Prints Charming Photography

Rabbit Trail Thursday

noreply@blogger.com (Christian) — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 06:39:00 +0000

Well, I guess I stayed up too late and must have hit my 2nd or 3rd wind because I can't sleep! My mind is running over the many things that happened today and that still need to be done. So, a few random notes for the blog...

One of the great things from today is that I was able to recover about a gig and a half of lost data from Holly's Dad's memory cards (from his PDA) using RescuePro. We get asked all the time what kind of memory cards to buy and I always recommend Sandisk's Extreme III or IV cards. They come with Sandisk's RecoveryPro software which has really come in handy on a few occasions and I believe is worth the price of the cards themselves in most cases! We have so many Extreme III and IV cards that at one time I think we had 6 or 8 CDs and licenses for RescuePro. (We've given all of our extras away since that time.) Anyway, just thought that little tidbit of info might be useful to someone out there!

In other random non-photography-related news, I bought a sweet pair of Skechers this week and I'm loving them. Being an island boy at heart, I love to wear linen and other comfy summer clothes and these shoes are the perfect complement to my favorite summer outfits! Check them out!
They are SO comfortable, I can hardly begin to explain it. =) And yes I do have more shoes than Holly does. Shoes are just one of my "things" if you know what I mean. I love shoes! Still, I don't have any totally funky alligator skin pointy-toes rock star shoes yet (shout out to Holly's cousin Aaron Moore in Colorado), but I am tempted... =)

Skipping around again... I used to be an avid reader. I remember reading the entire Chronicles of Narnia more than once in one summer. Not sure what exactly changed that, but for the last few years, I've had a really hard time keeping enough interest in books to get past the first few chapters. Audio books have been a life-saver and thankfully, most of the best books have been recorded so I can listen to them while I work.

I do have two books that kept my attention long enough to actually read and I thought I'd pass them along in case any of you are looking for a recommendation.

First is "The Shack," by William P. Young. What a life-changing story! It's written as a fictional allegory with lots of deep spiritual insights that will totally change the way you think of God. I literally laughed and cried reading it and I'm going through it again to make notes of the points that shook me most. I loved how it tore down so many wrong ideas I had about God and helped me to really understand on a much deeper level how God can love us so much and yet bad things still can happen. The first third of the book is a little slow and tragic, but it's WAY worth the effort it took me to get through it. Once I got about 1/3rd of the way through, there was no putting it down and I truly feel like my life has changed significantly from reading it.

Second is "Fast Track Photographer," by Dane Sanders. I've long been a fan of Dane's work and of Dane as a person, though I've not yet met him. And to be completely honest, I'm not yet finished reading the book, but it's been fantastic thus far. If you currently are a photographer, or you aspire to get into the field, I think you'll love this book, too! It's chock full of really insightful and helpful advice on being a photographer in this particular day and age. He is one of the most generous and loving people I know, always willing to share from his mistakes and eager to help others avoid making big mistakes. I'm probably 1/4 of the way through it and read all that in one sitting, and I've found so far that it's a very interesting and well-written book.

Well, I don't want to bore you with random stuff, since I'm guessing most of you visit in hopes of seeing photos. =) Thanks for humoring us! Have any of you read "The Shack" by any chance? Just wondering... Okay, maybe I can put my brain to rest now and get some sleep. =)

Chris & Brandy :: Engaged!

noreply@blogger.com (Christian) — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 20:48:00 +0000

We were totally surprised by Chris's out-of-the-blue phone call. Chris & I (Christian typing here) worked together in a Chicago purchasing department years ago and we both went our separate ways about 7 or 8 years ago: Chris as a professional student (at least that's how I like to rib him) and I went off to live in Australia and pursue random adventures and crazy life goals that are better attempted before settling down with a family. =)

So, Chris called because had was recently engaged and was looking for a wedding photographer to capture their big day! We had their date open, so we finalized the agreement and headed down to Texas to do their engagement session at the most impressive Gaylord Texan just North of Dallas. What an amazing place!

It was SO easy to get lost in the beautiful architecture and gardens. Hours passed before we realized it and I couldn't narrow down my favorites to fewer than these fifteen -- sorry! =)

There's just something romantic about fountains.

Okay, I have to comment on the above picture. It's just too funny to see these Texans make one of the universal OU symbols quite accidentally. After we pointed it out, we had to redo the entire shot. =)

Then we shuttled over to the Glass Cactus where the staff were awesome and accommodating to our crazy idea of shooting in their VIP area. =) We had some sweet skies and light going on outside, so we just HAD to make it happen!

