carlsbad, california: FILM

"At the beach, life is different. Time doesn't move hour to hour but mood to moment. We live by the currents, plan by the tides and follow the sun."


- Unknown





maggie and milly and molly and may
went down to the beach(to play one day) 



and maggie discovered a shell that sang
so sweetly she couldn't remember her troubles

 

milly befriended a stranded star
whose rays five languid fingers were 

 

and molly was chased by a horrible thing
which raced sideways while blowing bubbles 



may came home with a smooth round stone
as small as a world and as large as alone 



for whatever we lose (like a you or a me)
it's always ourselves we find in the sea



- e.e. cummings









frames taken in carlsbad, oceanside, and vista california.  last two taken in enoch, utah.

cedar city film photographer

what a mornin'

I wish I could sing "Oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful dayyyy!" loud and clear for all to hear (like the rhyme?) but that wouldn't be the truth.  I woke up pumped to run in the fresh morning air.  Really love quiet mornings like that, so why not.  I did a quick journal/Bible/prayer time before heading out with my new iPod.

Quick story about my iPod: yesterday was techniqually the last day of school, but I didn't go.  I stayed home and got to sleep in.  ;)  Love my parents.  It was almost nine o'clock (beautiful) and my dad comes in saying, "There's something shiny for you on the counter so wake uuup!"  My first thought was Oh, it must be an iPod, only because a few weeks back my dad was scanning deals online and nonchalantly asked, "IF you got one of these (referring to the iPod on the screen) which color would you want?"  Haaa!  He's so sneaky.  Before I actually hopped out of bed, I talked myself out of the iPod theory, just in case it wasn't an iPod and it was a new pair of scissors or something.  That's just how my brain works.  Less disappointment that way.

So that's where the new iPod came from.  I don't know what I'll do with my old one...any takers?  ;)  There's some cool features in my upgraded one that my old iPod didn't have: video camera, radio, pedometer, larger screen, & more.  So I guess that's cool.

Trying out the pedometer this morning, I took my silly dog Snoopy out for a run.  NOT A GOOD PLAN.  It appears my crazy beagle has forgotten what the word "heel" means.  She peed twice, pooped once (on someone's lawn no doubt!  it was interesting to try to drag her off...), and made me unbelievably frustrated.  Wow.  Okay, now I'm laughing at all this, but 3,357 steps ago?  Oh nooooo.   



I'm heading out the door soon to hit up a thrift store because it's fifty cent weekend for clothes!  Eeek!  Then I'll  be second-shooting a wedding with Parker Grimes in the afternoon.  I assisted him at an e-sesh this past Thursday.  Here's a shot of Parker in action:   

 

Here's another stealthy shot of him doing his job & workin' the resources: in this case, a trash can.  ;)  It was fun to see him in his area.  I think we have differing styles of photography, but it was a good experience to play with his reflectors and watch him get creative with flash.  Thanks again, Parker!

 

Have a good weekend, ya'll!  :)

cedar city wedding photography photographer

REBECCA+PHIL: HISTORIC DOWNTOWN CEDAR CITY ENGAGEMENT

They first caught eyes at a Friday night party. Not the kind of college party with blaring music and spin the bottle, imagine in your mind a party in the little, diminutive town of Bradley, West Virginia at the beautiful Appalachian Bible College campus. Becca described her outfit to me as "grungy" -- baggy sweats, hair up, and no makeup (all ladies can attest to this look! ;) -- but Phil still wanted to know this lovely lady's name. So when Becca came around with a cup of water for him, Phil asked. As they were recounting their first meeting to me, Phil chimed in that when Becca said, "Rebecca" he thought of the symbolism of Rebekah giving David water at the well just as she handed him his water.

Thank you so much, you two, for allowing me to capture your fun personalities! I'm glad the four of us could meet up before you guys took off. My cheeks really got a workout from smiling pretty much the whole entire time. ;) I cannot wait for your January 2011 wedding; you two make an adorable couple. I'm so very happy for you both. :) Onto the photos! Enjoy:

Becca and I originally planned to meet at a local coffee shop right on main street called the Grind at 6:00pm. My brother and I (shout out to Nathan Charles, my awesome assistant! Thanks again man!) walked up to the door right as the lady locked it at 5:50-ish! Then we looked at their hours open on the door feeling like idiots. They close at 6pm on weekdays. Haaa! We thought it was ironic that we planned to meet at the coffeeshop at exactly 6:00pm. So we shifted locations and went down the street to Bulloch Drug.




COMPLETELY adorable! Bulloch Drug has awesome 50's decor and even an old-fashioned soda fountain. Loved the jukebox! :)


We thought this tile would look awesome as a kitchen floor, but then again it could be quite headache inducing. ;) And Becca's shoes? Love 'em.




