Refining Our Photog Skills

Much like the baseball off season, photographers have off season too and we all have to fine tune our skills for next season. So being the photo nerds that we are, we set up a mini lighting shoot out to keep our skills in check... or more often than not find some new ones ;). We drug... or dragged... I don't know which is right... all of our fun lighting gear and some rental gear, courtesy of our local photoshop, out to a random park/walking path in Irvine to hone in on some new skills. Just like it was famously said in a movie that I would prefer not to name, "Girls only want photographers with great skills"(okay.. maybe I edited the quote just a bit to make it work with this blog... but hey... you still got it..;)..) and since we don't have any nun-chuck skills or bowhunting skills or computer hacking skills we are going to have to impress all the of our future brides to be with our photog skills. So here we are finding some super sweet skills...

Also, check out Joe + kathrina... they are part of our own photog team... together we mess up, learn and laugh.... and it usually in that order...

Murph Dizzle

Hullo?!?... whatcha doing?!?!... have you seen my bone????... you wanna play?!?!.... this pretty much encapsulates the personality of our male, more like boyish, german shepherd, Murphy. On the surface Murphy looks like a big, tough watchdog with his black face, his 85 lbs build and deep bark but within minutes of meeting him you would soon realize that is far from true. Besides being the biggest wuss in the backyard, Morgan is the protector (Murphy runs for the door with even the slightest inkling of danger), he also seems to believe that he is an eight and a half pound lapdog. If you have ever laid in the pool chairs in our backyard you would know that you would be enjoying it along with Murph.

The one floppy ear is the first give away that Murphy may not be as tough as you think. This ear has earned him the affectionate nick name “helicopter murphy”. The minute you walk though the door to the backyard Murphy will immediately run to greet you then he will run away to grab this bone to show you how cool it is but if you take it from him he will flash his doe eyes at you with an expression that reads “heyyy.... you took my bone... why you gotta take my bone... its my bone... puuuullleeeaaassee give it back... puuuulllleeeeaasssseee!!!!” Mind you Murph would never try to take steal it back but he will wait patiently until you are not longer paying attention and strategically recapture it.

So when ever any of you come over to enjoy one of our many pool parties or game nights or whatever the function, dont be scared of Murphy... he just wants to show you his bone.

To Church or Not To Church | ihavethoughts... V2

Soooo this is the second entry what I have decided to call " I Have Thoughts...". Its probably my philosophy minor coming out.... I'm going to make a super sweet header for it soon... hope you like!

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When I was young every Sunday we went to church… ok maybe not every Sunday but when you are 8 years old even every other Sunday seems like twice a week. And every time I heard the same story, “God loves you, don’t sin, repent….” to an eight year old that seemed like a huge waste of time. I mean honestly, I’ve got dirt to play in, girls down the street to chase and a wiffle ball tourney. As years passed church remained just a boring as ever; the only thing that changed were the intentions and strategy behind girl chasing.

At one point I began to wonder why it is necessary, and why almost all religions require some sort of weekly ritual that seems to take up way too much time. It just seemed like a bunch of repetition and uselessness. One day I decided to stop what appeared to be a constant waste of a Sunday morning, to do what I felt were better things to do Sunday mornings: sleep off the night before, watch the very informative Sunday morning commercials or pretend to do the giant list of tasks I had been putting off since the weeks before. Despite my low grade productivity I still felt like I had better things to do than to listen to the same lecture from the same pastor over and over and over again. I get it! Jesus loves me, God forgives, I’m a sinner. I’m pretty sure I can remember these things; especially since I’ve had it crammed down my throat since grade school.

Time past and I was glad to say I still remembered the majority of the random religious facts, beliefs and bible verses that I once subjected myself to on a weekly basis. It did not seem to make a difference in my life whether I went to church weekly. I got a brief recap at Christmas and Easter and I was good. I still remembered nearly everything. But one day I was forced to examine the way I had been living my life and that is when I noticed the difference.

Despite the fact that I remembered all the facts and verses and prayers, I was not living my life the same way I once was. I would not reflect on an event in life using these morals and justifications I had acquired through my childhood. I noticed I did not think about the meaning or purpose of life and it seemed much more difficult to find answers to my ailing problems. So I started to go back to church; things start to shape up, everything seemed clearer, except for the realization of what church or other ceremonies really meant to me.

