I was thrilled to be able to attend the inaugural Fast Track Photographer Workshop, even though it meant jetting across the country to get there.  (Actually, I love reasons to fly to Orange County, California because that is where I grew up and where some of my family is!)  And who wouldn’t want to go to Newport Beach?

Dane Sanders is an amazing guy, with lots of energy, wisdom, kindness and fun.  He is a fantastic teacher and gets everyone involved.  The workshop was action-packed and though we all had our cameras, I don’t think anyone was taking pictures during the workshop, because we were all so focused on every word that was spoken.  (Pun intended)  In addition to learning about how to change things in our lives so we can bring our photography and our business to the next level, we learned workflow, branding, and were challenged to think more creatively. 

In addition to the things we learned and the great experience of the photo shoot, we also developed some great friendships.  I know the folks from Southern California have gotten together again since the workshop for a photo shoot and plan to get together again.  I highly recommend this workshop to anyone considering it.

Wynn and Lindy are a couple who got married almost a year before our workshop.  Dane was their photographer and invited them to model for us for our workshop.  We were each given 5 minutes to be the “main” photographer for the mock engagement session and to direct them as we would.  Each had to pick a different place than the others who had gone before them.  Here are some shots from our shoot.

Well, this was actually from before our shoot.  I had arrived early and was scoping out “my” location when I saw this little bird. . .

This was one of the rare times that I will ever look down on Dane. . .

Paul and I had the opportunity of taking pictures for Juan and Becca’s wedding last Saturday.  The ceremony was held at Faith Baptist Church in Winter Haven, FL.  Here is a sneak preview of some of the pictures from their wedding

Brent and Christina got married yesterday.  I didn’t tell Christina, but I was a little concerned when I looked at the weather report.  The wedding was at 7 (outdoors), and all day they were expecting mostly cloudy EXCEPT at 7 pm when they were expecting thundershowers!  I prayed and posted on Facebook about it so others could pray as well, and pray everyone did.  And the weather turned out to be just beautiful.

Before I continue, I just have to tell how special Brent and Christina are to me.  Over the past four years I’ve had the privilege of working with both of them.  And I’ll confess that before they were dating, I hoped for the two of them to get together. 

Christina is a great hostess.  When we were first getting to know each other, I had mentioned to her that I was going to be spending a Sunday afternoon with a couple of intern girls and she asked if she could have us over for lunch before we went on our way.  We had such a nice time with her that it was hard to pull away so we could go to our planned outing. 

Brent is a nerd.  And I mean that in the nicest possible way.  :-)  He is also very entrepreneurial.  While he was in high school and all his friends were working at McDonald’s, Brent was making big money helping people with their computer needs.  He is the type of guy who will spend days and weeks researching the very best of the best before he invests in things so he won’t be wasting his money.  And he is very generous with his knowledge and is always willing to share the results of his research.  About a year after I moved to Florida, I received the nicest card from Brent just thanking me for what I do and telling me how I’m appreciated.  I had mentioned the card to someone and found out that this is simply something Brent does.  Many of the folks in the office have received cards from him to encourage and to bless. 

I could go on and on, but I won’t. 

Brent and Christina have a very sweet story, as well.  Christina has confessed that when she very first met Brent she didn’t like him much.  He seemed very bossy to her.  She then found out that it was because he WAS the boss in that situation!  Brent knew that Christina was “the one” for him quite a bit before she did.  He very patiently waited for her until she was ready and never turned his eyes to any other women.  They are so great for each other and compliment each other so very well.  I’m excited to see them married and look forward to seeing how God uses them in their lives together.

Now for the pictures you’ve been waiting for.  This is just a sneak peak of a few of my favorites.

Virginia Wear is a great wedding coordinator.  This is the second wedding we’ve done together.  And she is a great cook as well.  Here she is cooking the breakfast that Christina had for her roommates and some of her close friends.  I told you she is a great hostess!  (Though no one would let her work!)

A few shots of Brent and Christina before the ceremony:

The beautiful rings.  The diamonds in her ring were taken from a ring that Brent was given when he turned 21.  The gold was used to make his ring. 