If I had to choose a photo to describe the feeling we want our customers to have while we're shooting engagement pictures, this would have to be it. You guys were awesome!

Did ya notice the rainbow in the above picture?

I just love this image... Time to relax!

Looking over the lake

Thanks so much for stopping by and keeping up with the latest! Time to head out to our session for this evening... Headshots for a forward-thinking image consultant. I always thought that would be a really cool job. (Ever see Disney's The Kid, with Bruce Willis? One of my faves...)

Write-Up in the Edmond Sun

noreply@blogger.com (Christian) — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 14:45:00 +0000

When the Edmond Sun called us to say that we were nominated to be included in a special story on "20 Business Leaders Under the Age of 35" we were surprised, grateful and honored. Edmond is a town of many small businesses and many ambitious young people, so it was no small miracle that somehow we were on the short list. =)

Here's a link to the story if you'd like to read it. We actually did the interview months ago and they never told us when it was going to run in the paper, so we actually missed it until friends gave us a copy. =) Thanks, guys!

Oh, before we sign off for now, Holly just posted some great pictures of our girls on the family blog if you haven't checked it in a while.

Happy Monday!

The Perfect Saturday!

noreply@blogger.com (Christian) — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 17:52:00 +0000

After many weekends of weddings, it's always a wonderful feeling to have a free Saturday. Well, it's not totally free because I do have a session tonight, but compared to a wedding, an engagement session is gravy! =)

So, after gratuitously sleeping in WAY too late, we're heading out to grab a bite and then to Frontier City to see how the little girls like our very own little "Disney World" here in OKC. =)

Last night, we did a swap-out session with Ada photographer Jeff Barron. He needed some updated photos for his site, blog, etc. and Holly and I never get photos of the two of us together, so it was a real treat.

Here are two of our faves. I'd post more but they're loading up and waiting for me, so I'll have to post more later!

Thanks Jeff! Had a great time hanging out with you and the other cool OK wedding photographers that made it to Red Pin last night. Let's do that again next time we get several days of rain.

Murphy's Law of Weather

noreply@blogger.com (Christian) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 22:11:00 +0000

It always seems that as soon as we cancel a shoot due to foreboding weather, the weather miraculously breaks and becomes beautiful! So, today, we figured out how to foil Mr. Murphy and his confounded Law. =)

We canceled our session and then called it back on again! Yes, that's the way to guarantee perfect weather every time! Not sure how well that will be received by customers, though... =)

Anyway, it's date night but before that we do have a senior photo session downtown. Fun times! The weather really does look great, amazingly enough...

Chris's Senior Session in Guthrie, Oklahoma

noreply@blogger.com (Christian) — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 19:22:00 +0000

Wow, I'm on a roll... Two blog posts in one hour! =) Just wanted to share a couple of favorites from our recent Guthrie senior session. I'm really liking that town for photos... It's a bit farther (farther... further... Ah, here's the usage rule) to drive for us than our typical downtown sessions, but it's fun to find new places. Plus, any Guthrie or far North Edmond seniors may find it more convenient to meet up there than in OKC.

I love it when we're able to use something spontaneous or unexpected for a great picture, like this train passing by. I told Chris he may be able to use this for his next album cover. =) What a cool sky, too! That's one of the benefits to shooting when there's a chance of storms.

I call this one Alley With Randomly Placed Chair. No, I'm kidding, I don't name my photos, although lots of great photographers do. Am I digging myself a hole here? =) I just like the gritty feel to this picture. Chris's jeans were perfect for it, too.

And now just a random personal note. Have you ever heard of singer Brandi Carlile? I've been really enjoying one of her songs the last few days -- it's called "The Story." You can check it out on YouTube here. What genre would this be... Anybody know? I tend to like mellower songs sung by harder groups. I'm pretty sure there's not a genre for that and it's really too bad because I think it'd be really popular. =)

Shannon & Tyler :: Engaged

noreply@blogger.com (Christian) — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 18:31:00 +0000

It's been a really busy week! Most folks are back from vacations and the weather seems to be cooling down just a bit (just 79 degrees outside right now... LOVE it!) so thoughts are naturally turning to family portraits and senior pictures.

