Candle Holder

While I was living in the dorms, Scott's mom had asked me if I'd like some candles to have in my room. I told her "I would love to! But my RA's wouldn't like that much!" Once I finally moved out of my dorm she told me, "Now you can finally have candles in your room!!" When Scott came up to see me one night she sent some candles and candle holders with him so I could decorate my room. Today I finally decided to get them out of the box and put them up in my room!

Day 151

May 31

"Candle Holder"

Garage

Day 150

May 30

"Garage"

Layin in the Hammock

Day 149

May 29

"Layin' in the Hammock"

Zac + Ashleigh 5.28.11

Zac and Ashleigh had a beautiful wedding at the New Hope Baptist church in Denver. Once I met the two of them, I knew it was going to be a great wedding. They were a fun and easy going couple who was up for anything we asked them to.

Here is the lady of the day, Miss Ashleigh!

The ring bearer couldn't keep his eyes open because the sun was to bright. We asked him if he could keep his eyes open and this is the face I got from him..

The father of the bride

The groom seeing his beautiful bride walk down the aisle!

Day 148

May 28

"Zac + Ashleigh"

Beautiful women boudoir

On Friday I got the honor of doing boudoir pictures of an amazing woman. Over the past several months I have had the opportunity of learning so much about her and her life experiences and with every story and every talk I have with her I learn more about her, grow closer to her, and have so much more respect.

Towards the end of our session she told me thank you for doing this for her and because of me and this session she felt like a beautiful woman and was proud of her body. She hadn't even seen the pictures yet but she already felt great about them as well as herself. And that alone made me feel great about what I was doing!

As a boudoir photographer I want to make women feel amazing in their skin! I want them to know that they are beautiful, inside and out. Being beautiful is about being confident about the woman that you are. Paris Hilton said, "No matter what a woman looks like, if she’s confident, she’s sexy"

Day 147

May 27

"Beautiful Woman"

Boudoir tips

Next weekend I have several boudoir shoots for Yellow Paddle so the last two weeks I have been doing various shoots and writing some tip sheets for my clients. Here is my tip sheet for boudoir clients:

Clothing- What you wear for your boudoir session has a huge impact on the images. When deciding what outfits to bring, make sure they make you feel comfortable, are flattering, and most of all, help you feel like a bombshell! Some ideas? Lingerie sets; a teddy, bustier, or corset; matching bras and panties; tank tops and boy shorts; one of your man’s dress shirts. I suggest bringing 4-6 outfits for the shoot. Although we may not use all of them, it gives us some options.

Hair and Make-up- Another huge part of your session is your hair and make-up. Personally, I always feel sexiest after I’ve gotten my hair and make-up done. Most boudoir photographers highly recommend that you have your hair and make-up professionally done for your pictures. This is your one day (besides your wedding day) that is all about making you look your best, so go and treat yourself to an appointment at the salon! If you don’t have the time or money for that it is perfectly OK! A cheap alternative to having your makeup done is to go to the make-up counters at stores in the mall.

Props/Accessories- Don’t be afraid to bring some props or accessories to your session! If you have a favorite pastime, bring something to your session that can resemble that. Keep in mind who these pictures are for. If they’re for your man, what are some of his favorite things? Also don’t forget about the accessories! Have a favorite pair of heels or two? Bring ‘em along! And don’t forget your jewelry! Sometimes a necklace and some earrings will do just the trick!

Poses- I will not be offended if you bring in images from other photographers that you like! Truth is, I look at other photographers work all the time for inspiration! If you come in to your session with an idea of what kind of boudoir pictures you want, that will help me with poses!

Be comfortable- More important than the hair, the make-up, and the outfits is that you are comfortable and have fun! I love to have fun on my shoots and more importantly I like my models to have fun too! What will make you more comfortable? Bring a CD of some songs that will calm you down, put you in a good mood, and make you feel beautiful. If you would be more relaxed if you brought a girlfriend along, feel free to invite her to join the fun! Some women like to have a drink before their session to calm the nerves.

Other boudoir beauty tips:

-If you’re going to spray tan/wax, give yourself about a week to two weeks to give your skin time to recover.

