Denise Karis

Regan and Jake

2011-01-08T06:28:00.000-08:00

I met with this family back in early December and never posted anything on it. We walked around a lake in Gilbert and found a small spot next to a stream and did most of our shooting there. Nicole and Regan made me want a daughter so bad! Wearing pink and being completely girly and in love - couldn't you just die looking at the two of them?

Jake gave me a lot to work with - - in a good way and a complicated way... he's such a sweetheart but his energy makes me run out of fuel fast! I love this next collage though - he's a beautiful kiddie!!

And one last one of the entire family - aren't they a good looking group? Thank you Nicole and Scott for meeting with me for your first family session with little Regan!!!

3...2...1...

2010-02-15T05:58:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I've been away for a while BUT I will totally make it up to you, my six faithful readers, by launching a new blog AND holding my first ever photo contest ever!!

We are relocating to a permanent home at dkphotographer.com/blog

What are you waiting for? Go go go! Don't spend anymore time here!!!

FireShooting

2010-01-17T01:49:00.000-08:00

Fireshooting: I'd never done it before. We were all grouped around the fire trying to get just close enough to be warm but not so close that we'd burn ourselves. The glow illuminated our faces and while they discussed computers, operating systems, ICANN and cron jobs, I sat there roasting a marshmellow. Why couldn't someone want to talk about photography?

After getting lost in the flames and burning my tenth marshmellow, I had to shoot the fire. I guessed the settings: Medium ISO for a fast shutter and a 2.8 f-stop as a standard jumping off aperture.

Perfect! I loved it! Any time theres a fire, I will be shooting. Can you even tell there are four people back there? Who needs to talk about cron jobs when you're shooting flames? Not me, that's who.

How To Fake and Make a Silhouette

2010-01-13T13:59:00.000-08:00

My first attempt at a silhouette was on a cloudy day. I had no idea that silhouettes were not to be done on a cloudy day, so I did it anyway. I positioned my subject on this hill and kept shooting. My instruction was:

"Turn your dial to auto and take a photo. The camera will expose for both the sky and the subject. Now turn to manual and keep speeding up the shutter and checking the back of camera until you see the sky become better exposed and your subject and everything in the foreground will fall to black."

Nowhere in those instructions does it say "your sky must be significantly brighter than the subject." I am here to tell you, "your sky must be significantly brighter than the subject.

The above image is straight out of camera. I kept moving my shutter up and then realized that it was turning the whole photo black. I wasn't done - enter Photoshop. I duplicated my layer by clicking CTRL+J on my keyboard. Then I changed the blend mode of the top layer to LINEAR BURN and got this:

Ok, theres a fake silhouette. And then I painted on a little blue in the sky using TRA's BIG BLUE action and I was done with my fake silhouette.

Have you ever been driving at sunset and you look to the West and everything is a natural silhouette because you're looking into the sun? And then you look to the East and nothing is a silhouette because the sun is shining ON everything instead of coming from BEHIND everything? Try it next time you're out driving to the North or South. To the West will be filled with natural silhouettes and to the East will be none. This is how you need to shoot for a silhouette: To the East - where your eye will form natural silhouettes - your camera will see them too. Expose for the sky and watch the foreground fall to black and season to taste.

*Another Tip: Your lens won't focus well when shooting into the sun. For this one, if we look at her feet, theres no silhouette because the sun is really only shining behind her upper half. In silhouettes a blurred background isn't really important. So I bumped by F-stop to a 5.0, aimed my camera at her feet, focused on her feet and then shot her upper half without refocusing. The 5.0 f-stop gave me a deeper depth of field so I didn't need to refocus when I aimed my camera at her face.

If I would have kept moving my shutter to a faster speed, you would have seen more of her (her hat and her shirt) start to fall to black. Again, silhouettes are seasoned to taste - you can go with a strong one or keep the image bright and sunny - up to you!

2010

2010-01-07T06:07:00.000-08:00

The first week of the year is still a Holiday. The diets don't count and the resolutions don't kick in until the seventh. So starting today, these are the goals I'm working towards in 2010.

1.) 300 blog posts. Yikes. Apart from the above paragraph, the four blog posts I've done this year totally count toward this 300 goal.
2.) Continue with Peripheral Visions (which should help with goal #1)
3.) Move away from blogger and create a new custom blog
4.) Spend more time with Kayden and take him to do more things outside of the house.
5.) Create more balance in my life
6.) Read 20 books that I haven't read before
7.) Learn to play and sing at the same time three songs on the guitar
8.) Continue to develop my photographic style hopefully to include more color
9.) Get in shape - for real this time...
10.) Get Kayden to Disneyland and Los Angeles to visit the rest of my family

To help encourage me to follow through with goal #2, I made these two collages of Peripheral Visions of 2009.

Chocolate Frogs

2010-01-05T09:33:00.000-08:00

Chocolate frogs actually exist. We saw some yesterday at the Phoenix Zoo and were we excited. Tell me these aren't straight out of Harry Potter. Chocolate Frogs.

Its been too long since we went to the Phoenix Zoo. Last Summer if I remember correctly - this time was especially exciting because Kayden could say all of the animals names. He kept saying, "FIND ME GORILLAS!" and he pronounces: "GO-WI-WA!" *sigh

Giraffes take my breath away. Even when the wind is blowing all the hay from their mouths into my eyes.

Across from the Warthogs are Rhinos. Kayden saw the Warthogs and said "RHINOS!" and then he saw the real rhinos and his jaw dropped open in disbelief. They are huge.

The monkey exhibit is wonderful. There is no barrier between you and the monkeys and yesterday, they went nuts. As two ran across my feet another one jumped past me so close he brushed my chest... I was frozen.

And our own little monkey.
What a darling.
Love surrounds me so thick I can hardly breathe.

Baby Jordans

2010-01-04T05:33:00.000-08:00

Eric has been on a Jordan trip since he found a pair or almost new vintage Air Jordans at the thrift store. He's purchased two more different styles of Jordans on Ebay and now Jordans are his shoe of choice.

Back to Ebay, Eric found a pair of baby Jordans for Kayden. UPS delivered the box and Kayden waited patiently while Eric opened the package. He held up the shoe for Kayden to see and said "Kayden, what are these?" And Kayden exclaimed, "JORDANS!!!" And they have hardly left his little feet.

We took him to the park yesterday to test them out.

2009 Favorites

2010-01-03T15:38:00.000-08:00

2009 concluded only the second year with my camera. I've had two years to grow and now look back and compare and see how different my style is from a year ago.

This post features a handfull of my favorite images from 2009.

It also sets my goal of 300 posts on this blog this year. My last post of 2008 was also my 100th post. Oddly enough, the end of 2009 marked my 300th post. So by the end of this year I should goal to have 600 posts. I'll take a swig of Eric's beer and prepare myself for 2010 having 300 blog posts!

Maverick was only three weeks old when this was taken. He was only alert for a small portion of our shoot and his face in this one is priceless.

Regan was dressed so well for her shoot. While I was editing this one Eric walked into the office and said "oh, that was nice, they brought lunch?" She looked good enough to eat. :P

This photo is of little Vincent at six months. He was so much fun to shoot - his little lips in this are perfect.

Benji was four months here and being held by his uncle. The light was beautiful in their Arizona room so this one came out beautiful too.

Maverick from the first photo still cooking.

Sometimes the best shots come from the most stressful times. It's hard to get a two year old to stand still. They're a blur.

I've shot here many times before and this was the first time I used this arch as a background. It worked well. I love this photo.

Whitney has a really intense look to her eyes and I love that even though her face is muted out from the sun her features still show strong.

I love that Jamie went along with me for this one. I think it's so so so so cute.

And the same for this one..... she'll go along with anything.... I don't think she can take a bad picture.

Anice was acting totally unnatural. So we shoved her dog Cowboy into her arms and hoped it would relax her. It didn't. Her mom finally said "You look like you just borrowed someone elses dog for this!" and Anice laughed and we caught a good one. :P

I love this one because 1.) I love father son shots and 2.) I think it looks like it's snowing. Even though it's not. Because it's Arizona, you see.

A perfect family portrait.

These parents knew how to make their kids laugh and for that I was thankful - wow - what fun - I love this shot.

My sun is never right for a silhouette and for Anice, it was. Thank goodness.

Nicole and Regan wore pink and black to match! I love the girlyness and love in this photo.

Newlyweds! They're fun to shoot because they're SO IN LOVE.

I don't know what this photo reminds me of but I know it's something good.... I said it before, I LOVE father son shots.

I was warned this couple would be awkward. They were not.

I wish I could have bright colors in every photo I take - this one makes me smile.

