This was one of my favorite sessions in a while, and we are just now getting it up onto the blog. Congratulations to Robin who just recently started a new position with an executive concierge-healthcare organization.
Robin is one of those people who lights up a room the minute she walks in. Everyone wants to be her friend, and I’ve never met anyone more poised, polished, friendly, and KIND!
She wanted a portfolio of images that showed her powerful presence while still allowing her friendliness and penchant for fun to shine through.
It’s February! How are your New Years Resolutions going?
Have you ever thought it might be great to work with a wellness coach if only you wouldn’t have to give up wine and chocolate?
No more excuses! I’ve found your person in Blair Johnson of Blair Johnson Wellness. Added bonus: She won’t just help you get healthier, she’ll do wonders with your pets’ health too.
Her approach involves a healthy balance incorporating the things that add joy to your life — wine — chocolate — yoga — pets — laughter — friends.
Blair specializes in preventive and remedial healthcare for pets and their peoples, and I know for a fact that she has a great rapport with the four legged variety. Let her into YOUR life, and she will quickly become your dog’s second best friend too. My Lucy adores her — as do my cats!
Who do you know that can actually get a high five from a cat? Blair can! Our Fred and Pearlie Girl think that she is absolutely the Cat’s MEOW!
Need a speaker for an organization? I’ve heard Blair make presentations to several different groups since I have known her, and she is fabulously entertaining and extremely informative. Whether your group is interested in physical health, emotional wellness, or caring for pets, she’ll have your organization captivated. Here’s a link to her site for more information!
When you’re toned and fit, you not only feel better, you LOOK fabulous! Read on for the celebration of someone amazing.
Hair and Makeup by Cintya Velderrain
This woman is some sort of superhero if you ask me. Tamara’s all about clean healthy living while enjoying life to its fullest. She’s also intent on striving for fitness while accepting her body as it is. When we started planning her fitness portrait session, this mom of seven — yes SEVEN children made it clear that she wanted to look great but that she didn’t want extra retouching or shaping. She wanted to capture her image as it is!
That is so refreshing to me. I love seeing women who are comfortable in their own skin. That said, we agreed to keep it real. Still … just WOW!
“The reason I started improving my fitmess and health is that I felt God had something important for me to do and I needed to be stronger physically, mentally, and emotionally in order to be able to do it,” says Tamara.
“In the past, getting into shape meant hating my body and beating it into submission with hard exercise and depriving myself of foods I enjoyed eating. This time it meant loving my body the way it was and encouraging it to move in way that felt good and feeding it food that gave it good energy,” she added.
“This is why I didn’t want my photos to be ‘touched up.’ My body has always given me its best no matter how well or poorly I cared for it and I think that’s what true beauty is. I want people to see that cellulite and stretch marks and wrinkles and spider veins are part of a whole body that has shown me unconditional love and helped me do incredible things that are truly beautiful. That’s what my work is. Showing people how to love themselves and give back the very best to their bodies so they can do all they feel called to do.”
Tamara’s fitness routine is never the same two days in a row. She enjoys weights and yoga, but also picked up ice skating for her 46th birthday. Many Saturdays you can find her leading a hiking group as they explore a State park or wildlife preserve together.
She knows a wealth of information about healing with essential oils and natural methods, and has a great following at Tamara’s Essential Wellness For Life.
Check out her page at the link above.
Not only has Tamara has spent years studying the intricacies of using the oils along with other pure and natural methods of healing and prevention, but she can also hook you up with all the wonderful Do-Terra products. She will work with you to make sure you know how to best use them too.
As we enter a new year and a new decade, we’re all looking at ways to become healthier, stronger, and happier. I am so happy to know and work with Tamara both as a portraiture client AND as a wellness consultant for me and my family. She is a true inspiration.
If you are into fitness, I’d love to celebrate and preserve the beauty of your strength and your body with you. Call the studio today at 281.773.7465, and let’s create a portraiture plan designed just for you.
One of the hardest things about creating bridal portraits is waiting until AFTER the wedding to share the images, but now that Leah and Ben are an officially married couple, here she is!
Traditional beauty with an artsy Boho vibe capturing moods of awe, wonder, and a little bit of fantasy. That’s what Leah wanted in her bridal portraits, and we were more than happy to deliver from Dutch Master dark styling with rich colors, intense light and deep shadows to a flying Disney-esque princess.
