Sometimes I like to just shoot it the way “I” want to.  No expectations to please anyone else…… just me!

Saturday was our Open House, and I chose to have a friend slip back into her wedding gown and come play.  A visual is a good thing for people considering booking me for my services.  The beauty of this is there is no expectation by anyone else telling me what I should capture and what it should look like.  These were shot just for me!

A new advertising piece for Tita’s Linens By Claudia.  No garter on hand…….what to use?  Got it!  A chair sash!  Add some bling!

Ice, sleet, freezing rain….we are getting a little of all of it today.  It isn’t a pretty day, but if you look there is beauty in it.

…where it is in short supply according to the daily news reports.  It is the old “half full or half empty” view we all choose to filter our own perception of us and the world around us.  I choose “hope” and an ever filling life-cup to drink from.

Each of us can be overwhelmed by events in our lives… some good and some bad… simply more than we can handle at that moment.  It is in those moments I choose to go in search of beauty in any place I can find it. 2009 was a challenging year of injury and recovery for me.  I fight hard to be engaged in my life, and I take no excuse as a reason to quit trying.  2009 found me having to accept some uncertainties.

I felt like this waterfall. Frozen and encased in solitude struggling to find the button to defrost.  Surely it was within reach of my fingertips if I stretched towards it with everything I had.  It didn’t happen at all at first.  I struggled until one day it finally penetrated my wee brain to accept and look for HOPE.  Beauty in nature, smiles, laughter, friends, and a whole long list of things could elevate me to a place HOPE could take over.  Once again I’d be able to live in “today” and trust with HOPE in tomorrow.

All of the images in this post spoke to me. It wasn’t because I was the one pressing the shutter, but each one of them at a different time brought feelings of joy.  Joy in the beauty of people and glimpses of nature surrounding me all the time.   In those feelings came a remembering that we cannot always change what happens to us, but we can always decide how it impacts us.

We are a visual creature.   Choose to go find things that bring you peace, joy, and HOPE in the next moment, next day, next year, and the rest of your life.

May 2010 be a year of incredible blessing, and may it be is such abundance you cannot help but bless those around you.

My goodness! It has been an uphill struggle to get a simple task of putting proofs up to view.  At last at 6pm 12/10/09 it has been accomplished.

Click on this link to view proofs        <– go here to view proofs.

Your Photographer for the day was Tony Patrizi.   If you remember Tony did not use flash or any lighting equipment depending on the light in the greenhouse.  That was to reduce our footprint and allow all the guests to enjoy the Vander Veer Conservatory.  My compliments (by the way) to Paula Witt and all the staff that work very hard every year getting it ready for you to enjoy.   Please check the schedule and see it one of the nights it is open.

I must say there were some adorable cutie pie doggies!  The people were pretty ok too!

This is a labor of love and a way for Studio D Photography to give back to Vander Veer Park.  We shoot there all year round.  Studio D takes out shipping, printing, and supplies costs …all the rest goes to Vander Veer. You will be helping to support the park.

http://www.scn.ucla.edu/pdf/Master-InPress-PsychSci.pdf
I found a post on a forum I visit scientists at UCLA believe photo’s of  and individual’s loved ones is a good way to decrease physical and psychological pain.

Strapless  gowns for brides have been widely popular for several years.   They are not however for the faint-hearted to wear successfully.  It has to fit properly and with proper foundation to support the bride throughout the day.  It is less than attractive for the bride  every few minutes to grab both sides of the bodice and give an upward yank.  It is the exact opposite of wearing a micro-mini and spending all your time tugging downward on it for fear your zip code is showing.

Because we all come in various shapes, sizes, and anywhere from “ok” to “more than enough” it is imperative to have someone great at alterations create the best fit for you.  Then either at the dressmakers or at home get in the gown of your dreams and dance wildly to prove to yourself you are not going to suddenly find yourself the center of attention for a couple of wrong reasons.  Stretch your arms over your head. Reach across a table.  Once you have proved you will not be popping out of the gown make up your mind there will be no two handed tugs throughout the day from you because you fear falling out.

While you are still in the gown have a few moments of “working” the dress.  What do I mean?  Find out what you can and can’t do in it, and then figure out how you can do these things looking every inch of the beautiful bride you will be that day.

There is nothing like a well planned seemingly relaxed woman walking down the aisle on her dad’s arm.  Shoulders back, flowers down so the design details of her wedding gown are visible, and her eyes fixed on the man she is about to marry.  It should be a calculated, regal, well timed walk letting the entire church know just how she has prepared herself to be presentd to the one she loves.  No matter how many times you see it, it will always be a touching moment to watch.

If you choose strapless you also should make the choice to wear to your best advantage.  Straps, caplets, and jackets can be created if it isn’t for you.  In closing……… work it, girl……. work it!  Don’t let it WORK you!

2009 very much could be depicted by the image in this post.  Bare trees hanging over a road that I was uncertain where it led.

I choose to count blessings for 2009 no matter how few or how small.  How about you?  Thinking about the good things that surround you?

My biggest blessing this year has been the people in my life both on the short term and the long term.  I am richer from meeting and knowing each person.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Get these two together and the one liners fly fast and furious,  lots of laughter, and both are just not real crazy about photos of themselves being taken.   So! The deal was a 15 minute session.  Nice! Easy!  Not very many lights and props.   Just Father and Son… that was the goal.  They didn’t have any recent photos of each other.

I adore them both!  “Like Father Like Son” is sort of obvious from the first image above.  There is so much more that make them easy to recognize as father and son.  It goes way much deeper than looks.

Two of my favorite fellas!!

What’s a mental health day readers might ask.   They are days where you go do anything and everything on a whim.  Wednesday was such a day.  I grabbed a friend and off we went.  Camera tucked in the car of course. The best way to describe my mood was with this image.

A gloomy cloudy dark dreary day with pond scum on the river?  Oh, man! Perfect!! It fit my mood perfectly.  I am a DIGS kind of person (Donna’s instant gratification syndrome) and since when did life ever  deliver the changes life has for us on our timetable?   I’ve a flair for the dramatic. So! Off I went.

The day included retail therapy purchasing, a new top, a moody colored scarf, pumpkin pie fudge, jelly bellies, typhoo tea,  a coffee/hot chocoalte mix, horseradish mustard, and mango butter.  Amazing things happen after a little retail therapy.

To add to my day of retail therapy  there was of course Lay’s Chips so I got my oil/salt fix.  The day and the evening was shared with a friend and we ended it with Mexican food and Blue Moon.

Funny, I forgot why I needed a mental health day after all that.  Oh, come on!   You know you have mental health days too.  <smile>   They work wonders in accepting the things you can’t change!!