but the results can be very rewarding. I actually love the photo above, even though he is crying. I think it is pretty cute. The boy in the photo above is named Parker. He is 14 months and is the son of one of my former coworkers in the ER. I always heard stories about this little guy, and was delighted to spend the afternoon with Brandi, her husband, Joshua, and their adorable son.

In the beginning, Parker was pretty cooperative, but he soon tired of the game. I think I am getting better at photographing children the more I do it. I am learning to watch the family interact with each other and get more candid moments. They tend to be the most telling images anyways and the children are less fussy. I always try to get a few good ones of everyone looking at the camera in a traditional portrait style, like above, and then I just wait for memorable candid moments of the family all together and each parent with the child.

I got to the shoot a little early to scope out spots. The family wanted some by the water and we had talked about doing a picnic scene, so it was easy to start there. As I was searching the park for a new look, I came across railroad tracks and loved that idea. I had the family walk along the tracks and just shot away. With children, you just have to keep shooting to catch the right moments. They don’t always have to be smiling, because so many expressions on children, or adults for that matter, can be sweet and telling. Parker cried a lot, but I was able to capture many photos of him smiling. It just takes patience.

After this, we moved on to individual shots of little Parker. They had brought a chair with his name on it and overalls. The chair was precious and the overalls were perfect. As soon as I saw them, I knew I wanted to do a few more by the railroad tracks, and they turned out to be some of my favorites. When taking portraits, you must remember to go with the flow and let new ideas come to you. Sometimes the more forced ideas that take a lot of planning are not as good as the spur of the moment ones, like a little boy in overalls and no shirt by the railroad tracks.

I am also loving my new 85 mm 1.8 lens. I highly recommend this lens for portraits. It just gives such a nice shallow depth of field, really making my subjects pop from the background. If I could switch lenses fast enough to never shoot with a zoom lens again I would. I love prime lenses and vow to use them whenever possible!

At the end, they asked to take some photos at Morning Call, eating beignets. Thanks for the wonderful idea, Brandi. It was a great way to close the shoot and the afternoon. Nothing like sugar to make a kid happy again and get in a few more smiles.

I had the pleasure of photographing the Kendrick family one more time before going out of town. I will be out of town most of the time until September, so I will be back in time to photograph Benjamin at one year, and I can’t wait.

I am going to let the photos speak for themselves here. It was spring and right before Easter, so we chose to do this shoot outside. As usual, the candids are my favorite.

At the end of the shoot, Melanie asked if they could get a photo of me and Benjamin. “You’ve been there to photograph him his whole life. We want one of you with him,” She said. I was happy to oblige. It was a touching moment, and Ben (senior) did a great job.

 I look forward to seeing Melanie, Ben and one-year-old Benjamin when I return from the other side of the pond!

I wrote a post a couple years back about a swamp tour I went on here in Louisiana and how neat it was to get close to the alligators as well as how bizarre the culture surrounding alligator tours and alligator hunting is. Recently, I have been on two more swamp tours, and I wanted to share the results here.

I brought my new camera with me and although the alligators were not as close as on the previous tour, which it was explained to be was because it was still too cold out for them and they were not feeding yet, I enjoyed shooting of the trees and the other animals.

These tours are different than most nature tours, because the area is not protected. You can see it as it really is for these animals to live with people and with hunters. One interesting thing I did learn, however, is that alligators may lay 100 eggs in the wild and only 1% survive. In farming, 99% survive, and the farms return 10% to the wild. You can tell which ones are from farms because of the notches taken out of their tale. The population has actually gone up since people began farming the alligators, so perhaps people aren’t all bad and at least here they are making up for the reduction in population that was caused by hunting. Below, you can see the influence people have on this swamp and that the swamp has on them. Beyond hunting and food, people rely on the water for transportation and it can be consumed with distillation. The moss was used for mattresses, among other things.

Here is a sample of some of the creatures I found in the swamp other than alligators.

And last but not least, my new favorite swamp creatures- wild boars! On the first of these two swamp tours, I was introduced to these magnificent creatures. They came right up to the boat to eat marsh mellows. They are apparently as intelligent as dogs. It was the last day of hunting season for the boars, and I was pleased to find out this family was still alive when I went on the second tour. Not only that, but on the second tour I was able to meet their piglets.

I am enjoying shooting nature more and more. I used to feel a photo had to have a person in it to make it interesting- that is the journalist in me- but I am learning the joy of documenting nature. To complete this blog, however, let me go away from nature for a moment and post a few photos from the same period from the St. Patrick’s Day Parade and then close with one of my mom and I. My mom went on the second swamp tour with us and met the boars. In fact, one of them almost jumped in her lap and succeeded in getting her soaked. It was a wonderful visit and I am so glad she was able to make it down. I was actually just in New Jersey with her for Mother’s Day, but let me say it again, happy Mother’s Day, mom, and thank you for all you do.

