Danette Chappell Photography

Mark & Jen

2010-07-24T14:07:00.004-06:00

Hi all!

Last month I had the amazing privilege of being able to shoot the wedding of an old friend in Rochester, NY. Jen and I shared the same dorm hall in college. I remember her always being so kind and always smiling. She always had so much joy.

She has such a heart for the Lord, and after visiting Egypt with some of our closest friends, God also gave her a heart for that country.

I had such an amazing time getting to know her family and Mark, and seeing their amazing house, it was all such a blessing to be a part of!

Thanks you guys!

Madeline & Jay ◊◊◊ Wedding

2010-07-03T02:19:00.003-06:00

Well well well,

Long time no see little blog. How I missed you! Man, I am REALLY slacking with this whole "blogging" thing. I almost forgot what it was. Someone asked me last week if I blogged and I thought they were asking me if I knew how to do some swedish dance. Just kidding. Lame joke.

On Memorial day weekend, I had the privilege of traveling back to my home state of New Mexico to shoot one of the most beautiful destination weddings I've ever seen.

Madeline and Jay are both live in Texas. They met in college after Jay saw Madeline in a crowd and yelled something really romantic out like, "Hey YOU! I know you!" That little story made me laugh.

These two are SO creative! Madeline MADE her own wedding dress, and it was absolutely amazing. This wedding had a very Victorian feel to it, and it was even a little Steampunk inspired, which I LOVE! Jay had on a really timeless vest, while both of their mothers were decked out in Victorian garb. It was amazing.

The wedding was set at the beautiful Pecos National Monument, and let me say folks, after living in New Mexico for over 20 years, I'd never visited this place and it was absolutely stunning. I could have spent all afternoon there just hanging out and taking pics.

For the short time that I got to spend getting to know Jay and Madeline and their family, I really loved it all. What a great and creative couple, and I was seriously honored to be able to be a part of their wedding day.

Congrats you guys, and happy 4th. I hope you like the pics. :)

Gary & Coburn!!!

2010-04-30T20:08:00.002-06:00

Let me set the scene for you.

Nashville, TN

The Historic Cedarwood. Towering trees, a huge mansion, rolling hills and a huge red barn. This was the amazing wedding I had the privilege of shooting for Gary and Coburn!

I met Gary when he came down to Santa Fe to help serve Youth With a Mission. He's a very handy guy who loves horses and he's a generally outdoorsy type of guy.

Gary met Coburn while he was working at a barn where Coburn rode for the Auburn Equestrian Team. Apparently they really hit it off because they're married now... ;)

They went on their first date on August 18th, 2007, which is awesome that they know the exact date of their first date. It had to have been really special!

These two are great. Very fun loving, and totally in love. I don't think I've had a bride and groom who loved looking into each other's eyes as much as these two. My favorite part of the day was watching their faces light up each time they saw each other. So fun.

On to the slideshow! Have fun getting to know Gary and Coburn, and enjoy reliving their special day with them!

Vegas 3.0

2010-03-07T13:13:00.004-07:00

“A man travels the world in search of what he needs and returns home to find it.” - George Moore

Well, this blog entry is really just to share something kind of old, but very dear to my heart. I could gush about how much I love Las Vegas and the people there, but I think I've done that enough.

Instead, I wanted to share my all time favorite video that I've ever made, because it reminds me of friends, fun, travel, adventure, and a certain romance I have with the fall and visiting places. I really do feel like Las Vegas is my second home, and sometime soon it may be my primary home. :)

This video illustrates everything I love. I feel it brings an adventurous and an artistic romance with it. Every time I watch it, I fall in love again with the song, the time of year, the people, and I'm reminded of all the feelings I had the week we shot it. I loved this trip, and I can't believe I haven't shared it on here before!

Vegas 3.0 from Danette Chappell on Vimeo.

Life In Reverse - Dominique

2010-02-04T17:23:00.003-07:00

After you watch the video, you'll know why I called this "Life In Reverse"! Well folks, one of my favorite people visited last week, and it was her birthday! Dominique Elise (Please visit http://www.dominiqueelisephotography.com), my best friend and second shooter turned 25 on January 23rd. It was a great week and we had a blast taking pics, and bowling, and watching lots and lots of Lost.

Lets just make this entire post about Dominique. She's one of the most passionate people I know. She helped found an organization called Never Silence Life, which was a prolife movement headed up by my other best friend's band BarlowGirl (http://www.barlowgirl.com). She is also an amazing drummer....like AMAZING, seriously one of the best drummers I've heard, she's been in a ton of bands, (Listen to "Write Love On Her Arms" from her band From The Ashes HERE), oh and have I mentioned she's a great photographer?! Well, she is. I don't know how I'd get through my big weddings without her.

Born and raised in Las Vegas, NV, she's also an expert with anything Apple. Currently she works in Las Vegas as a Family Room Specialist at an Apple store, soooo of course she gets me the hook up on anything I need. iPad anyone?! ;) Just kidding Cheekee.

Anyways, all that to say, she's one amazing person.

Check out all the media below, and don't miss out on the Birthday Vid! Its one of my favs.

Life In Reverse from Danette Chappell on Vimeo.

Chicago 2.0

2010-01-28T23:23:00.004-07:00

Well Friends,

Its been awhile. Life has been good, its been bad, its been crazy! I've got several different blogs coming up. A few tutorials, a few couple's shoots, and 1 or 2 blog posts about some amazing friends of mine. Hopefully for those of you who are faithful readers, it'll be a bit more eventful around here!

A few weeks ago I spent the week with one of my closest friends up in Chicago. I love that city. I love how different it is from Santa Fe. The weather, the people, the architecture, its all amazing to me. I always have a different experience when I go, and I think thats cool. Most of the week was spent just relaxing and eating amazing food, but I thought I'd share a bit of the week here.

I made a little video blog, and I hope you all like it. I certainly feel like my week in Chicago was a good experience, and I learned alot about myself too, so thats good.

Enjoy!

Chicago 2.0 from Danette Chappell on Vimeo.

Tutorial - How to take better pictures with your iPhone

2009-11-13T14:51:00.003-07:00

Well,

It had to happen. I love my iPhone so much, I had to incorporate it SOMEHOW with my photography! Let me start by just being blunt about it: the iPhone camera app leaves much to be desired. It doesn't have great depth of field, the shutter speed isn't great, and the color is awful. However, as far as mobile phone cameras are concerned, I can't really complain.

Whats great about the iPhone is, of course, there are thousands of apps to add to your phone to make it even more amazing than it already was!

We live in the digital age of photography. With that said, digital photography is just as much about the post production process as it is about actually getting the perfect shot.

Well, I thought it would be fun to give you guys a few tips on creating great pictures by using your iphone camera, then editing your pictures purely with your iphone. Because if you're a photographer like me, you cringe when you have to take a point and shoot shot. Where's the art?! After these few post editing steps the results are pretty cool, for a cell phone. ;)

Here's what you'll need:

An iPhone (pretty obvious, hehe)
Tiltshift Generator
Shakeitphoto
Photoshop Mobile

Enjoy!

Tutorial - How to take better pictures with your iPhone from Danette Chappell on Vimeo.

Jenny & Steven ◊◊◊ Wedding!

2009-10-27T17:00:00.003-06:00

Let me first say, I've been looking forward to doing this wedding for MONTHS!

Jenny & Steven are absolutely one of the funniest couples I've ever met. You can really see that they love life, they love being together, and they make me want to live life to its fullest! I felt like their whole ceremony was a celebration!

They met 3 years ago on July 4th, and I'm pretty sure Steven has been making Jenny laugh every single day since that first day they met.

And lets talk about photogenic. Seriously, they're so much fun to shoot. Jenny comes up with the cutest ideas and I love it! I wish I could bring her on all my shoots so she can tell me some cute poses!!! ;)

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the pictures, and the slideshow.

A special thanks to Dominique (Dominique Elise Photography) and to Chris Chappell for both of their awesome second shooter skills!!!

Ooooohhhhh yeeeeeeeaaaahhhh, for the first time ever, we did video at a wedding. Its a surprise to Jenny & Steven, so this is the first time they're hearing about it. But I hope they love it. It was just a little video that we did, trying to capture the essence of the night, in the midst of taking some fun pictures!

