Mini Love Affair Session :)

Pictage is a wonderful professional vendor that prints my albums and photos for my clients, as well as hosts my images in an online gallery. To help connect with other photographers in town, and mainly with other Pictage members, a group called PUG (Pictage User Group) was recently formed. I got to network with other photographers during dinner at Cafe Carmon in San Marco, and then we went out for a night shooting. Beautiful Cassie of Flaire Weddings & Events, who trashed her wedding dress with me at the Jacksonville Fair a couple of months ago, graciously modeled for the group along with her hubby, "Big Ian." (inside joke!). :)

>>CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE MINI SLIDESHOW
>>CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE MINI SLIDESHOW

Enjoy!


























We had the local firemen watching our group session during their break :)




Hanging out with my other photographer friends :)

Pictage User Group (PUG) Meeting Sneak Peek

More to come soon! Now off to work, I go :)

xoxo

Ian and Starla are Engaged!!

Who knew that another photographer in Tennessee and I would cross paths one day? Starla, who is a photographer herself, has been following my work, and one day I received a friend request from her in Facebook. Then all of a sudden, I received several more add requests from her own friends and even one from Ian, who is now her fiancee :)

Ian contacted me separately about photo-shooting a surprise proposal to Starla. Gladly, I jumped on the idea! Starla was flying in from Tennessee, and Ian was driving in all the way from Tallahassee to pick up Starla from Jacksonville airport. Ian made a pit stop first in downtown Jacksonville to meet with me and go over on where he will be proposing to her. There was really no place for me to hide and start taking pictures without startling Starla, so I put my beanie on to create a disguise and pretended to take pictures of the fountain as they were walking up towards the river. My signal to start taking pictures of them is when Ian kneels down to tie his shoelace. Aww, it was so sweet! It was also so fun to see Starla's reaction when Ian told her to turn around and wave at me because I was taking their pictures :) Too cute!

It was ungodly freezing that morning for Florida, but I can just feel the warmth of their love for each other. It was amazing, and I am truly thankful to them for having me be a part of their special moment. I'm also glad to finally meet Starla in person :)


***CLICK HERE FOR THE SWEET SLIDESHOW :-D
***CLICK HERE FOR THE SWEET SLIDESHOW :-D

Inauguration 2009

I'd like to thank former President George W. Bush for keeping our country safe after 9/11, and I look forward to the next four years with President Barack Obama. :) I missed the acceptance part and just caught the tail-end of the inauguration on talk radio during lunch today. I was rather impressed by Elizabeth Alexander's poem that she recited at the event, and I just had to google it tonight.

‘Praise Song for the Day’ - The 2009 Presidential Inauguration Poem
Each day we go about our business, walking past each other, catching each others’ eyes or not, about to speak or speaking. All about us is noise. All about us is noise and bramble, thorn and din, each one of our ancestors on our tongues. Someone is stitching up a hem, darning a hole in a uniform, patching a tire, repairing the things in need of repair.
Someone is trying to make music somewhere with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice.
A woman and her son wait for the bus.
A farmer consider the changing sky; A teacher says, “Take out your pencils. Begin.”
We encounter each other in words, Words spiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed; Words to consider, reconsider.
We cross dirt roads and highways that mark the will of someone and then others who said, “I need to see what’s on the other side; I know there’s something better down the road.”
We need to find a place where we are safe; We walk into that which we cannot yet see.
Say it plain, that many have died for this day. Sing the names of the dead who brought us here, who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges, picked the cotton and the lettuce, built brick by brick the glittering edifices they would then keep clean and work inside of.
Praise song for struggle; praise song for the day. Praise song for every hand-lettered sign; The figuring it out at kitchen tables.
Some live by “Love thy neighbor as thy self.”
Others by first do no harm, or take no more than you need.
What if the mightiest word is love, love beyond marital, filial, national. Love that casts a widening pool of light. Love with no need to preempt grievance.
In today’s sharp sparkle, this winter air, anything can be made, any sentence begun.
On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp — praise song for walking forward in that light.

