It's not that I haven't been shooting...

It's just this time of year is SO crazy! Hope everyone has had a very happy holiday season! Be sure to keep me in mind for all your photography needs in 2009! I'll be here, there, and everywhere in between aiming my camera at all the beautiful people that walk into my frame! Happy New Year!

Matt & Mandy

Our friends Matt & Mandy are getting married the weekend after thanksgiving! Mandy is having a photo printed on canvas to display at the reception so, I snapped some photos in downtown Orlando last night before going out to dinner. This is my favorite shot. :) They're such a cute couple and I'm super excited to be shooting their wedding photos!

Sara & Scott

Matt and I went to visit our friends Sara & Scott in Sebastian on our way back up to Orlando this week. This morning, Sara put on an old bridesmaid's dress and we took a few photos outside for fun. I really wanted to photograph her with her pot bellied pigs but they were uncooperative to say the least. ;) Her husband Scott, on the other hand was much happier to go along with our early morning creativity. So, I took this 'American Gothic' inspired portrait of the two of them before we left town. :)

Jessy & Brent.

In 2nd grade, I asked Jessy to be my best friend (she said yes). Now, I'm taking photos of her and her husband for their christmas cards.

"Life goes by pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it. " -Ferris Bueller (on his day off)-

I'm SO glad she was open to doing something fresh rather then that traditional matching-white-button-up-shirts-on-the-beach shoot we've all seen done 100 times before. It's always fun to see old friends, and especially fun to photograph them! :)

I feel like I've been neglecting this blog, but I've just been SO busy with weddings. For LOTS of recent photos, please head over to http://smattphoto.blogspot.com :)

Leigh

Some people are just SO positive! :) Leigh was such a pleasure to shoot with; she was all smiles and so easy going. The way she takes care of her body is incredible! Check out Holleighwood.com for more on Leigh!

Lisa

It's not only been a very busy week but, I also got sick. :( By today, my voice was long gone but I was still shooting away. Lisa and I worked together once before so I was glad she knew I don't ALWAYS sound like this! It was also neat to work with Lisa again because she was more confident and experimental with her posing. What may have started with me burnt out left me excited and positive! :)

Wedding Photos

I've been planning to do this for a while and finally got around to it. Wedding photos now have their own wedding blog, reserving this blog for all of my other portrait photography. SmattPhoto.blogspot.com is where you can find many more of mine and Matt's new wedding photos from Maria's gorgeous wedding last night. :)

Shelby

I think EVERY WOMAN SHOULD DO THIS! (Well, of course I think so!) I think everyone should have portraits taken once in a while. And I love it when woman have the audacity to go further with it; whether that means in concept, color, or loosing the clothes!

Shelby had these photos done for her boyfriend as a surprise present. I think that's sweet. They remind me of a shoot I did with Rachel and Amber earlier this year which is funny because Amber referred her to me. Anyway, it was a great shoot. She posed well and has a rockin' bod for being a busy working mother of two!

Ruby D

My first pin up shoot! Ruby was great to work with, it was like she was in character the way she posed so fluidly and easily. And her husband is an INCREDIBLE hair stylist. Sometimes, shoots just go so well. It's like the stars aligned or something, just everything was on point. (Well, except the sweltering heat and wasp sting!) I dig the 50's style and look forward to doing more shoots like this. :)

Dayna & Mark

When I was a little kid I lived in a house up against a lake. Inside the other houses surrounding the lake lived other little kids too. One of them was Dayna.


Thanks to the magical powers of social networking sites, we have reconnected in time for me to take photos for her upcoming wedding. To start, we had an engagement shoot last night. Here is Dayna with her fiance Mark.


And that is Dayna and Mark in the dark because she may or may not have been a little late to her shoot... ;)

Matt

My boyfriend Matt and I are moving back to FL for a few months so, he convinced the kitchen staff to pull a little going-away prank of sorts on the head chef. Everyone is coming in with a mustache tonight. No explanation, nothing- everyone just HAPPENS to have a creepy 'stache. Matt looked too funny this morning post-grooming to resist setting up a little lighting and capturing him in his face carpet glory.

I really want to be able to take portraits like Jill Greenberg (www.manipulator.com) so, this was shot took me three rounds and quite a bit of patience on Matt's part to come up with. I'm happy with it though and feel like my understanding of light is brightening each day. :)

EJ

I had a dream, the AMERICAN dream... well, not quite. More like a dream with a guy kayaking down the street. When I woke up, I thought of my kayaking friend EJ and began talking him into doing a mini-shoot in a kayak in an urban setting. Tonight, my dream came true! lol.

EJ isn't much into "modeling" so it was a bit of a challenge but, who doesn't like a good challenge? We had fun, and I like the photos, so that's really all that matters. As it turns out, my favorite is of him giving me an amused "I-can't-believe-I'm-doing-this" look. It's a very classic EJ expression. :)

23 Hoyt

Matt's kitchen recently acquired new head chef. With a new head chef, comes an update to the restaurant's website and for THAT you need a new photo of the new head chef. This is where I come in! :) Meet Chef Aaron!




I took a variety of portraits and action shots. I also snapped this shot of the kitchen prepping for tonight's dinners.

Tattoo shop

I've finally started working a bit up here in Portland! It'll take some adjusting to taking a bus rather then the comfort of my car and the familiar scenery that is FL.

Anyway, a hip, new, urban magazine called HouseInk set me up on the shoot with a tattoo shop for an editorial bit. The shop is all custom, no flash art on the walls! It reminded me of Mason's shop in Orlando. The artists really have to ROCK to pull this off, and these guys at ColorBomb (or whatever they're changing the name to) are great. The paintings on the walls are a solid first indication. As for shooting them, I didn't have to do much but let them just hang outside the shop with their cigarettes and puppy!




Here's their guard dog. :)


It might be a bit of a slow start up here but even moving across the country hasn't slowed me down in the sunshine state. I'm nearly booked solid through the holiday season! WOO HOO! Looking forward to shooting you Florida! :)

Amanda. Again. :)

I haven't posted new photos in a couple weeks for a couple reasons.

1.) I've moved across the country to Portland, OR for the summer! It's wonderful here and I've been blogging about it quite a bit in my personal blog (http://samthephotographer.blogspot.com)

2.) On a less fabulous note, my camera broke. Yes, broke. Out of nowhere. I suppose the timing was alright, seeing as so much else has been going on.

But, NOW I have my camera BACK and it's FIXED so I've FINALLY started shooting again. Our floridian friend Amanda came to visit and I snapped a few photos of her in the park across the street today. It's been great to have company here (and to have my camera back in order!)

Shirlee & Estevan

I met Shirlee through our mutual friend Audra, whom I've known for what feels like forever. Audra and I went to school together a good decade ago and have somehow managed to keep inviting/showing up to one another's birthday parties ever since, even if we don't see each other much of the rest of the year. May be bizarre, but it works for us. Well, the past few years, Shirlee has been in attendance at Audra's birthday parties as well.

So, Shirlee met Estevan and fell in love. This is the kind of couple that walks to the beat of their own drum. Shirlee is the type to break into dance regardless of who's watching. This made them SO much fun to photograph! Some brides are fearful of getting their dresses dirty, Shirlee got hers muddy and it didn't phase her. I just tried to keep up with them!

I love their photos because this is how it really happened. No one asked Shirlee to lay in the grass, she just plopped down! Incredible. :) I wish them nothing but the best.









And, of course, I have to throw one in of Audra! :)