This one looks like my memories do. A little hazy, a little fuzzy and overflowing with emotion, peace and love.

I will shoot this group again next month - they're so talented and beautiful and looking at this shot makes me miss them.

This was a mini shoot I decided to completely let go at. I loved her little pigtails and wanted to get one that featured them. This photo shows her little tails and her chubby baby arms and her one year old curiousity. I absolutely adore this one.

This one was my favorite accidental shot ever. Just at the moment I thought "something here isn't working" I was going to check the photo I had just taken and instead of clicking the back arrow button, I clicked the shutter and this is what I got. Sarah linked hands with Olli at the perfect time and smiled at her baby at the perfect time. Perfect.

This one reminds me of me and my brother. I so wish I had a photo like this of me and Matt when we were little. I'm glad this pair will have this image to remind them of their childhood together.

Any photo that captures the essence of family is a favorite.

And my favorite of the year.... There are a lot of super close seconds here but as soon as I saw the construction going on at the park and these exposed roots I formed an image in my head and this was it. I was so excited to take this and process it and see it completed and hanging on Jess' wall. It's earthy and loving and it has to be my favorite of 2009.

I wonder what this same post will be for 2010... it makes me nervous to think about it.

Click here to see the 2008 favorites list!

Two Thousand and Nine

2009-12-30T04:24:00.000-08:00

I love New Years. I love thinking how fast this year went by and how last December seems like a blink ago and then I love slowing down and thinking of all the things I've done this year and realizing how long a year really is.

This year I started my collection of Peripheral Visions, learned how to make Tamales apart from simply assembling them, we planted trees in our backyard, I floated down the Salt River, threw my first party, I went hiking, and I heard Kayden talk. I hear Kayden talk everyday which is likely the best thing in the entire world. Eric and I developed somewhat of a social life with an amazing group of people and their amazing group of kids. I worked on potty training Kayden (still in the works), saw Kayden off to school, and was in the same room as THE PIONEER WOMAN herself although I never got to meet her because the line was ten hours long (literally). We've partied with Muhammad Ali and gave Single Steve his own category. I finally saw Wicked and Rent with the original Mark and Roger (you have no idea what a huge deal that is unless we were Rent Heads together in 1997). I read thirty five books (see above) and established an indescribable (long overdue) friendship with someone I've known since we were fourteen and now lives across the planet. We've tried new things with our camera, developed a shockingly long Facebook thread, we've become better moms, better photographers, and better people. Sarah, you are a huge piece of my heart and the reason this year was as full as it was.

This is not the last New Years post....again, I love New Years and starting a New Year means ending the last one thoroughly. Coming soon: favorite images of 2009. For now, heres a collage of the above paragraph incase you didn't feel like reading that whole thing.

December

2009-12-29T05:59:00.000-08:00

The greatest thing about this Winter is that this year, Kayden can talk and listen and understand and communicate. When I said, "Ok, Kayden, sit down on the couch and we can open a present." And he climbed his little but up on the sofa and waited patiently to open his gift. And when he saw his first gift he said, "Wow! Thank you mama, thank you daddy." And hopped off the couch to forget about the fact that he had unopened gifts under the tree and play with his first gift.

Play doh - we literally have so many play-doh accessories in our house and it never gets boring.

One of my favorite gifts was a kids camera. Kayden is always trying to play with my camera so he's happy to have his own now.

A three year old has to have a harmonica, right?

The next day my dad came over and tried to teach Kayden how to rope.

Kayden even wore little boots and a cowboy scarf.

I hope everyone has a great Winter wherever you are!

Cookie Day

2009-12-20T03:59:00.000-08:00

Have you ever taken the easy way out? With photography, I mean. I totally have. When there's a stong color cast I just don't see fixing, I'll drop the photo to black and white and we'll call it photojournalistic. That grain? That blur? Yeah, it's SUPPOSED to be there.... sure...

Last week was Cookie Day at Kaydens pre-school and Kaydens preschool classroom has not good photo light.

Before the cookies were brought out, Kayden showed us some of his favorite toys.

His friend Patrick jumped in front of my camera and said "CHEEEESE!" and I have to say I love this photo.

Kaydens other friend Zander was playing in their ball pit and having a grand time.

Then we joined each other in Cookie Day where the little students decorated their own cookies.

And Patrick kept posing for my camera. :)

Kayden has a schedule that he Checks off throughout the day. Here he is making his last Check on his schedule.

A bittersweet good-bye. Kayden is doing so well that they've advanced him to the next level of preschool. Ms. Donna will no longer be his teacher and Kayden will have to get used to a whole new classroom enviornment with more language in January. Here he is with Ms. Donna.

Thank you Ms. Donna! You're a wonderful teacher!!

It's great to know Kaydens school recognizes that he is doing so well and its awesome to hear him talking up a storm at home but I'm worried about change for him. And worried that the new class might intimidate or discourage him. I know this step is a good and well deserved step forward so I will keep you posted on how he is doing in his new class next year!

2009 Go Daddy Holiday Party

2009-12-13T07:29:00.000-08:00

This years Go Daddy holiday party was off the hook. We walked into Chase Field through a row of flocked Christmas trees and down the stadium stairs to a baseball field covered in video games, giant buffets, an ice skating rink, and a stage with our Bob Parsons giving us the top ten reasons to have a holiday party - the number one reason being his famous slogan "We're not here for a long time...." Bob started "...We're here for a good time!," his employees hollered back.

My three dates from left to right: My brother Matthew, Eric and Single Steve

But my official date, of course was Eric.

Here's the man of the night, Bob Parsons

And with everyones favorite Go Daddy girl, Danica Patrick.... Muhammad Ali was also there but I didn't get a photo of him because we were eating dinner at the time....but he was totally there :P

Paula Poundstone did some stand up after dinner and made fun of me .... yay! I made an effort to spend some time against the stage right in front of the camera man in an attempt to make it onto the big screen and it totally worked.

The 4 tops were the first band and they rocked the house!

As almost everyone knows, I'm a musical theatre geek so mainstream music isn't really on my playlist so I was glad to hear classic songs that everyone knows and was able to sing along when asked.

In keeping with the motown theme, the temptations were the last act and again, rocked the house.

The night ended with Bob giving away one million dollars to his employees, none of which were us.... again. And as the last $100,000 was given away, the roof of the stadium opened and a completely over the top fireworks display toped with snow-like confetti spinning down everywhere.

A few more details of our night (from L to R, top to bottom); Single Steve and I sat in the duggout, Eric and I stood by some Christmas trees, Bob was ridiculously generous, I sang back to the four tops, the Go Daddy logo was in Christmas lights, Single Steve and Eric drank some drinks, Matthew played with the Flip, the Temptations entertained us all, Danica looked awesome and helped Bob give away massive amounts of money, Single Steve pretended he was a pro-baseball player, Single Steve had even more drinks, Eric took video with the Flip, and Paula Poundstone made everyone laugh.

Thank you, Bob for an awesome Holiday Party!!!

Peripheral Visions: Salt and Dr. Pepper

2009-12-06T01:04:00.000-08:00

f1.4; ISO 400; shutter 1/60

Ok, so the light was low but I had to get this little salt and pepper box. It's processed with Pool Party at 90% from TRA actions.

No Pretty Backgrounds Exist in Our Backyard

2009-11-29T06:36:00.000-08:00

But since it was raining....

And since there was the cutest cutie ever standing in that rain...

In his boots and jacket...

And holding an umbrella...

I figure yesterday was the perfect time to take photos in our backyard.

Anice: Senior Shoot

2009-11-22T16:50:00.000-08:00

It's been awhile since I've done a senior shoot but shooting with Anice was completely awesome. We met at Freestone park. This place is litered with photographers taking shots of people standing on the bridge and sitting in front of the waterfall. It can be difficult to shoot at. With so many people walking through the background and other photographers trying to shoot at the same spot... I wanted someplace iscolated.

That's when her mother said, "Let's go someplace else." And someplace else we went.

She took us to a place that was a fusion of Arizona and... not Arizona.... there was brown and cacti but there were streams and green plants as well.

They brought their little dog Cowboy along.

And he was included in several photos.

Anice was having trouble 'acting natural' and so we said "Here, play with Cowboy." And she held him in her stiff arms. Her mother said, "You look like you're borrowing someone elses dog!!!" and Anice started cracking up.

We even stopped off at The Library for a bit.

We looked out at the lake,

We practiced Smizing (Tyra would have been proud)...

and we stood in the sun.

Thanks Anice and Pat for spending your Saturday afternoon with me!

