Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Okay, this is a little embarrassing.  It’s been a while since I’ve put something up here!  I’m so so sorry!  There will definitely be more tips to come as well, so stay tuned!  If you have any questions or any tips you want answered, please don’t hesitate to contact me!  I’ll be happy to address your question (if I can)!

To kick off my return to blogging, I want to share with you a beautiful senior portrait session I did last summer!  You know, one of the best things I get to do is document families and children growing.  Sometimes, I’m lucky enough to watch a child become an adult.  I remember when I met T.  It was about 3 years ago.  I met her and her mother at the gym.  T was 14 at the time, I believe.  She was this awesome rockstar 14 year old who was doing a great job at smoking some of us older folks in our workouts.  Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to get to know her a lot more.  She’s really become like family to me as her mother and I are rather close.  It has been such a pleasure to watch her grow from this shy teenager to this assured adult.  She knows what she wants and isn’t afraid to work for it!  Over last summer, I had the honor of photographing her senior portraits!  It really was an honor for me!  We got to go out and play and she got her hair and make-up done and –gasp — even put on a dress for me!

T – I can honestly say, I see nothing but success for you!!  I can’t wait to see what is coming up next for you!  Thanks for giving me this chance to show you just for a moment what a beautiful young lady you have become!  Get after it!!  Congratulations!!!  The world has no idea what they’re in for!

Last month I had the absolute pleasure of meeting a sweet little newborn.  I met LT through a friend of mine, BF, and I was so honored that they had me come out to photograph their family.  This little one was cute as pie and did such a wonderful job for us.  He was so alert for a newborn!  He was ready to play with me!

I’m so funny that even newborns enjoy my jokes.  Hah!  Just kidding!  I just love when newborns crack a smile for me!  There’s something about these little smiles when they’re sleeping that gives me the warm and fuzzies.

I also love photos like this where the newborns are so peaceful and quiet sleeping.  I always remind the parents to get this one framed!  When those toddler years come, it’s photos like these that help us make it through the toddler years of children.  :)

This baby is SO loved by his papa!!  They were just so cute together!  I loved capturing them interact!!!

This was another one of my favorite photos!!  He looks so grown up already and holding up his own head and everything!  What a cutie!!

JP and LT, thank you SO much for having me in your home and sharing your precious family moments with me!  I am so honored to have been given the opportunity to record this special moment in your lives!!!

So, I must first apologize for the radio silence.  I’ve had an incredible month in March filled with very amazing experiences that I can’t wait to share with you!!!  In the month of March, I’ve also been fortunate enough to take a vacation to get away from it all for a short period.  I have to say that I have never had a vacation like this.  I can’t wait to share photos with you and some stories.  This month I’ve also had the pleasure of assisting the most wonderful Amber Felts of Shoops’ Photography with her wedding workshop AND attending an amazing workshop put on by Kamee June Photography and Julie Rollins Photography called The Love + Marriage = Baby Carriage workshop.  This above image is actually from that workshop.  I cannot wait to share with you my experience from those workshops.  Each of these workshops deserves their own post, so those will be coming soon!

What I did want to share with you was what some time off can do for your brain and what exposing yourself to wonderful people can do for the pysche.  First, I have to thank Shoops’ Shutter for having me come and assist her with her Wedding workshop.  I’ll provide more details about her workshop later, but she really is an amazing person with a passion for her work and sharing that information.  She really has helped me feel more confident and she’s so open to sharing her knowledge!!!  After assisting Miss Amber, I headed down to Orange County to meet some really fabulous photographers.  This was my first large scale workshop and I was so nervous!!!  I got to meet the most amazing photographers from around the country and our neighbor, Canada.  It was a blast.  But, I have to share with you the sheer gratitude I have for each and every one of these ladies.  They were all so willing to teach and share!  It was a phenomenal experience and I’m just talking about the attendees!  Let me tell you about the workshop hosts, KJ and Julie.  O.  M.  G.  They are both such positive people.  They helped me believe in myself and my craft.  They, like Amber, were willing to share anything and everything about their business and their shooting styles and “secrets”.  They truly are two people who are warm and kind to the core!  I cannot say enough good things about them!!  I totally have a lady crush on them (KJ — this is not awkward at all hee hee).  But, in all seriousness, they were so open.  There wasn’t a moment where I felt like I couldn’t talk to them.  Having this positive energy AND the ability to have them in my corner is so powerful.  It really does help you gain so much more confidence in your shooting.  KJ and Julie, you’ve definitely changed my outlook on life and photography — your workshop was truly a game changer!  I’m just raving about these ladies as people, there will be a  whole other post on them as photographers!