Leah’s bouquet, an abundance of delphinium, dianthus, eucalyptus, and sweeping greens designed by Kim Boyd-DeBerry of Boyd’s Blossoms in Baytown lit up the room almost as much as our bride did. Soooooo! Gorgeous!
Leah brought her own hairdresser and makeup artist to our portrait session so that they could all get a trial run together. Tisha Zuercher of TMZ styled those fantasy locks, and I was beyond excited when I learned that Brandi Alea, owner and founder of Hollywood Hippie Cosmetics would be in charge of her makeup. I’ve known Brandi and worked with her in studio countless times before, so it I knew from the beginning that Leah’s look would be in the best of hands.
In addition to gorgeous traditional images, I wanted to create a fantasy portrait for Leah, something like a real live Disney princess on her magical day. This was all in fun, but I love the way she seems to glide through the clouds.
The day we held our portrait session was a warm muggy Houston-style early fall afternoon so we chose to do most of our work inside the studio with the air conditioner cranked. We did, however, wrap things up outdoors to add a little landscape and warm fall colors to our collection.
Best wishes to Leah and Ben. May you both be blessed and joyful together for years to come.
You may have heard that we’ve got a new Grand Dane. That’s right, our kiddos made us proud grand-pup-parents again with this handsome guy, and we couldn’t be happier.
They brought him over for dinner last week so we had to dash up to the studio for a few quick baby portraits. He is a Great Dane, so we know he won’t stay this small for long. Get a load of those PAWS!
We don’t play in the studio often together when the kids come over, but decided this would be a great occasion for our daughter in love to step into the gorgeous lilac dress that we recently added to our studio collection. Isn’t she a dream?
Laughter and puppy breath. Sooooo sweet! We had a wonderful time playing together and it is going to be so much fun watching this pup grow up. His name is Dos, and he’s the second official mascot of Grateful Dane Distilling Co. right here in Houston, Texas.
The next time you are enjoying a cold locally craft distilled beverage and wonder if there really is a Dane behind the label, now you know!
The original Grateful Dane, Jaeger, will never be replaced. He left a pretty big pawprint on our hearts to fill, but I believe Dos has begun filling that space quite nicely.
Keveney Evanne is one of those people who just draws you in with a feeling of calm confidence all wrapped up with a big, bold, energetic twist.
And after spending some time with her, I left feeling refreshed and confident. Now, if THAT wasn’t backwards! After all, as a photographer I consider a large part of my job to be putting my client at ease and making HER feel comfortable enough to bare her soul for my lens. In this case, it’s almost as if the energy was reversed.
That really comes as no surprise, though, because Keveney IS The Energy Wizard. and I was delighted to work with her as she re-branded her personal coaching business, Keveneyevanne.com.
Now, I’ll be the first to admit that in talking with her to plan her photography session, I was a little bit — okay, a good bit — out of my element. After all, I’m just a small town gal from Midland-Gosh-Dern-Texas who never was even exposed to concepts like chakras, auric cleansing, or universal law. The theories always intrigued me but I truly knew nothing of them.
Please don’t laugh, but my first though was, “How do we illustrate Keveney’s work without falling into Harry Potter meets Fairy Godmother?”
Ha! It wasn’t hard at all.
Keveney’s brand is solid and grounded because she works with high-level professionals who don’t mess around. Still, she is serenely uplifting. She uses a palette of deep rich plum and violet along with natural elements, calmexpressions peppered with joyful invitation.
She helps people like lawyers, engineers, doctors, professional coaches — and even their pets– break free from the the illusions of what society says their life should be. Together they align their goals and actions with their intuition, otherwise known as their “gut.”
Keveney describes herself as a free spirit who had achieved a wildly successful life with a thriving legal career, beautiful home, loving husband, two great dogs, and more. Still she became disenchanted, so she started to wander.
She didn’t just aimlessly amble around until she found something palatable. She set aside her legal practice and took on adventures that could conceivably become another “Eat, Pray, Love” genre novel. She practiced yoga in Costa Rica. She cooked alongside award-winning Native American chefs and built a sweat lodge with shamans in New Mexico. She studied with a world renowned animal communicator at a horse rescue in the Texas Panhandle. She learned about ancient healing and energetic technologies… And she played on the beaches of California.
Now settled back in Houston, she puts all that she has learned together to help others move past their history to a different and fulfilling mindset.
I loved working with her — and have learned so much just by hanging out with her for a while. It will be fun to watch her prosper along with her clients.