Preview! Nicole and Scott

2009-11-22T02:41:00.000-08:00

You have to be quick with kids. And we'll talk more about that later... for now, here's a preview of Nicole and her new daughter.

Behind on Blogging

2009-11-16T04:36:00.000-08:00

So I've been very behind on blogging, but I have a ton to share over the next week. This family was truly fun to shoot.

They laughed and giggled and goofed around and it made for some great photos.

We went down to the railroad tracks and she balanced on the rail.

We asked them to walk together and they didn't miss a beat - off they went!

Thank you so much for being such awesome subjects!!

A New Location

2009-11-12T15:13:00.000-08:00

So every photographer is constantly on the watch for great locations. Especially in Arizona. It's hard to find a place that isn't completely brown and covered in cacti. And if you DO find that place, it's hard to not get shooed away by the property owners saying, "shoo, shoo!"

I've never actually gotten shooed away from a place but I'm always worried that I will.... it will one day happen and when it does I will post about it here.

So last weekend I found the best place ever. More from that shoot later but for now, here's a few location detail shots. The geese:

The little streams weaving in and out:

The view of the lake:

Expose Yourself!

2009-11-04T07:04:00.000-08:00

I'm not quite sure what words to put into this post. First, I suppose I could say I absolutely love this family. My great friend Sarah (dead center) is the main reason but I love the time I get to spend with all of them! Here they are!

Sarah and her baby Benji. You've seen a lot of both of them lately!

This is the first we've seen of Olli since very early this year. They live in Finland so we don't get to see them every day. :P

This is Benji with his aunt Rachel.

And aunt Rachel with her husband Paul

I looooove this one!

and the parents!

This one was supposed to be cheesy when we were taking it, but I actually really love it!

Family, thank you so so much for spending the day with me!
xoxoxoxo, denise

Ben: 1 Year

2009-10-28T09:35:00.000-07:00

The last time our Finnish friends were here, little Benji was only four months old. Now he's a year! And he couldn't be cuter! I met with Sarah a couple weeks ago and just kept clicking away at Ben playing.

He can almost walk -

and he was completely cuddly

and funny

We walked over to a corn field and got a few with mama

Cheers to one, Benji! ♥

Preview! Matthew and Mia

2009-10-26T14:31:00.000-07:00

I can't wait to share more from this session. These two little ones were seriously adorable!

Stripes

2009-10-17T12:58:00.000-07:00

If I could put the way I feel today into an image, it would be this one.

More from this series later.

Cotton Grows on Plants

2009-10-12T08:10:00.000-07:00

Please don't think I'm a total idiot after reading this post. My goal this month is to see my friend from Finland Sarah as much as possible before she returns to Finland until 2011!!! So yesterday we went to shoot a cotton field 0.7 miles from her house.

I've seen cotton fields while driving by. My mom says, "Oh look, a cotton field." and I look and see little tiny white balls of fluff and I think, "I wonder what those look like up close." Thinking that cotton really starts out as something called cotton first and THEN they make it into things we know as cotton balls etc.

Not so.

I approached a cotton plant and there were perfectly formed little cotton balls on these plants! Just like the ones under my bathroom sink! What? I tell you, it's true. And it looked so odd. Like I was in a fictional field of random things growing on plants. As odd as seeing a roll of toilet paper growing on a plant, or a remote control. Or a snickers bar. Why not?

So here's my proof. Look at these little guys!!

Sarah and I both spotted one of the unopened ones at the same time and both thought, "These look like Little Shop of Horrors."

'FEED ME'

Ahhhh geeks.

And here she is shooting in the cotton field.

Shooting with Sarah

2009-10-08T11:05:00.000-07:00

This week has gone by fast. It seems like every week goes by fast right now. So fast I hardly have any time to blog all the fun things that come up throughout the week. Like Monday. Monday I got to see my incredible friend Sarah for the first time in forever. Sarah lives all the way in Finland and has recently started up her own photography venture over there. I can't believe how quickly she's been able to learn her camera - she's gotten so good so fast.

I've always wanted a photograph of me taking a picture and was so glad she caught this one of me testing out her Nikon.

We went to shoot for a little while at the Ghost Town near my house - these next few are ones she caught.

Nikons can shoot blue like crazy! Look at that sky!!

And these ones are some of mine. Shooting the same thing with someone else can definitely be an eye opener. Even if we're shooting the same thing, we each have a completely different artistic eye and capture things in our own style.

First Day of School

2009-09-28T08:29:00.000-07:00

Kayden's first day of school was over six weeks ago and I'm just barely blogging it now...

He's going to preschool at the elementary school by our home. Four times a week they send a bus to pick him up at 7:54 and the bus drops him off at 11:15. The first day was hard. I woke him up much eariler than he was used to, got him dressed and ready, and took his picture. All the while he has this look on his face like "WHAT is going on???"

The bus arrived and he was immediately terrified of it... and so was I. What the heck was I doing putting my baby on a bus to go to school? He's just a baby! So I walked over holding his hand and the assistant attempted to take him from me but Kayden held tight to my hand.

So I carried him on and sat him down and took a heartbreaking shot of him getting buckled into his seat. Then I turned to leave and heard his little voice screaming for me to please come back.

Over the next week he got used to going on the bus and now he quite enjoys it. He even fell asleep on one ride home and he usually exits the bus happily and holding a small piece of candy in his hand. Maybe this is why I held off blogging his first day for so long. It's actually one of my sadder memories!

Whitney: Anytime

2009-09-20T19:54:00.000-07:00

Last week I got together with Whitney to shoot a mini-portfolio for some potential modeling opprotunities that she's been presented with. "A face shot and a body shot" she kept reminding me. :P I loved shooting Whitney because she was absolutely down for anything. And she was wearing a really cute dress. And she has super long legs.

Click here to see more of Whitney!

Lily: Straight out of camera

2009-09-18T19:34:00.000-07:00

I was planning on doing a big wonderful post about proper exposure and how it can cut your post processing process way down and make your photos way better than you ever thought and then I couldn't find the time to sit down and write the words. Maybe that post will come later. For now, I wanted to share some SOOC shots of Lily - she was being so cute in her little bathing suit that I had to bust out the camera.

Not much post processing needed, huh? I didn't even sharpen these or add contrast - - here's one more of Single Steve keeping an eye on the swimming Lily. What do you think was happening here??? What's with the pointing?

Jamie : Anytime

2009-09-15T23:14:00.000-07:00

Alright, I'm stealing a page out of Jasmine Stars book here by labeling this as an 'anytime shoot' cause thats what it is... :P

In October I'm shooting a good friend at a ghost town near my house. So to scope out the place, I decided to shoot Jamie there this week. And now it's my favorite place to shoot. The place is crawling with great light and no one is around to bother you.

Jamie has a total pinup girl quality to her - I love these next three.

Towards the end of our shoot we saw some horses and had to get a closer look.

Finally to end our shoot, we practiced being 'super natural'. I asked Jamie to talk and then walk away to leave and the come back. And after three years, she got it. :P This was a good way to laugh and have fun and relax in front of the camera. Shooting these at f/1.4 was killer though - wow! Moving targets...

And some western shots for the theme of our location.

Click here to see more of Jamie!!!

Riley Coyote

2009-09-09T18:26:00.000-07:00

On Monday, our friends Leslie and Chuck had a last minute barbeque at their house. I love last minute barbeques, especially last minute barbeques at Chuck and Leslies because Chuck makes the best hamburgers ever. While Leslie was busy in the kitchen, her daughter Riley was extremely clingy. So I swooped up Riley and took her to play in her room. And I brought my camera. I'd been in a shooting mood that day and had been itching to try things I wouldn't normally try. It's hard to think out of the box while on an actual shoot . . . so Riley was my perfect opprotunity to forget about everything technical and just click.

I didn't delete the lookaways.

I didn't delete the ones that missed the focus.

As long as they told a story, they were in.

A story about curiousity.

A story about the hazy memories of childhood.

A story about a girl and her dog.

A story about ponytails.

And a story about little feet.

Click here to see more of Riley

I Took a Picture of my Shoe

2009-09-01T12:43:00.000-07:00

Incase you haven't already guessed, this is a blog about shoes. My ex's mother was a genius about many things, one of which was shoes. She had an amazing ability to guess someones shoe size and select a persons exact style and level of comfort in a shoe. For example, I hate shoe shopping. I've never been a shoe junkie. I go into a shoe store and see nothing that I even want to try on. So one day when I went to visit her, she had three shoe boxes lined up with adorable shoes, each more comfortable than the next, each more stylish than the next, each more perfect than the next. They were Clarks.

Several months later, I was working in a call center. Eric was just my team leader at the time and while we were all outside on break, Eric says to me, "I like your shoes."