Phil can make Becca laugh so easily. :) Any Cedar City-ites recognize the Old Rock Church in the window's reflection?



I adore their cute outfit choice! Perfect. :)








How cool is that barber shop red, white, and blue wall?




After an outfit change, we made our way to the library in the park where we had some fun. Phil's reading Apocalypse Explained while Becca's musing in Marital Love. Phil's expression in this next frame is priceless! Haha! At one point Becca told him, "Phil you don't actually have to read the book!"




This next location was "so Phil" according to Becca. :)





This moment? Love it. A little overexposed, but put in B&W and walla! ;)




Don't ya just love Becca's necklaces? We both share a love for thrifting. I think it's a very lovely ensemble.



As I was editing these, I flipped through this series of them walking to me at the main street park, and this one stuck out. Sun flair+adorable couple+adorable couple's shadow+a hint of summer warmth = SCORE!

Spontaneous, I tell ya! ;)







Historic Downtown Cedar City, Utah
cedar city wedding photography utah engagement photographer mandii southern utah

THE FINISH LINE.

Guess what?!  I'm still alive!  All my finals didn't kill me!  You might've seen on my twitter the other day that I tweeted, "1 dance concert down, 1 more to go. & then a german final, chemistry final, english final, precalculus final, & child development final:)"  Seriously.  It's funny how every year in high school, teachers decide that finals would be fun to cram on us.  All. At. The. Same. Time.  I wouldn't be surprised if all the teachers in my school had frequent meetings where they ban together and plan all tests to be in the same week.  Luckily though, I'm still passing and I've only got one final left to take.  :)

Beyond all these finals I'm so very excited for the start of summer and all the sessions I get to photograph!  This week I've got four sessions in between all these tests: an e-sesh today, a teen session pending (still deciding on the date hehe!), assisting Parker at another e-session on Thursday, and on Saturday also assisting Parker at a wedding.  Wooh!   (AND a huge extra "wooh!" because school will be out after this week!  Hallelujah, praise the Lauuuuud!)

In other news, here in Cedar it snowed.  SNOW.  May 24, 2010 and it decides to snow.  I got this shot before the snow murdered all the plants in my backyard.  ;)



The sun will come out tomorrow, right?  :)

wedding photography in cedar city, utah

reflection

i just poured out my heart on paper & i haven't done that for a while.  it felt so good.  after escalatelive, i just sat in my office.  just sat.  i haven't done that for so long.  k, that sounds crazy so i'll 'splain. (as ricky ricardo says.)

so many thoughts were rushing through my head during and especially after the ever amazing jeremy cowart platform talk at the escalatelive conference for photographers.  his talk was the longest.  if you weren't watching, he was almost up on time when dane sanders told him to take his own pace (THANK YOU DANE!).  i could've heard Jeremy talk for another week.  assuming there were bathroom breaks and a little time for sleep.  he was amazing!  ohmygosh.  my heart was on fire!  ON FIRE.  (for all you visual learners, please don't take that seriously.  bad mental image.)  i had to write.  i filled up many pages in my notebook of e x a c t l y what my heart felt.  i played music and scribbled (yeah, my writing was not good at all!) in my notebook i'd been taking notes in but i loved that i could totally write everything that my mind had going on that instant.  i wanted to freeze this strange moment in time.  this moment of excitement, passion, inspiration.  i've never been this on-fire for art in my whole life.  honestly.

this post is coming directly from there too -- directly from my heart.  i love the people in this industry.  i love the people i get to have the chance to interact with daily, monthly, yearly doing what i do.  whether that be in work, school, the supermarket, and every place i go to in my life.  i can't get over the willingness to share: share life, love, inspiration, daily tidbits of knowledge.   the power of one person that can change everyone else in the world.  one person.

i just felt like writing all that.  what did you think of escalatelive?  if you didn't have the chance to see it LIVE or in person, you can still buy it!  (purchase it, purchase it now!  ;)

ESCALATE LIVE 2010

OhmygoshI'msoexcited! Today and Monday I've stayed home from school watching Escalate LIVE. If you've never heard of Escalate before, it's a photography conference in California with presentations from photographers including Dane Sanders, Chris Becker, Jasmine Star, Julieanne Kost. This morning the speakers lined up are Jerry Ghionis, Jessica Claire, David Jay, and Jeremy Cowart. Talk about a ton of information packed into two days! I took so many notes. I can't wait to utilize everything I'm soaking up.

The openness in this industry is amazing. I adore the community of photographers that meet-up in events like EscalateLIVE, or The Joy of Marketing; forums like OpenSourcePhoto -- the abundance of knowledge on there is so superb! There's so much to learn, and there's so many people who are willing to share it. As photographers, we're connected through social networking, and I've "met" a lot of great photographers who are passionate about similar things I'm on fire about. They're willing to talk and share their stories. But what's even more amazing is the opportunities we have to connect with other photographers through face-to-face interaction: meeting up at a coffee shop, chatting over lunch, helping someone out, and so much more.