Enjoy!!!

Steven & Jenny ::: The Beginning of a life-long Journey from Danette Chappell on Vimeo.

Hilary & Joel ◊◊◊ Wedding

2009-10-14T20:47:00.002-06:00

Hi everyone!

Well, a few weeks ago I had the privilege of shooting a gorgeous wedding in Maine. I'd never been to New England before, and let me tell you, its like a whole other world compared to the one I'm from. It was GORGEOUS. I've never seen so many different colored trees before! Absolutely amazing.

Anyways, let me tell you about my bride & groom. Hilary and Joel are two amazing people. Just from the handful of times that I'd gotten to talk to them, I can see that they have hearts of gold. They both love the Lord and are passionately involved in outreach. I loved their ceremony. Everyone took a few minutes to worship God in the midst of the entire ceremony which was awesome. It was so cool seeing Hilary & Joel up on the alter totally focused on God. So so cool. One of my favorite parts of the weekend was watching Joel look at Hilary. I can't help but smile every time I think of his face, or see a picture of him looking at her. They're both so IN LOVE! I had a blast shooting with them, and can honestly say that it was an unforgettable experience.

Thank you both for your hospitality, and for the absolute privilege of shooting the two of you. Also a special thanks to Hilary and Joel's families for all the amazing accommodations!

On to the slideshow, I hope you all like it!

Vegas & Maine...one of the best Vacations EVER...

2009-10-07T22:37:00.003-06:00

Well, I've been a busy busy little bee the last couple of weeks. I spent the end of September with one of my best friends, Dominique, in Las Vegas, then went straight from Vegas to shoot a wedding in Maine where one of my other best friends, Cassie & her husband Caleb, just happened to be. And actually, funny enough, Cassie & Caleb are the faces of my blog. (see up there on the big banner....those beautiful faces...thats them.) ;)

It was AMAZING! I can't begin to even say how thankful I am for the time I got to spend with some of my closest friends. Just being able to spend time with them, and catch up, and make new memories with them was priceless.

Not to mention how gorgeous the weather was in Vegas and how beautiful EVERYTHING was in Maine. I shot one of the most gorgeous weddings I've ever done, and spent most of my time on the coast of New England eating seafood almost everyday.

While I was in Vegas I spent the whole time enjoying amazing company, and making hilarious new memories. It was the best. Seriously. Here is a slideshow from the last two weeks of all the beautiful faces I got to pass the time with, they're some of my favs, and also a random video with a bunch of random clips from my iphone, just for fun....if you're bored.

Tutorial - Editing in Lightroom

2009-09-24T21:27:00.005-06:00

Hola Everyone!

I've been toying with the idea for awhile about starting a series of tutorials for the budding photographer out there and today I decided to follow through with that idea. I've created a tutorial that is a basic rundown of editing a photo in Lightroom w/ a followup edit in photoshop.

This tutorial isn't meant to be an advanced look into Lightroom, but its meant for those who really want to start getting into digital photography. Its a good start.

I'm sorry to say that the video quality isn't as high as I would have liked it, I'll have to figure that out for my next tutorial so you'll most likely want to watch in full screen mode.

Also, something definitely worth mentioning that I didn't mention in the tutorial is that if possible, you ALWAYS want to edit in RAW format. A RAW file is not compressed and flattened like a JPEG so the editing process is much smoother.

I've included the picture that I used in the tutorial in RAW format so you can follow along with the tutorial if you'd like to compare results:

Click here to download picture

Also, you can download a free trial of both Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop here:

http://www.adobe.com

OH! And, here is the link to the awesome Lightroom tips website I LOVE:

http://www.lightroomkillertips.com

SO I hope this is a successful tutorial! Be gentle on me! Its my first!

Before:

After:

And last but not least, the tutorial!

Basic Photo Edit in Lightroom & Photoshop Tutorial from Danette Chappell on Vimeo.

Carolyn & Daniel ◊◊◊ Wedding

2009-09-11T14:41:00.002-06:00

Hello Blog World!

A few weeks ago I had the amazing opportunity to fly out to Baltimore and shoot an old friend's wedding. Carolyn and I met back in 2003 when I was attending Liberty University. Right away I could tell that this girl was F-U-N. She seriously is the life of the party. Whenever she was around, she kicked it up a notch and made whatever she was doing a party. I love her.

When she asked me if I would consider shooting her wedding I got so excited! I knew it was gonna be a nonstop fun time the entire time I was with her.

Let me tell you, Daniel and Carolyn's wedding party are insane! I loved all of them. They are surrounded by amazing friends and family that love them very much. I enjoyed meeting and getting to know them all!

So on to the slideshow, I had so much fun shooting! I hope everyone enjoys it!

Matt & Amy ◊◊◊ Wedding

2009-07-28T17:06:00.002-06:00

Hey Everybody!

I had such an amazing time at this wedding! A few posts down you may have seen the recent couples' shoot I did with Matt and Amy. Well, its been kind of a whirlwind batch of photoshoots with them, but they're just so darn photogenic, I had to torture them with a couples' shoot and their wedding day pics all in the same week. ;)

This couple is seriously amazing! With just the little amount of time I've been able to spend with them, I can totally tell that they have a blast together. Their wedding day was so fun, and it was full of just family and friends spending time and enjoying each other's company in the moment.

Matt is a cowboy, and Amy is a city girl and its so awesome to see both of their styles and personalities collide. They really compliment each other very well.

I enjoyed every moment I got to spend shooting them, and I'm really glad I got to know them a bit, and share in their special day.

Enjoy the pics and slideshow!

Fishies!

2009-07-20T18:05:00.002-06:00

Hey Everyone!

So as most of you probably already know, my friends and I are pretty crazy. One of my best friend's Dominique and I have always had a strange pact with each other. Since we've known each other, and from the start of our friendship we've promised each other that we were one day going to do a photoshoot involving slapping each other with dead fish.

Well, we finally got around to doing that. Don't ask, I'm not even really sure why the heck we did it, or wanted to do it. All I know is that it was the smelliest photoshoot I've ever done.

I've compiled a really funny video of how we did everything along with a slideshow of the shoot, so check out both and hopefully by the end you'll all be laughing at us. We're fools.

Enjoy!

Matt & Amy ◊◊◊ Engagement

2009-07-15T22:03:00.007-06:00

Hey Everyone!

I just had a really fun, and super quick photoshoot with my new friends Matt and Amy. My family and Amy's family have been long time friends, however Amy and I had never met until recently.

Though her and her fiance Matt have recently relocated to Oklahoma, they're in town for their wedding that I'm shooting on Saturday! And even though the wedding is so soon, I really wanted to shoot an engagement session with them.

The weather was perfect for our shoot today! Though it was a bit hot, the lighting was perfect, and Matt and Amy are amazing subjects to shoot. I had a blast shooting them! Although, I think Matt has a better time being behind the camera instead of in front of it. ;) But we had a blast nonetheless!

I hope everyone enjoys our quick shoot we did, I enjoyed shooting it. And I hope you all like the slideshow!

Have a great evening!!!

New Website & 100 New Faces

2009-06-22T10:51:00.004-06:00

Well......they're not really "new" faces, but they all make an amazing collage right?!

I've been working for the last week and a half on a new website for Danette Chappell Photography, and I'm SO happy to say that its FINALLY FINISHED! You can head over to danettechappell.com to see it, and I have to say, I'm SUPER proud of it!!!! So go tell your friends and your friends parents, and your friend's friends getting married, and your dog to look at my new website! I hope you guys like it! I know I do!

So, to make this post even MORE interesting, I put together a slideshow of the new gallery on my website dedicated solely to portraits. Enjoy!!!

Bff Photoshoot Time!

2009-06-14T21:50:00.003-06:00

Hey everybody!

So this would be my perfect day: The beach, sushi, chill music, and having all of my best friends in the same place at the same time.

I have a little core group of girls that I actually consider to be my "best friends", and sadly, they all live in different places, all really far away from each other. Sad, I know....don't cry.