The day of your session

-be sure to drink lots of water to make your skin look its best!

-Wear loose fitting clothes. Tight fitting clothes leave marks on your skin that can take minutes, even hours, to disappear.

“As the weather warms up, I think wearing a loose fitting sundress sans undergarments would be the perfect. In the winter months, try a button down shirt and draw string sweatpants without a tight elastic waistband”

-Melissa Robotti- Boudoir and wedding photographer.

Day 146

May 26

"Pink Bow"

Broken Down

I went with Scott's family to his brother's high school graduation and I have to say it was a new experience for me! My graduating class was 15 and we had it in our school gymnasium. Ryan's class, on the other hand was almost 400 people and they had it in the CU event center. After almost 2 hours of speeches and graduates names, we were done and on our way to dinner with their family.

We had just left the event center when smoke started to come out of the hood of the car and the temp meter started to rise. We were stuck in traffic and didn't have anywhere to go to check it out so we decided to keep going and see if the temp would rise anymore. Before too long we were going up a long steep hill and the temperature was rising faster and faster. Once we got to the top of the hill Scott put it in neutral and we were coasting down the hill. Lights on the dashboard were turning on and off and most of the controls had turned off. At the bottom of the hill was an exit so we got off in hopes of finding a car shop within coasting distance.

Luckily enough there was a gas station right off the exit so we coasted into the parking lot just as the power steering went out and we slowly came to a stop.

We ended up sitting on the curb having chips and pop while we waited for the tow truck to show up. What a great way to celebrate your graduation huh Ryan?! Well it sure made for a great story! Congrats Ryan! I wish you the best of luck in your years to come!

Day 145

May 25

"Broken down"

Baccalaureate Ceremony

Tonight I went with Scott and his family to his brother's baccalaureate ceremony. For a girl with a graduating class of 15, seeing almost 75 graduates and knowing that it was only a fraction of the ones graduating was pretty amazing to me! I'm looking forward to seeing the whole graduating class tomorrow!

This is Ryan's (Scott's brother) best friend, Brian, playing the guitar before the ceremony

Day 144

May 24

"Baccalaureate Prelude"

Walk around Lake Arbor

Yesterday, Scott, his best friend Chris, and I went on a walk around a lake near Scott's house. We were keeping an eye on the skies because it looked like it could start pouring at any moment. Although it sprinkled a little bit, we got lucky to not have to run around the lake for dry cover in the car.

It was kind of a 'birdy' day for me. Of all the pictures I took during our walk, two of them were of a small family in a canoe on the lake and the rest of them were of all the various birds that we saw on our walk. Here are a couple shots!

This guy let me get within 8 feet away from him!

If anyone knows what kind of bird this is, let me know! I've never seen anything like it.

Day 143

May 23

"Reaching for a drink"

Country adventures

On Sunday, Scott and I went to my roommates little sisters graduation party. Scott is a boy from the city and I grew up in a small town on a farm so we often joke around about the aspects of life that we aren't familiar with. It was about an hour long drive to the party and along the way we talked about what kind of crops the people in the area grew, what a combine is, what's the difference between a pony and a horse or a donkey and a mule, and how much bread you can make with a bushel of wheat.

Day 142

May 22

"Highway 71"

Hang up to dry

It was a laundry day

Day 141

May 21

"Hang up to dry"

One lens+three shots

I think every photographer has some times where they feel like they're not as good as they'd like to be. Lately, it's been my time to feel like that. I tend to shoot A LOT. Since I worked for the newspaper last year, I learned to shoot a lot, you can always throw pictures away if you have too many but when you're working with news, you can never go back and get more pictures. Shooting like this has both helped my photography and hindered it. I go to a shoot and take pictures like crazy and get home and guess who gets to go through and sort all of those pictures, this girl! Lately I've been feeling like I take so many pictures and only get a handful of decent ones. I know I need to be more confident in my work, but I haven't quite figured out how to boost my confidence lately.

