Manitou Cheerleaders!

Let the good times roll!




I'm pretty sure I smiled for about 2 hours straight during this photo shoot at Garden of the Gods. What a fun group of girls from Manitou High School here in CO! And I had fun just watching them be girls -- giggling incessantly, making witty comments, yelling at strapping young lads who would drive by going through the Garden. It was hilarious! It was a jolly good time, and actually reminded me of my own days spent in a cheer uniform (Sshhh, don't tell). All in all, I think everyone had a good time -- Go Mustangs!

Juneteenth!

Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the US. This year's celebration marks the 20th Annual NAACP Juneteenth Celebration of Freedom and was full of gospel music, ethnic food (mmm...), moonwalks, and lots of dancing and celebrating! It was a blast! I was hired to shoot this event by COPPeR (Cultural Office of the Pikes Peak Region), which is the premier organization serving the arts here in Colorado Springs. At any rate, the kids were precious, the food was delicious, and the atmosphere was full of celebration! Highly recommended :)

Claire

One of the coolest high schoolers I've had the privilege of meeting. Claire grew up in a pretty unique family - born in the Philippines, raised in Colorado, a middle child of 5 (2 older sisters and 2 younger brothers). Their father died before Claire hit double digits, and her mother has raised the 5 kids (with the help of lots of friends and neighbors!). Each child in this family is so unique and gifted, and Claire is no exception. Artistic, aesthetic, musical, beautiful, and both socially and spiritually aware -- she's pretty exceptional in a lot of arenas of life.

We had a great time on this shoot! We actually had to do it in 2 parts, waiting for a nice cloud cover to come around and give us premium lighting for the afternoon. The clouds are actually pretty good to us out in Colorado, at least in that way. We shot everything at Glen Eyrie, which is a place that's quite special to Claire's family. She's off to Arizona in the fall for college, and then probably off to change the world ;)

Sweet 16

This photo shoot happens to star one of my favorite high schoolers in the youth group - Mikayla, a bubbly, loving cheerleader with bright red hair to match her fiery, passionate personality. But I probably didn't even need to type that; you can just look at these pictures and see! Kudos to Mikayla and her fam for coming up with a really fun and unique way to celebrate a 16th. They hired a friend who's a chef to come and prepare a 4-course meal for Mikayla and several of her friends. All the friends showed up in cute cocktail dresses (can you call them that when 16-year-olds are wearing them??!) and took their seats at the dining room table by their own personal name card. After dinner, we went downstairs and did a photo shoot with Mikayla and all her friends for about an hour with all kinds of fun props, and these girls were HYSTERICAL -- so hammy and wonderful. I barely had to tell them what to do! After the shoot, they come back upstairs for some chocolate fountain action and stayed for a slumber party. In the end, a good time was had by all, and Mikayla had a whole photo shoot worth of images to remember her
special night by.

San Antonio's Best

This bed and breakfast is a getaway of getaways. The view is lovely (overlooks a lake), the food is divine, the decor is like something out of Real Simple magazine, and the hosts are so gracious! Not to mention it's just down the road from San Antonio, which is one of the most fun cities in the country of Texas. I went there to work, but left feeling like I'd had a vacation --- complete with my first ever viewing of Casablanca.

Sweet, Crazy Seth

This little lad makes me wanna have babies! (and i don't say that lightly or very often) Seth is the son of 2 super creatives named Clay and Krista who go to church with me. Clay makes a living as a bronze sculptor (www.clayenoch.com) and designer of various and sundry things, and Krista is getting into interior design. I love how they love on their kiddos! Krista cracks me up how nostalgic she is about her children's short lives and how bitter-sweet it is for her to watch them grow up so fast. "He's SO BIG" --- phrase used constantly as she looked at these pictures. But enough about the people who made Seth, let's talk about him! He's adorable -- that light blonde hair and dark brown eyes -- and he is a hammy little class clown in the making! He loves to "crazy laugh" and entertain his older brother and sister by making jokes and running around the house in his birthday suit.

I took Seth by myself on this photo shoot, which was a brave move, but I'm glad I did! You never know how something's gonna work until you try, after all. He was very good for the first 20 min. or so, and then I really wanted him to take his shirt off for some of the shots (he has a cute, cute big belly). He wouldn't have any of that. Not even for candy treats! In the end, though, the pictures in his clothes turned out pretty great. And his mother was glad to hear that he wouldn't take off his shirt on the first date... even for chocolate :)