I looked down and turned my heel in a Dorothy sort of way. "Thanks, they're Clarks."

"I know," He said. And that was how I fell in love with Eric.

Just kidding. But it did make me notice him a little.

Eric used to sell shoes. I think he's worked at six shoe places... odd and random, but he's sort of a shoe expert as well. Every time I try on a shoe, hes able to tell how they fit. He'll pull at the back and say, "This is gonna hurt you when you walk." or "Lets try an eight and a half" (huge feet, I know) or he'll examine a shoe up close before letting me try it on and conclude, "This looks like a good one, let me see you walk in these."

Yesterday we were walking around Arizona Mills Outlet mall and we came up on the Clarks store. It's the only Clarks store in Arizona and over the last few years, I had forgotten about my Clarks affair. Shoe shopping? Um... ok, I guess we can stop in. And on the first table I saw a pair of flats that I had to have. I roamed the store seeing dozens of shoes that were perfectly me. Each unbelievably comfortable and adorable and the shoe junkie inside me woke up.

I ended up getting two pair, but this one - this shoe jumped off the shelf and right into my shoe heart of hearts. Isn't it lovely?

What about you? What's your shoe story? Any brand you favor? And why?

Andy, Mari, Nico, and Milo

2009-08-30T21:38:00.000-07:00

I'm thrilled to share this session with you. Mari and her family were wonderful subjects. The older one, Nico, was way too much fun to photograph - he gave me so much to work with!

We shot at my favorite spot in Old Town Gilbert.

Nico brought his Oso...

... and wouldn't let it go.

Milo gave the cutest faces.

And Nico did his own thing, which worked out well :P

One more of them all together. Shooting with a family of four can be tricky, but it always ends up being so much fun and the final images show it! :) Thanks, Mari and Andy!!!

Preview! Andy, Mari and their little ones

2009-08-23T22:51:00.000-07:00

I was planning on coming home from my shoot this afternoon (followed by dinner with Eric and my brother) and going to bed. But I couldn't resist at least uploading the photos and flipping through. THEN, when I saw this one, I couldn't resist sharing it here. Don't they look great together???

I seriously can't get enough of this image!

Incase any photoeese are wondering, I used Soft and Faded photoshop action - isn't it perfect? It's from Pioneer Woman and it's FREEEEEEEE - sweet. Click here to get it.

Vinny One Year!

2009-08-23T10:19:00.000-07:00

Vinny is one. If you've been following here for awhile, you'll know Vinny for sure. I photographed his mama when she was expecting him, when he was a newborn, when he was six months and now at one whole entire year!

Here's his newborn shot

And his six months.

Chris came down to the park with us to be in a few shots and I totally crack up at this one.

And I totally love the expressions in these three.

So adorable, right? This last one is (shockingly) my favorite. I don't know why. It's really simple and basic but I love it!

Jess, thanks so much for allowing me to continue photographing Vinny! xoxoxo to all of you!

Preview! Vinny One Year!

2009-08-16T21:50:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I've been busy... very busy... and I haven't gotten to do things I actually enjoy like blogging, BUT, I did get to shoot an awesome little guy for his one year photos this weekend. Everyone who has been to my website has seen Vinny because the first image is from his newborn shoot and the second image is from his six month shoot... so he's pretty popular! :P

One year olds are ENTIRELY DIFFERENT!!! He didn't make it easy on me yesterday... in fact, he was downright mad at me and my camera the entire time! But I wanted to share a quick preview before heading off to bed - you can actually SEE how upset he is with me!

Watermelon Love

2009-08-12T00:08:00.000-07:00

This watermelon could be you, did you know that? Single Steve is still... well... single. This weekend we hit a few Scottsdale bars and you know what we found? A bunch of nothing, that's what. Snotty high maintenance nothings that were no where near good enough for our Single Steve. And you know what else?

Single Steve can Juggle

But then he sometimes drops them.

I also want to add that I LOVE this picture. It was after sunset and I tried to shoot without a flash like a moron - but to see what happens when I DO shoot with a flash... well... see the previous photo... So then Single Steve jumped to the side to catch one and blured the photo up all crazy... and this is what happened. But the singular reason I love this photo is that the only thing sort of in focus is the big A&F. Ten times out of ten, Single Steve will be wearing an A&F t-shirt.

Peripheral Visions: In The Window

2009-08-09T20:21:00.000-07:00

Somebody needs to teach me how to shoot through windows. Whats up with all the glare? I was even standing off to the side. Still, I thought this one was cute enough to share.

ISO 100; f/2.8; 1/500
TRA's Yin/Yang
TrA's TDW 30%

Peripheral Visions: Owl

2009-08-08T20:19:00.000-07:00

If Kayden saw this you know what he would have said?

OWL.

Because he's talking now, did you know that?

ISO 100; f/2.8; 1/400 shutter
channel mixer and TRA's Super Old Skool 75%

Peripheral Visions: Tucson Doors

2009-08-05T22:48:00.000-07:00

Almost every door in Tucson is interesting.

And almost every door in Phoenix is uninteresting.

While shooting Tucson doors I started thinking about how difficult it was to shoot doors... that sounds lame but really, if the doors weren't so awesome to begin with, I wouldn't know what to do. The first 'rule' was the most limiting: You really can't break the lines of the doors.

Everything has to stay vertical - if your camera tilts one way or another the lines will break and look distorted. This worried me. So what can you do if you can't break lines?

You can get in close and focus on one thing, like this guys mailbox... this is my favorite door btw

Or, you can throw the door off center

Or, if there are a few doors in a row that look good together you can shoot them from the side.

I favored the doors with an address or ornament or cool lights - this one had all three!

You can put the focus on something to the side of the door and blur out the door in the background.

Or you can just back up and shoot the door straight on from top to bottom.

Were the words in the post completely pointless?

Yes.

Were the photos themselves completely awesome?

I hope so.

Hotel Beds Are Soft And Fluffy

2009-08-04T19:46:00.000-07:00

These are all sooc which I felt was necessary to announce because I almost never post sooc shots.

How To Make A Flash Slideshow With Fading In and Out!

2009-08-04T12:05:00.000-07:00

Ok, this tutorial is explaining how I made my opening slideshow in flash. I used Action Script 2.0 which apparently is outdated but I wouldn't know the difference. This is simple so would probably work with any flash version and there's no scripting anyway.

Start with a fresh document.

Were going to change the size first so click on that box that the green arrow is pointing to.

I've already taken the time to resize all my images in photoshop to be 715x478 pixles so that is what size my slideshow will be. I'm also making my frame rate 16 fps and my background color grey just for fun. It doesn't matter what color your background is.

Click FILE --> IMPORT-->Import to LIBRARY and import your slideshow images. You'll see them appear in the library to the right.

Click the KEYFRAME on layer 1 (see the green arrow is pointing to the keyframe)

Then drag your first slideshow image out into the stage.

Use the align palette (in the upper right) to align the image to the image to the center of the stage (make sure the "to stage" button is selected)

So now your image is center and on your stage

Convert the image to a movie clip by pressing F8

Give it a name like img1 or whatever you want.

When you click OK you should see the movie clip appear in your library. Now that image is a movie clip.

Right Click on the keyframe and select "create motion tween."

Now HOLD DOWN ALT and click and drag that keyframe out to frame 20. Then again to frame 40. Then again to frame 60.

The first 20 frames will be the 'fading in' -- the second 20 frames will be the time that the image is on the screen -- the third 20 frames will be the fading out.

If you want the image to stay up longer, increase the second 20 frames to 30 or 40 frames. Remember it's sixteen frames per second.

Now select the LAST keyframe and then click the image. Then go to the bottom where it says "color" and select "alpha" and drag the alpha to zero.

Do the same with the FIRST keyframe.

Leave the middle two how they are.

Now you can click ctrl+enter and preview your slide. You should see the same image fading in and out.

Click New Layer and start all over with image two.

Go to the last frame of the first image - in this case, frame 60 and pop a keyframe on frame 60 on the second layer. To insert a keyframe, click the frame and hit F6. You'll see a keyframe appear.

Drag your second slideshow image onto the stage (making sure the keyframe is selected) and align it, convert it to a MC, right click and motion tween, alt and drag out your 3 sets of 20 frames, convert the alpha to zero on the first and last keyframe for the fading in and out.

Now lets see... see that red vertical bar among the frames? Set it to frame 60 and look at your stage. Theres nothing, right? Because the alpha is set to zero.

Now drag that red bar a few frames to the right. See the image slowly fading in on the stage?

And once it hits frame 80, its at 100% alpha, so we can see it completely.