Father and Daughter

Christina being welcomed into the family by Brent’s father

Those serving the cupcakes had specific instructions, and I quote from the schedule “anyone named Brent gets two”

Brent has always wondered why they never serve milk with cake at weddings and made sure that there was plenty of milk to be served with the cupcakes at his.

Maybe I shouldn’t show anyone this one, but I really do love the way it turned out despite the extra slow shutter speed!

That’s all for now.  I’ll have the rest of the pictures posted on my website no later than May 25.  If you want notification when they are ready, please either send me an e-mail or drop a comment here.  And feel free to comment about the pictures. 

Juan and Becca are a fun couple I met through my friend Paul.  They went to college together, but never dated while they were there but were friends.  After college, things changed and though Juan lives in Miami and Becca lives in Winter Haven, they got together, fell in love and are now preparing to get married.  I’m looking forward to photographing their wedding in a couple weeks, along with my friend Paul.

For their engagement session, we went to the beautiful Bok Tower Gardens.  This was rather exciting for me because I had never been there and it is a place my parents went frequently when they were dating and newly married.  The grounds, the tower, the gardens, the Bok Mansion were all gorgeous and we had a great time there.

Here are some of my favorite shots from the day.

I love the beautiful textures of the tower in the background on this one

Isn’t the light simply gorgeous!!

After we left Bok Tower, we went to downtown Lake Wales to get some shots before we lost the sun

I love the looks Juan gave the camera throughout the day!

And that’s all you get for now!  The rest of the engagement pictures are on my website here – then use access code ff175507 or scroll through the galleries to find theirs. . .

Juan and Becca, it’s only two more weeks and a handful of days!  I’m looking forward to your wedding and pray for rich blessings on your marriage!

I had the privilege of spending more time with my friend Stephen taking pictures of his family.  The day was Valentine’s Day and the occasion was the birth of his son.  ‘Lil Z was born just a few days before this in Orlando and is doted on by his entire family.

As a side note, Stephen has quite a sense of humor.  He loves playing practical jokes, and in fact, it is even better if the jokes are impractical!  His job is to watch movies all day, and he also moonlights as a chocolate tester.  Thanks to his diligence, no one at the office has gotten sick from tainted chocolate.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from our time together.  Enjoy these photos of this sweet baby boy!

More pictures of Lil Z are available at www.apictureoflife.com/photocart

Keijo commented at the rehearsal “you’ve been there for all our firsts!”. It has been a privilege to be there to take pictures when Joe proposed to her and now taking pictures at their wedding. Joe and Keijo are a great couple who love to laugh and have hearts for ministry. The ceremony was held in Orlando, FL at the headquarters of Campus Crusade for Christ. There is a lovely gazebo there which made a wonderful spot for this wedding.  Some of the photos were taken by my assistant, Abby, who did a great job.

Colonial Florist provided the beautiful flowers. The first image is the bridesmaids’ bouquet, the next is one of the corsages for the mothers and the final image is of the boutonnieres.

Keijo’s and the bridesmaids’ necklaces and bracelets were made by their friend Faith.  The beads are  from Africa.

Here is Keijo’s wedding dress

Did I mention that Joe and Keijo are a lot of fun? When I was taking pictures of the guys getting ready, or at least hanging out planning on getting ready, Joe asked if I would deliver a photo message to Keijo. Here is a part of the message

The lovely bride

Here are some more pictures from the day

I love the way the light streamed down in this one!

“I now pronounce you man and wife”.  Can you tell she’s excited?

Joe and Keijo with Allison, their wonderful wedding coordinator

Congratulations on your marriage, Joe and Keijo!  May God richly bless your union and may your marriage glorify Him.

To view more of the pictures from the wedding, you can visit their gallery at http://apictureoflife.com/photocart access code a1edc295 (or you can simply navigate to the gallery named Bollinger Wedding)

I had the privilege of taking pictures while Joe proposed to Keijo on Christmas Eve, and now was able to hang out with them for a few hours to take engagement pictures for them. Joe and Keijo are missionaries with Campus Crusade for Christ and are in the process of getting ready to move to Guinea Bissau. We started out at Cup ‘O Soul Cafe. This is a great coffee house in downtown Orlando where the two have dated on more than one occasion.  (Incidently, I’m so glad we did the pictures there so I could find out about this great place.  The folks there are so nice, the atmosphere is very comfortable.  I highly recommend it!)  Afterwards we headed over to Leu Gardens to take some more pictures. I’ll post those pictures in another post to keep this one a little shorter. . .