This week, my amazing friend Cassie was in town for the first time in six months, in the midst of her and her husband moving from Indiana down to Nashville. Her husband had to stay behind in Nashville while Cassie came to Santa Fe to spend time with family and friends before she continues the rest of the move down to Nashville.

I LOVE seeing Cassie. When she lived in Santa Fe we literally spent almost everyday together. And although I'm totally wacky and she's really mellow, when we get together we get pretty crazy. So of course the ideal afternoon for us would have to consist of a crazy dumb photoshoot.

AND that right there is the reason this blog post even exists. Cass and I had some quality time being dorks today and I thought I'd share it with everyone...so sit back, relax, and enjoy our stupidity. I love my friends. :)

Steven & Jenny ::: Engagement

2009-06-08T15:42:00.004-06:00

Well, I'm SUPER excited to debut this engagement shoot! Out of everyone I've ever shot for, Steven and Jenny are probably the most natural at having their pictures taken! Almost every pose we did was their idea and the entire shoot came out AMAZING! We shot at this amazing place in Taos, NM called Overland Sheepskin Co, which I'm assuming has something to do with sheepskin? Haha, I'm not sure what it was, but it was gorgeous.

Steven & Jenny are also two of the funniest people. I love to watch them interact with each other and enjoy time together. I seriously had so much fun at this shoot!!! They both totally made my week. They both have such vibrant personalities, its definitely true that they're made for each other! I feel like if I were at a party with them, they'd be the life of it, for sure. On a cool note, we did the shoot pretty close to their 3 year anniversary. They met on the 4th of July! Pretty cool!

So on with the slideshow, Jenny and Steven, I hope you guys like it! :)

Bobby Lee & Tish ::: Wedding

2009-06-02T15:17:00.004-06:00

Hey Everyone!

What an intense spring 2009 has turned out to be! I've been shooting quite a bit lately, almost on a biweekly basis and its been wonderful!

Last week I shot the wedding of some wonderful new friends Bobby Lee and Tish. They hired me pretty last minute and right off the bat I knew I really liked them.

They have a beautiful home in the hills right outside of Santa Fe where they decided to hold their wedding ceremony and it was awesome!

Although it rained for most of the day, the wedding, which was an outdoor wedding, still turned out really well.

I brought along one of my best friends, Dominique (of Dominique Elise Photography), and we had so much fun shooting their wedding and hanging out getting to know some of their wedding guests.

It was all so much fun, and I really hope everyone enjoys the slideshow.

On a side note, the song for this slideshow was sung by Tish's son Bobby. She requested that it be on the slideshow! I hope you all like it!

Two blogs in one week? No way!

2009-05-28T09:49:00.006-06:00

Whats with me? I must really love this blogging thing, I think I'm craving it because I haven't posted that many lately.....hmmm.

Some of you may know that I'm really involved with an organization called Youth With A Mission. For those of you that don't know, YWAM is a missions based organization all over the world that focuses on evangelism and service in as many countries as possible. Within YWAM, there are different specialties and missionary based programs that focus on the different talents of those involved. An example is the specific ministry I'm involved in under YWAM called Musicians For Missions. MFM specifically focuses on using the musical talents of people by equipping them to know how to use their giftings in other countries to bless those they're serving. Karen Lafferty, the founder of MFM, brings young people from all over the world to her hometown to teach them how to use music in the missions field. Karen also gives people the opportunity to tour the states with her playing music for different churches and ministries as well.

Recently YWAM and MFM put together an east coast music tour that I was supposed to be traveling with, playing music, but because of my photography business scheduling I wasn't able to help out this time around. Instead the group asked me to do a quick photoshoot with them to help with the promotion of their tour.

The shoot was scheduled to be an outdoor shoot but because of the weather, I had to move it inside at the last minute. I was so excited to use a new photo setup! I decided to choose a room with a good amount of natural lighting, but also used an umbrella flash to disperse the lighting a bit more. The effect was an overall natural lighting look, although most of the light really was studio lighting. I was so happy with how it turned out since I only had about an hour's worth of prep and setup time to figure out how I was going to transfer an outdoor shoot to a studio shoot.

So I threw together this continuous loop for you guys, I didn't really want to turn it into a real slideshow, but this is fun nonetheless! Enjoy!

Dude....May 19th is THE BEST!!!!

2009-05-24T23:07:00.003-06:00

Hey everyone!

I just had the most incredible week EVER! I'd been planning a trip out to see one of my closest friends, Dominique, for a long time, and we finally decided that the week of my birthday would be the best week for me to go visit her in Las Vegas. Dude, let me just tell you guys, Dominique is one of the funnest people on the planet. I'd say we laugh about 97% of the time when we're together. This entire trip was just nonstop fun. I'm pretty sure we only got around 20 hours of sleep in 9 days.

We spent most of the trip in Vegas, but on my birthday we drove to Cali to Huntington Beach because I really wanted to spend my bday on the beach. We didn't really prepare to actually go into the ocean....but I'm so spontaneous that we actually ended up totally wading waste deep in the waves and didn't have any clothes except our PJs to change into. We ended up going out to dinner that night at a really nice Sushi restaurant completely in our pajamas. It was so much fun, and we're lucky we didn't get kicked out....

The rest of the week was spent hanging out on the strip and with Dominique's friends and family. It was seriously the best birthday ever.

Dominique is actually an amazing photographer and musician (please visit her amazing website) which is probably a small part of why we get along so well. The last 3 days of our trip were spent back in my home town of Santa Fe where Dominique second-shot a wedding with me. It was a ton of fun and you'll all be seeing that blog very very soon.

I hope everyone is well, and I hope you enjoy this slideshow of the greatest vacation/birthday week EVER! I can't keep saying that....it was the BEST!!!!

Bobby Lee & Tish!

2009-05-07T17:18:00.004-06:00

Hey guys,

Its been awhile! I've been taking a break from life lately! Its been so crazy! I've really just been focusing on my personal life and hanging out with friends. Its been a great month.

Anyway, on to the main event. Bobby Lee and Tish are two of the nicest people I've met recently! They were referred by a long time mutual family friend and as it turns out I actually used to play guitar at the church that they attend, so it already kinda feels like I'm shooting for family!

We had a mini engagement shoot last week and it was so much fun! They have a beautiful home on the outskirts of Santa Fe where we did the shoot and the weather was perfect! I really had a blast, and I hope you all enjoy the slideshow! Look out for Bobby Lee and Tish's wedding shots soon!

England the Sequel

2009-03-21T19:49:00.003-06:00

So I've finally finished editing all 2,000 pictures from England!! It was such a wonderful trip, I'm so blessed that I was able to go and see all that I did, and to be able to minister to the English people a bit. Amazing. My heart is totally with England now, and I'm really hoping to go back very soon and do even more ministry.

I've put together a slideshow of some of my fav pics from our time there, and I've also put up the remainder of our video....which is really random and hopefully a bit funny.

I hope you guys enjoy this post and I hope that it captures just a little bit of how I saw England.

England!!!

2009-03-11T17:46:00.005-06:00

Hey everyone!

So this week I'm in a pretty different place.....obviously you can probably tell where by the title of this entry.... Anyway, its always been my dream to come to England. It definitely still doesn't feel real even though I've been here for a week! I can't believe it! A week already! Time totally flies. Karen Lafferty invited me to come with here to the UK because she was being awarded a Christian Music Association New Christian Music Radio Play award, and she wanted a photographer, but she also wanted a musician to travel with her. She decided to make an entire tour instead of just coming over for a weekend to accept an award. So I've been traveling with her taking TONS of pictures and playing music. Its been amazing. The people here are so wonderful, and the cities and countryside are beautiful. I really don't know if I'll leave.....just kidding mom.

Anyway, throughout the week my good friend Callie, who's also been traveling with us, has been video tapping alot of what we've been doing, so I made a little video journal from the footage! I thought I'd post it for you all! Its kind of random, but really, when am I not? So I hope you guys enjoy it....I'll be posting a few more videos and then a super awesome slideshow from the trip in the coming weeks. In the mean time, I'm staying at this swanky 4 or 5 story mansion called Holmstead Manor. Its seriously huge and beautiful! Tomorrow we'll be off to London for a fun time of site seeing, and I'm hoping to fit in a small photoshoot as well.....should be fun.