Yesterday was quite the whirlwind! I finished retouching a wedding and Shannon & Tyler's engagement session, got them both online and headed down to Altus for Jennifer & Evan's wedding. (Photos to come.) Needless to say, after getting back home (a 2-1/2 hour drive) it already felt like a very long weekend, so I was relieved for a quiet Sunday to relax at home. We've become pretty protective of our Sundays. =) We're not sure yet what the plan is for today... Everyone's napping at the moment. I'm sure it will include watching some of the Olympics and relaxing and maybe even some grilling out, too, since it's so beautiful out.

Here are a several of my favorites from our recent engagement portrait session with Shannon & Tyler! They drove down all the way from Tulsa and with current fuel prices, we know it was an investment and we were really honored to help them with some fun, fresh engagement portraits.

(Did you notice OKC's "skyscraper" in the background? =)

I just love these moody B&W's...

Had to take advantage of some new signage. =)

Okay, I probably need to explain this shot: Shannon asked for is because they're both really into running and New Balance shoes, and they wanted a picture to remember those shoes by!

B&W details are always good. It's hard not to swing your legs when you're sitting and your feet don't touch the ground, isn't it?

If you know Tyler & Shannon and would like to see more of their photos, click here. (You'll need to know Shannon's last name to access the gallery.)

Thanks for checking in and thanks so much to everyone for the comments in our last post. They really do make our day. =)

Just a Few Recent Faves

noreply@blogger.com (Christian) — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 17:38:00 +0000

Well, I'm convinced that it's never really going to slow down enough to get everything done, so we need to just blog a few here and there as we can or we'll never blog at all! =)

So, here are a few faves from a recent session. I just loved the photos with the violin.

Let us know what you think of them! We always enjoy hearing from you. Actually, we blog more when we get more comments. =)

Too Busy!

noreply@blogger.com (Christian) — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 14:41:00 +0000

Hey, everyone! Just a quick note to say that we're still here, just so busy that it's been hard to find time to blog. Last week we had three sessions in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area while we were there for David Jay's Freedom Tour/seminar.

It was a packed few days, but it's always good to invest in our business, especially when it's along the lines of what David Jay was talking about -- efficiency and freedom in our business and personal lives. I'm excited about what we learned and have a lot to implement in the coming days. The biggest resulting change is going to be quicker turnaround times on our photos, especially weddings, so we're excited about that. We've been trying to do that for about a year now, but we learned some new ideas to help us with that endeavor.

Anyway, we'll try to find some time this week to post some of our favorites from the recent week or two. Thanks for checking in even when sometimes we go for a couple of weeks without posting! We're really grateful for the visits. =)

Have a great Sunday!!

Tech Question: Website Monitoring

noreply@blogger.com (Christian) — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 18:29:00 +0000

Hope everyone had a great weekend!! Is Tuesday too late to ask about people's weekend? =) We hosted my aunt and uncle from Toronto for a few days -- we hadn't seen them in more than 5 years, so I put down the computers and enjoyed a little break to spend some quality time with them. It was a great time, and I'm sure we'll blog some photos before too long on Addie & Storie's blog.

Hey, I have a quick question to put out there to see if I can get any recommendations from any of you. Our current website host has been having some reliability/downtime issues. Another photographer (thanks, Joy!) let us know this morning that it appeared to be down again, and sure enough our host had made a change and crashed our website. Argh! This is happening way too often for my peace of mind (5 times this year so far!).

So, two things.

1. Please let me know if you ever see our site down! I'd be really grateful. It's not hard to get back up if I just call them and let them know that they must have made some critical error recently. But if we don't hear or know that it's down, it's possible it could stay that way for a few hours and that's not good. Not good at all... Which brings me to my 2nd point/question,

2. Do you know of a good way to monitor a site and receive notifications of downtime/inaccessibility? There seem to be a plethora of programs out there offering site monitoring for a fee, so any recommendations to help narrow them down would be appreciated!

Happy Tuesday!

** EDITED 8/1/08 **

Okay, I found a couple of solutions! Hyperspin.com is now checking my site and sending me free reports, plus I found a Shareware program called "The Informant" which will monitor several sites for me as well, but only runs on my computer, whenever I'm online. So, between the two, I think we're covered for now. 100% uptime reported for the last couple of days, which is a relief.

Amanda & Nathan

noreply@blogger.com (Christian) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:55:00 +0000

This may be our longest post ever! We had so many great photos from Amanda & Nathan's wedding that I had a hard time narrowing it down to blog just a few, so grab some popcorn or a cuppa (coffee) and enjoy!