We had so much fun a laughed a lot, as you’ll see in these pictures.  Joe certainly has a serious, passionate side, but he also is very playful and loves to laugh.  And from what I saw of Keijo, so is like that as well.  I love this couple and am looking forward to photographing their wedding in April.

I noticed this poster for a play called "I DO!" right away when we got there . How fun is that having this poster there for our engagement session!

In addition to their love for each other, Joe and Keijo love the Bible, journaling and coffee. It was fun getting this picture that incorporates all of these things and her beautiful ring!

The beautiful Keijo

Some more fun shots from the morning. . .

If you would like to see more pictures from our session, and cheat and see the ones from Leu Gardens as well, you can see them by going here

Brent and Christina are such a great couple.  They are both missionaries with Campus Crusade for Christ and have traveled overseas extensively.  Brent is the Director of IT (and my bosses boss) for The JESUS Film Project and Christina is just now moving into a new role with HR, also with The JESUS Film Project.  I had such a fun time taking their engagement pictures and look forward to photographing their wedding in May. 

Here are some of my favorite shots from our time together.

I saw this gate and wanted to get some shots of them in front of it.  Within just minutes of them standing in front of it, an entire herd of cows came over to see what we were up to.  I love this one of the cow looking at them.

Notice the cows in the background

Brent has several handguns and he and Christina have gone out shooting together.  So they decided it would be fun to get some pictures with the guns.  Brent is very careful, and while he was checking the guns to make sure they were empty he was telling Christina that she needed to both visually and physically ensure that the gun was empty and had Christina recite the rules of handgun safety.  Here are some shots of the two of them with the guns.

Wouldn’t this have made a fun “Save the date” card?

One picture that Christina wanted very badly was one of Brent sneaking up on her.  I love the look of anticipation on her face in this one.

Brent and Christina, thank you for letting me hang out with you for a fun afternoon.  I am looking forward to your wedding very much!

I am so excited for my friend Joe and his beautiful fiancee. I had the privilege of being there taking pictures when Joe proposed to Keijo on Christmas Eve.

The original plan was that Joe was going to take her to dinner and then bring her to a coffee shop that they like in downtown Orlando, but he found out they were closed over the holidays. When he stopped by to discover that, he ended up noticing that The Veranda Bed & Breakfast had a nice little patio in front. He stopped in and got permission to use their tables that evening and together we figured out how to make this work.

I ended up picking up some cake and candles and Martinelli’s and brought the necessary dishes for serving it all. Joe’s sole job was to get Keijo there after dinner and get her to say “yes”.

I loved talking to Joe right before he left for dinner. He commented “my heart is thumping like it is going to burst out of my chest”.

Though I am a romantic and absolutely love to read books with proposals and see movies with them, I can’t tell you what was said between the two that evening. I wouldn’t have dreamed of intruding on their privacy.

Two funny things happened, at least according to me. The first is that though I was able to find a place to hide while taking the pictures, every so often I could hear Keijo say “who is that?”. I don’t know how Joe responded, but I just pretended that I wasn’t there. The other funny incident was from the fact that in my careful planning on bringing wine glasses, plates, forks and even nice cloth napkins, I didn’t bring a bottle opener for the Martinelli’s. I could see Joe struggle to open it, and then put it back down for a little bit, and then pick it up again to give it another try. He finally gave up after several tries and brought the bottle across the street to a 7-11 store to ask them to open it!

Here are some of the shots for that evening. I’m so thankful for my 50mm 1.4 lens and that my camera did so well at 1600 ISO!

The table waiting for the lovebirds to arrive:

While I was waiting for Joe and Keijo, the lady working at The Veranda Bed & Breakfast came out to see if there was anything we needed. These folks are so sweet and very helpful.

I was able to hide behind this sign just about the entire time

And now here are Joe and Keijo

I love this one with the fuzzy leaves giving such a soft glow

Joe struggling with the bottle

And finally I was able to come out of hiding and be the first to congratulate them!

Joe and Keijo, I am so happy for you. I can’t wait to do your engagement session and wedding!