Text me to a great opportunity!

Today I received a text message from Jim.  Jim is the owner and head photographer from All Action Shots, a local sports photography business, that I have been working with the past couple of weekends.  When I first saw the text I didn't recognize the number (I accidentally deleted all of my contacts the other day), and then I read the body.  It was asking me if I would be able to join them in Morgan Hill (near Santa Cruz, Ca.) for the rest of the weekend because they needed some extra help.  They were swamped today and are expecting to get even more busy this weekend.  

After talking to Jim about the details and getting it approved by my husband (more like showing him how excited I was) I am Morgan Hill bound tomorrow night!  

I am sooo excited!  I can't wait for this great opportunity!  

See ya Sunday Fresno!  Hello Morgan Hill!!

Lunges...300x's

Yesterday I did about 300 lunges.  You know, lunges, the leg exercise.  I worked with All Action Shots, a local photography business specializing in action and individual/team photos for local youth athletics.  And let me tell you, I had a BLAST!!!  It was such a good experience working with everyone involved.  I learned a lot and can't wait for more events with the team from All Action Sports.  

Now you must be wondering why I was talking about lunges at first.  Well, taking photos, posing little kids and holding a 10 lb (...well pretty close) camera all day does it to you.  Up to help the child pose, lunge down to get at the child's eye level, stand up again to fix the child's hat, repeat with next child.  Repeat 300+/- more times.  Total we photographed over 900 youth baseball players.  

3 photographers divided by 900 kids=at least 300 lunges and one tired, and sore, Stefani today.  

Sore legs=well worth the great experience!!!

I highly recommend All Action Shots to anyone looking for a great, patient and understanding photographer who takes high quality photos made with pride.

Documenting Love.

Checking the mail and seeing some photos from previous shoots used on a wedding invitation and an engagement party invitation within a 2 week period has been one of the greatest joys for me lately.  It makes me feel so blessed to know that my work is bringing joy and happiness to others. 

I LOVE photographs!!  

I LOVE taking photographs!!  

And I LOVE the gift of love that it brings!

To me, a picture creates a story.  It shows exactly how life is at that very moment.  It documents.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to document your love!

I hope years from now you and your loved ones look at these photos and love still feels your hearts.

Romance. Friendship. Love.

Meet Hannah and Michael.

Hannah and I have known each other since kindergarden.  We went to school with each other all the way up until we both moved away from home for college.  We have kept in touch since then, but had never met up since we were living in different states until now.  Hannah has always been a sweet girl, and now she is an amazing woman of God.

And Michael...well, Michael was the guy that made fun of me in high school and copied off of my work in chemistry, even though I barely passed chemistry.  He can always make you laugh and is not afraid of being goofy.

With that being said, I hope that you are able to see just how much they love and adore each other in the photos below.  

...life as you picture it...

I find myself going through my daily life seeing frames that I could get if I was looking through the viewfinder of my camera.  I often think...humm, if I took a picture right now, this is what I would do.  I do this A LOT throughout my day.  A couple holding hands, the happiness in the faces of children when they see something new and exciting, and the tears when they fall down.  The beautiful nature that God has given us.

To me, a photograph is a memory frozen in time.  It captures a story.  The emotions, expressions, feelings of the people within the story.  A photo can be put away for years and years, often forgotten about, and when found, can bring a flood of memories back to the viewers mind.  And memories within that photograph can be different from person to person.  I find it very difficult to abstain from taking photographs, especially in rare occasions.  My husband, however, looks at it differently.  He told me yesterday (we were at the snow) that I needed to put my camera away.  When I asked "why?" he said, "...you don't need a picture of everything, this way, we can come back and make more memories..."  

...life as you picture it...

2 Energetic Kids

Today I realized how out of shape I am, and how in shape a 2 year old little girl and a 7 year old boy are!  I got to enjoy the simple life of living like a child at the Oso de Oro Park.  This park is any child's dream.  It has every play structure you could ever think of!  We didn't even get a chance to play on all of it!

It also has a TON of ducks!  Even if you forget your bread (like I did) the ducks still follow you around.  It was pretty cool if I do say so myself!

Below are some of the memories that were created today!  Enjoy!

This one is my favorite of the day!

(below)

Hilmar High School Winter Formal 2010

I went to Hilmar the other day.  For those of you wondering what Hilmar is, it is a very small town near Turlock/Modesto area where there are at least 20 cows to every person living in the town.  (Well, I don't know the exact statistics, and I'm not very good at math, but it's probably pretty close to being accurate).

Anyways, I went to Hilmar and luckily it happen to be Hilmar High School's winter formal.  I joined my Mom and brother, Garrett, along with his girlfriend, Victoria, and her mother to take photos of them at the local Hilmar Cheese Factory.  I hope you enjoy these photos!