I met Nathan & Amanda for the first time down in Plano for their rehearsal. Amanda is a friend of another one of our brides (remember Rachel's wedding at the Chesapeake Boat House?) and of Benj Heard, so we knew she'd be great to work with despite not being able to meet with her and her fiancee in person ahead of time.

A lot of our couples have us photograph the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner because there are so many great moments to be captured when you have family and friends from out of town, all together for dinner, toasting, etc. It also gives me a chance to meet the VIPs for the weding day and gives everyone else a chance to get more comfortable with me so they're not so stiff and unnatural on the wedding day. =)

Rehearsal dinner was catered at the Plano Station, a convenient place for some night-time shots by the station and tracks.

Fast forward one day and we're getting ready for the wedding!

What an elegant dress!

I loved the simple, elegant decor.

Happy moments... Captured seconds after they escaped to a room at the back of the church.

There was no lack of attitude, which made for fun times and lots of fun photos. =)

The groom gave each of the groomsmen a ring, which is one of the most unique groomsmen gifts I've ever seen. It made for a fun detail shot - I really love getting the detail shots!

One of the sweetest getaway cars of all time... a Rousch Mustang! I think you guys made that car look good that day. =)

And finally off to the reception at Los Rios Country Club. There was a little bit of fog rolling in and the lighting was really awesome for some wedding party shots just off the fairway.

You've got to love long hallways. Any time I see a nice long corridor like this I get just a little bit excited. =)

I stole the bride and groom away from the reception for just a minute or two to take advantage of the beautiful light as the sun was setting. Thanks for being game for anything, you two!

The first dance

I just love the emotion of the photo above, and how they're hands are interlocked behind Amanda's back.

Being from Virginia, and close to the beach, the cakes were decorated with shells and what looked like sand (brown sugar, I'm sure). So unique and impressive!

Amanda dances with her father

And then the party kicks into high gear!

Before we knew it, it was time for the bubble blowing and grand departure.

The engine roared to life and they were off! I think everyone held their breath and listened just to be sure they didn't hear any sounds of a screeching tires or crunching metal as they tore out of the parking lot and on down the road. =)

Laci & Sean's Wedding, part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Christian) — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 06:22:00 +0000

I'm back from visiting my brother Sean in California. We had such a great time! It was the first-ever Sangree father/sons trip for us.

Dad met me in Dallas and we flew together out to the Fresno/Yosemite airport. I think we had more fun on that flight than anyone else on the airplane. Neither of us is into crossword puzzles, so when we ran out of in-flight magazine Sudoku puzzles, we were both laughing as we turned to the crossword puzzle and started filling it in. I actually got a few right, but we quickly lost interest and just decided to try to fill it all in, which turned out to be much more fun after all. =)

Somehow, after staying up all night packing and tying up loose ends, I forgot to pack the trusty Canon SD800IS point-and-shoot camera. What a bummer! We were in some of the most beautiful country in Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks and with only my cell phone camera! Actually, Sean brought his waterproof point-and-shoot so we did get some shots better than my camera phone. Now, if he will just email some to me, I'll post them!

And now for some photos! Here are some favorites from Laci and Sean's wedding at Walnut Creek Chapel.

The dressing room had some great light for this closeup while she was getting ready.

The bride looking stunning and taking advantage of the great light outside.

The groom and his men, of course. =)

Just as the ceremony started, the sun started shining through the big windows at the back of the church, making for some great, dramatic lighting! I love this one of the flower girls.

And then heaven opened and Laci entered! =) At least that's what Sean must have been thinking when he saw this...

Fast forward 20 minutes and it's party time! Actually, I stole them for a few minutes to get some great photos outside while the sun was setting.

The bride's dance with her father. I just love capturing these moments of expressed emotion!

The groom's dance with his mother.

Then Pistol Pete showed up and cut a rug! That cowboy can dance!

This moment cracked me up. No sooner did he catch the garter, but he ran into the crowd and gave his girlfriend a big old kiss! =) Style points for wearing it on his head, of course.

While the happy couple roams the reception hall greeting guests, It's fun to capture detail shots like these. The dress was beautiful!

Sean & Laci were dancing and I just happened to capture this moment when another guest's camera flash went off, providing some cool lighting from behind them.

