Engagement Portraits: Anh & Brian are always right, never wrong ;)

After meeting with Anh and Brian about a month ago to talk about their upcoming wedding, I had a crazy dream about them standing in a whirlwind of shoes.  Let me explain.  When I met with them and explained the concept behind “The Signature Shot”, Anh’s first thought was to tell me about Brian’s shoe collection.  She said something like “we have a room in our house with three walls stacked 3/4 way high with Jordans”…and Brian said something like “she exaggerates”….well, it may not have been 3/4 way high…but DANG!  There really were three walls lined with stacks of shoe boxes.  Anyway, back to my dream…that night, I dreamt (don’t know if that’s a real word…spellcheck didn’t help with that one) of Anh & Brian standing in the middle of a bedroom and were surrounded by Jordans, and a whirlwind of shoes and debris…the dream was kinda scary, sort of like in the 1982 movie Poltergeist when the little girl gets sucked into her closet and all the stuff is flying around.  When I woke up, I knew the dream was meant to come to life.  :)))

Our original session date was last Friday…and after we wrapped up shooting “The Attack of the Jordans” shot, we headed out for the rest of our session…but didn’t get very far.  A 20% chance of showers, turned into one nasty Thunderstorm.  Before the rain was unleashed, there was a wicked cool sky so we stopped and took a few images with their fantastic, and totally appropriate personalized shirts and matching black Jordans.  Anh and Brian golf, so we made sure to bring some gear to play around with…which thinking back on, with the lightning near…holding a metal rod probably wasn’t the best idea I’ve had for my clients. haha  They survived…and we rescheduled for a more weather-friendly day.

According to them, their shirts are completely accurate. 🙂

FUN!!!!!!!

Anh’s laugh is infectious…so I had to share.  She had good reason to laugh, too…

…Brian was giving her his “sexy look”…and I had to laugh too. :))))

This was also about the time that I handed my camera to Brian to hold for a moment…next thing I know, my ugly duck feet are being documented.  Nice…thank Brian, you really captured my…uh.. wideness. hahahahaha

This is one of my FAVORITE shots from the session.  It’s so simple, so clean, so PURPLE!

On a total side note, Anh introduced me to “Tea Drops” in Westport….WOW!  I’m in LOVE!  I had the Strawberry-Lemon flavored bubble-tea…I’m almost afraid to try another flavor because that one was so perfect.  I hope that one day they open a store location near my house…I would instantly be a regular.

Commercial Photography: TOYTECHS, LLC

Last week I managed to get myself up and out of the house early early early to go visit TOYTECHS before the sun reached the front of their building.  It just so happened that there was a little crazy weather brewing and the clouds were looking awesome.  Definitely made for a nice, impacting image of the shop.

Need a good, quality auto shop for your Toyota, Lexus, or ANY make/model?  Check out TOYTECHS, located in Liberty, MO.  They are locally owned & operated by former Toyota Master Technicians with combined experience over 25 years and A.S.E. Certified  Plus, TOYTECHS is consistently 30% less cost than dealerships using genuine factory parts.  For more information, go to www.toytechsonline.com .

Wedding Dress Fun Kansas City: Sarah in Summer

Last, but not least…the Summer collection of Sarah.  This was definitely a session to finish with a bang.  We had really wanted to do the “summer” scene on a beach…and as you may know, Kansas/Missouri lacks a good beach scene.  My first thought was Olathe Lake…the place that as a teenager, I would go to with friends and of course do all sorts of things we shouldn’t have been doing (like cliff-jumping nude…ah, the good ‘ol days).  Being as it has been a good decade since I was last there, I figured I would look up the hours for the beach….nothing to be found online, so I call…and found out that it’s been shut down for years.  Wow.  Can’t say I’m super surprised, the water always was a bit dodgy anyway.  So, I remember there’s a beach at Shawnee Mission Park…call and find out that it was to be the last weekend open, AND they close at 6p…AND they wouldn’t allow us to photograph just on the beach after they closed (when the lighting was camera-yummy).  BUMMER!  The lady on the phone did happen to mention that I try Kill Creek Park beach.  …so I looked up the hours online and saw that they had something called “open water swimming” from 6p-7:30p…Fantastic!  …so we make plans to be there by 7p, show up right on schedule, only to find it completely deserted and the gates locked.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!

Now, I have to ask…what would you do?

A:  Leave, and try to find another beach open some other day (before the season’s end).

B:  Give up and find a kid’s sand box (which really would be a neat idea, too).

C:  Climb the 8’ fence and risk the consequences.

We opted for option “C”….which is not as easy as it sounds, especially for Sarah since she was wearing a wedding dress.  The chain-links were smaller than the average chain-link fence, so we basically had to climb it by sticking a couple toes in, instead of the whole foot.  Not pleasant.  It was actually quite humorous because the fence was right next to a walking trail, so we had a few people watch us trespassing and just stop to watch the show.  🙂

Childrens Portraits: My little monsters

Once again, I have gone quite a while without giving my own family the attention I give my clients…so last week, I spontaneously thew a bunch of stuff in the car, tossed the kids in the back, and drove around without a location in mind.  This thrown together session was inspired by realizing that I have more images on my walls of clients than I do of my own family.  SHAME SHAME…I know my name. …so, I’ve decided to revitalize our home, paints some walls the color happy, get a new funky area rug…and finally get some updated images of the kids on display.

Here’s my kiddos…as of a week ago…  they’re growing so fast that Niki has actually half way grown in her 2 front teeth since this session. 🙁

Thought this was funny…I said “Hey, hug for one shot…”  Yeah, riiiiight…total torture.

…so then I say “Ok Niki, give him a kiss on the cheek”…hahahaha  YESSSSS, I’m an evil mom.

I don’t know why, but this image of Niki looking so sweet and beautiful reminds me of a few nights ago when I went in to check on her before I went to bed.  She was sleeping so peaceful and looking so adorable, that I lean in and kiss her forehead.  Just as I did so, she let out a nice long fart in her sleep.  Yes…cute, AND disgusting. 🙂

Wedding Dress Fun Kansas City : Sarah in Spring5

First came Fall, then Winter…now a super delayed Spring…art imitating life, I guess. 🙂

Um…hello….you’re in my shot! hahaha  …I thought I’d share this one to illustrate how creepy-close we get sometimes. Sarah thought it was pretty hilarious. 🙂