I reached a milestone in life, or at least that is what people say. I turned 30 over Mardi Gras weekend in New Orleans. By my side I had some of my closest friends, one of my cousins and my husband. I’m lucky to have so many wonderful people in my life. Here are few fun photos of the Mardi Gras scene. What I like about this crazy holiday is the way it brings people together- people from all walks of life.

The 20s were a great decade for me. I learned a lot, saw a lot, experienced a lot and loved a lot. I went to two colleges, obtained degrees in journalism- news editorial, a minor in philosophy and a BSN in nursing. I lived in Boulder in an apartment with roommates for the first time and moved to a new city for the first time when I came down to New Orleans and made it my new home. I worked as a photojournalist, a waitress (which taught me some life lessons), a freelance photographer, a nurse in a busy Emergency Room and a wedding photographer. I launched my first website and subsequent websites and began blogging. I studied abroad in Prague and Rome, traveled around Italy, China, Japan, France and the Dominican Republic. I have volunteered as a nurse in Ecuador. I held onto friends who were closest to my heart and met new friends, many of whom have become an integral part of my chosen family. I’ve lost some friends through distance, naturally growing apart or just realizing they are not the positive people I want to surround myself with. I dated my husband through my 20s and married him- the love of my life. It was a wonderful, meaningful decade that taught me a lot about myself and others and as I stand at the brink of a new decade, I am excited to see what my 30s have in store for me. So far I am all about taking risks, being honest with not only others, as I have always strived to be, but with myself about what I want and who I want to be. I am also determined to focus more energy on seriously pursuing my photography. So far I have submitted myself to two photo contest/galleries, committed to going to Nicaragua to volunteer in May, and quit my job at the hospital to accompany my husband to London for three months. I am keeping a open mind as to where life will take me next– whether it is to a new area of nursing, to more photography or to some opportunity waiting abroad. It is freeing to go with the flow for a while and see where life takes us.

These are a few moments from my birthday weekend.

Apparently I have run out of space on my blog, so this is all I can post until I decide what kind of upgrade to use. Why must everything cost money? Cheers to 30!

Sometimes a photo job is so beautiful and full of fun things to shoot that you forget it was a hired job. I shot a couples’ shower outside of New Orleans, on what we call the North Shore. It was a pig roast, complete with mason jars full of flowers, country table cloths and dishes, a folk band and a lake. Evan came as my assistant, and though we were a bit exhausted from the night before, it was a successful day artistically for both of us. The experience inspired the lyrics for a song he wrote and I was pleased with some of the photos.

Evan somehow agreed to race one of the hosts across the lake in a paddle board contest. I don’t think he realized what he was agreeing to at the time. He did not win, but I was proud that he didn’t fall in the ice cold water.

This sparked more races on the water…

It was a beautiful day, a pleasure to shoot and I wish all the best to Sydnie and Jared.

I just wanted to write a quick post about the wedding I shot right before Christmas. It was for a co-worker of mine. It was not her first marriage, and the story here really was in how important her children were during the big day. She really wanted them to feel like they were a part of it, making the transition into a new family unit more cohesive. It was really quite sweet and I wish them all the best. Below are a handful of my favorites from the day. I do love winter weddings- they have such beautiful colors.

The more relaxed nature of this wedding allowed me to actually set up my lights for the portraits and spend a little time with my subjects. I am happy with some of the results.

I’ll close with a few photos from our lovely Christmas visit with Evan’s family here in New Orleans. We met our new nephew, William, and enjoyed the company of our other nephew, Benjamin, both of Evan’s sister and their husbands, grandmother, Aunt Kay and several cousins- all hosted by Evan’s parents. It was a wonderful holiday.

Right before Christmas, I had a wonderful afternoon photographing Benjamin at four months. It has been so much fun working with this lovely family. I went to nursing school with Melanie, where we had mutual friends, but as we were not in the same class until the last semester, we did not know each other really well. Since that time, I have to date, photographed their wedding, their maternity photos, their newborn photos and Benjamin’s four month photos. It has been such a pleasure getting to know this growing family and being there to document so many important events in their lives.

First, here are a few highlights from their wedding.

They were the first couple I ever shot maternity photos for. I approached it much like any portrait session, trying to capture real emotions between my subjects. I also experimented with some fun scenes with children’s books and picnics. I used some of my own props as well as props the couple brought to give a personal touch to the photos. I used flashes mounted on tripods for some real outdoor portraiture, which was a good experience and one I definitely need to practice more often. The day was a bit challenging as it rained a lot, but thanks to a happy couple and artificial light, you would never know looking at the photos. Another lesson and learning to make do with the conditions you have.