After my three day stint in Orange County, I headed to San Diego.  There I got to hang out with my Grandma-in-law (did I just make that up?) and I got to visit my aunt that I haven’t seen in over 2 years.  I got to sit down with her for about half an hour or a little more.  We caught up a little bit and she was another positive influence on this vacation.  She urged me to continue following my passion and reminded me what life was about.   She reminded me that I could succeed.  She shared with me some of her personal life experiences and it has fueled me to continue to work hard and continue learning more about photography!

After visiting San Diego, I went on to Maui.  Here is where I was able to take everything I learned over the last week and really reflect.  You see, I really chose this image above to illustrate what Maui was like for me.  It’s like I could be a care-free child out on the beach exploring.  In Maui, I was able to reflect on my business and my personal life.  Being on the beach and going out to the ocean was invigorating.  I re-evaluated life goals, business goals, and what is really important to me.  There’s something about being out there where you can be left completely alone to the sound of the ocean, the wind, and beautiful sunsets.  All the little things you thought were important suddenly goe away.  It gives you perspective — it allows you to reprioritize what is important in your life.

So, I’ve returned to California refreshed and with a new outlook.  I never really vacationed as a kid because it wasn’t in our budget, but I really encourage you to get away.  Anywhere.  It’s nice to just get away from your daily grind to find some time and space in a quiet area to think.  I personally enjoy listening to and watching the ocean, but find your own special place and take some time to think and re-energize from time-to-time.  If you find yourself in a rut, try this to see if you can rejuvenate and start fresh!  I think you’ll like it!

Here’s to new beginnings!

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!!!

I finally got to take a look at these images and they’re definitely not my usual photos – well, at least the one’s with off camera lighting.  Take a peek and let me know what you think!

A couple weeks ago another photographer friend of mine told me about a fashion shoot that was going to be held in Old Town Sacramento.  I thought it would be a great opportunity to work on some dramatic lighting or try some things that I don’t normally do.  I wanted to challenge myself on that day and do things out of my comfort zone.  I love natural light.  For quite some time I hated using flash mostly because I shot babies and children and generally speaking, you don’t use flash with them.  I just didn’t like the look of the flash…until recently.  I did a budoir shoot and decided to bring an off camera flash and play with some lighting and I was in love!!!  The shoot came out gorgeous and so I wanted to explore using the light in situations where I didn’t necessarily need it, but wanted it for dramatic affect.

This meet up was great because the organizer brought models for us to photograph, but of course there was a large group of us, so we ended up using some photographers as models.  Some of us are better than others at that — you will RARELY catch me in front of the camera.  I will do it from time to time, but I generally like to hang out behind the camera.  You’re always safe if you’re holding the camera…hahaha.  So, you camera-phobes out there — I’m feeling your pain right now!!! I also like these meet ups because I get to meet other wonderful photographers and we get to learn from each other.  What works or what doesn’t work.  We get to exchange info and help each other out.

So, I warmed up with some natural light photos that I loved.  This gal, D,  just had the best blue eyes that were accentuated by her make up, I think!  I really that these were great!

She did such a fab job modeling for us.  D is one of those who do great in front of and behind the camera.  So not fair, right????!!!!

This next gal, C, could work it with the best of them.  Look out because she will steal the show.  She was such a joy to work with.  She really did anything we asked her to do, which made it fun to shoot.  We started out with some natural light stuff and then we decided to find an alley to work in so we could create that dark alley feel with the harsh directional light and dark shadows.  This was a lot of fun to do and I would definitely be eager to try something like this again soon!

We had another model L.  L was super fun to work with.  She was like C in that she would do whatever we wanted and that just made for a super fun experience.  She was snagged by some other photographers while we were warming up with natural light, so I wasn’t able to get any of her.  She was super patient while we set up our equipment and decided what direction we wanted our light to come from.

This was a truly fun experience!  Thank you to all the models and photographers who were there!  Let’s do this again sometime!!

Models:  If you would like to see more of your images, please contact me at info@victoriaflowerphoto.com.  I’ll be happy to show the rest of your images!  Thank you again for being so patient with us!  It really was a blast!