A couple of weeks ago I had the privilege of photographing a promotional shoot with Brillare hair Academy (formerly Toni & Guy) in Phoenix and Scottsdale. They are releasing a new website soon designed my mindspace.net and so they needed some photos for it. I saw the comps for the new website AND IT IS SOOO BOMB! I will post a link when its up. Brillare had their students from the school model and do each others hair. It was so fun to see how creative they are backstage. This shoot was SOOO fun getting to work with a bunch of unique artsy people. And I totally felt like I was back at art school again. It brought back some fun memories, and It was great. But the over 100 degrees at 7 am in the morning was not so great. haha. In this season of my life I am SOOOO enjoying the chance to collaborate with my dear friends. It is such a High to get to create and feed energy off of each other. Alex collaborated with me for directing and posing of the models. It was so much fun to have her energy there.

This shoot was shot over 2 separate days with a total of 8 different models. The client wanted natural real life looking photos (not in a studio) and mostly back lit for a light sun-flair because Brillare means “to shine”. We had some lovely talented ladies contributing to this shoot:

Make up: Chanel Warwick
Stylist: Alex Evjen (Check out her blog post on this shoot w/ different photos HERE)
Producer: Kristina Wood from Mindspace.net

Check out my scissor necklace creation too. haha. I think the idea is a little cheesy… but hopefully it was executed well. haha.
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It is very freeing and refreshing to work with people that are so naturally inspiring. That is a characteristic that comes few and far between. It’s so fun to go to a shoot and feel that one creative shot with energy leads to the next and before you know it, the shoot was COMPLETELY different from what you were expecting in the BEST way possible. It’s amazing to watch and experience a shoot unfold with a life of its own. That is definitely what happened here and I was loving every second of it.

I was SOOO INSPIRED shooting this adorable family. Seth and Crystal are great friends of Brian and I, and I seriously was on a high when I was at this shoot. Their kids LOVE the camera and they come running to it. How cute is that? haha. Check out the shoot I did with them a little over a year ago HERE. This time because the kids are a little older they wanted some fun colorful graffiti and an urban setting. I think this worked out SOOO perfect for them. I love color so much and I love these people so much too. Brian and I had so much fun with you guys. Seth and Crystal-YOU ARE LOVED!!
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Meet Erica and Pilar. They are some AWESOME girls. You may have seen a couple of shoots that I have done at this location at The Contemporary Art Center in Mesa. I really love this location because of the beautiful architecture and the bright colors. I love bright colors. Erica and Pilar found out about me online and they are local Phoenix photographers as well. Erica and Pilar just started a boudoir photography business and they have BEAUTIFUL work. Their work is really crisp and clean, creative, and very fashionable with bright colors and textures. I love photographing people’s promo photos for their businesses. So fun and intriguing. Check out the personality in these girls.

Erica is the BOMB photographer and Pilar is the KICKIN fashion stylist. They are in the process of getting their website and promo work together, but until then you can view their work at ericavelasco.com. I love the lighting, the backgrounds and the beautiful clothing. They are good at what they do. These photographs will be used for their promotional work on their website as well as any features or business work.
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HAPPY SUNDAY!! HOW ARE YOU?? So, first off, I cant wait for you guys to meet this month’s sponsors. There will be a blog post write up about them coming soon. And also a give-away this week. Wooho! YAY!

I LOOOOVE shooting senior photos. I love teenagers. They are fun fashionable, energetic, and are excited about the future. I am a huge fan of Megan. I have known her for a few years now and I have got to see her grown into a beautiful creative young woman. Megan is filled with laughter, love for people, joy, creativity, and FUN!! We have had a few fun chats about what her creative feature holds for her. She loves fashion, art, and inspiration and I cant wait to see how God uses her talents and zest for life. I love the details that Megan chose in her accessories. I had such a fun time capturing those artsy details into the frames. And I cant complain about the location colors, I think it fits her perfectly. What can I say?!?! She’s a babe.
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Hi, How are you guys?!?! Okay… so here is a kinda crazy looking blog post, so I will give you some back story first. Last year at only a couple of weeks before me and Brian got married we were invited to participate in Catalyst West Coast (you can see the recap blog post HERE). Catalyst is a motivational and inspirational Christian based conference for people that are interested in the church and in leadership. The big main conference is held in Atlanta and the new location is in the Newport beach area in California. The conference was as funny as all get out, with the two funniest guys I know Tripp Crosby and Tyler Stanton, there was great worship music by Carlos Whittaker, Aaron Keyes, and Chris Tomlin, and really influential speakers like Donald Miller, Louie Giglio, Andy Stanley, Mark Driscoll, and Dallas Willard.

