by Shelly | Jun 17, 2014 | senior gals, senior portraits |
Pretty Fun, that’s how I’d describe Cayla’s senior portrait session.
There’s no doubt that Cayla is drop-dead gorgeous, but she was also so much fun to work with as we laughed and played our way through a recent afternoon.
How I wish I could be all chit-chatty about this lovely girl, but I’m so far behind on my blogging right now that I’m just proud to be sharing her photographs.
A picture really is worth a thousand words, so I’ll just let them speak for themselves.
Scroll right down …
slowly because you won’t want to miss a thing.
In only a few short weeks Cayla will head out of town to start her college experience at Texas State…
but in the meantime, I know that she will be creating smiles and memories for her family at home and on vacation … wherever she goes!
CONGRATULATIONS on your graduation from Taylor High School, Cayla. I know that college will bring you a great experience.
Enjoy — and soak up every joyful moment and every new opportunity. You’ve got this!
by Shelly | Apr 16, 2014 | musician, senior guys, senior portraits |
Ahhhh Travis, even though he was the very first senior from the class of 2014 to walk through my doors, for some reason I am just now getting around to blogging his portrait session.
Mea Culpa! What can I say?
This is one of the most fantastic guys I know. Not only is he smart, talented, creative, and very handsome, he gets extra points in my book for hanging out in the kitchen and visiting with us one day when his mom had me and a few other women over for coffee. That’s one of the bravest things a guy can do, and I’ve gotta hand it to him.
APPLAUSE APPLAUSE APPLAUSE
Musical talent?
He’s got it. Not only did I get a nice guitar serenade during our session, Travis also plays violin in the top orchestra at Katy High School — a group that performed at Carnegie Hall in New York City earlier this year. Take all that musical talent and tie it in with his love of steampunk and a little time to play around in the studio, and we came up with some mighty fun images for him, don’t you think?
I also LOVE LOVE LOVE his sense of style. With his suspenders and bow tie, Travis joins a long list of notable leaders, celebrities, and commentators who could probably run the world if they chose to.
He’s in good company!
He also volunteers with an EMS team and in a clinical setting at one of our local hospitals.
I’m beyond impressed with Travis and so excited to see what life after graduation has in store for him. THRILLED that I got to be the one who created his senior portraits.
Congratulations, Travis!
by Shelly | Mar 11, 2014 | personal, special project |
NOTE: My blog has traditionally been all business, but for at least a little while it is going to become intensely personal. During Lent, the 40 days leading up to Easter, I am participating in a photo challenge. The way it works is that the organizers have given us a list of words, and every day we are supposed to take and share a picture based upon that word. Because I hardly ever do things the easy way, I am also attempting to write a devotional that goes with these pictures. I will probably take the weekends off and will also quite likely miss a few days. Hopefully not too many. Last year I participated in a similar challenge. This link will take you to my 2013 Lenten challenge. This years challenge is entirely blog-based. This year the challenge is sponsored by Catholic Sistas.
Please pray for me and/ or bear with me, and if this isn’t your cup of tea, just keep on checking for portrait posts in between these challenges — or check back in after Easter.
REFLECTION
Maybe I’m weird, but I think it’s fun to look at reflections in warped shiny things. Things like spoons and bathtub faucets and magnifying mirrors. Well…. The older I get, maybe not so much the magnifying mirrors (SCARY), but you get the idea.
On one side of a spoon, your cheeks and nose get all huge and round while your chin and forehead disappear, and on the other side of the spoon your whole face puckers and turns upside down.
Go ahead
get a spoon.
I’ll be here all week.
What if we didn’t have decent mirrors, but all we had was spoons? We wouldn’t have a clue what we really looked like. Hmmmph. We wouldn’t even be too sure which end was up.
Back in the days that the books of our Bible were being written, they didn’t have good mirrors, just polished pieces of whatever metal was common in those days. Perhaps the best reflection a person would ever see of himself/herself was in very still clear water – until a fish swam by and messed up the whole thing.
In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians he tries to explain that we have no clue how great God’s glory really is and what He has in store for us when we draw near to Him because we are looking at God through a spotty and warped piece of glass.
—
When I was a baby girl, my daddy who also happened to be my first photography instructor, took beautiful photographs of me. ZILLIONS of them. He would shoot a whole roll of film and run down the hill to my grandparents’ house where he had a darkroom, and he would develop them all. You should SEE my baby book! It’s embarrassing . . . but not in a bad way. Oh my it’s amazing!
Before too long, though, I entered my rebellious years where I thought everything that was connected with my parents was stupid. It got harder and harder for Dad to get decent photographs of me – and when he did, I didn’t even want to see them or believe that they were any good.
That’s a shame because nobody else cared enough to portray me like he did.