One day while I was going through some photos and complaining to my boyfriend about how I take so many pictures and hardly get any good ones, he asked me why I didn't like them. I told him that I felt like my composition was all off and I was shooting way to much. On Friday, during our lazy weekend, Scott asked me if I would like to go on a photo walk around my block. I told him I'd love to! He then told me, "If you'd like, I'll give you an assignment for this walk. You can pick one lens, out of both of ours, that you have to shoot with. That is the only lens you can take." He then asked if I'd like to leave it at that or add something else to it. He then told me that I could only take 3 pictures of each subject and no more. I could photograph as many things as I wanted but could only take three pictures and then move on. His reason for this was to make me concentrate on what I was doing and take my time. Let me tell you, it sure worked! I found myself concentrating more and taking my time. Taking less pictures sure made my editing a lot easier!!

Here are a few pictures from our photo walk!

Enjoy!

Day 140

May 20

"One lens+three shots"

Garden Gate

I feel like the laziest person in the world! The last two weeks I have done nothing but sit on my butt! With surgery, school being out, and not having a job, I've been taking it easy for a while before getting busy again. This last weekend was my last free weekend for several months due to portraits and the busy wedding season! My boyfriend, Scott, and I decided to have a lazy weekend and enjoy our last free weekend before summer hits. I have to admit I felt like a pretty big bum but it felt nice to not have to do anything all weekend!

Day 139

May 19

"Garden Gate"

Afternoon shower

It's been pretty gloomy all day long so I've spent the whole day inside editing pictures. I've decided that being self employed and working from home has it's ups and downs.

The 'ups'

1- You can sleep in and not have to worry about your boss being upset

2- You can make your own schedule and do things when they're convenient for you, not your boss

3- You can take breaks whenever you want and for however long you want and no one is going to get upset!

4- You can go to work in your pajamas and not wear any make up and you can feel comfortable knowing you won't upset anyone!

5....I'm sure there are many more but I can't think of them yet!

The 'downs'

1- Although watching TV is a good way to make a little noise in the house so it's not too quiet, it is a really bad way to get things done! TLC is very bad at helping me get my pictures edited!

2- I like the fact that I can eat whenever I want and don't have to wait for my 'break', but the fact that there is a bag of Easter candy on the counter and a 'surgery goody basket' in the pantry is not good on my waist band!

3- Sitting on the computer all day in front of the TV does NOT help me get some exercise.

So today to make me feel like I wasn't COMPLETELY lazy, I decided to get out of the house for a while and take some pictures. When I looked outside I realized it was raining. I spent a few minutes outside but didn't want to stay out too long since the rain was coming down harder than I thought and my camera was starting to get a little too wet for my taste!

Day 138

May 18

"Afternoon Shower"

Military homecoming

For those of you who have been following my blog for a while now might remember when my roommates Dad left for Afghanistan. Today was a great day for their family as he returned back home to American Soil. I joined the Johnson family at the airport to photograph their big day and it was a great day at that. It was great to see all the other men and women in uniform awaiting Skip's arrival right next to his wife, kids, family, and friends.

Here are a few pictures from the great day! I will have more pictures on my website in the next day or so! Enjoy!

Day 137

May 17

"Homecoming"

It may be hard to see in this picture, but between Skip and Heidi are their three girls, Rachael, Taylor, and Paige, seeing their father for the first time in about 7 months.

The girls made their dad a welcome home sign to hold up at the airport so I asked them to take a picture with their dad and the sign.

Johnson family,

Thank you so much for letting me be part of your big day! It was an amazing experience for me and I loved being able to capture this day for you. Skip, welcome home! We've all missed you and we're glad to have you back!

Love's in Your Hands

Day 136

May 16

"Love's in Your Hands"

Jane + Daniel

Sunday was my Summer 2011 wedding kick off and it was sure a great one to start the season with! Jane and Daniel were such an awesome couple and were willing to do just about anything that Scott and I asked them to. It was a gorgeous day, an awesome wedding, and a great couple! Congrats Jane and Daniel McNally!

I took newborn pictures of Ava back in January and I couldn't believe how big she has gotten! She is such a cute little girl and was a great flower girl/ring bearer!

(Photo by Scott Nelson)

(Photo by Scott Nelson)

(Photo by Scott Nelson)

(Photo by Scott Nelson)

(Photo by Scott Nelson)

Day 135

May15

"Jane+Daniel"