Congrats, Sean & Laci! It was a pleasure and an honor to capture the details, moments and emotion from your big day in photos!

Now it's off to bed! 2:40AM and we have a big day tomorrow... Driving up to Tulsa to photography a newborn baby for our good friends David and Alyson Frederick. Congrats guys! Can't wait to meet Alayna!

The Blog is Back!

noreply@blogger.com (Christian) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 22:49:00 +0000

Our blog was temporarily down today (I'm not sure for how long) due to masses of folks checking out Wes & Serena's wedding photos. Over 1 million people visited in the last day and it overloaded our hosting servers.

Okay, that's just a joke. Blogger had some kind of issue that corrupted the main page so I had to republish it. A HUGE thank you to Wes Anderson for letting me know the blog was down!!! I don't check our own site or blog regularly, so I'd have never known without being told. We're always grateful to be notified if you see that something's not working properly or if we need to correct a typo or something.

I'm visiting my brother for a few days and we had a great time at Yosemite yesterday. Can you believe that between the three of us (Dad, Sean and I) none of us had a camera better than our cell phones? =) So, I grabbed a few images on my cell phone to share. They're not very good and they certainly don't do justice to the place, but it was too beautiful to not try. =)

(pardon the cell phone photo quality - and I don't have Photoshop with me, either! =)

These were both taken on our hike up to the top of Vernal Falls. The view was breathtaking!

Have a fun and safe Independence Day!

Laci & Sean's Wedding, part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Christian) — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 20:55:00 +0000

I'm just uploading Laci & Sean's wedding photos and I have just a couple of minutes to share a crazy one-in-a-million shot that I somehow lucked out and got. (Part 2 is yet to come, with some faves from the wedding.)

Laci & Sean are big OSU fans and somehow pulled some strings and got Pistol Pete there for the reception! If you've ever been near Pistol Pete, he's got a huge, loud gun that he loves to shoot and in that reception hall, the sound seemed to multiply. I just about jumped out of my skin at his first shot! Anyway, it was at least a 6-shooter, so he had some fun firing the big pistol at appropriate times during the OSU fight song and I managed to catch one of his shots at the exact split-second that he fired! How cool is this? (I darkened the rest of the shot, because they were all singing the fight song and looked really serious. =)

Here it is magnified... You can see sparks coming out from the back of the gun even!

I didn't photoshop this image to enhance anything about the gun, just standard color-correction and some sharpening. Isn't that wild?! I think my ears rang for a half hour after that show. =)

It's been great to start catching back up on blogging and to be catching up slowly on our weddings. Laci & Sean, we sure appreciate your patience as we caught up and I think you'll find that it was worth the wait! =)

Rachel & Anthony's Wedding @ Chesapeake Boat House

noreply@blogger.com (Christian) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 15:44:00 +0000

I'm feeling just a little bit spoiled today. After last weekend's awesome Seaside wedding, we had another cool venue for a local wedding: The Chesapeake Boat House! I've shot another event or two there, but they were evening events and so I didn't expect the really awesome natural lighting inside the main rooms and the changing rooms. The designers did a awesome job of using glass to use as much natural light inside as possible.

While the bride and bridesmaids were slipping into their dresses, I stole the bride's shoes for some fun shots. I've often heard people say you can judge a wedding by the bride's shoes and when I saw these beauties, I knew we were in for a great wedding. =)

I should also clarify, these are not OSU orange, but tangerine. Rachel is an OU grad and wanted to be sure it was not mistaken for orange. =)

Getting laced into her dress. The B&W was so simple and elegant!

Here's a detail shot of the back.

Rachel & Anthony didn't want to see each other ahead of time, but they did want a fun shot of holding hands around a corner, so we found a cool spot to do that. =)

What a charmer!

I was totally loving this hand-made veil by Melody Ginn at Bird Cage Veils out of Red Oak, Texas.

The happy couple leaving the ceremony!

And a more artistic shot with the couple as the background. =)

They escaped to the boat house where I caught a few moments of pure delight. More than 1000 words are being spoken right here, I think. =)

A stolen moment outside of the boat house. I am still loving those shoes!

Then the clouds moved in for some amazing, dramatic colors.

The hours flew by and before we knew it, it was time for the big sendoff! I absolutely love sparklers for sendoffs because they make for dramatic pictures and they help light the bride & groom in a cool way.