Enjoy!!! Talk to everyone soon!

Yeehaw!!!

2009-02-09T11:53:00.004-07:00

Howdy Folks!

I just spent my weekend in Capitan, New Mexico. So, let me just say, Capitan has no cell phone reception. Do you know how hard it was for me to not be able to text my friends?! AHHH! I know, I'm such a chatty girl. However, being out in the country in Capitan without internet and cell signal was actually pretty amazing.

I and some friends stayed at this 3200 acre ranch in the middle of nowhere and it was gorgeous. They had so many animals hanging around to play with, and landscape to photograph, it was just beautiful and relaxing. Since we were down playing concerts in that area I didn't really have a whole lot of time to just hang out and enjoy my time at the ranch, but I was able to snap a few photos and thought I'd share with everyone. I should seriously shoot more landscape stuff!

Oh, I forgot to mention....I'm kind of an animal lover, and since there were animals coming out of my ears at the ranch, it was only natural that I had to bring one home with me.....so everybody meet my new little buddy Jack!!! He's a Miniature English Jack Russell Terrier, and he's amazing!!! I hope he likes his new home in the city instead of his country ranch digs....I think he will. ;)

Anyway, enjoy the rest of the pics!!

From left to right: My good friend Chad who plays drums in the band with me, don't really know where he's looking...my amazing self...my new friend Gary from Auburn, AL, and one of my bf's Jen Bullock who looks like Ellen Degeneres but with black hair...don't tell her I said so. We were on an awkward hill, so Chad and I aren't that short....but Gary really is that tall. Weird.

Never Silence Life

2009-01-24T17:29:00.003-07:00

Hey Everybody!

I just had the most amazing week EVER! I think out of all my trips ever in my life, this was definitely the funnest.

I met my friend Dominique through a mutual friend of ours a few months back and I quickly realized that this girl was reeeeeally passionate. She, and my good friends BarlowGirl co-founded an organization called Never Silence Life in December. This past week, Dominique, her best friend Nicole, the Barlow family, and I all flew out to Washington DC to take part in the March for Life and to represent Never Silence Life.

It was INCREDIBLE! I've never seen so many people standing up so publicly for what they believe! No matter what you believe, its always commendable to see the courage and bravery when someone decides to stand up to opposition for what they believe in.

Besides the march, we had SOOOO much fun! Dominique and Nicole are some of the funniest people ever, and we totally clicked pretty much instantly. When we met at the airport, we had an amazing bonding experience of not being able to figure out the DC metro system. To make a really long story short, it took us 2 and a half hours to make it 7 miles. Totally hilarious.

I also got to see one of my best friends, Lauren, who I never get to see because her life is insane, she's also one of the funniest people ever. I think the last night in DC was my favorite because Dominique, Nicole, Lauren and I stayed up until about 5am in the hallway of Lauren's hotel pigging out on pizza, soda, cupcakes, and I don't remember what else. We'd all been on an amazing 40 day fast, and this was the first time we could eat whatever we wanted! It was such a hilarious night. We stayed up laughing, and telling stories, and having deep conversations. I loved it, I never wanted it to end. Anyway, here's a slideshow to go with the three days I was there. I miss everyone already and its only been a day! AHHH!

Jim, Holly, Cassie, Caleb, Joy & Justin...

2009-01-02T14:50:00.005-07:00

Wow, thats a mouth full!

So my Christmas day this past year was definitely out of the norm for me. Instead of waking up late and spending the day with my fam, I had the opportunity to do my first studio session!

The Victor family, who I've been really close to for years asked me several months ago if I'd be willing to do family portraits for them when they were all here in New Mexico around Christmas time. Because I also had a wedding to do in Pennsylvania around the same time, the only day we could actually do the shoot on was Christmas day. It was so much fun! We had some crazy music playing, and their entire family are a bunch of hams! They were all so silly.

I've always been super scared of doing a studio shoot, and actually I was pretty against it because I never wanted my pictures to look traditional and cheesy. I went to the studio a few days before the shoot and messed with the lighting and the settings, and to my surprise I was actually able to get a pretty nice setup. For my first studio shoot I think it turned out pretty well and not cheesy! I still got a few traditional shots for the family, but overall I think it was a pretty modern shoot, for a studio. Anyway, here is the slideshow! Eeeeee, I'm nervous to let everyone see!

Omar & Elizabeth Williams!!!

2008-12-28T21:30:00.003-07:00

Long time no see everybody!

Wow, its been over a month since I last posted a blog!!! I don't think I've ever gone this long....

Life has been WAY crazy! But don't worry, in the coming days I have a few other blogs to post from different shoots and misc. events, so that'll occupy at least 2 minutes of your day if you're bored.

I spent this past weekend up in Pittsburgh, PA shooting the cutest wedding! Omar and Elizabeth are a perfect couple! Talk about having two people absolutely meant for each other, these two are definitely it! We had such a fun time in the damp cold weather shooting pictures, and we managed to not get ANY mud on Lizzie's wedding dress, so that was a plus for us. ;)

Also, Pittsburgh is possibly my all time favorite city, so I always love visiting and getting to see all my friends who live out that way....such a blessing. This weekend was pretty much perfect except for right now I feel like I could actually fall asleep on my computer...so I'm gonna keep this blog short!

Here's my slideshow from the wedding yesterday, and on a side note, I promised the families I'd have the slideshow up yesterday evening, and I couldn't because the internet was down! So I apologize to you all dearly! I hope you enjoy the slideshow!!!

Sooo....traveling is hard sometimes. :)

2008-11-23T19:55:00.001-07:00

I was bored tonight, so I compiled a bunch of videos from the last two weeks and made a little video blog about our tour. Its really random, but its a basic run through of all we did!
So, enjoy my little boredom project!

Life On Tour...

2008-11-19T10:21:00.004-07:00

Am I not the worst blogger in the world right now?! I've totally forsaken my blog completely for the last month! Ahhh!

So this blog will be short and sweet, but what the heck, at least its a blog entry! I've been on tour with Karen Lafferty for what seems like months, but really its only been about 2 weeks. For anybody who doesn't know who Karen is, which will be anyone under the age of 40, she wrote a little hymn called, "Seek Ye First". She just recently got signed to a new record label and finished her new album, so we're out touring and promoting it. Life has been super fun, and super crazy. Today I'm in Salt Lake City, Utah about to head out for a city called Monticello. I love saying that word....Monticello. Anyway, its been fun. We've been to Utah, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. Its been like a blur! Here are a few pics from the last couple weeks, enjoy!

Time does fly!

2008-10-26T18:05:00.002-06:00

Ahh! Its been 2 weeks since my last blog! I can't believe it! I don't think I've gone this long without blogging since I left Sarah's house in June!!!

This weekend has been so much fun! Friday started out pretty normal until I received a phone call that I was supposed to play in Karen Lafferty's back up band that evening. I hadn't rehearesed with the band, didn't know any of Karen's songs, it was awesome. I had an hour to learn her songs off of her CD, then I had to go straight to the church and get up on stage and play with the band, without any run-throughs! In case nobody knows who Karen Lafferty is, I work for her under Musicians For Missions Intl, which is the organization that helped me put on my BarlowGirl concert last summer. Karen is probably most well known for the hymn she wrote back in the 70's called "Seek Ye First". I'm pretty sure that if you grew up in the church, you know that song.

Karen was holding a benefit concert and silent auction featuring some amazing musicians. Fletch Wiley, one of the best trumpeters I've ever heard, and Benny Prasad, a wonderful man of God who's guitar playing I can only relate to the movie August Rush, the only difference being that Benny is Indian, his worship songs have a wonderful Eastern Indian feel to them, and his guitar has drums built into the front of it so he can play drums and play guitar at the same time. Amazing.

So Friday was wonderful. Today I swung by my favorite cafe and grabbed a cup of THE BEST vanilla chai in the world and headed to a gorgeous park with a couple friends to read and take pictures. It was so much fun, I want to do this every Sunday!