When Benjamin, named after his father, was born, they contacted me about doing newborn photos. This, again, was another genre I had not delved into yet. I obliged and I am forever thankful to them for letting me expand my skill set and portfolio through our shoots. Working with babies is quite a challenge. To say I have never photographed newborns is not completely true. In college I volunteered at the hospital as a newborn baby photographer. This, however, consisted of placing the baby on a raised platform with a camera mounted above, trying to make the baby laugh and then snapping the photo from the computer. Photography skills wise it was pretty mindless, but I suppose I did get to learn some about working with babies.

They are delicate, but malleable at the newborn age, which lends to creative positions and their tiny features are fun to capture in detail shots. I set up my large paper backdrop in their living room and made a personal studio with a two light setup and seamless grey background. I had to drive my husbands car because the tube is so long. 

When they wanted to incorporate the LSU helmet, since they are big LSU fans, putting the baby inside it was much better than next to it. I just experimented with a lot of different options and in the end I was pretty happy with the results.

I also wanted to get some good photos of the parents with their new child, as I knew I could get some genuine emotions. The love of new moms and dads toward their children melts my heart.

You learn certain tricks, like on Melanie’s suggestion, to take the naked photos last so that the baby would not get too fussy.

 Finally, my latest shoot of this family did not include the father as he was working, but I got some sweet photos of baby Benjamin by himself and with his mother. I used Christmas decorations from around their house to build a Christmas scene, brought a milk crate for a fun prop and took some photos in his baptism gown as he was recently baptized and they didn’t get any photos of him by himself. I also did a few with the helmet again to demonstrate how much he has grown.

It always makes me feel good to have repeat customers and I think the images get better as I get to know the people more. I look forward to continuing to work with them.

I am playing catch-up a bit, I’m afraid. The holidays have been very busy for us. We spent Thanksgiving in New Jersey with my family and Christmas in New Orleans with my husband’s. I wanted to write a quick post about our time in Jersey.

We flew in just in time for dinner and joined my mother, my grandmother, my aunt, my uncle, my cousins and my oldest cousin’s husband and her two kids (who were the ring bearer and flower girl in our wedding). We had a lovely dinner and handed out our Christmas presents. My husband spent a lot of time playing with the kids.

Evan and I have begun a project for our families. As Evan has pointed out, our generation records everything. With Facebook, Twitter, Blogs and other social media, we have recorded our lives as we live them. Our parents are even getting into it more, but our grandparents are the lost generation. So much knowledge, personality and history will be lost when they are gone. Thus, we’ve decided to interview them about their lives and photograph them. Evan brought a bunch of his recording equipment out to Jersey. It was wonderful to be able to hold a conversation with my Granny as we cranked up the volume on her headphones and she could actually hear well for once. I wish we had done this project a few years ago, but it was still impressive how much she remembers and how much personality she has at 96. We also discovered that day that she likes smoothies. I love my Granny so much.

I plan to make a multimedia project out of it with old photographs I collected and scanned and new photos of the family that I have taken. Here she is looking at a photo of her sister, Gene and Gene’s boyfriend. Gene was my grandmother’s favorite sister. She died in a car accident when she was 16.

We still have a lot to do on the project, but I will post it when it’s complete.

At the end of the trip we spent a day with my cousin Sara and her boyfriend Mick. We walked around a state park that was beautiful- coming from New Orleans, it really felt like Fall weather.

Once one of the lavish estates of a now largely forgotten, wealthy family of the early 20th Century, the land and its preserved structures are now held in trust by the state of New Jersey for the free enjoyment of its residents and guests.  The property features multiple artificial lakes, a planned, yet unfinished mansion left as a relic of the owner’s aspirations and what was one of the premier orchid greenhouses of its day.

I flew back from my Ecuador adventure one day early to make it to my good friend Eric’s wedding. Eric married Alicia, a quirky and sweet law student. I’d met her twice before this wedding- once while visiting San Diego with friends and once at my own wedding and I just love her. They’re perfect for each other. Since Eric is in nursing school, they’re pretty much mirrors of Evan and I- nurse and lawyer and lawyer and nurse.

