See the light!

In 2007, I met a photographer who changed my life. His name is Carlos Baez.

He was speaking at a Pictage PartnerCon conference when I was first switching from video to photography. I was intrigued by his talk "Models to Model Brides" because of my personal goals with photography to use it to allow my own brides to feel like supermodels on their wedding day. When Carlos played his opening slideshow, I had to pick my jaw up all the ground. His work was stunning. Absolutely beautiful. Very high fashion. And just amazing.

After his talk, I went up and introduced myself but we only talked briefly as others swarmed around him vying for his attention. But the last day of the conference, he pulled me aside to chat and spoke words of encouragement into my life as I opened up about my dreams and hopes for my photography career. He saw something in me I didn't really see in myself. He believed in me and spoke career building words into my confidence giving me that "Yeah, I can do this!" jump start I needed. For that I will always be so grateful to Carlos and thankful for his kindness in the beginning of my photography career.

Now, an ironic twist, two years later, we both serve as mentors on PhotographyMentor.com! Through the website, he has put out an AMAZING DVD all about lighting called "See The Light." I was excited to get it to learn more about his techniques with fashion photography because my goal in 2009 is to learn more about studio lighting as he thoroughly goes over in the DVD. Not only does Carlos show you his lighting tricks, but he speaks from the heart to the viewer the same way he did to me that day in 2007.

I highly recommend his DVD to everyone! With over 20 years of experience, he is definitely one of the masters in this industry, and not only a great mentor, but a wonderful friend. You can check out clips and trailers from his DVD here:

http://www.photographymentor.com/school/seethelight

Also, Carlos was also recently interviewed on CameraDojo, you can listen to his chat with my other buddies Kerry Garrison and David Esquire here:

http://cameradojo.com/2009/01/27/podcast-33-conversation-with-carlos-baez

Enjoy!

Lynsi & Jim are married!

I first connected with Lynsi when she responded to a model call I had. I scoured her MySpace and loved her portfolio pics from the other times she has modeled on other shoots. She was definitely amazing in front of the camera and had that fashion "look" we photographers love. How she hasn't been discovered yet, I don't know. Because she lived in Tallahassee, I wasn't able to use her for the time of the shoot, but turns out, she was getting married at Jacksonville Beach and needed a wedding photographer.

Her wedding was definitely the earliest I've shot before because they had to catch a cruise ship at 1pm that day, bypassing a typical reception, to start their honeymoon right away. (My good friend Lyndsay documented their reception the night before!) But before jetting off to the Bahamas, we had fun getting those "model shots" of her and Jim as we ran around Jacksonville Beach! The sky was a crystal blue and just happened to be one of those freak warm days in January. It couldn't have been more beautiful for their special day!

Here's my faves and their slideshow at the end!



































































And the slideshow....

Win free wedding planning!

One of my favorite divas and wedding planning extraordinares, Terrica Skaggs, of Fabuluxe Events, is running a fun contest to give away a free MONTH of wedding planning and hands on coordination on your wedding day to successfully execute how it was planned, so brides can rest assured they have a professional wedding team on their big day! How fabulous is that? AND you get to star in her new promo video!

I just wanted to plug this contest for her and let brides know who read this blog. It's an amazing opportunity for brides getting married in April or May, so go check out all the details here:

http://fabu-luxe.com/blog/2009/01/22/my-fabuluxe-wedding-giveaway

I've had the pleasure of working with Terrica on some super amazing weddings. You can check out her work here:

Tara & Robbie
Kellie & Colin
Caryn & Jonathan

Another wonderful interview on CameraDojo!

I got interviewed again last night on the awesome CameraDojo podcast. They are one of the sponsors of the upcoming Vegas workshop and it's always a blast chatting with these guys. I love listening to their podcasts while I'm editing!

You can listen to at:

http://cameradojo.com/2009/01/29/podcast-34-scarlett-lillians-upcoming-workshop-at-wppi

EDIT: I just saw this great article posted on CameraDojo right before my interview. It's about the triangle between ISO, Shutter Speed and Aperture. Great little visual for beginners. Check it out at:

http://cameradojo.com/2009/01/28/understanding-exposure-with-the-exposure-triangle

The rollercoaster ride.

Whew. Life has been such a rollercoaster this week.

First the launch of my video blog and the announcement of the workshop. Some highs and lows with that, but God is still good all the time, and all the time God is good. I'm excited to share that the Vegas workshop is almost booked up with only a few more spots left! We have people coming from all over like Australia, Japan and Germany! Soooo exciting! Just a reminder that the contest deadline is MONDAY for those wanting to enter! And in case you missed it, I did make an edit after some people asked if they could participate in the contest even if they weren't going to be in Vegas. The answer is YES, and if you win, while you will get the prizes from Pocket Wizard, Trendy Camera Straps and Camera Dojo, you would need to pay forward your spot to someone else in the workshop, since that was the original purpose of the contest.

Then last night, my heart broke a little as I realized I had to give back my sweet new little Maggie. Her original owner's situation worked out with their home and God provided a way for them to keep Maggie. So as much I hate to lose her and the cute bundle of joy she brought to Rhett and I's life this past week, it's more important to me to provide her back into the loving home she came from. I know how much my friend missed her, I can't even imagine if I had had to give up Rhett suddenly, but I am looking forward to being like an aunt to Maggie and still scheduling play dates for her and Rhett often.

Then even more personally, an update on my dad. There has been a lot going on behind the scenes that I haven't written about on here because unfortunately his time is coming closer to an end. Yesterday began the process of bringing Hospice into my parent's home for his final transition. Basically his tests are showing there isn't any improvement going on, and he is continuing to lose dramatic amounts of weight, so my parents and the doctors have decided to shop chemo and just let things ride out as God wills it to. Naturally, it's a hard thing to gulp transitioning into that phase where hope is dimming and knowing deep down the inevitable that is about to happen in a few months. But as my mom said on her blog recently, while the title of her blog is called "Johnny's Journey To Victory", and yes, we hoped that would mean victory in overcoming the cancer here on earth, instead we are at peace knowing that the true victory is found in Jesus and that He will be welcoming home my dad very soon in Heaven! As always, thank you to those who have been on this journey with us covering our family in prayer. We have truly felt God's presence and peace because of your prayers and how graciously my mom and I's blog communities have come together surrounding us in love. I talk more about this more in my upcoming video blog as a personal thank you from my heart to yours. :-)

So despite the rollercoaster ride this week has been and the trials I've had to endure, I have been meditating on this beautiful word of God:

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind."
~James 1:2-3

May that bring hope to your day as well!

Teresa & Nelson are engaged!

The day I met Teresa and Nelson in St. Augustine, it must have been the coldest freak winter day to hit Florida ever. They drove up from South Florida expecting a nice chilly day, not a turn-into-an-popcicle day. But they were such troopers and you can't even tell in their pics with all the fun they were having together! I love the way Nelson throws his arm around Teresa as they walk down the St. Augustine alleys so proud that Teresa is HIS girl!

On a personal note, please life up Nelson's dad in prayer. Over dinner I learned that his dad is currently suffering heart problems and I want to gather my community of blog readers together to send your love to Nelson's dad's way the way you have for my own dad. Nelson is an only child like I am, so I can totally relate to the heartache of worrying over a suffering parent. With the wedding planning, I know that's the last thing he and Teresa need to worry about. Thanks guys for your prayers for him!

Now here's my favorites from their engagement session! And check out their slideshow at the end!




I couldn't resist when I saw this. :-)






























They both have the most gorgeous eyes!




And the slideshow....