And, as if today couldn't be more beautiful and remind me of God's beauty, just now as I was writing this blog entry the sunset was amazing! I had to pause and take a couple pics of it too. ;) I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend as well!

Can you believe this is the sky?! Ahhh!

Sally & Howard

2008-10-12T22:51:00.005-06:00

Hey Everyone,

Today was AMAZING! Recently, I reconnected with an old friend of mine named Amelia. Amelia and I go waaaay back, and we recently discovered that we both went into the wedding business. I, obviously a photographer, and Amelia a wedding planner under her own company called Southwest Occasions.

She's been so gracious in allowing me to shoot as her photographer and today was my first wedding with her. Let me just say, the location was gorgeous. We were at this amazing resort called El Monte Sagrado in Taos, NM. The views, atmosphere, EVERYTHING was so beautiful.

The bride and groom were both from New York, and most of the guests had flown down to New Mexico for the wedding. Let me just say, this couple is gorgeous. I couldn't have asked for a better looking couple.

So on with the pictures. Sorry to say there isn't a slideshow, but I was able to edit a few pics tonight and thought I'd post them. :)

Gosh, I'm so vain.

2008-10-07T17:33:00.003-06:00

Who doesn't love taking pictures of themselves? Actually, me. I really do hate taking pictures of myself, but today I had an urge. I was supposed to go on a shoot this afternoon, but it was canceled, so I wasn't able to take my shooting urge out on other people. ;)

So what else was I supposed to do with myself, a camera, and a cool rear view Jeep mirror???

Alicia...

2008-10-03T09:52:00.005-06:00

Hey Everybody,

I'm really not sure where the week has gone! I feel like every day has been a blur since Fall Gathering on Sunday because I've been so busy. I guess busyness is a good thing!

So I have a side of the family who, I believe, got the super model gene. I'm not in that side of the family, but my cousins Rhanada and Alicia are. In fact, my cousin Rhanada used to be a Hawaiian Tropics model, and her little sister Alicia is equally gorgeous.

Alicia just started her own massage therapy business and needed some headshots for the biz so we struck up a rather amazing deal. I took her headshots in return for an awesome Swedish and Deep Tissue massage. I was pretty excited about the whole thing, haha.

Anyway, we ran out of day light yesterday to finish the shoot, so we're going to continue on Sunday. In the meantime I was able to get a few nice shots, and I thought I'd share 1 or 2 with you all. I love my cousin!

In other news (I love saying that, I'm such a dork), I'm shooting what I think will be a really unique and gorgeous wedding in Taos next weekend. The bride and groom are from New York, and from what the wedding planner has told me, the wedding will have a very Amazon type of feel. I'm excited to see it all! So pictures from that wedding will shortly follow the wedding itself. Exciting!!!

Fall Gathering

2008-09-29T10:42:00.003-06:00

So I had this amazing opportunity this weekend to photograph this city-wide event called Fall Gathering. I was pretty excited because this was the first concert event that I was the main professional photographer for. It was so much fun! I shot from about 2:30 in the afternoon until about 8:00pm. Though I'm really sore this morning, I'd do it again in a heartbeat! The bands were all so talented, and the atmosphere was perfect. (I was shooting at the Plaza in downtown Santa Fe, which if you've been, you know its the most cultural, beautiful spot in the city) Anyway, I have some pictures and also made a slideshow from the day. On a side note, I love making slideshows and I don't get to do it that often, so I was just excited to have something to make a slideshow out of. ;)

September Friends

2008-09-23T18:47:00.015-06:00

Hey Everybody!

Its been a little while hasn't it? I need to get on it! I have totally slacked in my blogging for the last month!

Well, life has been pretty crazy. I feel like September has been full of seeing and spending time with several of my friends that I don't normally get to hang out with or see. I've also been doing a bunch of ministry this month, but no photography. :( I'm a sorry excuse for a photographer right? Geeeez.

So I've been super blessed to have random hang out time with lots of people, including a friend who I've known since I was like 8, making her one of my longest friendships, but I hadn't seen her in a couple years, so it was nice to hang out with her. I went to Las Cruces and stayed with her for a night, and though it was a crazy hectic time (I was down helping an amazing woman with a concert), we still had a really good time. Thank you Aletia for opening up your house to me!

I've also been helping out with Revive Santa Fe this entire month, which finally finished up on Sunday. I wasn't able to go every single night, but I'm confident that some amazing stuff took place. I'm happy that Santa Fe had such a unique event for the community.

Also, September has been THE month for concerts. I feel like I've been to a million this month, and funnily enough, I'm not a huge concert person. However, of course I've been helping out with Revive Santa Fe which has had a different amazing artist showcased every night , and I also know this family who happen to be in a band and I guess we get along okay. ;) So I love going and spending time with them, and supporting them. Also, every year the local christian radio station M88 puts on an amazing fesitval called Freedom Fest which is held at Cliff's Amusement Park. My friends, Chris, Meagen, Chad, and I went this year and it was a blast. Chad and Megs stayed and watched various bands all day while Chris and I rode what felt like a million rides. Good times.

Anyway, here are a couple RANDOM pictures from the month, just because I feel like I have to post pictures because its been so long! Plus, I love sharing pics of friends. So enjoy!

P.S. - I know that some of you may feel inclined to take some of these pictures, or you may not, who knows, but as some of you might have noticed, I've disabled right clicking on my blog. I realize that there are still ways to take other people's pictures, but I'd just like to ask that before you think of taking them, please remember that if you do take my pictures without asking, you're disrespecting me and the people in my pictures. Please think twice before taking them.

When Chad, Megs, Chris, and I were on our way to Albuquerque for Freedom Fest, the sky looked amaziiiing:

Watching a band (Ever Stays Red? Maybe?) at Freedom Fest

Chris is happy to be alive

Hanging out at Cliff's

Two lame people

Being Artistic

Oooooh yeah, something else that happened this month is that some crazy lady totally slammed into the shop that my grandparents own while I was there then tried to flee the scene. It was pretty crazy and exciting. She almost bowled over two guys walking down the street and could have seriously hurt someone, or herself. The entire situation made me realize that I do NOT want my life to be an action movie. That is all. ;)

Viva La Jen!

2008-09-08T14:52:00.004-06:00

Yo yo Homies,

I thought I'd go a little ghetto on you for a second. Okay, I'm done. I have an amazing friend named Jen, who I totally love and look up to. She is such a talented girl. You name it, and this girl can do it. Concert promoting, tour management, amazing camera woman, amazing photographer, dedicated missionary, the list goes on and on. I feel like I'm buttering her up a bit. ;)

Recently she's been touring riding horses across the country, which is awesome. I could never do it, haha. She just got back in to town a couple days ago, and I was going through Jen withdrawl, so I forced her to hang out with me. Our day turned into one big photoshoot which worked out really well because Jen needed photos of herself anyway, I mean, who doesn't?! Anyway, here is the slideshow. We had a blast hanging out and catching up on life.

I hope you all enjoy it!

My day...

2008-08-28T22:42:00.005-06:00

Hello everybody!

I feel like today was actually like 10 days, I've done so much. Really, I've just been walking EVERYWHERE today. I got a call a few weeks ago from a church in Dallas letting me know that they felt called to put on a major concert/revival in Santa Fe and asking if they could pick my brain about putting on a successful concert, since they have never done it before. I don't know why they wanted to talk to me, since I'm no expert with concerts, but I agreed to meet with them. It turns out that they've invested so much into this event and have invited several major artists and bands to perform, that I couldn't so no, I just had to be involved and help them out with their direction. They've invited Los Lonely Boys, Salvador, and Jaci Valasquez to play, among several others during a 7 day revival in downtown Santa Fe. Since they'd never done any concert promoting in the past, they really had no clue how to go about organizing or advertising the concert. I put them in touch with a few of my contacts to help out with advertising, but I also wanted to help out personally. My good friends Chad and Meagen called me to ask if I wanted to go with them around Santa Fe hanging fliers for the event, and of course I said yes. I think we went to about 20 businesses today. We had a blast, we always do.