Plus, after they leave, if there are any sparklers left, you can do fun things like write and draw with them! =)

Thanks to Brandi, Devin and Benj for being our artists in the image above. You guys do great work! I'm sure, for a fee, they can come to your wedding, and do this for you, too! =)

Wes & Serena: The Funny One... =)

noreply@blogger.com (Christian) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 15:28:00 +0000

Okay, we saw Wes & Serena yesterday and they said we have to post that funny one, so here goes! =)

More coming soon from yesterday's beautiful wedding at the Chesapeake Boat House. We dodged the rain storms luckily, and had some really beautiful weather and clouds. We even got to meet one of our self-proclaimed blog stalkers, Brandi J. who is also getting married sometime before too long! Good to see you again, Devin, and really nice to finally meet you, Brandi! =) Now that you've commented a couple of times, Brandi, I don't think you really qualify as a blog stalker any more, do you?

Wes & Serena's Seaside Wedding

noreply@blogger.com (Christian) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 21:15:00 +0000

Wes & Serena married last weekend in Seaside, FL and it was one of the most beautiful places for a wedding ever! I couldn't help but go through and pick out a few favorites to share with you.

The Seaside cottages were decorated nicely to complement the detail shots we love to get!

The beautiful silk dress! It was heavy and warm, but the photos will prove it was worth it. =)

I found this long covered boardwalk the day before when I had a couple of hours to scout out the little town. It's in front of the old school there in Seaside. I was loving the beautiful, soft light there...

Time for a little Arc d'Triumph background!

It's always nice when we have enough time to take our time and not rush through every step of the day. Everyone relaxes and enjoys themselves more and there are better moments to be captured!

After the ceremony, we had planned to walk down to the beach for a few minutes and although it was warm, the scenery was absolutely breathtaking. I was SO excited to be finally shooting on the beach. We've done the occasional family session on the beach, but I've been longing some wedding photos on the beach for a long time now. Man, I wish we lived closer to a beach! =)

I got a really funny shot of Wes acting like he can't hold Serena... It's a good thing Serena is used to Wes's sense of humor. I really wanted to post it, but Holly wouldn't let me. Maybe if I get enough requests Holly would change her mind? Serena, let me know if you're game. =) The expressions are priceless.

This one may be my favorite from the day...

This is harder than it looks... Have you ever tried dipping someone? I tried it the other day and I'm impressed at how many people can do this and make it look graceful. Nicely done, guys!

Wes & Serena - hope you guys are having a wonderful time honeymooning in Costa Rica! Thanks for bringing us all the way out from here in Oklahoma to shoot your beautiful wedding! Destination weddings are awesome! We're definitely going to start offering our services for more destination weddings. Traveling with all of the gear is a bit stressful, but I love the new locations and the unbelievable scenery that we just don't have in Oklahoma.

Back from a Wedding in Seaside, FL

noreply@blogger.com (Christian) — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 04:32:00 +0000

I can hardly believe that it's been weeks since we last posted! So much has been happening and so much more has been piling up that it's been hard to justify taking the time to blog. Hope y'all haven't forgotten about us! =)

This weekend we photographed a beautiful wedding in Seaside, Florida (located between Destin and Panama City) for Wes & Serena. Apparently, one of my favorite movies - The Truman Show - was filmed there, although I didn't really recognize much from the movie. Photos from that will be posted soon, so check back later this week once I've had time to unpack and work on a few faves in between other weddings and portrait sessions.

Let's see... any other news as of late...

I'm loving audio books! I spend so much time at the computer working on our images, and it works out really well to be able to listen to podcasts and books. I've really been enjoying the Dave Ramsey radio show on 1000AM most weeknights, so I started Dave Ramsey's "Total Money Makeover" audio book earlier today and I'm halfway through it already. It's a pretty amazing book, considering how irresponsible we have become as individuals and a nation with our finances. I am so grateful to my parents for giving us a good financial foundation from childhood, but still it's been a really interesting read (or should I say "listen?" =) and I've been learning a lot, too.

Holly got some great shots of our girls the other day and you should be able to see them soon on our personal blog here. She's been retouching them for a few days and there are some really cute shots. We have an old original Coca-Cola cooler that she used and the girls were only too excited to get a bottle of coke to share, too. =)

Well, it's midnight and tomorrow will be here too soon, so I'm off to bed. Sorry for the boring post (no photos!) - I promise to post some soon!