That's it! Keep repeating with as many layers as you want. For me, for some wierd reason, if I do more than 25 images it starts to slow way way down about halfway though... I have yet to find a solution to that problem but that was just an fyi - you can do a 300 image slide if you'd like. :)

Thanks for following along!

A Fun Game Included

2009-08-03T19:37:00.000-07:00

This is Tony and Holly in Tucson the weekend before this last one. See them?

Ok, can you see them now?

Ten points to the first person to find them. Look closely.

There they are!

Oh man, Holly, did you find yourself? If you did, it kind of didn't count because you knew where you were sitting anyway.

Here is there youngest son Lucas who was sitting with them.

And little Lexi who always lets me take her picture.

And here's the rest of Tony and Holly's kids.

Just kidding - but just barely because three of the eight really ARE theirs. The littlest one is mine. :)

Maverick Halen

2009-07-31T10:12:00.000-07:00

I've been waiting to photograph this baby since his mother announced she was expecting him. His parents are devoted rockers, hence the name: Maverick Halen. And here he is at three little weeks old.

Has everyone here heard of MeRa Koh? I've mentioned her several times on my blog and she really is brilliant at shooting newborns. A lot of the time we see newborns dressed up or placed in wierd settings (on a bookshelf, a sofa table, a turkey platter) and while that's all well and good, MeRa takes a more natural, classic approach and the result is lovely and timeless. Instead of dressing a baby in uncomfortable fancy clothes, strip him down to his diaper or less! We shot Maverick in only his diaper the whole time. You can read MeRa's 'How to Shoot a Newborn' posts HERE and HERE . This one is my own version of her "Fleeting Baby Grip Shot."

Definitely a sleepy newborn!

I don't know why I like this one so much, but I really do.

We shot at Mariah's parents house - their bedroom had these butterscotch walls that looked awesome with Mariah's red hair - these next two show the colors so well.

Then we brought in big brother Aiden and big sister Kaylin.

I positioned all three of them before and it didn't look so good. But the two older ones were getting restless so I told them they could go if they wanted - before they left, they positioned themselves like this and it looked awesome (Way more close and natural than what I had them doing minutes before) so I made them stay and am so glad I got these!!

I think Kaylin looks so beautiful and grown up here - her face is so bright and I love that she's the only one looking at the camera. Isn't she absolutely darling?

And while Mariah was telling the story of her NATRUAL delivery (ouch, I know, brave woman) I noticed the artwork above her and took this one.

I hope you liked looking through Maverick Halen's newborn photos!
CLICK HERE to see his entire shoot! :)

Preview! Baby Maverick

2009-07-30T19:44:00.000-07:00

I have things to blog and no time to blog them! Yesterday I shot newborn baby Maverick and he is ADORABLE! I can't wait to show more but for now here's a quick preview of Maverick and his mother. :)

Peripheral Visions: A Tucson Preview

2009-07-27T13:57:00.000-07:00

I spent the weekend in Tucson and although I only had an hour to walk the streets shooting PV's, I came up with a few that I'm excited to share. This one is by far my favorite - It just looks too perfect, doesn't it? I almost walked right by without noticing anything other than the wall - I wonder if the owner parked there on purpose. It matches perfectly!

ISO: 100; F/2.8; shutter 1/1250
Photoshop: Kubota's Magic Sharp, PW Boost 50%, TRA Tech. Dreamworld 30%

Look forward to sharing more soon but for now, it's time to take a nap! :P

Know your camera and support local theatre!

2009-07-21T19:32:00.000-07:00

Did you know that the community you live in has Theatre Companies that perform plays and musicals for you to go see? It's true, they do. I'm a huge believer in supporting community theatre and think you should be too. Instead of dinner and a movie again, go see a play. There's one running in Phoenix right now called Bare with some of Phoenix's most talented performers. Go see it! Click here for the website.

Bare is about a group of teenagers attending a Catholic school. Throughout the show, they struggle with drug use, rejection, love, weight, pregnancy, homosexuality and fear of who they are and what others will think. The music is awesome and all the key characters have divine voices including my friend of over a decade, Jon. There he is at the bottom right. :)

Ok, onto the lessons in camera. So it's horribly rude to take a photograph during a live show, right? The answer is, yes, it's rude and a HUGE no - no. But I had my camera with me anyway and was sitting in the back row AND I was super quick so no one noticed. To start, I went ahead and put my camera on no-flash auto and pointed and shot. THIS PHOTO BELOW IS WHAT MY CAMERA THOUGHT WAS THE CORRECT EXPOSURE!!! WHAT? YES! WOW! YUCK!
Horrible, right? Oh man, I rolled my eyes when I checked the back of my camera to see what I got... I had to switch to manual. Their faces are completely blown out - I needed a faster shutter
STAT! After a minute or two of fumbling around with my dials, I shot this one. WOW! Tons better but I still think I have a thing or two to learn about stage shooting - with spotlights and such incredible differences between lighting, it's pretty tricky!

Here's another with Jon and the one who I call, "The little blonde girl who can sing like nobody's business!" Wow, she completely blew me away!

So lessons learned:

1.) You know better than your camera.

2.) Your community needs you to support their theatre and other local art! (And you can start by going to Bare {warning, it's for mature audiences so maybe leave the kiddies at home!} playing through Aug. ninth at the big building on Central and McDowell)

*****UPDATE: SEE BARE FOR FREE THIS WEEKEND!********

SEE 'bare' FOR FREE THIS WEEKEND!!!!!!! The first 50 people in line at each of our five performances this weekend (thurs-sun) get in for FREE! We're also now offering two-for-one (on advance tix only, which are now only $24) and $15 student tickets (with school ID) for the entire run! Take advantage this weekend and help us get word out about this incredible show!!! We need your help! http://www.aperioproductions.org/

And just for fun, here's an oldie of me and Jon over a decade ago!!! I'm guessing it's around 1997 from the Romeo and Juliet poster in the background! :P

Graduate!

2009-07-20T18:17:00.000-07:00

I don't think I've mentioned Liz before on this blog. Liz was my very best friend in Junior High and High School - I can't even begin to describe the fun we had. In addition to singing at the top of our lungs ever chance we got, and painting my room purple, and performing a duet in our ninth grade talent show, and endless inside jokes, in addition to all that and more, Liz has an awesome family. Truly wonderful - and Saturday, I got to see them all again for the first time in years and my heart almost overflowed with so so so much love for them.

Liz graduated from College (Pump your fist in the air and holler, "Right on!") last week. So to celebrate, everyone got together at Liz's parents house. Here is Liz.

Here's us together...

And ten years earlier, just to compare

Liz gathered some of her guests and I told them to give me a Cover Girl commercial
AND THEY TOTALLY DID!

A classic summer shot

More Cover Girl

Then we brought in her parents - here is Liz with her dad.

And her mom.
And all together - isn't this the sweetest image?

So a very big congratulations to Liz!!!

37 Months

2009-07-17T00:58:00.000-07:00

Yesterday it was thirty seven months since Kayden was born. I've only missed two 'official month' photos and they were missed by only one day... soon I'll have to organize them all and post them here.

This month has been all about TALKING! What? What's that you say? Kayden is TALKING!?! Why, yes, yes he is. It's absolutely incredible. You really have to slow down and listen to his babble and more often than not, you'll start to hear little words.

We were at a friends house a couple of weekends ago and he was playing with their little girl's toys. One by one he brought me a block with a letter on it and said the letter loud and clear. "R" "K" "B" "J" and it shocked us all. What a smartie... and I didn't even think he was paying attention. :) Here he is at 37 months:

Peripheral Visions: Tucson!

2009-07-15T00:56:00.000-07:00

Our annual Tucson weekend is just around the corner and I can't wait! Last year I went on my first photo safari and discovered Tucson is an AWESOME place to take pictures! These were just on a regular resident street, crazy, huh?

I love shooting doors and windows and anything colorful.

This image was the reason I started branding my blog photos - people kept ripping it off!!!

The Power Of Photoshop

2009-07-09T01:20:00.000-07:00

I've frequently read "Photoshop isn't there to make bad photos good, it there to make good photos great." And I try to hold myself to that - to try and make my photos the best I can straight out of camera so that after a little photoshopping, they're beautiful!

This is one before and after I totally wanted to share here. I caught it last Saturday and loved it before I even looked at the back of my camera. The sun was well set and it was getting dark fast, so I shot it at 2.8, 1/200, ISO 400.