We stopped at this local youth community center to promote the concert and I found this wall, I was sad that I couldn't find a picture of me on it:

After about 3 hours of hanging fliers everywhere, I left Chad and Meagen and headed over to Joyful Ministries, an AWESOME ministry here in Santa Fe full of a bunch of Godly prayer warriors. I always love seeing these woman. They had asked me if I'd join them on a prayer walk through Santa Fe, and it was amazing. Such a good time, and beautiful scenery.

I'm wiped out now, but I thought I'd blog anyway....I know, kind of random. Hope you're all well!

Nostalgia....I don't really have words...

2008-08-22T22:45:00.003-06:00

So, its been a little while since I blogged last. Sorry guys! I haven't had any shoots lately, and I've been super busy with work, family, and setting up my business, so I've totally neglected the whole blog front!

Recently my step-grandfather passed away in Oklahoma. While my mom was at the funeral, she had the opportunity to pick-up a bunch of old family photos, I was cleaning today and started going through them and thought I'd share some with you all, since I find most of them hilarious.

So this picture is pretty cool, its my great Great grandparents Wedding Photo taken on June 20th 1900. Is that not cool? However, my caption for this photo would be, "The Happiest Day of Our Lives" ;p

This is my family, my parents, my aunt and uncle, cousin, and me....I just want to know why I'm the only naked person in this picture?

My mom. This totally explains my personality.

My parents and I. Dad = Chuck Norris. Mom = Wow, mom, just wow. Me: Thanks for the matching shirt mom, totally Country Western.

And now, the blackmail photos...why am I even showing you these?!

Goodness, I just don't know what I like most, the Michael Bolton perm, the vest, or the shoes...

Yeah, yeah, World's Lamest Cheerleader:

Oh, and I'll throw this one in for good measure:

So fun, I hope you guys found these as interesting as I did. Everybody have a great week!

Chad and Meagen Moody

2008-08-11T21:34:00.007-06:00

Hey everybody!

Long time no blog! ;) Just kidding. I went to a BBQ tonight with a group of really close friends who all happen to be missionaries. Its not very often that we're all in town at the same time unless we're doing something musical like touring or promoting concerts.

Anyway, I cornered two of them tonight, Chad and Meagan, to do a quick shoot with because I had done a shoot for them back in December, but my hardrive with all of their pictures on it completely crashed and I haven't been able to get the pictures out of it at all. =o( Sad times.

I love these two. They have totally dedicated their lives to God and His plan for them, which includes totally serving others. They're inspiring to be around.

So enjoy the pics, and have a great night!

Steph & Matt

2008-08-10T10:15:00.007-06:00

Hey Everybody!

How has everyone's week been? Hopefully wonderful. So yesterday I got to hang out with some friends that I NEVER see. I met them in Pennsylvania when I was on tour with a band from YWAM back in 2006. They're down in Santa Fe scouting out the YWAM base here to consider moving to and serving under.

Steph and Matt are pretty awesome. Steph is an amazing artist, and Matt is hilarious. I have so much fun with them whenever I see them. I think the last time we hung out was on a snowy night in December when I was up in PA for a wedding, so its been a little while.

Well, of course we had to have a random mini shoot, especially since they never got any couple's pictures when they got married.

We thought an Urban atmosphere would fit their styles and personalities perfectly, and it really did.

In other blog news, I FINALLY upgraded to showit web for my slideshows. I've updated every slideshow I've ever posted, so please scroll back through and check them out. The quality is 10 million times better than before. I'm pretty psyched. =o)

Later guys!

Shea & Erin

2008-08-03T09:29:00.005-06:00

Hey Folks,

Like I said yesterday, this couple is pretty much the cutest thing I've seen in awhile. I just want to wrap them up in a box of adorable and eat them whole.

Okay, enough of that. We had such a good time during the shoot. It was super hot in downtown Albuquerque, and we were all burning up, but we still had a blast. I get along with these two so well, which I love when I'm shooting people. I think we totally connected and I hope I get to hang out with them again soon!

So on to the pictures!

Oh My Goodness

2008-08-02T14:25:00.003-06:00

Yesterday was SUCH a busy day! I had so much going on, and today I am all but dead. It's taken all the strength I have to even get out of bed!!! So let me run through everything I did. I woke up and went to my glamorous job, then came home and finished up some stuff I've been putting off, then drove an hour to Albuquerque where I had the funnest photoshoot with the most adorable couple, Shea and Erin, who I get along with WAY too well. We had so much fun. I think we were joking around with each other the entire time we were together. Pictures to come soon. ;)

After the shoot, Shea, Erin, my friend Emily, and I all headed over to a concert with my favorite band Fireflight. Let me just tell you guys, if you haven't heard Fireflight, or seen them live, you must go out right now and buy their CD and check their tour dates because they are AMAZING. They put on such a great live show. I was so surprised at how small the venue was, maybe 100 people there, but that made it sooo much better! Yep, I highly endorse this band and think they're one of the most underrated bands out right now. Sheesh people, go buy their album.

After the amazing concert, I headed back to Santa Fe to Borders for a midnight release of Breaking Dawn, the last book in one of my favorite series "Twilight". Yep, I've said it before, I'm a big dork. It was so much fun waiting in line like we were about to meet some famous person, but really we were all just there to buy a book, haha. Tons of fun.

By the time my day was all over, I was sooo beat, but somehow still had enough energy to stay up until 3:30am reading the first 3 chapters of Breaking Dawn. Ahhhh, so good.

Anyway, here are some pictures from the concert last night. Seriously, go check out Fireflight now.

Junkyard Rockin'

2008-07-30T18:02:00.004-06:00

Hey Everybody!

This week has been pretty awesome so far, and its only getting better. I have a couples' shoot this Friday, and I'm really excited about it.

Yesterday I did a shoot that lasted for the most part all day. We started at about 3:00 and didn't finish until 11:30 at night. It was a really informal shoot, and my friend Chris came to help out. Chris is a GENIUS when it comes to photoshop. He teaches me so much! Anyway, we wanted to have a fun shoot and incorporate it with Chris' sweet photoshop skills. We wanted the shoot to have a kind of junkyard rockstar feel, so needless to say it required lots of musical instruments, different outfits, makeup and lots and lots of me. We had a blast!

Also, I have a brand new blog called Breaking The Broken. Its quite a bit different from this blog. BTB focuses more on God, and just stuff that I've learned along the way regarding brokenness and how God can use it in our lives, and in my life. Really, its about breaking the spirit of brokenness in our lives and using it for God's glory, so check it out!

Riding By Faith

2008-07-24T23:37:00.005-06:00

Hey Everybody!

Today was pretty much amazing. When I woke up, I had planned out my day to be pretty relaxing, heading to work, then coming home and finishing some chores that I'd put off all week.

When I got home from work, I got a phone call from my friend Jen asking if I'd like to take a trip up north to a little town in the mountains called Pecos. She told me that a woman named Tracey Elliot-Reep was going to be coming into town, and we needed to help prepare a place for her to stay.

Alight, so, Tracey is AMAZING! She has a ministry called Riding By Faith, which is one of the most hardcore and unique ministries that I've ever heard of. She's so nice, and has an extremely gentle spirit. But she's also one of the most determined and driven people I've ever met.

Basically, she's a british cowgirl who rides her horses EVERYWHERE! She's ridden the length of New Zealand, Ireland, and England to name a few, all on horseback. Right now she is in the midst of riding her horses from Canada to Mexico. Is that not amazing? Riding 3,000 miles across the American Continental Divide.

So not only is she an amazing rider, but she's also an amazing photographer and writer. She writes books about all of her travels and puts all of her photography in them. The books are GORGEOUS. Please check out what she does at her website.

Since I had this awesome opportunity to hang out with her all day, I decided to make a shoot out of it. I don't know if she was expecting a photo shoot today, infact I'm going to go ahead and guess that she never saw it coming, but I just had to, haha. Anyway, we had a blast. She made me fall in love with England all over again, which is the ONE place I want to visit over any other in my lifetime.

This is the route she's taking across the U.S. Obviously, since I'm based in Santa Fe, you can see just how far she's made it to date. Pretty inspiring!

Life is Beautiful

2008-07-15T18:38:00.004-06:00

This is going to be a rather random blog entry, because I haven't had much happening lately to blog about concretely. But, I thought it worth noting how awesome and gorgeous the world we live in is!

Goodness we're blessed! I've just been going back through some old pictures, and taking some new ones all with beautiful scenery in them. I thought I'd post a few for fun, but also to help us remember to be thankful for stuff we can sometimes over look in life.

So I'm also going to post pictures of everything I'm thankful for. Sometimes I need reminding of God's unfailing love also!

Enjoy!

Here are a few things in life that I am most thankful for:

Meet my family:

This is my scary dad, he's so scary that he played a bad guy in Wild Hogs (okay, he isn't that scary)

Here he is kicking William H. Macy's booty, he's fourth from the left if you couldn't tell all those scary bearded, chap-wearing bikers apart, haha.

This is my beautiful mom:

She's one of the strongest people I've ever met!

My grandpa:

He is who inspired me to start playing the guitar, and he taught me my first song.

And my grandma (I call her Mimi):

She is one of the coolest grandma's I've ever met, she has a mix tape (yep, tape) that she listens to all the time. One side is the album Tragic Kingdom by No Doubt....and the other side is New Kids On The Block's greatest hits. Goooo Mimi!

And lastly, my wonderful kitty Dakota. She keeps me sane! Well, as sane as I can be...

So, this was a little glimpse into my life, and what I love! Beauty, family, love, life!

Have a great night!

May Brides...

2008-07-11T21:29:00.006-06:00

Soooo, it seems like forever ago, but in May I did a Wedding for my good friend Nichole, and actually, it was my first official wedding. I've learned so much since then, and its only been a few months! Anyway, I've been super late in getting a slideshow up about this wedding, and finally finished everything and decided it was due time for one now!

In other Danette news, my good friend Andrew Barlow helped me put up my website this week. Its pretty basic right now, but more will follow. You can find galleries from all of my weddings and sessions on it. You all should check it out and leave comments on how talented and kind Andrew is for doing this for me! danettechappell.com

Jackalope & Bandelier

2008-07-07T19:46:00.005-06:00

Yesterday Shay and I went to a park near Los Alamos, NM called Bandelier. Basically, the best way to describe it is this narrow valley with huge rock walls on either side. Within the rock walls are hundreds of ancient indian dwelling caves and carvings. Its pretty awesome to see. In the middle of the valley is a crumbling indian village that dates back about 700 years.

It was an awesome day.

Today is Shay's final day here in Santa Fe. She leaves eeeeearly tomorrow morning, so naturally, I wanted to go out with a bang. It seems, however, that life had other plans for us today.

I knew it was going to be a difficult day to do fun stuff because I had to work, and I knew that wasn't going to be the best time in the world for Shay. But my mom decided to take my place at work so that I could leave early and take Shay to this awesome shopping place called Jackalope.

It just so happened that while I was working, my good friend Chris stopped by and decided to go along for the ride to Jackalope.

We had a really good time just browsing all of the unique and interesting cultural objects that Jackalope has. Really, the store is like this big outdoor/indoor complex with tons of stuff. Livestock, Mayan carvings, pottery, clothing, eastern furniture, and in my opinion the coolest thing, a prairie dog farm.

When we were finished, we decided we were going to go downtown to a historic and extremely haunted hotel called La Posada, to hang out and enjoy the atmosphere. That would have been a good idea, if my car had actually started. We set in the parking lot of Jackalope for about 2 or 3 hours while my dad and Chris tried to figure out what was wrong with my car! It was an awful ending to Shay's week here, though she isn't complaining!

Anyway, since I know nothing about cars, I just decided to take pictures as my dad and Chris were looking at the engine, to occupy time.

Santa Fe Shays....I mean Days

2008-07-05T17:54:00.003-06:00

Hey Everybody!

Its been a few days since I've written a blog, but its okay because life has been pretty boring.

This week, however, has been pretty awesome. The fourth of July was well spent with some awesome friends, and my good friend Shay is in town from Nashville. Shay & I help out on Soundpost, a message board for some friends in a band called BarlowGirl. So far we've been having a blast. Something about Shay and I is the fact that we crack each other up, so we're pretty much entertained 24/7.

Today we did a lot of touristy things here in Santa Fe. We started the day off by attending the local Farmer's Market here which was so cute and extremely "Santa Fean" There were tons of people, and some awesome live music played by very hippy looking people.

After the Farmer's Market, we went to downtown Santa Fe where Shay got to see some of our more famous sites.

Shay had been doing some research on Santa Fe before coming here and found out about a local wine tasting festival that was happening here today, so when we were finished downtown we headed to the wine festival. Something I've learned: I love wine, Shay hates it. Good times.

The wine festival was at this old historic national park called "Las Golondrinas" It was so cultural! I loved it! We were able to go into these old houses that date back to the early 1700s. so much fun.

Anyway, here are a few pictures from the day! Shay is such a little model.

A Bird's Life For Me...

2008-06-28T19:23:00.005-06:00

First of all, I find it hilarious that my blog is mirroring Sarah's blog with the whole bird incident thing.

Last night as I walked past my front door on the way to the movie theater, I saw the strangest thing. A pigeon and a bunny sitting right next to each other only 15 feet from my front door. I thought it was a cute scene, but didn't really give it much thought after that.

This morning as I left for work, I noticed that the same pigeon from last night was still on the porch, very sickly looking. When I got to work I decided to do some research on sick pigeons because this particular pigeon, whom I'm calling Charlie, had bands around both of his ankles, therefore, he had to belong to somebody!

I found this awesome message board that reminds me of Soundpost but instead of people's interests being about a band, their interests are about....pigeons.

I joined the board and started detailing my situation to the members. Before long these people had me outside with a "Pigeon Catching Apparatus" (I like to call it....a stick), and "Magic Water"--as my mom calls it, some sort of rehydrating fluid consisting of water, sugar, and salt, trying to coax the bird out from under my car and into my make-shift pigeon hotel aka a box.

Its taken me 4 hours to catch that stupid bird....Charlie. But alas, I finally have him. He is now resting comfortably in the garage with a heating pad, magic water, and ground up seed. My dad thought it would be a great idea to put bird seed in a blender without the lid on top.....it was a great idea. Seed went everywhere, I think I still have some in my hair.

My mom says that with our family's luck, the bird will accidentally drown in his magic water. Charlie, be a smart bird, don't do that.

The End. For now.

Wall•e & Other Treats

2008-06-27T22:10:00.001-06:00

Walle finally came out today! I'm super stoked that I finally got to see it. I think its been almost a year now since I've wanted to see this movie. It was amazing! Just as I expected it. I don't want to spoil anything, but you must all go out and see it. Now. Go. Why are you still reading?!

It was a girls night out with my YWAM friends Karen, Liz, Jen, and Becky. There was a funny moment when I noticed that the guy sitting next to Becky had been to a concert that I once promoted, and when I asked her to nudge him to get his attention, she refused. I then asked Liz if she would get his attention, but she also refused. They thought that I was just trying to get them to nudge some random guy, and totally didn't believe me when I said I knew him. As if I don't know guys! Finally, when Jen had returned from the concession stand, I asked her to nudge him, and after some protest she finally did and I got to say hello. Sheesh, a bunch of hard work just to say hello to someone!

Anyway, here are some pics from the evening. Walle is much bigger in real life than he looks on TV, haha. Enjoy!

Summer So Far...

2008-06-24T20:11:00.000-06:00

This year has already been CRAZY for me! I've done 4 weddings and I just started my business last week. How did that happen?!

I've been to Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia, Colorado, Pennsylvania, and Chicago and we're only halfway into the year.

I'm looking forward to what is next, whatever that may be, I don't even know yet!

Anyway, I thought I'd write up a quick blog, I haven't written one in a couple days, I hope all is well with everyone!

Blessings!

Dateless Nights!

2008-06-20T21:26:00.000-06:00

Hey Everyone!

I can't believe its almost been a week since I've been home! I'm totally getting spoiled again with my lax schedule, but I'm hoping that that will soon change!

I just finished setting up a new domain name for my website, soon to be unveiled, but right now it just points to this blog, getting a shiny new business account, annnnd stressing myself out by getting a tax ID. I guess I'm a real photographer now, as evidenced by the tax ID number, ha.