I was feeling exhausted, but truthfully pretty hardcore, since I went out salsa dancing with my new volunteer friends and some locals my last night in Ecuador. I ended up staying up all night because we got back a mere hour before my taxi came to take me to the airport. I was so tired when I got to my gate, that I set an alarm on my phone and took a nape while hugging my bag- yes, this was in a foreign airport and it was probably not the smartest thing I have ever done. Luckily I made it to San Diego safe and sound and it was the perfect way to wind down after Ecuador. If I could count on anyone to have a fun and low key wedding, it’s these two. I arrived in time for the rehearsal dinner, which consisted of pizza and beer from their friend brewery. After eating, we gathered around the bon fire and caught up. The entire affair was located at the same place, a beautiful house right on the beach.

Even the preparations were more relaxed than your average wedding. The girls gathered upstairs drinking mimosas and doing each other’s hair and makeup. I loved Alicia’s headband and “shoes.”

Eric did a few finishing touches himself and then headed outside. My husband (next to Eric on the left in the second photo) was one of the groomsmen. It was such a treat being at a wedding for someone who I can truly say is a good friend of both of ours.

The ceremony was short and SWEET. The couple wrote their own vows, causing Alicia to tear up, and the officiant was a friend of the family. Instead of flowers, the girls carried parasols. Eric’s little sister hand painted them all with different designs and animals. The men wore collared given to them by the groom. It’s the true emotions in these completely candid photos, how I always approach weddings, that are the most meaningful.

Although it was not the best time of day for portraits, with the sun beating down on us, it worked out really well for the group shots and I even got a few unexpected shots I liked of the couple.

My best advice to beginning wedding photographers, is to never ever put your camera down and always be alert. While I was shooting the portraits, people got a bit distracted, but I kept snapping and got a few fun shots. I use this philosophy a lot. Posing people for portraits is fine, but some of the best images (like the ones of the couple further down in this post) are the real moments that happen between people when they forget they are taking a picture.

One of Alicia’s bridesmaids is from Hawaii and she brought traditional leis for the bride and groom.

The light was so beautiful that I brought Eric and Alicia back out to the beach twice to get some of my favorite shots of them.

The reception featured catering from their favorite local restaurant, cheesecake, beer, steins, speeches with the sun setting on the deck and good company.

I am standing right next to Tami here. We gave a quick speech on Eric’s behalf, as old college buddies. I borrowed their rings for a bit and had some fun with different backgrounds. There were a lot of options for ways to shoot the rings at this wedding. I think the first one is my favorite. I just happened upon a rainbow being cast on the stairs, but the one in the sand or with the purple flowers (the bride’s favorite color) might be more indicative of this wedding. It’s important to always keep your eyes open for details.

First dance

It was lovely wedding and we truly had such a wonderful time. It’s been a while since I photographed the wedding of someone so close to me, but it wasn’t stressful at all. I had a lot of fun and I was very happy with the images as I think they capture the memories of such a special day. The following are some photos of my husband and I with each other and the couple and a group shot of college buddies in attendance.

Cheers to Eric and Alicia- dance on my friends! I love you guys! XOXO

Before heading off to New Jersey tomorrow with my husband for a Thanksgiving celebration with my family, I wanted to get this final post in the Ecuador series up.

I was really impressed by how comprehensive NOMMS, the group I volunteered with, was. Physical therapy is very important for knee replacement surgeries and even though we were only there for a week, we were able to provide these patients with some follow-up care after their surgeries. I followed our physical therapist, Leslie, for an afternoon. She began by unwrapping the knees to inspect the wound, clean it and re-wrap it. All of the ones I saw were healing very well.

Next she performed exercises with them in the bed and taught the patients and their families how to do these exercises at home to continue their recovery.

She then made them get up and walk the day after their surgery to begin regaining strength, to prevent blood clots, and to help them learn to use their new knee. This is a painful endeavor, but it is an important first step to recovery. The patients were all provided with a walker to take home with them.

For the above woman, the exercise was all too painful, but most of the patients were all smiles. These women were tough. All we were allowed to give them for pain was Tylenol and Celebrex.  In America, patients get Morphine and Dilaudid for the same surgery. They were so thankful to have received the surgery, that with many of them didn’t show any signs of pain.

It was rewarding to see how happy the people we helped were. It made me feel like we were really accomplishing something.

I also visited a couple of the neurosurgery patients post-op. They were equally as thankful and our neurosurgeons followed up with them and the nurses caring for them.

They asked us to pose in photos with them. It was touching and unforgettable.

The woman below was my patient in the first surgery I ever scrubbed in on. I will never forget these moments.

As always, thanks for looking. I have been reminded lately from personal losses, losses at my job and losses people close to me have experienced that life can be fleeting and unexpected. Embrace your family and friends this holiday season and cherish every moment. I am thankful for this amazing experience in Ecuador and for all the wonderful people in my life, many of whom I get to spend time with for the holidays. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.