I realized that church or any other ceremonies are not performed to repetitively annoy people with the same information over and over again. It is there to remind me of what I stand for and what I believe. It furthers my spiritual maturity by testing it with new knowledge acquired from life.

I still don’t make it to church every week but I substitute that ritual with some other practice that forces me to remember my belief system. It is not always a practice from Christianity, but I have found many other religious practices are able to mature my spiritual awareness accordingly. I try to be a better person every week.

Happy Hour w/ Joe

There may not have been birthday hats, but that did not stop us from enjoying a great happy hour dinner in honor of our friend Joe's (aka: Joe and Kathrina Photography, aka: the "guy with the hair" 's) b-day. Drink with friends while meeting other new friends made this otherwise rainy soaked day fantastic! Between the saki bomb... mostly performed by Joe... and the delicious sushi from RA at the District in Tustin (I'm now a big fan of the Crunchy Calimari Roll!) we had tons of fun and had the opportunity to meet all the people that have influenced Joe and Kathrina.... and to all of Joe's friends... do not worry... after last night it has been proven... Joe is weird all on his own... do not blame yourselves... you had nothing to do with it ;)... if anything you all bring him back down to earth. But Joe would not be Joe without the random movie quotes "I'm not sure what to do with my hands" or the funny jokes that straddle the lines of socially appropriate (which are aimed to make Kathrina blush) or his unbelievable obsession with the color white... Kathrina and Lauren can back me up when I tell you there was a moment at Fry's when Joe basically fell to his knees in awe when he saw a white dslr... it may or may not have taken all three of us to get him out of the store that night. Joe, we look forward to many more obscure movie quotes and the internal competition with yourself to turn Kathrina red, but today... and the rest of the week (make sure to remind Kathrina that it is birthday week... not day..week!)...

Happy Birthday!

HAPPYHOUR!!


SAKI + BEER= SAKI BOMB









The reading of the epic poem about Joe... the drama!

Little Miss Kaylee

Miss Kaylee is the master of cute baby faces. This girl was in no way shy of the camera and only made our job easier!! She made every face in the book both "baby cute" and "baby adorablely funny" There is a chanc.e.. a huge chance, this little lady may continue to love life behind the lens of a camera.... If she can keep her eyes off the boys!(her mom's biggest fear). To get a huge smile out of this little cutie you just need to get a wink from the boys down the street... no wonder her mama has some worries! She had so much fun on the swings it made us jealous! She was so fun and soooo easy to photograph we could have taken pictures all day... check it out below.














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Meghan + Blake | A Palos Verdes Wedding

We arrived at the house, a beautiful mansion really, overlooking all of Palos Verdes; champagne as we walked in, and the most amazing view you have ever seen! It was the beginning of a night to remember! The music played, the alcohol flowed, and the photo booth was purely awesome! This was the wedding of our amazing friends Blake and Meghan. Meghan planned an absolutely gorgeous wedding in the backyard of her Grandmother's House. With a bold yet romantic mix of black, white and red, Meghan blew her guests away with her creative candy centerpieces. Red rose lolipops, silver kisses, swedish fish and tea lights everywhere. 'Technically' we were guests at this wedding, but that would not stop us from bringing our cameras, and busting out our dance skills. Oh HELL NO! We like to think we are the life of the party; check out our super sweet dance moves below. We know how to rock the house! ;) But on a more serious note, since this blog is about Meghan and Blake, not us, how gorgeous was she?? But more importantly, how awesome was their first dance!!!???? They busted out the Michael Jackson, and for those who know me and my love for MJ, you would know I stood in the corner like a Jealous sad little girl lol. You see, I wanted to dance with them too! I know the beat it dance!! I did it at my wedding in my wedding dress! I wanted a cool leather jacket and a choreographed routine! But it was their wedding. Not mine. And they were AWESOME! I think I probably had tears in my eyes watching as they perfected their Beat it routine. If only I had shown off my moonwalking skills. If only. (True story: I CAN MOONWALK!)

Enjoy the pictures below. It was an epic Night! We love you both!! So happy for you!

"This is how we doooo it!" ;) Rockin the dance floor like WOAH!


































Lauren: Shhhh.. don't tell anyone, I've had a couple glasses of wine ;)




And this is their Michael Jackson Rendition. You can already tell they were AWESOME!