, here is a quick lowdown: it was getting dark outside, so I set my ISO very high–about 1000 or higher–and shot with no flash.  For post processing I sharpened and resized–that’s it!  Happy planned accident )

To the lovely couple, Nina and Carson, may the road of your life be filled with love and respect for each other.

I will post more later… promise… to show more of the happy couple and their parents.

If you enjoyed this post and want to wish well to Nina and Carson, go ahead and leave a comment right under this post–they will be checking on my blog while in Mexico.

I had only a few minutes to process a quick preview of today’s session.   More to come soon.

Aren’t they totally hot model material?  No wonder their kids are so gorgeous!

Derrick & Jenica, congratulations!  It was an honor to be a part of your day!

They are absolutely GORGEOUS!

Every bride is a super-star! Tasha is very natural at it

Her dashing fiance Jon is one also.

This image is blowing me away… it is SO amazing!

Now that you have seen these two you understand why I was so excited to do a shoot with them

Jon & Tasha, you are as beautiful inside as you are outside.  I wish you ALL THE BEST in your life together.  May your romance grow stronger every day!

Here is a quick preview of their session.

Tasha & Jon, thank you for allowing me to be a part of your life!  More images are to come.

I have not had too much time to process images from the weekend, but I had to put up at least a few of the most adorable kids in the world on my blog today.  We have 3 little ones in the family, these two little rascals are very close in age, and the third one is barely a couple of months old. 

Baby M and Baby T look like they could be twins (age-wise), however they are a couple of months apart and the way they are related to each other is quite interesting and humorous.  But… things as such happen in large family.  Our little Prince M is actually a cousin to Baby T’s father.  Quite interesting, isn’t it?!

 The two were so adorable in their bright close.  Between M’s cheeks and T’s tight rolls I thought I was in heaven.  We placed them next to each other on a blanket and watched them interact.  It was a photographer’s heaven!  We created an impromptu session.  With aunts and uncles and the parents ooo-ing and ah-ing over my shoulder I was clicking away.  The stars of the show did not mind me at all.  Baby T was fascinated with Baby M and constantly tried to wrestle her to the ground, gnawing on her shoulder with his toothless mouth (I will post a few of those pictures soon as well).  Baby M took it like a lady every time—very calmly.  I feel that I could write a comics book with the images I got.  Here are a few of my favorites.

I am just imagining what Mr. T is thinking: “Oooh, look, she has more hair than I do.  Let me touch it and see if how far I can pull it…”

M. realizing what’s about to happen turns around and says: “Man, what do you think you are doing?  Watch those hands!  Or I am going to call my Daddy!”  “Ok, toots!  Calm down!”  Mr T. replies.

Then the two get distracted by the host of adoring aunts and uncles and give them a few smiles so they can get back to their conversation.  

Meanwhile, one of the aunts sneaks up from behind and places a hat on Baby M.  Mr. T was not happy!  He wanted it off!  “This is redicilous!” he says, “It has to come off NOW!”  “Hey, man, I told you to keep your hands to yourself!  Didn’t I?!  I am a lady!”But… Mr. T got his way and the hat came off.   To keep peace he placed his hand on little M’s should and said: “See, I told you you would look better without it.”

After I was done with the babies (you can get only so many baby pictures in one given time) it was time to move on to the rest of my family.  Did I ever mention that I am surrounded by gorgeous people?  Well, I am!  I am adding a couple of images of my nieces.  The first one—Luba, is really model material.  Just look at her smile!  Nike should be knocking on her door asking to use this picture for their ads!

This gorgeous young lady and my niece as well.   And, yes, she is related to the beauty in the picture above–they are sisters.

Would you ever believe that Vera is almost 5 months pregnant?  (I think that is how far along she is…)  Such a cute belly!

With everything cluttering our time and space I can tell you that there is still nothing like a great family.  I am so blessed that I was born into one.

Have you enjoyed the images?  Leave a comment at the bottom of this post.