I didn't know what I was going to do with it right away, but I knew Totally Rad Actions had to be part of the solution. Here's my recipe:

Claire-ify 40% (it brightened the image without washing it out)
Kevin Kubota's Magic Sharp (What else?)
Crush 60% (you can see the crush in her hair)
Pro-Retouch Skin 60% Eyes 40% (on both her skin and the little girls eyes - the mama had great skin already, this just gave a more creamy texture)
The Pioneer Woman's Seventies 10%
TRA's Rusty Cage 10% (These last two added just a little bit of warmth and glow)
Pioneer Woman's Quick Edge Burn 25% (I painted on the layer mask a bit so it would be darker in some places and lighter in others but for the most part, it was around 25%)

And I isn't the after beautiful?!

For a quick side by side - I love Photoshop!

Cuteness From All Angles

2009-07-07T17:06:00.000-07:00

Look what I found on Saturday! Isn't she cute?

Eric and I spend the late afternoon and evening at our friends house out in Chandler. I sat and talked to Yana and Emma and couldn't stop taking their photo - aren't they so cute?

Just before I got there everyone got thrown into the pool... even the dog. :-(

Kayden went in willingly

Single Steve drew a chalk picture of me - that's a camera around my neck...

Tony lovingly helped Brad with his sunburn.

Mikey attacked Single Steve.

Later that night, Single Steve prepares to show off his tongue talents...

He starts off with a simple but impressive flip...

Then shows what they all call 'the pickle tongue' - wow - Im amazed at the fatness of his tongue!

and he ends by putting a piece of corn on the tip of his tongue, shoving it up his nose, and sniffing so violently that the corn shoots up his nose. Applause applause standing ovation.

I also heard "Start a Single Brad thread on your blog too!" What do you think? Should I? Here is Brad:

The View From My Tube

2009-06-27T22:04:00.000-07:00

I have always been horrible at being outdoorsy. It's something I'd LIKE to be good at, but I'm just not. I always end up having the worst time and complaining about how my feet hurt or how it's too hot. So today when I actually had fun floating down the Salt River in a tube, I was thrilled! So now that I've been once, that puts me at expert level - so I'd like to share with you how to have a great, wonderful, fantastic, lovely day at the river. Let's back up to the beginning.

When you go, make Eric drive because the roads are a little windy and it's more fun to take pictures.

When you get there, rent a tube. And while you're at it, check out the tattoos on people. It almost makes me want to go back and just shoot tattoos for an hour at this enterance. Wouldn't that make an interesting blog post?

Once you have your tube, wait in line for a bus that will take you to the starting point on the river. It will be HOT. At this point I was already fearing that the 'oh my goodness, it's HOOOTT' and 'I can't do this!' complaints would be coming on soon - because ohmyhell it was hot.

See? Do you see the sweat and redness on my face? Yuck.

Once you're on the bus, stack up your tubes and hold on because the driver drives like a maniac.

For the part where everyone is tying the tubes together and trying to get through the crowd and onto the river and throwing out every swear word in the book, put your camera in a ziplock and into the cooler because they don't want their picture taken.

After you're safe floating on the river, put some river grass in your hat and wear it like hair.

And enjoy everything around you - enjoy the cold water, enjoy the breeze that somehow slides constantly on the river's surface and all around you, and enjoy the view from your tube.
Stop at the pools and be social.

Ask Single Steve to flex for your blog readers.

Do a beer bong

And share with fellow river floaters.

Jump off the cliff (that's Eric right at the bottom)

And enjoy the view from your tube.

**All photos were taken with my point and shoot, so I'm excused.

Peripheral Visions: Why Thank You

2009-06-26T02:06:00.000-07:00

I thought this was sweet.

I almost died 100 times today

2009-06-22T01:08:00.000-07:00

This morning I woke up three hours after going to bed. Eric, my brother and I went to Usary mountain to hike. I can't remember the last time I went on a hike. It wasn't easy at all. This was my starting point.

I couldn't believe how hard it was! The climbing over the rocks, and the way my shoes would slip over the gravel and almost knock me over the edge. I feared for my life.

We had to turn around when we were almost to the top but I still made it far. I don't think I'll ever go again. Ever.

Peripheral Visions: Face

2009-06-19T12:43:00.000-07:00

So when I saw this, I thought it was real. Really. I jumped. I thought it was like in Pirates of the Caribbean where all the guys were part of Davey Jone's ship and the ship kind of grew around them. Remember that one? Freaked me out.

Peripheral Visions: Best Friends

2009-06-18T12:37:00.000-07:00

When Kayden Was Born

2009-06-17T18:31:00.000-07:00

Did I ever tell you about the time Kayden was born? It's a totally typical story, nothing went wrong, everything was great. Here he is - a newborn, only hours old.

While I was pregnant, I worked the night shift at a call center. The same call center where Eric and I met. I took calls while Eric was a manager and so I'd be talking a lot. All night I'd talk and I'd often wonder if the baby could hear me. I read he could and would soon recognize my voice.

We checked into the hospital at 3:30 pm and I had painful contractions all night. I walked the halls of the maternity ward because the nurse said that would help, while Eric slept comfortably in the fold out arm chair. At 5:30 am I recieved pain medication and then at 3:30 pm on June 16th, Kayden was born. I'd never seen a cuter newborn - usually they look all alien and squishy but Kayden looked like a little angel right away.

He started crying - loud. Crazy loud. The people two floors above us could tell that he was not happy. After they got him ready, they put him in my arms, screaming. And I said "hi baby." And just like that, he stopped crying and looked at me. He totally DID know my voice. It. Was. Awesome. All the nurses and the doctor even commented, "awww, look, He knows her."

Then Eric added, "Hi KAYDEN." and I was all, "um... is that his name??"

So here he is, yesterday, June 16th, the day he was born, three years later.

I have a three year old.

Peripheral Visions: Sinkhole

2009-06-17T12:00:00.000-07:00

Comfortable accomidations for Arizona vacationers.

f 2.2/ 1/240/ ISO 100
PW Boost 50%
TRA Lux hard 60%

Peripheral Visions: Steer

2009-06-15T12:47:00.000-07:00

Brad's Summer BBQ

2009-06-15T00:06:00.000-07:00

This weekend was fun as I hope yours was. We went to Brad's summer bbq at his house in Mesa and had fun fun fun. We were joined by several of Eric's former fraternity brothers who were all apparently professional sports players... I've never seen anyone kick a ball so far or catch a ball so well. It was insane.

Here's baby and Eric in the pool.

And Single Steve who I'm sure you all were hoping for

This is Jackie who you've met once before - just for the record, I absolutely adore her - she's completely fun and lovely in every way.

Ok, if this doesn't make your heart melt, then I'd ask, "what the heck happened to your heart?". Isn't she so so so sweet? I love how her mama and daddy dressed her.

And these two - is there anything more delicious than a mama and her daughter? I ask you.

And for the close, this is Brad, our wonderful and absolutely sweet host. Thanks for having us over Brad!!! xoxoxoxo

If you were one of the cool people that were there, or you want to see Single Steve make his wild animal face, click here!

Peripheral Visions: Red

2009-06-14T12:45:00.000-07:00

Math

2009-06-13T16:33:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I did a quick course on Textures that I had a lot of fun with. So I played around more with some and thought I'd post some before and afters too.

This
Plus This

Equals This

And This
Plus this

Equals This

And this one

This one

And this one

Makes this one

Peripheral Visions: Green Wheel

2009-06-13T12:45:00.000-07:00

A Quick Lesson in Textures

2009-06-13T00:14:00.000-07:00

Two years ago my favorite photographer started using textures more and more. I saw the effect and it was amazing but I didn't know where to start when it came to 'creating your own textures' or using them once you had them. It took me forever to figure it out too. I thought it was some sort of already done overlay that gave texture to your photo. I found a site that said 'to make your own textures, just start shooting photos of anything with a unique texture. Brick, waves, cracks in concrete, old parchment, anything at all!' So that gave me half of what I was looking for... what next?

Start with the photo you're using.

And the texture you want to use as well.

We want to move the texture over the photo - so they're in the same document - one on top of the other. See the layers palette.

You can do a few things here. The most common is to change the blend mode or lower the opacity. I'm changing the blend mode to soft light.

Now I want the effect a little more on the edges than it is in the middle. So I added a layer mask and painted lightly in the middle to erase some of that texture. A lot of people skip the last step and just work with the layer mask, which works a lot for me as well. Add as many texture layers as you want to make your image unique and interesting.

