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!

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.

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!!!

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!

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.