Check us out! Yesterday we were featured on a local Stapleton, CO blog called “Stapleton Moms” talking about the top 5 things everyone should know when searching for a photographer for their family!   The owner and author of the blog, Liz, has been a Vibrant Life Facebook fan and twitter follower for a while, and will be having her family session in October, so check back in a few weeks to see her family images!

In the meantime, click here to check out the article!

And since I really can never post a blog post without a picture, here is what I’m working on right now. Isn’t she just the cutest?

So I’m finally getting around to proofing the rest of these. The crud hit our house and mainly got me, so I’ve been a little under the weather (aka, not getting much done!)

So this first set is my colleague Ashley who is a crazy-talented wedding photographer from Missouri. She and I met online a few years ago (yep, she’s an internet friend) and we met in person for the first time at WPPI (and roomed together). We had been inside at the conference for like 3 days and hadn’t yet left the MGM so we felt like we needed to get out one evening, so we headed toward the strip to shoot a few headshots of each other, because you know photographers don’t normally ever get our pictures taken.

Anyway I am happy to report that she is just as amazing in real life! And gorgeous. Here she is. Ashley I hope you like these! You are such a cutie pie!

This next set was funny because as we were walking over the bridge from MGM to NYNY she threw herself up against the fence like the picture on the left, just joking around, and a group of guys walking by did a double take and were like “WHAT is going on here?” I wish I could remember exactly what they said to her but it left us both laughing uncontrollably for a bit. The next shot is what you get with a 1,000,000,000 inch wide mega-electronic-billboard in your subject’s face (can you say manual exposure nightmare?) that flashes red right as you press the shutter. Oh well, pink or not, I thought it was cute.

And here is Vegas! I didn’t spend a lot of time on the strip, so didn’t take many pictures!

I was lucky enough to get to go to WPPI, a huge photographer convention in Las Vegas, for the first time a week or so ago.  It was totally awesome!  Held at the MGM in Las Vegas, it was a great time and I learned so much!  Just before I left for my trip, I discovered a fun app for the iPhone called ShakeIt. This is THE coolest app for anyone into photography.  You take the picture with the app, and then it pops “out” — when I say out, I mean, “on your screen”– like an old Polaroid that you have to shake to develop like you used to shake old Polaroid film. It is cool and gives a retro, hazy look to your images. I love it!  And my kids love it too, they have been shaking themselves silly since I got it!

Anyway, here is a little collage of my time in Vegas, courtesy of ShakeIt photo. Enjoy. (Real photos of Vegas coming when I get some more time…)

p.s. yes, that’s me with the Margartia (YUM!) and at the bottom, that is me meeting incredible designer Jamie Schultz! She is super talented and I just love  her stuff, always best sellers for me!

First of all, there are only THREE DAYS LEFT to get your entries into the NURSERY CONTEST!  The entries must be received by Friday night at midnight. Enter now to win some free photography, and pass the word on to all your friends with babies!

Also, with our rebranding we now have a new and improved FACEBOOK fan page! I will be having some spring specials coming up and will be giving some special deals to my facebook fans, so get over there to the fan page and check it out!

Now, on to the pictures. A few weekends ago I had a mini-shoot with some gorgeous senior girls in downtown Denver! We had a great time finding fun urban backgrounds, and the girls were troopers in the cold. It was only like low 40s, and they were in short sleeves for part of the time.  Much thanks to Kori Schell for doing hair and make-up. If you would like more information on her Hair Accessories or Make-up Services, shoot her an email at kori.schell.designs@gmail.com or call her at 720-220-9544.

Here is a sampling of the fun images we captured:

Thanks again ladies! You are gorgeous!

A few weeks ago Andrea of Andrea Roberts Photography had the chance to Beta Test some really cool Textures from Totally Rad Actions and asked me to be a part of it! She showcased images from 21 photographers across the country, and I was really excited to be asked to submit a photo for a texture play. Check out her full blog post and review of the texture actions here.

They are pretty cool. I can’t wait to get my hands on this set of actions!! You can find them on the TRA Actions Website.

Here is my picture with the texture called Booty LaRue on it:

And here is the picture before:

Here we go.

1. I am headed back home to Tucson, Arizona from May 9-19th. If anyone in Arizona is interested in a session while I’m there, let me know. If I get enough inquiries, I may offer some mini-sessions on a specific date! Contact me by email if you are interested!

2. I have to say that I officially am in love with my new 5DmkII. Those that know me know that I struggled with the Canon vs. Nikon dilemma, and wasn’t sure whether it was the right choice to get the new 5D, but after my recent engagement session at the beach (where I tried out the video feature, no less!!!) I am definitely in love with this camera. It seriously does not disappoint!

3. Magic Jammies. My 4 year old on the way to Gymnastics a few months ago says, “Mom, wanna know how I know it’s time to get up in the morning?” Me: “sure, honey, how do you know?” Him: “Because my door is open. When the door is closed, it’s time for bed, and when it’s open it’s time to get up”. Me: “oh, that’s interesting. How do you think your door gets opened?” Him: “By magic! (throwing hands up in the air). My jammies are magic and they open my door for me when I’m sleeping”. I wonder how crushed he will be when he realizes it’s really his mom opening the door instead of the magic jammies. Gotta love 4 year old imaginations!

4. I love the musings of almost 2 year olds. Over the last 3-4 months, Little A has talked a lot about one of our family’s favorite places, Trader Joe’s. It used to be that when we pulled into the parking lot, I would hear: “Bye-bye. Tada-Joe’s bye-bye”. No hello, just “bye-bye”. Well now she knows what road it’s on, and even if we are just going to Target (like today) when we round the corner on that road, before it is even in sight, she screams “Tada-Joe’s” at the top of her lungs. I really think this love affair with TJs is due entirely to their snack/sample area. She loves food!

5. Speaking of 2 year olds, I LOVE that she can not only put on her own socks, but also her own shoes. She is only two, and this is not something I’m used to as a mother of a 4 year old boy. I tell her to get her shoes on and she does it! What a shocker! It really does make my life easier though.

And since no post is complete without a photo, here is a shot of the kids playing inside the card-table playhouse I made them a few months ago.

Gorgeous sky on the way home from today’s session…

It’s early in 2009, but I’ve already decided to update my pricing! There was a lot of confusion surrounding the new minimum order requirement for 2009, so I decided to go ahead with some changes right away so that things would be simplified! Hopefully this will make it easier for you all.

The session fees are now all-inclusive and include a print credit and I have dropped the minimum order requirement. I ultimately want things to be as simple as possible in terms of pricing, and this is a step in that direction! I realize this is very soon after my 2009 pricing changes, and I will absolutely honor this new pricing for my current and already booked clients. If you’ve had a session in 2009 already, or have booked, contact me and we can go over the changes and we can discuss credits, etc. then.

Please see the website for more details!

Looking forward to many great upcoming sessions!

-Laura

This weekend I did some work using studio lighting. This isn’t something I normally do, but boy was it fun! I got a ton of great images that are waiting to be edited.

For now, here are two. Isn’t she just gorgeous?

Obviously the photo-a-day challenge is proving to be difficult for me!

I’m going to keep up with it as best I can, but as I’m not likely to do it exactly as planned I’ll just do some ‘catch up’ posts here and there!

Here are a few shots from a summer 2008 wedding that never got pulled for editing. The location was spectacular, overlooking the Puget Sound with incredible views of the sun setting in the west.

And here are a few portraits from that same wedding: