Family Maternity Portrait Session

Our good friends are expecting their second child (another girl!) and came over to our home studio for a family maternity portrait session, along with their beautiful daughter. We can't wait to see their family grow yet again!

Ms. Carol's Gymkids Gymnastics in Mesa

We were invited to photograph Ms. Carol's Gymkids annual gymnastics rehearsal again this summer. 

Ms. Carol's is a non-competitive, family-friendly gym offering classes in gymnastics, cheer, dance, ballet, jazz, hip hop, and break dance. But don't let the non-competitive label fool you--the gym offers beginner, intermediate, and advanced level classes equivalent to the USAG program levels 1 - 6. Ms. Carol herself has been an AAFA-certified instructor for over 25 years. Best of all, she has a huge passion for what she does, and it shows in the enthusiastic participation of her students!

Freak Hailstorm in Phoenix, Arizona

We had a freak hail-and-rain monsoon hammer Phoenix this afternoon. The hail was bouncing off the windows of the house, but thankfully none broke. Some of the hail approached quarter-size. I'm glad I wasn't driving out in this weather! This has been such a nice relief from the 100+ degree temps we had just a week ago!

Mandy and Dan Wedding, Fiesta Fountains, Mesa, AZ

Mandy and Dan had a cozy and intimate wedding ceremony at Mesa's Fiesta Fountains. We were only there for an hour, but found plenty of great image making opportunities! Their unique ceremony included a traditional Celtic handfasting, performed by Reverend Crystal Lloyd. We wish Mandy and Dan a lifetime of happiness!

Creepy Crawlies, Part 2

I wanted to share some recent images from one of my personal projects. This project is "personal" in the sense that it is another exercise in conquering my own fear, of spiders to be specific (some of you may remember the scorpions from last summer.)

Be warned, these images are not for the faint of heart! I've started off with what I think is a fuzzier, more innocuous looking spider, from a recent trip we made to Boyce Thompson Arboretum. We attended a slide show that day from renown bird and nature photographer EJ Peiker, whose work is absolutely amazing. Armed with inspiration from his lecture that morning, I set out to catalog the fauna of the garden, this spider being one of the better images I got (my birds still need some practice!)



These other two much more frightening black widow spiders are from our very own backyard. They are nocturnal and are quite skittish when they feel the vibrations of someone walking nearby. It took a couple of tries before I could sneak up on these guys (gals rather) and get a shot without them slipping away. The first black widow is a juvenile about 1" across from the tips of the legs (notice that the black and red coloring hasn't fully developed yet.)



I used an LED flashlight to help me focus the macro lens in the dark. Am I any less scared of spiders now that I've successfully photographed them--and not been bitten in the process? Not really!

Tea Time

Amanda knows that I love a good cup of tea. Check out this awesome teapot that she made for me at As You Wish! Such a cool gift! The decoration and painting are all her own. I used our front porch flowerbed as a backdrop. The flowers are looking great right now, particularly the dianthus and iris. Would you believe that these iris bulbs came from Home Depot?!

First Ranunculus

It's been almost a full year to the day since Amanda and I took a trip to southern California for her 30th birthday and our 3-year wedding anniversary. While there we visited the beautiful ranunculus fields in Carlsbad. We brought home some bulbs with us and decided to give them a try in the hot Arizona climate. Here are the first blooms!