© Elizabeth Alexander (source)

Another thing that I adored is Michelle Obama's white dress by Jason Wu. I simply love it, and if I were to have another wedding, I want my dress to look like that :)


Picture by Rick Wilking / Reuters

10 Things I Love From My NYC Trip

Mom and Dave, this post are for you guys. :)

I had the pleasure to photo-shoot Tiffany and Danny's engagement session in the Big Apple back in October. Below are 10 things I love and miss so much from my trip besides the photo session, of course :)

1. The New York Yankees


2. Taxi Ride


3. Central Park


4. Where I used to live (152 W. 58th St. btwn 6th & 7th Ave.)


5. Kabob Sandwich


6. Times Square


7. My wonderful friends and 7th-grade classmates back at Sacred Heart of Jesus School


8. Sailing in the Hudson River


9. The view from my stepsister's apt. building


10. My stepsister and her beautiful family!

Shooting Around

Yay, the hubby gave me the green light to go ahead and buy the home studio light kit. I much prefer natural daylight over anything, but lately, I've been rather intrigued with studio lights and flashes. Got the pocket wizards but just now starting to learn how to use it with the strobe lights. Who knew that you needed an extra cord to make those two work together? Thank goodness that Radio Shack is just down the road from our house. :)

This year must be the year for babies. A lot of our family and friends are having babies this year, and I'd like to master studio lighting for future sessions :) We just ordered 24-70mm f/2.8 and 50mm f/1.2 lens, and I can't wait to start taking newborn pictures :)

**I'm looking for a fun studio backdrop. Does anyone have any suggestions on what & where to get a good one? Thank you.

Here's a couple of "goofing around" pictures from tonight's practice:

Celeste & Aaron Just Eloped (Sneak Peek)!! - Saint Augustine Florida Wedding Photographer

On their way down to Ft. Lauderdale for a cruise in the Caribbean, Celeste and Aaron made a pit stop in Vilano Beach, St. Augustine to exchange their vows! No one else knows that they just got hitched (unless of course, their family and friends by chance land into my blog). Enjoy the sneak peek and more to come soon! :)

Awakening!

Heard a great message from church today about prayer and fasting. Today is the first day of my 21-day commitment of nothing but fruits, veggies, juices, and liquids only. It's going to be tough because I love hamburgers and Chik-fil-A! My purpose of fasting is not only to get rid of the toxins in my body, but to have a closer relationship with God. I get so consumed with work, photography, editing, television, Facebook, fashion magazines, political media, economy crisis..must I go on.. that I just need a break and get deeper with my spiritual soul.

Our soul needs some fine-tuning too like our cars, and that closer walk with God is what I long for. Agreement. Alignment. Assignment. To feed our souls starts with an agreement, then we will experience alignment in our lives, and then we can go out there and carry out the assignment.

There's something that I feel God is calling me to do, but I'm not even sure if I'm just hearing things because I really want to do this since high school but never really did anything about it. When I do think about this opportunity, I start doubting...so therefore, I'm fasting to really see if this is a "true calling."

Dear family, friends, and blog readers, please keep me in your prayers and good thoughts for the next three weeks. I want to step up to the plate and do something to serve the Lord, and I just pray that everything will fall into right places when the fasting is over.

Blessings!
xoxo

**I challenge and support you to feed your soul too! Please check out the Awake's website to know more about praying and fasting :)

Featured in Truly Engaging's Blog

**Due to privacy of the couple, I had to revise this blog and remove pictures showing their identity. The link to the slideshow has been disabled as well, thank you. 11.30.10 **

It is such a sweet feeling to see my artwork featured in another blog. Ms. Heidi from Truly Engaging is a total sweetheart and posted some of my artwork in her blog for brides :) It's the engagement session I did with the lovely couple :) Please go check out Truly Engaging's blog--it's awesome for brides planning their own weddings :)

Ms. Heidi, you don't know how much this means to me! Thank you so much for following my blog, and I do the same with yours :) It's a blessing that I found your blog while I was browsing around in Magnet Street's website :)

Are You Sick of Football Yet?

I am! I can't believe that I'm saying this, but I really am. Every night, my husband tunes in to nothing but football. With my favorite team, the Jacksonville Jaguars, not even making it to the wildcard this year, and the Indy Colts losing to the San Diego Chargers, my only hope left is on the NY Giants. I've also lost on my football pool at work. Not my year, I tell you. As for college football, how many bowl games are there? Craziness! I was rooting for the Seminoles, but they did not go far neither this year. I wonder when the baseball season starts??

As a tribute or goodbye to a great losing season for the Jaguars, I've posted some of the pictures I took when I did a gig with Scene4Productions back in 2007 and took pictures of the fans during home games. I posted some of the fun tailgating memories I've had this year. Below is the link to view all of the pictures :)

>>>CLICK HERE FOR THE SEASON'S FUN TAILGATING PICTURES :)
>>>CLICK HERE FOR THE SEASON'S FUN TAILGATING PICTURES :)