In other news, I had a wonderful evening with my good friend Elizabeth last night. Liz and I have been friends for years and toured many times through a mission organization called YWAM.

I love photography, but it shares my heart with music. I've played guitar for 13 years now, and I still love it as much as the day I started. We watched one of my favorite movies last night, called Once. If you haven't seen it and you love music, you must watch it! The music in it is simply incredible! (Its Irish, so be prepared for some cussing)

After the movie, as I was walking Liz out to her car (my driveway is usually pitch black at night, so sometimes us girls need a little comfort in numbers when walking to our cars), we noticed that the night sky looked beautiful. The moon had just come out from behind the mountains, and the clouds were backlit from the light the moon was giving off. It was the perfect ending to our dateless night!

This next week I'll be focusing on straightening out my priorities. Lately, everything in life is pointing me to the fact that I need to reevaluate some stuff, so that should be fun...ish.

Anyway, I hope everyone is doing well! Have a great night!

Will & Isabel!!!

2008-06-18T23:20:00.002-06:00

Hey everybody!

Its been a crazy week! I'm happy to be home, but catching up with life as usual after two weeks in another life is a little daunting! Its been great though. After I flew home from Chicago on Sunday, I headed to a gorgeous wedding up in Hyde Park. It was so pretty! I think it was even prettier to see the New Mexico landscape after being in a different state for so long.

Will & Isabel are gorgeous people! They make such a beautiful couple, and they were wonderful to shoot! You can really tell that they love their family!

Here is a little slideshow from the day:

Engagements and Broken Airplanes

2008-06-16T23:41:00.002-06:00

So life has been completely insane the last couple weeks! I'm finally home from Chicago after an amazing time with Sarah Barlow and Cassie Schott! I don't think the last two weeks could have turned out any better, it was all just so perfect.

The last night that I was in Glen Ellyn, Sarah had an engagement shoot that she allowed Cassie and I to second-shoot on. It was AMAZING! The couple, Shannon and Mike, were like models! They seriously could have been straight out of a Gap commercial.

I've put together a little slideshow of all of my favorite pictures from the shoot. I have so many that it would have made a 10 minute slideshow if I had included them all!

The flight home yesterday was interesting. I made Sarah get up at 4:30am to drive me to the airport. I was really excited to get home early because I had a wedding to shoot in Santa Fe last night. However, United airlines had other plans for me. Our plane broke down in Denver and they were threatening to make us stay the night until they could book another flight! At the last minute, though, they were able to find us a shiny new non-broken airplane to fly to Albuquerque on.

Luckily I made it to the wedding, which by the way, was gorgeous! I can't wait to post pictures from it! That'll probably be tomorrow's blog!

Anyway, I hope everyone is well and having an incredible week! I'm already going through Sarah/Cassie withdrawls! Ugh!

Chicago Days

2008-06-12T23:04:00.000-06:00

Yola folks,

We went to downtown Chicago today. It wasn't my first time there within the last two weeks, however the other times we were busy shooting a wedding, and we also went to Lincoln Park zoo, so we've never really had the chance to explore the city and be street crawlers. It was a great day for the most part. We went up both the Hancock and the Sears buildings, ate Chicago deep dish pizza, and at one point I being the small town girl that I am was almost lured away by an enticing man who said he wanted to hail me a taxi. Luckily, Sarah and Cassie were beckoning me over to them to let me know that I'm an idiot for letting a stranger lure me away. Good times.

On a very sad note, my cat Montana passed away today very suddenly. If anyone knows me well at all, they know that I love animals, and my cats are basically like my babies. This was a big blow to me and I'm still trying to get out of the shock. I'm sure it will be much worse when I get home. If any of you think about it, please pray for me.

Anyway, here are some pictures from our day!

This is Montana:

Sushi & Singleness...

2008-06-12T00:29:00.000-06:00

So the girls & I went out tonight for a night on the town....mainly because Cassie had never had sushi before. We went to this cute little restaurant in downtown Naperville, IL called "Sushi House". We requested our own little private room to sit in, which was awesome. Sarah and I are sushi enthusiasts, so we were really excited to order and eat to our little heart's content. We've been looking forward to this night all week long. Cassie however, had never had sushi and wasn't sure what to expect. With Sarah and I being as well-versed as we are in what I'd like to call the "Finer knowledge of Sushi Basics", we decided to pick out several different assortments of sushi rolls that had all sorts of fish and other sea life in them. We had lobster rolls, a Philly roll (salmon and cream cheese), a Godzilla roll (Eel, avocado and shrimp), and a Spider roll (Soft shell crab). Alright, now that you have a picture formed of our array of food, Sarah decides to make Cassie try the Philadelphia roll first. Ladies and Gentlemen, the Philly roll was the fishiest of all rolls tonight. Cassie put the whole thing in her mouth, and almost instantly I could tell that all she wanted to do was spit the thing out. I wasn't sure if I should laugh or duck to avoid flying chunks of sushi spewing everywhere. Sarah however was laughing her head off. Cassie tried to chew it and swallow it, but to no avail. She ended up having to spit it out. The look on her face as she was trying to chew it was priceless. It was a cross between disgust and pure determination not to throw up uncontrollably. It was awesome.

So, once that trauma was over and Sarah and I inhaled the rest of the sushi, it was natural for us to pause for an hour and take pictures. I seriously took over 200 pictures at the table.

After our delightful dinner, Sarah took us across the street to this amazing river walk area. It was so nice and cute! There were couples everywhere kissing and holding hands. Thats about when Sarah started trying to hook me up with every guy she knows. Thanks Sarah, I appreciated that thoroughly. The night ended with us sitting under the stars for a bit in this huge gorgeous field near a giant free-standing bell tower. It was amazing.

It was a great night, and here are a few pictures to share with all 2 of you who read my blog! =o)

Matt & Maureen!

2008-06-09T20:07:00.001-06:00

So, I'm a bit blog happy on my first day as a newbie blogger, but thats okay, maybe you're really bored.

So like I said, I shot a wedding this weekend with Sarah Barlow, and it was awesome. The church was huge and gorgeous and all the decorations were incredible. I've put a quick slideshow together to show everybody how fun it was shooting this wedding.

One thing to note about the slideshow, I was with the groomsmen before the wedding as they got ready for the ceremony, so I have a whole lot of pictures of the guys and none of the girls, but it was still a ton of fun!

Enjoy!

In The Beginning...

2008-06-09T13:51:00.000-06:00

So I feel like my blog pretty much popped up just like the world did when God called it into existence. I never thought I'd ever have an actual blog! But then I decided to apply for an internship with Sarah Anne Photography and my whole world changed. Seriously, she doesn't even allow me to drink coke and she forces all of her interns to make blogs and do her laundry.

No, no, I'm only joking, mostly. Anyway, this last week has been pretty much an amazing experience. Every aspect in my life has been improving; my body, mind, and spirit have all been fed this week. I've been learning SOOOO much about photography and how Sarah ticks as well as learning to prioritize everything in life. Our daily regime (and we really call it that, we joke with Sarah that she is our little Photography Nazi) consists of waking up at 7am, having quiet time with God, an hour of workout stuff, then we work on photography and business till about 5pm. You'd think our evenings would be free, but no, we have editing that we do until about midnight. However, that entire amount of time is cut up with fun breaks with Sarah's family who I get along with way too well.

We shot a wedding this weekend in downtown Chicago, which was awesome and gorgeous, I'll post a slideshow of that a little later.

In the mean time, we've been doing all sorts of Chicagoan stuff and shooting a TON of pictures, I've probably taken around 4,000 pictures this week which is a bunch for me, but I expect that that number will soon be familiar to me. Cassie, the other intern with me is super amazing at everything that she does! Her photography is gorgeous, and she is the sweetest person. I'm really lucky to be able to intern with her. So with that said, I'm going to include some pictures of the lovely Sarah Anne (visit her blog if you haven't already) and also of Cassie Schott (Cassie's Blog) and maybe a couple other random shots for anyone reading to enjoy!

Test Test Test

2008-06-05T09:21:00.001-06:00

Hi.