Theresa & John's Save the Dates

So one of my latest design projects has been for Theresa & John's wedding! These are the save the dates I just finished. We thought the line with the days they had known each other was pretty cute. There's also going to be a stamp in gold on the top right corner of the front that she has and we're putting on ourselves...it's a sort of swirly pattern.

Here's the front:


And the back:


So save the date! And stay tuned for the invitations...they'll be up soon. I hope. Many projects to work on, but I'm trying to keep up with posting :)

dancers

Ok so I didn't get the dance photos up by the end of the week like I promised...but they're here now! Thank you again to Lisa, Brittany, and Kelly for modeling for me. They were wonderful. I like doing this kind of photography obviously because it ties two things I love together, but also because it creates some really cool imagery. Haven't gotten to do any more dance shoots lately, but hopefully will in the near future. Enjoy!

my photographic junk food

So the month of October came & went....incredibly busy as always, but I have a ton of photos to post on here. Some great dance photography to come very soon but for now we're going with what I've come to realize is my photographic junk food....subject matter I absolutely love to shoot and makes me happy but isn't all that ground-breaking. Still pretty and fun and sweet and hopefully that's what it conveys to you too. It's fun for me to shoot and creates some beautiful imagery. This particular junk food is from the Missouri Botanical Garden back in August or so (I know, I'm terrible about posting things in a timely fashion). Lots of bright colors and dramatic light and of course flowers. So yes, gratify your sweet tooth with these :) the dance photos will be up by the end of the week, promise.

Theresa & John

Some very happy news in the family.....Theresa & John are engaged!!! He proposed on Saturday at the Botanical Garden. And surprised her with having his family come in town to be at the family birthday dinner that night too. So it was very exciting weekend. And of course I have a couple pictures to document it. They're hoping to get married next fall. Congratulations!!!!!!

the king of pop

So today's post is dedicated to the king of pop. I started rehearsing a piece for the dance concert that is a medley of his music including Billie Jean, Want to be Starting Something, Thriller, and Smooth Criminal. Gonna be an amazing dance and so much fun. MJ was an amazing dancer and got to work with some amazing choreographers, notably Michael Peters, who is featured in the video for Beat It. Which incidentally is one of my of favorite Michael songs. In a dance history/appreciate class I took last year, we talked a lot about how Michael influenced dance, pop music, and music videos. He really helped create music videos into a form of art and helped showcase dance on television. I love that people are still using moves from his videos today. Thriller was a short film in itself and While he had a very strange and sad personal life, he gave so much to dance and music. Here are the videos for Beat It and Thriller, my two personal favorites in terms of music and dance. (btw, did you know that Thriller is the most successful music video ever? It's in the Guiness Records apparently) Oh and the Fall Out Boy cover of Beat It, because I think it's pretty good. John Mayer does the guitar solo (originally done by Eddie Van Halen, though I don't see John in the video.....)

Beat It http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uqxo1SKB0z8

Thriller http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtyJbIOZjS8

Fall Out Boy cover http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hI-0Hgu8mUk

So in closing, come see our medley at the fall dance concert!! My roommate just made chocolate chip cookies so I must go enjoy :)

nikon versus canon

So a short post today because I have about a dozen different projects to work on between class, work and learn in the design lab, and my personal projects. I have a Nikon DSLR and am quite happy with it, but lately for school projects have been shooting with a Canon 5D and I have to admit it's pretty nice. Downside is though with the attached battery grip the thing is so dang heavy. I get equally good pictures so far with either one, just have access to more equipment through the school for Canon. Alas...why can't the camera companies just be friends and make all their products interchangeable? Guess that wouldn't really be good for business. If you shoot digital let me know what brand you like

senior portrait photography

Well since I talked about wedding photography yesterday, I thought I'd dedicate today to senior portraits. Particularly since I had a senior session this afternoon, which was really fun. I'd definitely say I enjoy doing the one on one portraits more, largely just because the atmosphere is so different. There's not nearly as much pressure on the shoot. Obviously you don't want to have to re-shoot, but if something happened it would be possible. With weddings, it's a one-shot deal. I don't mean to make it sound like I don't like doing weddings based on my one experience, portraits are just a different kind of job. Anyway though, my client was actually one of my dance students, and we were fortunate to have beautiful weather. I had several locations in mind, but we ended up doing the whole shoot in Tower Grove Park just because I kept finding different places I liked and that worked well with the outfits she chose. One thing I learned today was to check ahead for where a bathroom is for clients to change in with multiple outfits! Doesn't seem like a big deal but it took us awhile to find one at first. Something I should have known but ya I suppose we all make mistakes. The shoot went really well and we got some fun stuff. I particularly had fun shooting her in this wading pool/fountain area they had. Very fun and innocent and provided great energy and fun for her pictures. It seems that how senior portraits are done has changed a lot since I had mine done, and it's only been three and half years. From what I've seen, outdoor settings like parks or public streets have gotten way more popular than shooting in a studio with backdrops. Let me know what you had done for your senior portraits...I'm curious!! Putting up a few samples today, and more to come once I've done some editing. Enjoy!