:: Cool Beans! ::

I just got back from my last session of the year (can you believe I'm still shooting?) and found in my e-mail that my blog is being featured on this cool blog of what else: Blogs of Photographers! lol! I got a nice review and feel so honored to be listed next to these awesome photographers around the Country. The website is called Blogs of Photographers - Check it out!

Is Christmas over yet?

It feels like I haven't blogged in ages! Where have I been? After spending my two busiest weeks of the year working, I feel like I'm finally starting to decompress. I'm still burned out and I think it will take a couple of more weeks to feel like myself again.

Some days I was working up to 18 hours a day, and I still didn't accomplish everything on time. Next year will be different though. I'm working on the "lessons learned" from this year and the changes for 2008. One of them is a stricter holiday deadline so I have time to enjoy my loved ones during this time of year. So be on the lookout for some changes in Ana C. Photography.

Today was a great relaxing day and I got everything I wanted for Christmas. A nice time with my boys, Paul and other family members. I got my boys an X-box 360 with Halo 3 & Guitar Hero III. They were very happy about that :o)

Paul got me a super fun bicycle for Christmas!!! A bike with an attitude that is. He also got a matching one (in black) so we can take rides around the city and have fun. I just love that! Can't wait to be outdoors riding my bike (see the photo below). Thank you Paul!

Paul and I also went to the sold out Las noches de las luminarias at the Desert Botanical Gardens. I recommend it to anyone that hasn't been there yet. It was a very pleasant night with good food and great live music. Be sure to dress warm since it gets very cold out in the desert!

:: Are we having fun yet? ::

It is so refreshing to get a call from a guy wanting photos of his family when they come to visit him. Usually I get the calls from women to schedule sessions since most guys don't pay attention to those little details (notice I said 'most' :o) ). Can you tell we had fun at their session? Of course we did more serious stuff but these made me smile when I was editing their photos so I have to show them. We all need to have fun like this with our families!!!

:: Wow! Holiday Cards ::

Holiday cards were a hit this year! I just counted how many Holiday cards I produced this year and the total is 2000!!! That's a record for me. The client with the most ordered 200 cards! Phew!

Say wha?

A grumpy photographer? Who me? Nah! Somebody keeps reminding me that all work and no play will make a grumpy photographer! So he works very hard to keep me balanced. If it wasn’t for Paul, I would do 90% work and 10% sleep during this time of year. Thanks to him, I’ve been able to do some fun things that keep me from getting burned out.

Last week we went to race indoor go-karts at F-1 Race Factory in Phoenix. Have you driven those little cars? They are amazingly fast! Then on Friday we went to an Irish Pub in Downtown Phoenix to listen to a duo called ‘The Waters’, formerly of ‘The Wild Angels Band’. I fell in love with Krystal’s voice, the lead vocalist, and I would love to have her music on my website! I will make that a project :o)

Finally (yesterday) we went to THE Steeler’s Bar in the West, Harold’s in Cave Creek…what a drive! Paul is a HUGE fan of the Steelers so of course I had to look the part too :o) Even though it was a bummer that they lost, watching all the fans wear funny wigs, shoulder pads, carry puppets and accessories was super FUN! Do you know how many Steelers songs are out there? Gosh, I lost count!

He told me to do something!

Today was back to reality day. I had to take my son to the doctor for pink eye…. His School called me after lunch to pick him up due to his not so pretty eye. Oh well.

My only hope is that I get to put my Christmas tree up at least a week before Christmas. I have not had a chance! I haven’t done any shopping either. Does anybody know where I can find Guitar Hero for the X-Box 360?

'The' Urban Mini Sessions

I'm finally done proofing the mini sessions from last week at Chicky Bella ....phew! Here are some of my favorite images from that day - shown in the order they were taken. I can't believe how many great images I was able to capture from 20 minute long sessions! All of these kids were amazing!!! Thank you!

:: Proofing Frenzy - Take 10 ::

Who said high school photos need to be boring? Meet this super fun high school senior that was up for anything..... Even sitting next to a bear! She's so stunningly beautiful and smart. I can see that she'll go very far in whatever she does.

We are the music-makers,
and we are the dreamers
of dreams. We are the
movers and shakers of the
world forever, it seems.
-arthur o'shaughnessy

:: Proofing Frenzy - Take 9 ::

I was so excited to do this session because I was going to get to see this little boy again. For a long time I imagined what he looked like now as a little boy and not as a baby. See, the last time I photographed him he was TWO weeks old!! He looks exactly how I imagined him to be; playful, curious, active, happy and SUPER handsome! oh, and he still has a lot of hair just like he did when he was a baby.

When we finished our session, I remembered I had in my car a canvas I've been using as a sample on my ordering appointments. MANY of you have seen it before :o). That canvas was made with one of the photos of him as a baby. We pulled it out of my car and had him hold it for one last shot. I can honestly say that this is one of my favorite shots of his session. How adorable is this?! (note: the canvas size is 18X24 in case you're wondering)

:: Proofing Frenzy - Take 8 ::

Okay, I'm back to my regular programming on frenzy proofing (I was working on my other frenzy state: Holiday Cards!).

This session was perfect for black and white images. When I do the sessions in my client’s home, it's all about finding the light. So if you hire me, be prepared for me to open blinds, curtains, move furniture, etc. That’s what I did here :o). I’m sure they didn’t mind since I was able to capture gorgeous photos of their baby girl and beautiful family moments. This baby was such a good baby! I Love how expressive her eyes are!

If I have an opportunity, I always photograph the 'Fido' of the house (see below). I just LOVE dogs! What about cats you may ask? Well, I'm allergic to them so I haven't had a chance to develop the love they deserve. However, I think they would be perfect models because they don't move and they just sit there! he he!

Minis were a hit!

Today's mini sessions were very successful! I can't believe how much fun I had meeting new people and photographing them. I had 10 minis total. Everything ran so smoothly thanks to Lisa at Chicky Bella. Everybody was on time, happy, and ALL, I mean, ALL of the families were just plain gorgeous!

I can't wait to proof these sessions and post them here! Now I'm ready to have my glass of wine so that I can relax and maybe go to bed early :o)

Thanks to all of you that came down to Gilbert today for the mini sessions. You were ALL awesome!!!

Nite, nite!

ana

:: Proofing Frenzy - Take 7 ::

It was a dark and rainy afternoon when I did this session. The light was going away fast on me (even though the session started early in the afternoon) so I had to crank up the ISO on my camera in order to have a good shutter speed. Some photos are granier than I normally do but I love the effect. It reminds me of film photos (my very first passion). See, fast shutter speed is very important when you take fast moving babies. They will not stay still! Just like my previous set of twins, the minute we would put them next to each other they will run in opposite directions. They sure help me burn some calories lol!

This is the third time photographing these adorable twin boys. I did their newborn photos, 7 month old & now almost a year old. I'm sure you've seen them before. Just take a peak at my galleries and they're all over the place :o)

P.S. I think I'm one of the photographers with the most twin's sessions out there! I have another photoshoot coming up in the next week for 2 year old twin girls. I just love them!

I enhanced the grain on this one. I'm really diggin this effect!

See what I mean on moving in opposite directions? this is just one example :o)