Archive for November, 2011

Phew!  I have had quite a busy few weeks!  I can’t wait to share with you what I have been doing.  First, I was lucky enough to shoot a little intrasquad with the Tricks Gymnastics Group.  For those of you who don’t know, I was a competitive gymnast many moons ago.  I competed up until the end of my freshman year in college.  This experience definitely brought back memories for me.  One of the things that drove me to photograph such an event was a gymnastics meet I had back when I was about 16 years old.  It was a meet in Burbank, California.  It was a super fun meet with a ton of competitors.  I remember that a photographer was there taking photos and selling his photos.  One of my teammates told me that there was a photo of my beam mount posted and I should run and grab it.  I thought I would wait until the end of the meet to pick it up.  After the meet I went over to find the photographer.  When I finally had the opportunity to go and check out the photo, he was gone.  To this day, I think about that photo.  I don’t have very many videos of my competitive days and I certainly don’t have very many photos.  I have no professional photos taken of me from any of my gymnastics meets.  I am still really bummed about that so, I wanted to make it possible for other youngsters to be able to record this moment in their lives and have a lasting memory of one of the best sports one can participate in (I’m pretty biased).

Watching these little ones get to experience a competition and presenting themselves before a judge brought back so many memories.  I remembered my first competition (Judge’s Cup in San Jose, CA).  I began to feel those same butterflies and the tingling in your arms and legs when you walk on the beam for warm ups.  The sport has changed a ton since I’ve done it, but it’s so great to see so many kids still passionate about learning and excelling in the sport.  These were some talented kiddos that I saw compete.  It is a great first time competitive experience.

Thank you to Tricks Gymnastics for having me at your meet!  I see some really amazing athletes out there!!  Thank you to the families for allowing me to photography your kiddos.  If your child competed and you are interested in seeing the photos from the day, please e-mail me at info@victoriaflowerphoto.com.

I’ve always admired the creative minds of scrapbookers.  My sister-in-law is an avid scrapper and has created some amazing stuff.  I’ve dabbled in it and even bought a few expensive trinkets to try and get creative.  It’s not may bag — I’m much better with the digital stuff.  It really blows my mind what scrapbookers are able to do with paper, glue, tape, plastic, and some imagination.

Last month I was contacted by a scrapbook layout designer and instructor with Close to My Heart.  She was teaching a class at the Scrapbook Expo in Sacramento and asked if she could use my photos!  She created a layout  and was holding several workshops to help teach others how to recreate the same look on their own.  My reaction when she asked me, “Me?  Really?  Of course!!”  I was so honored that she wanted to use my photos for her layout.  She sent me photos of the layouts and I was blown away.  See for yourself…

Seriously, how beautiful is this layout?!!!  Really, I couldn’t believe that she picked my photos to go in there!  So, thank you, thank you, thank you, Mrs. M for this opportunity!  I’m truly honored and I’m officially a fan of your layouts!!!