Country Rockin' Downtown Fullerton

We made it back to downtown Fullerton yesterday for a photo session with our friends Christian and Jessica Simmons. A big thank you to you both for allowing us to do this photo session with you. It was great! Some of you may already know C & J, but for those who don't...

I met Christian and Miss Jessica though my wife when I came out to California. They were playing often at my favorite country bar, Cowboy Country, and my wife made sure to introduce us. She had been friends with them for a while and I had heard their music, but I hadn't been introduced. Since then we had only done one photo shoot with them, seen a few shows, followed their touring and chatted a few times about going to Jamboree In The Hills with them. It would be a dream to get to go with them. They get to 'perform alongside Brad Paisley, Reba, Brooks & Dunn Trace Adkins, Sugarland, Neal McCoy, Gary Allan, Loretta Lynn, Jason Aldean and many more!' What a thrill it would be to hit the road in the tour bus, get up close and personal with the other artists and get to see Christian and Jess entertain 30-40,000 country music fans!

Yesterdays shoot was in downtown Fullerton. I love the look of the town and there are so many fun places to shoot. We had our spots picked out once we did some recon. The weather was a tad warm, but we managed. L.A. and Nashville know they have found something great and before you know it you'll be singing these tunes in your cube at work when they come on iTunes. Here are some of my favorite shots of the two up and coming country stars.







We really got some great shots yesterday. I hope they love them and they can use them for everything they need. I really want to know what they think and what you all think. Do you like them? Do you hate them? Do you think we could have done something better? I really want to know. Enjoy and have a great week!!

Adorable Portraits

Over the past few weeks, I have been having issues with my white balance. Kymberli saw that my photos were coming out very orange and so did I. I hated it. I figured it had to be my WB setting and sure enough, it was! I spoke with a co-worker, Garth, and he and I discussed our settings and options and finally we discovered that we both saw the same hues. Turns out that our WB settings were on Auto and I didn't think twice about it. I think our discussions paid off!!

These are some of the portraits from our session tonight. Shot in the evening, WB on sunlight and shot with a 50mm f/1.8. It sure helps when you have such a cute subject, but I did have to know my settings a bit more intimately today. It finally started coming together and now I am not so frustrated. You be the judges and see for yourselves.





I can't wait for our next session!

Mommy + Daddy = BABY Q!!

Long story short... my wife is pregnant! Whoo-hoo! We are 11 weeks and 5 days today. Here is a first look at what is to be a beautiful child.



We will keep everyone updated! We are both very excited. Our kid is in for a surprise. Every single moment is probably going to be documented by one of us taking a picture or video taping. I can't tell you how happy/scared/curious I am about having a baby. Our lives will change, yes, but it is also the most incredible blessing we have ever received. God is wonderful!

We started a blog that we are writing to the baby about everything we think of. It's bound to have some great stuff!

http://openletterstobabyq.blogspot.com/

O.C. Fair - Here I Come... AGAIN!

Can I tell you guys how excited I am again this year? Not only did I get a photo in the O.C. Fair competition, but so did my wife!! I knew her photo totally rocked. I loved it from the first moment she showed it to me. Check out her blog to see it...Wifey's Blog. It's a cool shot of her cousin tuning his guitar. Hand held in low light... awesome.

Last year I was fortunate enough to get one of my photos in the fair and someone bought it! It was very cool. First one ever. This year I have another one in the fair. This one is in a different category though. This year I entered this photo of Kody Fisher over at the El Dorado Skate Park. Now, he knew that he wasn't supposed to be riding his bike and ripping tricks, but he saw my camera and pulled a few moves that I was able to get. I love this shot and so does Kymberli. My only wish is that I had used a fill flash to highlight his eyes, but I did not and I am just happy to be in the fair! Here is my shot called "Kody Fisher Flyin' High".



And here's the one with the Urban Acid action added... I dig the color effect...



So, if you get to the fair, go check it out! Check out my wife's though because that is the prize winner!!

Let Me Tell You About Cute Kids

Once again, my wife and I had the pleasure of photographing a wonderful family. The Ryans have amazing smiles and wonderful personalities. Thank you for allowing us to photograph you and your family, Geri.

We had a fast and furious shoot in the backyard of Geri's house. We were going to take it slow and methodical to make sure we got everything perfect, but we had to adjust our schedule a bit because the kids wanted to play. Kymberli was once again so great with the kids. She always asks them how old they are or if they are having fun. They always respond to her. Well, they sometimes respond to me too, but it's usually "Waaaaa!!!" It must be the scary goatee. She got the kids to do some fun stuff and thank goodness for an understanding family. We did have time to pose them for a few shots and I think we have some keepers. The Ryans and our adoring fans (ok, I snuck that in for the 7 people who read our blogs) will have to be the judge of that.

Here are a couple from the day that I just love.

Francis Wedding Spectacular

We got to shoot the Francis wedding this weekend and what fun it was. The bride is the sister of my wife's former co-worker and she got us set up as the "picture-takers".

There are LOTS of images of the entire day. I wanted to post just a few to give everyone a taste of the entertaining group we had the pleasure of working with. Thanks to the Cindy and Terry for allowing us the opportunity of photographing your day.