got tattoo?

I know this really awesome girl, who happens to be an amazing artist, who also happens to be a bad ass tattooist! Her name is Julie, and she is the owner of Another Twilight Fantasy in Riverside, CA.  Julie has tattooed me several times- I can't see myself going anywhere else.  I love her work so much, I had my mom, my little brother and my little sister get tattooed by her! 

I was super stoked when Julie asked me to help her out on a project that she is working on... She is putting together a book of her art.  She sent me her models and I did what I could to represent.  

Julie told me she hates to have her picture taken... I can understand, its not my favorite either.  I think I managed some awesome shots of her- and I hope she approves of them.  

Julie working on a new tattoo 

can't go wrong @ the tracks.

tracing paper beginnings... my tattoo is there, can you guess which one I just got?

close up

Maria

Maria

Michelle, I LOOOOOVE the color!

Jordan

Jordan

Jordan

Crystal

Crystal

Tyler

Tyler

Ashley

Ashley

Ashley

Thank you, Julie, for inviting me to be a part of something that means so much to you... Thank you to all the participants!! You were all cool and fun to shoot, and I am glad to have made your acquaintance.  I can't wait to see the finished product!

{xoxo}

amazing senior from Ramona HS, meet....

I was so happy to take Celina's senior pictures.  I have known her for about two years, met her at the park where my boys and her brother play ball.  She's a neat kid, with a genuinely good heart and lots of spunk... We met at the first location that I was really excited about... But.... can you say FAIL? Yea, epic fail.  It was a flower field, but once we walked in the flowers were so so so low to the ground that unless Celina and I were tiny sized, it just wasn't going to work... so instead of wasting too much time, and precious light, we headed off to our second location... 

Open fields, under construction (insert SAD face here) but for now a really great location... 

 I love all the faces that she makes! So freaking perfect!

 Prob my favorite! She's amazing.

I didn't know Celina when she was a little girl, but for some reason this last picture reminds me of when she was a little girl.  Its just so innocent.

After we finished up here, we headed just down the way to Downtown Riverside.  Its super close to my home and really one of my favorite places to shoot... The time of the day was perfect, so we got great lighting... 

yea, work it! 

Had such a great time with you Celina...! Thank you for asking me to do your senior pictures.  I hope you love them as much as I.  Wishing you the best of luck in the future, lots of peace, love, happiness and success!

Deuces!

{xoxo}

meet the

Wow, what a beautiful fun family... Meet the {H} Family! One MORE awesome thing about doing what I do is the people I get to meet.  Amy is such a cool, fun, energetic mama to an adorable little Ms. K.  Daddy, Mike was the calm to the storm, or at least it seemed! Great dynamic between the family, and I was honored to catch a few fun moments with them in beautiful down town Riverside.  

Love this shot of them.... They were very easy and natural to work with.

LOVE LOVE LOVE this beautiful painted wall... Ms. K strutting her stuff in her Sweet Things tutu!

There are so many beautiful hidden areas in Riverside... And when I say hidden I don't mean remotely.  This is the door that you might drive by every day and never see... 

I am IN LOVE with a recent freebie action {Baby Max} provided from the lovelies over at Pure Photoshop Actions

Mama A was rocking these killer platforms, so we had to show them off...  

And to seal the deal, Ms. K.  Man, she's CU-UTE!! 

Amy, Mike & K., thank you so much for sharing part of your day with me! I had a great time, and I hope to see your family again, soon! 

{xoxo}

…

Its "I Heart Faces" time, again!

Its scenic black and whites @ I heart faces this week.  From a recent family session of mine, downtown Riverside… Urban scenic- does that count?

Head on over to I Heart Faces this week, there are several ahhh-mazing images!

Do you love texture in a photo?

As I continue on my journey in the wonderful world of Photoshop, I am contstantly amazed at the process and the outcome of adding texture in a picture.  In my opinion, not every picture needs texture- and in fact, sometimes texture takes away from a picture.... This is just my opinion, but maybe you feel the same way?

I recently did an urban themed photoshoot with an amazing family with six kids.  I used texture in a lot of the post processing.

While browsing the net today, I came across this awesome link for textures! There are a ton of freebies out there, but these textures are the kind I really like.  My mind literally goes crazy seeing it all come together in my head! So much fun.

Here are a few of my images with texture...

Do you know how to add texture to a photo? If you have Photoshop, I highly reccomend Coffee Shop's "Give it Texture" action- makes it super easy and easy to achieve the desired results.