First Look: Katie, Lake Cuyamaca

First peek of a fun costume shoot last weekend I got to do with my friends. Many thanks to Katie for getting together the beautiful costumes, and to Buffy and Bernadette for helping with all the lights! :)

Melodie's Dress

My friend Melodie had about two days notice to get her dress together before she and Marshall met their closest friends and family at the courthouse to exchange their vows. I was so impressed when I heard she'd trimmed and customized it herself in basically no time at all, I just had to see it! And what better way then to do a fabulous photo shoot? Weeks after the wedding Melodie was kind enough to get all gussied up again for me and we had a blast taking pictures in beautiful Balboa Park. :)

 

 She didn't have a bouquet on the day she got married, so I put together one with her favorite sunflowers complimented with fragrant purple stock for the photos.

      

I absolutely loved these tree roots, and Mel looked like an enchanted forest spirit

 

 We experimented with some cool lighting shots with my new second flash illuminating the back of her dress.  What a blast!

 

And of course a twirl!

 

After the park shots we rushed to the cliffs to catch the sunset.

Many thanks to Katie for coming with us and holding the lights!  Couldn't have done it without you!  :)

Bragging Rights

My mom got back into her ceramic arts after taking a break to raise her family, run an aerobics studio, and become a third degree blackbelt and teacher in Aikido. I guess she figured she wanted a change from all of the strenuous activities in her life. ;)  Even so, her approach to ceramics is much more physical than you would find from a typical art hobbiest setting up an easel and quietly mixing their colors before dabbing them thoughtfully on a canvas. I've seen her lug around 50-pound bags of clay and then spend hours at a time wedging and coiling for her latest ceramic sculpture. Needless to say, if the rest of us decided to try that out for a year we'd get serious guns too, and places like 24-hour Fitness would be out of business.

She's gotten numerous pieces in shows since starting up again, and this year was no exception. Three of her beautiful ceramic sculptures were featured in the Del Mar (San Diego) Fair this year, and I was fortunate enough to be the one to take the application photos for each piece. It's always a pleasure to work with subjects that are so photogenic!

Button Box, which also won a special award!

Landscape #2: This one actually hangs on the wall, which is a bit different than many of the pieces she's done.

 

Creature From The Swamp: This cool creature is almost three feet tall, which is quite a feat when it comes to coiling!

 

Forsberg Family Pics, April 2012

I took these pictures several months ago and initially waited to post them so they could be used as surprise gifts for Mother's Day.  As it turns out, I didn't get a chance before I went on maternity leave so here they (finally!) are!  Can't miss the opportunity to show off Gavin's amazing eyes and to-die-for eyelashes!

I would highly recommend the giant Costco bag of Red Delicious apples for photoshoots, the apples are fun, beautiful, and of course you can eat them if you get hungry!

I've known Anna and Casey for years and they are tons of fun to take pictures with.  It was another wonderful spring day in San Diego and we had a great time up by Old Town running around the park.  :)

Young Gavin is awesome, and has the most adorable smile and dimples known to mankind!