Before

After

Some Awwweeesome free resources for textures:

CG Textures

Texture King

Free Textures

Coffee Shop

Playing With Brushes

Kayden's First Speech Therapy

2009-06-12T13:37:00.000-07:00

Mama
Daddy
Baby
Ackma (grandma)
Thank You
DQ
Iron Man
Batman
Go
Bye
Ball
Apple
Nana
Zebra
Giraffe
Fish

and most recently, to his speech therapist: 'Don't go'

Peripheral Visions: Curve

2009-06-11T12:41:00.000-07:00

In the first (and only) photography class I ever took, the teacher said to look for S curves. Because every photo that has an S curve is apparently brilliant. I totally feel like I learned nothing from that class but I like to think this photo would have been considered brilliant in that class because of it's cool curve.

Peripheral Visions: Home Comfort

2009-06-10T12:39:00.000-07:00

Up

2009-06-08T20:15:00.000-07:00

Today we took Kayden to see his first movie at a theater. We saw Up which is wonderful in every possible way. And Kayden was absolutely wonderful as well, we stuck a bag of popcorn in front of him and he was well behaved the whole movie. Thank goodness.

Single Steve went with us and although this is his second time seeing Up, he still teared up at the movie... SO SWEET! If any arizona girl is reading this and interested, please email me at denise@dkphotographer.com, send me your resume, contact info and a photograph and I MIGHT deem your application worthy to pass along to Single Steve.

And because no Single Steve post is complete without a photo of Single Steve, here he is.

And the same one because I couldn't decide between color or black and white - which do you think works better???

Peripheral Visions: Brick

2009-06-08T12:35:00.000-07:00

Peripheral Visions: Rotate

2009-06-07T12:33:00.000-07:00

Peripheral Visions: Link

2009-06-06T12:32:00.000-07:00

Peripheral Visions: Horse

2009-06-05T12:31:00.000-07:00

Fried Mouse

2009-06-04T18:55:00.000-07:00

Dotted all along Apache Trail are little hole-in-the-wall restaurants and bars. Eric and I pass them often and wonder if any of them are worth going to. We always agree to pick one of them one day. We never actually do.

Today, we did.

"Pick one," I told Eric. He drove into a small dive with an outside patio that was littered with truckers and women with mullets. As soon as we walked in, I felt like I was at a truck stop along an abandoned highway in the early eighties. We sat down at a green booth and looked through the menu. We both had a craving for fish and chips. As we waited for the server, I saw something scurry along the floor out of the corner of my eye. My neck snapped around looking at the spot - there was nothing there. I decided it was a ray of light from a car passing outside. A minute later, Eric's eyes widened and then he signed in an 'oh crap' sort of way. Nothing freaked me out more than a mouse.

"What?" I asked

"I'll tell you later," He said.

"Did you see a mouse?"

"You saw him too???"

At that point I lifted my feet under the table and completely lost my appetite. "Can we please leave? We can go somewhere else, she hasn't even noticed we're here." And then she was there, asking what she could get us to drink. My eyes were on Eric and starting to tear up... I hated to embarrass him but I couldn't help it, I felt like the whole place was swimming in mice. She gave us a minute and Eric started talking. "You really want to leave?" And he gave me that disapproving look. That look that says, "Are you really going to act this way?"

So I decided, "You eat, I'll sit." And guess what? HE WAS FINE WITH THAT! HE ORDERED HIS FISH AND CHIPS WHILE I SAT THERE WITH MY FEET UP AND STARVING!

Peripheral Visions: Screen

2009-06-04T12:29:00.000-07:00

Peripheral Visions: Union Pacific

2009-06-03T13:04:00.000-07:00

f/2.2; ISO 100; 1/250
TRA Pool Party 30%

Peripheral Visions: The Lost Dutchman's Mine

2009-06-02T12:02:00.000-07:00

Back when Eric and I were still house hunting, we were driving East on the US-60 on a cloudy day and admiring the Superstition Mountains. There was a break in the clouds that let a strong shot of sunlight make a precise and noticable dot on the moutain. I pointed it out to Eric.

"Maybe it's God showing us the way to the Lost Dutchman's Mine," he said.

"The WHAT???" I'd heard of the Lost Dutchman's Mine before but didn't know the mountains had anything to do with it. And he told me this story:

"In the late 1800's, a man named Jacob Waltz would go up into those mountains and come back down with incredible amounts of gold. Whenever someone would attempt to follow him, they never came back out. To this day, no one has ever found the location to the Dutchman's gold."

Peripheral Visions: No 2 Jewel

2009-06-01T11:46:00.000-07:00

I think this is pretty. Like, not just interesting, but pretty. I wonder what things like this looked like when they were new.

f/2.2; ISO 100; 1/250
PW boost 30%
TRA Tech. dreamworld 20%

Peripheral Visions: Starshine

2009-05-31T09:22:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting here trying to think of what to write for this photo and nothing comes to mind. I guess I like this one because of the shape of the star. I see stars like that out here a lot - and the photo looks very western. I wonder what that sign says.

f/2.2; 1/125; ISO 100
PW Seventies 40%
TRA Lux hard 40%
TRA Pool Party 25%

Peripheral Visions: Danger

2009-05-30T19:55:00.000-07:00

I could have died had I not followed this sign.

f/2.8; ISO 100; 1/100
PW Boost 80%
PW Quick edge burn 65%

Peripheral Visions: Drink

2009-05-29T11:37:00.000-07:00

Do you prefer Pepsi or Coke? I'm a total Pepsi person but you never see old Pepsi signs anywhere - Coke just has the coolest image.

f/2.2; ISO 100; 1/200
TRA Pool Party 80%

Denise's new way to do family portraits

2009-05-27T19:00:00.000-07:00

The only one that I can ask to take a photo of the three of us is my mom and she doesn't know how to use a camera to save her life. So instead, I took a shot of Kayden, one of Eric, and one of myself with the same background and the same processing and stuck them all together. And I love it!

For the processing, I used TRA's bitchin black and white (the BEST b&w converter EVER!) and Lux (hard) at 75%

Peripheral Visions: Machine

2009-05-27T11:06:00.000-07:00

The worlds first typewriter. Just kidding, I don't know what this is. Any ideas?

f 2.0/ ISO 100/ 1/250
desaturate layer 70%
TRA Rusty cage 20%
cinnamon toast 15%

Peripheral Visions: Facebook Update

2009-05-26T00:02:00.000-07:00

Denise Karis is a fan of signs.

f/2.2; ISO 100; 1/640
PW boost 40%
TRA derelict 20%
TRA lights out 10%

Peripheral Visions: McDeering

2009-05-25T11:46:00.000-07:00

I love rust. Especially rust that is paired with the original surface color. Especially when the surface color is a vibrant denim blue. Especially a denim blue like this one.

f/2.8; ISO 100; 1/500
PW Boost 35%
TRA Lux hard 35% (only on the first two)
TRA Tech.dreamworld 15% (only on the last one)
TRA Derelict 20% (only on the last one)

Peripheral Visions: Think It'll Ever Run Again?

2009-05-24T11:58:00.000-07:00

Before two years ago, I lived in Mesa. Mesa is about 20 minutes from Phoenix and well developed. When Eric and I thought about where we wanted to move, Mesa was too expensive so we looked at a town just East of Mesa called Apache Junction. The general opinion of AJ is that it's junky and filled with people who park their old trucks on their lawn and wear holey Apache Junction T-shirts. And you know what? It totally is.

Eric and I love it because it has a small town feel but a huge city is right next door. It has a lovely view of the mountains and Canyon Lake is less than 15 minutes away. It's not as hot because the density of population, concrete and cars is thinner.

Whenever Eric sees an unshowered woman wearing mismatched flip flops, he refers to her as an AJ Princess. Or if we see a truck like this one, he calls it an AJ racecar.

f/2.2; 1/320; ISO 100
PW boost 50%
PW Seventies 60%
TRA Lux hard 15%

Peripheral Visions: Horror Movie

2009-05-23T23:18:00.000-07:00

Hooks hanging from the ceiling make me feel like I'm in a horror movie. Imagine if one was missing...

f/2.0; ISO 100; 1/30 shutter (Yikes - I got some blur a few times going this low handheld, but this one came out ok)
Desaturate layer
TRA grandma's tap shoes 70%
TRA cinnamon toast 25%

Shower for baby Maverick

2009-05-23T20:27:00.000-07:00

Today I went to Mariah's baby shower. Her is THIRD due in six weeks to be named Maverick Halen. This photo was a mistake but ended up being my favorite. She was showing off the bump for her guests to guess with yarn how big around she was. I love how her face is kind of in a shadow and you can really see the ROUNDNESS of her belly - I also love how you can see her wedding ring.

Her daughter Kaylin was also there and did surprisingly well at all the games.

Rachel was the adorable hostess (and my new best friend) and gave out potted flowers as prizes for winning a game - CUTE idea!!!!

I didn't win a game but I did get a prize for bringing the best wrapped gift. Mariah and Patrick are total rockers.