I've been so inspired through the many notes I've been taking while watching all these platform talks LIVE via Ustream. I love these kinds of seminars because they get me so on fire for my form of work. Sole-proprietor small business owners are amazing heroes because they run a business by themselves. One man. (or woman!) Lately God has been teaching me so much; sometimes my mind has 300+ things going at once. Gahh! He's definitely teaching me that you can't do it all by yourself. Even if you're a sole-proprietor, you cannot survive on your own. Dane Sanders really hit that nail on the head. He's such a great speaker; I really can't wait to purchase his book, Fast Track Photographer. I also LOVED what Becker said about branding. His topic was the ABC's: attitude, branding, & connecting, all very important. And the very famous Jasmine*? NOTHING short of amazing. I was getting a little misty eyed when JD, her husband, got up on stage. Julieanne Kost was hilarious too! I felt like such a nerd laughing by myself in my office. ;)

If you missed Escalate while it was live, you can still purchase it HERE on the Escalate website. It is well worth your money; the speakers were nothing short of amazing! (psst...I know this blog post doesn't have a photo...*cough* BORING! *cough* ;) maybe next time!)

NATHAN CHARLES: ENOCH, UTAH PORTRAITS

this is Nathan Charles.  He's a nerd, cutie, computer geek, and he's also my brother.  Almost a month ago, the sun was setting all pretty, like it does in Southern Utah, and I told him ...you, plaid shirt, scarf, outside.  now.  Since we're related, I can boss him around a bit, right?  ;)  Being younger than him, I don't really get a lot of chances to be the boss.





What a goof!  I love him.





What's been going on with me?  This past week I had two finals, a choir concert, and two more finals to prepare for that are due next week.  Ohhh boy.  Time to tackle some more assignments!  It was incredibly nice to go down to Southern California over the weekend though.  It was such a blessing to have the opportunity to see my family & specifically my grandma and grandpa.  He is definitely doing better but is still really weak.

Here's a little sneak peek of my images from California which will be blogged soon.  This is my aunt's dog.  I love her puppy eyes!  GORG:

Photo captions:
1) happy toes after the beach
2) sand on my skin (pasty WHITE skin! ;)
3) sea weeeeed with some lovely sand
4) moooore sea weeeed.  love the little bokeh my macro lens gives.  ;)
5) lovely rock + sand
6) sandy toes!  mmm, love it.  :)




oceanside, california carlsbad, california enoch, southern utah photography blog

LITTLE OLD LADIES.

ijumped out of bed this morning thinking, ouch!  A hang-nail!  My first few thoughts when I wake up are usually the craziest things. ;)   Like, for instance, hangnails.  & how annoying they are.  In fact, they are so annoying I think they reduce my productivity.  Yep.  Right now I'm trying to type with this unbelievable band-aid on my hangnail-imprisoned thumb, which causes me to make tons of typing errors.  The other day (morning?) I woke up and thought, my index finger?  My index finger?!  I'll explain:

Walking down main street in Disneyland, I was really happy.  Gotta love dreams like that.  But (dun, dun, dunnnn!) this wasn't Disneyland like the one in Anaheim, this was like never-ending-dirt-road-going-toward-nowhere-that-everyone-is-walking-on-including-me.

Then right next to me, a sweet old lady appears.  Shorter than me, she has weathered hands and is sweeter (and plumper!) than a strawberry.  ;)  So she decides to hold my hand.  But not really my hand, just my pointer finger.

She lets go and walks off, and another old lady appears.  I think to myself, gosh these old ladies are the cutest darn things!  She does the same thing the previous woman did -- grab my forefinger for a short time and then walks off (apparently in my dreams I think it's adorable to hold my pointer finger).

The last old lady startlingly reminds me so much of my grandmother that I start crying.  No, I start bawling like a baby.  So she takes my index finger and leans her head on my shoulder.

You might've seen on my twitter the other day that my grandpa was having heart failure.  I was already totally stressed out about a school dance concert, finals, responding to inquiries, etc. and this really got me.  I guess I've never really thought of losing any of my grandparents; they are both such amazing Christians and I love them oh-so-much, but I know I'll see them again when the time comes for them to pass away.

Still wondering what the forefinger thing is?  Me too.

***Psssst...I'll be in California visiting my family {yay!} from Friday May 7 - Monday May 10 so I'm not sure if I'll be updating at all or if I'll be able to respond to emails.  Just so you know why I'll be out of the office.  ;)

Tootles!

cedar city, southern utah portrait photographer wedding photojournalist photography