Over time, the only images I ever saw of myself were those taken by people who either lacked the skills or who didn’t care about the end result. Some of these people, I think, even got a charge out of embarrassing me. It wasn’t long before I started to see myself as an UGLY… scraggly . . .zit-faced . . . snaggletoothed . . . frizzy-haired . . . bow-legged . . . UNDESIREABLE — oh, and did I say UGLY girl. Math-skills and music talent eluded me too, do I felt fairly worthless.
YUK … who could EVER love a girl like THAT?
When we turn our back on God, our Father, we also turn our back on the beauty and blessings that He has in store for us.
Not too long ago I had a chance to swap headshots with a talented local photographer who is also a friend. Jayna Balcer took the time to really see ME. And yes . . . I still have big teeth, no chin,bow-legs, and frizzy hair — but she STILL made me look pretty dang good. And that picture, the little one in the middle DOES look like ME!
WHOAH!
What a shame that I only saw myself through a distorted lens of sinful rebellion for so long.
Slowly . . . oh so slowly, I am learning to feel comfortable in my own skin and to see God’s glory everywhere I look.
and because I am beginning to see Him, I am beginning — only just beginning to shine — spiritually. Forget the physical, it’s all getting wrinkled and droopy by now anyway.
Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 1 Corinthians 13:12 NIV
Dear Lord, please help me TAKE THE TIME to REFLECT your love and glory through my warped soul so that eveyone I touch in a day can see a glimmer of YOU. If I must be warped, at least let me shine brightly. Amen.
by Shelly | Mar 5, 2014 | senior guys, senior portraits |
It’s official! My seniors simply have the most beautiful smiles. That’s all there is to it.
Meet Maggi. Taylor High School Class of 2014.
I’ve known Maggi for several years. She is one of “MY” Color Guard Gals, and I’ve always been in awe of how photogenic she is from that movie-star smile to her sparkly eyes. You can imagine how thrilled I was when she called to schedule her portrait session.
We had a little bit of fun. Maggi is quite the fashionista!
I fell in love with her gold and taupe maxi dress. It’s dressy and casual at the same time. She could wear this absolutely ANYWHERE and be the picture of class. It looked great both in the indoor studio . . .
and outside in the warehouse.
Even out in the garden . . .
Then after a quick change we hit the SPCcreative Beach House. Quaint, huh?
Her breezy orange and white top, paired with white jeans, was perfect for the beachy setting, but I’ll never be able to look at these pictures without suddenly craving a big juicy Whataburger.
Yep — Whataburger . . . that was her word, not mine. Cutest Whataburger gal I’ve ever seen.
Maggi has a style and personality that can pull off any look, from Golden-Globe-Worthy couture right down to Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Chic, and it’s been a joy to follow her through her high school career and to create her senior portraits for her.
Congratulations, Maggi, on your upcoming graduation. Spring break is just around the corner, and I hope you have a FABULOUS time and that you get in some good R&R.
The next few weeks will be a whirlwind, but at least your senior portraits are one thing that’s in the bag and crossed off your to-do list. Now, go have some FUN!
by Shelly | Feb 4, 2014 | family, special project |
Meet The DunGums. They’re a fascinating family. Cobbled Together, Empty Nested, and Widely Scattered. I adore them!
I can hear you now. “What kind of name is DunGum, anyway?” you’re asking.
Well — it’s like this. A few years back, Mr. Dunn, the father of three teen-aged sons met and married the gorgeous, sassy and over-achieving Ms. Mangum who came as a package deal with two sons of her own, and they all piled into one big testosterone-laden house. Before long, the older kids started heading off to college, and soon even the younger ones followed. Somewhere in those family formative years, in an attempt to make everyone feel equally a part of their combined family, they light-heartedly took on the name DunGum.
There, you have it. Better than the Brady Bunch, huh?
Of course as time passed, some of the sons started adding special young women to the fold, and for several years we have tried to get everyone together for that iconic family portrait. We came pretty dang close once, too. Pulled their living room sofa out into the front yard and piled it full of people, but still someone was missing and it never seemed right to produce the canvas.
With kids off at colleges all over the country, and holidays split with among other parents and new in-laws and out-laws, ski trips, and knee replacements, anyone else would have given up, but not Lynet. Kudos to her for being open to a new approach.
We realized that we’d just have to catch everyone when we could and build from there.
Our portrait session spread out over several months, but eventually we captured each individual as well as the married and/or engaged couples. together. We shot with two backgrounds every time. A simple black backdrop and a brick wall. Just a little variety but enough consistency to tie everything together.
Once all of our images were created, we selected a wall sized image of each individual or couple as well as smaller secondary prints of everyone. Lynet wanted a variety of shapes and sizes to hang together on one wall, and my print lab did a beautiful job of formatting the selections into thin-wraps — lightweight, ready-to-hang frameless photographic prints with a mounting block centered on the back.
I’ll have to share a picture of the finished wall at a later date. It’s very nice. While it is not a single traditional family portrait on one canvas, the DunGum’s portrait wall does capture the essence of the entire family at this one stage in their life. Isn’t that what a family portrait is all about anyway?
