Engaged - Ella and Clark

Ella and Clark will be married October 18, 2008 (which happens to be my wedding anniversary - great date!) in Hanford.

I always look forward to the engagement session because it is the best opportunity for us to become friends and for them to practice relaxing with a camera pointed at them for hours on end!

Ella and Clark chose a most wonderful location (Jackstone Barn) for their session - we had a barn, a windmill, a pond, bridge, trees, fencing and more to provide interest and mood. Oh yes, we found an old fashioned swing too!

See you soon!

Michelle and Vance Tie the Knot...

Michelle Forster and Vance Hernandez have been friends for many years and tied the knot at the Fresno Downtown Club on April 26th.

Using urban Fresno as a backdrop for their pre-ceremony formal session was something that I have been wanting to do for quite a long time. (High School seniors and engagement sessions happen downtown frequently - but weddings - not so much!)

Congratulations Michelle and Vance!

Engaged - Lisa and Kevin

Lisa and Kevin are engaged to be married in May of 2009.

We recently had a fantastic engagement session in the Three Rivers, CA area. The hope was to use the river as a backdrop - but with the major snow melt in the Sierra Mountains the river had risen in a major way - so Plan B! We found an abandoned gas station with color and personality, and then drove up the mountain to Three Rivers and visited the most wonderful Candy and Ice Cream Shoppe (Reimer Ice Cream). The shoppe keeper was very cooperative and allowed us to have a mini session in the candy shoppe, and then she ran next door to the Ice Cream shoppe to scoop the couples favorite flavor for a fun and romantic "cone for two".

We are truly looking forward to photographing the wedding - it is guaranteed to be a favorite!

Texas School of Photography

As a member of PPA (Professional Photographers of America) I recently learned about Texas School ("the best little photography school in the world") held in College Station, Texas (home of Texas A&M - go Aggies!!).

With about 50 world class professional photographer's as instructors - I applied as a student with Rick and Deb Ferro from Florida. I have a few of their books and knew they would be awesome instructors. Because my flight from Fresno took literally all day, I missed some of Sunday's activities, but arrived just in time for a spectacular meeting in the campus theater. I had NO idea what to expect. There were over 1,000 excited people in the room - 995 of them students from four countries.

Classes began at 8:30 sharp every morning and ended at 5:30 - with dinner and evening entertainment from 6:30 to late late - I generally crawled into bed about midnight. We visited the Texas Hall of Fame (okay - I thought it was a museum (it isn't)) and the George Bush Library where we had an evening session on the grounds.

Rick and Deborah are wonderful people and very talented world class artists. Rick is a wedding photographer and Deborah photographs children and is a Photoshop and Corel expert. We were provided with models for both wedding and children photography and full studio lighting for demonstration and practice.

Surrounded by like-minded, passionate, talented people for a week from all over the country was wonderful and I go home with several new friends. Even though we live in different states I know we will stay in touch and see one another next year at Texas School. But for now, I am anxious to go home to my family and to put into practice new techniques learned.

Thank you to Rick and Deb, as well as Wranglers, fellow students, and the residents of College Station for your hospitality!!!