Kaylin also helped her mama open gifts.

This little one was adorable sitting there watching the gifts being opened.

And then she started climbing on her mom (my other new best friend) and I had to get a picture.

Mariah, I can't wait to meet baby Maverick!

click here to see all of Mariah's baby shower photos!

Peripheral Visions: Pressure

2009-05-22T21:30:00.000-07:00

I imagined that the little arrows went so high that the glass popped from the pressure - you know, like they do in the movies? This might be my favorite daily photo ever - I love the rust and green and the circles.

F 2.2; ISO 100; 1/500
PW Boost 50%
PW Quick Edge Burn 70%

Peripheral Visions: Bulb

2009-05-21T22:00:00.000-07:00

I'd like to take more vertical photos. I notice most of mine are horizontal. Do you remember in elementary school when kids wouldn't say vertical or horizontal - instead they'd say hamburger and hot dog. God that would drive me nuts.

The teacher would say, "Fold your papers in half vertical"

and some kid would say, "Hot dog?" and he wouldn't even be embarassed about it.

f2.2/ ISO 100/ 1/500
Lux hard 90%

Parenting

2009-05-21T15:28:00.000-07:00

Kayden and I were playing outside today when we heard a neighbor yelling at his three year old son for moving car parts around. The language was absolutely insane. "Don't touch those f*^%ing car parts or else I won't be able to f#($ing find them later and then I won't be able to put my f(#*ing car back together." I was SHOOOOCKKKKED.

It made me think of this momversation episode called "why do you care how I parent my kid?" I'll tell you at that second, I totally wanted to go over there and teach that 'dad' a lesson in parenting but then I stopped myself because it's not my right to interfere. No matter how sorry I feel for that little kid. But then I thought, in a few years, Kayden is going to have to go to school with kids like that, so to some degree, it IS my business. AND, Kayden was 40 feet away so he could totally hear those swear words - doesn't THAT make it my business? Does anyone else have anything to say on this subject?

I am so glad Kayden is growing up in a good home.

Peripheral Visions: Buffalo

2009-05-20T20:53:00.000-07:00

Think his workshop need a remodel?

f/2.2 ISO 100 1/100
PW Boost 60%
TRA pool party 20%
Coffee Shop Honey Retro 75%

Peripheral Visions: Keys

2009-05-20T02:09:00.000-07:00

All day I looked forward to Kayden taking his nap. The day was cloudy so I decided to walk around a ghost town at the base of the Superstition Mountains about five miles from our house. I headed up there about an hour before sunset and it was perfect. The hour that I was there I did not see one single person. I felt like I really was walking around a place no one had been in decades. The only movement I saw was from jackrabbits, coyotes and quails running along the dirt roads. As I peered into little broken down shops, I almost expected ghosts to be there looking back at me. And when the wind blew right as I was walking past a store with a thousand ceramic wind chimes, a chill went up my spine from the loud noise breaking the silence. This piano caught my eye and I half expected it to start playing on it's own.

ISO 100; 1/100 shutter; F 2.2
PW Boost 60%
TRA Lux hard 80%
TRA Pool Party 15%
PW quick edge burn 75%

New Moon Movie Poster

2009-05-19T16:49:00.000-07:00

I absolutely can't wait!!!

Hey, Kayden there's a birdie on your back

2009-05-19T01:30:00.000-07:00

What? No way there's not.

Oh wait, no, I think there's something back there.

Yeah, I definitely feel something.

IT'S A BIRD! Mom, get it off!

Is it gone???

Oh man... that was crazy.

Peripheral Visions: Tired Ol' Fence

2009-05-18T16:59:00.000-07:00

So the whole point of starting my daily walk thread was to post more on my blog and to get more exercise. It worked for a while but now that it's 108 degrees out, I'm thinking that I might head out one day and collapse under a palm tree from the heat.

So my solution is to rechristen my daily walk postings to 'Peripheral Visions.' I'll post as often as I can, maybe not daily but frequently enough and hopefully I can make it through the summer. It feels like an oven outside.

F/2.0; ISO 100; 1/320 shutter. For this one I only used lights on and Hot Coco from the Coffee Shop Actions (Coffee Shop Actions are free!!) - Hot Coco is one that I love but it will make a photo a little too dark. So I always lighten my photo using lights on from TRA and then run the Hot Coco action on it and it looks wonderful every time!

Oh Goodness

2009-05-13T20:33:00.000-07:00

So every few months one of my favorite photographers holds a contest on her blog. MeRa Koh is absolutely amazing and since the November before last, I've been entering her contests. The competition is so fierce that I'm never chosen as a finalist. It's fun just to enter though :) But today, I WAS nominated as a finalist and I am beyond excited!

MeRa chooses five finalists and then her readers vote on which photo they like the best. The photo with the most votes gets 45 minutes of photo time with MeRa to talk photography. That is like a songwriter getting an hour with Paul McCartney. A scientist getting an hour with Einstein. An inventor getting an hour with Ben Franklin... you get the picture :P (Yes, MeRa, I just compared you to Einstein, McCartney and Franklin!) I totally want this, so if you have a second, please click here and leave a comment - vote for number 3 if you want to vote for mine - that would be pretty sweet. And you'll be entered to win some prizes of your own as well.

Daily Focus

2009-05-12T19:21:00.000-07:00

When I started my daily walk section, I was so good about actually walking each day and posting a photo each day - now it's kind of here and there and the walks are becoming horribly impossible because of the Arizona heat.

Daily heat stroke. That would be the new section if I continued through the summer.

To avoid following Dooce, I don't want to call it daily photo... so that's where I'm at.

Anyway, heres a photo I caught yesterday at the zoo.

It also made me think of a photo tip that I think everyone should use!

When you get your camera, you have to press the shutter button half way to focus and then press down fully to take the photo, yes? Did you know that you can change the 'focus feature' to the back button? You can.

Have you ever gone to take your photo and you focus then press down all the way and your camera like, second guesses and refocuses and then messes up your entire shot because it had to think twice? Oh I hated when that would happen! Then the cute thing your kid was doing is lost and you'll never get that moment back and it's really frusterating. Well moving the focus to the back button makes it so when you hit the shutter, it takes your photo no matter what.

You seperate the two. I keep the focus on the center point when I look through my camera. I move that point over whatever I want to focus on and I hit the * button on the back of my camera. Once I have the focus, I let go of the * and recompose my photo then take the picture. So so so much better!

Ok, so if you shoot canon, go to custom function 4 and set it to 1. Then turn your AF setting to AI Servo. If you're shooting Nikon, I donno the buttons, but Google Nikon back button focus and I'm sure something will come up!

Photo: f/2; ISO 100; 1/800 shutter speed.
I used TRAs old skool and PW's quick edge burn - both seasoned to taste.

Zoo

2009-05-11T19:39:00.000-07:00

This is our single friend Steve. Steve enjoys going to the Phoenix zoo to see the animals - especially the zebras. He wants three children, two boys and one girl and has three younger brothers. He has always lived in Arizona but would like to maybe move to San Diego someday.

Today our single friend Steve, Eric, myself, Kayden and Brandon met at the Phoenix zoo. A pretty cute group!

The cutest of course was Kayden - he wore his hat, which I was so thankful for.

The little look on his face was so sweet. Like he didn't know if some of the animals were real or not.

The monkey exhibit at the Phoenix Zoo is so fun - you can walk so close to them with no cage in between you.

And of course we went to the petting zoo for Kayden to hang out with the goats.

Our single friend Steve was definitely useful - he carried Kayden around the zoo for us :P
In Phoenix, it gets really hot. Did you know that? So the zoo had two little water parks for the kids to run through. Kayden was a bit nervous so our single friend Steve took him through the water for a bit.

But Kayden didn't want to be set down at all.

I thought Eric might have been able to get him to run around a bit, but I was wrong.

It was a wonderfully beautiful hot and lovely day at the Phoenix Zoo!

Why I Love Being a Mother

2009-05-10T18:01:00.000-07:00

Daily Walk: Faucet

2009-05-09T17:37:00.000-07:00

f/2.5; ISO 100; 1/250 shutter speed
I used the x-process action in the TRA 1st action set - doesn't it look wonderfully urban?

PhotoBook

2009-05-08T18:25:00.000-07:00

Last week The Pioneer Woman had a Snapfish Photobook Giveaway. Well, I didn't win the contest, but they did give us a promotion code to get 50% off any order. So I went ahead and got my photobook anyway. It came today and I love it!

It's an 8x8 featuring photos from some of my favorite shoots. I don't know what I'm going to do with it yet, but I'm so glad I got it!