My job at the conference was to photograph everything backstage, then edit and upload to catalystgreenroom.com right away throughout the day. This let people that weren’t able to attend get a sneak peek idea of what was going on. Getting to hang out backstage made my job really fun by getting to know people, and capturing funny and silly moments. I also got to shoot along side the amazing photographers Daley Hake and Stephen Hunton. Brian’s job was to do live interviews with the speakers and musicians backstage. The live stream videos and flip cam footage was constantly running the whole two days for people to log in and view at home. I loved watching my husband do what he does best. He loves people with all of his heart… so sitting down and being able to ask questions and find out more about them was the cherry on top. It is so fun to see him doing something that really makes him come alive.

Brian and I had SOOO much fun these last few days. But I am sooo tired. I hope you enjoy this silly collab of mix match photos. You can see more on the catalyst flickr stream HERE. I would love to hear your thoughts. Did you know anyone that went to this conference? Or did YOU go? What was your favorite or most memorable part?
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Lonnie is located in Seattle, the beautiful state of green and RAIN!! haha. August is my favorite month in Washington and I hope to get there this coming August to see family and friends. Lonnie really rocked this shoot with confidence and lots of laughs and jokes. PLUS!! This shoot was on his Birthday!!! Happy birthday Lonnie! He currently has a full time corporate job and is launching into the creative world of photography, video, and art. I am loving the stuff he is currently working on, and he has a suburb sense of fashion. With a really big heart and a passion for people, the world, and creativity, I cannot wait to see how he’ll be used in Seattle or wherever his career takes him. I will definitely be hanging out with him and his UBER cool sisters next time i am in Seattle. Almost all of these photos were edited with Formulaoneactions.com. Check them out and view a couple of these photos there.

Check out Lonnie’s website, blog, and twitter.
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Taylor and Jason had the most amazing wedding I have been to in a long time. It was truly unique, beautiful, and FUN! Taylor and Jason went to Africa with Brian and I last August. It was a bonding experience getting to know them while working and serving along side of them. They got engaged a few days before the trip, so we got to hear all about their romantic experience, and the beginning stages of wedding planning. Taylor and Jason are kindred Spirits. They are both artists and photographers and very talented. I was honored to have been asked to design their wedding invitations (see them here), and photograph their wedding. PLUS they also borrowed my yellow china cabinet that I re-did as their cupcake holder. It was soooo cute. I didn’t include any photos of that… well because I already had so many photos in this post. It was sooo hard for me to choose which ones to incorporate in this post. They had so many unique little touches to their wedding. I dont know how they thought of everything.

Their wedding venue was KILLER and I know you will all ask where it is. It is called the Historic Icehouse in Phoenix Az. It is modern, shabby, roofless, and totally ROCKSTAR RAD!! Jason and Taylor even had their own photographs on display in the gallery section of the venue. How BOMB is that? They looked amazing.

You know those weddings that you have been too where everything LOOKS AMAZING and all is top notch, bling bling, daddy war-bucks, but you come away feeling like “ahhh that was okay I guess” because there was no heart, no spiritual dimension, no character? WELL THAT WAS NOT THIS WEDDING. After this wedding I came away refreshingly full. Full of hope, full of happiness, full of yummy food and gooey chocolate cupcakes, full of heart, and spiritually centered. It was a full package experience for the mind, body, and soul. I am really thankful that I was able to experience this day with Taylor and Jason. I hope this will be a day that we ALL remember.

P.S. Taylor… Please tell me where those yummy cupcakes came from?!?! They rocked my world.
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