Caitlin

Caitlin, a fellow artist, was SO down for WHATEVER and it made our shoot a blast. It feels so great to be creative and have so much control over the image making process. From concept development, to doing her make-up and throwing the cherry blossom petals in the water, it was... rejuvenating! We had a great time & I really dig the results. :)

Nikki Glaser

A comedy festival came to town over the weekend so my neighbor and I headed out to see a friend of hers from college perform. She was on Last Comic Standing and recently appeared on the Tonight Show so, of course: she was hilarious. We ended up setting up a quick shoot before lunch the next morning, which was a blast. I hope to photograph more comedians in the future, so ANIMATED! :) I didn't have to tell her to do anything, I just snapped away! too easy. :)

Claire

The only Oregonian girl friend I've made in my new neighborhood is MOVING! I wanted to photograph her before she drives off to build her new mid-western life. She has these fabulous old cowboy boots that she never wears, so this seemed as good an opportunity as any to get some use out them. They're great, and so is she! I'll miss you Claire, best of luck in St.Louis! :)

Jessica's Family

I could make excuses. I could say, it was moving across the country. I could say, it was because I was busy rebuilding Smatt Wedding Photography from the bottom up. I could say a lot of things but, the fact remains I have neglected this blog for far too long! Well, I'm BACK NOW!

I flew down to Florida to shoot for a medical magazine in the Palm Beaches and while I was in town I got a chance to catch up with my old friend Jessica. Quite a few things have changed since meeting in middle school. One of the more obvious is that she's been busy procreating! Now that she's made some beautiful babies with her fab partner Dave, it was high time for a family portrait.

After shooting something a little more classic, we filled a blow up pool and let little Noah go wild! That FL sun is SO bright, so my flashes and I really had a battle, but that's what keeps me loving this job. There's always a new challenge!

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! :)