Voice: Gone!

noreply@blogger.com (Christian) — Wed, 28 May 2008 19:58:00 +0000

Okay, if you want to hear me sounding really funny, give me a call today. On second thought, that might not help at all... I lost my voice having a blast with the family at Whitewater (water park) over the weekend and it still hasn't come back! I sound so raspy I almost crack myself up trying to talk.

So, if you call today (and probably tomorrow, too), I apologize in advance for how terrible I sound! I really do feel great, I just sound pathetic. =)

I was hamming it up on one of the more mellow rides at Whitewater, trying to scare everyone in line behind us and that's how I lost my voice. I (we) screamed the entire way down and my brother got video of it. You have to love waterproof video cameras! If and when he posts the video, I'll see about including it with this post for your entertainment. It was pretty funny.

Also, I haven't blogged any photos from recent sessions and weddings in a long time so here are a few faves from recent sessions.

Wow, this girl can sing! Seriously, I'm seeing a future American Idol here... or maybe skipping that step and going straight to Nashville.

Thanks for checking in for the latest! I hope to post more soon, I'm just trying to prioritize our time since we're playing a bit of catch-up from weddings and the busy senior season.

Wow, this guy is FAST!

noreply@blogger.com (Christian) — Mon, 19 May 2008 20:17:00 +0000

Have you heard about runners who are so fast they can actually run across water? Here's a guy beating two speedboats!

Okay, that's a little silly, but it is an absolutely amazing photo! I noticed that the photographers name wasn't even mentioned, just "AP/Daily American Republic." Bummer! Any photographer is really honored to have their name and/or website given credit for photos and whoever took that photo deserved to have his name mentioned! Thanks to my brother Sean who forward a link to the story. You can see the original Fox News story here if you're interested.

I'm back from two weekends in a row in the Dallas area. The 400-mile round trip is starting to look familiar. =) Should have some photos to post soon from previous weddings... I'm still playing a bit of catch-up.

More soon...

Wedding Photography :: Only So Many Weekends in the Year!

noreply@blogger.com (Christian) — Wed, 14 May 2008 22:23:00 +0000

I'm really excited about a little technological time-saver I got in place today. Visual voice mail and on-computer text messaging!
I've been using callwave.com's free services for a while now, and love receiving voice mails transcribed into text messages. Granted, they're abbreviated and sometimes really off in the transcription since it's all computerized, but it's getting better and I can normally get a good idea of what the call is about and can call them back without even having to listen to the message.

But had never taken advantage of their online contact list feature and online text messaging options until today.

We often get wedding photography inquiries for dates we already have booked and are unavailable for. Instead of just telling the inquiring bride that we're sorry that we're unavailable, we can actually text a few close photographer friends to see if any of them are available on that date. Within a few minutes they've replied and then we can actually refer the inquiring bride to a couple of photographers who we know are free on that date, saving them lots of time hunting around and calling around to other photographers!

So, if you're a bride with a date in mind, give us a call and we'll help however we can! =)

If you are like me and don't really particularly like to type out text messages on your phone, you might really like callwave's services. Check it out!

** Caveat :: Looks like the free service I subscribed to isn't being promoted on their site. They obviously still offer it since I'm not paying for it, but you may have to hunt around for it or contact them to inquire how to take advantage of it. If you take the time to figure it out, drop me a line and let me know so I can pass it along!

Edmond Arts Festival features Allison Sangree!

noreply@blogger.com (Christian) — Fri, 02 May 2008 17:46:00 +0000

Hey, people! Hope you can make it out to the Edmond Arts Festival sometime today through Sunday. My own dear mother, the very famous Allison Sangree, artist, is featuring some of her exquisite works and will be there in person to sign autographs and swap stories. =)

Seriously, she's one of the most friendly people you'll ever meet, so stop by, say hello and tell her that you're a friend of ours and you will just make her day!

I'm heading there for some good carny food now. Dad says the corn-dog line is incredibly long. =) Maybe I can find something with fresh strawberries since our little plant at home hasn't done very well this spring. I'm not a big corn-dog fan, anyway. If they figure out how to make french fries on a stick, that's when I'll get excited about food on a stick. =)

The Grace Giving Foundation's Gala

noreply@blogger.com (Christian) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 22:08:00 +0000

This last weekend marked the 2nd annual Gala for the Grace Giving Foundation. It's organized at least in part by our friend (and family portrait customer =) Sommer B. We were honored to be able to help sponsor the event aimed at helping some truly needy families in the Edmond area. Edmond has at times earned kind of a snooty reputation, but there are needy families in Edmond, just like any other town.

The Gala event was held at Gaillardia and I couldn't resist sharing a shot of the outside of the clubhouse from later in the evening. I wish I'd have caught it just a little bit earlier with some color in the sky from the sunset, but dinner was too good so I didn't think of it. =)

A quick plug for the sponsors! Thanks for making it possible!

The food was wonderful and was served from a really impressively long set of tables.

Some fine music at the cocktail hour.

I liked the background of the setting sun in this shot.

Ever since I beat Guitar Hero on easy, I feel like I should know how to play one of these. One of the super-cool items that was donated as part of the silent auction.

I originally took this shot thinking how impressive it was to show how much money was being raised, but now looking at it, I can't tell whether it says $600 or $660. Maybe it was a ploy by the bidder to confuse people and seal the deal?

An impressive display of "shaker throwing" (I know there's a better name for this since it's so common, but I don't know what it is... anyone?) by Skip the bartender. Yes, the motion blur on the shaker is real. (No, I didn't add it in Photoshop.) Thanks for doing some cool tricks, Skip!

It was an awesome night to get away outside for a chat and a cigar. Of course, it's hard to shoot and enjoy a cigar, so I just enjoyed capturing the moment. It was just a little bit chilly, so the fire pit was really enjoyable.

With dinner out of the way, the fun came out! I got a few photos of the other band, too, but they didn't make the blog. Check out the other photos on our proofing site if you're looking for anything in particular.

These guys were the real deal! Scratching records and everything. They did so many different styles it was pretty impressive.

Some respectable dancing before things really got out of hand. Okay, I'm just joking. Nothing got out of hand despite the following photos' evidence to the contrary. =)

A little "Cotton-Eye Joe" action

A little Cha Cha Sliding...

And some karaoke!

I secretly envy people who can get up and sing in public, particularly non-professional singing I'm talking about. I sang in a barbershop quartet for a few months once and I always got really nervous before singing in front of anyone. Practice was really fun, but performing was terrifying! So, it was really fun to watch folks get up to sing with the band and help them sing a Kelly Clarkson song.

Sommer is going to kill me for this shot, but it was just way too good to not include... =) Here she is rocking the house!

What a fun evening! To see more pictures from the evening, click here.

Thanks for stopping by!

Colorado Family Portraits

noreply@blogger.com (Christian) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 14:46:00 +0000

First of all, let me tell you that I'll be single-handedly taking care of the two girls tomorrow and Saturday, so if any of you want to come over and play, that would be just great! I'm already bracing myself to get absolutely nothing done while they're awake... =) Oh well, memories will be made!

I was going to make some joke about Oklahoma City now having mountains, but I missed April Fools Day by about a month. With Al Gore's wonderful invention, the Internet, we get families from all over visiting our site. In the last few days, we actually had visitors from Ireland, Greece, Italy, France, Pakistan, China, Australia, Venezuela, Canada and Trinidad (hi, family! =)

Destination weddings are commonplace now and we're excited to have a few on our own calendar for this year, but how about destination portraits?

Holly has some family up in beautiful Colorado Springs who invited us up to do portraits for them and several other families. We figured that the trip would be worthwhile just to get the chance to visit and stay with family, but they though they could line up 5 sessions for us and that would have pretty much made the trip worthwhile financially as well. =) (have I already used up my smiley quota for this entire post??)

Here are some of our favorites from that week up in CO Springs... It's so nice to see pictures with mountains in them! =)

And finally, one of my favorite shots from 2007... I call this one, "Shooting a male model with wife and baby accessories."

Total eye-candy, Aaron & Shannon! You guys were too much fun. Thanks for showing us a great time up Colorado Springs!

Addie's Senior Pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Christian) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 15:53:00 +0000

We had the pleasure of meeting and photographing Addie's entire family the other day. What a great-looking bunch! We started off with a family shot or two and then moved on to the real purpose of the session: Addie's senior pictures!

I loved how the light came filtering through the trees in this spot.

The redbud trees sure are beautiful this time of year!

You all know by know that I love old loading docks. =)

Another old loading dock. Love the character of this one...

If you know Addie and are looking for the rest of her senior pictures, you can find them here.

Addie, it was a pleasure to help you with your senior pictures and to meet your beautiful family! Thanks for choosing us!